Isaiah's Tech

I originally saw this article on G4TV, but i couldn't go to the link, so i Google'd some more sources. The rumour of the day belongs to Blizzard and Diablo 3. Apparently, the beta is set for September 11 and the game itself is set to be released on December 24, 2009. Are these rumours true? I don't think so. Is it just a coincidence that the beta will be released on September 11? (9/11?). Diablo 3 to be released on Christmas Eve? How strategic would that be of Blizzard to release a game on Christmas Eve? Personally, i don't think Blizzard would be dumb enough to release a game on Christmas Eve. If it does come out this year, i think it will be released a couple of weeks before Christmas holidays or pushed to Q1 next year. I'm going to call this rumour a fake, even though it breaks my heart. The specs of Diablo were also supposedly released (below).


For Windows: Operating System: Windows Xp / Vista; Processor: 1.4GHz or higher CPU; RAM: 1GB or more; Video: 128MB video card and DirectX 9; Hard Drive Space: 4-8GBs.
For Mac: Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) or better; Processor: 1.6GHz or higher; RAM: 1GB or higher, DDR RAM recommended; Video: 128MB ATI or NVIDIA video card; Hard Drive Space: 4-8GBs.

This spec sheet means that i will be able to play it on my junky desktop PC without upgrading, woopee!

Diablo 3 Release Date (and picture): http://www.destructoid.com/rumortoid-diablo-iii-release-date-and-specs-leaked--124228.phtml

This is clearly a sign of Motorola falling to their doom. They are releasing these 1990-looking phones in Q2 this year (yes, 2009). The spec sheet was not revealed, but who really cares? Who the hell is going to want these Motorola? They do have one thing going for them, rugged cases!! Other than that these smartphones are pathetic. Motorola must be  trying to bring back the old school, but i think i'd rather have a Blackberry, thank you very much. These look like walkie-talkies for 4 year olds. Seriously Motorola? Is this the best you can do? Maybe they'll miraculously develop the Motorola Touch ZINE HD. I wish.

A new rumour has it that the next update to the Mac OS X will be available on June 8. The new update, dubbed Snow Leopard will include a new QuickTime, the new Safari 4 Beta and will be a "push" for 64-bit. I don't really care for the Mac OS, but i thought that maybe some of you do, so i guess it'd be good to talk about it. It is said to be a "solid" update though, so be on the lookout for it.

Some Samsung techies linked 24 SSDs together to make the SSDs even faster than normal. During the video (below) they mentioned that they achieved a speed greater than 2GB/second, but clearly it was under 2GB/second (being 2014MB/s on the screen and 2048 MB = 2GB, duh!). But, i mean it was close enough and it was mighty fast. I still give them major props. They tested out exactly how fast the SSDs were and it was able to do a number of things: open all of Microsoft Office in 0.5 seconds, open 53 programs from the Start Menu in 18 seconds, complete a system defrag in 3 seconds, burn / rip a CD (700MB) in 0.8 seconds, etc. Anyways, you can view the video below, via Youtube from Gizmodo.



Motorola MC55 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/09/motorola-announces-mc55-handsets/
Snow Leopard On June 8? (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5166664/snow-leopard-may-drop-june-8-include-new-finder-and-quicktime
The Power of 24 SSDs (and video): http://i.gizmodo.com/5166798/24-solid-state-drives-open-all-of-microsoft-office-in-5-seconds

Finally the full spec sheet of Sony's iPod Touch competitor has been revealed. Besides having a (nice?) marble finish, the Sony X1000 Walkman has a 3-inch OLED touchscreen, 32GB storage (not sure if the 16GB will still be available), YouTube support, the NetFront web browser, integrated noise cancellation, FM radio, 802.11 g/b WiFi, 33 hours of music / 9 hours of video playback and has "MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV audio / AVC, H.264, MPEG4, WMV video" support. If the price stays the same as before, you're looking at around $400 USD for this Walkman, so maybe the iPod Touch is still a better choice. The iPod Touch could have a better browser and has the famous App Store that everyone loves. The screen on this Sony Walkman is what makes it stand out though, boasting the OLED display makes the screen fairly brighter than other devices.

With netbooks gaining popularity, Intel is putting more and more focus on their Atom processors. They are now working on Penryn-based processors that are clocking in at 3GHz+. These processors will be part of "Intel's Montevina Plus platform", which focuses on HD capabilities. If you want your new netbook with these Penryn-based processors, they should be available in Q2 this year, which isn't too far away. You should also be looking at handing over about $600 USD - $1,000 USD extra moolah.

A new LG handset has surfaced. It is the LG Zenon and is expected to be available on April 10 through AT&T. The Zenon has a 2.8-inch (240 x 480 resolution) touchscreen, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, a microSD slot, a 3MP camera, aGPS, accelerometer, proximity sensor and even a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This phone looks pretty decent and i found it on Phone Arena and, surprisingly enough, not on Engadget or Gizmodo, so it must be an overlooked / old phone. It looks decent and i'm especially liking the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The successor to the LG Cookie is almost here. Unfortunately, it looks like it will only be available in Korea and if it is released in Europe (for 300 Euros) will be without the TV tuner. Anyways, the LG Cooky's (KP500) spec sheet aren't entirely revealed, but it does have 3G and will also have the new S-Class 3D UI. The Cooky will be available in 3 colours: Shimmering White, Shimmering Black and Shimmering Rose. The Cooky will be available in June for all of you Koreans.

Sony OLED Walkman Specs (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/09/sony-releases-oled-walkman-specs/
Intel Penryn CPUs (and picture): http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/intel_set_deliver_3ghz_mobile_penryn_cpus
LG Zenon (and picture): http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/LG-Zenon-phone-p_3564.html
LG Cooky (KP500) (and picture): http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_kp500_cookie_upgraded__the_lg_cooky_does_sclass_and_3g-news-823.php

This is a rumour and there is barely any evidence supporting this "theory." But, rumour has it that Toshiba's successor to the TG01 will run Android. Now this would be much better than running it on Windows Mobile (like the TG01), so i don't see why Toshiba wouldn't do it. In December 2008, Toshiba joined the Open Handset Alliance, so it's only a matter of time until they release an Android-based device. The specs between the TG01 and its successor appear to be identical (not hardware-wise, since those specs are still unknown), obviously supporting MMS and web browsing and all of those regular features in smartphones nowadays. I hope the TG01 successor does run Android because every other phone manufacturer is taking their sweet time to push out their Android devices. Maybe Toshiba's 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon smartphone can lead the pack to victory.

Meet the Samsung Fabrizio PAVV 450 Series. There will be a 42 and a 50-inch model and they were just announced in Korea. Samsung says these plasmas will feature their "Crystal Engine", 600Hz technology (suck on that LG), 0.001ms response time (insane), "Mega Contrast" and will also have 3 HDMI slots. Talk about a damn, clear plasma TV. Don't count plasmas out yet. No word on price or availability. Just to crush your dreams, i doubt these will be released in the US, so forget about it coming Canada.

For a not so expensive price-point, you do get a lot of bang for your buck with this laptop. For just £699, you get a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4GB of RAM. The Notino W5800S has a 15.4-inch screen with a 1,680 x 1,050 (a bit odd) resolution, but it's not very mobile with just 2-hours of battery life in the tank.  It has a decent graphics card, being a NVIDIA 9300M GS and weighs about 2.7kg. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Bluetooth, but it does boast a 250GB HDD, an integrated webcam, a 3-in-1 Card reader and runs on Windows Vista Home Premium (which also sucks). It may not be the best thing out there, but it'll do the job.

See! I told you, if you were patient enough, the 22-inch model would soon pop up. It did. Later on at CeBIT, that is. I talked a bit about the 15.6-inch model before and now it's time to talk about the 22-inch model. Oh wait, i actually can't since Asus kept their mouth shut about the model. Keep in mind that Asus announced a 20 and a 22-inch model, but chose not to reveal anything besides the fact that they both had HDMI slots and both had a Blu-ray optical drive. The model numbers for the 20 and the 22-inch all-in-one PCs are the ET2003 and the ET2203, repectively.

Toshiba TG01 Android-Edition (and picture): http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/toshiba-working-on-android-successor-to-tg01--573730?src=rss&attr=all
Samsung Fabrizio PAVV 450 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/09/samsung-outs-fabrizio-pavv-450-series-plasma-hdtvs-in-korea/
Hi-Grade Notino W5800S (and picture): http://www.techradar.com/reviews/computing/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops/hi-grade-notino-w5800s-536654/review?src=rss&attr=all
22-inch Eee Top (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/09/asus-showcases-hd-minded-eee-top-et2203-and-et2003/

This is Asus at its "extravagant best." The king of laptops right here. The Asus G71Gx has a 17-inch screen with a 1,920 x 1,200 WUXGA resolution. It is sporting a "brand-new" graphics card which is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M with 1GB of VRAM. The laptop has room for 12GB of RAM, packs dual 500GB HDD's, has Blu-ray and even Altec Lansing speakers, just in case the specs weren't enough to blow you away. No word on the availability or the price, but i'm pretty sure it will empty out your wallet and drag your bank account along with it.

Looks like the leaks from CeBIT were correct. The specs listed here are indeed from the LG (GC900) Viewty II. This includes the 3-inch touchscreen, 8MP autofocus (Schneider-Kreuznach) camera with a xenon flash, S-class 3D UI, DivX support, aGPS, WiFi and up to 32GB of memory. The camera can also shoot at 30fps, so that's not bad for a camera phone. Price and availability are still unknown though, so that will be given on a later date.

This could be the first time i actually talk about something that the everyday person can actually afford (including me). If you're not too big on specs or stuff like that then this could be the phone for you. It's the Nokia Intrigue. This flip (clamshell) phone could very well be the best-looking clamshell phone out there (according to Boy Genius). I think the phone doesn't look too bad and i have yet to see a better looking flip phone also, so i guess i'll have to agree. The phone has a 2MP camera, a microSD slot, Bluetooth and has 2 models: one being a black to gray finish and the other has a black to pink finish. Again, there's no price or availability on this handset.

First, there were rumours of a 7-9 inch iPod Touch going to be released in Q3. The rumour has now evolved into Apple developing a new netbook for early Q3, this Summer. I could be wrong, but wouldn't this be considered a tablet instead of a netbook since this so-called device is supposedly going to be a touchscreen netbook. Either way, if this is released expect people to be flocking to the Apple stores to purchase it. This idea doesn't sound half-bad since i've been hearing lots of public criticism about Apple in desperate need to sell netbooks soon.

Asus G71Gx (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/08/asus-g71gx-boats-of-geforce-gtx-260m-graphics-other-extravaganc/
LG Viewty II (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/09/lg-viewty-ii-gets-viewed/
Nokia Intrigue (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/09/verizons-nokia-intrigue-dispels-the-notion-that-clamshell-ugly/
Apple Netbook (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/09/apple-netbook-in-q3/