Computers and Technology, Gadget News and Reviews » Unleashed

Solio Communicator Unleashed

software — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:21:22 +0000

The integrated solar panel on the Solion Communicator will store energy from the sun within its internal Lithium-ion battery, and is capable of holding it for up to a year. It works with virtually all Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and will be released sometime in the middle of this year for 79. [Mobile World Congress] Better Energy Systems has introduced its Solio Communicator at Mobile World Congress 2009, tackling the going green issue with new gusto. Alternatively when the sun is out, you can use a cigarette lighter socket or a USB port to juice this puppy up. The Solio Communicator also doubles up as a speakerphone, letting you continue conversing on your handset while driving without having to remove either hand from the wheel. [Press Release]

Other features include a high fidelity directional microphone. It tips the scales at just 150 grams, allowing you to place it across a variety of surfaces including the dashboard, visor or window. 99 Euros a pop. The Solio Communicator hopes to provide virtually unlimited talk-time by harnessing the power of the sun, doing away with the need for pesky car kits, although the latter will come in handy if you tend to do a whole lot of traveling at night.

Toshiba Vardia DVRs unleashed

software — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:59:47 +0000

The Toshiba Vardia RD-X9 DVR will arrive in Japan from next month onwards for a rather heavy hitting $1,300.

The most interesting among them would be the RD-X9 that comes with a whopping 2TB of storage space which can be further expanded upon using external hard drives. No, this isn’t a piece on Toshiba releasing a bunch of Blu-ray players, but will involve a new line of Vardia DVRs in Japan instead, where they rely on DVDs and hard drives to store your entertainment data. Other features include a USB port and support for DVD formats.

Intel Core i7-870 and Core i7-750 benchmarks unleashed

software — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:32:07 +0000

Benchmarks of the new Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors built upon the Lynnfield architecture have started to be published right after Intel’s official announcement. Intel has tweaked Lynnfield to win the performance per dollar race against AMD, and it basically worked very well, particularly for the Intel i7-750 CPU that sells for $199. For those who don’t care much about the technical details, the Lynnfield architecture is aimed at improving the bang-for-the-buck of the Nehalem architecture upon which the first Core i7 CPUs are based. More about CPUs

If you want all the small bits, I recommend reading the PCPers review.

HP Compaq 515 and Compaq 610 unleashed

software — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:20:37 +0000

The former will be powered by a choice between an AMD Athlon X2 or Turion X2 processor alongside ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics. As for the Intel-powered Compaq 610, this 15. You can choose from Windows Vista Business or Vista Home Basic as the operating system of choice, where prices range from $429 and $449, respectively. 6″ notebook will run on either the Intel Core 2 Duo or Celeron Dual Core processors, featuring Intel’s GMA X3100 integrated graphics chipset, up to 3GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a DVD burner. Both notebooks target the budget-minded businessman, and common specifications include a mono speaker, microphone, Wi-fi and LAN connectivity, a trio of USB 2. It features a 14. 0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, SD memory card slots and VGA output. 1″ display, maxes out at 3GB RAM, can hold up to 250GB of hard drive space and a DVD burner.

HP has just announced a couple more notebooks from the Compaq Essential business line, namely the Compaq 515 and Compaq 610.