Hasta La Gadget!

And here you thought AMD’s 45-nm Conesus was its next generation netbook / ultra-portable processor. Sorry, for that you’ll have to wait until the beginning of the second half of 2009 according to Bahr Mahony, Director of AMD’s mobile division who we just spoke with here at CES. Instead, AMD’s Athlon Neo ultra-portable platform built around existing 65-nm processes is scheduled to make its retail debut in the US in March. Remember, AMD won’t be challenging Intel in a race to the bottom so Neo is aimed squarely at that soft, chewy marketshare nestled between the underperforming $499 netbook and over-the-top $1,499 ultra-portable. Neo boasts more processing power than Intel’s 45-nm Atom at the cost of a higher load on your battery thanks to the 35W thermal envelop of the Neo chipset combined with a discrete, ATI Mobility Radeon Hd 3410 graphics. The result however is what AMD calls balanced performance from ultra-thin notebooks capable of smooth 1080p playback of your HD media — a feat that Atom-based netbooks saddled with integrated graphics struggle with. Interesting, now let’s see the 3rd party benchmarks. AMD’s data versus the Atom posted after the break.

Continue reading AMD kinda sorta takes aim at Atom with Athlon Neo

Filed under: CES, Laptops

AMD kinda sorta takes aim at Atom with Athlon Neo originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Add one more contender to the list of mind control games vying for our attention this year alongside NeuroSky and Emotiv. Set to debut this week at CES, Mattel’s Mind Flex requires players to concentrate really hard in order to power a fan that’ll float a ball through the hoops. Sure, it’s not nearly as complex as what the other two are proposing, but we could totally see ourselves wearing this headset all day while we work — just to find out how much brain power we’re really using. It’s expected to hit US retail channels later this year for $80, and if we may be so candid, our only wish is that the headset was small enough to hide under a hat. You know, so we could fool our family members into thinking we had superpowers.

Via Gadget Review; Thanks, Christen]

Filed under: CES, Gaming

Mattel’s Mind Flex teaches kids fake telekinesis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rather than simply adding a new capacity option or throwing another adjective on the end (i.e. Ultra, Xtreme, Gnarly, etc.), SanDisk is actually launching something in the flash drive sector that’s worth paying attention to. The Ultra USB Backup is hailed as the planet’s first USB key with simple backup software activation at the touch of a button, and with capacities up to 64GB, we’d say this is a pretty decent option for keeping your digital paraphernalia backed up sans an external HDD. In related news, the outfit has redesigned the long-standing Cruzer to fall more in line with today’s trends, effectively stripping the retro pastel hues and adding in “iconic new design language developed by global innovation firm frog design.” The new bunch is expected in stores this April, with prices ranging from $24.99 to $99.99 for the Cruzer and $39.99 to $199.99 for the Ultra Backup. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading SanDisk showcases new Ultra Backup / Cruzer USB flash drives

Filed under: CES, Storage

SanDisk showcases new Ultra Backup / Cruzer USB flash drives originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The idea of gesture-based remote control isn’t new, but GestureTek has added in 3D tracking to the mix for, you guessed it — even more expressive interaction with your TV. After all, you don’t live in flatland, so why should your remote control gestures? Of course, adding in depth perception requires the use of more than one webcam, but maybe that’s not a big tradeoff in our age of six and more speakers in the living room. The setup will be on display at CES (sans Xpletive), so we’ll try and swing by for a, um, hands on while we puzzle over how to add voice commands to this system. Watching the big game with your buddies just might get even more entertaining yet.

Filed under: CES, Misc. Gadgets, HDTV, Home Entertainment

GestureTek brings 3D and gestures together for remote control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As you know, we’ve been hearing some mind-blowing Zii hype lately. If this latest rumor has any weight to it, among earth-shattering revelations unearthed in Creative’s booth at CES will be a Zii-powered Zen. Of course, screenshots like these can be faked all too easily — but really, why would anyone bother? What we have here is something that resembles previous Zen interfaces, formatted landscape rather than portrait, with what appears to be a widescreen display. Really, guys? Is this what passes for “revolutionary” these days? Call us jaded, but it’s rather hard for us to believe that any PMP would have the power to “better lives beyond our imagination.” Unless, of course, you’re talking about the MySpace MP3 player. We so want one of those.

[Thanks, Oscar M.]

Filed under: CES, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Creative Zen Zii screenshots unearthed, possibly faked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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