Hasta La Gadget!

SendStation has impressed us before with its PocketDock line, back in 2007 releasing a tiny nub to suck audio, video, and even get a USB out from an iPod. The company’s latest, the PocketDock Line Out Mini USB, is far smaller — no bigger than Apple’s own charging plug — yet sports a Mini-USB port for charging and a non-powered 3.5mm line out that enables better quality tunes from your pod when connected to an amplified device. The kit even includes a set of tiny stereo RCA jacks that would like nothing better than to mount the front of your receiver. This latest PocketDock is available right now for $29.95 on the other end of that read link, and we’re told they’ll be showing up in Apple Stores, too.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading SendStation’s latest PocketDock is slightly larger than a penny, has much better audio quality than a dime

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

SendStation’s latest PocketDock is slightly larger than a penny, has much better audio quality than a dime originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This one caught us by surprise, but it comes from a source that has always been 100% reliable: Not only Apple may be working on a 10-inch tablet, but also in 13″ and 15″ models, one running Mac OS X.

This source claims that the two touchscreen prototypes—made of aluminum, but on the shape of big iPhones—were in a factory in Shenzuen, China. One of them “was running Mac OS X 10.5.” When I asked, the source didn’t know if these were built for demonstration purposes, or if they were preproduction units. The company has a tight relation with Apple but “it’s not FoxConn.”

As I said before, with everyone focused on the 10-inch tablet with iPhone OS, this sighting is quite surprising. It is possible that Apple may be just exploring other form factors, and these two models may or may not end being future products.

According to rumors, Apple is in the final stages of developing the Apple wet dream, a 10-inch tablet allegedly running the iPhone OS. Several sources claim that Steve Jobs—back in Campus—is now personally driving this project. However, until now there has been no reliable rumors on 13″ and 15″ models, much less one running full Mac OS X.

If you were wondering when you’d be able to get your hands on the Nikon D300s and its 720p/24 movie mode, the answer is… yesterday, apparently. The cam was spotted (along with the lower-rent D3000) at a big box Best Buy, and a bit of testing was performed — an admittedly limited bit, but there’s only so much you can do when the cam is bolted to those annoying six-inch tethers. The updated video recording mode was the thing that underwent most scrutiny, and while the new auto-focus seemed to work reasonably well (if slowly — and noisily) on stationary objects, swinging the camera back and forth resulted in the same jelly-time sloshing effect we’ve seen on the D5000 and D90 before it, as seen in the video embedded below. Maybe its time for that 12.3 megapixel CMOS to hit the gym and tone up a bit, Nikon.

Continue reading Nikon D300s spotted and tested at Best Buy with its little brother, still does that jelly video thing

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Nikon D300s spotted and tested at Best Buy with its little brother, still does that jelly video thing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember we told you that Nikon’s Coolpix S1000pj was the “the first that we know of in a consumer camera”. We were wrong. Way back in 1959 you could buy the Zoom Cine-Twin, a honking great 8mm film camera which ran on D-cell batteries which was billed as the “World’s first movie camer and projector combination”.

Not only was it big, it was expensive. According to Retro Thing, the camera was sold in jewellery stores instead of camera stores. There were more innovations too, especially in the later zoom model (pictured). The zoom lens had a companion zoom viewfinder, and there was a built-in exposure meter.

Now, the trouble with a film-based two-in-one is that, unlike the digital Nikon, you need to remove the film, process it and then put it back in. Hardly convenient. In fact, very inconvenient, making the camera bigger and heavier, and more delicate than a standalone 8mm camera.

This wasn’t even the first, either. Retro Thing mentions the “cinematograph” of 1892, but really, any still film camera is also a projector. You just leave the back open and shine a strong light through there. Now, sit back and enjoy this ten-minute demonstration from camera collector Kerry Decker.

New Nikon S1000pj Not First Camera/Projector Convergence [Retro Thing via the Giz]

It’s Friday morning, February 28th 2009, and look who came to breakfast. Why, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, of course. I popped into the local branch of FNAC to pick it up (after trying yesterday, when the Genius gave me an apologetic shrug and told me not to worry, and that there would be “hundreds of copies” in the morning).

Here in Europe you’ll pay €29, which works out at $41.50, a hefty chunk of change more than the US price. I shouldn’t complain, though, as normally we have to wait weeks and pay more.

I saw no queues, and I suspect that there won’t be many anywhere. After all, its a product which adds little of note to the normal user, and is certainly not in short supply. On to the pictures. This is an unboxing, after all.

The box. You’ll see this is the Spanish version, although of course it still has the same awful clip-art. We’re fully expecting to see v10.7 featuring Comic Sans on the box. This is what happens when Steve Jobs goes on leave.

Gah! This is messy, too. I think we can peg the beginnings of this design decline to the purple space picture that “graced” every Mac’s desktop since 10.5.

This one, at least, retains some Apple minimalism.

Does anyone ever read this part?

The same horrific picture on the disk. Seriously, Apple, what happened? Can’t you afford a graphic designer?

Some things never change. Stickers! Who doesn’t love stickers? These are destined for my hackintosh.

Product page [Apple]