Hasta La Gadget!

AOC has been slowly but surely delivering solid, cost-efficient HDTVs / displays in the run-up to CES 2009, and while the 2230Fm HD3 and 2230Fh that it’ll be showcasing aren’t entirely new, the V22 Verfino (pictured) definitely is. All three of the aforementioned units are part of the outfit’s new Gamer Certified displays series, with the newest of the bunch packing a LED-backlit 22-inch panel (1,680 x 1,050), 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 2-millisecond response time and an HDMI input to boot. There’s no price set just yet on the early 2009-bound screen, but judging by AOC’s history, we’d wager that it’ll be priced attractively. Full release and specifications are after the break.

Continue reading AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit V22 Verfino display

Filed under: Displays

AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit V22 Verfino display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to the New York Times, the Egyptian iPhone 3G comes with GPS disabled. That’s right — one of the second-generation iPhone’s killer features is switched off.

We’ll skip the politics here — we’re a gadget blog after all. The interesting thing for us is that this tweak, along with the Japanese "pervert alert", an extra-loud camera shutter sound to betray the antics of up-skirt shooters, shows that Apple is willing to change its devices for overseas acceptance.

Has Apple done this before? I can’t think of any other products that Apple has either added or removed features from (if I’m wrong, let me us know in the comments). While changes to keyboard layouts and power plugs are obviously necessary, they don’t change function. Disabling GPS (it’s a "military prerogative") and adding a perv alarm, on the other hand, clearly affect the capabilities and experience of using the iPhone.

Presumably these extras are added in firmware — it seems very unlikely that Apple has a minion with a soldering iron at the end of the production line, frying the chips of iPhones destined for Egypt. And if we make that presumption, then it sems likely that the GPS can be switched on again.

From that point of view, the crippling of GPS looks a lot like DRM, a "feature" which only inconveniences the honest and those unable to work around it. Any terrorist or other non-military ne’erdowell is likely to either circumvent the locks or just buy elsewhere. A TomTom can’t be too hard to bring into the country, can it?

So, if we rank this along with DRM, we can see that it’s not at all unusual for Apple to be a willing partner. Look at the iTunes Store. Look at Fair Play-protected applications. Look at the new Mini DisplayPort connectors encumbered by HDCP protection. Do you spot a trend here?

The Freedoms That Technologies Help Bring [NYT]

See Also:

• MacBooks Features DRM Equipped Display Connector
• Apple Bends to Studios, Adds Copyright Protection to MacBooks …
• Europeans Turn on DRM
• Has Steve Jobs killed DRM?
• Pervert Alert: Japanese IPhone Shutter Sound Cannot Be Switched …

pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”img alt=”GH_Metallica.jpg” src=”http://uk.gizmodo.com/GH_Metallica.jpg” width=”593″ height=”370″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //span/p pThe Guitar Hero series is set for another addition next year and is still trying to get one up on Rock Band by releasing artist-focused versions of the game. /p pNext up is Metallica, set to arrive in the first half of 2009 on all the main consoles to the delight of guitarist Kirk Hammett. em”Us being a pretty guitar-oriented band, I think we were pretty much destined to do something with ‘Guitar Hero,'”/em he says. em”It’s a natural sort of relationship. We jumped at the chance.”/em/pimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.uk.gizmodo.com/c/552/f/9581/s/29cb42e/mf.gif’ border=’0’/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0’trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Guitar Hero Metallica Due In 2009 Despite Sales Levelling Offlink=http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/12/19/guitar_hero_metallica_due_in_2.html” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Guitar Hero Metallica Due In 2009 Despite Sales Levelling Offlink=http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/12/19/guitar_hero_metallica_due_in_2.html” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/div

While the engineers at Cupertino may or may not be toiling away on a 3D operating system, the gurus at Spatial View definitely are… in a manner of speaking, anyway. The company, which prides itself on making products “for creating 3D effects,” is bringing a new trio to MacWorld 2009. First up is the Wazabee 3DeeShell, which is detailed as “a special protective skin with an integrated removable lens that can display 3D content on the Apple iPhone.” On deck is the 3DeeFlector, an “autostereoscopic overlay for the MacBook Air and other 13.3-inch notebooks,” which supposedly brings eye-popping visuals (and headaches, we’d imagine) to your ultraportable without the need for humiliating glasses. Finally, the Wazabee 19-inch Gaming Display will probably go head-to-head with the IZ3D, though a frighteningly light amount of details are currently available. One’s things for sure out of all this — three-dee is the future, y’all.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

Wazabee autostereoscopic overlays bring glasses-free 3D to iPhone, ultraportables originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not every day that we see gear aimed at “forward-thinking and discerning social elites” — if anything, it seems that the most high-falutin’ types are looking for ways to stay out of our orbit. Then again, our idea of security usually involves Lego safes and Nintendo deadbolt hacks. When we learned that “true peace of mind” could be ours once we had our hot little hands on the BioMirage Coffer — a 16.4 x 10.6 x 5.8-inch, 10.4 lb strong box featuring biometric fingerprint authorization and a USB key — our ears perked up. We’re not sure what this thing’s made of (or that it couldn’t be smashed open if you were so inclined), but who wouldn’t want to own a gadget that “epitomizes symbiotic interactions between people and technology?” Wait… this thing’s $579? We’ll pass.

Filed under: Household

BioMirage Coffer offers biometric security for people with money to waste originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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