Hasta La Gadget!

Pretec has been busy. The flash memory company (whose site ironically relies heavily on Adobe Flash) has, among other things, built the world’s first SDXC card (the 2TB capable cards we saw at CES) and the world’s first miCARD (a teeny, tiny memory card).

But the most startling achievements are both on show at the PMA in Las Vegas — a 100GB Compact Flash card and a 666x Compact Flash card (itself a healthy 64GB in size).

The theoretical speed limit for CF cards is 133MB/sec. The new 666x card manages an astounding 100MB/sec, and Pretec rather proudly boasts that it “will likely also be the last of the high speed CF card in the CompactFlash industry”.

The press release than goes off into the realms of recursive redundancy: “ruggedized construction […] provides extensive ruggedness.”

Also announced are two large capacity cards, both running at a speedy 233x (35MB/sec). These come in 64GB and 100GB flavors, and will also likely be very expensive.

At these sizes, putting them in a camera seems rather foolish — unless you have a Hasselblad which lays down 300MB files, 100GB of photos in one place is a scary proposition even for the most carefree photographer. Still, you could always use these to build yourself a homemade SSD RAID drive.

666x Press release [Pretec via Photography Bay]

100GB Press release [Pretec]

Over the last four years, TVBLOB, an Italian-based company with a funny name, has sought to bring about the most comprehensive software of web-based features on a TV set.

At this week’s CeBit conference in Germany, TVBLOB finally unveiled the first IPTV media box packing that software, the BLOBBox. Judging by the initial specs, it might be too ambitious for its own good and might end up swallowing some engineers by the whole.

The BLOBBox is like an Apple TV on steroids. It’s a media player/video recorder that connects to TVs and has a 160 GB hard drive, a DTT receiver, is optimized for web connectivity and Bit Torrent downloading (through HTTP/FTP), and also has its own custom Linux OS and browser. Streaming from a PC or network is supposed to be simple (hello Wired colleagues’ MP3 collections!), and comes with several sleek on-screen web apps for browsing Google properties like YouTube and Picasa. And with all of that Torrenting going on, it also plays MP4, DivX and XviD files.

Most importantly, TVBLOB claims that its kit transfers web content to TV seamlessly (with HTML and Ajax), almost mirroring the same type of service as the net-based widget TVs we heard about during CES. The only difference is these web widgets are more likely to be used as conduits for the main content, as opposed to separate bite-sized snack apps.

TVBLOB thinks opening up its SDK (called BLOBKit) will easily encourage developers to come out with widget-style applications for their favorite custom channels.

At almost $500 a box and first available only through an Italian reseller, we think it’s going to take a lot more distribution to force people to want to build apps for this. But as a project with a lot of possibilities, I can see a few developers going deep and trying to set up as many ‘web-widgets’ as they can, with some even losing themselves to the tempting power of the Blob’s openness.

According to TVBLOB, the company is looking to license its software to other OEMs, so we might see actually see a BLOB come to the U.S. sometimes soon.

Photos: TVBLOB/flickr

Kindlers can now read their e-books on the iPhone. Amazon has pushed a Kindle application to the iTunes Apps Store barely a week after the Kindle 2 appeared. We wouldn’t be surprised if the launches were supposed to be simultaneous and the iPhone reader was just delayed by Apple’s problematic vetting process.

The application, like the Kindle itself, is only available in the US of A, which sadly makes sense: you’ll need a US-only Kindle account to use it. The app just grabs the books already bought from Amazon and you can read samples and even buy e-books from the iPhone.

Kindle for iPhone also supports Whispersynch, grabbing updates over the air and letting you read your books on various devices. It even supports auto-bookmarking, so you can put down your Kindle, head out to the shops and seamlessly continue reading on your iPhone as you wait at the checkout.

I’m outside of the US, so I can’t try it. According to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, though, the page turning is a little clunky. Unlike Stanza, where you just touch the side of the page to flip to the next, the Kindle app requires a finger swipe every single time. With the tiny page size of the iPhone’s screen, this will get old pretty fast.

Still, it’s free, and I want it. I also want a Kindle. Sometimes it sucks not living in the US. But hey, at least we have Spotify.

UPDATE: Gadget Lab reader Hunter just got in touch to tell us about the new application. He’s in Japan right now, but his US iTunes account means that he can download and use the Kindle app. Here’s what he told us:

I’m in Tokyo…and have had no trouble using the new iPhone Kindle app.

I have an Amazon Kindle account on a US credit card with a US billing address and get books through the Kindle download-to-computer the normal way. I got the free app about 3 pm today and immediately got access to my 47 already-purchased Kindle books.

I just ordered another (on my computer) and after turning off the iPhone Kindle app and turning it back on again, the new book was registered on it. Took about 2 minutes from order to on my phone.

So yes, you CAN use this app outside the States, and it appears to coming over the wireless connection with my Apple MacBook Pro. Or over Apple Airport. I will be experimenting to see if it also can come over the normal 3G iPhone network.

By way of evidence, see below for an image I snapped a little while ago of a friend’s book.

Product page [Amazon]

Product page [iTunes]

Photo: Hunter Brumfield

See Also:

• Amazon’s Kindle 2 Slims Down, Adds Audio
• Kindle 2 Stripped Naked; Chip Is Faster Than iPhone’s
• Interview: Stanza Brings Online Bookstore to the iPhone
• Free Software Turns the iPhone Into an E-Book Reader

This article was written on July 08, 2006 by CyberNet.

Weekend Warrior

Staying connected while you are traveling can be fairly easy and affordable if you plan ahead. These days, with easily accessible high speed internet, using your laptop while traveling really isn’t a whole lot different than using it at home or at the office. Even without a laptop, it’s easy to stay connected with devices such as the Blackberry. There’s lots of easy ways to stay connected from Wi-Fi hotspots, to using your cell as a modem. This will be a quick guide to keeping you connected while traveling!

One of the easiest ways to stay connected without carrying around the baggage of a laptop is the Blackberry mentioned above. For those unfamiliar with the Blackberry, it is a wireless e-mail solution that many professionals use to stay connected. Not only can you keep up with your e-mail, you can also send and receive instant messages, and browse the web. They are gaining in popularity with big name providers in the U.S. such as T-Mobile, Verizon, and Cingular all offering service plans.

Another easy way to stay connected is by using an EVDO card. We recently profiled the newest release from Dell, the Wireless 5700 Express Card. An EVDO card is similar to a typical Wi-Fi card except that it allows you to connect via a cellular network such as Verizon or Cingular. The recent release from Dell operates on the Verizon network with speeds of 400-700 kbps. It is also capable of bursts up to 2 Mbps! Pretty impressive and easy to use while on the go! Rates from Verizon can be from $59.99 – $80 per month depending on if you are an existing customer or not. I think we can expect EVDO cards to gain in popularity as rates among providers become more competitive.

Wireless travel routers are another great way to stay connected. Netgear has a wireless 54 Mbps travel router that is super portable and easy to travel with it literally can fit into your pocket! It features an internal antenna so you never have to worry about breaking or bending anything while you’re on the go. Plus, it can be used with a single user or set up to allow multiple users connecting to the connection. It will run about $60.00 but will make connecting at a hotel quick, easy, and very portable! Both Belkin and Dlink make a similar product.

Finally, one of the easiest ways to get connected is to find a Wi-Fi hotspot! There’s lots of them popping up all around. Here, you can find an international directory of Wi-Fi locations. It will pull up lengthy lists of locations from hotels and Starbucks to Kinkos and bookshops. While some of these locations will charge a fee, others offer a completely free Wi-Fi connection. www.hotspot-locations.com will even sort your results by those that charge, and those that are free! It can’t get any easier than that.

Whether you’re traveling at home or abroad, staying connected to the internet really isn’t so difficult after all! To re-cap:

• Stay connected with a Blackberry the ultra portable wireless solution!
• EVDO Cards can make connecting anywhere you go pretty easy, not to mention fast using a provider such as Verizon.
• Wireless Travel Routers Super small and great for connecting in your hotel room, or shacking up at your friend’s house.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• CyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary!
• CyberNotes: Share Your EVDO Wireless Connection With An EVDO Router
• CyberNotes: Tips for Traveling With Your Laptop
• CyberNotes: Keep Track Of Your Luggage With Globalbagtag.com
• CyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary!

We’re pretty sure a good lot of you with PSPs have used them for, shall we say, less than reputable means — like playing 16-bit era games using emulators. Soon, there might be a more legit outlet for that fix, as Sony‘s head of US marketing for PlayStation hardware John Koller tells MTV Multiplayer it’s looking to bring classics from before Sony entered the arena to the handheld, à la Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. The company’s also expanding North America’s library of PSOne downloads to eventually match the plethora of titles available to the Japanese market. It’s all part of a greater initiative to make more digitally-distributed, download-only titles, which we wholeheartedly support — now, about those pesky UMD-less PSP2 rumors…

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Sony plays catch up with hackers, mulling over PSP ‘virtual console’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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