With all those new HD consoles, HD teevee shows and HD video players vying for a shot at your HDMI cable, 2007 is looking to be quite the year for display manufacturers. BenQ is getting an early jump on the gamer-core market, showing off its new 2007 LCD lineup in December. Apparently BenQ is providing displays for the CPL 2006 Championship Finals in Dallas, where they’ll get to show off 2ms response times with the FP93GX, the 19-inch predecessor to this new gaming lineup. Sizes range from the 24-inch FP241WZ and FP241VW (shown above), which both sport 1920 x 1200 pixels, down to the 22-inch FP222WH, with 1680 x 1050 action, and the eensy FP94VW, with 19-inches of real estate and a 1440 x 900 resolution. The two 24-inchers sport 1000:1 contrast ratios and 500 nits of brightness, while the smaller displays slum it with 700:1 ratios and 300 nits. Price-wise, these things aren’t exactly steals: the FP241VW and FP241WZ hit $1499 and $1299 respectively, while the FP222WH will run you $549, followed by the FP94VW’s $299 tag. Some of the best news is connectivity options, since beyond that HDMI port with HDCP, all four displays feature VGA and DVI plugs, and the 24-inchers include S-video, composite and component inputs as well. No exact word on availability, but the CPL Finals run from December 16-20, so we expect the displays to drop sometime around then. More pics after the break.

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It’s practically a foregone conclusion that the first shots of anything these days just have to sport the most atrocious quality possible, as anything better would just ruin the mystique and allure. Running par for the course, the first snapshot we saw of Sony Ericsson’s presumably forthcoming “Ai” thinphone looked more like a smattering of pixels than an actual image, but we’ve now found a few pictures that confirm the general shape, size, and layout. While we’re not sure if the firm will stick with the “Ai” moniker, there’s word that it could be marketed as a Chocolate-rivaling Walkman (W880i?), but time shall tell. Be sure to hit the read link for a few more shots.

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Little is known about the KE850 from LG, but the folks over at International Forum Design must know a thing or two about it, seeing how they just hooked it up with a Product Design Award for 2007. And hey, with those hot Chocolate-esque looks — though we have no proof this one’ll actually be branded as a Chocolate — who can blame them? The big draw here, of course, is a 400 x 240 touchscreen that takes the place of virtually every hard button you might find on a more traditional handset, save for Send, End, and a handful of keys on the sides. The posterior reveals a cam, though its specs remain a mystery. Does someone at LG (or iF) want to spill the beans for us?

[Via Slashphone]
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In an announcement sure to cause lazy people everywhere to raise their arms ever so slightly in glee, home appliance manufacturer Electrolux has revealed a “vacuum shoe” concept model. In order to accommodate the electric motor — and store all the crap that you’ve left on your floor — the concept design features a rather thick and ugly sole reminiscent of Cosmo Kramer’s basketball sneakers, so you probably wouldn’t want to do much walking outdoors in them. Seeing as this is just a concept model that’s at least a couple of testing stages away from a real product, we wouldn’t be surprised if the real model was even more “visually challenged.” No matter, because a device that completes chores without the owner knowingly doing them is effectively impossible to price, although that doesn’t mean Electrolux won’t try. And if the vacuum shoe does manage to make it out of testing, it probably won’t ship for a while: in other words, don’t say we didn’t warn you if the excuse of leaving mess around just “so you can have something to test it with when it ships” doesn’t cut it with your significant other.

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JR Hokkaido, a Japanese rail firm, is poised to fully launch its dual-mode bus and rail vehicle. The bus-train has both rubber and steel tires, allowing it to switch between regular roads and railroad tracks with ease. The company debuted a test model nearly three years ago, and a set up a test line in the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Fuji late last month — but JR Hokkaido will be conducting commercial tests on the Semmo Line near Shiretoko in April 2007. This crazy dual-use machine is meant to be a way to replace train cars that run on local lines where ridership is down to under 500 people per day (that’s 30 percent of JR’s lines). While you probably won’t be able to get your hands on one unless you’re a running a Japanese rail company, these new hybrids will cost Â¥20 million ($170,735) apiece, which apparently is about one-seventh the cost of a traditional diesel-powered train car. At such bargain basement prices, Japanese rail riders might be seeing these pretty soon — that is, unless the hovercraft-train-bus triple-threat comes to market first.

[Via Engadget Chinese]
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We know what you’re thinking: extreme ski biking is cool now? Or alternatively, who the hell would get on one of these? Just take our advice, next time you find yourself off-piste, keep your eyes peeled for Ktrakers — crazy people who’ve bought a universal attachment that replaces the wheels of a mountain bike with a track drive and an optional front ski. Apparently the Ktrak’s insane appeal comes from its ability to let cyclists ride over previously inaccessible surfaces like snow and sand, as the company’s videos demonstrate. Due for a production run in early 2007 (priced at a reasonable $400 for the track and $140 for the ski), the Ktrak is apparently very easy to install and ride, and adds only 5-pounds to the average mountain bike’s weight. If you can manage to convince your brain that this thing actually exists, your biggest problem is going to be getting your hands on one before everyone else: to that end, you can reserve a kit for $300, as long as you get your pre-order out before January 1.

[Via Spluch]
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Apparently Epson is hoping that small is in, as the firm is pumping out yet another “world’s smallest” object, and this time it’s a wee-sized GPS module. Crafted specifically for tiny applications like mobile handsets, the S4E19863 measures just 7- x 6- x 1.28-millimeters and purportedly holds the title for “world’s smallest GPS chip.” Already available in NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA 903i series, Epson has begun shipping these things in bulk, hoping to add GPS functionality to other miniscule handsets as well. Built to receive even the faintest signals indoors and out, the chip also boasts “3GPP-compliant positioning modes (MS-Based, MS-Assisted and Autonomous)” to offer greater compatibility across the board. Plus, we bet it’s just a matter of time before these tiny positioning modules are up and running in some streamlined dog collar for the “anxious pet owner” crowd.

[Via Far East Gizmos]
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