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Samsung announces 70 Series HD monitors and TV Posted: 08 May 2009 08:57 AM PDT We’ve seen plenty of Samsung LED HDTVs get pricing and availability in the last week or so, but that doesn’t mean the party stops there. If you’re in the market for a display for your PC, both the P2370 (23-inch) and P2070 (20-inch) sport a 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 2ms video response time. While the latter is definitely the runt of the litter, at 1600 x 900 screen res, the former rocks full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. And if that weren’t enough, the P2370HD adds an HDTV tuner, integrated speakers with SRS TruSurround, and both HDMI and component inputs to its hi-def cousin for something as at home in the rec room as it is in the office. Did we fire up your imagination? Thought so. No price or date yet, but we do have some tasty PR for you after the break. Samsung Introduces New Slim Touch of Color LCD Monitors Samsung 70 Series Design-forward, Eco-Friendly, Monitors Offer HD Quality for Entertainment and Productivity Samsung Electronics America, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, the number one worldwide brand of LCD display products, today announced the release of its 70 Series Monitors: the P2070, P2370 and P2370HD. These slim LCD monitors, with screen depths of 30 mm (1.18 inches) for the P2070 and P2370 and 65.5mm (2.58 inches) for the P2370HD and Touch of Color (ToC(TM)) design, are the latest release of Samsung’s high performance displays. “The 70 Series offers our customers a sophisticated-looking LCD monitor with the performance capability of our televisions,” said J.H. Kim, President of Samsung Electronics America’s Information Technology Division. “The 70 Series is the new standard as more people upgrade their monitors for additional uses, like watching television programs and playing video games.” The 70 Series Monitors are ideal for office applications and entertainment with its dynamic contrast ratio (50,000:1) for deep, rich colors, while the 2ms (GTG) video response time minimizes blurring for watching sports and fast-moving gameplay. The crystal-like bezel frame with ToC(TM) reduces the reflection of light and glare. The glossy stand offers a polished design, while the clear, crystal-like acrylic neck gives the illusion the monitor is floating. Samsung’s Startlight Touch Controls integrate the On Screen Display (OSD) buttons into the bezel for a seamless look and feel, eliminating obtrusive buttons on the front or sides on the panel. Gently touching any of the buttons illuminates the controls which automatically disappear after a set period of time, minimizing distractions. The P2370 offers full HD 1080p resolution (1920×1080) for optimized viewing of HD content. For full HDTV capability, the P2370HD builds on the 1080p capabilities of the P2370 with the addition of a HDTV tuner, integrated speakers with SRS TruSurround HD(r) and remote control. In addition, the P2370HD also has HDMI and component inputs for additional connections such as Blu-Ray, set-top boxes and game consoles providing users with a display that is ready for work and play. “The 70 Series is a great monitor for someone looking a full range of color, sharpness and response. It also has an added benefit for those concerned about the environment. We were sensitive to the impact computers monitors have on the environment and have developed a manufacturing process for the 70 Series that would minimize this,” said Tony Yu, Display Product Manager of Samsung Electronics America’s Information Technology Division. The 70 Series offers a suite of eco-conscious features including reduced energy consumption, requiring about a third less power to operate compared to typical monitors of similar size. The ToC manufacturing process eliminates harmful paints and sprays, increasing the monitors’ recyclability. The slim footprint also dramatically reduces transportation costs and requirements for a smaller carbon footprint. P2070 \ P2370 \ P2370HD LCD Monitors – Thin 30mm screen depth (65.5mm - P2370HD) – High contrast ratio of 50,000:1 – Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) resolution (1600×900 - P2070) – Fast 2ms (GTG) video response time (5ms - P2370HD) – Reduced power consumption – Touch of Color (ToC(TM)) technology – VOC-free Crystal-like bezel frame to help reduce glare – Starlight Touch Controls – Built-in 1080p digital HDTV tuner; 5ms (GTG) video response time and HDMI input (P2370HD) View original post here: Samsung announces 70 Series HD monitors and TV

Robot that can jump twenty-five feet in the air coming to the US military Posted: 08 May 2009 08:17 AM PDT Boston Dynamics — which previously made a robot called the BigDog — has been enlisted by Sandia National Laboratories (a US government-funded lab) and DARPA to make a new, hopping robot. Called the Precision Urban Hopper, the robot’s goal will be to be capable of jumping over large obstacles in city combat situations. It will boast one extremely tough leg to assist it, in addition to its four wheels. The Hopper is supposedly going to be able to jump 25 feet in the air once completed. So far, only a very small prototype (pictured above) is finished, but Boston Dynamics is due to present its next model sometime during 2010. More: Robot that can jump twenty-five feet in the air coming to the US military

Cool blue mini laptop sleeve Posted: 08 May 2009 08:00 AM PDT Design to be used with a seventeen inch laptop this sleeve offers the consumer protection from bumps and shunts as well as from scratched and scraps. There nothing worse than finding a large scratch on the lip of your laptop, it drives me made. These sleeves may not offer the same protection as a bag, but these are easier to carry around. Product Features Sleeve case fits 17″ laptop Offers complete protection for your Laptop Smooth, non-scratch lining interior Easy to place inside a bag or carry alone Have a pocket; Water resistant Priced at $24.99 Source [Amazon] Read the rest here: Cool blue mini laptop sleeve

Journalism school ‘requires’ students buy iPhone Posted: 08 May 2009 08:00 AM PDT Oh look, outrage. It's been a few minutes since we last ran into outrage. This time: an evil plot, hatched by the Missouri University School of Journalism, that, in effect, lets students cover the cost of their iPhone or iPod touch with federal student loans. Someone call Superman, or at least Daredevil. How is the school getting away with this? By classifying the iPhone or iPod touch as a requirement, students can then buy them with the full faith and credit of a federal student loan. I now quote Valleywag because it made me laugh: This has students who are PCs up in arms; one student, Elizabeth Eberlin, has started a Facebook group, her generation's ultimate gesture of pointless, passive-aggressive protest, to complain about the move. There's a small asterisk here. Even though the iPhone is "required," it's not really required. The school actually won't force you to buy an iPhone—you won't be penalized in any way if you don't buy one—so there's little reason to freak out about it. Carry on, citizens. Photo: Flickr Here is the original: Journalism school 'requires' students buy iPhone

Kindle can’t say “Barack Obama” Posted: 08 May 2009 07:50 AM PDT Hay-ree-et Bee-char Sto-wee The Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX pronounces "Barack Obama" as "Bay-rack Oh-bamma," slightly embarrassing for a device designed to display and read newspapers. An NYT story find this to be slightly funny but, as we all know, text-to-speech has been a fail party for years, no matter what the Authors Guild says. The technology is very advanced; everyone has the memory of the Stephen Hawking voice, which was very robotic," said Patrick Dexter, the director of business development at Cepstral, a Pittsburgh company that does such work and has licensed its technology to Google. "The goal right now is to get a voice that sounds almost indistinguishable from a real person." The system, provided by Nuance, will update its dictionary to reflect the Presidential Pronunciation. Excerpt from: Kindle can't say "Barack Obama"

Sony Ericsson Claims PlayStation Phone “Could Happen” [Playstation] Posted: 08 May 2009 07:47 AM PDT It may or may not be wishful thinking on the part of a struggling company, but Sony Ericsson president Hideki Komiyama claims that a PlayStation phone, similar to the existing Walkman and Cybershot phones, “could happen”. [FT via Kotaku] Continued here: Sony Ericsson Claims PlayStation Phone “Could Happen” [Playstation]

Is the Growth Of The Web Slowing Down Or Just Taking A Breather? Posted: 08 May 2009 07:44 AM PDT There are now 231.5 million Websites according to Netcraft. But last year the number of new sites added to the Web slowed down to 29.9 million, from 48.7 million in 2007. Royal Pingdom went through Netcraft's server surveys to come up with the chart above, which shows the increase or decrease in the number of Websites for every year going back to 1996. The growth of the Web so far can be broken down into two five-year cycles, where every year the growth rate gets bigger until there is an economic downturn, when the growth rate takes a breather. In 2001 and 2002 the growth slowed and even went into negative territory, and again in 2008 there was another slowdown in the number of sites added to the Web. It stands to reason that the number of new sites will ebb and flow with the global economy, but it is not clear that there is any direct correlation. For instance, so far in 2009 we've added a whopping 46 million sites, many of them Chinese blogs. The total for the year will almost surely be much greater than the 2007 increase, and is already larger than all the sites added in 2008. Does that mean the global economy is already on a rebound or simply that countries like China and Russia are embracing the Web in a big way? These numbers also raise the question of how many sites does the world need—500 million, one billion, ten billion? Maybe the upper limit is the number of people who are on the Web, which is estimated between 1 billion worldwide (comScore) and 1.6 billion right now. Maybe it is more. How many Websites do you have? Here are the top countries by Internet population according to comScore.  All the growth is coming from China, Russia, Brazil, and India. (Growth is compared from July, 2008 to March, 2009 for an apples-to-apples comparison because comScore changed its methodology slightly in July, 2008). Internet population Jul-2008 Mar-2009 % Chg World-Wide 949,583 1,092,598 15% China 161,015 192,000 19% United States 162,619 163,825 1% Japan 56,786 63,152 11% Germany 35,212 39,183 11% United Kingdom 35,223 36,781 4% France 31,842 35,747 12% India 29,817 33,340 12% Russian Federation 26,355 30,710 17% Brazil 25,288 29,081 15% South Korea 26,251 27,901 6% Canada 21,587 22,023 2% Italy 19,689 21,174 8% Spain 16,562 18,456 11% Turkey N/A 17,390 N/A Mexico 12,037 12,914 7% Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Excerpt from: Is the Growth Of The Web Slowing Down Or Just Taking A Breather?

Nikon S630 unboxing and hands-on: pretty in pink edition Posted: 08 May 2009 07:43 AM PDT What’s that, another compact digital camera unboxing? Yes, dear readers, we’ve got a mega-megapixel story cooking for you, and another ingredient has arrived. This time it’s Nikon’s Coolpix S630, a 12 megapixel, 7x optical zoom compact that features optical stabilization and a particularly vibrant hue. So far we’re impressed by the camera’s shape, lightness, and build quality, but this one has plenty more testing ahead of it before we make any solid conclusions. Until then, enjoy a few shots of its unveiling. Gallery: Nikon S630 Unboxing and Hands On Read the original post: Nikon S630 unboxing and hands-on: pretty in pink edition

Video: Captain Kirk vs Captain Picard Posted: 08 May 2009 07:40 AM PDT Captain Kirk: Bold, suave, and hotheaded. Captain Picard: Careful, wise, but tough. Who would win? A GoAnimate video attempts to answer the debate. Here is the original: Video: Captain Kirk vs Captain Picard

The Springback Is the Ultimate Shuttlecock, For Whatever That’s Worth [Sports] Posted: 08 May 2009 07:40 AM PDT You know that kid who was always inviting you over to play his new invented sport of hockey crossed with skateboarding crossed with couch cushions? Well that kid grew up and created the Springback. OK, technically, the $12 Springback is intended for Peteca, a traditional Brazilian sport that’s like badminton without the rackets. But we like to imagine using it for a touch game of football, our stick-like arms launching it farther than a leather football before, unable to actually catch the “ball,” the Springback bounced many feet into the air for a house rules fumble. [Play via Nerd Approved] Continued here: The Springback Is the Ultimate Shuttlecock, For Whatever That’s Worth [Sports]

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