Hardware – Page 4

Unboxing Boxee Box – initial impressions

November 12, 2010November 29, 2010 Doug Groves Asus O!Play Air, Boxee, Boxee Box, D-Link, HTPC, living room media, media streamer, review, unboxing, video, WD TV Live HD5 Comments

After what seemed like forever, Boxee Box by D-Link finally hit retail shelves on Wednesday, and being a big fan of the software, I made sure I was there to get one. I didn’t have the official RGB Filter HD camera on hand, so I fired up my point n shoot with 720p, to give you a look at it, and the much anticipated remote with QWERTY keyboard built into it. I was going to call this one “A look at what’s inside the Boxee Box box, when unboxed”, but…

Boxee Box confirmed features

November 8, 2010November 12, 2010 Doug Groves Astro Studios, Boxee, Boxee Box, D-Link, features, XBMC3 Comments

As a long time Boxee software user, there’s a reason I’m looking forward to the new Boxee Box built by D-Link and designed by San Francisco design company Astro Studios. The diminutive media player designed to play internet and local content to your television is more expensive than the cheaper players like the Asus O!Play Air and the WD Live TV HD, but cheaper than a HTPC. Boxee, with it’s XBMC pedigree, has an unprecedented level of codec support, only bested by a dedicated Windows PC setup, and the user…

Gateway introduces new All-in-One ZX One PC

November 5, 2010November 12, 2010 drsquid Acer, all-in-one, blu ray, canada, Gateway, launch, PC, Touch-screen, ZX One, ZX4351, ZX69512 Comments

Just like their sister company Acer, Gateway has announced the release of a new all-in-one PC design, the ZX One series. The category of all-in-one PC’s has been growing rapidly as consumers are looking for cost effective, space saving computers that can handle every day productivity and home entertainment. While the first generation of all-in-one PC’s were a little under-powered, the price vs. performance ratio of the newest PC components means that the latest models have much better performance. The Gateway One series feature a curved bottom edge to make…

Acer announces new Aspire Predator

October 28, 2010October 29, 2010 Doug Groves Acer, Aspire Predator, PC gaming, Radeon 55703 Comments

For those interested in full sized gaming rig that looks like it means business, without the the near $2000 starting price, Acer has announced their Aspire Predator. Think of this as the baby Predator, the little brother to their high end rig they announced back in the summer. The new Predator has many of the same core internals, but helps keep the cost down by getting rid of the 3 graphic card option, though it does sport available PCI E x1 slots. It’s also a slightly smaller, more subdued case,…

Chumby now available in Canada

October 27, 2010October 28, 2010 Doug Groves Chumby, Chumby Classic, Chumby One, internet alarm, Linux, open source, Sony, Sony Dash1 Comment

After years of waiting, the Chumby store is now taking orders from Canada, at a price of $120 US for the Chumby One. If you’re not familiar with Chumby, it started out about four years ago as a modified Linux OS customized to run on small screen hardware, specifically the Chumby hardware. The hardware itself is about the size of an alarm clock, but with a 3.5 inch colour touch screen, with the Chumby Classic encased in a soft leather and plastic casing, while the newer Chumby One in a…

Bell Samsung Galaxy Tab: Hands On Video

October 22, 2010October 28, 2010 Doug Groves Android, Android 2.2, Apple, Bell, Canadian, ebooks, eReader, Froyo, Galaxy Tab, google, Google Android, hands-on, iPad, Kobo, North American, Rogers, Samsung, tablet3 Comments

Although no official launch dates are announced, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is set to appear on both Rogers and Bell here in Canada, probably by the end of November. We had a chance to get our hands on one, and came away suitably impressed. The Android based tablet, seen as the second mainstream device in the tablet behind the iPad, sports a 7 inch 1024×600 display using Samsung’s Super LCD screen technology, making it about half the size of the iPad. Unlike the silver back of the European version, Samsung…

SteelSeries to help WOW addicts grind with ‘Superior Ergonomics’

October 20, 2010October 25, 2010 drsquid Blizzard, BlizzCon, Cataclysm, Ergonomic, Gaming, mouse, PC gaming, Steelseries, World of Warcraft4 Comments

With Cataclysm, the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, coming to destroy many peoples lives all over again on December 7th, SteelSeries has decided that if you are going to be grinding for 72 hours straight, at least you can do it with the best MMO mouse you can buy. The SteelSeries World of Warcraft® Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse (now that’s a mouthful!) is the second WOW mouse that they have produced, and improves on the ergonomics and button layout of that mouse, yet still keeps the trick glowing suit…

Acer releases new Aspire Z all-in-one and Revo nettop

October 15, 2010October 16, 2010 drsquid Acer, all-in-one, Aspire, Atom, GeForce, Hardware, HTPC, Intel, ION, multi-touch, nettop, Nvidia, Revo, Window Media Centre, Windows 74 Comments

When the Acer Aspire Revo series of mini desktop computers were released last year they were some of the first in a new generation of PC’s dubbed nettops. The Revo was one of the first nettops to pair the low powered Intel Atom CPU with Nvidia’s ION chipset – ION integrates a GeForce 9400 graphics card allowing net-tops equipped with it to function as a set-top box connected to your TV to play back video content. Using Window Media Centre or XBMC the Revo was a great little PC, sadly…

LG Optimus Quantum Hands On: video

October 15, 2010October 21, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, hands-on, LAYAR, LG, Microsoft, Optimus Quantum, Panoramic Shot, Scan Search, slider, sneak peek, video, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live4 Comments

We take a look at the LG Optimus Quantum Windows Phone 7 device with a slideout landscape QWERTY keyboard. The slide mechanism, while a bit stiff, also feels very solid, and still doable with one hand. When holding it in landscape mode, LG made sure that the screen portion was nice and light, so that there’s a solid balance while typing. In fact, when we first got our hands on the Optimus Quantum, it barely registered as a slider. The keyboard itself ranks up there with the HTC Touch Pro…

Bell announces HTC Desire Z as coming soon

October 14, 2010October 19, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, Desire Z, HTC, HTC Desire Z, HTC Sense, htcsense.com, press release, QWERTY slider, Sense1 Comment

Although some internal documents leaked to the web a few days back, Bell has now made the launch of the HTC Desire Z official. It will be the exclusive carrier of HTC’s QWERTY keyboard Android pone. The Desire Z, powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo) and an 800MHz Qualcomm chip, will be the first in Canada to offer 14.4 megabits per second downloads. To promote the launch, Bell is running a contest to win a Desire Z, which you can enter here. The Desire Z will also be the first phone…

LG Windows Phone 7 – Optimus 7 and Quantum Hands On Video

October 12, 2010October 15, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, hands-on, LAYAR, LG, Microsoft, Optimus 8, Optimus Quantum, Panorama Shot, Scan Search, ScanSearch, slider, sneak peek, Telus, video, Windows Phone 7, WP7, Xbox Live7 Comments

At a recent LG event, we got some hands on time with LG’s two Windows Phone 7 devices headed towards the Canadian market, the LG Optimus 7 slate style phone on Telus, and the LG Optimus Quantum QWERTY slider on Bell. Both phones sport 16GB of RAM and 1GHz processors, with the real differentiator between the two being the choice of keyboard or not. The Optimus 7 has a 3.8″ screen, while the keyboard packing Optimus Quantum has a slightly smaller 3.5″ screen. During our demonstration, Frank Lee of LG…

Windows Phone 7 in Canada: What We Know So Far

October 11, 2010October 15, 2010 drsquid Bell, canada, event, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Omnia 7, Optimus Quantum, Rogers, Samsung, smartphone, superphone, Telus, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, WP73 Comments

Today marked the big reveal of Microsoft’s reboot of it’s mobile strategy with Windows Phone 7. At 9.30 AM EST Microsoft finally pulled the covers off for the world to see the initial phones that will be available at launch (November 8th in North America), though much of the OS has already been shown in great detail prior to today. My first reaction was that the handset selection is a little slim, and there is not much innovation beyond the base ‘chassis 1’ specifications. However this is a launch of…