The people over at HDGuru managed to spend a few quality minutes with Samsung’s
forthcoming hybrid player, and initial impressions look to be pretty positive.
Granted, their BD-UP5000 was a pre-production sample, but they were mighty
impressed with the BD-Java / HDi support, HDMI 1.3 functionality, and the Reon
scaler chip within. During limited time with the player, the assortment of HD
DVDs and Blu-ray films that they got to view “all looked spectacular, with every
image appearing clean, crisp and sharp as a tack,” and the “faster chapter
changes and quicker entry into other menu functions” compared to previous
generation units were highly praised, too. Overall, it seems that we’ve got a
respectable combo player on the horizon for those not willing to choose a side,
so be sure and give the read link a visit if you’re too impatient to wait for a
full-on review.

Fujitsu Frontech on Wednesday announced it had developed a PC Login Kit for use with the PalmSecure palm vein biometric authentication device and begun sales of a mouse model and a standard model for corporate users.

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SanDisk Corporation launched the SanDisk Express line of high-performance flash memory products, based on the ExpressCard technology standard. SanDisk Express products aim to deliver best-of-class solutions for professional videographers and photographers who demand speed, durability and reliability. The first product in the SanDisk Express line is the SanDisk ExpressCard, a flash memory card designed for a new generation of professional camcorders that record to ExpressCards rather than magnetic tape, hard discs or optical discs. The SanDisk ExpressCard memory card for professional camcorders is expected to be available in November, in 8 gigabyte (GB) and 16 gigabyte capacities.

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Vista fans, don’t get too hooked on DirectX 10 just yet. Although you may have Vista on your desktop, it may not be as worthwhile for your notebook. In fact, Vista will likely decrease your notebook’s gaming performance. We installed Windows XP on the notebook we built for a few reasons. First, Vista doesn’t support all of our older, but still beloved hardware, such as joysticks, gaming mice, and gaming keypads. Gear makes a difference, and we’re not willing to give it up. Secondly, although we configured our barebook with a top of the line mobile GPU, an Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX, it won’t support DX10. (No mobile GPU supports DX10 at the time of this writing.) Third, although Halo 2, which will require Vista, is around the corner, there aren’t any DirectX 10 games available right now. Finally, without DX10, Microsoft has said that you will take a 10 to 15% performance hit while gaming with Vista. Plus, our older DX9 games will perform better in WinXP running DX9. Because we wanted a gaming machine, our best bet was WinXP, at least for the time being.

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In another sign that you can get about anything you want in an airport, Kingston and N.J.-based MyMemory are offering USB flash drives and CompactFlash and SD cards via what’s believed to be the world’s first flash memory vending machine. The first MyMemory Digital Memory vending machine set up shop in London’s Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal, and additional machines are already planned for Heathrow Airport and London train stations. MyMemory is reportedly also developing relationships with SanDisk and Olympus, as well as
Sennheiser and Uniross, to join the vending
machine movement. According to Anne Keefe
Kingston’s sales director, buyers “want instant
access to SD cards and USB drives as they need
them 24/7, so vending machines in public
spaces was the most obvious solution.”

You knew it was only a matter of time before this technology came along. Motorolas new service is called Follow Me TV that you can use with their new QIP6416 DVR set-top box. It allows you to download television programming onto your cell phone. As part of their FiOS rollout, Verizon is the first provider to offer Follow Me TV. (Check out our feature on FiOS in last months issue.) You can use any phone that has Verizon service, so long as it has a USB connection. Plus, the Motorola box enables recorded-television viewing from any TV in the house. Another cool feature is the ability to program recordings on the DVR remotely from your cell phone, no matter where you are.

Homeowners expect a lot from their wholehouse systems. Integrating home theater and multizone audio with other home automation functions is a task for the dedicated thats why many custom installers prefer to be called sytems integrators. Monster Cable has rethought the whole thing with the new Einstein system.

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