Filed under: Transportation

First things first — when we say “partially” propel, we mean partially. Nippon Yusen and energy distributor Nippon Oil are teaming up to spend around $1.37 million in order to equip a car-hauling cargo ship with 328 solar panels. Rather than just provide energy for the crew’s on board entertainment system, it will be the first solar installation to actually produce a smidgen of power for the boat’s engine. If successful, the panels would provide 0.2% of the ship’s energy consumption for propulsion, and they’re hoping to raise that to a whopping 1% by 2010. Gives a whole new meaning to “baby steps,” huh?

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Filed under: Cellphones

Vodafone expected the Touch Pro to touch down in the UK this month, and sure enough, said expectation has become a reality. HTC’s mighty WinMo-powered smartphone is now available from official UK distributor devicewire, and if you just so happen to use pounds as your primary currency, you can claim one of your own for the eye-popping price of £514.99 (including VAT). We won’t bother converting that into dollars — trust us, you’re better off pretending you don’t know.

[Via coolsmartphone]

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Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

We’ve heard about iHome’s twistable iH41 since CES, but it looks like the outfit finally got its act together and began to ship these out. Designed specifically for the iPod touch and its variable aspect screen, this unit can be flipped for easy orientation switching that enables users to view widescreen videos while it’s docked and charging; when rotated, the digital clock display will also adjust to “complement the position of the unit.” Notably, there’s no mention of iPhone / iPhone 3G compatibility, but you do get a handy remote thrown in should you decide to cough up $79.99.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wearables

What’s up with Japan getting all the cool toys first? Yeah, we can claim little victories like Pleo and basketball (shared with Canada, some say), but the two 1.5 of those don’t even come close to measuring up to Her Cuteness. Differences aside, we’re thrilled to see that Liquid Image’s underwater digital camera mask is available anywhere after missing its March launch date by quite a bit. These face-swallowers pack a 3.1- or 5.0-megapixel CMOS sensor, LCD screen, 16MB of built-in memory, a microSD card slot, a USB port and even a VGA video mode. It’s supposedly available as we speak in Tokyo and the surrounding ‘burbs for just over $100, and yes, the urge to import is extraordinarily high.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

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Filed under: Cellphones

We know how much those suits love to hit wild targets they set without any real understanding of the future, so we’re pretty sure at least one or two are getting the kudos of their life with this one. Earlier this year, HTC boldly predicted that it would move a staggering two million Touch Diamond handsets before 2009 dawned, and according to a new report, it’ll ship the one millionth unit sometime next week. With Sony Ericsson having all sorts of difficulties moving its mid- to high-end mobiles, one may wonder if HTC really can sell another million before December 31st. But we have all ideas the looming Sprint / Verizon launches will be all the help it needs to call itself a proven prophet.

[Via MoDaCo]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

If our gallery of hands-on pictures from this morning were all you needed to pull the trigger on ZeeVee’s ZvBox, well, we’d surmise that you have more money than sense. Regardless, if you’ve done your homework and feel confident that the localcasting box will make your life remarkably better, you can rest assured that units are shipping out now. Better still, those uncomfortable with Amazon for whatever reason can now secure the box from Best Buy, J&R, NewEgg, TigerDirect, and ZeeVee’s own storefront. Unfortunately, the $499 price tag hasn’t gotten any easier to swallow.

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Filed under: GPS

Navigon’s 2150 Max isn’t revolutionary in terms of design nor specifications, but it does feature a rather delicious list of features for just £229.99 ($458). All-too-trusting UK motorists can look forward to a 4.3-inch display, pre-loaded maps of 39 countries, built-in Bluetooth, text-to-speech and support for live traffic information. Oh, and in case our header was unclear, it’s shipping this very moment in time.

[Via BIOS Magazine]

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Filed under: Displays

Even if you’re not exactly in the market for a new flat-panel, Samsung’s still hoping to snag a bit (or all) of your latest paycheck with its Touch of Color LCD monitors. Hinted at during CES and officially unveiled back in April, these displays boast a 5-millisecond response time, transparent plastic bezel, 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, twin 3-watt speakers, a built-in ATSC / ClearQAM TV tuner (!) and an optical digital audio port for channeling 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. As for resolutions, the 24-inch T240HD and 26-inch T260HD both offer full 1080p, while the 22-inch T220HD gets a 1,680 x 1,050 panel. Snag whichever one suits your fancy right now for $429, $549 or $599 from smallest to largest.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Call it a hunch, but you shouldn’t have to wait too awfully long (like, hours / days / weeks) to secure Nokia’s North American E71 today. Said handset is now available at the company’s flagship store in Chicago, complete with a QWERTY keyboard and US-friendly 3G. Eager to grab one? Total cost will be $483 (plus tax) in addition to a roundtrip ticket to Chi-town, considering the store won’t ship to out-of-towners (or so we hear).

[Via IntoMobile]

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Filed under: Handhelds

Okay, so maybe there are more than just four lost souls who are jonesing for Willcom’s D4 MID, and if you’re waving your hands frantically in a futile attempt to express your love for said device, you can reportedly expect to see one headed your way soon. For everyone else who has yet to make up their mind, head on past the break for an unboxing video that’s sure to sway your decision meter one way or the other.

[Via Wow-Pow]

Continue reading Willcom D4 MID gets unboxed, all four pre-orders ship out

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Wow, Toys ‘R Us was only a day off. Sure enough, Sony’s BDP-S350 — which was first introduced / spotted in February — has gone on sale at Sony Style retail outlets, the Sony Style website and other fine retailers near you. If you’re looking for a quick refresher, this Profile 2.0-compliant deck supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), but curiously enough, Sony mentions that “a firmware update enabling BD-Live is planned [for] later this year.” You’ll also find full 1080p output, 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio support and a promise to suck down 21% less power in playback compared to the BDP-S300. All yours for $400 (give or take a few pennies).

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Filed under: Cellphones

Last we knew, a 436-page Treo 800w manual popped up from deep within the confines of Sprint. Fast forward a few days, and a few diehards are already trumpeting the receipt of their precious new Palm. Yep, that handset you see above is indeed the 800w, and if you care to ask some early adopters how things are going, feel free to hit the read link and surf on over to the forums.

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Filed under: Laptops

Acer played it safe early last month by telling Americans to expect its Aspire One “later this year,” but just a month and change after UKers had the privilege of toying with one on video, here she comes. So far, we’re seeing a couple of variations for sale here in the US, two of which include the $399.99 A110-1295 (8GB SSD) and the $422.99 A150-1006 (120GB HDD). We’re also hearing that select e-tailers are already slapping those shipping labels on there and moving ‘em out to anxious consumers, so be sure and chime in when your confirmation arrives. Wait, what? You already own six netbooks? Ah well, what’s another one amongst family?

[Via AspireOne, thanks Tony and Timothy]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

In the quickly-growing realm of media streamers, there’s at least a modicum of a chance that Conceptronic’s oddly titled Grab ‘n GO Full HD media player has slipped from the forefront of your mind. If so, the outfit is gunning to jar your memory by announcing that it is now shipping said piece to eager consumers. The release also noted that SAMBA and NFS clients have been added, and it’s pretty much ready to “stream all digital media files to a TV in Full HD 1080p resolution.” Furthermore, you’ll find a gigabit Ethernet jack to handle all that data, and the built-in USB port enables external storage to be added locally. Sorry, still no price.

[Thanks, KJ]

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Filed under: Cellphones

DigiTimes has it that HTC has already shipped its first batch of over 10,000 Touch Diamond mobiles to Hong Kong CSL, which has consequently sent our saliva glands into overdrive. The report continues on to say that deliveries to European / Asia-Pacific operators should get going in June, though no further details were mentioned. Meanwhile, North Americans are left to weep softly to keep from embarrassment.

[Via SlashPhone]

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

It took Toshiba long enough to get its socket-infused Dynadock onto store shelves, and considering the rough reputation held by the vast majority of USB video docking stations out there, you’ve probably been holding back on this well-spec’d unit due to fear alone. If we just rang your bell, you’ll be glad to know the critics over at Trusted Reviews were able to spend some quality time with the device and test out all those features that may or may not work as advertised. Overall, reviewers felt that the Dynadock performed adequately in everything save for “entertainment,” so be sure and give the article a bit of your time to determine whether or not it’ll handle the tasks you have in mind for it.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Call it a hunch, but we wouldn’t be surprised one iota if you received some form of digital photo frame for Mother’s Day. If you’re a mother, that is. Digital Foci is sure doing its best to sway your kid’s purchasing decision by shipping its Image Moments 8 just in time. If you’ll recall, this one packs a respectable 450MB of internal memory, an 8-inch LED-backlit SVGA (800 x 600) display with a 500:1 contrast ratio, a multicard reader that handles CF, SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick, MS Pro, MS Duo, MS Pro Duo and xD formats and an obligatory USB port, too. There’s even a set of integrated speakers and an audio output for placing a nice slow jam behind those honeymoon snaps. Take a look in the read link for the full rundown, and get set to part ways with $199 before May 11th (you know she’s worth it).

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

You heard it right — Hitachi’s UltraThin 1.5 family that caused such a stir at CES is finally available for US consumers. Available in 32-, 37-, 42- and 47-inch sizes, the lot has been broken down into two distinct clans: the Director’s Series (X) and Ultra Vision (V) models. Each member of the former comes with a 2-year warranty and a sticker ranging from $1,999 to $4,699, while the latter gets a 1-year warranty and price tags between $1,799 and $4,499. Curiously enough, it seems that several sets (the UT47X902, UT47V702, UT32A302/W, UT32V502/W, UT42V702 and UT37V702) may actually not yet be ready for shipping judging by their July to September availability dates, but we’ll leave it to you to sort out the contradictions in Hitachi’s press release with your dealer. Hit the read link for more details, and hop on over to Engadget HD for a gallery of press shots.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless

Apparently MediaGate heard the “What? No HD?” cries from you folks during yesterday’s PC-on-TV DPG-1200 shipment announcement, as it has just opened up the flood gates and allowed its MG-450HD entertainment server to start filtering out to end users. If you’ll recall, this wireless HD media streamer can also play on wired networks and with USB devices such as digicams and flash drives, and you’ll also find HDMI, composite, S-Video and component video outputs to complement the stereo L / R, optical / coaxial digital and analog 5.1-channel audio ports. Of course, you’ll be asked to provide your own internal hard drive, but considering that it managed to shed $20 from its initial price tag (down to $229 now), it’s still squarely in bargain territory.

[Via SlipperyBrick]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless

Remember that DPG-1200 that got overshadowed by the outpouring of other media streamers landing at CES? Welp, D-Link has just announced that its PC-on-TV Player is finally shipping to eager customers and will soon be channeling web-based content directly to living room (or bathroom, kitchen, garage, underground bomb shelter, etc.) televisions for the marginally respectable price of $239.99. For those in dire need of a refresher, this MediaLounge device links up to your TV via VGA / component / composite and connects to your PC via WiFi; the bundled remote can then control the on-screen action, bringing YouTube, Google Video, Veoh Networks, etc. material from the intarwebz straight to your set. Whether or not the convenience is worth the cost, however, is totally your call.

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