Hama PhotoPlayer 1080i digital picture viewer

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

Hey there Ansel Adams -- we know you're shooting all your news pictures in an ultra-detailed, millions-of-megapixels format. Unfortunately for you, it's hard to show off your breathtaking work to friends and family. Well, a company called Hama hopes to change all that with its PhotoPlayer 1080i, a curious device that serves one basic function: it allows you to view your photos on an HD television. Basically, the little contraption is a 35-in-1 card reader which also outputs images (via component hookups) to your favorite 1080i-equipped display. The PhotoPlayer comes with a tiny remote for flipping through your majestic vision, and also includes a USB jack (for hard drives and the like), so you can go for a really, really long haul during your presentations. We can hear the "oohs" and "ahhs" already. Available now, no word on price.

[Via PhotographyBLOG]

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Comcast CEO sees 160Mbps internet in 2008

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Remember that blisteringly fast channel bonding modem Comcast showed off earlier this year? Turns out that the firm's CEO is apparently aiming to roll out internet services that can reach up to 160Mbps down / 120Mbps up sometime in 2008. As in, next year. In a recent interview with Fortune, Brian Roberts stated that service based on DOCSIS 3.0 technology would start "rolling out" sometime in 2008, and casually noted that it should provide "more than enough bandwidth to do multiplayer online gaming." Additionally, Cable Digital News explains that the firm has plans to cover some 20-percent of its footprint with the uber-quick service before 2009, and while we're left to guess what areas will be covered, we'd bet locales fetching FiOS could entertain some competition. Granted, we've still got aways to go before we can go toe-to-toe with a certain Swede, but we'll take any progress we can get.

[Via ArsTechnica, image courtesy of AFP / BBC]
Read - Fortune interviews Comcast CEO Brian Roberts
Read - Comcast closes in on 100Mbit/s

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Blackberry 9000 Specs Leaked, Faster Than iPhone in More Ways than One [Rumor]

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

Boy Genius Report may have gotten their hands on early specs of the upcoming touch-interface BlackBerry 9000. And according to their sources, the (iPhonesque?) 9000 has two hardware advantages over the iPhone. First, it features a 624MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor that just edges out the iPhone's 620MHz ARM 1173 processor (on paper). Second, the 9000 will introduce speedy HSDPA to the line (a welcomed 3G first for the BlackBerrys). Here are the rest of the specs:

- 480 x 320 resolution screen - 1GB onboard memory - GPS, WiFi, HSDPA - Maybe a 3.2MP camera - Maybe dropping in Q1 or Q2 of 2008

Looking good, but can anyone get over a loss of button-driven QWERTY? [ bgr]

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Every Episode of South Park Ever Being Put Online for Free Next Year

from Gizmodo by adam frucci

Earlier this year, Viacom put every Daily Show episode online for free, and it was awesome. Now, they're following suit with South Park, with plans to put every episode of the animated series online for free next year.

It's a ballsier move than putting The Daily Show online, as South Park sells lots of DVDs, and these episodes will directly compete with episodes available for sale in stores. The Daily Show is less valuable as it gets older, as it's news-based, so putting episodes that poke fun of Ralph Nader online wasn't as much of a risk. If successful, look for more MTV and Comedy Central shows to get this treatment (The State! Please!). The more free TV shows online the better, as far as we're concerned. We'd like it if they spread the love and made all these episodes available to other players such as Joost, but I guess we should be happy with what we get. [Reuters]

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Soropot Teapot is Sexy, Architectural [Design Concepts]

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

Some tea connoisseurs are calling the Soropot the "sexiest teapot ever," but we just think it's downright architectural. There's function behind that form, too, where the arched handle is supposed to act as a heat sink to keep the tea from oversteeping. Its arched support straddles a burner on the stove, and the water in that horizontally oriented boiler acts like an old-timey locomotive, getting all hot and steamy until it's ready to pour over your favorite teabags. All this stainless steel and glass and design overload isn't quite available yet, but when/if it is, we tea drinkers at the Giz are even willing to forsake our gorgeous Michael Graves teapot from Target for one of these. [ Snarfd]

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