HP to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion »
HP today announced (press release) that they will buy Palm for US $1.2 billion or $5,70 per share. Pending shareholder approval, the deal will allow Palm to access the resources and scale of HP’s manufacturing infrastructure, while HP see’s a lot of opportunity in webOS, the Linux kernel based mobile operating system developed by Palm. [...]
jWIN licenses Polaroid name, prepares to market »
So you’ve got a company without an all-that-recognizable name, and you really want to ramp it up. What do you do? Well, if you’re jWIN you buy some street cred by striking up a deal with Polaroid, making your products have a connection with a legacy of creativity and innovation that you had nothing to do with. jWIN, producer of inexpensive electronics, just announced that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Polaroid, the film and camera titan that’s fallen onto tough times lately . Obviously, this all comes down to what’s in a name, and jWIN is hoping to leverage the Polaroid brand into the new digital world that Polaroid couldn’t find their own way in. From the press release: PORT WASHINGTON, NY – (December 29, 2009) – jWIN Electronics Corporation, a leading consumer electronics company that brings uniquely styled brand name quality products to consumers worldwide, announced the signing of an exclusive long-term licensing agreement with PLR IP Holdings, LLC, (PLR) owners of the Polaroid brand. jWIN acquired the exclusive rights to produce and market in numerous countries throughout the world an extensive assortment of peripherals for PC’s, console games, mobile phones, audio/video as well as telephones, certain laptop carrying cases and cleaning care accessories starting January 2010. “Polaroid is excited to partner with jWIN, a solid company with proven product development and distribution capabilities in the US and around the world” said Scott W. Hardy, president of PLR.” “We are proud to partner with PLR in this major licensing agreement that will enable jWIN to offer quality Polaroid-branded products by leveraging our core competence of creating award winning innovative products at competitive prices with the global awareness and built-in equity of the Polaroid brand,” says Sean Cho, director of marketing and strategic planning at jWIN. “We thrive in the consumer electronics, peripherals and accessories markets by offering consumers high quality products with innovative designs at smart prices. We look forward to bringing that same value proposition into the new line of Polaroid branded products.” For more information on jWIN products please visit www.jwin.com and www.i-luv.com
Yet another new e-book reader – this one looks vaguely familiar »
Looks like 2010 is turning out to be the year of the e-book reader. I’m not sure at what point these are going to stop being news, but here we go again. Insdream is launching the SX601 which seems to borrow some significant design ideas from another rather popular e-book reader . The Insdream does use a different type of screen from the source material (can you say Kindle), but looks pretty much the same otherwise. Insdream states that 6-inch DSTN panel is better then the E Ink display that Amazon uses, however refresh rate is really not all that important when you are talking about e-book readers. Insdream’s reader is also missing a wireless connection and support from the Amazon.com website, however it does have a text to speech in Mandarin Chinese, something that the Kindle does lack. The Insdream supports TXT, HTML, PDF, EPUB, PDB, and several other popular e-book formats. Battery life is expected to be around two weeks of regular reading. I wouldn’t expect to ever see this anywhere other then China, considering the potential for lawsuits, and we have no idea what it’d cost anyway. [via SlashGear ]
Video: OnLive demonstrated at Columbia University »
You remember OnLive , right? The service, which lets you play any game remotely on a distant server, has produced much skepticism and much interest, and is now in public beta . We got a good look at it back in March when we were at GDC, and it appears that things are much the same. However, the combination of crowd noise and my bad playing made for a less-than-optimal viewing experience. This video is much clearer and much longer (it’s essentially a guest lecture at Columbia), so if you’re still interested in the OnLive thing, it may be for you. This video deals with some of the technical issues that have been brought up. I haven’t watched the whole thing (skipped around to get the interesting bits) but he does address some of the compression and packet loss issues they have to deal with. I remember being told it’s about 4-5Mb/s for 720p/60FPS, which actually seems a bit low for streaming video, but with a specialized codec and stream they seem to have made it work, even with tricky bits like crisscrossing lines and slow gradients. They have a routing technique that they claim reduces latency as well, but can they really guarantee
Once again, good design eludes iPhone gaming controller creators »
What’s so hard about this, guys? I mean, obviously you can’t make a controller that works with all the games out there, but if you make a good, cheap, basic one, plenty of developers will add a control option that accommodates it. Instead, we get garbage like the Game Grip and this plastic Batarang-looking thing.
Cydle media player coming to America »
Cydle is launching their new in-car multimedia system at CES this January. Previously only available in South Korea, the Cydle P29 is a portable multimedia player with HD radio and subscription-free Mobile DTV. Cydle is known for their media devices in South Korea, but are relatively unknown here in the U.S. The P29 will sport a 2.9-inch touchscreen interface, and runs on an ARM9 CPU. Reportedly available in 4GB or 8GB, expect to start seeing them this coming spring with an MSRP of $199. [via Electronista ]
Neil Patrick Harris fans/freaks: This computer is for you »
Poke fun at this vintage computer sale all you want, but it’s actually not that bad of a deal for the right person. Think about it. What you’re getting for only $60 is a near-mint IBM PS/2 Model 60. Hook this puppy up and record your life just like the original blogger: Doogie Howser, M.D. Big pic after the jump. [ kijiji via reddit ]
Remember when Team Fortress 2 didn’t look like Team Fortress 2? »
A few of you may already know that Team Fortress 2 didn’t always look like Toy Story más violence, but for the unawares: it did. So, proof ! A certain Curits Lassam, friend to all, found an old PC Gamer preview from the year two-thousand that described the game in its old, Counter-Strike -like art style. Yuck. It’s safe to say I wouldn’t have spent nearly as much time sniping those red dogs if the game looked realistic. There’s a certain charm to mayhem and carnage when it looks like Buzz Lightyear.
Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters: Episode 2 »
This episode is actually a lot more informative than the first one . Watch and learn, friends. Unless, of course, you’re still boycotting MW2 .
Prepare yourself for more and more full body scanners at airports, America »
There’s more fallout from that botched Christmas Day terror plot , and it’s something regular readers will be familiar with. It looks like the man who tried to blow up that airplane had explosives stitched into his underpants. The result? A push for more widespread use of those full body scanners we’ve been talking about for some time now. Right now, full body scanners are only available in a few airports around the U.S. (Your standard issue metal detector wouldn’t have found the device in the man’s pants, as it obviously didn’t.) You’d need a fancier detector of some sort, such as a millimeter-wave scanner . Those things aren’t inexpensive, so the debate will be: how much can we afford to spend. Or, cleverly, how much can we afford not to spend? But before we get into that, I point you in the direction of this illustration of the dangers you face every time you board an airplane.That’s right: there’s a one-in-10.4 million chance that you’ll be involved in any sort of airplane-related terrorist attack. “We were very lucky this time but we may not be so lucky next time, which is why our defenses must be strengthened,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. Fair enough, but “might” would be the operative word. But again, if you look at the odds, there’s very little the average person should be concerned about. Long story short: if you’re not already comfortable with the idea of full body scanner, too bad.