Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not the first time that Samsung’s pimped up their hard drives with some USB 3.0 goodness, but come April, the Korean giant will be delivering three new product lines that are yet to be named. The first one is a basic portable model that goes up to 1TB, and comes encased in a smudge-resistant matte housing with a choice of four colors. The next one up is simply a premium version of the portable drive that not only looks prettier (as pictured above), but also beefed up with auto backup software and 256-bit Full Disk Encryption. A USB dock will be available for both portable lines.

Last but not least, those looking for more storage space (and presumably faster spinning speeds) can turn to the desktop version, which will be available in three flavors: 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Samsung spices up the USB 3.0 hard drive party with three new models

Samsung spices up the USB 3.0 hard drive party with three new models originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Live coverage of the Asus press conference from CES 2011.

Originally posted at CES 2011

Here they are: ASUS’s duo of Tegra 2-powered, 10.1-inch tablets with unique physical keyboards. Starting with the craziest of them, is the Eee Pad Slider (pictured on the left), which reminds us a lot of HTC’s old school Shift with its slide out QWERTY keyboard. The device is planned to run Google’s Honeycomb, sports a IPS, 1280 x 800-resolution display, and houses mini-HDMI and miniUSB ports as well as a microSD card slot. The 2.2-pound / .5-inch thick slab also has dual cameras — a 1.2 megapixel front-facing one and a 5 megapixel one with an LED flash on the back. We have to say we love the idea of always having that keyboard around, but if you don’t want to drag along a physical keyboard all the time, ASUS has something for you too. It’s the Transformer, and like the Eee Pad we saw at Computex, it’s a 10.1-inch tablet that will come with a laptop like dock with a full size keyboard and touchpad. The tablet part — like the Slider — will run Android 3.0 and packs a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, two cameras, and a 1280 x 800-resolution IPS display, however, the dock has an integrated battery that will keep the tablet running for 16 hours on a charge — the tablet on its own should last eight. We’re obviously aching in our seats here waiting to get these two in our hands so stay tuned for some crazy videos of the two in action — until then we leave you with the specs after the break.

Update: How much will it cost you to keyboard-ify your slate and how long will you have to wait? ASUS says the Transformer will run between $400 and $700 and the Slider from $500 to $800. Expect them in April and May respectively.

Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Transformer are here for those that can’t imagine using a tablet without a physical keyboard

ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Transformer are here for those that can’t imagine using a tablet without a physical keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, we’re in full-on tablet overload mode, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for innovation. In fact, ASUS’s Eee Pad MeMO is surprisingly fresh in its take on this already-so-worn subject. The 7-inch, 1024 x 600 tablet runs Android 3.0 (which doesn’t exist yet, but we won’t tell ASUS if you won’t), with a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8260 processor under the hood and dual cameras (1.2 megapixel front, 5 megapixel rear with LED flash). That’s all very nice, but the highlight is a capacitive stylus and two included apps to make the best use of it. Media Note is a scrapbook / note taking application, while Painter allows you to use the stylus as a pressure-sensitive drawing instrument. They’re probably nothing too special just now, but the prospect of pressure-sensitivity on a handheld tablet is alluring, particularly for the artists among us that thought they’d left the iPad’s fingerpainting methods back in kindergarten. MeMO’s other standout might not win it so many fans, but it’s still worth noting. ASUS calls the device “a perfect blend of tablet and smartphone,” and uses a stereo Bluetooth headset dubbed the “MeMic” media phone extender to make the experience a bit more phone-like. We’ll reserve judgement for when we see more than a render of MeMic in action. No word on price or release for the MeMO right now, but hopefully we’ll know more soon. Until then we can keep our eyes set on Honeycomb’s supposed March timeframe — a river of tablets will carry us there.

Update: ASUS says the Eee Pad MeMO will start at $499, and debut in June.

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO tablet takes a pen out of the Courier’s book originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re concerned about loud music damaging your ears, or your children’s ears, dB Logic’s sweet-sounding headphones are the ones to get.

Originally posted at The Audiophiliac