ForcaTech Blog

That’s right. The highly anticipated Android port for the HP Touchpad is here–somewhat. The popular aftermarket Android firmware distribution team has been working on the port ever since HP removed themselves from the tablet market and began selling their unsupported tablets starting at $99.

Today they released the “LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS” ALPHA edition of Android 2.3.5 for the HP Touchpad built on CyanogenMod 7.1.0. The thing to keep in mind here is that it is the ALPHA release and as such it is 100% AS-IS, unsupported, non-warranted and installation is NOT encouraged.

What doesn’t work? Phone and messaging related items have been left in the build but–obviously–are not supported. Many–MANY–apps have compatibility issues including the fact that some can not be found in the market at all! There have also been reports of issues with sound, camera and wifi just to name a few.

TO INSTALL:

Install is supported on Windows, Mac and Linux however I have only attempted the install from Windows XP as well as Windows 7.

You can find all of the steps to install as well as all files needed from the official thread on rootzwiki. You can see a video of the ACMEInstaller process here.

Alternatively, I have downloaded all needed files you need to get Android working on the Touchpad including the instructions and packaged them into a single ZIP file which you can download here.

TO INSTALL ANDROID MARKET:

One thing that the CyanogenMod team didn’t include in the install instructions is how to install the Market. If you are left wondering “How do I install the Android Market on my Touchpad” here you are.

Start by downloading the latest Google Apps zip. At the time of this posting the latest is 0828 which you can download here.  DO NOT extract the ZIP. Boot your touchpad into Android. Connect it to your PC and turn on USB storage when prompted.  Copy  apps-gb-20110828-signed.zip to the root of your touchpad and then unmount and reboot. When the boot menu appears choose boot ClockworkMod. From there you will want to install the .zip file from SD card. Reboot and when you boot into Android you should be prompted to log in to your Google account and then you are all set. The Market will appear in your app drawer.

INSTALL EXPERIENCE:

After installing this on two touchpads I can say that I am very impressed. This release doesn’t feel like an Alpha to me. 95% of the of 100+ apps I tried to install were compatible and didn’t have any major issues. Several seemed to lack rotation support but other than that they seemed to run very fluid. The rom runs much more smoothly on the touchpad than on several phones that I have used it on and I am excited to see what happens as the rom community grows around the touchpad.

To see the rom in action check out the official CyanogenMod video here and while you’re at it check out the other Touchpad videos on his channel[Rootzwiki].

[As always you are responsible for any bricks, void warranties or explosions. ForcaTech is in no way liable for any damage your device may incur due to any information here. Install at your own risk.]

As if society wasn’t lazy enough Hasbro has announced that they will be releasing new varieties of classic board games with an electronic tower that is going to run the game.

The tower will manage aspects of the game such as dice rolls, rent, cash flow, etc. The tower “bathes the board in infrared light, and a camera can see reflectors placed on each game piece.”  The days of dealing out paper money and a banker are gone apparently. Paper money is being replaced by a plastic money card that is automatically reloaded by the tower when you pass go, collect rent from another player, etc.

Monopoly Live will be available this fall for around $50. You can still pick up the classic for around $15 if you are terrified about Sauron’s tower being able to watch your every move don’t want to drop the cash for the electronic version. But just think of all you will be missing. As one of the games designers, Leif Askeland said “The tower never makes a mistake”.

So its almost here. Excited? February 10th fan boys and girls will be rushing to their nearest retailer to pick up their long awaited Verizon iPhone. But should you?

Sure. I guess. There are plenty of reasons why you should and shouldn’t. For those of you coming from an AT&T iPhone 4 you may be disappointed. While Verizons voice and data coverage is much better their 3G speeds are lacking in comparison to AT&Ts. From my experience I was able to get speeds around 300kbps while indoors with AT&Ts 3G as opposed to around 80kbps with Verizons 3G.

Another down side to the Verizon iPhone is the CDMA network it is on. While using the AT&T flavor of iPhone you can use voice and data simultaneously. Verizons network is limited to either data OR voice until LTE hits later this year however the iPhone 4 isn’t LTE capable.

One other difference while not as big of a deal to me personally is the lack of a SIM card. If you need to swap between handsets you won’t be able to simply swap SIM cards. Instead you will have the pleasure of going into a Verizon store or calling customer service.

On top of all of this the iPhone 4 has been out for 8 months and with Apples yearly release schedule a new flavor of iPhone is bound to be coming out fairly soon. Perhaps an LTE version of iPhone will be release just a few short months after you get locked into another 2 year agreement…

Despite all of this hundreds of thousands of you will be picking up your modern, shiny iPhone 4 thanks to the marketing genius that Apple is and Verizons iPhone pre-orders have been sold out for a while.

Of course there are arguments in favor of getting the iPhone with Verizon. For starters there are those of you bound to Verizon whether it be from being locked into a family plan, AT&T not having as good of service in your area or various other reasons. For me who is rarely on the phone, always using data and in a good AT&T coverage area the AT&T iPhone is the way to go.

Then again you could always go android, but I will open that can of worms later.

Thermal grease,  thermal gel,  thermal compound,  thermal paste,  heat paste,  heat sink paste, heat transfer compound or heat sink compound. These are all names used to describe the fluid substance used to increase thermal conductivity between two components.  Often used in electronics to improve thermal dissipation by compensating  for the irregular surfaces of two components(such as a processor and a heat sink).

Despite how flat the top of a processor or base of a heat sink look there are sure to be imperfections that will prevent the two surfaces from fully sitting against each other. The thermal compound acts as a filler to ensure that 100% of the CPU will be touching the heat sink.

Another purpose of the compound is to fill in all the tiny crevices on the heat sink and metal plate that covers the CPU. To improve conductivity some extreme overclockers will sand down–also called lapping–the metal plate that covers their CPU as well as the heat sink in order to create two completely flat surfaces. This will allow you to use less thermal compound and the less thermal compound you are able to use the better the heat transfer from your processor to your heat sink. There are plenty of guides on how to do this–Google is your friend. If you have done it correctly you should have a shiny bronze surface on your processor that you can use as a mirror. From my experience I have only noticed a 2-4c degree improvement in temps on CPUs I have lapped which in my opinion doesn’t make the hours of time spent worth it. Not to mention you will void your warranty if you do this.

There are many different kinds of thermal compound ranging from silicon based to metal based. For the most part, metal based compounds have much better conductivity.

Is it worth it to remove my heat sink, remove the silicon compound and apply artic silver 5–or some other type of metal based compound–in its place? My answer–it depends on the individual. I have noticed a significant improvement moving from silicon paste to artic silver 5 with multiple processors. Currently I am using a Phenom II X4 Quad-Core clocked at the stock operating speed–3.0Ghz. With the stock silicon compound my idle temps were hovering around 42c which I felt was a bit high considering my ambient room temperature was 21c. I removed the heat sink, cleaned it and the CPU plate with alcohol and a cotton swab and applied a small dot of Artic Silver 5 to the center of the CPU plate–for instructions on your specific CPU view a complete list of guides here.

After going through about 5 heat cycles–allowing your CPU to reach max operating temps then completely cool helps the compound to settle–I was pleased to find that my idle temps had dropped a full 10c. This was a much better result than I was expecting. Usually I see a 4c-6c improvement but in this case I am assuming that the factory just did a poor job of applying the silicon compound.

So is it worth it? Ultimately it is up to you however in my opinion the 10-20 minutes you spend reapplying thermal compound is worth it. Especially in this case where for $5 and 10 minutes I gained a 10c degree temperature drop which allows for longer processor life or greater overclocking ability.  With the silicon compound that came on my processor I was only able to overclock from 3.0Ghz to 3.6Ghz. With the artic silver 5 I was able to stably reach 3.9Ghz and had no issues after running stability tests for 10 hours.

So once again reapplying new compound is worth it in my eyes but that doesn’t mean I am encouraging you to do it! If you don’t know what you are doing you could really mess something up and I am not going to be responsible when you do. If you do decide to reapply compound go find a good guide on the internet since I have barely touched on what needs to happen to successfully reapply compound.

I have stumbled across one of the best gimmicky toys I have ever seen. The gun takes 3 AAA batteries which are used to charge the flying duck. Connect the duck to the controller for a quick 10 second charge and then let the duck loose.

The tricky part is the birds flight time is 30 second–during which time the duck is bobbin’ and weavin’–and you have to get 3 direct hits to bring the duck down in that time. Each time you hit the duck it stutters for a second–dropping altitude–to reveal that you have hit it. After 3 shots the duck is downed–cherish that sweet sweet victory–then do it all again.

At only $29 I may have to give one a try and let you know. [HS]

Today is the day. Windows 7 has been officially released. Did you go out and pick up a computer sporting the new operating system?

It was also a big day for Microsoft in AZ. The first retail Microsoft store was opened in Scottsdale today. As you can see from the photos the store looks pretty impressive and very futuristic but vaguely familiar at the same time. [gizmodo]

I have posted random grumblings and praise of Windows 7 over the past few months as I have used one of the release candidates but Gizmodo has compiled an impressive list of 27 different reviews. For all you could ever want to know about Windows 7:

CNET
“Windows 7 presents a stable platform that can compete comfortably with OS X, while reassuring the world that Microsoft can still turn out a strong, useful operating system.”

PCWorld
“…the final shipping version I test-drove appears to be the worthy successor to Windows XP that Vista never was.”

NYTimes
“[Microsoft's] three-year Windows Vista nightmare is over.”

IT Pro
“Windows 7…is competent and functional due to internal improvements and the user interface is attractive and good for productivity.”

bit-tech
“For want of a better way of describing it, Microsoft has essentially fixed Vista and the result is arguably Microsoft’s best operating system to date.”

Guardian
“Windows 7 is simply the best version of Windows you can get.”

Slate
“Indeed, the new Windows is not only the best operating system that Microsoft has ever produced. It is arguably the fastest, most intuitive, and most useful consumer desktop OS on the market today.”

Maximum PC
“…Windows 7 is unquestionably the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever released, and is the true successor to Windows XP.”

Tech Radar
“No version of Windows is ever perfect, but Windows 7 really is the best release of Windows yet.”

PC Mag
“It’s far and away the best OS we’ve ever seen from Microsoft.”

Wall Street Journal
“I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced.”

ElectricPig
“With Windows 7, Microsoft wants us to believe that it’s got its OS back on track and for the most part we feel they have.”

Engadget
“Where Vista felt like a sprawling mess, Windows 7 has patched up the holes and feels like a tight, unified mechanism.”

Telegraph
“Windows 7 is the operating system Vista should have been…”

Hexus
“This is the operating system that Windows Vista should have been.”

Digital Trends
“…Microsoft has returned for redemption with Windows 7, otherwise known as “what Vista should have been.”

AP
“Windows 7 [is] a slick, much improved operating system that should go a long way toward erasing the bad impression left by its previous effort, Vista.”

V3
“…Windows 7 is a worthy successor to Windows XP…”

Federal Computer Week
“There is nothing wrong with Windows 7 – and we’ve always thought Vista was a better operating system than its reputation suggested – so if a new system happens to come with it, then you’ll get a fine operating system.”

PC Pro UK
“We like Windows 7 a lot – so much so, that the disappointment that was Windows Vista has already become a distant memory…”

Technodorm
“If you have the money to spend, there is no reason why you shouldn’t upgrade.”

Laptop Mag
“If Vista left you somewhat disillusioned with Windows, we suggest you upgrade to Windows 7.”

Cult of Mac
“I need to go wash my eyes out with bleach.”

The Inquirer
“Windows 7 is as pretty as Apple stuff, just as easy to use, and does not treat you like a moron.”

Computer World
“…it’s finally time to upgrade.”

TechWorld
“Windows 7 feels like an anti-Vista…”

Gizmodo
“…if you’re coming from Windows XP, Windows 7 will totally feel like a revelation from the glossy future. If you’re coming from Vista, you’ll definitely go “Hey, this is much better!” the first time you touch Aero Peek. If you’re coming from a Mac, you’ll—hahahahaha. But seriously, even the Mactards will have to tone down their nasal David Spadian snide, at least a little bit.” [gizmodo]

I will say this; No operating system is going to be as minimalistic as Windows XP however hardware is constantly improving and there aren’t many computers out now that can run Vista or Windows 7. One of the big problems with Vista in my opinion was at that it was so resource intensive that the majority of hardware out at the time struggled to run it. That being said, even on my workstation computer that has no issues running Vista or Windows 7–and maxes out the in OS performance ratings that are useless for the most part–Vista is much more clunky than Windows 7.

It doesn’t end there. Windows 7 is much more user friendly and intuitive and the new taskbar is great once you get used to it.

The battle rages on. Pre just got its WebOS 1.2.1 update. What does this mean? Not much if you don’t use iTunes. If you do, you can sync your pre once again. Hurry and sync it up! Apple is sure to come out with an update in the coming weeks that will once again block it. Then, a few weeks later Palm with come out with WebOS 1.2.2 that will unblock it once again. And so on, forever.

Well, the device that Sony said would change the way we listen to music forever is here. And is it changing the way we listen to music? Not so much. I am not going to deny the fact that it is pretty awesome but definitely not Earth shattering.

The technology is this. The ear buds use capacitive technology–just like the iPhone and G1–to detect that it is in its ear. To start listening to music shoot these in your ears. When the ear buds hit your capacitive skin they begin playing the music. To pause take one ear out. Pretty cool. [SE]

On Sunday a MQ-9 Reaper drone became self-aware and attempted to wipe out the human race suffered a system malfunction that ended in its swift demise. As the UAV sped towards Afganistan’s airspace the pilots of the heavily armed, un-maned vehicle lost  control.

Almost immediately there was a maned airplane on its six that successfully took out the UAV before it crossed over into Afganistan’s airspace.

These UAVs are programmed to–in the event that they lose contact with the pilots–return to their home base. This is usually what happens but apparently this isn’t the first time that robots have over-ruled their creators a UAV has been intentionally shot down by friendly-fire. How many times does it need to happen before there is cause for concern? [PopSci]

So the time comes in every quazi-techy persons life. Should I get the iPhone? Unfortunately I can’t answer that for you for less than $1,000. There are many other devices to choose from but as I believe the only real competitor that is available/soon to be available is the Omnia 2 I am going to write this post as if these are your only two options. I am not going to do a full review of either phone as I have spent alot of time discussing them but if you want more information you can read up on the 100 reason I feel you should buy an iPhone and everything you could ever want to know about the Omnia 2.

Did you read up on those? Here we go.

Since none of you actually read the info from either of those links let me catch you up to speed on the Omnia 2. Since mid summer we have been hearing rumors of the O2 and in August it was released in other countries. It is a beautiful phone. I don’t believe anyone will argue with me if I say that the Omnia 2 hardware far surpasses the iPhone in almost every department except the Omnia 2 has a resistive screen while the iPhone has a capacitive screen which is much more finger friendly. Resistive screens are the soft screens that work best with a stylus like you see on PDAs and smart phones. Capacitive screens are the hard screens seen on iPhones and a few other phones like the G1. A regular stylus won’t work with these as something conductive needs to press on the screen.

Whoa, tangent. Moving on…

Some reasons you would go with the Omnia 2 include:

• Windows Mobile
• Handwriting recognition
• Capable of running multiple programs at once
• Hardware, hardware, hardware — Even after Verizon removes the forward facing camera and possibly locks down the GPS to only be usable with their Apps the Omnia 2 has very impressive hardware including a 5mpx camera and AMOLED screen(real quick, an AMOLED screen only turns on the pixels it needs. If you are viewing black those pixels are actually turned off allowing for deeper blacks, better colors and better battery life)
• On the Verizon network which–for the time being–is more reliable than ATTs
• Tethering(the ability to use your phones internet connection on your computer) — Not really a perk as the iPhone will be getting that soon and right now you can jailbreak your iPhone to allow you to do it now(don’t do this! Apple/ATT don’t want you to and I don’t want to hear from you saying you broke your iPhone. In case you forgot what I said one sentence ago, DON’T JAILBREAK YOUR IPHONE!!)

That about wraps it up. If WinMo is a need for you then there isn’t really a decision for you to make, however if you want me to convince you that you don’t need Windows Mobile I can do that for you as well.

Some reasons to buy the iPhone:

• The Omnia 2 isn’t and will never be as finger friendly and intuitive as the iPhone. –I went into a VZ store and messed around with the Rogue which has the same type of screen(AMOLED resistive) and same interface (sans WinMo) and I wasn’t very impressed. IMO a resistive touch screen is never going to feel as good with a finger as capacitive
• The Omnia 2 hardware is the only thing that I cared about that it has over the iPhone but after Verizon gets its hands on it there will no longer be the forward facing camera, GPS will most likely be restricted to their Apps and the TouchWiz 2.0 UI will probably be tainted with their “improvements”
• The iPhone has a huge community following that the CDMA version of the Omnia 2 will never have. If there is something you wish the iphone could do there is probably an App to do it. Verizon is probably going to block every App store except for their own.
• The iPhone OS is snappy, especially with the 3GS, allowing you to be much more efficient. From the videos I have seen of the Omnia 2 it is not as responsive and it is probably going to be even less so when it is running WinMo 6.5
• I don’t want to have to use a stylus!
• The iPhone is made around media as well as productivity. With WinMo you have to download 3rd party programs to play most media types.
• The iPhone exists and isn’t just a figment of our imagination that Verizon is using to keep us with them.
• PUSH. Currently with WinMo you have to set your device to connect to the internet and search for changes every so often which can hog battery life.

Well, not to void this entire post I decided to withhold the following information from you.

I got tired of waiting. After talking to several employees of the big red I gave up. I spoke to cust srv and said I was leaving for the iPhone saying I was tired of waiting for the Omnia 2. My contract has been up for a while. I told them if I could get any info confirming that the O2 would be coming out in the next month or two I would stay with Verizon. They responded saying they couldn’t tell me anything but they “hoped that it would be out in the next couple of months”.

She asked me what the iPhone had that a BB didn’t have…. I didn’t really know how to respond to that in 10 minutes or less so I didn’t.

After taking all of the above into consideration this is the decision that I made. I ordered two iPhones last night.

I am not saying the O2 isn’t a good phone. It is beautiful and the international GSM versions I have seen have been incredible, but the forward facing camera for video conferencing was a big thing for me and since Verizon will be removing that my decision was easier.

I have said plenty good about the O2 and if I knew when I could get my hands on it and just how tainted by verizon it was I may have stuck around. But it comes down to the fact that it has been several months since we heard about the O2 and we dont have any information about it. And, now that I am with ATT I will always have the option of getting an international unlocked GSM version of it in all of its forward facing camera glory.

Everyone can make their own decision. I have said plenty about both the iPhone and Omnia 2. Here it is again:

http://www.forcatech.com//2009/07/100-reasons-to-buy-an-iphone/

http://www.forcatech.com//tag/omnia-2/

When we first mentioned the Sept 9th conference and the rumors circling it the new Nano is not one that we brought up. Why? Mostly, I have no idea but alot of it had to do with the fact that I mostly just don’t care. For those of you who do here is what was announced:

• Video camera (640×480)
• NO STILL CAMERA
• Integrated mic
• Integrated speaker
• FM Radio!!!!! That you can pause!! And iTunes tag!
• One-click YouTube uploads (through your computer)
• Voice Over like Shuffle
• Pedometer with Nike+ syncing online
• Voice Recorder
• 2.2-inch screen(whoo hoo .2in bigger than the last)

The 8GB Nano is available today for $150 and the 16GB is available for $180. So if you are looking to get a Nano I don’t know why you would go with the 8GB as opposed to the 16GB. Some pretty cool upgrades for the Nano but seriously, no still camera?

The 3rd generation iPod touches were announced as well. The iPod Touch now comes in 8GB, 32GB and 64GB for $199, $299 and $399. The bigger storage is nice but our hopes and dreams were shattered when we heard that there was no camera and no mic in the new iTouch. The 32GB and 64Gb flavors do have a “50% faster processor” just like the iPhone 3GS. The graphics processor has also been updated to be OpenGL ES 2.0 capable–hence their push on the gaming market.

So why didn’t we see a camera and mic in the 3rd gen? We can’t be sure but here are some possible reasons:

• Not enough room – Anyone who has held a 2nd gen iTouch and compared it to the iPhone they know there is a big size difference. One part of that is the iPhone having the phone hardware in it but the camera also plays a big role in that. Us being camera/mic-less could simply be due to the fact that there wasn’t enough room

• Feature flow- The small iPod Nano now has a camera so why not put it in the iTouch? The iPhone has a relatively impressive camera for being a cell phone. If I were to get a 3rd gen iTouch I would expect the same quality–quality that the video camera in the Nano doesn’t have. The Nano camera is very cheap and wouldn’t flow in the larger iTouch.

• Manufacturing issues- This one is less likely. Some people have said they believe that Apple was planning on releasing the iTouch but during manufacturing they ran into some problems and decided last minute to leave it out. I could buy this if the iTouch wasn’t available TODAY but it is! If they had run into manufacturing issues they more than likely wouldn’t have made their deadline–which they did.

• Pricing- Apple wants a $199 iPod touch. Which they have–even if it is because the 8GB iTouch being offered is really the 2nd gen. If they were to add a camera to it the price most likely would have to be more than $199 in order to keep Apple’s margin at a reasonable level.

• Market control- Apple has had its eyes on the Flip which is available for less than $150. Apple wants to compete with the Flip and it will be impossible for Apple to make the iPod Touch that price and still make a reasonable profit margin.

• Consuming the iPhone market- One reason I was so excited for the Touch to have a camera and mic was so that I could use it like an iPhone when I was in Wi-Fi areas. Which is probably a big reason why Apple didn’t add these features to the Touch. If they did they could potentially take some of the market away from the iPhone–like me. For me, I would still eventually get an iPhone but it may keep me from making the plunge for longer than I would have otherwise.

• Evolution of a giant- In almost every market that Apple has products in they are the number one player–all other companies are clamoring to compete. As of now no other company has released a product that can compete. If you have the best products on the market why do your best when “good enough” is keeping you ahead of the pack? They may just be keeping a few “secret weapons”–Apple Tablet?–in case another company releases something that may steal some of their market.

The new shuffles are pretty cool. The tiny MP3 player is now more tiny and comes in 2GB and 4GB models. The shuffle is now just big enough to have a clip on it that will attach it to your shirt, etc. One of my gripes with the shuffle in the past has been the lack of any kind of screen so you have no idea who the artist is or what song is playing. Now, the shuffle has a VoiceOver option that will–in a wonderfully robotic voice–at the press of a button say the artist and track name. For an extra $20 you can get a polished stainless steel version as well to go with the polyester pants you wear to the gym.

The iPod classic hasn’t died yet. The 160GB is now available for $250.

iTunes 9 is now available as well. New features include:

• Home Sharing — This allows you to share your songs, movies and TV shows with up to 5 other computers on your local network. You can copy the files to the other computers or stream them over the network.
• iTunes LPs — Basically bonus CDs for digital albums. If you buy an entire album on iTunes you will now get the LP complete with extra songs that only you get, lyrics, photo albums as well as some video content and generally some live concerts.
• iTunes Extra — aka iTunes LPs. With iTunes Extra you get the equivalent to the “Bonus Features” disc when you buy a DVD.
• New Storefront — The store is now more intuitive and feels more like a piece of software you download rather than a bloated web page feel that it has had in the past.
• Updated Interface — For the most part no real improvements here. I think Apple just felt the need to put their hand in the code and wave it around a bit. The artists list and albums list now have their own columns to the left of the music as well as the artwork column. The silver header on iTunes is now a lighter gradient that kind of looks strange at first glance.
• App Manager — iPhone/Touch fans are now in luck. iTunes 9 has a new feature which allows you to rearrange the way apps are displayed on your device and can be dragged and dropped as well as synced.
• Palm Pre Blocked — With those of you who have been keeping up with the gauntlet to the death between Apple and Palm, iTunes 9–once again–has blocked the Pre from syncing with iTunes. Palms WebOS 1.2 will fix that though. And then Apple will come out with another update that will block the Pre again. And so on and so on, forever, until the end of the world–then, Palm will come out with another update.

Steve Jobs made an appearance which was exciting but still not enough to bring life to this disappointing conference.

As for the Apple Tablet, no hope for us in sight. Apple isn’t giving us any information or even acknowledging the rumors but we know in our hearts that there is something brewing at the Apple HQ.

So lets wrap it up.

iPod nano – Now has a video camera and FM radio, no still camera.

iPod Touch — No camera in sight, bigger storage options, no Mic.

Apple Tablet — Still just a figment of our imagination.

iPod Shuffle — Now smaller, new colors, VoiceOver

Steve Jobs – Still alive, or Apple has developed a very realistic cyborg–which not likely but possible.

iTunes 9 — Updated interface, media sharing, App manger, 1 point for Apple in the Pre vs. iTunes battle royale.

Meet the Toshiba Camileo S20. Capable of full 1080p video recording and only 17mm thick this has got to be the slimmest of its kind.

Only 17 mm thick, the Camileo S20 is one of the slimmest full HD camcorders available. Featuring a 5MP CMOS sensor, the S20 is capable of shooting 1920x1080p high definition images and features 4x digital zoom. With its ultra slim form factor, stylish design and a rotating 3” display, the Camileo S20 is the ultimate camcorder for style conscious consumers and first time users looking for high quality HD images at an affordable price.[Toshiba UK]

How affordable? This is listed on the site for £119.99–just under $200 USD! The bad news? If you stocked up on that good deal you found for VHS cassettes in bulk you are going to be out of luck. This camera is only SDHC memory compatible.

Features:

• Full HD resolution (1920x1080p)
• Super Slim (17mm)
• 4x digital zoom
• 5MP CMOS sensor
• 3″ rotating LCD screen
• HDMI
• YouTube upload function & hot-key
• SDHC compatible

Bear with me here. Yes, the music and AI voice is terrible and makes me feel like I am about to be checked into an alien processing plant for humans after they have taken over our world–but the concept idea is awesome!

We have been blasted with augmented reality programs and concepts but this is a unique idea in comparison to the “find your favorite restaurant” or “see landmarks in the area” programs.

This, if tweaked to be less in your face and obstructive could be a really helpful tool in many work environments. With wireless built into the system you could even receive updates about a certain part of the car having poor compression or getting particularly hot.

Another similar technology that is being worked on is an augmented reality device that fits in a contact lens.

This contact lens contains the circuits, antennas and LED display all in the lens. How does it get power? Wirelessly via RF technology!  They currently have tested it in bunnies to confirm how safe it is and its functionality.

They have a few road blocks that are holding them back before everyone is walking around with this technology–such as the fact that red LEDs are toxic and wouldn’t bode well in your eye–but they are making giant leaps forward. Another hurdle is creating an array of LEDs that will make the image look like it is in front of your face by a foot or so. [IEEE Spectrum]

“It’s the future of gaming.” –  or at least that is what OnLive is hoping for. After seven years in “stealth development” they have now announced their new product. OnLive hopes to bring a new world of  streaming video games to TVs, entry level PCs, and MACs, through the internet.

Interested? OnLive is currently looking for beta testers to stay at home wearing the same raunchy clothes for days without sleeping give their streaming game service a try, and provide them with feedback about the experience. To be apply as a beta tester visit the OnLive site and fill out the form. If you are lucky and are chosen to sit at home and play OnLive while gorging on microwaveable meals and delivery pizza as a beta tester you will get to use their service for free, in exchange for your feedback.

The standard that we have been hearing about for the last 2 years may actually be on its way to the market later this year.

As of yesterday manufacturers can have their products tested and if they receive SuperSpeed USB certification from the USB Implementers Forum they will get the new logo slapped on.

I previously talked about USB 3.0 when I got word of the new Asus P6X58 motherboard that was utilizing USB 3.0 ports. In case you are totally clueless the current standard is USB 2.0 which is rated at 480Mbps while USB 3.0 is rated at 4.8Gbps.

With all the rumors swirling around about Apple products they are we are lucky we only have 7 days left to wait.

What will we be seeing this year? Apple tablets? Apple iPods with cameras? Death to the classic iPod?(notice the headphones in the image above are plugged into the bottom of the iPod like a Touch not on top like a Classic) Will we see MMS for the iPhone in the US?

All of these questions and more answered Sept 9.

I wasn’t able to find any information to back this image up but if it is accurate powering the whole world with solar panels will be quite the job.

This image shows that we would need 308,762 square miles littered across the world in deserts with almost 24/7 sun all year round. The little boxes on the map don’t seem like much, but to put this into perspective Texas is 268,601 square miles. We would need to have monstrous solar panel parks providing power to our world. Alternatively commercial and residential structures could have solar panels arranged on top of them to generate energy. Start-up costs of such a project would probably be so great that none of us will ever see it in our life times, but it is still cool to think about.

Bluetooth headphones have never been big about looking cool. Not that we are ones to sacrifice cool technology for fashion, but some bluetooth headphones just are not wearable. The Jabra Halo headphone set has made a step in the right direction. These still aren’t going to be something I wear to the gym but they are slightly  ”cooler” than others we have seen.

Just how cool you ask?

You asked.

We have seen alot of pictures of the new 360 box that shows the middle brother of the 360s and we have heard the rumors that the Elite will soon be cheaper. Until now, however, those all seemed to simply be rumors. Today amazon listed the Xbox 360 Elite in a white box–much like those “leaked” images we saw.

This means two things, one we will probably be losing the middle of the road 360–maybe in preparation for a Natal bundled system– and two, we may see the $299 Xbox 360 Elite price drop rumor may come to fruition.

This wouldn’t be a bad idea for Microsoft with the release of the $299 PS3 Slim that has the same sized 120GB hard drive.

Well the day after BGR claimed the Omnia 2 would be hitting Best Buy stores we are all once again greatly disappointed by a false rumor. After stopping by a Best Buy first thing this morning and having everything I ever wanted vanish my hopes and dreams crushed we do have some hope for Verizon customers on the horizon.

Granting that this time the BGR leaked info is legit Verizon will have a whole slew of phones hitting the market in Q4 of this year.

Here’s the list(phone – release – est cost):

• LG Chocolate Touch                    -    October    -                  $230
• Samsung Rogue                             –    August    -                    $370
• Blackberry Storm 2                     –    October    -                   $TBD
• Nokia Twist 7705                        -    Late September    -    $230
• Moto Sholes(Google Phone)    -    Late October    -         $TBD
• HTC Razzle/Blitz 2                       –    Late October    -         $TBD
• BlackBerry Curve 2                     –    Late November    -    $TBD
• Samsung Intensity                      -     September     –            $160

The much discussed Storm 2 jumps out at me first with an October release. There isn’t a price listed here for it but I would guess it we could see it for $199 if Verizon and BlackBerry was smart. With the results of their first horrible attempt it would be smart to price the phone competitively to coax those still bitter about their purchase of the first storm into giving them a second chance. As a spokesman from BlackBerry said the Storm was their first touchscreen attempt and it is “never perfect on the first try” however Apple never had a problem with their first touch screen.

The Motorola Sholes will be the first Android phone–”Google phone”–to be released on the Verizon network which we are excited to see. [BGR]