Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

Those price fixing allegations that AMD and NVIDIA were facing late last year may have vanished from the forefront of your memory, but you can rest assured that the legal teams connected to the two are still workin’ overtime to clean things up. Apparently, NVIDIA has been slapped with as many as 51 civil complaints over “price fixing and anti-competitive agreements, among other things,” and on its March 16th filing with the SEC, the firm states that “42 civil complaints as of March 14 were filed against it on the same allegations.” Notably, the outfit did state that the “lawsuits are putative class-actions,” and unsurprisingly felt that they were all lacking merit and would be fought vigorously. Tsk, Tsk.

[Via Gearlog]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Culture, NTT DoCoMo

In the fierce world of wireless competition, companies fight tooth-and-nail for customers in a desperate attempt to raise ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Customers are naturally looking for the best deal, and with multiple carriers selling the same or similar handsets, the consumer’s decision carries a lot of weight. The same problem that exists here in the States is even more prevalent in Japan where the country’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, attempts to pack cell phones with such features as bar code scanners, TV receivers and gaming devices. All those goodies cause manufacturing costs to soar in excess of $600, requiring the carrier to discount the handset heavily to prevent customers from getting spooked at the store. Sounds like a steal, right? Not so much. All these subsidies end up costing the companies around $16 billion a year which in turn leads to higher plan prices to recoup the blown revenue from the devices. All in all, it’s a vicious circle — but hey, at least it’s a technology-laden one.

[Via textually.org]

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Original post by Michael Caputo

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Windows Mobile

With the T-Mobile Wing and the Windows Mobile 6 version of the Dash both in wide circulation, growing pains were pretty much inevitable; new operating systems almost always lead to compatibility issues. Without the ability to placeshift mindless telly programs to our phones, we’re empty inside and we suspect many of our readers feel the same way — so high on our “oh man, it sucks that doesn’t work anymore” list would be SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile. Sling’s well aware of the issue and has an updated player on schedule for release in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, the company is offering to let folks into the beta program for an interim solution. Check it out before the agony of streaming video withdrawal gets any worse, why don’t you?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Just released in Japan, Sony’s 3.50 firmware for the PSP should making the global rounds soon enough. That, coupled with the latest PS3 firmware update, means you’ve just scored “Remote Play” functionality — access to videos, music, and pictures on your home PS3 running 1.80 — over the Internet. The update also includes an RSS channel guide but we know it’s the remote play you want. We’ll update this post once the firmware is available Stateside.

[Via Impress]

Read — Japan release
Read — US release (not yet available, still pegged to 3.40)

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

var digg_url = ‘http://www.digg.com/playstation_3/PSP_3_50_firmware_available_Remote_Play_over_the_Internet’; Just released in Japan, Sony’s 3.50 firmware for the PSP should making the global rounds soon enough. That, coupled with the latest PS3 firmware update, means you’ve just scored “Remote Play” functionality — access to videos, music, and pictures on your home PS3 running 1.80 — over the Internet. In other words, you can stream media but can’t actually play games remotely. The update also includes an RSS Channel Guide but we know it’s the remote play you want. You should already be able to update from your PSP directly even though many of Sony’s download sites are still pegged at version 3.40.

[Via Impress and CVG]

Read — Japan release
Read — US release

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Multimedia, Peripherals

If you’re oblivious to those generally-useless cellphone digicam flashes at this time, we hear ya — we can’t stand them either. But would it not be nice to capture quality images in dark spaces without being blinded by the light from a traditional flash and without seeing the blur of a phone cam that accompanies flash-less night or dark shots? The South Korean Electronic Technology Institute says it has the answer in a new low-light image sensor chip. The main feature? the chip allows digital cameras to snap great shots with hardly any light. Yes, we’re talking 1-lux lighting levels here for both still and video capture, with a claimed low-light sensitivity level 2,000 times more than other sensor types. Nice, very nice — though as usual, we’ll have to reserve judgment until it finds its way into a shipping product.

[Via Phone Scoop]

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Original post by Brian White

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Fellas, if you thought Ralph Lauren’s literal window shopping contraption was your wallet’s arch-rival, we’ve got some unfortunate news, and for the ladies (or guys) who just love to spend it up, HP’s about to become your very best friend. The clever gurus at HP Labs have developed a marketer’s dream tool that enables customers to enter a retail store, swipe a card, and instantly receive a printout (shown after the jump) that includes “a personalized shopping list, relevant coupons, notice of associated store discounts or sales, and even a map to where the items can be found in the store.” The inaccurately named Retail Store Assistant (we were thinking more along the lines of Wallet Depleter) is currently in the “experimental” stage, and would include an in-store kiosk which customers could access via a loyalty card or by inputting their phone number. Of course, this isn’t the first stab we’ve seen at retailers using previous history to target consumers, but the team behind this apparatus insists that it will be much more effective than the typical junk mail that barely graces our eyes before hitting the trash. Best Worst of all, the system will reportedly be available even on the web, meaning that those with an urge to shop can log on during the waning hours of the workday and plan out their shopping spree for maximum efficiency. Oh, the humanity.

Continue reading HP’s Retail Store Assistant: a wallet’s worst enemy

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc

Always on the hunt for fun holders for our mobiles, “Fancy Shoes Cell Phone Holders” do seem to fit the bill quite nicely — that is, of course, if frilly ceramic shoes are your thing. While they may not float or charge your phone, they do arrive in a shoebox with lovely color label and some tisue paper. From the “Madelyn” — a pink boa heeled number — to cowboy boots, they do seem to run the gamut in footwear, and for only $14.95 they fall right into the inexpensive gift category. Sadly we’re a little miffed at the lack of a wooden clog style, but hey, ya can’t have everything.

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Original post by Sean Cooper