Gizmo Zone

Toshiba 16GB Flash Drive

CeBIT 2007 has another cool display for a new type of USB Flash Drive. Toshiba presented its newest USB Flash Drive, which has a 16GB capacity.

Does anyone know if this is the record? I know that the 1GB is one of the more popular models, and I’ve heard them go higher, but not this high. I have no idea how much this will cost, or when it will hit the market, but something tells me that it won’t be cheap.

By the way, Toshiba is also putting a 32GB SDHC Memory Card on display at CeBIT. Am I displaying a severe lack of tech knowledge by sounding surprised at the high memory potential of these devices? Are we already this high?

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.

HP Maybach ns42 - the Luxury Ultra-Portable Notebook

Hewlett Packard is to releasing its HP Maybach ns42 luxury ultra-portable laptop, created in collaboration with Maybach car maker’s designers according to  Tech2.ru.

“The frame is decorated with genuine leather and classic Maybach labels. Sensory buttons with amber-colored highlight are disposed under the touchpad. Configuration is not certain, but the new model is supplied with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, built in 64GB solid-state drive and video adapter (presumably GeForce Go 7 or 8 series),” according to Tech2.ru, which has also provided the pictures of the HP Maybach ns42.

It is also reported that the luxury sub-notebook weighs three pounds. There is no information on notebook’s screen size, but the pictures show it has the standard 4:3 screen, contrary to majority of modern widescreen laptops. The full HP Maybach package contains special case for transportation, Bluetooth mouse and additional battery.

“The price is unannounced yet, but to all appearance it will work out at not less than $4000,” the report says.

Source: Tech2.ru

Acer Aspire 9810-6994 with huge widescreen display

The Aspire 9810 is designed to enhance your digital lifestyle. Its superb feature set includes an extra-large 20.1″ WSXGA+ wide-screen display, a powerful Intel Core Duo Processor, integrated webcam, superb NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics and Bluetooth technology.

More features of the Acer Aspire 9810-6994 :

* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz, Centrino Duo Technology
* Screen Size: 20.1″ CrystalBrite WSXGA+ TFT LCD (1680 x 1050)
* Memory: 2 GB (1 GB x 2) / 4 GB (max)
* Hard Drive: 240 GB (120 MB x 2)
* Optical Drive: DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / HD DVD-ROM
* Integrated Features: Stereo speakers, subwoofer , wireless LAN antenna, Bluetooth antenna, TV Tuner, Webcam

* Networking: Ethernet 10/100/1000, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth
* Graphics Controller: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
* Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, (Windows Vista Capable)
* Battery Life: 1.5 hours
* Weight: 17.2 lbs
* Warranty: One Year Limited

HP Compaq 6515b business laptop

The HP Compaq 6515b delivers a highly portable business tool that helps keep you connected and productive so your office can now go where you go.With the low-profile 14.1-inch widescreen display you get 30% more viewing content than the standard 14.1-inch XGA display.

The HP Compaq 6515b delivers a highly portable business tool that helps keep you connected and productive so your office can now go where you go.With the low-profile 14.1-inch widescreen display you get 30% more viewing content than the standard 14.1-inch XGA display.

HP 510 Budget Laptop

HP has launched a new laptop HP 510 for budget minded consumers. The 15.4-inch notebook comes with 1.40GHz Intel Celeron M processor 2.13GHz Pentium M, 512MB RAM (upgradeable to 1GB), 60GB hard drive, DVD combo, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, 802.11 b/g wireless and installed with Windows XP pro.

The HP 510 weighs about 2.7kg, and is now available for $565.

Buffalo RUF2-HSC Flash Drive

Buffalo Japan has launched a USB drive with security function to protect your valuable data. The pen drive includes a security software which asks for password verification prior to accessing the data. So even if your drive gets lost, you don’t have to worry because the data has been encoded and no one can access it without password. It’s available in 256MB ($63) / 512MB ($67) / 1GB ($110) / 2GB ($195) capacity.

The drives will be available from April in the Japanese market.

Iodata TB-BH 8GB USB drive

Iodata Japan has introduced a new series of flash drive which works on both Windows and Mac based computers. The black colored TB-BH comes in 4/8GB, while the lead-red colored drive comes in 4GB. The pen drives (12g) supports Ready Boost function and includes ‘QuickSecure’ data encryption software for security.

The 4GB model costs about $109, while the 8GB version is priced at $212. The TB-BH series will be available from April.

Kingston microSD dual adapter pack offers storage options you need

It is rather frustrating that we all have SD cards laying around in multiple sizes with no use for them anymore. You know, the 128MB that you bought back in the day for $60 and then there was the 1GB you bought a year later for $50 and the 4GB you just bought, less than six months ago for $55 minus a $15 rebate. After all that the miniSD card was released and luckily before you bought one, microSD cards came around. Now at this point you just know that most devices will make use of the mini or micro cards but who wants to chance it?

Kingston Technology released a new 2GB microSD card with mini- and standard-size Secure Digital(SD) adapters so to maximize you spend and allow you to transfer the memory between products (instead of being forced to buy a new card for each gadget of yours). Consisting of a 2GB microSD card; a microSD to miniSD card adapter; and a MircroSD to full-size SD card adapter, the 2GB microSD dual adapter pack, (Kingston part number #SDC/2GB-2ADP), is priced at $58.00 and is backed by a lifetime warranty and free 24/7 technical support for the 2GB microSD card.

Asus T83 UMPC with QWERTY Keyboard

Asustek introduces a new ultra-mobile PC, the Asus  T83 UMPC, which features 7-inch widescreen, a 1GHz Via C7-M processor, up to 2GB of main memory, and an upgradeable 30GB HDD.

The T83 has a QWERTY keyboard and six hours of battery lifea and also features GPS module, Bluetooth, wireless and a digital camera.

The Asustek’s T83 UMPC will be available starting in Q3 2007 for between $899 and $999, and will feature Windows XP and Linux operating system options.