Isaiah's Tech

Let's start with the outside of the car. The Tesla Model S looks extremely sexy. The body of the car looks nice and sleek and has a concept look to it. The Tesla is, apparently, an "all-electric sedan" so it pretty much owns hybrids. There's not that much to say about the exterior of the car, except that it looks sexy. However, one interesting thing is the RFID tag. "When you walk up to the car, the Model S detects your RFID keytag and pops out the handles for you. When you want to start up the car, there's no start button. You just sit there and wait for the car to detect your RFID presence." That is wicked.

The interior is where the fun starts. The dashboard has a full touchscreen console and has 3G connectivity "all the time." There's a bunch of inputs in the car, including: HD, AUX, USB, and iPod connectivity. The dashboard may scare you on your first glance but it's okay, it won't bite. You will be able to control most of the car using the centre LCD touchscreen console. Just make sure no one else touches it.

[Engadget, Gizmodo]

Although nothing was exactly mentioned, Nintendo has suggested that E3 2009 will be big for Nintendo. They intend to "show off new software," according to Satoru Iwata (President and CEO of Nintendo). Nothing can be more boring than E3 2008, so pretty much anything they show off would be better than last year. Nothing else has been mentioned, so it's kind of a guess what Nintendo will be showing off.

[Nintendo Everything]

"Google will announce the next step in Gmail's evolution, a new product with 'a European multilingual angle,' on Monday." No one, but Google, know exactly what they're planning for this new product on Monday. The article had me a little bit confused, first mentioning a "next step in Gmail's evolution" and then later mentioning an "exciting new product." So, I guess it's a new product having to do with Gmail (right?). I'm not entirely sure what it is, but the announcement will be on Monday so we won't have to wait too long for it. I can't wait!

Update: Thanks to Tech Crunch, I've found this new information. This Google product will be announced on Monday, April 7.

[Mac World, Tech Crunch]

The newest Asus Eee PC has been revealed, it's the 1002H. Like the long-lasting 1000HE, it will have the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, which is a little bit faster than the 1002HA's 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor. Besides the processor, the 1002HA and the new 1002H are practically identical. It will have the same: 10-inch LED backlit WSVGA display, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, integrated 1.3MP webcam, in-built stereo speakers, and a multi-card reader. In addition to the hardware, it will also have a couple of ports, including: VGA out, three USB 2.0's and audio in / out. The release date or price has not been announced but the 1002H should be available in 3 colours: pearl white (pictured), pink, and black.

[Engadget]

This is incredible news. Skype could possibly come to the iPhone as early as next week. Next week will be CTIA Wireless - held in Las Vegas - and if Apple was to launch Skype for the iPhone, it would be the perfect time. This would be very interesting because I use Skype all the time (with my girlfriend) and because this would also mean that Skype would be a guarantee for the next iPhone. The next iPhone really looks to be shaping up as a phone that I'd want to have in my pocket. We'll just have to wait and see until next week comes around. I'm excited, but am still rooting for the Palm Pre to trump the iPhone. I'm not a big fan of Apple products, but I have to give them credit. They do make amazing products, they're just too expensive for me. "I'm not cool enough to own an Apple."

[Crunch Gear]

The Samsung MID that was first spotted at MWC earlier this year will be named Mondi. The Mondi (aka SWD-M100) MID will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3MP camera, Bluetooth, a microSD slot, and a TV out. This MID will have a 4.3-inch touchscreen and will have WiMAX which makes for some speedy browsing. Back at MWC it was running on Windows Mobile 6.1, but with it sporting the Windows logo on the keyboard it could be running on WinMo 6.5. It's all rumours but it could go through that one change before it is officially released. The pricing and the availability is still unknown to this date, hopefully those details will be announced soon.

[Engadget]

Besides having an awkward name, it is claiming to be a "hybrid smartphone." For a luxury phone, it does have decent specs including a 2.8-inch multitouch screen, WiFi, a 5MP camera, and has biometric fingerprint unlocking. "It also sucks supplemental power into the battery by harvesting kinetic energy from the revolving rotor on the back. The phone is currently on display at the Baselworld watch and jewelry expo." It will be available in the future, but it's not known exactly when. Expect to spend quite a bit on this phone, it definitely will be more than €1,000.

[Gizmodo]

Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 recently had a slight name change. They've decided to drop the "Call of Duty" part of it and they've renamed it solely to Modern Warfare 2. I hope this word goes around because some CoD fans might get confused over this recent name change. Expect Modern Warfare 2 on November 10 of this year.

[PS3 Sense]

Archos is working on an Android-based MID that is on track for a release in "early Q3 2009." So, it looks like the MID will be available in July of this year. This MID will have a 5-inch full touchscreen, phone functionalities, HD support, and a TI OMAP 3 processor (similar to the Palm Pre's). The MID will also support Flash and it is, reportedly, only 10mm thick. This looks like a great device and I hope it's not overpriced and not exclusive to Japan or something.

[Engadget]

Maingear is not exactly the most famous brand out there, but this laptop is definitely worth your time. I don't know why they chose to have a design like that on the notebook, but it is just optional. The notebook has an awesome spec sheet for a brand that's not that well known. The mX-L will have a 13.3-inch LED backlit display with a 1,280 x 800 resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a GMA X4500HD graphics card, up to 8GB of RAM, up to 500GB HDD (or the more expensive 160GB Intel X25-M SSD), Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet and WiFi. It also comes with a VGA and three USB 2.0 slots. Oh wait, don't forget that you can cram a dual-layer Blu-ray reader in this notebook which is very impressive. If you want the completely upgraded model, it'll cost you quite a bit. With the four-cell battery the laptop will weigh 4.4 pounds. Right now, it doesn't look like you have the option to upgrade the battery, so that is a huge disappointment. The base price will be $1,099.99 USD, but if you factor in the Blu-ray and the SSD, it could surpass the $2,000 mark.

[Engadget]

The so-called HTC Hero (pictured) is expected to hit Orange and will be one of their Android phones for the year. Shortly after the Hero's launch, they're expected to release Android phones from brands such as: Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG, in no particular order. Orange (France) is expecting that they will have 5 Android handsets available by the end of the year. This will help boost their sales, since O2 exclusively received the rights to the iPhone and Vodafone had the BlackBerry Storm. Orange also mentioned that Android handsets should be "low-cost" because of the actual OS being cheaper (in a money sense) than other OS's. Orange also said that the low-cost in combination with the Android Market application store should be a "good reason to bet big on Google's mobile platform."

[Tech Radar]

It was already announced before, but it's been a while since we last heard about it. The Sony Ericsson T707 (codenamed Elle) was officially revealed today. It was announced earlier this year at a press conference in China, so it's not entirely new. To review the specs of this clamshell / flip phone, it will have a 2.2-inch internal screen, a 3.2MP camera and will have 3G. Besides having Maria Sharapova as its sponsor, the T707 will have GPS, FM radio, Bluetooth, Memory Stick Micro support (up to 16GB) and will have 100MB internal storage. Hopefully the 1GB card will still be included in the box, like they mentioned before. Expect this phone in Q2 of this year, even though Sharapova already has her own.

[Tech Radar]

From June 8 to June 12, Apple will be holding a WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in San Francisco, it will obviously be for developers around the world. "This is the premier event for Apple developers who create apps for Mac OS X or iPhone, and also for IT pros who work with Apple platforms." If you're headed to this conference, it'll cost you $1,295 USD. You better purchase a ticket quick because they'll sell out fast, and after April 24 the price of the ticket will jump up to $1,595 USD. There will be a couple of awards at the event, including: Best Leopard Game, and Best Student App.

[The Apple Blog]

Opera, the web browser that you will find on your notebook / desktop PC, has a new special build available. This new build supports Geolocation aka the ability to share your location with anyone you please (beware kids!). Opera has made this possible by working side-by-side with Skyhook Wireless; it will work by using their WPS (Wi-Fi Positioning System) to figure out exactly where you are. To me it seems like a built-in Google Latitude.

On the other hand, Opera has also announced that Opera Mobile 9.7 will make its premiere next week at CTIA Wireless. The mobile browser is said to have a couple of enhancements like utilizing the Presto 2.2 rendering engine - which is also found in Opera Turbo. "Opera Turbo compresses and accelerates full Web pages for improved browsing over limited-bandwidth connections." Opera also concluded by mentioning that Mobile 9.7 will compress as much as 80% of the data so that you will see vast speed improvements.

[Mashable, Beta News]

A new rumour has it that a new Kingdom Hearts game could be announced next week. I'm excited to see what it will be. Will it be for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or the DSi? Or even for all three? The details on this new game are really scarce, so I, sadly, can't confirm anything for you today. Look out for a Square Enix announcement possibly next week.

[Joystiq]

To rival Apple and the iPhone even more, BlackBerry will be releasing their App World on April 1. The pricing of the apps are a bit more expensive than the iPhone's, so that's already a negative. Hopefully, the apps themselves will be a little bit better than the iPhone's apps, so we'll just have to see how this works out.

In other news today, BlackBerry continues to try to trump the iPhone by possibly releasing unlimited TV downloads. RIM is expected to launch unlimited TV downloads on a subscription-based plan. "Most long-form videos still have to be transferred from a host computer, and most streaming services, such as YouTube or TV.com, typically only offer short clips." It's not confirmed yet, but it could be true. We'll see in the near future.

[Boy Genius, Boy Genius (pricing chart), Electronista]

At MacWorld, Apple announced that they would be launching new prices on their iTunes Store tracks. You will be able to buy popular tracks for $1.29 and less popular tracks for $0.69. These tracks will be DRM-free and Apple did point out that there will be more tracks for sale at $0.69 than at the $1.29 price. But, that's probably because the tracks that people actually want to buy (popular tracks) will be going for $1.29 and all the unknown artists' tracks will be going for $0.69. Have fun getting legal music, I'll be busy illegally downloading off of LimeWire / FrostWire. This new pricing will start on April 7 - missing the expected April 1 launch date.

[Gizmodo]

Apparently, Mimo's new USB-based monitors will be extremely portable and it will have nearly identical specs as their last USB-based monitor. It will sport the same 7-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution (LED-backlit). It will still turn vertically like the last one and it will fold down to a notebook looking thing. It looks much, much better than their last monitor, I might add. Although it is fairly disappointing that they didn't upgrade any of the specs. Hopefully this isn't a fake photo, I'm certainly excited to read more news on this Mimo monitor.

[Engadget]

Since every other screenshot always had the Sony Ericsson in black, a new colour was recently announced - silver! The Idou will have the 12.1MP camera with a large 3.5-inch touchscreen. It runs on Symbian, but no one knows how much tweaking they have done with it. I'm excited to see more about this phone. Basically, all we know is that it takes 12 megapixels of goodness. After this phone gets released, I think Sony Ericsson should throw in either the white flag or the towel. I think they're going to be finished soon.

[GSM Arena]

It's not official but it's pretty close, since Amazon.de has their LG Arena at a retail price of €399 ($540 USD). Amazon.de isn't the only online store to have pegged that price tag, so this news isn't coming from just one source. Anyways, the LG Arena will be the first phone out of LG's stellar lineup to rock the new S-Class 3D UI and it will be available in Europe by the end of this month. The Arena has a 5MP camera, DVD quality video recording, Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi, just to get you excited. Expect it anytime now!

[GSM Arena]

We all drooled when we saw the Pentium 4 overclocked to 8GHz, but that's nothing. According to the geeks at MIT, recent research claims that new graphene chips could clock in anywhere from the 500 to the 1,000GHz range. It has to do with a "frequency multiplier", but I won't go in depth because I won't even know what I'm talking about. Look out for these awesome chipsets in the distant future, I doubt they'll be mass producing these anytime soon.

[Engadget, MIT]

After finding a critical security issue in Firefox, Mozilla will be releasing Firefox version 3.0.8 next week. They are patching it up as fast as they can. The bug that they've found affects Firefox across all operating systems, even Mac and Linux, hence the critical status.

[Mac World]

The latest leak from Samsung is the B7300. In the screenshot it is clear that it running on the terrible Windows Mobile 6.1 (see the widgets). We should all know how good WinMo 6.1 touchscreen phones are by now. It will also have the infamous TouchWiz UI, a 3MP camera with auto focus, a microUSB and a microSD slot. No other specifications have been detailed, so you'll hear more about it in the future. For 6 more pictures on the leaked handset, go to the link below.

[GSM Arena]

If you have an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) supported browser, you can now draw in Google Docs. So, if you're using Internet Explorer - even IE8 - you're going to have to use Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari. If you try to draw in Google Docs with a non-SVG supported browser (aka Internet Explorer), it will use VML (Vector Markup Language) instead, so you're not entirely out of luck. So, try out your drawings in Google Docs now! On a side note, Google Docs also implemented a "full-fledged find and replace toolbar", you can try that for yourself too.

[Mashable, Lifehacker]

So, it was already confirmed that Build 7057 will not be the official RC - it's just a pre-RC. Microsoft has already touted around Build 7061, so it's not possible. Just when you couldn't get enough of having those fancy stickers on your Windows PCs, here comes another one. A Windows 7 Touch logo sticker! To point out the obvious, it will tell you whether or not your machine can function as a touchscreen or not. On a side note, it has been reported that the RC - rumoured to be released on April 10 - is delayed until the "end of May." Sad, sad news.

[Engadget]

If you use iGoogle and go to the Themes section, you will notice that there is a new heading called 'Games.' Yes, that's right, themes that involve games. There is only 4 pages right now, but that could expand in the future. So far the line-up isn't too bad, you got your World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty: World at War, and Street Fighter IV (my theme) themes. There are also some classics like Mario, Zelda, and Galaga. If you can't decide on what theme to choose just choose the Game of the Day theme.



[Official Google Blog]

With recent rumours of an Acer A1 running Android to be released this September, the F1 may be one of the phones that will be released alongside the aforementioned A1. According to some newer rumours the pictured Acer F1 is said to be packing an 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It is a little bit slower than the speedy Toshiba TG01, but it's still quick. The F1 will be running on WinMo 6.5 and looks like it will be a full touchscreen. It's expected to be released for €560 ($760 USD) this September. I'm excited to see a full spec sheet on this device.

[Engadget]

Gamers rejoice! Infinity Ward has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will indeed be here for the Christmas time. On November 10, Modern Warfare 2 will be available! GDC is halfway done at this point and this is one of the only things I've talked about. But whatever, this is important stuff. So, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is coming on November 10. Enjoy the video below.



[Joystiq]

Ziff Davis of FileFront is going to suspend their operations "indefinitely" starting on March 30, 4 days from now. Their 10-year reign is coming to an end and they are blaming the economic crisis for this. Basically, the community has to download as much as they can until D-Day. There's more than 48TB of stuff to download, so you better hurry. BigDownload.com will have to pick up FileFront's slack now. We're depending on them now.

[Joystiq]