Gizmo Zone

Elgato Introduce H.264 USB Encoder for Mac

Macs will eventually get H.264 (AVC) hardware acceleration for both decoding and encoding. In fact, ATI X1600 Mobility can handle that already via AVIVO. Before Jobs gives the greenlight, someone has ought to come up with a solution to help out the folks with low-end Macs to speed up their DVD ripping process to AVC format.

Enter the Elgato Turbo 264. The USB dongle with a curiously spelled name does the exact same job as the ADS Instant Video To Go USB encoder except the Elgato bundles their in-house converter whereas ADS licenses the software from ArcSoft. If Video To Go is any indication, the Elgato should improve encoding speed by 2 to 4 times. Practically speaking, I do think people still need this despite of the presence of duo core in iMacs and MacBooks, because converting stuff into H.264 at 640×480 is still painfully slow even with these new advanced processors. A co-processor especially designed for the task couldn’t be more welcome.

Sony offers iPod docks for Bravia systems

Sony’s is releasing TDM-IP1 a new $99 interface that enables iPods to work with Sony’s Bravia home theater system. It’s an interesting change of pace for Sony, which has largely ignored the iPod in favor of its own line of digital media players.

The TDM-IP1 plugs into the Digital Media Port (DMP) found on Bravia systems. It features a 30-pin dock connector that enables you to plug in the iPod, so you can play music or watch video on the iPod through the Bravia system instead. It also charges the iPod’s battery while it’s connected.

Compatible Sony models include the DAV-HDX265, DAV-HDX267W, DAV-HDX500, HT-7100DH, HT-DDW790, HT-DDW990, STR-DG710, STR-DG810 and STR-DG910.

ModBook upgrade will due to ship in May

Axiotron today announced that it has doubled pen pressure sensitivity on its ModBook Mac tablet line to 512 levels, but pushed back the shipment date to May of this year. The updated pen offers users of applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel painter improved sensitivity and control of pen strokes. Axiotron is offering the free upgrade to new customers and is retroactively applying the change to all ModBook orders placed since its introduction, which accounts for moving first customer shipments to May of 2007.

Axiotron’s ModBook features Wacom Penabled hardware, the same technology used in Wacom pen tablets and interactive pen displays. The ModBook’s Digitizer Pen boasts 133 position updates per second and supports 20x display resolution. The Axiotron ModBook enables users to draw and write directly on the screen, and the handwriting recognition built into Mac OS X Tiger turns hand scribbles into text in every application while providing extended control of the system through gesture recognition. The ModBook is priced at $2,780, and will now ship in May of 2007.

Sony TDM-IP1 Apple iPod dock

Sony has a new digital audio dock interface out and it’s not for one of their own MP3 players - it’s actually for the Apple iPod player. The dock is called the Sony TDM-IP1 and it’s designed to work with the Sony Digital Media Port.

Sony has a full line of accessories that support their Digital media port - you can find some of them here.

iHome2Go iPod Alarm Clock

During business trip or holiday there is always the need for an alarm clock, be it for early meetings or for that afternoon party on the hotel pool that you can’t miss, it all depends on the scenario but one thing is for sure – you need to wake up in a happy mood or else the first hours of the day will be a disaster.

One of the options to wake up in a “happy mood” is listening to your favorite songs, which can be a hard thing to do taking in consideration what kind of alarm clock you have. That is when iHome2GoFolding iPod joins the so called party, this travel alarm clock has all the features you need to name it a good waking up option, take a look:

instead of the irritating and normal “beep” sound that 76% of the worldwide alarm clocks have, you can place your iPod in the iHome2Go and start listening to the songs.
instead of the absurd and unique (in time) “sleep timer” setting that 56% of alarm clocks have, this one has four options – 90, 60, 30, or 15 minutes. My Sony alarm clock only has a 60 minute sleep timer setting, no other options, and that is why I find this programmable timer so useful.

recharges the iPod exactly when you need it, which is when you are sleeping.
And now comes the best part for waking up really really good:

The volume will gradually increase or decrease if you are trying to sleep or trying to wake up.  It is available for $99

Product Page

Apple iPhone to be released June 11

Good news for iphone fan, according to CNET, Cingular has “confirmed” June 11th as the release date for the Apple iPhone. Though, I would like to add in that this was “confirmed” by a customer service manager in the sales department, so just keep that in mind. This date seems to hold up because Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to be held in San Francisco June 11-15.

WWDC ‘07 will be an interesting one as Leopard, Apple’s next addition to the OS X operating system, is rumored to be released as well. Just over two months to go, but really, whose counting?

Source: CNET

Music Mug speaker holds iPod, not coffee

It looks more like a tiny trash can to me, but this ceramic Music mug is actually a universal speaker system. Designed by Masato Tokuno, the mug is compatible with virtually any audio device sporting a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

The 3.25″ diameter is wide enough to hold just about any MP3 player on the market (iPod, Zune, Sansa, etc.), which I guess makes for a space-saving though sloppy-looking addition to a desk or workspace.

The Music Mug is powered by your MP3 player’s battery and is available now for $42 at the MoMA Store.

iChoice Case For iPod Shuffle

Century from Japan have recently added a new case for the small iPod Shuffle, it is made of silicone to protect the player from damaging it. For personal choices it comes in a set of 6 colors: red, black, white, pink, blue, and light green.

The case is branded as an iChoice and it only weighs 2.6g. It is available at the Century Direct website at about $9.

GelaSkin iPod Protector

GelaSkins are made using premium grade vinyl with advanced adhesive technology by 3M and photo quality graphics by artists from around the world. It is a fairly tough vinyl (plastic-ish) coating, which is pre-cut to shape on most iPod models, and backed with an adhesive that can be removed without leaving marks. The coating is tough enough to withstand most of the day-to-day abuse the iPod gets.

Included in the package is a clear screen protector made of similar material - again, this is adhesive but can be removed without leaving marks.

Source from GelaSkins

Apple TV now shipping

If you’ve ever dreamed about watching all those TV shows and movies you got from iTunes on that new widescreen TV in your living room without a mess of cables and docks, then consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Your dreams have come true!

The Apple Tv automatically syncs and streams your entire iTunes library over a wireless connection to a widescreen enhanced- or high-defination TV, allowing you to do everything you already do on your iPod (except play games) on a big screen. Movies, slideshows, and music are fine on a 2.5-inch screen that fits in your pocket. And they’re pretty good on a 17- to 23-inch computer monitor. But you can bet that they’re absolutely amazing on a 1080i HDTV that spans the length of your living room.

Available now with free shipping for $299.