Blogs

iLuv just announced the availability of their new iMM183 Hi-Fi Dual Dock Alarm Clock with NOA/S.A.M.E Weather Hazard Alert. Made for iPhone and iPod users, this device is not only an alarm clock, but a dual iPod dock, FM radio, and weather alert radio which gives you local weather conditions as well as warns you of approaching storms.

Features Include:

• Digital SAME Technology provides localized weather warnings
• Charge up to two iPhone and/or iPod at once
• Treble / Bass control
• Integrated universal dock for your iPhone or iPod
• Browse and control iPhone or iPod menu with remote control
• Dual alarm clock and LCD 8 level dimmer control
• Time Sync function synchronizes time from your iPhone or iPod
• Wake or sleep to iPhone or iPod, radio, or buzzer
• Auxiliary line input for any audio devices with 3.5mm jack

It is available now for $149.99 MSRP at www.i-luv.com.

Best Buy Mobile announced on Thursday that they are now offering the Verizon Motorola DROID smartphone for presale. The DROID is the first Verizon device running on the Android operating system. The phone will be available in stores on November 6th.

Best Buy is giving customers an incentive to purchase the phone through them by applying the rebate instantly, rather than deal with the hassle of mail-in rebates. The DROID is available at Best Buy for $199.99 with two-year activation.

"We're excited to feature this new device for our consumers, as it represents the latest and greatest in mobile technology," said Best Buy Mobile President Shawn Score. "Bringing the DROID to Best Buy Mobile expands our already unmatched assortment of smartphones allowing customers to compare high-end devices like the iPhone 3GS, HTC Hero and DROID all under one roof. The fact that customers can purchase the phone first at Best Buy through the pre-sell is an added bonus."

Panasonic just announced the availability of the TH-85PF12U, the industry's first 85-inch, full HD 1080p plasma display. Weighing in at just 260 lbs, and only 3.9 inches thin, this plasma is much thinner and lighter than past models, thanks to Panasonic's NeoPDP technology. Also, it uses about half the energy of Panasonic's current full HD models in the same sizes, and has an image resolution of 1,080 lines – which is the world's highest moving image resolution. It also has the highest contrast ratio at 40,000:1 / 2,000,000:1 dynamic.

The TH-85PF12U will come standard with the TYFB10HMD Dual 1080p HDMI card, the TY42TM6A component card as well as a fixed PC input. Also, this unit will be equipped with anti-glare glass as standard. All of this comes at a cost, however. The TH-85PF12U has an MSRP of $30,000. Read more

The QUE, a proReader from Plastic Logic designed for business professionals, will be sold at Barnes & Noble stores next year, it was announced this week. Rather than being a standard e-reader, the QUE supports document formats most business users need such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel documents and more.

QUE is the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper, about a 1/3 inch thick, and weighs less than many periodicals. It features a shatterproof plastic display, is wireless-enabled, and has the largest touchscreen in the industry (at this time). Read more

TomTom's car kit for iPhone is now available on the TomTom web store and Apple online store for about $120. A bit pricey (in my opinion), considering you have to purchase the TomTom iPhone app separately for $100. However, you will save money by not having to pay monthly fees for GPS service on the iPhone.

The TomTom car kit for iPhone includes a secure mount that docks the iPhone on the windshield or dashboard. It can be docked in either portrait or landscape mode, and is easily removed with a twist.

It also has a built-in GPS receiver to reduce signal drop, and a built-in loudspeaker and microphone for hands-free calling while driving. Music from your iPhone can also be played through the AUX OUT port over your car stereo (cable not included), and it charges your iPhone while docked.Read more

LG returns to Cricket with the announcement of the LG HELiX. The HELiX features a 2.0" internal color display, a smaller external color display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, one-touch speakerphone, and a large keypad.

The HELiX is available in silver and pink and supports Cricket's unlimited wireless features, such as talk, text and picture messaging and Mobile Web. The LG HELiX is available today for $139.99.

"LG HELiX is a reliable and user friendly phone that boasts a variety of features making it easy to stay connected with family and friends," said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy and marketing for LG Mobile Phones. "LG HELiX is a perfect handset to reintroduce LG phones into the Cricket handset lineup."

For more information visit www.mycricket.com.

Roku has added the Roku SD and Roku HD-XR to their instant streaming player lineup, the company announced this week. They now have three models available, the SD, HD, and HD-XR. All players deliver instant entertainment from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and MLB.TV.

The new Roku SD player connects to the TV using the included Yellow-Red-White video/audio cable. In addition, the Roku SD player incorporates Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and an Ethernet port for broadband connectivity. The new Roku SD is priced at only $79.99 and can be purchased at www.roku.com or www.amazon.com.Read more

Polk Audio this week announced a new speaker made to be used with music video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The HitMaster speaker includes two 2.5" x 5.5" horns with two 1" neodymium tweeters surrounding a 6.5" woofer and it weighs about 13 lbs.

"Rock Band and Guitar Hero are a blast, but what impresses me the most about these games is the extraordinary attention to the quality of the recording masters themselves," commented Mark Suskind, Vice President of Product Line Management for Polk Audio. "But with all this attention to the quality of the soundtracks, most games are played through standard TV speakers, which are dismal at best.

"That's where HitMaster will make a difference. Unlike other stage monitor gaming speakers, HitMaster is designed to bring a real-on stage presence to game-play, with sonic output that is worthy of the Polk brand," said Suskind.

Polk Audio's HitMaster gaming speaker will be available early next year for $99.99. Get more information at www.polkaudio.com.

Today Eye-Fi announced their Wi-Fi enabled digital camera memory cards will now send videos directly to Facebook. Eye-Fi users can now alert Facebook friends via newsfeed updates anytime they upload photos or videos to more than 25 sharing sites, including Flickr, Snapfish and Picasa... all without even turning on a computer.

To celebrate, the company just launched "The Eye-Fi Haunted Video Contest" for a chance to win an Eye-Fi Share Video card and an Eye-Fi Connected Casio camera. Starting today, upload your favorite Halloween video memory through Eye-Fi's Facebook page. Contestants can then invite members of their social network to vote for the best video and on Friday, November 13 the winner will be announced. For more information and the full rules, visit www.eye.fi/halloweencontest. Read more

Verizon Wireless today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android 2.0. Featuring high-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, a customizable large screen, and access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets, the DROID by Motorola is also one of the thinnest full-QWERTY slider phones available.

DROID by Motorola will be available exclusively at Verizon Wireless on November 6, for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate.

See a video demo of the DROID in action on Verizon's YouTube Channel.Read more