Samsung's Shutter Glasses Fets a Price Cut

Following its pledge to make 3D TV experience more affordable, Samsung's just announced a price drop on the rest of its active shutter glasses lineup.

 The entry-level SSG-3100GB went from $129.99 down to just $49.99 last month; and now the better-looking SSG-3300CR plus SSG-3300GR reduced by $50 down to $129.99, along with the swanky SSG-3700CR(pictured above) getting a $70 discount to just $149.99. Of course, these premium spectacles are still far from affordable compared to their passive counterparts, so it'll be interesting to see if Samsung's attempt to lure more 3D viewers will work at all.

Osama’s Hideout on Google Maps

Osama bin Laden was camped out in a Pakistani mansion—and in typical internet fashion, it's already pinpointed on Google. The mapper's anonymous, but they reveal strange things—police station neighbors?

 

 

Sony Ericsson Announces new Generation of Xperia Smartphones

Sony Ericsson has just outed a brand new pair of compact Xperia smartphones. The new Xperia Mini will run Android Gingerbread (2.3) on a 3-inch, multitouch, scratch-resistant display, which comes with Sony's proprietary Bravia Engine with Reality Display. There's a 1GHz processor inside, access to Android Market, and home screen customization with custom shortcuts available in the four corners of the screen. A 30 percent improvement in battery life is also touted, courtesy of a larger cell. SE is also pretty jolly about having the world's smallest smartphone capable of recording video in 720p HD. You'll be able to grab yours in one of four different colors this August.

 

 

Samsung SENS-240 Navigation Tablet

According to Akihabara News, the SENS-240 uses Bluetooth to take over your voice, data, voice search, and even "video features" from your smartphone when driving. You can then control the SENS-240 using your smarpthone or tablet as an "advanced" remote when idle. Tthe SENS-240 comes packing 256MB of RAM, USB-host mode, and an SD slot in addition to a 1.43GHz processor said to be powerful enough to handle 3D maps, video, or DMB TV on that 7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, it's Korea-only for now.

World’s Tiniest Video Camera

Just a few weeks ago, the world's tiniest video camera was as small as a grain of rice. Today, the world's nanoest camera is even smaller.

It's made by medical device company Medigus, and it's only 0.99mm wide. The measly fraction of a millimeter doesn't seem like much, but it means a lot in the world of endoscopic/medical procedures. Using a 0.66 x 0.66mm CMOS sensor, this puniest of cameras produces images with a resolution of 45,000 pixels (just under 1/20th of a megapixel).

 

 

This Mousepad Never Wears Out

Say what you will about the silliness of gaming mousepads, but Razer's new Goliathus has a serious selling point: A new textured weave and anti-fraying stitched frame allows you to tear ass without tearing up your mousepad. The smaller pad starts at $15, and they go up to $25 for larger surfaces.

 

 

The Classy Cord Tamer

Cords! All gadgets have 'em. They're everywhere. And there are a million different ways to deal with them. But this cord tamer from Pinza  is prettier than most, cast from solid stainless steel and hand-polished. $26

Origami Laptop

The teeny MacBook Air has tried inserting itself between the two, but for those of us who prefer a full-sized screen, Niels van Hoof's Feno laptop concept could be the answer.

Well, if it were more than pixels on our screens, that is. The designer suggests flexible OLEDs could be used on laptops so they could fold up in three, making them smaller and lighter than before. I like how it's still wide enough to slide a CD in, and that there's also room for a little pop-out mouse. It'll never get turned into a real product of course, but it's nice to dream isn't it?

 

 

Vodafone lets Londoners Pay For Taxis via Text Message

Mobile payment systems may be gaining only gradual steam in the US, but over on the other side of the pond, Vodafone UK has launched a broad new campaign to integrate smartphone technology where Londoners may need it most -- in the back of taxis. As of today, many cab passengers will be able to charge their smartphones in transit, thanks to a wide range of chargers that the mobile carrier has installed in more than 500 of London's iconic black vehicles. Vodafone is also rolling out a new payment scheme today, whereby cash-strapped travelers can text their cab's license number to a specific code, allowing any owed fares to be charged directly to their phone bills. The system certainly doesn't sound as elegant as some of the NFC-based operations we've heard about, but it still beats having to navigate your cab driver to the nearest ATM, with the meter tick-tocking away.

 

 

LG Blade Laptops Bedazzle With Slim Bezels, Aluminum Bodies, and Core i7

The 14-inch P430 and 15.6-inch P530 mark the start of LG's new Blade series of laptops, which are the result of some obsessive slimming work at the LG labs -- display thickness is 4.5mm and 4.7mm, respectively, while the bezel on the 14-inch model is so narrow as to fit its screen within the dimensions of a traditional 13.3-inch laptop. Weight, at 1.94kg on the P430 and 2.2kg on P530, is also said to be on par with machines offering significantly smaller screens, but that's not at the sacrifice of construction materials as brushed aluminum is used to strengthen LG's new slimsters. A Core i7 CPU and GeForce GT520M GPU will provide the internal firepower, though the rest of the hardware specs are as yet unannounced. The P430 will launch in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America at the end of May, to be followed by the P530 in June.

 

 

Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series Now Available for $649 Amazon Pre-order

According to Amazon's listing, the 7 Series should ship with many of the same specs: a 10-inch touchscreen with 1366 x 768-resolution, dual front and rear cameras (1.3 and 3.0 megapixels, respectively), a 32GB SSD, 2GB of RAM and, of course, Intel's 1.5GHz Atom Oak Trail Z670 processor, which was originally scheduled to launch in March, before being pushed back to May. The slider will also run on Windows 7 Home Premium, and come equipped with 802.11b/g/n WiFi. When it debuted earlier this year, the Series 7 boasted optional 3G and WiMax features, as well as a six-cell battery that claimed to last up to nine hours on a single charge. And, at $649, it's even a little cheaper than expected.

 

 

Biological Viruses Might Actually Give Us Better Solar Power

Boffins at MIT have discovered that a genetically modified version of the M13 virus can actually increase the efficiency of solar cells, to as much as a third greater efficiency. This means converting sunlight to electricity wouldn't take so darn long, and perhaps even more electricity out of mother nature's rays, as well.

Fooling around with viruses at the microscopic level is only a tiny process, but has extraordinary benefits. In fact, MIT's researchers have only added 0.1 per cent extra weight to the finished solar cells, but as Professor Belcher says, "a little biology goes a long way."

Gigabyte's S1080 Windows Tablet

Looks like Gigabyte's S1080 tablet, which landed in Taiwan earlier this month, is getting ready to hit shelves in the US. The 10.1-inch Windows 7 slate stopped by the FCC, where it got cracked open and had its silicon-packed innards exposed for the camera. There's nothing new to glean here -- specs are still the same (dual-core Atom, 320GB hard drive, etcetera).

 

 

Finger-Nose Smartphone Stylus

Finally! For those of us who happen to take our smartphones into the bath with us—admit it—Dominic Wilcox has the answer. It's a stylus wrapped in plaster that you wear on your nose to peck at your phone.

As insane as this sounds and looks, it does what its supposed to. Nevermind the fact that you shouldn't get your phone or tablet wet with whatever is on your hands when you use it. Just take the extra time to put your Finger-Nose on, and away you go.

I can just barely see using this indoors for those guilty moments when I need an almost hands-free solution for my iPhone. I really want to see this catch on just to see professionals walking around looking like characters out of a Tim Burton movie. There is literally no downside.

 

 

I-O Data's HDCA-UT3.0K Drive Offers USB 3.0 And 3TB of Storage

If you've been on the hunt for the biggest, fastest hard drive around, it seems your options are expanding. I-O Data just introduced the HDCA-UT3.0K external hard drive, which offers USB 3.0 support and 3TB of storage, which, as the company notes, makes it an ideal companion for TVs with a USB recording mode. Struggling to resist the charm of its blue LED and the possibility of owning more storage than you'll ever need? Look for it in mid-May with a price of ¥26,400 ($324).

 

 

IdeaPad S205 Hits Lenovo Webstore, Starts at $499

The base model sells for $499, sporting a 1.60Ghz dual-core AMD Fusion E-350 CPU, an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768 resolution) 16:9 widescreen panel, 3GB of DDR3 SDRAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 6310 graphics, and a 350GB HDD. Two higher cost configurations score an extra gig of RAM, an optional Bluetooth radio, and a 500GB or 750GB HDD. 

 

 

Google launches Chrome 11 With Fat Icon

Firefox 4? Too furry. Internet Explorer 9? Too blue. Google's Chrome? Just the right amount of shine -- or is it? The company introduced a flat new logo for the browser and now that logo is gracing the software's latest stable release. Chrome 11 is now available, the biggest changes being a number of security and bug fixes, some of which "may be kept private until a majority of our users are up to date with the fix." The new version also delivers speech-to-text and, perhaps more importantly, text-to-speech. 

 

 

Depleted Uranium Could Be Used to Create MASSIVE Hard Drives

Uranium that's been depleted isn't necessarily waste, according to researchers at Nottingham University. They think—besides making ammo and tank armor—it could be used as the basis for future hard drives thousands of times larger than current ones.

You see a molecule comprised of two Uranium atoms has magnetic properties at low temperatures, making the element ideal for a super dense hard drive. Referred to as a single-molecule magnet, this possible application for Uranium wouldn't pose any safety threats because any radioactive properties would be absent. All of this is still in the infant stages of the research project, but imagine being able to store the capacity of today's data center in a single desktop drive. Awesome, right?

 

 

iPhone Turntable Concept Brings Dropped Calls to Your Record Collection

Any audiophile worth their weight in 180 gram vinyl will gladly tell you that nothing sounds quite as good as a record. Unfortunately, the format has a few major drawbacks, like a lack of portability and the fact that it really sucks at making phone calls. The iPhone, on the other hand, is light years ahead of those fronts -- well, one of out two ain't bad. This new concept from designer Olivier Meynard offers the best of both worlds, embedding a horizontal iPhone dock next to a wheel of steel, so you can play back your favorite LP through the built-in speakers and encode those tracks as MP3s, which are uploaded to your handset as it charges. Finally, a way to turn your long out of print prog rock albums into ringtones, as they were meant to be heard.

Free Android Apps Outnumber Free iPhone Apps

Good news for Android users who hate paying for stuff: according to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Google's mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. 

And then there's Apple's sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage -- after all, this report doesn't highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 -- but between Android's rapid growth and what the report terms iOS's relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months' time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined -- a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer.