VIA Nano-powered Shuttle XS29F gets official - Gadget World

Well, Computex Taipei still hasn't formally kicked off, but it looks like it's close enough for VIA and Shuttle, who have now gotten official with that Nano-based small form factor PC that first surfaced earlier this week. Now dubbed the Shuttle XS29F, this particular version comes equipped with the low-power combo of VIA's Nano U1700 CPU and VX800 media system processor, along with support for up to 4GB of RAM, your choice of SATA II storage options, both VGA and DVI ports, four USB 2.0 ports and, perhaps most importantly, a maximum power consumption of just 50 watts for the entire system. That, as VIA helpfully explains in the video after the break, means the system can ditch all the usual fans and heatsinks and remain nearly silent during operation, not to mention let you save you a bit on your energy bills. Still no word on a price, sadly, but we're hoping Shuttle will be a bit more talkative once Computex opens its doors.

MSI's X-Slim X340 now shipping in US for $899.99 - Gadget World

It's hard to say if our harmless threats influenced the MSRP here, but either way, we'll take it. MSI has finally (finally!) come clean with a set price on its succulent X-Slim X340, and while we heard through the grapevine awhile back that it would ship here for under a grand, we definitely had our doubts. Starting today, eager consumers can order one for the low, low price of $899.99, which buys you an Intel ULV SU3500 processor, Vista Home Premium, a 13.4-inch 1,366 x 768 resolution display, GMA 4500MHD graphics and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. There's also a 320GB hard drive, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, 4-cell battery (an 8-cell is optional), 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, twin USB 2.0 sockets, VGA / HDMI outputs and an SD / MMC card reader. The 0.78-inches thick machine is shipping today in the US of A from a bevy of e-tailers, and you can peek the full release just after the break.

mCubed's RipNAS Statement now available in Europe - Gadget World

mCubed's RipNAS Statement may be unique, but it isn't apt to be widely adopted -- at least not with price points like this. Hailed as the first SSD-based CD ripping NAS device, the product is also available in a traditional HDD form, though both handle automatic ripping, NAS duties and media streaming. Within, you'll find a dual-core Atom CPU, gigabit Ethernet, a TEAC DVD drive, four USB 2.0 sockets and a fanless design. The pain? €1,795 ($2,500) for the 3TB HDD version, or €3,295 ($4,590) for the 500GB SSD model. If you're unfazed by sticker shock, you can pick yours up right now over in Europe.

Google Ion hands-on and unboxing - Gadget World

Looks like Chris' hatred wasn't totally unfounded. We just got our hands on a Google Ion -- which as you can tell is a spitting image of the HTC Magic -- complete with 30 days' worth of T-Mobile service on an included SIM card. It's not a public release model, but seems fully capable. Yes, it's got Cupcake, and while the portrait keyboard seems more cramped than the iPhone's, we found it very comfortable to type in landscape mode. Form factor wise, this thing is as sexy as hardware gets -- light, sleek, and thin. The only thing that exceeds our love for it right now is its own love for fingerprints -- seriously, the entire body and screen attract them like flies to honey. Colorful similes aside, hit up the gallery below for all the pics you could ask for.

Splitfish Dual SFX Evolution and Frag Pro PS3 controllers announced, debut set for E3 - Gadget World

While still one-half away from a good "show and tell" game, Splitfish has announced (with no pics, unfortunately) the Dual SFX Evolution and Dual SFX Frag Pro controllers, part of the Frevolution X series and coming this Fall for the PlayStation 3. For the first person shooter crowd, the Frag Pro is slated to be the successor to the mouse-and-nunchuk combo originally released in 2007 (pictured), with a new dual wireless system to clear up some cord clutter. As for the Evolution, according to the presser it'll swap out the mouse for a right-handed motion / analog joystick. We're a bit lacking in the imagery department right, but we'll be getting some eyes (and hopefully hands) on the peripherals when E3 rolls around early next month.

Sony Cyber-shot W180 and W190 cameras feature awesome digital zooms - Gadget World

Sony just announced a pair of Cyber-shot cameras in Europe. Both offer Sony's smile shutter technology, 3x zoom stabilized with SteadyShot, 2.7-inch LCD, a claimed ISO 3200 sensitivity, and 7 automatic scene selection modes. The W180, though, has a 10.1 megapixel sensor to the 12.1 megapixels of the W190 (pictured). Oddly, Sony's pushing the 17x/18x digital zoom capabilities on these -- something we haven't seen hyped for a few years:

Pristine picture quality is further enhanced by the high-quality 3x optical zoom lens. Smart zoom boosts maximum magnification to a frame-filling 18x for W190 and 17x for W180 for even more dramatic close-ups.

In other words, these cams are targeting entry-level consumers prone to enjoying a Big Mac and tattle-rag while shopping instead of doing any real pre-purchase research. Available starting July in silver, black, and red for "an outstanding value." Backside front, after the break.

HP LX195 Budget Windows Home Server Review - Gadget World

The Gadget: HP's LX195, their stripped-to-the-core (but Apple Time Machine capable) implementation of the Windows Home Server, which comes with a 640GB internal drive, but can only be expanded via the four USB ports in the back.

The Price: $390

The Verdict: Quite good. If you weren't quite sure Windows Home Server was right for you, and you have a family with both Mac and PC machines, the LX195 is an easy way to experiment without paying the $600ish dowry to hitch yourself to a full-blown EX machine.

CableDrop Cable Holder Has a Firm Grip By the Cord - Gadget World

For those who have yet to jump on the mini-cables bandwagon, the $16 CableDrop cable holder has an adhesive backing so that you can hold, organize and stick your messy jumble of cables, pens and earphones on any flat surface

New HP Mini Netbooks Include Autosyncing and Supposed HD Video Playback - Gadget World

HP revealed a couple of new 10.1" screened netbooks for its Mini line. They'll be offered in both Windows and Linux versions, and one model, the 110, even has an optional graphics accelerator which HP claims can produce seamless 1080p playback.

If these new netbooks were sections of a mullet, the Mini 1101 would be the business up front. It's only available in Windows (XP or Vista), and only in boring professional black. The Mini 110, on the other hand, is the party in back: It offers Windows XP or Linux and has an optional Broadcom Video Accelerator for some maybe-HD-maybe-not video playback. But otherwise, they're pretty standard HP Minis: Both use the 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1 or 2GB of memory, and either a 160/250GB hard drive (250GB only with Linux) or a 32GB SSD. Both include autosyncing software, so you can sync all your documents, media, and files easily with your main computer.

The Mini 1101 (business in front) will be released June 1st, starting at $329, while the Mini 110 (party in back) hits June 10th, starting at $279 for Linux and $329 for Windows

HTC Touch Pro2 hits virtual shelves, unlocked and ready for action - Gadget World

Luckily we've got solid word of HTC's Touch Pro2 headed for all of the majors Stateside, or this would come as a bit more of a blow for the hopelessly selfish Windows Mobile users among us: HTC's QWERTY slider flagship is now available online and unlocked, though its Euro-centric nature means there's no 3G for folks who'd like to use it in the wilds of the United States of America. Still, there's plenty of greatness here outside the HSPA data, and the $800-ish pricetag doesn't seem too unreasonable for what you get. And hey, maybe you live in Europe -- we're not ones to judge.

Sony updates plethora of VAIO laptops in Japan - Gadget World

The season of vacations, beach attire and VAIO updates. We already heard that Sony was giving its VAIO P netbook a dose of Windows XP and an optional 256GB SSD, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the Type T, Type Z, Type F and Type A are all getting makeovers, so we'll do our best to break 'em down right. The beastly A series will continue to be menacing, boasting an 18.4-inch 1080p panel, WiFi, a HDD / SSD hybrid system, 4GB of RAM, a Blu-ray drive and a GeForce 9600M GT. The F series rolls in with a 16.4-inch display, 4GB of memory, ATI's 256MB Mobility Radeon HD 3470, WiFi, a battery good for three hours and a Core 2 Duo P8700. The other guys are seeing far lighter touchups, but you can feel free to have a look at all of these Japan-bound units in the links below.

iRiver P35 headed to the US this fall - Gadget World

It certainly doesn't seem to have been in a rush to bring it to these shores, but iriver has now finally announced (in teaser form) that its P35 PMP will indeed be getting an official US release... this fall. That will version will obviously ditch the DMB TV found in its Korean counterpart, but it should be otherwise identical, including up to 16GB of storage (plus an SDHC card slot), a 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, a full-fledged web browser (on the WiFi version, at least), a promised 16 hours of battery life (or seven for video) and, of course, iriver's trademark SPINN controls. No word on pricing just yet, as you might have guessed, but the Korean version started at the local equivalent of $286.

LaCie intros Core4 and Core7 USB hubs, various HDD bags - Gadget World

LaCie is outing a few new wares today, and despite your best wishes, they ain't hard drives. Up first, we've got the Core4 and Core7 USB hubs, both of which are modeled after the Sam Hecht-designed LaCie Little Disk. As the model names indicate, the Core4 includes four USB ports and a built-in mini-USB cable, while the Core7 packs six USB sockets as well as a built-in extractable mini-USB cable. Both devices are shipping now in Warm Gray, Blue and Orange for $9.99 and $19.99 in order of mention. In related, somewhat less titillating news, the company is also introducing three new lines of mobile and desktop hard drive bags: the LaCie Cover, LaCie Coat and LaCie Cozy. The trio arrives in a rainbow of hues and models for 2.5- and 3.5-inch HDDs, with prices starting at $8.90

Hantech Siso Tablo laptop stylus - Gadget World

We just caught sight of Hanwha's Duo laptop stylus a couple of months ago, but it's not the only device out there that promises to turn any old laptop into a pen-accommodating tablet PC, and the folks at SlashGear have now gotten their hands on one of its competitors: the Hantech Siso Tablo. Like the Duo, this one consists of a pen and a Wii-like sensor that sits atop your laptop screen (up to 15.4-inch only), which detects the location of the pen and lets you do everything from drawing and handwriting recognition to controlling the cursor. Best of all, according to SlashGear, the $99 device more or less works just as advertised, and even apparently rivals more expensive gear when it comes to basic design tasks -- or outdoes them, for that matter, since it can also simply be paired with a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper. Hit up the link below for their full impressions.

Zune HD is official, heading your way this Fall - Gadget World

That's right folks, the Zune HD is real, and it's coming this Fall. Microsoft officially announced the next iteration in their Zune line today, making it less of a tripped out pipe dream, and more of a totally tubular reality. The specs, which look exactly like that leak we saw, go like this: 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output (utilizing a new dock -- not on-board), and... not much more right now. Microsoft is doing away with the famed squircle in favor a full multitouch device, and they seemed to indicate that some new touch-friendly apps and games would be headed our way, though they were fairly mum when it came to details. The device will boast an IE-based, customized browser, but little else was said in the way of software.

Acer Aspire Timeline - Gadget World

Acer's been largely mum about its new Aspire Timeline laptop since its initial unveiling back in early April, but now it looks like the company's getting ready to roll out the portable to the customer base at large, if these spy shots from a from a Canadian-based Future Shop store are any indication. The list of specs is a bit hard to read, but from what we gather, the 14-inch Aspire 4810TZ-4129 is packing a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium SU2700, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, a DVD drive, WiFi, WAN, a touted 8 hour battery life, and Windows Vista Home Premium. No indication on the price or official street date, however, but if they're being sent to retail, we can't imagine we'll be waiting too much longer. Feast your own eyes on the specs sheet in the image after the break.

Lenovo U350 Is Pretty Thin, Pretty Light, and Pretty Cheap - Gadget World

Just last week Intel was all "Hey! Thin, light and cheap laptops are the next big thing, TRUST US!" The Lenovo IdeaPad U350, a $650, 13.3-inch ultrathin notebook, is exactly what they were talking about.

Intel and Lenovo's concept makes enough sense: take those ultrathing, ultra-expensive notebooks like the MacBook Air, Dell Adamo or VooDoo Envy and sacrifice a little performance, a little weight and a little thinness to bring the price down. After all, they're already sluggish, so why not? What makes it genius, though, is how this compromise manifests itself. It turns out, these mild design and performances compromises knock a tremendous sum off the price.

The U350 is a sub-1-inch-thick, 3.5lb 13.3-inch notebook which, aside from its thin profile and conspicuous lack of an optical drive, is a fairly standard piece of notebook hardware. You can get just about anything you want in one of these guys—Core 2 Solo, Pentium ULV or Celeron processors; up to 8GB of RAM and up to 500GB of storage—but after a while you'll start to lose the price advantage that makes it attractive in the first place. It'll be around that $700-$800 pricepoint that the U350 shines. Available from July, full press release and spec sheet below

Lenovo S12 Is the First Netbook With Nvidia Ion, Costs Under $500 - Gadget World

With the IdeaPad S12, Lenovo, as rumored, is first out of the gates with a netbook based on Nvidia's Ion chipset, and it's a hell of a promising start: this 12-inch netbook promises the whole HD-playing, game-conquering Ion experience for around $500.

First, a refresher: Nividia's Ion platform is essentially Intel's Atom processor combined with the decent Nvidia 9400m graphics unit. The resulting performance isn't independently mind-blowing, offering smooth 1080p video decoding, including accelerated h.264 playback, Blu-ray playback and moderate gaming capabilities, but put into the context of existing Atom netbooks, it's a revelation.

Though technically not the first Ion-based product—that honor goes to the Acer Revo nettop—this is the first netbook, and frankly, it's exactly what we were told to expect from the start: a midrange, 12-inch netbook with a multimedia bent. It's a followup to the company's existing S9 and S10 IdeaPads, and, excluding the ION—a $50 option, unfortunately—it's not that different from its smaller stablemates.

The screen resolution is higher, at 1280x800, but therein lies a slight problem. Ion's banner claims revolve around HD video playback, and 1080p video won't be viewable on the S12, except on an external screen through its HDMI output. That said, the difference between 720p and 1080p video on such a small would hardly be noticeable.

Lenovo C300 All-in-One Desktop Has Netbook Guts - Gadget World

Lenovo's new summer products all share the same thrifty sensibilities, and the C300 AIO desktop is no exception. Looking at the specs, it's roughly an Atom-based netbook. Looking at its pictures, it's a nicely-styled desktop, not unlike the new Dell Studio all-in-one.

In fact, it's actually really similar, although it manages to knock its price down even lower than the Dell's $700, coming in at a respectable $450 a decided bargain for a slick, 20-inch ready-to-go AIO. The cost of this, uhh, cost, might be a little much to bear for some: the Atom processor, paired with the Intel 945GC chipset and integrated graphics (no Ion option, unfortunately), means that that web-surfing, light productivity and net-centric services like Skype (there's an integrated webcam) will be the the C300's only dependable strengths. Oh, and lack of default Wi-Fi is a seriously anachronistic inconvenience.

XP and Vista are both available, though with hardware like this, the former is the only real option. Well, that, or Windows 7.

Just like the rest of today's announced hardware, July is the month. Press release and specs below

Lenovo's ION-based S12 makes netbooks exciting again - Gadget World

We don't have a lot of information at the moment, but CNET is reporting that Lenovo is getting ready to launch the world's first ION-based netbook. While CNET doesn't give it a model number, the filename used on the image reads "LenovoS12netbook" and is said to pack discrete graphics and NVIDIA's Ion processor. Technically, the 12-inch laptop is too big for netbook classifaction and too chubby to be a CULV thin-and-light. Then again, those are classifactions of Intel's making which doesn't mean a whole lot to the boys from NVIDIA.

Motorola's Sawgrass, Android-powered Heron do the vertical slide onto AT&T - Gadget World

The previously rumored Motorola portrait QWERTY slider Iron Man has popped up again, this time as the AT&T-bound Heron, with listed specs being a 2.8-inch touch screen, 3 megapixel camera with flash, aGPS, 3G, and a big red "subject to change" notice since the device has moved to (drumroll, please) Android OS. Planned availability is said to be November 2nd here, but we suspect these slides are a bit dated and that may ultimately be wholly off target. Also on the menu is another portrait slider, the Sawgrass. This one may in fact be Alexander, and if that's the case, at least we've got a cleaner press shot to put on its tombstone. Then again, we hear from Boy Genius Report that it's reincarnated under the name Somerset. The information you (probably) seek is in the gallery below.

HTC's Warhawk and Fortress are AT&T's Touch Diamond2 and Pro2 - Gadget World

We know that Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all getting versions of the Touch Pro2, but what about little ol' AT&T? Turns out that device is codenamed "Fortress," and it'll accompany a Touch Diamond2 version known as "Warhawk" to market this summer. The Fortress is actually listed as targeted for May 25, which seems a bit unrealistic -- but we think the document we're looking at is a little stale, so we're sure the inevitable delay has crept into the schedule by now. It's expected to launch with WinMo 6.1 AKU6 (presumably upgradeable to 6.5 down the road) with full HSPA on three bands, AGPS, a 3.2 megapixel AF cam, 3.6-inch WVGA display, and Video Share support. Curiously, the bottom of the slide mentions that a "WM 7.X refresh" is in the works with a September 2009 launch date, which underscores the fact that this slide is likely a little old -- there's no way anything running Windows Mobile 7 is hitting this year if 6.5 will just be coming to market in volume toward the holiday season.

Meanwhile, the Warhawk -- AT&T's Touch Diamond2 -- gets a 3.2-inch WVGA display, dual-band HSDPA, AGPS, and Video Share, but unlike the Fortress, it's scheduled to launch with Windows Mobile 6.5 installed out of the gate. It's targeted for August 24, so we'll see how closely they can stick to that.

HP triumphantly returns to AT&T with iPAQ K3 "Obsidian" - Gadget World

Tears well up in our eyes when we think back to the early days of Windows Mobile and HP's dominance; in recent years, the company has all but vanished from the scene, trudging along with a handful of poorly-marketed, underexposed devices that haven't launched on any US carrier. Turns out we haven't said our last goodbyes, though, because the iPAQ K3 -- codenamed "Obsidian," seemingly -- is scheduled for November 30 retail availability on AT&T. The device would launch with Windows Mobile 6.5 onboard and feature a 2 megapixel camera (a second cameraless version for high-security businessfolk might be available, too), 256MB of RAM, a half gig of ROM, microSD slot, GPS, triband HSDPA and quadband EDGE, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a QVGA display to complement the full QWERTY keyboard. Looks like it won't be the most exciting smartphone on the carrier's shelves, but it might be a sensible choice for businesses and really, really boring people. Follow the break for a couple renders of the phone in action-packed angle shots!

Tiny UMID mbook M1: A Mini-Netbook With Mini-Features - Gadget World

Occupying that perennially awkward space between a smartphone and a netbook, the mbook M1, like the Viliv S5, packs standard netbook components into a teeny space while remaining too large to be pocketable. It's a nice enough design, and the price is fair, but the sacrifices made to keep the gadget small are sure to annoy owners. Everything's been miniaturized: The headphone jack is a 2.5mm rather than the standard 3.5mm, and it includes only a mini-USB port, so you'll need an adapter for both audio and hardware input. Even the expansion slot has been miniaturized from the cheap and ubiquitous SDHC to micro-SDHC. The 16GB version will run you $599, and doubling your storage will cost an extra $150.

Flash Storage Is About to Hit a Brick Wall - Gadget World

That dire warning comes from SanDisk's CEO Eli Harari. The capacity of flash chips has doubled 19 times in 14 years to 64 billion bits, currently. But Harari says they're "running out of electrons."

The short story is that the number of electrons crammed inside of flash storage now makes them less accurate as they get older—they "start to smear"—and that Harari thinks they can only double chip capacity two more times. When they go from the current 64-billion-bit chip to the 256-billion-bit (32GB) one, that's the end.

There might be some salvation in stacking the layers, but it's not ready for prime time yet. Check out more of the grisly bits over there

HTC Touch Pro2 Gets Verizon Branding - Gadget World

We knew it was coming to T-Mobile, and today we also know the HTC Touch Pro2 is coming to Verizon. Not a surprise, really, but here's a nice picture with some Verizon Wireless branding on it anyway. In other news, it's Sunday. [D474rpr via BGR]

Microsoft's Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 Has a Tiny Dongle - Microsoft wireless mobile mouse 6000 - Gadget World

One of three new peripherals from Microsoft, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 is the first to use Microsoft's nano transceiver: A 0.3-inch wide dongle that is barely visible when plugged into a USB port.

The three newest additions to the BlueTrack family—Microsoft's line of peripherals specifically designed to work on any surface—run on 2.4GHz wireless connectivity and are equipped with a plug-and-play feature with their dongles being clipped to the bottom of the peripheral. Starting from $39.95 to $69.95, both wireless mice and keyboard will be ready for purchase