Hasta La Gadget!

In the world of tech blogging, we’re apt to complain about what Merlin Mann calls "First World problems", things which only very spoiled nitpickers would ever care about. Exhibit A: The 17" MacBook Pro, announced last week at Macword Expo 2009 (and yes, this is a little late, but I have been stuck in CES hell for the last week).

The most bemoaned feature of Apple’s new Unabomber tea-tray is the battery. It offers a supposed eight hours on a single charge, and – thanks to some fancy new charging circuitry – will probably outlast the computer itself. What’s not to love? Well, like the MacBook Air, the iPhone and all iPods before it, the new 17-incher has a non user-replaceable battery. This is what is making grown adults froth at the mouth with seething, red-eyed anger.

And they’re talking nonsense. Here, for example, is the main argument against a sealed-in battery: You might want to use the machine on an airplane. What?! Tell me, Gadget Lab reader, upon which plane you might be able to use a 17 inch behemoth like this? Netbooks sit great on the economy class seat trays. A 15" MacBook Pro is pushing the limit. You wouldn’t even fit a 17" "laptop" on the tray, let alone be able to open it.

What about business class, you say? As far as I know (which isn’t very far — I always turns right when I board a plane) all business class seats have power outlets, so you could use a computer with no battery. Verdict: This theory is bogus.

Sure, it’s up to us gadget bloggers to call out the crap that we see, but we also have a responsibility to think a little before we open our mouths.

Photos: James Merithew/Wired.com

See Also:

• Apple’s Big Macworld Announcement Is a Big Disappointment

Question: What would you do with a 2TB SD card, a card of such voluminous capacity that you can hear cathedral-like echoes clanging around any MP3 file stored upon it?

To help you decide, here are some numbers: 100 HD movies, 480 hours of HD video recording, 136,000 "fine mode" photos, and enough MP3 files to last the rest of your life (this last is according to my poor math).

So, what would you do? the answer is, of course, lose it. And if it was the even smaller MicroSD card pictured, you’d lose it even quicker. Imagine dropping your entire photo collection down the drain when swapping out cards from the camera. Shiver.

Of course, you can’t buy a 2TB card right now. Instead, SDXC is the new spec from the SD Association which allows a theoretical maximum of 2TB, meaning the way has been opened for manufacturers to offer bigger and bigger memory cards for cameras. It is also quick, with a current maximum transfer speed of 104 MB per second, rising to 300 MB per second when the kinks are worked out. Compare that to the 200x speed SD card which gives a comparatively pathetic 30 MB per second.

So, relax. By the time 2TB is actually affordable, you’re camera will be recording 100 megapixel HDR images every time you click the shutter, so you’ll probably only fit 100 photos on a card anyway.

Product page [SD Association]

Well this was one for the record books. Between the full-court press of 3DHD, Sony’s announcement of the VAIO P netbook… er, ultraportable, and the nuclear bomb that was the Palm Pre announcement, no one will forget this CES anytime soon. As in previous years, the Engadget team came, saw, and worked nonstop to cover every piece of gear we could get our hands on. After keeping it in the red for days on end, we’re all feeling pretty burnt and ready for a long nap, but insanely stoked that we could bring you CES the way it’s meant to be experienced: like a screaming neon blur.

We’ll be back in full force for CES 2010, but until then, you can gestate on our hard numbers and sad trailer teardown video after the break.

Update: We’re adding pics to the gallery, and just added a new video of us working as we normally do.

Continue reading What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas — Engadget departs CES

Filed under: CES

What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas — Engadget departs CES originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is going to be a hard sell, although it actually looks to be a pretty neat product. The Ecamm network (which sells legitimate hacks for all manner of Apple camera related gubbins) is hawking a Mac-only Bluetooth webcam. This, you will no doubt realize, goes into a pre-saturated market: every MacBook owner already has a camera sitting, unblinking, above the screen.

But of course, that camera can’t be moved and an external cam can certainly be handy. What’s unique about Ecamm’s BT-1 Wireless Webcam (apart from the superb name) is that it is apparently the "the world’s first Bluetooth webcam", managing to stream H.264 video at 640×480 over a Bluetooth v2.0+EDR connection, along with AAC audio (at 48kHz). Those codec specs will make it clear why this Mac-only.

So, apart from going up against an already full market, why is this a hard sell? The camera is $150, that’s why. $150 for VGA quality. We imagine a lot of that money goes into the H.264 encoding hardware — it certainly didn’t go on design.

But you know what? That low key, black box design suggests some fun uses. I’m sure I could nestle this in a moldy corner of the bathroom and enjoy the show from afar. It’s certainly be cheaper than my usual monthly "adult" outgoings.

Product page [Ecamm via ★]

See Also:

• IPhoneCam: Wireless Video Streaming From iPhone
• MacBook Pros Get Secret Camera Upgrade
• HD Spycam Truly Crushes Employee Morale
• Spy Cam Hides Inside an ID Card

OLED displays were out in full force this year, with Samsung bringing plenty of its own to showcase to CES onlookers. We already had a chance to check out a snazzy folding OLED late last week, but CNET was able to capture a few more for good measure. The most notable were the 3.3-inch “3D” AMOLED display (with a WQVGA resolution) and the 7.01-inch AMOLED panel, which was seen sporting a 1,024 x 600 resolution and a 30,000:1 contrast ratio. Flip through the gallery below for a few more looks, but don’t get your hopes up too high for any near-term release dates.

[Via OLED-Display]

Filed under: Displays

Samsung shows off OLED display collection at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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