LG just unveiled the next generation of its popular “Chocolate” phone at the recent Expo Comm Wireless Korea 2006, and it seems to maintain the same features and minimalist elegance as its predecessor in a slightly thicker package (16.5-millimeters versus the original’s 15.3). Also called the “Black Label II” or by its model number, KV6000, this handset is primarily targeted at the fashion-conscious crowd who also want to snap a pic or rock out to tunes once in awhile, letting them load the 512MB of memory with up to 120 MP3 tracks. Starting price for this newest bit of Chocolate is around $530, but it will probably only be seen on the streets of Seoul for the time being.

Update: You guys are the best. Reader Jay saw this post and directed to us a slew of great BLII pics at Korean site Cetizen, including one which shows that the camera is a very respectable 1.3 megapixels.

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If you thought you had to be at E3 to check out Dell’s new gaming boxes, we’ve got some good news for you: Dell has launched a web site to show off the prototype models, the cleverly named XPS Next Generation Gaming Desktop and the previously revealed XPS Mobile Entertainment Concept laptop. The bad news? Dell’s Flash-heavy teaser site for the boxes provides little in the way of real specs (unless you consider a statement that the desktop will include “some of the latest processors, graphics capabilities and performance hard drives” enough info). The site does, however, show off some of the desktop’s external features, including an aluminum case, a choice of LEDs in 7 different colors, and — woo hoo — a stabilizing fin. No specs on the laptop either, natch, but we already have the goods on that one. We’re not sure if Dell plans to bring either of these to market, or if they’re just eye candy designed to attract gamers to existing products, like the M1710 notebook. However, we expect the desktop to show up in some form, if only so that Dell can try to say that the company’s home-grown, Intel-based gear is as good as the AMD stuff they picked up from Alienware — which, at this point, may be the whole point of keeping the XPS line alive in the first place.

More info from Dell.
from Engadget

Want an Intel-based Mac but don’t want to pay  Apple’s prices? A company called Red PCs may have what you’re looking for — if you’re willing to face the wrath of Apple’s lawyers. Red PC is now offering something they’re calling a “PowerPC G6 Macintosh” for $499. According to the specs, the box is basically a generic Pentium-based PC running a hacked version of the Intel version of Mac OS X. For your $499, the company is also throwing in copies of Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Office 2004, making this quite the deal, given that Photoshop alone can go for over $400. But, then, we assume you’re prepared to deal with Adobe and Microsoft’s lawyers as well if you’re ready to buy this. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), the Red PCs web site seems to be down, though the machine is still listed on the Alibaba.com site as available for purchase with free global shipping and a one-year warranty.

[Via OSX86]
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Iowa State University has just announced a $4 million overhaul of its so-called “C6″ virtual reality room that will enable a total of 100,000,000 pixels to be displayed on all six 10-foot by 10-foot surfaces in the room, and supposedly make it the most realistic environment of its kind in the world. In use since June of 2000, C6 has served a role in projects for fields as diverse as urban planning, cell biology, and mechanical engineering, and is currently being funded by military grant money to develop a VR room which would enable a single operator to remotely view and control a squadron of unmanned planes. To give the refurbished room an impressive sixteen times the resolution of its current iteration, researchers at the school’s Virtual Reality Applications Center are hooking 24 Sony digital projectors up to an HP server stuffed with 96 graphics processors, as well as adding eight channel surround sound and motion tracking software. Iowa State students looking to break into the room at night for some absolutely sick FPS action can do so this fall.

[Via ZDNet]
More from Iowa State.
From Engadget

 

Here’s the latest multifunction portable that won’t make its way out of Korea (hint: if you see DMB in the description, that’s usually the case): the Mio C810, a portable media player with a DMB receiver and GPS. The player has a 4.3-inch LCD, four-hour battery life, and supports multiple audio and video formats.

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Looks like Nintendo didn’t show us everything they’re working on for the Wii yesterday. Safely ensconced under glass in Nintendo’s booth is this little toy, a prototype “Zapper Style” shell for the Wii Remote. Needless to say, something like this will go a long way to adding some verisimilitude to certain games, or, as the Nintendo brass like to say, it’s all about the feeling. Wonder if there’s any recoil on this thing?

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Alright, we briefed y’all on what we knew so far about the Wii controller early this morning, but now that we’ve gotten our paws on the Wiimote itself, we wanted to let you know how it is in the flesh. Nintendo and millions of fanboys are betting a lot on this concept, and Nintendo itself said that “playing is believing” every other sentence of their keynote, so the real question is: do we believe? More after the jump.
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