HotHardware.com News Rss Feed

HotHardware.com News Rss Feed

Where Did All the Kindles Go?

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:40:00 GMT

What's that you say, Apple's iPad and other upcoming tablets will decimate the market for eBook readers? Maybe so (probably not), but if something like that is to play out, we'd need to see some seriously low-cost tablets come to market, ones that are not only easy on the wallet, but adept at fetching and reading eBooks. It all comes down to wampum, and the less these hardware makers try to take from you, the more product they'll be able to push. We need only visit Amazon's Kindle product page for evidence of

NZXT Unveils Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Chassis

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:39:05 GMT

NZXT Unveils Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Chassis Flagship enclosure offers exhilarating design with unrivaled combination of high performance cooling advantages, extensive expandability, and innovative screwless installation El Monte, CA – July 28, 2010 – NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce Phantom, the company’s most elegant and intelligent chassis design to date.  Phantom exudes sophistication with pristine contours and a robust menu

Lenovo Enters Bargain Server Basement With New ThinkServer Family

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:34:21 GMT

It's a fact of life that the consumer-level desktops and notebooks see the bulk of the limelight, but we'd be nowhere without the servers behind the scenes. Those machines that power our Internet interactions, our e-mail hosts and our late-night deathmatch sessions deserve a little credit as well, and Lenovo's new bunch sure looks like they're reaching out for attention. The company famous for their IdeaPad and ThinkPad portable machines have just introduced a bunch of new products in their server line, with

AT&T Will Be Premier Vendor For Windows Phone 7

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:25:12 GMT

The jury is still out as to whether or not Microsoft's upcoming mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, will succeed but if AT&T has any influence in the matter, things are looking good for the Redmond-based software manufacturer. Via email, an AT&T spokeswoman said, "We'll be the premier carrier for Windows Phone 7." She continued saying, "We haven't given guidance on timing." Last week, well-known Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg sent out a tweet that claimed AT&T had signed up to purchase 8 million

DoJ Sends Chi Mei Exec to the Slammer for LCD Price Fixing

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:02:00 GMT

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha you gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when the U.S. Department of Justice slaps you silly for conspiring to fix prices of LCD panels on a global scale? So maybe the actual theme song goes a little differently than that, but we have an answer to the question nonetheless. When the DoJ lobs a legal backhand your way for bending the public over and kicking them in the wallet, you're going to serve time in jail. That's the self-imposed plight Wen-Hung "Amigo" Huang, a former executive from Chi

Commission Affirms NVIDIA Violated Rambus Patents

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:07:20 GMT

The International Trade Commission has announced its findings in the NVIDIA/Rambus patent infringement lawsuit and it's not the sort of ruling Team Green would've preferred. The commission found NVIDIA to be in violation of three Rambus patents. The trade panel also granted an injunction Rambus had requested, which theoretically prevents NVIDIA and the various companies attached to the lawsuit (Asus, HP, Palit, and MSI among others) from selling products that contain the infringing IP. This last bit sounds more

Bose Flies High with New A20 Aviation Headset

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:15:00 GMT

If you think PC gamers have an expensive hobby, well, you're right, but holy moly do those $150 headphones feel like Blue Light specials compared to the new Bose A20 Aviation Headset, the latest pair of earbuds aimed at pilots. These things run $1,095, or $995 without the the Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity feature thrown into the mix. So what does this have to do with PCs? Nothing really, but we're suckers for technology, and the A20s have that in spades. And if we're to believe Bose, the A20 is the "most

Panasonic Debuts World's First 3D Consumer Camcorder: HDC-SDT750

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:57:20 GMT

It had to occur sooner or later, and at the rate that the 3D bandwagon is exploding, it was a safe bet to assume "sooner." In Japan today, Panasonic revealed what they are calling the "world's first 3D consumer camcorder." As you've seen based on the amount of 3D movies available in cinemas, this obviously is not the world's first 3D camcorder, but it's the first to be sold and marketed towards consumers. It's a bold move by Panasonic to be first at this, particularly since consumers have been slow to adopt

Will RIM's Revamped BlackBerry Take On The iPhone?

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:34:06 GMT

RIM is expected to reveal a new touchscreen BlackBerry next week. The BlackBerry 9800 is expected to feature a new operating system, a revamped web browser, and a full slide-out keyboard. With these features, many are hoping the new phone will better compete against the likes of the Apple iPhone and other popular smartphones on the market today. The launch of the BlackBerry 9800 is expected at a joint event between RIM and AT&T next Tuesday, and AT&T is expected to get exclusive rights to sell the device.

Best Buy Offering Free Antennagate Solution

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:01:00 GMT

Best Buy is offering the aptly named invisibleSHIELD 4fix, free, to certain iPhone 4 customers. Based on the image above, this invisibleSHIELD, unlike others, only covers the sides of the device, which would make it perfect as a cover-up to "Antennagate." invisibleSHIELD has marketed its products for various devices in the past, and they are supposedly scratch-proof and cover the front and / or back of the device. The offer applies to those who purchased their iPhone 4 from Best Buy or for Best Buy Reward Zone

Apple Adds Extensions To Safari 5: Finally Ready To Match Firefox?

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:34:14 GMT

One of our primary problems with Safari when we took an in-depth look at it last year was this: no wide-ranging plug-in support as there is with Firefox. For power users who love to browse the Web their own way, using third-party plug-ins to enhance their experience, Safari just never has lived up to Firefox. It's fast, passes the ACID test without issue and is available for both Mac and PC, but the inability to install extensions kept it from becoming one of the best browsers out. This week, Apple has finally

Jailbreaking Voids Your Warranty (If You Are Caught): Apple

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:26:25 GMT

After losing a battle on Monday with the EFF over jailbreaking iPhones, which the U.S. Copyright Office clarified as legal, Apple decided it wanted to win the war. The company reminded customers that jailbreaking voids their warranty. What it didn't remind folks is how easy it is to un-jailbreak a device. Apple's official (yet unofficial) statement is: “Apple’s goal has always been to insure (sic) that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely

AVADirect Introduces Two New 3D Gaming Notebooks

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:37:07 GMT

AVADirect Introduces Two New 3D Gaming Notebooks Twinsburg, OH – July 28, 2010 - AVADirect, a recognized leader in the computer industry, introduces two innovative 3D notebooks to its lineup of mobile platforms. Just like the latest movies and televisions, notebooks are evolving from 2D to 3D. Powered by revolutionary NVIDIA 3D Vision technology, hundreds of games, photos, movies, and websites can now be experienced in 3D today! Both the Clevo W860CU 3D and the ASUS G51JX-3D have all of the components

MSI Ships GT660 Gaming Notebook To North America: Core i7, USB 3.0

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:17:50 GMT

MSI has been on a real notebook kick here lately, as it feels like a new one is produced every other week or so. Usually, the company's efforts are directed either overseas, or we Americans aren't told when to expect the latest debut. But the GT660 is definitely tailor made for the U.S. market, and it's on sale now at a variety of online retailers. This gaming/multi-media monster is said to be the first notebook to combine Dynaudio's surround sound capabilities with "massive memory" and USB 3.0. It's a rare

Amazon Replaces Kindle With Revised Kindle: Faster, Slimmer, Sharper

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:46:49 GMT

Well, that explains that, doesn't it? 24 hours after Amazon's Kindle mysteriously appeared as being "out of stock" from Amazon themselves, the company has just revealed the latest generation of Kindle. The name isn't changing (it's still called "Kindle"), but the form factor has been tweaked, a new color has been added and it's faster in use. The new Kindle will be available in both graphite and white, the former being first introduced by the new Kindle DX a few weeks ago. According to the company, the device

Super Talent Intros Dual Interface SSD For Internal And External Use

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:16:02 GMT

Apple has long since resisted the urge to add SSDs to their desktops, and with the introduction of the company's newest iMac and Mac Pro, that mindset changed. And you know when Apple starts adopting SSDs in their desktops, SSDs are as close to mainstream as they're apt to be for the next year or two. Super Talent has been playing in the solid state space for some time now, and while it's always entertaining to see a new capacity or speed record broken, the company is taking innovation to another level with

Intel Announces Laser Signaling Breakthrough

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:58:48 GMT

Electronic signaling using copper is officially old-and-busted—or at least Intel thinks it will be soon. The company announced today that it has constructed a silicon-based optical connection with an integrated laser that's capable of moving data at 50Gbps. The term "integrated laser" refers to the fact that the optical data connection is integrated into a microchip and interfaces with that component's circuitry.  According to Intel, its Hybrid Silicon Laser technology has multiple advantages over

Asus Ion 2-Powered Eee PC 1201PN - HH Review

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:39:28 GMT

Around seven months ago, we were able to review one of the more advanced netbooks out at the time, the Eee PC 1201N. It was one of the first netbooks to integrate a graphics chip known as the NVIDIA Ion.  The Eee PC 1201PN retains many of the same features and nearly the exact same form factor as the original, but it utilizes the next-generation of Ion (we'll call it Ion 2 throughout), which is based on a discrete NVIDIA GeForce 210M GPU. But have the minor hardware upgrades and the Ion 2 chip made this

WD Scorpio Black 500GB Notebook Drive Performance Quick-Take

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:08:35 GMT

Not long ago we took a look at Seagate's Momentus XT notebook drive.  This little speed demon combines both 4GB of solid state storage along with 500GB of traditional rotational media into the industry's first "hybrid" SSD-infused hard drive.  It offered great performance, especially after the drive's caching algorithms optimized data usage models on the drive but its cost was also about 2X of traditional notebook hard drives of similar capacities. So, as usual, there were trade-offs. Recently, WD

Shoot and Upload with Samsung's Wi-Fi Enabled ST80 Digital Camera

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:40:00 GMT

Samsung's ST80 digital camera might be just the cure for social networking nuts who get the shakes when unplugging from cyberspace for too long. That's because the ST80 is Samsung's latest in a line of Wi-Fi enabled point-and-shoots, meaning Little Miss Molly MySpace and Freddy Facebook can fling those Kodak Samsung moments online from any hotspot instead of having to rush home to fire up their PC. "We want to let people share their favorite pictures quickly while they’re on the move, and the ST80 does

T-Mobile G1 Is No Longer For Sale: An Android Legend Passes On

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:19:20 GMT

It's the end of an era, but honestly, it's not an end that we're going to be tearing up about. T-Mobile's G1 has just left the building, which is somewhat sad to hardcore Android lovers, but it's a great sign of forward progress for everyone else. The HTC-built G1 is largely remembered as the world's first Android phone, and the design at the time was something of a novelty. Today, hundreds of Android phones exist, but none were as old, sluggish and limited as the G1. At the time of its birth, the G1 was a huge

NVIDIA's Latest Verde Drivers Enhance Optimus Customizations

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:12:36 GMT

NVIDIA has made themselves known as a hardware company, and more recently, an innovation company. The company used to battle with ATI in the GPU department, but now they compete with ARM, Intel and Qualcomm in the microprocessor market. But that's not all. NVIDIA is also one of the pioneers in 3D for PCs, and now that they have a solid footing in the graphics market, they're looking to really pull ahead with software innovations. You may wonder what software has to do with improved GPUs, but there's actually

Origin PC Now Offering OCZ Vertex 2 SSDs In Custom PCs

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:17:54 GMT

It's not easy out there for pre-fab PC makers. You're competing against giants like Dell, HP and Lenovo, and you're trying to sway consumers to purchase your brand even though you aren't running TV ads every half-hour. But when you look at a company like Alienware, you know it's still possible to hold an edge if you carve out your own niche. Origin PC is one of the newest pre-fab PC builders on the market, still looking to gain significant market share and attempting to offer unique components that the other

One Click Root / Unroot Comes to the Droid X

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:33:07 GMT

The Motorola Droid X was rooted a few days ago, but that required users to follow a long and somewhat confusing set of instructions. This method is far easier: download the file, unzip, and unroot. Rooting an Android device is sort of along the same lines as jailbreaking on an iPhone. It allows you to run apps that require root access, and on some devices allows the installation of custom ROMs. The new, easier, rooting procedure comes via the same forum that gave users the "long method," AllDroid. The poster

UAE Voices Security Concerns Over BlackBerry Handsets

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:07:08 GMT

BlackBerry smartphones have been the subject of much debate over the years. Some reasons are for good, and some are for bad. Regardless, BlackBerry devices seem to wind up being discussed along with security concerns quite often, and while it took South Korea years to finally accept these always-connected handhelds, the United Arab Emirates are now causing quite a stir. The UAE is obviously exploding, with Dubai being one of the most happening cities in the world right now. So it's no surprise that BlackBerry