Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Dell Vostro V130 updated with more ports, fancy 'Hyperbaric' cooling

Back when we reviewed the Dell Vostro V13 we had a few complaints, including the fact that it lasted less than three hours on a charge and lacked an HDMI port. Well, Dell's gone and taken care of at least one of those issues with its new Vostro V130. The original thin and light chassis has been kept in tact, which means there's still the same old battery issues, but Dell's freshened up the 13.3-inch magnesium alloy laptop with an HDMI port, extra USB socket, a SIM card slot, new Core i3 / i5 ULV processor options, and some new Intel "Hyperbaric Cooling" technology. We don't know much about that new cooling stuff, but apparently it will help the .65-inch thick system stay cool and quiet. Oh, and did we mention it now comes in that bright red hue?! The small business machine still starts an impressive $429 and is available today. If you're looking for more details hit the break for the full press release and the gallery below for some glossy shots.

Gallery: Dell Vostro V130

Continue reading Dell Vostro V130 updated with more ports, fancy 'Hyperbaric' cooling

Dell Vostro V130 updated with more ports, fancy 'Hyperbaric' cooling originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity

While the CompactFlash Association scoots along at a maximum transfer rate of 167MB per second under its just released CF6.0 specification, Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon are already looking to the future. The trio have just officially proposed a new memory card format that switches from PATA to the PCI Express serial interface to achieve data transfer rates of up to 500 megabytes per second with a potential to extend maximum storage capacities beyond 2 terabytes. The proposed set of specifications hints at the high performance requirements we'll soon face as DSLRs and camcorders are updated to capture continuous burst shooting of massive RAW images and ever higher definition video. Naturally, the spec also enables photogs to transfer their troves of data more quickly to computers for post processing and combines high-speed transfer with a scaling system to extend battery life. The CompactFlash Association has already announced a new workgroup to study the proposal. Canon's Shigeto Kanda, CFA chairman of the board, had this to say about the proposal:

Future professional photography and video applications will require memory cards with faster read/write speeds. The development of a new high-performance card standard with a serial interface will meet the needs of the professional imaging industry for years to come and open the door for exciting new applications.

Sounds like tacit approval to us. And really, anything that brings Sony and Sandisk together on a future storage format should be seen as a positive step. Unless, of course, you're the SD Card Association or anyone who recently purchased a CFast card.

Continue reading Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity

Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Star shows up again, flexes its Tegra 2 muscle for the camera

That high-end Android smartphone from LG seemingly destined for release early next year has made another appearance -- and this time, the UI's in full view and showing us a few tricks. Looks like the so-called Star will be running a variant of LG's usual Android skin, for better or worse, and the particular device shown off in Phandroid's forums here is loaded with Froyo -- a strange choice for a 4-inch beast launching in 2011 with Gingerbread around the corner, perhaps, but we certainly wouldn't put it past 'em. The owner (who actually claims to have two in his possession) was kind enough to run it through Quadrant, producing a score of 1759 -- fantastic for a stock device, and a score that'll undoubtedly go through the roof once hackers get their hands on these things and start trimming the fat. Between this, the LU3000, and that unnamed LTE device for Verizon, these guys could be a serious Android force in '11, couldn't they?

LG Star shows up again, flexes its Tegra 2 muscle for the camera originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cowon 3D is the 1080p-playing, 4.8-inch PMP that just jumps out at you

As far as 3D goes, we can still take it or leave it, but what's really got us intrigued about Cowon's latest effort is the promise of full 1080p video playback. Ally that to a HDMI output and up to 64GB of flash storage and you've got yourself a pretty potent portable media station. The Cowon 3D PMP offers an 800 x 480 resolution on its own 4.8-inch display -- which is touted as the world's first 3D visualizer on a PMP that doesn't require glasses -- plus a battery rated to last for 10 hours of video, 45 hours of audio and up to 300 hours on standby. And, in an upgrade from the recent X7, this new device also has WiFi connectivity! Launch is scheduled for December 10th in Cowon's backyard of South Korea, with prices coming in at KRW499,000 ($431) for the 32GB-equipped 3D PMP and KRW589,000 ($509) for the 64GB version.

[Thanks, Kunal]

Cowon 3D is the 1080p-playing, 4.8-inch PMP that just jumps out at you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple forces PhotoFast to abandon 256GB upgrade kit for MacBook Airs

Remember that peppy aftermarket 256GB SSD upgrade from PhotoFast that easily smoked (on paper anyway) the SSD found in Apple's latest MacBook Air? It's been halted upon Apple's request before it ever went on sale, similarly to those HyperMac batteries before it. 9to5Mac first reported the news based on a source close to the company and we just confirmed it directly with the PhotoFast GM2_SFV1_Air product manager. The risk of losing access to Apple's product licensing program was just too grave a threat to ignore. So, enjoy your 160MBps max SSD transfer rate and 128GB top-end capacity MBA 11 owners, you'll get that storage and 250MBps sequential read/write speed bump only when Apple's good and ready to provide it themselves -- possibly sooner, we're told, if PhotoFast is given the green light to start sales after Toshiba's SSD modules (Apple's MBA partner) are available for purchase.

Apple forces PhotoFast to abandon 256GB upgrade kit for MacBook Airs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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