Eclectic Electronics

Brando SATA HDD Multimedia Player Adapter allows you to playback video files via HDMI
The ultimate gaming laptop money can buy (as of June 2009), the Alienware M17x
Panasonic DMP-BD15 portable Blu-ray player, features Viera Cast and output via HDMI
Mobiado Grand 350PRL, a redressed Nokia E71
Sony Ericsson dumping Memory Stick Micro slots, in favor of microSD

Brando SATA HDD Multimedia Player Adapter allows you to playback video files via HDMI

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 02:30 PM PDT

Brando carries a whole lot of gizmos and gadgets for almost everything, whether it be laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, and loads of other things. They’re latest entry into the gadget world is the SATA HDD Multimedia Player Adapter.

In English, it’s something that you can attach to 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA HDDs and you will be able to use it as a media player.

It supports the following video file types: MPG, MPEG, VOB, AVI, MP4, DIVX (sorry, no MKVs for this one!) Also present are SD card slots and a USB port, which will also allow media playback. Video output maxes out at 1080i and is output via HDMI.

The Brando SATA HDD Multimedia Player Adapter comes with a not-so-nice-looking remote and is priced at $69. Brando is based in Hong Kong and ships worldwide with just a $3 shipping fee per order!

Honestly though, if it costs that much, I’d rather keep the money and put it into something more robust and nice looking. This device, however, would be ideal if you have lots of hard disk drives lying around.

[via CrunchGear and SlipperyBrick]

The ultimate gaming laptop money can buy (as of June 2009), the Alienware M17x

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 12:00 PM PDT

The Alienware M17x features the latest of everything in the notebook market today. It is able to house Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled video cards, an Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) processor, dual 256GB solid state disk (SSD) drives and let’s not forget to mention that it also comes with an Alienware-exclusively designed Illuminated Keyboard with Numeric Pad (available in six backlight colors).

Base configurations start at a meager $1,799 while fully-loaded configurations will certainly break your piggy bank (around $5,000+)! Of course, considering that it’s a gaming laptop… Don’t forget that it sports a huge 17-inch screen and will weigh a ton!

Head on over to the Alienware M17x product page at Dell.com and take a look at everything else this notebook can offer.

[via iTech News Net]

Panasonic DMP-BD15 portable Blu-ray player, features Viera Cast and output via HDMI

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 10:15 AM PDT

The Panasonic DMP-BD15 portable Blu-ray player features Viera Cast functionality which allows you to connect to various internet sites such as Google Picasa, YouTube, and others. It also has a SD card slot for viewing photos and videos (no mention of what file types are supported though). The battery is rated for 3 hours of use.

Watching high definition on a 8.9-inch WSVGA resolution screen is simply not worth it since you won’t be able to see the extra details that Blu-ray has to offer. You’re better off getting a portable DVD player. Blu-ray is only worth it for screens 42-inch and above.

The only nice thing I can say about this device, is that it can be used as a small-footprint standalone Blu-ray player if you choose to. Output going to the television will be via HDMI. It also reportedly supports HD-Audio codecs.

The Panasonic DMP-BD15 portable Blu-ray player is now available through various retailers for $799.99.

Thinking about getting one? Consider purchasing a 32-inch flat panel television and a Blu-ray player instead.

[via HD-Report]

Mobiado Grand 350PRL, a redressed Nokia E71

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Ever wanted to completely redesign a Nokia E71 and give it a totally new, unique and industrial look? Well, Mobiado did just that and put an extremely high price tag on it.

If you look closely at the specifications page of the Grand 350PRL, you’d find that everything is similar with the Nokia E71. And if you look at how the hardware components are layed out, everything is virtually in the same place as its Nokia counterpart, the E71.

According to Mobiado, the metal casing of the device is composed of the following:

Black mother of pearl layered behind sapphire crystal
Inlayed pieces of sapphire crystal
CNC machined aluminum, black nickel plated frame
Ruby infrared screen
Sapphire crystal and stainless steel buttons
Gun metal black stainless steel screws
Unique hidden sliding battery cover mechanism (patent pending) with the battery cover made entirely from one piece of sapphire crystal

The Mobiado Grand 350PRL is priced at $2,600 (plus applicable taxes) and is available in various colors such as Black Pearl, Gold Pearl, Pink Pearl and White Pearl.

Seriously though, just get a Nokia E71 and spend the two grand on something else.

Sony Ericsson dumping Memory Stick Micro slots, in favor of microSD

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 06:00 AM PDT

Sony Ericsson finally had some sense knocked into them. They’re reportedly ditching those Memory Stick Micro slots found on their mobile phones and replacing them with microSD slots.

Could it be because that they lost huge amounts of money during the 1st quarter of 2009? Maybe this is their way of getting back into the game.

I would have to applaude Sony on taking this route and conforming more into the norms of technology, rather than making their proprietary stuff stand out.

[via CrunchGear]