Hardware – Page 3

The Bell Motorola ATRIX, coming March 17th: Revolutionary, but at what cost?

March 8, 2011September 26, 2012 drsquid Android, Android 2.2, Atrix, Bell, canada, Froyo, Gaming, Lapdock, Motoblur, Motorola, smartphone, superphone9 Comments

When Motorola announced the ATRIX at CES, I was very excited – even more so when they followed up that announcement with news that it was coming to Canada on Bell. Up to that point, as a long-time Milestone (Droid to our US readers) user, though, I had been a little disappointed in Motorola. They had seemed to have forgotten about Canada. Both the Droid X and Droid 2 were released in the US last year, but they never came up north. By year’s end, it was almost like Motorola…

New Steelseries headsets, ready for your PS3 & iPad

March 4, 2011September 26, 2012 drsquid Apple, Gaming, iPad, iPhone, ipod, PS3, Steelseries, Xbox 3601 Comment

When we looked at a couple of SteelSeries’ gaming peripherals last year, the Xai mouse and 6GV2 keyboard, we were very impressed by both their quality and the technology inside. We were also impressed by the fact that, compared to most ‘gaming’ gadgets, their design was understated — even elegant. Very Apple-like, you could say. Now SteelSeries has decided to broaden their audio options to ”meet Apple Performance Standards for Music, Mobile, and Gaming”. Updated versions of the 7H and Siberia v2 headsets, already available for PC gamers, are coming…

Microsoft Research demos smart interactive displays

February 28, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves auto-st, glasses free 3D, Kinect, Microsoft Research, OLED1 Comment

Microsoft Research has put out no shortage of impressive tech demos, some which evolve into consumer products like the Kinect, and others either geared towards institutional use such as the Surface, which in some cases trickles down to consumer tech. In a recent video, Director of Microsoft Applied Sciences Steven Bathiche demonstrates some of their latest research into smart interactive displays, from “capturing light from the user to sending light to the users eyes”. Consider it a sort of mashup of Kinect and Surface, with the ability to display different…

Kinect for Windows getting official SDK

February 22, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Kinect, Kinect hacks, Microsoft, SDK, Windows1 Comment

Ever since its release in the fall, Microsoft’s Kinect has been a popular target for coders everywhere, putting the motion controller to use in applications far beyond the traitional use as a game controller. Now Microsoft has made it official, by announcing that it will be releasing an official Software Development Kit later this spring. This SDK will be for non-commercial use, and there’s no word when a commercial SDK will come out. The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research (MSR) in collaboration with…

Zune HD coming to Canada

February 21, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Hardware, Microsoft, portable media player, x10, Zune HD2 Comments

Microsoft’s Zune HD portable media player, formerly only available in the US and UK, will be coming to Canada in the near future. Although first released in 2009, the hardware has never been available here. It’s curious that Microsoft would choose 2011 to bring their media player here, since they’ve been focusing on Windows Phone for their mobility solution as of late, including integrating many of the Zune features into their new phone platform. While the Zune software on PCs and the Xbox allows for both movie and TV rentals and purchases, it’s been noticably absent of music options here.

Netflix on Boxee Box – Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Boxee Box, media player, Netflix, Software, streaming video, update3 Comments

It’s no secret that there are Boxee Box fans here at RGB. The coolest looking little media player has proven itself to be a very flexible workhorse. Today, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen posted that the newest update has started rolling out, and with it, the long-awaited Netflix compatibility for both the US and Canada.

Acer Aspire Revo 3700 review

January 4, 2011January 13, 2011 Doug Groves Acer, Aspire, ASRock, Boxee Box, Microsoft, nettop, OTT TV, review, Revo, Revo 3700, Windows, Windows Media Center9 Comments

One of the recent computers to cross the desks here at RGB Filter Acer’s latest iteration of the Revo nettop line, the AR3700. Powered by the second generation dual core Atom processor and Nvidia’s ION 2 graphics chip, the low cost machine is a computer looking for a niche to fill. With Window 7 Home Premium, it’s certainly capable of handling light processing duties such as web surfing, email and document creation, and at about $350, including keyboard and mouse, it makes for a decent machine for someone looking for…

Gateway DX4840-15c: a desktop for some of us

December 15, 2010December 21, 2010 Pete Chapman Acer, desktop, DX4840, Gateway, monitor, review1 Comment

So you’re wondering, “Why is rgbFilter running a review of a desktop system?” As devout proponents of nomadic computing why should we even consider these anachronistic mainframe-wannabe boat anchors? Why? Because. Because we are fans of that implausible trinity, the Good, the Fast and the Cheap. This one came very close. I’m going to be a little sorry to see this review model sent back to its maker. Here’s a quick look at what it has inside: Processor Type: Intel Core i5 650- Dual Core Processor Speed: 3.2GHz RAM: 6GB…

Kobo makes ebooks easier for Canadians to digest

December 9, 2010December 16, 2010 Doug Groves Android, e-ink, ePub, eReader, Google eBooks, iOS, iPad, Kindle, Kobo1 Comment

Though not able to attend myself, Kobo held an event in Toronto last night to demonstrate it’s new iPad ereader software Reading Life. This in itself isn’t huge news, unless you’re an iPad user looking for a new reader software (although it does include “an industry first social eReading experience”). Kobo already makes ereader software for just about every major platform, whether it’s desktop OSes like Windows and OS X, or mobile devices. The timing is pretty interesting though, as Google has announced it’s jumping into the fray with Google…

BlackBerry PlayBook shows multitasking chops on video

December 3, 2010December 9, 2010 Doug Groves Blackberry, David Neale, PlayBook, Research In Motion, RIM, Rogers, TabLife, video3 Comments

Rogers today held their TabLife event, which invited a series of speakers to discuss the future of tablet computing in both the consumer and enterprise markets, obviously from a Rogers perspective. David Neale, Vice President of Special Projects at Research In Motion was on hand to demo the new Blackberry PlayBook and field some questions from the attendees. This short video shows the 7 inch PlayBook in action. While not yet optimized for dual core processing it nevertheless managed to show off it’s multitasking features rather well. While playing a…

Sony Vaio P review

November 18, 2010December 2, 2010 Doug Groves lifestyle PC, netbook, review, Sony, Sony Vaio, Vaio, Vaio P, Windows 71 Comment

Sony first launched the subnotebook sized Vaio P line of computers back in early 2009, during the heyday of the netbook. At that time they sold the line as a ‘lifestyle PC’, and not to competitive to netbooks, though many of the internal components were similar to netbooks. Price was certainly one differentiator between the Vaio P and it’s component cousins, as the 1.33 GHz Vaio started at $900 US. Since that initial launch, Sony has made some much welcome tweaks, including a very handy touchpad and a faster CPU…

Kinect Review: Are games just the beginning?

November 15, 2010December 1, 2010 Doug Groves Kinect, Kinect Adventures, Kinect Joy Ride, Kinect Sports, Microsoft, review, Xbox 3603 Comments

A lot has been made of Microsoft’s Kinect, the new motion detection system for the Xbox 360. It has lead many to draw comparisons to the gesture controls seen in Minority Report, and go so far as to say that it may even change the face of computing in the future. That’s high praise indeed, but what does it mean for gaming right now?