Mazda's hybrid hydrogen vehicles to hit the streets this year

It looks like the world's first rotary hydrogen vehicle will soon be available for lease, courtesy of Mazda. True to its nature as a hybrid, the Premacy Hydrogen RE relies on a hydrogen rotary engine to create the electricity that powers the motor. The system is said to boost the fuel range of the vehicle to around 125 miles, twice the range of the RX-8 Hydrogen RE, and maximum output is 110 kilowatts. We look forward to seeing the cars start rolling off the lots and into the hands of local authorities and energy-related companies this year. Finally, it looks like you'll be able to put that hydrogen generator you installed in the garage to good use.

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Sony PSP hacked for use as PC status monitor

No money for a secondary display? No use for that worn-down PSP? There's hope for the future, friend. Hacker avi has discovered that Sony's handheld makes for a wonderful status monitor, providing a clean look at your PC's CPU usage, memory allocation and system temperature levels. All you'll need is a bit of training in Python, Lua for the PSP and a sister willing to stop watching UMD movies long enough for you to give this a go.

[Read more]

Thanko's USB-powered Health E-Cigarettes sound healthy

It was only a matter of time, and it took Thanko to make it happen. The purveyors of all things able to be tethered to that most special port now offer the affordable, USB-powered Health E-Cigarette; a name that cunningly stops short of raising the ire of the WHO while still giving you the hope that they might really be "healthy." Like other electronic cigarettes, it uses a heating element to vaporize a nicotine solution to supposedly give you a purer smoking experience along with a suite of other benefits: preserving the health of those around you, keeping your teeth white, and even preventing fires. All that at a fraction of the price of other USB-powered cigarettes -- just ¥2,980 (about $30). If that's all it costs to make Smokey proud, you can sign us up.

[More from TechFresh]

Sony PlayStation 2 just $99.99 starting tomorrow

We're really hoping that this isn't Sony's global announcement. Nevertheless, starting tomorrow April 1st, the PlayStation 2 will be available for less than $100, exactly as rumored.

[Read More]

BMW in bangalore

we found this on bannerghatta road

Posted via Pixelpipe.

iPhone finally available without a contract

The rumor has become reality. You can now pickup an iPhone without signing a contract. Be prepared to pay a ridiculous price though. The 8GB iPhone sells for $599 without a contract, and the 16GB iPhone sells for $699.

The contract-free iPhones are available now from AT&T and Apple stores. To get the deal at AT&T, you must be an existing AT&T customer and you can only purchase 1 iPhone at the contract-free price. Apple will sell them to whoever walks in. Sounds like the Apple store is the better deal.

Keepin' it real fake, part CXCIII: NCKLA E71 ls tcc gccd tc b3 tru3

Looking to get a Nokia E71 off contract for just over a hundred bucks? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. But you can get this new NCKLA E71-2 for a mere $119 from the always accommodating folks at Solomobi, which should be just the ticket for folks concerned with neither brands nor functionality. You will still get a 2.1-inch QVGA touchscreen (or perhaps just a bundled pen), along with dual SIM card support, built-in Bluetooth, a 0.3 megapixel camera, a "stereo loud speaker," and an included 256MB T-Flash card, with support for up to 2GB. Hit up the link below for a closer look, and the order form if you're feeling like you need a little more KIRF in your life.

[Source]

Wind-powered vehicle hits 126MPH, nabs world record

Sorry Mr. Schumacher, but your ten year record just got obliterated (okay, "beat soundly") by a Briton. On the dry, dusty plains of Ivanpah Lake in Nevada, Sir Richard Jenkins managed to perfectly harness winds of 30MPH in his futuristic Ecotricity Greenbird in order to hit a ridiculously quick 126.1MPH. In all honestly, we can't even fathom how you hit that speed with just 30MPH of wind, but clearly we're not up to speed when it comes to physics and engineering. At any rate, the milestone is pretty important for Ecotricity, which is trying to make wind power the go-to alternative energy source within the next score. Now, if only we could figure out a cheap and easy way to generate wind on demand, we'd really be onto something.

Sanwa Throat Microphone

Have you ever had a conversation on a cellular phone, and found that the person that you were talking to could not hear you? Or you could not hear the one that you are talking to? It would be a bad time to get that really important message, like the ones you hear about on those AT&T commercials where the main characters’ phones are talking. SWAT teams, who work in very loud backgrounds, know about this situation. This is why they often use microphones that attach on the neck. Apparently, the neck carries as much vibrations as the mouth, so the other person on the end gets to hear you very clearly. This is why Sanwa has made the Throat Microphone, which will be available to the general consumer. You might think that this is an unusual accessory, but there was a time when no one would be caught dead wearing a wireless headset or Bluetooth earpiece. In other words, Sanwa may be stumbling on the next wave of the future here. I wouldn’t mind wearing one of these myself when I’m working in a loud coffee shop. Of course, I might look like some freak with this collar on, not to mention that I would be talking to myself. Sadly, there is no world when the Sanwa Throat Microphone will be available, nor any word on the price.

Source

Windows 7 edges out Vista in thorough gaming benchmarks

Looking to find out what's the better gaming experience out there right now -- Windows 7 beta or Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 -- the folks at PC Perspective put both operating systems through the ringer with help from seven graphics cards running the gamut of price ranges. Overall, three ATI Radeon HD and four NVIDIA GeForce cards were pitted with six games and applications in one of the lengthiest benchmarking features we've ever read. AMD / ATI gets credit for being the first to release combined drivers that work on both OSs, and with one lone exception, performance on the Windows 7 machine was equal to or better than Vista. That said, the reccomendations for each system is the same: ATI gets an advantage here for cards in the $120 to $130 range, but the competition is much closer as you start looking at more expensive models. Hit up the read link for technical details that you can shake an anti-aliased stick at.

[Via Engadget]

Western Digital My Book series now 2TB

Western Digital's extremely popular My Book series of external hard drives got a little capacity boost today: all the single disk models now max out at 2TB. Not bad for the $330 - $380 you'll spend depending on port configuration, but that's a lot of data to trust to one disk -- we'd have a backup strategy firmly in place before plunking down the green.

[Via Electronista]

Acer F1 coming in September, powered by Snapdragon?

Is one of Acer's mysterious smartphones packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon? According to the folks at All About Phones who reportedly attended an Acer event recently, the F1 will be running the 800MHz ARM chip, which is a tad slower than the 1000MHz equivalent in the TG01. The device will be Windows Mobile 6.5-based, but that's supposedly gonna be shrouded by a Flash-based Acer Suite 2.0 shell. The report also mentions a September release, which jibes with what we saw on that makeshift roadmap at Mobile World Congress, and a 560 Euro ($760) price tag. Nothing's confirmed, but between Acer, HTC, Samsung, and LG, surely someone's gearing up to join Toshiba in the Snapdragon bandwagon.

[Via Unwired View]

Sprint unveils WiMAX expansion cities, 4G is here !

The XOHM label may be gone, but the potency of Sprint's WiMAX network is still kickin' in and around Baltimore. For those itching for wicked fast mobile broadband outside of The Charm City, Sprint has just unveiled a slew of expansion areas that'll get gifted in 2009 and 2010. As for the rest of this year, folks in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle can expect Sprint 4G rollouts, while residents of Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. can be on the lookout in 2010. In related news, the carrier is also taking this opportunity to reveal that it has "several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone." Lovely.

Source

New iPhone and iPod Touch models coming?

On the heels of the new iPhone 3.0 software announcement, could new hardware be coming down the pike for the iPhone? According to BGR, they received some information that indicates new hardware for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
"Apple normally makes their device IDs in chronological order, from first released to last released. Here is what I found very interesting for you. Quick, here is an example of the past devices:

iPhone First Gen - 0x1290
iPod touch 1G - 0x1291
iPhone 3G - 0x1292
iPod touch 2G - 0x1293

Then, here is what is found in the ramdisk:

iPhone2,1 - 0x1294
iProd0,1 - 0x1295
iPod2,2 - 0x1296
iPhone3,1 - 0x1297
iFPGA - 0x1298
iPod3,1 - 0x1299"

Obviously this would be categorized under the rumor category at this point. BGR gets it right a lot of the time though, so keep that in mind. Head over to the source link below to see what BGR's source sent them. This looks interesting.

Canon intros Rebel T1i/EOS 500D entry level DSLR

Canon today announced an entry level DSLR that will give the goodness of EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II at a very pocket friendly price. Rebel T1i, as the Americans know or EOS 500D incorporates a 15.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor supporting full 1080p HD video recording at 20 fps. The camera boasts the latest DIGIC 4 imaging processor, ISO sensitivity up to 3200 with couple of high-speed ISO settings going to 6400 and 12800, 3-inch Clear View LCD, nine-point AF, EOS Cleaning System for sensor and SD/SDHC card support. Destined to come in early May, the body only T1i will cost $800 or $900 for the full kit.

Press Release

[Info from Engadget]

BlackBerry Visor

If you're in need of extreme privacy for your BlackBerry you might check out the Mobile Visor. The company says the visor blocks glare and provides privacy. It works on all BlackBerry models including the new BlackBerry Storm.You can pick yours up for $8.95 at the link below.
"The Mobile Visor provides privacy by blocking others from viewing your screen. This must have BlackBerry accessory stores flat when not in use and is approximately the same size as a credit card. Quickly attaches and removes with a universal elastic band."

Product Page

[Note: This post has been reproduced from Blackberryblast ]

Video: 24 Samsung SSDs hooked up for computer awesomeness

Samsung’s marketing gigs for SSD are not new. Now they have come again to show what it feels when you’ve 24 256GB SSDs connected in RAID to give that supercomputer performance on a desktop machine.The SSDs give a whopping 6TB of storage, 2GB throughput speed, 0.5 seconds to open the whole Office Suite and just around 19 seconds to open more than 50 apps.

Note: This post has been republished from Samsung Hub. For more Samsung news, head over to Samsung Hub

Samsung Papyrus:Touchscreen ebook reader

Samsung thinks the ebook reader business is the next goldmine waiting to be dug.Dubbed as Papyrus, the device will have a touchscreen display with a size of around 6-8 inches.Other details to surface is the 512MB in-built memory, stylus and is also able to take notes as well as feature contacts, world clock, calculator amongst other things.

Priced @ $299, this will be released in Korea in June followed by the US and UK.

Note: This post has been republished from Samsung Hub. For more Samsung news, head over to Samsung Hub.

Eee keyboard PC

Images from Nokia E71 after firmware upgrade and review

As mentioned in my previous post, the camera was not upto the mark when compared with other 3.2 mp in the market.My E 71 did not disappoint me when i did an upgradation to the firmware.Although the process is tiresome,Nokia really proved its point.Here are few clicks after the upgradation.

Unfortunately i dont have any images taken before the upgradation to do the comparision.Here comes the catch. How can a fix from Nokia be flawless? Yeah it has a flaw.I had all my messages stored in my memory card and after doing the upgradation , i noted that my mobile does not allow me to move the messages to the memory card which is very very essential for me.Luckily my phone memory has got 110 mb storage and it can withstand till i get the next firmware update from them(Nokia). Hope Nokia fixes it now and no more bugs for the next release.

To upgrade the firmware, click on "Update phone software" on the Nokia PC Suite .

To download Nokia PC Suite Click here

Sony unveils new range of digital imaging products at PMA 2009

At the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2009 International Convention, Sony has introduced their new range of digital imaging products including the new Cyber-shot® DSC-HX1 with “sweep panorama” technology.

Cyber-Shot DSC - HX1

The DSC-HX1 is Sony’s first Cyber-shot camera with sweep panorama technology, which can capture up to 224-degree panorama shots in one easy press-and-sweep motion. The HX1 camera is also the company’s first to incorporate a Sony G lens and 1080p HD movie clip recording capabilities and proprietary 1/2.4-inch Exmor™ CMOS sensor technology. This sensor technology allows the camera to achieve burst speeds of up to 10 frames per second at full 9.1 megapixel resolution in the continuous burst mode.

a (Alpha) DSLR Cameras

Sony’s full-frame a (alpha) DSLR-A900 camera introduced last fall, is back at PMA after being presented as a prototype last year. It is designed for serious photo enthusiasts looking for traditional SLR performance with the added benefits of digital photography.

The DSLR-A900 is capable of delivering ultra-fine picture quality with a 24.6-megapixel, 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor and fast image processing with a new dual BIONZ® processing engine. The camera is also the first DSLR to have a body-integrated image stabilization system for a full-frame sensor with Sony’s SteadyShot® Inside anti-shake system.

Handycam High-Definition Camcorders

Sony’s strong 2009 Handycam product portfolio is also on display, including the top-of-the-line HDR-XR520V (shown above) featuring a 240GB hard disk drivethat holds up to 101 hours of HD video (LP mode), a back-illuminated Exmor R™ CMOS sensor, embedded GPS and improved optical image stabilization.

Its back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor offers a refined level of optical performance. Because the wire circuitry is placed behind the sensor’s photo detectors, the HDR-XR520V camcorders provide stunning low light performance with approximately twice the sensitivity compared to Sony’s existing front-illuminated CMOS sensor at F2.0. This results in brilliant image clarity and reduced grain.

Also on display is the new HDR-CX100 Flash Memory Handycam camcorder. For around USD600, this model includes intelligent face detection and Smile Shutter™ technology, 8GB of embedded memory (a portion of which is used for data management) and three color options (red, black and silver) — all in a compact design.

On top of that, two new digital photo printers, two professional printers and 13 new digital imaging accessories are also on display. Accessories include underwater housing products, high-definition (HD) lenses and output cables, accessory packs for sports and outdoor enthusiasts, as well as a full line of fashionable and functional cases and camera bags for Cyber-shot cameras and Handycam® camcorders.

The intelligent auto (iAuto) mode, available on the T900, T90, W290 and H20 models announced in February,

Guy with a 2GB USB prosthetic finger

Shall we term it as the epitome of geekiness? Jerry Jalava, a software developer from Finland amputate one of his fingers because of a motorbike accident and had to replace the lost finger with a prosthetic one. However, the difference between a regular prosthetic finger replacement and his is the integrated 2GB USB flash drive. The finger can be detached from its body and plugged in the USB drive just by peeling back the nail.

The future version of his prosthetic USB finger will involve a larger storage capacity and an embedded RFID tag.

You can check out more pictures on his Flickr page.

Fujitsu FLEPia now available for preorder

Fujitsu has announced its colored e-paper reader, FLEPia is now available to preorder from Fujitsu’s FrontechDirect online store. For now it’s limited to Japan but if it ever comes to US, the great feature set can beat Kindle hands down*.

It has an 8-inch touchscreen 260K color display with 768X1024 pixel resolution support, up to 4GB SD card support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, stereo speakers and battery life of 40 hours.

The FLEPia is bundled with two famous Japanese e-book readers, BunkoViewer (.XMDF) and T-Time (.book) enabling users an access of more than 20,000 Japanese e-books.

Finally, it runs on Windows CE OS 5.0 making it possible for the user to surf the internet,e-mail and can even view or edit Office documents.

It will come in Black or White for JPY 99,750 (USD1013) and will start shipping from April 20, 2009.

*A great feature set, sure, but Kindle’s pocket friendly price tag can make it survive the future FLEPia wave.

Product Page

FLEPia Videos

Press Release

Sony to UK Retailer: PS3 price cuts coming soon

Another piece of PS3 news claims that Sony might release a new PS3 SKU that will be bundled along with two games - MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. The bundle is expected to retail at $399, which is the price of a low-end PS3. So in reality, there won’t be any price cut but a better value for money.

Let’s wait and see what strategy Sony adopts. I’m in for both.

Psystar announces Mac OS desktop

Despite being engaged in a legal tussle with Apple, Psystar tries its luck to push through its new Mac powered desktop PC. Dubbed as Open(3),the computer comes with a pre installed copy of Mac OS X Leopard and features Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processors, 2GB RAM, up to 1TB HDD and GeForce 8400GS GPU.

It sells for $600 until Apple’s lawyers dispatch a fresh summon.

Press Release

Product Page

Jai Ho Nokia

As a Nokia fan myself,i have never used any other mobiles other than Nokia. Saved a lot get my first mobile Nokia 2100 in 2003 for an unbelieving price of Rs.4400.He gave me this discount as i told him i dont need the charger with the pack. lol...I had an awesome messaging experience with it and never had a single problem. Those were the days when color mobiles dint open doors.Used it for a while and had to sell it :(. After many reviews, i planned to get something with all the latest features on a mobile which a human being cud nt belive in 2005. Landed up on the Nokia 6630 which had memory card facilities which can be upgraded to 2GB ( guys, remember this was back in 2005 when flash drives were 1800 INR for a 512MB).This one had stereo MP3 ringtones with EDGE.

I have used this for nearly 780 hours and the battery backup is still for 2 days.Finally after three years of serving me, it was bored of a single owner handling it and decided to act the other way to me. Failed to start few applications and goes to sleep without announcing.But still works for all the basic functionalities.So started reviewing again in search of a new one .This time i wanted to look professional when i pull out of my pocket,not like any other ordinary mobile freak,so decided on the E series and was watching E51 for a while which made no impact on my wallet.Used it when my cousin got it and really liked it much,but here comes another question. Does it look professional? Naaaah . jus another bar phone from Nokia with few business features, thats it.Opened other windows to jus look into SE,Motorola,HTC , then closed the windows n decided to stick on to Nokia alone.Couple of my friends helped me shortlist to 2 mobiles atlast.N82 and the E71 which had the same features but N82 had a 5mp cybershot with carl zeiss lens etc..As told before it does not look professional and finally was left with a single option and went for it and i dont regret for the decision made.Name anything and its availabe in here.I found the e-mail setup and the GPS really cool in this and GPS signal is too good in a place like Tuticorin. I have been using for a week now and could find very few negative points in this.People who look for good camera mobiles, this is way out of your league.E71 has got a 3.2 MP cam which does not perform like the Nokia N73.And one more thing i noted down is the power button which is very difficult to access.Hope Nokia comes with a fix for this. the new firmware update was awesome and the coolest update in this is the internet radio.All u need is a gateway to the web and u can jus listen to thousands of stations without even the headset plugged in( which normally acts as the receiver for FM radio).More updates coming as and when it is being experienced.Check for the pics of my E71 here

HTC to launch at least couple more Android phones

At a conference held in Taipei, HTC’s CEO Peter Chou confirmed that they are looking to launch at least three Android phones in 2009. With Magic already out, it leaves us with two other phones waiting to be announced. Which ones could it be? Maybe the leaked phone list could be of our help.
For more news,click here

Samsung NC10 with WiMAX comes to Russia

Yota, the Russian WiMAX service provider and Samsung have announced NC10 netbook (also known as WiTU PC) with an integrated WiMAX module. Apart from this 4G addition, other specs remain the same: Intel Atom processor, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, Windows XP, 1.3MP camera, Wi-Fi, LAN, Bluetooth, card reader and different I/O ports.

The netbook will start retailing from March 23 for 19,990 Rubles (USD 580). It will be sold exclusively at the M.video retail stores for the first two weeks.