Samsung's MBP200 pico PJ, i7410 projector phone get ship dates

Two of Samsung's smallest beamers just got prices and release dates, but sadly, neither are in US dollars. The MBP200 pico projector will reportedly ship this May across the pond for €499 ($637), while the i7410 (more commonly referred to as the Show) will hit during the summertime for a price still to be determined. We know, it's not the bucketful of information you wanted, but it's something to whet your appetite until the suits at Sammy give us the dirty details we're really after.

Samsung's MBP200 pico PJ, i7410 projector phone get ship dates

Two of Samsung's smallest beamers just got prices and release dates, but sadly, neither are in US dollars. The MBP200 pico projector will reportedly ship this May across the pond for €499 ($637), while the i7410 (more commonly referred to as the Show) will hit during the summertime for a price still to be determined. We know, it's not the bucketful of information you wanted, but it's something to whet your appetite until the suits at Sammy give us the dirty details we're really after.

CyberPower rolls out Gamer Xtreme 3D desktops

Well, it looks like high-end gaming PC manufacturers are now well and truly on board the 3D bandwagon, with CyberPower only the latest to toss out a couple of systems bundled with some 3D glasses and the necessary hardware to back 'em up. As is their nature, CyberPower is offering both Intel and AMD-based options in the form of the Gamer Xtreme 3D 1000 and Gamer Xtreme 3D 2000, the former of which packs a 2.66GHz Core i7-920 processor, while the later opts for a Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition triple-core CPU. Otherwise, you can expect to get NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 graphics on each, along with a bundled 22-inch Samsung Syncmaster 2233RZ 120Hz LCD monitor, 3D Vision stereoscopic glasses, and some expectedly high-end specs across the board, with the Core i7 rig edging out the AMD in most respects. That also includes price, of course, with the Intel-based system running $1,839, while the AMD-based rig will set you back a more reasonable $1,299.

AgfaPhoto announces "world's first" HD photo frames

The "world's first" claim may be a tad on the dubious side, but AgfaPhoto's new 10-inch AF5105MS and 13-inch AF5135MS HD photo frames certainly seem to deliver where it counts, with each packing a 1,280 x 800 resolution and all the usual multimedia-related features you'd expect from a high-res frame. At just 22mm thick, they're also pretty slim by photo frame standards and, in addition to being available in black or white, they each come with a set of interchangeable frames to suit your decor. No word on a price just yet, but you'll likely want to factor in the cost of a memory card, as each come equipped with just 256MB of internal memory.

Sony's long awaited touchscreen Walkman finally revealed?

Sony's Walkman series of media players has done its best to keep stride, stuffing in new features and design refinements over the years, but touchscreen-dominated players are clearly in vogue, and it looks like the company is finally ready to break down and get touchable. According to the Sony stalkers over at Sony Insider, there will be 16 and 32GB touchscreen Walkman players at CES 2009 this coming January. The literal and figurative centerpiece is to be a 3-inch OLED display (possibly that 3.3-inch panel making the rounds, or something more Sony specific), running a touch interface with many similarities to the current Walkman players. Also slated for inclusion is WiFi, enabling a YouTube app, over the air podcast downloads, built-in access to Amazon's MP3 store and an unspecified web browser. The shots of the player above are obviously mockups, and the real hardware is supposed to have physical music control buttons -- and hopefully hold to some sort of reality-based conception of scale. All this info is exclusive to the Sony Insider ninjas, so we can't vouch for its veracity, but it's an obvious and welcome move from Sony, so we won't look a gift

Thanko's latest MP4 watch boasts 1.8-inch display, video camera

Thanko's last MP4 watch was, um, less than gorgeous, but this one can actually be worn in public without automatic public humiliation. Sure, it's still a bit stocky, but we're confident that fashion-forward nerds could still pull it off. In between the two (p)leather straps sits a 1.8-inch 160 x 128 resolution color display, a multimedia player with MP3 / WMA / AVI / JPEG support and a video camera capable of logging VGA-quality clips. You'll also find a mini-USB port and an internal speaker, and there's 4GB of internal memory to go along with about 3.5 hours of music playback time. All yours (if you live in Japan) for ¥14,800 ($163).

Dell's XPS One, now in face-friendly 24-inch form

After almost a year of 20-inchedness, Dell's going after those in need of extra pixels with the new XPS One 24. The 24-inch all-in-one brings a 1920 x 1080, 16:9 display, perfect for some HD entertainment, and the $1,699 starting price includes a bit more than you'll get in one of those $999 20-inchers. There's 4GB of RAM standard, integrated Intel GMA X4500HD graphics and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor under the hood. Dell's still offering this in (PRODUCT) RED and regular, non-humanitarian versions, and for some extra cash you can spring for discreet NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics or a Blu-ray drive. The TV tuner is still standard, and at least a few basic configurations look to be available now.

PSP-3000 put under microscope, interlacing issue exposed

You know those complaints about the ugly, old-school looking interlacing lines that many (ourselves included) have reported seeing on the new PSP-3000? The specific issue has been uncovered -- but not by Sony. A group of concerned French gamers with a 40x microscope think it all comes down to that most mellow of colors: blue. LCDs are comprised of RGB pixels that, combined, form all the rainbow of hues in between. As you can see in the picture above, the PSP-2000's LCD (left) used pixels in a vertical orientation, and the blue pixels were fairly light in color. On the PSP-3000 (right), the pixels are now arranged horizontally, and the blue ones are far darker than before. The dark horizontal lines result in the heinous interlacing, an effect that any Command & Conquer player will tell you wasn't even cool in the 90's. Sony's already called this a "feature" and not a flaw, so if you absolutely must buy a PSP this holiday season the folks at Logic-Sunrise who took the above pics recommend you buy an older 2000-series -- while you still can.

Swarovski-coated webcam: because everything should be shiny

Vicious and Divine's Laplace webcam had it all... 2 megapixel photo and 1.3 megapixel video resolution, an integrated flash so that it could handle innumerable lighting situations, a folding mechanism that particularly suited it to mounting on laptops or flat panel monitors, plus that compact and sleek design. It was the jet-set of webcams, some might say, but it seemed to lack something -- some essential quality of life. Possibly a higher purpose? As it turns out, all it needed was to be absolutely, 100 percent covered -- bedazzled, if you dare -- in Swarovski crystals. The results are pretty... stunning. And not at all obscene. It comes in both black and clear crystal variations, and €49.99 (about $63) seems a small price to pay for something that's going to make you the envy of all of your friends -- but it seems to be available only in Europe. Your loss, rest-of-the-Earth!

Update: According to a commenter, the actual price of this camera is €399, not €49.99. We missed that in our frenzied excitement.

Intel Core i7 benchmarks make Core 2 Extreme look like a washed-up has-been

Presumably in an (utterly futile) attempt to bring down the power grid all around the Mediterranean, print magazine PC World Greece benchmarked three powerful NehalemCore i7 Extreme Edition 965, and the apparently non-extreme Core i7 920 and 940. Names aside, performance from all three was extreme compared to most stuff currently on the market. The data for number nerds: in 3DMark06 the 920 finished ever-so-slightly behind the Core 2 Extreme QX9770's 4,922 marks with 4,818 while the 940 and the 965 both opened a can of you-know-what at 5,282 and 5,716 respectively. More titillating figures await enthusiasts through the read link, but for you normal folk only concerned that Nehalem wouldn't be fast enough to justify an upgrade (and you weren't), rest assured that it triumphed in this no-holds-barred CPU cage match. desktop processors -- the

KDDI's au design project creates cellphones that double as instruments

KDDI's au design project has churned out plenty of interesting cellphone concepts over the years, and it looks like its latest batch is no exception, with it enlisting the help of Yamaha to develop some cellphones that double as musical instruments. That includes the self-explanatory "Strings for fingers" and "Sticks in the air" concepts pictured above, as well as the "Box to play" synth / scratch pad combo, the "Key to touch" foldable keyboard, the "Trio in your hand" scratch pad / sampler, and the "Band in my pocket" device, which accommodates a number of accessories to create instruments ranging from a harmonica to a trumpet. What's more, unlike some concept devices, KDDI actually had some working prototypes to show off, which you can check out in action in the video after the break (be sure to dig into the links below for some more pics and videos as well).

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Though we can't definitively say this will end up being the priciest iPhone 3G this side of eBay, there's a good chance it will be. Word has it that Vodafone will be offering up Apple's latest 8GB handset for a mind-boggling Rs 31,000 ($712), or Rs 36,100 ($830) for the 16 gigger. Why so serious high? Because neither Vodafone nor Airtel will subsidize the phone, and to add insult to injury, there's not even a 3G highway up and running in India. Grey market operators to capitalize in T-minus 3, 2, 1...

Sony intros wireless keypad attachment for the PS3

The news is flying fast and furious out of the Leipzig Games Convention today (we actually just got hit in the eye with a flying piece of news). Apparently Sony is launching a wireless keypad attachment that snaps onto the top of a SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK3 controller into the mini-USB port. The pad features a "touchpad mode" for mouse input, and can be paired with phones and other gadgets via Bluetooth. No word on pricing, but the pad launches in November, and the add-on will come in eight different languages, which should really help us with our multi-lingual training.

The CherryPal cloud PC: $249, ready for (the new world) order

There's no OS to speak of, no optical drive, just 4GB of flash storage and 256MB of RAM, and you're limited to a 400MHz Freescale 5121E processor with integrated graphics under the hood. But the CherryPal desktop PC -- just revealed with a $249 price tag -- is definitely worth making a fuss over. About the size of a plastic paperback sporting a pair of USB ports and VGA-out, the mini PC plugs directly into the CherryPal Cloud via 802.11b/g WiFi or 10/100 Ethernet for 50GB of free Internet storage, automatic system updates, and access to a number of webified apps (which also reside locally) including iTunes, OpenOffice, and a CherryPal-branded instant messenger and media client (though we figured iTunes would have taken care of the media playback). Of course, the lack of traditional specifications results in just a fraction of the power consumption used by that electron gobbler sitting on your desk. Not bad if your PC's primary function is to playback audio, surf the web, and occasionally edit an Office document. Oh, and that name, CherryPal? It originates from an early tester who declared it, "sweeter than an Apple." We'll see when the first CherryPal desktop ships at the end of this month -- order today.

Trapdoor Toaster releases bread on the bottom, removes trademark "pop"

For whatever reason, toasters are redesigned entirely more often than most any other kitchen gadget, but the Trapdoor Toaster may actually be an alternative worth checking out. First off, the item you see above is no concept -- as a matter of fact, it's available for purchase right now at Hammacher Schlemmer. Essentially, this thing inhales bread, bagels and frozen waffles, toasts 'em to your preferred level of brown / black and then shoots them out below onto a serving tray. Sadly, this removes that iconic eject function that makes traditional toasters so fun to watch, but it does prevent you from scalding your fingertips as you try to dig out slices from the fiery slots. Novel? You bet. Worth the $79.95 asking price? Not on your life.