IDT to swap solar cells into LCDs, but not for energy reasons

Written on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Solar-powered LCDs? Oh, yeah -- we've got those. Sadly, that's not at all what Integrated Digital Technologies is aiming to improve upon next week at Computex, though we still find its approach to trimming LCD weight and manufacturing costs an interesting one. If we're digesting this correctly, we're hearing that the outfit plans to create interactive displays (or iScreens) that have embedded solar cells in the TFT array rather than extra film or glass with photo sensors.

The result? A cost savings of up to 30 percent in manufacturing, not to mention a rather significant decrease in weight. Without any images to go by, it's still a wee bit tough to really wrap our heads around this new take, but hopefully we'll see more next week in Taiwan.

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Dell's Mini 10v gets unboxed, cracked wide open, fitted with OS X

Written on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Not that Dell's other Mini machines aren't perfect candidates for creating your own hackintosh, but it's stellar to know that the outfit's newest member is as well. After going on sale earlier this month, the Mini 10v has been procured, unboxed and dissected, all in the name of unabashed discovery.

Interestingly, it seems as if the RAM slot requires that the keyboard and motherboard be lifted for access, but for even the mildly seasoned computer user, that's absolutely nothing they can't handle. If you're into hardcore, uncensored splayings of newfangled netbooks, the read link is where you need to be, holmes.

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Metrological's Mediaconnect TV: the first Intel CE 3100 retail device?

Written on Saturday, May 30, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


This one's been on the books since September of 2007. Now it looks like the first retail product based on Intel's Canmore System on Chip (SoC), aka the CE 3100, will take its first step into the spotlight at Computex with this "ready-to-market" Mediaconnect TV. The highly customizable Mini ITX device runs a Linux-based Metroconnect OS that supports all the major video codecs and Dobly Digital/DTS decoding over 7.1 channels -- the CE 3100 then acts to hardware accelerate sourced 1080p video stored locally or streamed over DLNA / uPnP from anywhere in the house over fixed gigabit Ethernet.

Standard features include a pair of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI 1.3a/component/composite and TOSLINK jacks, an SD/MMC card reader, and up to 2TB of on-board (SATA) storage. The box itself is highly customizable with options to include UMTS/HSUPA radios, DVB T/C/S tuners, Bluetooth (for mouse and keyboard), and 802.11n WiFi to take your media streaming wireless. It even features a webcam of unspecified quality. The built-in web browser with Adobe Flash 9.0 support means all the Hulu you can eat and optional dual DVB-T tuners will give you simultaneous over the air TV reception and recording. It remains to be seen how much of this customization will be made available direct to consumers as opposed to the cable companies and telcos that Metrological will ultimately partner with. Nevertheless, they'll be at Computex next week where we'll be on hand to bring you more detail. A second picture of a different Mediaconnect TV, or the same device sans faceplate, and meta shot of the main menu UI after the break.

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Sensaris wearable sensor promises to track noise and air quality

Written on Friday, May 29, 2009 by @nadiarizqi

While it's not too hard to get general information about the air quality in a particular city, it's considerably tougher if you're looking to break things down on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, or get actual real-time information. The folks at Sensaris seem to think they can change that with this new GPS-equipped wearable sensor of theirs, however, which is not only able to monitor air quality, but noise pollution as well. .


Of course, that information isn't all that useful on its own, so the device makes use of its built-in Bluetooth to link up with your cellphone and broadcast the data to a central service, which in turn makes it available to the public at large. What's more, while there's no word of it being put into use 'round these parts, it is apparently going to be deployed in Paris, which Sensaris hopes will just be the first of many cities to hop on board

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Intel said to slip Core i5 platform to September, competition needed

Written on Thursday, May 28, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Want a good example of why Intel -- or we, the consumer -- needs a strong competitor? DigiTimes' has it from sources at motherboard makers that Intel will delay its mainstream desktop Core i5 platform (including Lynnfield procs and 5-series chipsets) from July to early September. A rumor with merit given DigiTimes' proven sources within motherboard makers like ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.

The reason for the delay is to allow vendors to deplete 4-series inventories that have piled-up during the economic slow-down. Of course, if AMD or... well, AMD could muster the silicon to compete with Intel at the same price point then such a delay would not be possible. How much you say? DigiTimes has the Core i5 processors priced at 2.93GHz ($562), 2.8GHz ($284) and 2.66GHz ($196) when purchased in bulk.

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Sanyo intros two new flash-based in-dash navigation systems

Written on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Sanyo was among the first to cram solid state storage into navigation systems when it did so back in May of last year. Nearly 12 months to the day after said introduction, the company is delivering its newest duo, which ups the ante by including "SSDs" (which is likely just a fancy title for flash storage) that are four times as capacious.

The NVA-GS1409DT and NVA-GS1609FT systems, which are both in the AV Gorilla family, each boast a QVGA (480 x 240) display, 3D maps, an integrated DVD player, CD ripping functionality and even a digital TV tuner for catching OTA shows whilst parked in Tokyo traffic. There's also a 16GB slab of flash memory, half of which is already claimed by maps and POIs; still, that leaves 8GB of super-speedy storage for hosting your favorite playlists. Unfortunately, such a sweet solution demands quite the premium, with prices on the June-bound units starting at ¥135,000 ($1,423).

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Sony VAIO P set free with XP, still not a netbook

Written on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Sony just figured out a simple truth of ultra-portable computing: for all its beauty, elegant hardware packed into a diminutive chassis will never make up for a perpetually sluggish OS, at least not for long. While it comes late to this understanding, Sony is finally making XP a standard load on its new VAIO P model VGN-P50. Not exactly aspirational, mind you, and very netbook-like... but at least it gets the OS out of the way of your applications unlike the original VAIO P Vista build. Any by not having to downgrade yourselves (or upgrade to Windows 7 RC), you'll keep all of Sony's optimizations like the VAIO P's XMB interface.

Starting June 6th, our Japanese friends will also see a 2GHz Atom Z550 processor bump in addition to WWAN data as standard. They'll even toss in a 256GB SSD if you tick the right box. While we'd typically expect these specs to go global, the fact that we're still stuck with a 1.33GHz processor Stateside makes us doubtful, bitter even, and more than a tad envious. Available June 6th in Japan starting at ¥85,000 (about $900).

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ASUS introduces ROG OC Station for all your on-the-fly overclocking needs

Written on Sunday, May 24, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


ASUS is doing what it can to bump up its gaming cred a few notches with its Republic of Gamers (ROG) OC Station. The bay-mounted overclock assistant lets you tweak parameters on the fly, even in the middle of a game, without ever having to dive into the BIOS. It's got a 3-inch LCD display, too, for keeping an eye on things or, apparently, showing your pictures in a slideshow.

All this power comes at a cost, and not just financially: you're gonna have to give up two 5.25-inch bays to install this bad boy. It also looks like it only works with ROG motherboards, which is gonna limit the market even further. If you are, however, an anxious and willing member of that demographic, we hate to say you're gonna have to wait an undisclosed time before you can pick one up for an undisclosed number of Benjamins.

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How would you change HP's Pavilion dv2?

Written on Saturday, May 23, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP's Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit's Neo platform. We've already heard what the so-called professionals think, but we're interested to hear from the folks who really matter -- the consumers.

Is HP's BD-friendly dv2 priced right? Is it sufficiently sexy? Is the 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MN-40 living up to the hype? Are you stoked with running Windows Vista on this? As with Sony's VAIO P, this here "netbook" is definitely on the pricier end of things, so we're pretty sure owners won't hesitate to give HP a mouthful. The forum's open, so speak!

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How would you change HP's Pavilion dv2?

Written on Saturday, May 23, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP's Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit's Neo platform. We've already heard what the so-called professionals think, but we're interested to hear from the folks who really matter -- the consumers.

Is HP's BD-friendly dv2 priced right? Is it sufficiently sexy? Is the 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MN-40 living up to the hype? Are you stoked with running Windows Vista on this? As with Sony's VAIO P, this here "netbook" is definitely on the pricier end of things, so we're pretty sure owners won't hesitate to give HP a mouthful. The forum's open, so speak!

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iRobot's military Ember bots are tiny treaded hotspots

Written on Thursday, May 21, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Remember the LANDroids initiative, which resulted in iRobot scoring a $2.5 million contract to create tiny, miniaturized bots that could crawl through battlefields and your nightmares? The company is showing off the early fruits of that contract, the Ember microbot, which is so small it slipped entirely under our radar. It's not quite as tiny as DARPA seemed to hope, which depicted a bot little bigger than a pack of cards, but shrinking a Packbot down to paperback size is no small task -- even it is a James Clavell paperback.


The bot's primary function is to set up a roving military network on the battlefield, but, with an integrated webcam and extension via USB and SDIO, who knows what kind of functionality they'll provide. The goal is to get these down to $100 or less, and for that price we could see plenty of civilians investing in these just to keep an eye on the activities of household pets insurgents.

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AMD to flood Computex with mainstream Tigris laptops, reveal Danube?

Written on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 by @nadiarizqi

Besides being overwhelmed by Intel's CULV thin-and-lights at Computex, it looks like AMD will use the event to punish Engadget editors and readers with the launch of its Tigris platform. Since you've most likely supplanted any memory of Tigris with something useful, let us remind you that Tigris is AMD's mainstream laptop platform built around a dual-core 45-nm Caspian processor supporting 800MHz DDR2 memory and ATI M9x series graphics.

The Commercial Times is also reporting that Computex might even bring a possible unveiling of AMD's next-generation Danube laptop platform featuring a quad-core Champlain processor with support for DDR3 memory. Unfortunately, Champlain won't be available for consumers until 2010 -- 2009 is all about Tigris laptops and the Athlon Neo thin-and-lights for AMD. Where's the AMD netbook? Oh they ceded that market to Intel a long time ago; a bad move now that Atom-based netbooks are plundering mainstream laptop marketshare that AMD was betting on with Tigris.

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Archos event June 11th: 5-inch Android tablet with voice expected

Written on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 by @nadiarizqi

This one's a bit of a stretch but totally plausible. Archos just announced a press conference in Paris on June 11th -- that's a fact. However, the choice of Android-green in the invite above has caused widespread speculation that we'll be getting a first peep at Archos' heavily rumored Android-based device. Remember, TI was kind enough to give us the full specs on a 10-mm thin Archos Internet Media Tablet "with all the functionalities of a premium smartphone" back in February.


At that time, TI listed specs like a 5-inch high-resolution screen, Adobe Flash support, TV recording, HD playback, 500GB of storage, 7 hours of video playback off battery, voice and HSUPA data radio all powered by a smokin' OMAP3440 processor from TI. If true then we can expect to see the device hinted at in the invite launch in Q3.

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Acer's Aspire One D250, 751h now on sale in North America

Written on Monday, May 18, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Acer's 11.6-inch, WXGA Aspire 751h-1192 and 10.6-inch, WSVGA D250-1042 are nothing new around these parts, but now the company's officially priced the units and put up the "on sale" sign. Looks like both models are sporting the corner-placed VGA port as well as the usual netbook specs like a 160GB HDD, up to 2GB RAM, a three or six cell battery, 802.11b/g, GMA 950 integrated graphics, webcam, and Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Both have a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, but the 751h can swap it out for a 1.22GHz Atom Z520 instead. The larger screen portable's also got a mult-gesture trackpad and a slightly heavier body -- 2.75 pounds vs. 2.44. Starting prices are $298 and $380 for the D250 / 751h, respectively, with your choice of Diamond Black, Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue or Seashell White for colors. Full press release after the break

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ASUS K Series K40IN-A1 laptop hits the US

Written on Monday, May 18, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


We got a chance to check out ASUS' K Series laptops way back at CeBIT in March, but it looks like the understated line has just now finally made its way over here, and seen a few changes in the process. The biggest of those is that this particular model, the K40IN-A1, now packs some NVIDIA GeForce G102M graphics (with 512MB of RAM) in place of the previous ATI option, although we assume that'll still be available on some models if and when they join this one.

Otherwise, you can expect a 1366 x 768 resolution on that 14-inch LED-backlit screen, along with a Core 2 Duo T6400 processor, 4GB of RAM standard, a 320GB hard drive, and ASUS' trademark Super Hybrid Engine technology, which promises to let you get the most out of the laptop's six-cell battery. $850 and it's yours.

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How would you change Dell's Adamo?

Written on Sunday, May 17, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Given the hideous MSRP affixed to the Adamo, we have all ideas that only a select few have chomped on what Dell's offering here. That said, we also reckon those with enough cash to buy in are quite the critical bunch, and we're interested to hear what y'all have to say.

During our own testing, we were decidedly underwhelmed with the value proposition; in pretty much every meaningful way, it underperformed for the price. But hey, we can't knock the styling. Are you cool with the ho hum performance? Would you throw a different CPU in there? Lower the price? Add a little thickness in exchange for a few more frames per second? Tell all, won't you?

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iriver P7 ships in South Korea, Americans look longingly across the sea

Written on Saturday, May 16, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Sadly, we're still no closer to understanding when iriver will allow its striking P7 to escape the chains of "pre-order status" here in North America, but geeks in South Korea can now feel free to indulge.

4.3-inches of luscious screen real estate slapped onto an 8GB PMP will set you back just under ₩200,000 ($160), and we're guessing the more capacious 16GB variant will cost just a wee bit more. So yeah, we're going out on a limb here and assuming that a homeland launch foreshadows a splashdown on US soil -- don't let us down, iriver.

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Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 -- official, real, and in our hands

Written on Thursday, May 14, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Yeah, sure, we knew the Harmony IR-to-Bluetooth remote adapter was coming down the pike, but even with FCC filings and official confirmation of the device from Harmony, the PS3 owners among us are breathing a small sigh of relief now that we've got our hands on a unit that prove it will make it to market. We have a love/hate relationship with the PS3's Bluetooth remote control -- the range and total non-directionality of it are great, but having a separate remote control just for the PS3 is a real stick in the eye of our couch potato lifestyles.

There are a few choices for solving the PS3 remote control conundrum, but on first blush this unit has three things going for it: support from a big name like Logitech (of course including codes in the Harmony database), it does not eat up one of your PS3's USB ports, and it handles switching the PS3 on and off (not unique, but some other solutions don't). We'll give the IR-to-Bluetooth converter a full rundown in due course, but follow us past the break for our initial impressions, an official fact sheet and a link to a Q&A section on the Logitech blog.

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Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 gets hands-on treatment, favors S10

Written on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


You've seen Lenovo's IdeaPad S10, right? If so, you'll surely recognize the recently revised S10-2 -- a mildly tweaked version of the netbook that sports the most minuscule of changes. That said, the new top cover and larger, more mature keyboard are certainly worth a gander, so head on down to the read link to give your eyes a treat.

The S10-2 differs most from its predecessor in looks. It has a rounder look and, according to the company, is .4 pounds lighter and .1 inches thinner. Instead of the matte lid of the original, it has a glossy cover (available in black, white, pink and gray) with adorned with a repeating pattern that looks strikingly similar to Target’s Bullseye. Surrounding the system are 3 USB ports (the first only had two), a 4-in-1 card reader, VGA and a head and mic jack. Lenovo nixed the Expresscard/34 slot of the original S10.

The real difference also comes in ergonomics. Lenovo has increased the size of the keyboard deck. Not only is the pitch of the keys wider but the right Shift key has been enlarged and placed below the Enter key (the original had a shrunken Shift key that was to the right of the up arrow). We found the keyboard to be firm and void of any flex.

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Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 -- official, real, and in our hands

Written on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Yeah, sure, we knew the Harmony IR-to-Bluetooth remote adapter was coming down the pike, but even with FCC filings and official confirmation of the device from Harmony, the PS3 owners among us are breathing a small sigh of relief now that we've got our hands on a unit that prove it will make it to market. We have a love/hate relationship with the PS3's Bluetooth remote control -- the range and total non-directionality of it are great, but having a separate remote control just for the PS3 is a real stick in the eye of our couch potato lifestyles.

There are a few choices for solving the PS3 remote control conundrum, but on first blush this unit has three things going for it: support from a big name like Logitech (of course including codes in the Harmony database), it does not eat up one of your PS3's USB ports, and it handles switching the PS3 on and off (not unique, but some other solutions don't). We'll give the IR-to-Bluetooth converter a full rundown in due course, but follow us past the break for our initial impressions, an official fact sheet and a link to a Q&A section on the Logitech blog.

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Robots crash into dummies, identify human weaknesses

Written on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


The IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation is kicking off today in Kobe Japan. In other words, the world's leading researchers in the field of robotics are gathered in a single location to plot our doom. Don't believe us? Just check out the video after the break. It's a research piece from the Germany Aerospace Center depicting experiments of robots crashing into human test dummies.

They claim that the research explores human-robot accidents so that robots can be made safer. We're not so sure though, judging by the devious laughter heard after the first gruesome impact.

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Star Trek USB Communicator because you're out of your Vulcan mind

Written on Saturday, May 09, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


While the new Star Trek film is bound to disappoint hardcore Trekkies since it's unusually fun and exciting, we're sure the Star Trek USB Communicator will meet their expectations perfectly.

The $45 USB mic with speaker is compatible with Skype or your favorite instant messaging client is up for sale at all fine crapgadget stores. Check the built-in sound effects video with complimentary Onion film review after the break. Kirk out.

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Shinoda's giant curved plasma weighs less than your father's first laptop

Written on Friday, May 08, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


We've been keeping an eye on Shinoda Plasma's curved PTA (plasma tube array) technology since 2007. What started as a single 43-inch prototype grew to 125-inches in 2008. Now, Shinoda is showing off a 145-inch diagonal prototype consisting of six PTA panels stitched together in a 2-meter x 3-meter matrix.

The 960 x 720 pixel resolution might not impress you until you consider the weight: just 7.2-kg (15.8-pounds) thanks to the slim PTA panels measuring just 1-mm thick. Impressive compared to 108-inch LCDs that weigh in at 196-kg (430-pounds) and the original Osborne 1 "laptop" that weighed 24.5-pounds. With any luck, these giant displays will be commercialized for signage so we can all simulate crushing motions with two hands.

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ASUS' Eee PC 1002HAE: a faster 1002HA dressed in Eliminum

Written on Thursday, May 07, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


When you think Eee PC, or netbooks in general, the usual image that comes to mind is thick slab of white plastic. That's certainly true of the Eee PC 1002HA. However, drop the letter "E" into the model number and you've got ASUS' new Eee PC 1002HAE dressed in a swank aluminum skin and 1.6GHz N280 processor within.

While the rest of the specs remain unchanged -- 802.11b/g/n, 1GB of memory and 160GB disk, 1.3 megapixel webcam, memory card slot, 3.8-hour Li-Polymer battery, and 10-inch 1,024 x 600 pixel LED backlit display -- the new shell drops the weight from 1.45kg to 1.2kg for a savings of about half a pound. At the moment, this model is either Japanese-only or at least a Japanese-first (unusual for ASUS) with a May 16th launch for the tax inclusive price of ¥49,800 (about $506).

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HTC Magic / Sapphire gets re-named, booze-colored for T-Mobile launch?

Written on Wednesday, May 06, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Of all the names being bandied about for the T-Mobile launch of HTC's Sapphire, we have to say that "myTouch" was our least favorite nom de guerre. However, it has apparently won the market-testing deathmatch -- at least that's the case according to the above reasonably official looking image of a T-Mobile inventory screen acquired by TmoNews.

Perhaps more interesting is the presence of three colors, the predictable black and white met by a classy-sounding merlot that will surely be the talk of your next soiree at the wine bar. Just try to steer clear of the "touch" puns and jokes, yeah?

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Asus going big(ger) with 11.6-inch Eee PC later this month

Written on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 by @nadiarizqi

If you like the idea of the little laptop that started it all, but need a little more workspace to keep your eyes from going all aesthenopia on ya, hold on to your wallets for a few more weeks. According to DigiTimes, ASUS is planning on releasing an 11.6-inch Eee by the end of the month, following up on its pledge made last year to do just that -- while simultaneously breaking Jerry Shen's promise to never surpass the 10-inch mark without creating a spin-off, "premium" netbook brand.

But, with the 7-inchers relegated to their place in history, perhaps now the company has a little extra room on its production lines. No further information is available on the forthcoming model at this point, but we're hoping that new screen will get a few more pixels to fill out its new-found girth.

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Samsung's 850 PAVV plasma teases the 1-inch think mark

Written on Monday, May 04, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


The plasma industry may be teetering on the edge of certain doom (okay, so maybe that's exaggerating it... a little), but Samsung's still pushing the envelope. Over in South Korea, the company just outed its latest PDPs, the 850 PAVV lineup. Aside from being 40 percent more power efficient, 20 percent lighter and 120 percent more seductive than the prior generation, the new 50- and 58-inch sets also boast DLNA support, a USB 2.0 socket, DivX compatibility and a rather striking stand.

The real kicker? The 29 millimeter depth, which equates to just over one inch thick for those who abhor the metric system. There's no word on when these beauties will hit the streets, but we're guessing Panasonic will be keenly interested in knowing.

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Thrustmaster intros T-Standee and T-Strap chargers for Nintendo DSi

Written on Friday, May 01, 2009 by @nadiarizqi


Looking for a new way to burn money on your DSi? How's about a few new charging solutions from the folks at Thrustmaster? Today, both the T-Standee Charger and T-Strap Charger were introduced, with the former expected in mid-June for $12.99 and the latter checking in next month for a penny under $8. As the name implies the T-Standee is basically a charging kickstand / docking station, while the T-Strap builds a charging port right into the strap that can be connected to any powered USB socket for on-the-go recharging. Gnarly, right? Full release is after the break.



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