For the folks out there looking to seriously take advantage of those unlimited text messages, Acme Systems has designed the SMS FoxBox in order to give you “a compact and low cost solution to send and receive SMS messages using a commercial SIM card.” The Linux-powered device includes a GSM quad-band modem, a SD / MMC memory card slot to store the messages, and a web-based interface to manage the mayhem. Acme claims that its unit can receive up to 30 incoming texts per minute, and it also touts an SQLite embedded SQL server, expandable set of gateway functions, fully customizable software, and even a pair of USB ports to store excess messages on thumb drives or external HDDs. So if you’ve been looking for some serious horsepower in the SMS to TCP/IP realm, you can plunk down your €750 ($1,012) and give that HTC keyboard a rest.

[Via LinuxDevices]
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Oh boy, lookie lookie. Panasonic just announced their new Lumix FX top-ender, the DMC-FX100. Packing a 1/1.72-inch, 12.2 megapixel CCD, this compact shooter manages to squeeze in a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC lens with 3.6x optical zoom. The cam features VE III processing along with Panny’s Mega Optical Image Stabilizer and Intelligent ISO control (up to a 6400 sensitivity) to reduce blurring. Shutter release is measured at 0.009 seconds while bursting 8 shots per second at full resolution. It even records WVGA (848 x 480) video at 30fps or 1280 x 720 at 15fps direct to SDHC/SD cards. Nice, should be a winner by the time the reviews roll around.

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Pfff, 10 megapixels is for sissies. Casio, like Panasonic earlier today, just pumped out their own 12.1 megapixel shooter, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200. A 1/1.7-inch CCD and 3x zoom lens will be responsible for collecting the photons while the Exilim Engine 2.0 processing attempts to make sense of it all. Casio’s flagship compact also delivers CCD-shift image stabilization and range of blur-reduction technologies bent on making the most of that ISO 1600 sensivity — if reviews of its EX-Z1000 cuz are anything to go by then that’s probably not saying much. Face detection and motion analysis technologies enable the camera to lock focus onto a subject’s face and then track it as the person moves. Rounding things out are a decent 2.8-inch wide LCD, SDHC card support, a lazy 3 shot per second burst mode, and H.264 video recordings at a maximum 848 x 480 resolution and just 20fps. No price listed, but it had better slide in for less than the superior spec’d DMC-FX100 if they hope to compete.

[Via Digital Photography Review]
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While the rest of the world makes do with the 2-inch, QVGA display on their NW-A800 Walkman, China just nabbed a pair of biggie Sony Walkman branded flash video players under the PMX-M70 (pictured) and PMX-U50 monikers. The M70 series brings a 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel display for viewing MPEG-4 video stored in up to 8GB of flash memory or Memory Stick expansion. It also records audio or video when jacked-in appropriately or plays back MP3, WMA, and AAC audio over the unit’s integrated stereo speakers. The PMX-U50 then, is a throw-back to the ol’ GigaPocket PCVA-HVP20 design with a refreshed spec sheet touting a 2.4-inch TFT LCD, FM tuner, drag-n-drop support (no SonicStage!), voice recorder and more in capacities up to 4GB. Notable by its absence from the press release is ATRAC, again. While three ATRAC-less, SonicStage-less products released in the last 4 weeks certainly does not constitute a trend, it’s tantalizing nonetheless. See the U50 pictured after the break.

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[Via I4U]
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