Early NVIDIA GTX 295 benchmarks impress, raise suspicions

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

NVIDIA still hasn’t gotten official with the less-than-secret card, but it looks like China’s IT168 website has already gotten its hands on an actual GTX 295 and gone ahead and published some early benchmarks, which now seem to have not so mysteriously disappeared. This being the internet, however, there’s already been screenshots taken, and while the benchmarks certainly impress, they’re also rightfully leading folks to wait for some slightly more official numbers. If they are accurate, however, it looks like the GTX 295 will trounce ATI’s top-end HD 4870 X2 in a number of tests, including a stunning 100% boost in performance in Dead Space, all while boasting a considerably lower power consumption too boot (hence the suspicion). We won’t have to wait too much longer to put things to rest, however, as the card is expected to be officially unveiled at CES, with a whole slew of benchmarks inevitably set to follow shortly thereafter.

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Fujitsu LifeBook U820 gets reviewed

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

Mystery ThinkPad keyboard pops up on Lenovo’s Flickr page

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

While we may not know exactly what item we’re looking at in the photo above, we do know that we like it. This hot peripheral showed up on Lenovo’s photostream without any explanation, and from the image it seems pretty much like a keyboard-lover’s dream; it looks to be wireless, psychotically thin, and boasts an integrated trackpad and numpad. If you’ve been itching to find a stylish companion to that ThinkPad USB Portable Secure HD, this may just be the keyboard for you. As expected, no info on pricing or availability, but we’ll definitely keep our eyes out for more as it becomes available.

Update: Damn, it looks like this is just a super-hot pic of a new rev of Lenovo’s already-released wired UltraNav keyboard — as our astute commenters have pointed out, it’s probably on Flickr because it was posted on Lenovo’s Design Matters blog today. That’s not to say we wouldn’t take a wireless version of this bad boy in a heartbeat — feel free to rock us, Lenovo

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Brando’s latest mini-keyboard: blue backlight, impossible to type on

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

There’s no denying that Brando has a special place in its heart for shrunken keyboards, and the latest addition to its product line continues the trend. This appropriately titled “Wireless Illuminated Super Tiny Keyboard” is a slim 15mm, has 56 keys, and operates wirelessly via an included dongle. Yeah, it may not have Bluetooth or handy media keys — but you can’t argue with that electric blue backlight. If this info has got your fingers twitching, you can order one now for $47 with shipping expected by “end of December 2008.”

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Panasonic to officially purchase controlling stake in Sanyo for $6.4B

Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments

It took a little longer than we’d heard due to some last-minute complications, but Panasonic’s deal to buy almost all of Sanyo has finally been approved by Sanyo’s major shareholders. Under the deal, Panny will buy out some 70 percent of Sanyo for ¥131 ($1.50) a share, making the total deal worth some ¥560B ($6.41B). That’d be lot of scratch even if the economy wasn’t in the tank, but Panny thinks it’ll be worth it to take over Sanyo’s position in the solar and rechargeable battery markets, which it thinks are due to blow up. Er, not blow up like that — in the fun-filled raining-cash way. You get the idea. Xactis for everyone!

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Apple announces final MacWorld, Steve Jobs won’t deliver keynote

Posted on | December 17, 2008 | No Comments

Watch this space folks — it’s the end of an era. Apple has just issued a press release stating that this coming MacWorld in January will be its last, and Steve Jobs won’t be on hand to say goodbye. Instead, Phil Schiller will be heading up the proceedings, thus marking a quiet end to a conference that’s been the launching point of some of the most important pieces of consumer tech in recent memory. In Apple’s words:

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

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AT&T Quickfire gets reviewed

Posted on | December 17, 2008 | No Comments

AT&T’s SideKick-esque Quickfire handset has been up for grabs for a little while now, but if you’re still undecided, you may want to take a gander at Phonescoop’s review of the phone, which covers just about every aspect of it in minute detail. On the whole, they seem to be mightily impressed with the phone, saying that it “almost makes good on all that it sets out to do,” with only a few relatively minor problems holding it back somewhat. Those include a lack of threaded SMS, and some general slowness in the music and gallery apps. On the upside, the phone re-orients itself between landscape and portrait mode “immediately,” the camera takes decent pictures and, while not the most responsive around, the capacitive touchscreen apparently gets the job done. Hit up the link below for the full rundown and, of course, plenty of pics.

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Fujitsu finally gets its Stylistic ST6012 tablet PC out the door

Posted on | December 17, 2008 | No Comments

Fujitsu first let out word of its Stylistic ST6012 tablet PC back in September, and we also caught sight of it at the FCC a little while back, but the company has only just now actually gotten the device out the door. Despite the slight delay, however, there doesn’t seem to be any changes to the tablet itself, with it still packing a 12-inch WXGA display, a low-voltage Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor, and 1GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive in its standard configuration. Those looking to max things out can also take advantage of a number of optional upgrades, including an SSD drive, integrated UWB, some Intel turbo memory, a built-in camera, a 9-cell battery, and no less than three different docks. While all those options can easily push things past the $4,000 mark (really), those less demanding should be able to get by just fine with the base $1,999 model.

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Pentax K2000 to come in Limited Edition black-and-white cookie style

Posted on | December 17, 2008 | No Comments

Pentax’s K2000’s already gotten itself some… shall we say “glowing” reviews, but news that the DSLR will now come in a Limited Edition white is like icing on a super delicious cake. The camera will be exactly the same as its old-fangled black predecessor, and will come with custom white-and-black 18-55mm and 50-200mm lenses. Considering the real lack of color in the DSLR category, some people should be pretty stoked when it goes on sale in February. An exact price wasn’t released, but the black K2000 runs about $800.

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Clearwire’s $150 dual-mode WiMAX / Sprint CDMA modem launches Sunday

Posted on | December 17, 2008 | No Comments

Yup, it’s true, the dual-mode CDMA / WiMAX modem is real and will be sold by by Clearwire starting December 21st. The $150 device (after $50 rebate and two-year Sprint contract) is a first to function on both Sprint’s EV-DO network and Clearwire’s nascent mobile WiMAX service currently supporting Baltimore’s collection of kitschy beauty salons. So yeah, the modem is of limited interest until Clearwire can build-out its network in 2009, starting with Portland in early January.

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