Thursday, January 3, 2008

Wolfing's Warrior Xxtreme gets reviewed

Are you ready for a blast of the obvious? If so, head on down to the read link and take a look at Extreme Tech's review of the Warrior Xxtreme. Wolfking's latest gamepad is obviously aiming at a smallish niche, and while it proved to be quite the device to have while gaming, it's not exactly the easiest thing to pound out a dissertation on. 'Course, we sincerely hope you didn't expect anything other than precisely those results, and it should be noted that Wolfking did a swell job of catering to righties and southpaws alike. Overall, we've serious doubts that touch-typists will be keen on swapping out their ergonomic split 'board for this thing, but hunt-and-peckers that spend the majority of their time in WoW raids may find lots to love.

HP Pavilion tx2000 tablet, revamps monolithic HDX

Survived the barrage of new HP desktops? We certainly hope so, as now the firm is hitting us up with a bit of news on the laptop front. Up to bat first is the 12.1-inch tx2000 convertible tablet (pictured), which presumably takes over for the tx1000 and comes bundled with the outfit's QuickPlay software, a webcam and an integrated microphone (beyond that, it's wait-and-see). As for the oh-so-intimidating Pavilion HDX, it will soon be available with a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS graphics set, an optional Core 2 Extreme processor, Blu-ray / HD DVD support and a 20.1-inch WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) XHD Ultra Brightview display. Additionally, the workhorse will boast four Altec Lansing speakers and a built-in "subwoofer," an eSATA port, hybrid analog / digital TV tuner, room for two HDDs and a media remote to boot. As for pricing and availability, expect the tx2000 to start shipping as CES commences for $1,299 and up, while the newly pimped HDX will ship later this month and start at $1,999.

Mod your 4G ipod with internal Bluetooth

For the extreme tinkerer and iPod aficionado, we present to you what appears to be the first ever internal-Bluetooth enabled iPod. Using a flash-memory-modded 20GB 4G iPod, a Jabra A120S Bluetooth music adapter, some clever wiring, a little drilling, and some good old-fashioned elbow grease, one modder has taken things inside his DAP to dizzying heights which can only be referred to as "the next level." The mod has its catches of course -- first you'll have to kick the hard drive to the curb in favor of the more space-conscious flash memory, and you'll need to be pretty handy with a soldering iron and voltmeter, but if you've got the mettle (and this how-to guide), you should be rocking the new Mortiis album wirelessly very, very soon. Check the read link for all the step-by-step goodness.

Microvision to launch pocket-sized projector at CES 2008

Ready for projectors to get really, really small? Enter aptly-named Microvision's latest contender in its ongoing attempt at mini-projector domination; a plug and play "pico" projector that aims to take mobile devices to slightly larger vistas. The handheld, stand-alone projector -- mysteriously code-named SHOW -- is based on the company's PicoP display engine, and is capable of projecting a 12-inch to 100-inch, 848 x 480 WVGA image for up to 2.5 hours on a single charge. The SHOW is clearly aimed at the emerging market of media-rich mobile devices, though aside from the projector itself, the company has plans to embed its PicoP chip in other consumer electronics, promising a future of blinding, surprise projections the likes of which never imagined. Of course, as we've seen it'll have some competition, particularly from Texas Instruments, which seems to have this concept on lock. The SHOW will apparently be available for manhandling at CES this year, and you can bet we'll be getting our grubby mitts all over it.
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