Hasta La Gadget!

We don’t typically take an interest in the thrilling world of paper shredding, but when you bring out a product with a snowy white glossy sheen and a bodacious industrial design, even our cold hearts are warmed enough to ask a few questions. Black & Decker, traditionally a power tool maker and seller, has recently introduced the iShred (yes, we gave them grief for the cringe-inducing name) vertical shredder, which they claim is just about the world’s safest since there’s no way to get your fingers anywhere near the cutting blades. The big appeal for buyers will be that rather attractive design, however, which does offer some added functionality — the “fluted” shape of the lower half of this shredder helps disposal by funneling the loose streams of paper into a narrow outlet (when flipped upside down, of course). The price is $99.99 at places like Amazon and Fry’s, who are already retailing the iShred. If you care for actual specs, you can cross-cut your way through six sheets of paper at a time and you’ll have to empty out the collector once it’s accumulated about 100 pages’ worth of pulp. Check out our brave attempts to cut our fingers in the name of scientific testing after the break.

Continue reading Black & Decker’s iShred vertical paper shredder (hands-on)

Black & Decker’s iShred vertical paper shredder (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD’s already gotten official with its Atom-challenging Fusion processors that promise a whole host of benefits for mobile users — namely 10+ hour battery life and significantly improved GPU performance — but the chipmaker isn’t about to leave its desktop CPUs behind here at CES. The company has also just announced its new 3.6GHz Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition and 2.9GHz Phenom II X6 1065T processors, the former of which is AMD’s fastest quad-core processor to date, while the latter promises to combine high performance with a low 95W TDP (relatively speaking), and AMD’s own Turbo CORE technology. What’s more, unlike the Fusion processors, these are apparently both available immediately, and they’ve already garnered a few early reviews. Hit up the links below to check a few of those out, and head on past the break for the official press release.

Continue reading AMD announces speedy new quad-core, six-core Phenom II processors

AMD announces speedy new quad-core, six-core Phenom II processors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Leadtek AMOR8210 videophone makes US debut at CES

Leadtek AMOR8210 videophone makes US debut at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES is just kicking off in earnest tonight in Vegas, and Seagate’s wasting no time in dishing out a smattering of new releases. Up first is the outfit’s slimmest external drive yet: the new, ultrathin GoFlex HDD, which holds a 2.5-inch drive within, but measures just 9mm thick — that’s 38 percent slimmer than the existing GoFlex drive. At least initially, it’ll only be offered in a 320GB model, and the USB 3.0 port ensures that it’ll run laps around your older USB 2.0 model. Mum’s the word on pricing, but you can expect it to ship out this spring. Moving on, there’s a new raft of GoFlex for Mac external drives, which arrive HFS+ formatted and ready to play nice with Time Machine. Each one ships with FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 adapters, but allow for USB 3.0 or eSATA to be used with Windows PCs. The GoFlex for Mac houses a 2.5-inch HDD and will sell for $199.99 (1TB) / $249.99 (1.5TB), while the limited edition of that very product will only be available in a 1TB ($199.99) version. There’s also a GoFlex Pro for Mac, housing a 7200RPM 2.5-inch HDD and costing $149.99 (500GB) or $179.99 (750GB). Wrapping up this collection, there’s a GoFlex for Mac drive that’ll go for $219.99 (2TB) or $279.99 (2TB).

Lastly, and potentially more importantly, Seagate is finally opening up the GoFlex standard that it has been pushing so vigorously of late. As of now, the only products that support the GoFlex platform — which allows various connectors to be attached to your existing HDDs — are Seagate-branded. But today, Seagate’s revealing a Certified GoFlex Storage System that’ll enable third-party vendors to make wares that are also welcome in the family. Here at CES, the company is planning to showcase a line of prototype concept devices, and while we’ve yet to see what exactly those are, we are told that the certification also endorses the soon to be established SATA-IO Universal Storage Module (USM) specification. Better still, a number of other companies (Antec, GIEC, Hi-Sense, Ionics and Thermaltake) are planning to showcase GoFlex-approved gear here at the show, including a TV, a laptop, desktop PC, “plug computer,” DVR and docking station. Needless to say, the possibilities here are near-endless, and we’re definitely looking forward to see just how many odd places a GoFlex adapter ends up.

Update: We just got a look at what the SATA-IO USM modules slots might look built into the likes of a ThermalTake case — spot them immediately below!

Continue reading Seagate reveals 9mm 2.5-inch GoFlex external HDD, third-party GoFlex certification process

Seagate reveals 9mm 2.5-inch GoFlex external HDD, third-party GoFlex certification process originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The battle for the connected living room is about to heat up in a big way: the Wall Street Journal reports that Cisco will announce a new series of connected cable boxes here at CES tomorrow, as part of a larger announcement that combines online video with recorded and live television. You scoff now, but keep in mind that Cisco owns Scientific Atlanta, which makes an absolutely huge number of cable boxes for providers like Time Warner and Comcast — and if Big Cable embraces connected TV by distributing integrated Cisco hardware, well, we’d say upstarts like Apple and Google might just go home with their tails between their legs. On the other hand, the WSJ says “cable operators will be able to customize the software interface and decide on pricing” for Cisco’s new boxes, so it’s possible America’s favorite corporations will completely bungle everything at the first opportunity. We’ll be there live tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.

Cisco joining connected TV party with updated cable boxes at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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