Digital Tech News - Digital Technology & Consumer Electronics

Samsung's new ultra-thin i85 Digital Camera and PMP

Samsung's new ultra-thin 8 Mega Pixel i85 digital camera is tiny at about the size of a credit card (measuring 3.74"x2.42"x0.8"), and sports a brushed silver aluminum body. Samsung made room on the pocketable i85 for a large 3.0" high-resolution LCD screen for framing shots, viewing photos, video clips or movies. There's even a non-protruding 5x optical zoom (35mm film equivalent: 36~180mm) NV lens on this baby! Not just a digital camera, the i85 also has PMP functionality for entertainment with movies, music videos, and television shows, plus in PMP mode the Samsung i85 lets you listen to MP3 files.

Samsung has bundled Digimax Converter software to help you seamlessly convert your MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF files for viewing on the i85. The software also converts MP3 and WAV audio files, and also allows users to view subtitles, adjust the screen size and crop and stretch the image to fit the screen as desired. There's a 2.5mm headphone port as well as stereo speakers with SRS 3D acoustic technology for audio. 256MB of internal memory is provided as well as an external SDHC/SD card slot with a guaranteed maximum of 4GB.

Panasonic HDC-SD5 and HDC-SX5 HD Camcorders

Panasonic has announced two new light-weight 3CCD AVCHD camcorders for the U.S.  Panasonic's new HDC-SD5 camcorder ($999.95) records high definition video to SDHC flash memory cards (8GB SDHC cards are on the way), while the new HDC-SX5 ($899.95) hybrid camcorder model records to both SDHC cards and 3-inch DVDs. The HDC-SX5 camcorder records both AVCHD and standard definition and the HDC-SD5 records only in AVCHD, but both feature Full HD 1920 x 1080 capture, 2.7-inch LCD screen, and adanced optical image stabilization.

Samsung NV8, NV15 and NV20 Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

Samsung has added three new advanced point & shoot digital cameras with Smart Touch interface to its NV series - the eight megapixel NV8, 10 megapixel NV15 and 12 megapixel NV20. The NV8, NV15 and NV20 feature premium Schneider optics with a 3x optical zoom, and Samsung's Smart Touch user interface that makes for easy navigation of the cameras' features and settings by sliding a finger across the control buttons positioned around the cameras' 2.5" LCD screens. Each of the new NV digital cameras can shoot at ISO 3200, and boast an improved Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) feature, a new Auto Contrast Balance (ACB) and Image Noise Reduction modes. Samsung's Face Detection technology detects up to nine faces and automatically adjusts focus and exposure to ensure better composition and image quality. There are 14 scene modes to choose from, including Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-Up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & Snow, Café, Food, and Self-Shot. There's also 20MB of internal memory on board, and support for SDHC/SD cards of up to 8GB.

Logitech Comfort Wave Keyboard and Mouse

Logitech wants to make you comfortable while typing with their new Wave Keyboard, and the Cordless Desktop Wave that includes a Comfort Wave keyboard and cordless ambidextrous laser mouse combination.

Logitech combined three elements in its new design to enhance comfort without requiring people to change the way they type: an innovative wave key-frame design, a U-shaped constant curve and a cushioned, contoured palm rest. In comparison to ergonomic keyboards, people can use a Wave keyboard immediately – there is no learning curve. The Comfort Wave Design guides hands and cradles fingers to create a naturally comfortable typing experience.

Sprint and Google Prepping Mobile WiMAX Services

With Sprint and Clearwire's Mobile WiMAX partnership well under way, Google decides to get in the game, and will collaborate with Sprint to deliver WiMAX mobile Internet customers search, interactive communications and social networking tools though a new mobile portal.

"Google and Sprint will optimize the Internet experience for the digital lifestyle," said Barry West, president, 4G Mobile Broadband for Sprint. "This collaboration brings what will be the best mobile Internet network together with the leading Internet search company. It allows us to capitalize on the powerful mobility and Internet trends, and create wireless services and applications that take advantage of each company's history of product development innovation."

Sony HD Video Walkman to Hit Europe

Sony Europe has introduced the new Sony HD Video Walkman (GD-HD700E) which will be available throughout Europe in September. This is Sony's first HD Video Walkman, but before you get too excited you should know that you can't play any Blu-ray or HD DVDs on it. Instead, the device is meant as a professionl portable solution for viewing HDV and DV tapes while on the move, making it easy to check video footage captured with any HDV or DV camcorder. The HD Video Walkman is quipped with interfaces for recording and playing HDV1080i and Standard Definition DV video, and includes an HDMI output for viewing high definition video on any connected HD-ready TV or monitor. Other connections include an i.LINK, RCA, and S-Video inputs allowing you to record directly to the HD Video Walkman, and a Memory Stick slot lets you captured still shots. A bright 7-inch widescreen (16:9) LCD is on board offering a resolution of 1,152K (800x480x3[RGB]) dots for monitoring video and still images.

Samsung BD-UP5000 Combo Blu-ray, HD DVD Player Priced

The Samsung Duo HD BD-UP5000 that we first heard about last Spring finally gets a price tag. It will cost $1,049 for this double-duty HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc player when it ships during the fourth quarter of 2007, along with a new Blu-ray home theater-in-a-box (HTiB) called HT-BD2 that is piced at $1,499. Samsung is not the first to offer a HD DVD/Blu-Ray player, remember the BH100 Super Multi Blue player from LG? The difference is, Samsung's BD-UP5000 combo HD disc player supports the interactive layer of HD DVD (HDi) which enables full use of interactive menus and interactive features like picture-in-picture commentaries, as well as support for BD-Java.

FinePix Z10fd Digital Camera - Slim and Colorful

Fujifilm has unveiled the new 7.2 MegaPixel FinePix Z10fd ultra-portable digital camera, available in a fresh array of colors (Wave Blue, Wasabi Green, Hot Pink, Sunset Orange, and Midnight Black), and designed to keep fashion-conscious users hooked-up with features like Blog Mode, and IrSimple wireless photo sharing. Aimed at tech-savvy Generation 'Z' users, the slim FinePix Z10fd sports a 2.5" high-resolution LCD screen, has a 3x optical Zoom lens, 54MB of internal memory as well as xD / SD / SDHC compatible slots. A new slideshow mode from Fujifilm let's you view and share your photos spontaneously with friends with music provided to set the mood.   

Toshiba Qosmio G45-AV680 Digital Entertainment Notebook PC

Toshiba's new Qosmio G45-AV680 digital entertainment notebook is the latest in the company's impressive Qosmio line, combining powerful functions, multimedia capabilities, and even a HD DVD-R optical drive. It can burn up to 30 GB of data, including home-videos, photo albums and music libraries onto a single HD DVD recordable disc, and is said to play HD DVD movies at a resolution six times sharper than your average DVD! Along with a nice modern design, the Qosmio G45-AV680 rocks Intel Centrino Duo processor technology with the Intel GM965 chipset, 1GB Intel Turbo Memory which assures system performance, advanced video processing with NVIDIA’s new GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of VRAM graphics, and dual 160GB HDDs. Intel's new Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN supports wireless 802.11a/g as well as the new draft “n."

TiVo HD DVR

TiVo has launched their new affordable TiVo HD high definition DVR, which can be pre-order today for $299.99.  As the original TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder costs $799.99, the affordable TiVo HD should bring TiVo lots of new costumers this year, just remember there's a monthly $12.95 - $16.95 service fee on top of that.

Described as the ultimate HDTV companion, TiVo HD is also a Digital Cable Ready set-top-box that works seamlessly with any cable provider in the U.S.   It's also compatible with analog cable and digital antenna (ATSC), and offers 20 hours of HD or up to 180 hours of standard definition content. With the new TiVo HD DVR, you can record two HD channels at the same time, while watching a third previously recorded show. For additional hook-ups and networking, it has a built-in Ethernet jack, two CableCARD slots and USB ports.