They announced it a full ten days ago with exactly zero fanfare, but we’re just today getting word about Bang & Olufsen‘s BeoLink Wireless 1 system, their take on a wireless distributed home audio solution. You’d think that the receivers themselves might have integrated speakers (just look at that picture), but no, you’ve got to plug them into the wall, and then into a pair of speakers in the room you’re transporting your audio to. They use a proprietary 2.4GHs DSSS wireless transport for the audio, and can support up to 21 rooms with three BeoLink transmitters. No word on price or launch time frame, but it’s B&O, so it’ll cost ya. [Warning: PDF link!]

[Via Sybarites, thanks Stevie J]

Products PDF

From Engadget

If you like it big and light (but not too powerful) then listen up son, ’cause Averatec just announced their 7100 series of laptops said to be the lightest 17-inch widescreen infotainment laptops available (though, as far as we can tell, that title still goes to the 17-inch PowerBook). Ok, considering all those 20-inchers dropping lately, they’re not that big, but at 7.2-pounds and just an inch-thick they manage to pack in a 1.8GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-32 processor, dual-layer DVD/CD burner, up to 100GB disk, 2GB DDR RAM, 802.11b/g, and a healthy dose of USB, FireWire, PCMICIA, PC Express, and memory card slots for expansion in addition to that 1440 x 900 pixel display supported by an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M graphics card. These Microsoft Windows Vista Capable machines may not be the most powerful on the market, but at street prices from $849 to $1,199 (depending upon config) they’re worth a look for the budget minded.

[Via MobileTechReview]

Product page

From Engadget

Last we heard from our insider in the biz, Palm was going to be launching their PalmOS-powered Treo 700p sometime around or on Monday, May 15th. Now it would seem Gadgets on the Go’s gotten word from a source they deem reliable that the 700p‘s got a price: $399 for a new 2 year contract, $499 with a 1 year contract.  (Oh, they also confirmed the same release time frame we had — mid May ideally, early June at latest.) That sounds about right if you ask us, but there’s only one way to find out: wait for the launch. Ok, well, two ways: we’ll keep on inquiring, ourselves. Stay tuned, Treo nuts.

From Engadget

 

The future is now — sort of. We were just waiting for robots to start reproducing before we gave over the future of humanity to these beings, and while this might be a mere simulated pregnancy for med students to practice on, it seems close enough to us. The robot, named Noelle, is a life-sized blond mannequin that costs $20,000 and simulates the pertinent vital signs and exports of a pregnant woman, including blood, urine and a baby. Even the baby simulates vital signs, and can change colors from pink to blue to signify oxygen deficiency. A human controller can initiate different complications, or just sit back as the robot runs through its program of baby ejection. The bot is starting to be used med schools and maternity wards across the country, and simpler versions have even seen action in Afghanistan for training.

More info from Yahoo

From Engadget

Although the hardest-of-hardcore gamers will likely scoff at any laptop that isn’t SLI-enabled these days, PC Mag’s review of Velocity’s 17-inch Micro NoteMagix M57 Ultra shows us that even a solo graphics card combined with a zippy single core processor and a generous helping of RAM can deliver excellent 1,920 x 1,200 fragging performance. The M57 is powered by a 2.26GHz Pentium M 780 — which gives it only decent productivity benchmark scores compared to a dual core machine — but the fact that Velocity throws in 2GB of RAM along with the high-end mobile nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX card and a 7,200 RPM hard drive allowed the rig to best PC Mag’s previous champ, the Dell XPS M170, in all-important 3-D and framerate testing. Even better, the faults here are few and far between –  a rather-hefty 9.3-pound weight, lack of software for the built-in TV tuner, and separation between mouse buttons are the only knocks in this review — so non-SLI snobs should feel safe in dropping their $3000 on what is judged to be a “Very Good” laptop.

Read the review from PC MAG

From Engadget

 

Citizen has developed something it’s calling the “memory liquid crystal,” a new passive matrix LCD that can retain an image even when powered off. According to Citizen, the display’s inorganic membrane, combined with an angled orientation, keeps the crystals frozen in position without power having to be maintained. The five-volt, non-backlit display isn’t going to take the place of your LCD TV anytime soon, but is planned for use in point-of-sale applications, watches and cellphone auxiliary displays.

More info 

From Engadget

Samsung YP-U2, here. Get yer Samsung YP-U2, here. It’s a little less classy than its predecessor with the fold-out USB port, but Samsung’s 512MB YP-U2X — previously seen at CES — is now available online for $70, four line LCD display, FM tuner, voice recorder, PlaysForSure support (sorry though, this one’s sans OGG), 13 hour battery and all.

More info

From Engadget