Todays & Tomorrows Technology

Seagate announced three brand new BlackArmor line data storage devices today. They include the BlackArmor NAS 220 Storage Server, the BlackArmor WS110 External Drive Workstation and the BlackArmor PS 110 Portable Drive.

All three new devices sport automated backup and a bare metal recovery feature. First up is the BlackArmor NAS 220, which is remote accessible and network accessible with up 4TB for up to 20 computers. It will be available in a 2TB and a 4TB version in July for $500 and $700 each.

Next, there’s the WS 110 External Drive Workstation with an eSATA and USB 2.0 interface. It will be available in a 1TB and a 2TB version for $160 and $310 each. Last, there’s the PS 110 Portable Drive, which is 12.5mm thick and will be available in a 500GB version for $160.

Kodak announced a new digital picture frame today called the EasyShare S730. It’s simple and offers a limited feature set, but it most definitely gets the job done if all you’re looking for is a picture frame that shows off your favorite images.

Notably, this picture frame lacks Wi-Fi, but you don’t have to plug it in to use it, thanks to a rechargeable battery. You can get about an hour of life out of this thing. Measuring in at 7-inches, this frame has a Picture Finder feature, that lets you categorize your images.

There’s also a slideshow and collage mode as well as a calendar and a clock. There’s 1GB of memory and you can attach a USB drive for added space. It will play music and videos as well. You can get the Kodak EasyShare S730 in Europe now for about $207 and it’ll be available in the U.S. in September for $139.

Since many states are passing laws that prevent people from talking on their cell phones while driving, more and more hands-free devices are hitting the market. The latest, however, is officially from RIM and called the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone.

This gadget lets you play music from your phone over your car speakers wirelessly. It also lets you receive and make calls via your car’s stereo, so there’s no more taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel.

Featuring Bluetooth, this speaker phone simply attaches to the visor in your car and you’re good to go. You can get the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone now for $99.99, which I guess isn’t too bad you simply must receive your calls in stereo.

Sony let slip a bit more information about their PlayStation 3 motion control tech today, giving those who were anxious to hear more about it at E3 this year a little bit of reprieve from their desperate need to know more.

Apparently, developers can start making their own content for the new technology via the PS3 Software Development Kit. This SDK sports head tracking and face tracking abilities, giving developers quite a bit to work with just right there.

The new motion controller will also have force feedback rumble, voice input and voice recognition. Likewise, the PlayStation Eye can track four controllers at once. We still don’t know pricing or anything like that, but the new motion controllers are still expected by spring of next year.

After months of complaint from US would-be VAIO P buyers, Sony has apparently relented and added a new, faster processor option to their “don’t call it a netbook” ultraportable. The VAIO P VGN-P698E gets Intel’s 1.60GHz Intel Atom processor, likely the Z530, together with a 128GB SSD and the usual integrated Verizon EVDO Rev.A and GPS.

Unfortunately that’s still a fair few clock-cycles behind Japan’s latest VAIO P, the 2GHz Atom Z550 model announced earlier this month. In fact it’s slower, even, than the now-toppled Japanese flagship – which ran at 1.86GHz with an Atom Z540 CPU – and the Windows XP option is also unavailable, as Sony have seemingly decided US customers only want Vista.

Best of all is the price: for the smudge of extra processing power and double the SSD you’re looking at $1,499.99. That’s a full $500 more than the 1.33GHz 32GB SSD model. It’s available for pre-order now, and will begin shipping around June 26th.

Developers playing with Palm’s webOS have discovered a method whereby software can be installed on an unhacked Pre. The system emails a .ipk link to the app, and seemingly takes advantage of a loophole in the platform to bypass Palm’s security.

For the end-user, installing an app is as straightforward as tapping on a link in their email and allowing the Pre’s browser to open it. That automatically downloads and installs the software; currently the only publicly available app is a proof-of-concept that installs a non-functional shortcut icon to the Pre’s launcher.

Frankly, we’re fully expecting Palm to step in and put a stop to this sort of software distribution with an update to webOS. Not only does it present a security risk, where naive Pre users may click to load a malware app without realizing, but it bypasses the official app store and thus denies Palm themselves any cut of paid-app profits (or the ability to decline certain apps it doesn’t want released). They’re likely to put more emphasis on the security reasons, though.

Belkin have launched what they’re calling the first-to-market gigabit-capable Powerline adapters, promising theoretical transfer speeds of up to 1,000Mbps. Offered initially as the Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit, the bundle includes two single-port adapters, one for connection to your router and the other for a console, mediaplayer or HDTV.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from plugging an ethernet switch or hub into the remote Gigabit Powerline unit, sharing the connectivity between multiple devices. You can also buy an individual adapter, at which point Belkin say Gigle’s xtendnet system kicks in; this, it promises, boosts network stability and performance “by creating a transparent mesh network”.

The Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD adapters are compatible with existing HomePlug AV devices. The kit, F5D4076, is available now, priced at $149.99; no word on what the price will be for the individual adapters.

Acer have announced new 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch notebooks, the Aspire Gemstone Blue range, priced from just $479.99. The 15.6-inch AS5536 has a 16:9 display, AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.1GHz dual-core CPU, 3GB of RAM and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, together with a 320GB hard-drive, DVD burner and WiFi b/g/n.

As for the AS7735Z, that has a 17.3-inch 16:9 display, Intel Pentium T4200 2.0GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and Intel’s GMA 4500MHD graphics. There’s also a 250GB hard-drive, DVD burner and WiFi b/g/n. Both machines have a webcam, multi-format card reader, and a multitouch capable trackpad.

The Acer Aspire AS5536 is available now, priced from $479.99, while the AS7735Z is also on sale now, priced from $599.99. As of the end of the month, they’ll be joined by the Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue AS5739G, with a 15.6-inch display, Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 2.1GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT130M graphics with 1GB of discrete memory and a Blu-ray drive. It also has a 250GB hard-drive, fingerprint reader, WiFi a/b/g/n and the multitouch trackpad; it’ll be priced from $749.99.

Mio have released the first TV-enabled satnav units in the UK, the Mio Navman Spirit TV. First shown at the launch of the Spirit range back in May, the Spirit TV will be available in two versions – the 4.7-inch V505 and the 7-inch V735 – each with a touchscreen, Google search, TruMap and Junction views and of course Freeview digital TV with autotuning.

Each comes with a remote control, and can access the Freeview 7-day EPG for scheduling. The larger V735 also gets PMP functionality, including playback of videos and MP3s, together with a photo viewer and FM transmitter. All of the usual Spirit functionality is present, including NavPix geo-tagged photos, POIs and a pedestrian mode.

The Navman Spirit TV range will go on sale in the UK come July, priced at £299.99 ($493) for the V735 and £229 ($377) for the V505. More hands-on images of the new 7-inch Mio Navman Spirit V735 TV here. While Mio have not announced any plans to bring the Navman Spirit TV range to the US, the modular nature of the TV tuner would make a North America version technologically possible.

If you’ve considered Verizon’s FiOS internet service but dismissed it for being too slow for your tastes, the news that they’re speeding up the fiber-optic system will come as a pleasant surprise. The company is boosting downlink/uplink speeds of its entry-level package from 10/2 Mbps to 15/5 Mbps, while the mid-tier 20/5 Mbps climbs to 25/15 Mbps. New York City and Long Island will see even greater increases.

In fact, those two locations will see their entry-level package jump to 25/15 Mbps, with the mid-tier package landing at 35/20 Mbps. That sort of uplink speed is enough to upload a one-hour high-definition movie in around 20 minutes; according to recent research from In-Stat, Verizon says with no small amount of gloating, the average cable internet user sees upload rates of 2.68Mbps.

If sheer speed isn’t enough to lure you in, Verizon are also offering gadget incentives to new subscribers. Anybody subscribing to a triple package of 25/15 Mbps internet (or higher), Extreme HD TV and Essentials voice will get their choice of a Compaq Mini netbook or a Flip Ultra camcorder. Anybody choosing the slower 15/5 Mbps (or higher) connection with TV Essentials and Essentials voice service will get a free Flip Ultra. Those unable to get FiOS will have similar offers for Verizon’s DSL service.

Apple have announced sales figures for the iPhone 3G S, and while there was talk of fewer buyers turning out for their latest-gen smartphone the numbers are still undeniably healthy. The company sold over one million iPhone 3G S handsets through Sunday, June 21st; meanwhile six million users have downloaded iPhone OS 3.0 in the five days since it was released on Wednesday last week.

Apple haven’t revealed how many people picked up the iPhone 3G 8GB in the past couple of weeks. Their previous-generation smartphone was reduced to $99 with a new contract after the iPhone 3G S was announced, offering a new point-of-entry to iPhone ownership though lacking the newer handset’s autofocus camera, extra megapixels, digital compass and other functionality.

For our hands-on first impressions of the iPhone 3G S, check out this post. We’ll have our full review up later this week!

LG and ARM have announced a partnership that will see the former’s HDTVs use the latter’s ARM11 MPCore multicore processor and ARM Mali GPUs. The system will allow for not only high-definition 1080p processing but video-on-demand, voting and polling, games, and e-commerce without the need for a separate set-top box.

ARM’s range of processor and GPU options will allow LG to target different levels of performance and capability to different HDTV price-points. That way, high-end sets could use multiple SMP cores and offer 4x and 16x full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA), 2D and 3D graphics processing and OpenGL ES 2.0 support.

The most obvious benefit to consumers will be straightforward connectivity with a home network, and the ability to view video and other media content on their sets without needing external boxes. LG have not confirmed when the first HDTVs using the ARM CPU/GPU components will be released.

Details of Verizon’s upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, the HTC Ozone, have leaked, detailing not only the handset’s full specifications but pricing and other tidbits. The Verizon Ozone XV6800 will have a 2.4-inch QVGA non-touchscreen display and full QWERTY keyboard, and not only access the carrier’s EVDO Rev.A network but have globalphone quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity for roaming use.

Verizon will supply the Ozone with a pre-fitted SIM, and in some regions users will be able to choose between local networks. Other specs include a 2-megapixel autofocus camera with video recording, WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP wireless stereo support. There’s also a microSD card slot, 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM, GPS – that can use, but isn’t limited to, Verizon VZ Navigator – voice command and visual voicemail support.

The whole thing measures 4.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches and weighs 3.7oz with its 1,500mAh battery; talktime is rated at 290 minutes, or 324hrs standby. According to the leaked information, the Verizon Wireless HTC Ozone will go on sale online on June 29th, followed by in-store on July 13th, priced at $119.99 with a two-year agreement. Alternatively it’s $189.99 with a one-year contract or $429.99 contract-free.

You’ll need more than a passing familiarity with the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 to spot the mod here, so we’ll give you a hefty hint: it’s the fingerprint reader in the right-hand side of the palm-rest. MyDellMini forum member Rich decided he wanted biometric login functionality in his netbook, so inserted the guts of an Eikon fingerprint reader into the Mini 9.

To do so he also had to squeeze a USB hub inside, so as not to lose one of the Inspiron Mini 9’s external ports. After some careful measurements, he cut a narrow slot into the palm-rest, and then gave it a suitably beveled edge to allow contact between finger and sensor.

Considering you can pick up the Eikon for under $40 through Amazon Marketplace, this doesn’t have to be an expensive mod, either. Next step for the Mini 9 – which as you can see is already running Mac OS X – is an internal GPS receiver.

It’s ironic that what a year or two would’ve been called a UMPC (and, frankly, ignored by most people, tech writers included) is now called a touchscreen netbook and garners far more interest. Latest on the block is set to be the Kohjinsha SK3, an upgrade to the existing 7-inch SC3 UMPC. Among the changes are a new battery and upgraded cameras.
The SK3 has a convertible resistive touchscreen, a couple of inches smaller than that of the ASUS Eee PC T91, which folds flat onto the keyboard for portable slate use. Inside there’s the same 1.3GHz Menlow-platform processor – capable enough, we’ve seen, for Vista – though no word on whether there’s an SSD option this time around. WiFi has been upgraded, adding draft-n support, and there are still PCI Express, SD, VGA and ethernet connections, together with GPS.

According to UMPCPortal’s sources, the Kohjinsha SK3 will get its official announcement this week. No word on battery life from the newly-streamlined power pack, nor what sort of pricing we could expect.

Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset was good enough to make even Vincent look twice at his Jawbone PRIME, and it remains the SlashGear choice if you’re looking for a sturdy, long-lasting hands-free kit with excellent audio quality. Now Plantronics have announced European availability for the Voyager PRO, with the headset going on sale for £79.99.

It’s not a small headset, but it does come packed with audio-processing cleverness. Plantronics’ AudioIQ2 DSP system includes wind-cancellation and ambient noise removal, together with WindSmart thanks to dual-microphones and acoustic fabrics. Battery life is estimated at up to 6hrs talktime or five days of standby.

In the UK, the Plantronics Voyager PRO will be available from the company themselves together with carrier Orange and Apple stores. If you’re in the US, you can already pick up the Voyager PRO for around $100.

The plus side to Amazon’s attempts to differentiate ebook hardware and content is being able to read content on more than one device. However, when one arm of the company is pushing customers to buy more Kindle hardware, and the other has cautious publishers insisting on layers of DRM, confusion is bound to happen. According to Gear Diary’s Dan Cohen, that confusion is already upon us: he’s spent his weekend and several long calls with Amazon customer care trying to figure out how many times he can download ebooks he’s purchased, and being told different things by different employees.

The problem arose when Dan attempted to download ebooks he’d already purchased through Amazon onto his iPod touch, which had just been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0. While some of the titles would cooperate, others refused; customer services first told him that each book has a limit to the number of times it can be downloaded, and that this limit was both undisclosed (sometimes even to Amazon customer care themselves) and arbitrarily set by publishers.

In trying to corroborate this, and find out how to track the download limits, Dan was then told several different versions of this, until reaching what’s believed to be the bottom line. Apparently, books can be downloaded an unlimited number of times, though only active on a limited number of devices (e.g. Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX or the Kindle Reader app on an iPhone or iPod touch). That number is usually five or six, but the publisher can apparently change it to as little as one. Swapping an older device for a new one doesn’t automatically release the license, so you’ll need to contact customer services to have them do it for you.

Complicated enough, but at least one Amazon ebook publisher has spoken up claiming that nowhere in their distribution agreement or control panel is there the ability to change download settings in the way the retailer describes.

After the MSI X-Slim X340’s recent frankly awful review, we’ve been waiting for a third-opinion and hopefully some indication that the ultraportable’s poor showing was a one-off aberration. Unfortunately, many of the critique points from that review – poor build quality, “cheap and nasty” trackpad and “tacky” keyboard – also crop up in NotebookReview’s piece.
Stylistically, the X340 rates highly again, and reviewer Kevin is fairly accommodating of the roughly 3.5hrs battery life given the overall slim profile. Performance, though, doesn’t get the same pass-card, with Kevin suggesting the Core 2 Solo based ultraportable “doesn’t feel that much faster than a netbook”; in fact, compared to the Intel Atom N280 CPU the X340 only just scraped ahead in some benchmarks. Thankfully the Intel X4500 integrated graphics do a decent job with 720p, though there are still reportedly “a few blips in performance”.

The end result is a keyboard described both as “comfortable” and in need of “some extra bracing”, a shambolic touchpad and performance more in line with a netbook than the notebook the X340 professes to be. Still, it’s far cheaper than a MacBook Air, at $799.99 with 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard-drive, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth, that that’s likely to persuade plenty of people to take the risk.

This enthusiastic man is holding what could, with a little more R&D and a big marketing budget, be the next big peripheral in first-person shooters. The handiwork of “The Redneck Techie“, the Game Gun is a modified keyboard, stuffed into a gun peripheral, with motion-sensitive tracking and an LCD display mounted on top.


That means you can look around and move through the game by twisting the gun around, seeing exactly what’s happening on the integrated display. A Gyration motion-sensitive mouse is used to track movement, and the latest prototype is wireless thanks to a tethered battery pack.

The next prototype, meanwhile, promises to be even more impressive. Rather than use the compact LCD display, three pico-projectors will be mounted on the end of the gun, allowing for a super-widescreen picture on your nearest wall. Best of all, since this is all built with off-the-shelf parts, there are no game-specific drivers needed; any FPS will happily play with the Game Gun.

LG and NComputing have announced a new range of “Network Monitors“, LCD displays with integrated thin-clients that can be used as virtual desktops or with cloud computing systems. Unlike most thin-client systems, however, LG’s looks straightforward enough for home or SOHO implementation, requiring just an X550 PCI card to be installed into the server PC, the included vSpace virtualization software installed and then up to five N-series monitors hooked up via ethernet cable.


Three N-series monitors will be available initially, the 17-inch N1742L-BF, 18.5-inch N1941W-PF and a 15.6-inch model only on sale outside the US. Each has an ethernet port, for connection to the X550 PCI card, together with PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse. There’s also a VGA port for using the display as a regular LCD with a local computer, plus built-in speakers.

Each server PC can use up to two X550 cards, allowing for a total of eleven users at any one time. Both Linux and Windows are supported and, while no pricing for the displays has been released, LG are calling the X550 a “sub-$200″ product. It, plus the N-series monitors, will go on sale worldwide this month.

The surprise is perhaps diminished thanks to their joining the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) back in December 2008, but according to Taiwanese industry sources Toshiba are currently developing an Android-based cellphone. No details regarding the smartphone have been disclosed, and Toshiba themselves are yet to publicly announce any Android intentions.

One possibility, however, is that Toshiba are considering a Qualcomm Snapdragon based Android device. The company’s TG01 Windows Mobile smartphone already uses the Snapdragon chipset, and Qualcomm themselves demonstrated Android running on a reference prototype back at CES in January. Such a handset could have significantly improved AV capabilities, with various Snapdragon processors supporting anything from integrated WWAN and GPS to high-definition support, mobile digital TV, HSPA+ and WiFi.

Back when Toshiba joined the OHA - at the same time as Garmin, ASUS and Sony Ericsson – no specific intent for any one member was given. Instead, they were tipped to either “deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices.”

We’re gearing up to cover HTC’s press event this coming Wednesday, where the company is expected to unveil their third Android-powered device, the HTC Hero. That’s now looking even more likely, after the Global Certification Forum (GCF) reportedly approved the smartphone as the HERO100.

Going by the GCF, the Hero will be a quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE handset as well as supporting dualband UMTS/HSPA (1800/2100MHz). Since they don’t concern themselves with any other specifications we’re still in the dark, but we’re expecting the usual bevy of WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a capacitive touchscreen.

The Hero differentiates itself from the HTC Dream (aka the T-Mobile G1) and the HTC Magic (aka the T-Mobile myTouch 3G) by virtue of its new UI, which borrows some of the concepts from TouchFLO 3D and introduces them to Android for the first time. Right now, though, this is all speculation (albeit speculation based on leaks).

Samsung have taken the wraps off of their latest pocket-projector, the P410M, and while you’d certainly need reasonably-sized pockets to carry it, it perhaps makes up for things by offering higher than usual specs. The P410M boasts up to 800 x 600 resolution and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, together with inputs that include VGA, composite and a USB port.

There’s also a full remote control, 170 lumen brightness and an LED lamp rated for up to 30,000 hours usage. Twin 1W speakers handle stereo sound, though probably aren’t something you’d like to listen to a whole feature-film on. Unfortunately there’s no sign of a battery, so it looks like the P410M is mains-only.

While there’s no confirmation at the moment, the P410M looks suspiciously like the Samsung PhlatLight prototype projector we saw back in June 2008. Then, production models were tipped before the end of the year, but its obviously taken a little longer to get this Samsung out of the door.

If carrying your computer like a plastic handbag appeals, and you’re also a fan of pen-computing, then Daewoo’s latest netbook may be the best thing for you. The SOLO C920-mini starts from humble netbook beginnings – an Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 60GB 1.8-inch 4,200rpm hard-drive – then throws in an 8.9-inch touchscreen and nifty carrying handle.

That should give you something to hold on to when you’ve flipped the touchscreen around and are using the C920-mini as a slate. The display runs at 1024 x 600, the same as ASUS’ Eee PC T91, and there’s a 1.3-megapixel webcam and stereo speakers sensibly located in the screen bezel rather than just above the keyboard where they’d be covered up.

Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, two USB 2.0 ports, ethernet and audio in/out. Thanks to Microsoft’s netbook software licensing policies, though, you can’t get the Daewoo machine with XP Tablet Edition, so there’s no standard handwriting recognition or any of the other pen-enabled niceties. No word on pricing nor availability outside of Korea.

It’s Monday morning, so what better way to start the day than with two netbooks most people can’t officially buy. Sharp’s Mebius NJ70A is one such device, complete with a touchscreen display in place of a traditional trackpad and Intel’s Atom N270 CPU, while the 1.86GHz Sony VAIO P25G has the faster Atom Z540 processor currently unavailable through official channels in the US. After the cut there’s a boot race video, plus more details on that surprisingly clever touchscreen.

Contrary to initial belief, the touchscreen used in the NJ70A isn’t a standard capacitive panel such as you might find gracing the front of the iPhone 3G S; nor is it a resistive panel. In fact, the Sharp netbook uses a 4-inch “photosensitive” screen, which can not only respond to finger-touch but also pen input for recognizing Chinese, Korean and Japanese handwriting.

What will be particularly interesting is whether such displays – which seemingly combine the touch-feel of capacitive with the stylus-flexibility of resistive – transition over into Windows Mobile devices. Microsoft have justified their mobile platform’s dependence on resistive touchscreens as that it caters for handwriting recognition, important in Asian markets.

T-Mobile USA have officially announced the myTouch 3G, the carriers second Android-based smartphone and the follow-up to the T-Mobile G1. Based on the HTC Magic, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G features a 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, UMTS/HSPA and WiFi b/g, as well as a 3.2-megapixel camera.

All of the usual Android applications are present, including Google Maps with Latitude and Street View, a messaging app supporting POP, IMAP and Exchange accounts, a media player supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, OGG and RM files, and stereo Bluetooth A2DP. T-Mobile will also load the Sherpa app, featuring GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation), onto the myTouch 3G, which promises to recognize patterns of use and offer suggestions based on past behaviours.

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G is expected to go up for pre-order on July 8th, though initially only for existing subscribers to the carrier. National availability is expected in early August, with the handset priced at $199.99 with a new two-year agreement. Three color options will be release: black, white and merlot.

We’ve been singularly cellularly obsessed here at SlashGear over the past seven days, and it’ll come as no surprise that the run-up to the iPhone 3G S has occupied much of our attention. The new Apple smartphone may not look much different to its predecessor, but if our hands-on first impressions are anything to go by, Cupertino have done their best to make the user-experience as polished as the casing. Still, it’s not just shiny Apple hardware that’s caught our eye this week; Novatel Wireless’ GSM MiFi 2352 piqued our interest when we talked to the company themselves on Monday, and then proceeded to impress us considerably in our full review.

Elsewhere, Nokia’s long-awaited N97 finally reached North American customers’ hands, ours included, and you can find our unboxing and first-impressions here. It’s a decent smartphone, and understandably the flagship of Nokia’s line, but can it hold up in the face of iPhone’s upgraded OS 3.0 software? We’ll have our full review this coming week.

If it’s a QWERTY keyboard you’re after, but you prefer your phones berry-flavored, then the news that both Verizon and Sprint would be offering the BlackBerry Tour 9630 in the near future will probably come as some relief. 3G, GPS, for all the specs check out the official RIM video. Finally, Samsung took the wraps off of the Omnia Pro B7610, complete with a glorious OLED touchscreen display and slide out ‘board.

It’s not all been smartphones, though. SlashGear sat in front of a small screen, in the shape of Fujitsu-Siemen’s Amilo Mini Ui 3520 netbook, and a big screen (albeit a virtual one) with the Q-London 3D 80″ Video Eyewear. Oh, and in the name of extreme destruction, we watched Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s go head to head with a 26,000lb DOW truck. If you want to see whether a slender ultraportable notebook can cope with getting comfortable between rubber and gravel, check out the video.

Finally, Microsoft confirmed that the Zune HD PMP will use NVIDIA’s Tegra chipset, making us even more keen to see what this potential-iPod-killer (yes, we know, a cliché if ever there was one) brings to the table. And for your high-definition home entertainment, PopcornHour delivered their C200 Blu-ray ready media-streamer. If you’ve ever looked at your media collection and wished there was a set-top box that could handle it all without breaking a sweat, this is the gadget for you.

Novatel Wireless’ MiFi intelligent personal hotspot was one of our top 5 gadgets from ShowStoppers back in April, and had floored us a few months earlier in Barcelona. Having released their CDMA EVDO Rev.A MiFi 2200 on Verizon and Sprint to very positive reaction, the company is now launching its GSM 3G HSPA model, the MiFi 2352. As well as the ability to share a single mobile broadband connection among up to five WiFi users, the MiFi 2352 brings a few new tricks to the table; check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.


For the full rundown of what’s in the MiFi box, check out our video unboxing. Basically, in its SIM-free form as you see here, Novatel Wireless supply a global power-adapter with various plug inserts, a USB to microUSB cable, rechargeable 1,530mAh battery and a small printed Getting Started guide. The MiFi 2352 supports various connection speeds, from quadband (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE up to triband (900/1900/2100MHz) UMTS HSUPA/HSDPA. Network-depending, you can theoretically see up to 7.2Mbps downlink rates and up to 5.76Mbps uplink rates.

There’s no driver disc, because there needn’t be any drivers. As standard Novatel require no connection manager – the software Verizon supply with their CDMA MiFi is their own decision; Sprint’s version uses no such app – presuming you’re using the 2352’s WiFi connection. Setup is as speedy as dropping in your SIM, holding down the single button until the lights begin blinking, and then waiting for the MiFi to start spitting out a wireless connection. The default SSID is a sensible “MiFi_2352″ and by navigating to “http://www.mifi” you access the device’s locally-hosted homepage showing the number of connected clients (up to 5 are supported simultaneously), connection details and battery status.

Since sharing a capped HSPA data connection via an unsecured WiFi network seems a recipe for overage charges or disconnection, the first step for most users will be accessing the admin pages and setting up WEP, WPA or WPA2 encryption. Thankfully that’s straightforward with the MiFi’s basic but speedy UI; there are also options for MAC filtering and recording various logs of WiFi connections and modem events. The MiFi can be loaded with up to six “internet profiles”, each with corresponding settings to a different SIM; that way, if you regularly switch between carriers (say, if traveling) then it’s simple to flick between the presets.

As on a full-sized router, there’s also port filtering support, the ability to set custom permitted applications, port forwarding, a switchable DHCP server and VPN pass-through support. Unlike a normal router there’s also an optional power management setting which can shut the MiFi down after between 2 or 60 minutes of idle time. Once you’ve made all the tweaks you want, you can backup the settings to a connected computer.