VinylDisc from Germany
Trust the Germans to come up with something like the VinylDisc. This audio format features a CD on one side and a vinyl on the other, building a bridge between both analog and digital audio on a single format. British group Fightstar will take the honor of releasing the first record on the VinylDisc format. Developed by Optimal Media Production, the limited edition single by Fightstar will come with one track on each side, and only 3,000 copies have been manufactured, retailing for $6 a pop. Any idea whether anyone would want to adopt this format? The vinyl side doesn’t really do much since it can only hold 3 minutes’ worth of audio, and will probably be more of a gimmick than anything else.
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Add comment October 16th, 2007
The Corega CG-IPSPDC03 from Japan is a compact active speaker system that works great even with the 2G iPod Shuffle, and boasts a wide range of colors to go down well with the Shuffle. Each CG-IPSPDC03 comes with an iPod dock connector for the Shuffle in the center, and can be powered via batteries or an available USB port. When hooked up via USB, the CG-IPSPDC03 will also charge the Shuffle’s battery simultaneously. Specifications include a 0.5W×2ch built-in amplifier and an anti magnetic driver unit that measures 25mm diameter. The entire Corega CG-IPSPDC03 active speaker system measures just 100mm × 22mm × 40mm and weighs 50g, making it the perfect pocket companion for any music lover. It retails for roughly $28.
Toshiba has just released the A200 and A210 business notebooks today that hail from the Satellite Pro line. The main difference between the two lies not only in the naming convention, but the amount of processing power within. The A200 will be powered by an Intel Centrino dual-core processor, while the A210 relies on AMD’s Turion 64 X2 dual-core processors instead. Both notebooks will use integrated graphics processors, with the A200 and A210 running on Intel’s X3100 and ATI Radeon X1200 respectively. Shared features include a 15.4″ WXGA TruBrite LCD display, a 120GB SATA hard drive, and a DVD+R/DVD-R drive. While the A200’s Intel wireless card can pick up 802.11a/b/g WiFi, the A210’s Atheros card will only do 802.11b/g. On the other end of the scale, the A210 will ship with 2GB RAM while the A200 has half the amount. The A200 and A210 will retail for $999 and $699 upwards respectively.
It is well known that bone conduction technology allows you to carry out decent conversations over the cellphone even in the noisiest of environments, and the Pantech-manufactured A1407PT cellphone from KDDI will feature a bone conduction loudspeaker to help you get the message across clearly. All you need to do is press the speaker to the head just behind or under the ear, and you’ll be able to “hear” usnig your skull rather than through the outer ear. Other than this feature, the A1407PT is but an ordinary 3G enabled handset running on KDDI’s CDMA 1x network. It will retail for $165, where a 2.4″ display and a 1.3 megapixel camera rounds off the list of features.
The Rear Vision activity mirror increases the awareness level of a cyclist, helping them get a hold of what’s happening right behind without the need to turn around. It will be available in a wristband or glove option from Pacific Connections. While anyone else could come up with a homebrew solution by sticking one of these onto their wristbands or something, at least you know there is a commercial version available in the market to save you all that DIY trouble. Just be careful you don’t accidentally blind the driver behind lest he/she runs you down after suffering from a temporary loss of vision. I suppose this would come in extremely handy for me as I tend to get chased by stray dogs whenever I go off the beaten path…
After som drama that delayed the announcement, both companies broke the news: Orange will be the iPhone retailer in France. 
Napster 4.0 is finally out, and this version is a major overhaul that will remove the need for Windows while offering a degree of improvement to the actual service itself. Napster 4.0 will boast being one of the first services that offers an almost completely web-driven version of its library. Not only do you get to download Napster songs and playing them over Windows Media Player or a PlaysForSure-compatible device, it also enables subscribing users to play any song they desire from a web jukebox application. In addition, the browser version will also alter the playback format to the Flash audio format, making it all the more accessible to everyone. Mac and Linux users can now use a standard Flash plugin to listen to tracks from Napster’s store - something impossible in the past. Each song download still retains the recommended retail price of $0.99.
Rubik’s Cube certainly has had a fine run where puzzle toys are concerned, and what better way to give it a new leases of life than to introduce a modern element to it. Dubbed Rubik’s Revolution, it does not twist in segments like its ancestor, but instead each side will independently light up while the middle squares have been replaced with a glowing button. A combination of lights, sound and voice effects enable you to indulge in half a dozen ‘core games’ such as Light Speed, Rapid Recharge, Pattern Panic, Cube Catcher, Code Cracker and Multiplayer Madness. The main idea would be rotating the cube in your hands, pushing the middle buttons in specific order within the shortest time possible. Rubik’s Revolution retails for $19.99 a pop. Having said all that, I still haven’t solved the Rubik’s Cube yet to this day. Shame on me!
