We finally have new equipment, and it sounds good.  Well, except Cisco sounds like a super villain for some reason (maybe his true self coming through?).  Download the mp3 below and tune in for one of the meatiest shows we've done yet.

-> Download the MP3: Gearlog Radio: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray (side-by-side), T-Mobile Sidekick 3, Creative Zen V

On this week's show:

• The new Sidekick 3: Robyn loves it, Sascha doesn't
• Sprint EV-DO spreads to Canada and Mexico
• Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD: Cisco has seen them side-by-side, he's got the final word
• Special Edition Laptops and Desktops: Superman is back
• Creative's New Zen V, Zen V Plus MP3 players
• The last of the Summer Loving Gadgets

Host: Robyn Peterson

Panelists: Cisco Cheng, Dan Costa, Jen DeLeo, Sascha Segan

Audio Engineer: Mike Kobrin

-> Subscribe to the Gearlog Radio podcast

Thanks to our summer intern, Errol Pierre-Louis, for this report!

Like Cisco and Sascha, Joel and I checked out the ATI event in Manhattan today and saw a couple cool new applications for the company's graphics chipset.

Windows Vista was running on a 3-monitor display from one CPU, using an integrated graphics card.  This lets you split pictures, spread sheets, Word documents, or any other window between multiple screens. TV tuners equipped with ATI chips can pick up over-the-air HD signals, which can be used in USDTV's set-up boxes which you can also use to watch HD programs on your PC or laptop.

ATI also showcased its Radeon X1900 XT graphic card's physics processing ability (the card's shown at left; click to enlarge).  My knowledge of physics begins and ends with the few textbook pages I flipped through on my way to the final exam, but gamers should be very interested in this new physics technology; it could bring gaming to the next level of realism, in what ATI calls "boundless gaming".  Scenes with 20,000 to 30,000 distinct objects can be simulated and rendered at real-time frame rates, making for a much more immersive experience.

Here are more pix from the event.

One window spread over three monitors.

This tuner lets you pick up free and subscription-based over-the-air HDTV.

ATI's graphics card flexes its physics muscles on Junkyard.

ATI's Crossfire platform lets you use multi-GPU rendering. Displayed here are two IX1900 graphics cards and a motherboard, a configuration optimized to showcase the cards' physics processing power.

Just the other day I was pulling out of the train station in my RAV4 when all of a sudden, the cars in front of me were stopping short. Luckily, I was a good distance behind the car in front of me, but my eyes were glued to my rear view mirror as I watched this girl behind me in a black car riding on my tail.

I knew she wasn't going to stop in time and would rear-end me (which would have been the second time in three months), so preventing an unpleasant accident and assuring my safety, I made a quick decision to pull over to the shoulder. That's when she starts honking her horn like a mad woman. I'm thinking to myself, "Okay, I just saved you from damaging my car, your car, and the cars behind you, and you're honking at ME? WTF?!?!" And you wanna know why cars were stopping so short? Because there was a tiny branch in the road--unbelieveable.

As I preceded to the exit ramp, she takes off like a bat out of hell into the left lane, hopefully on her way to get a speeding ticket. If only I could have given her a piece of my mind!!! But if I had the Drive-e-mocion, I very well could have!!

Developed by London-based AU-MY Limited, the Drive-e-mocion is "an electronic display that sticks to your back window; you operate it by remote control from the front seat. It can display a smiley face or a frowning face, along with the messages 'thank you' and 'back off.'" However, it only comes with four displays so far. Darn, I'll have to wait for the customizable version.

It sells for 9 pounds sterling, but it's currently out of stock until the new, revamped model ships. Want to be notified when the new model is ready? Just go to the AU-MY site and e-mail them. 

I wonder though, would this kind of thing be legal to drive around with in the US?

[via TechnoRide]

At an ATI event in New York today I saw a demo of their Imageon 2380, their next-generation cell-phone 3D processor. It's pretty sock-knocking. The demo, on a Windows CE handheld, was of some 3D Korean adventure game, and moves were fluid and smooth, with clearly rendered backgrounds. It was beautiful.

The Imageon 2380 can also handle 5-megapixel cameras and 30-frame-per-second, 352x288 video capture. It's the next generation of the Imageon 2300, which appeared in the ground-breaking LG SV360 gaming phone in Korea and subsequently never made it to the US.

The big question: will we see the 2380 here? If so, it'll be in 2007. My hope is tempered by general skepticism - US carriers have never seemed that enthused about world-beating gaming-and-multimedia phones, and groundbreakers like the Nokia N80 have had to go their own way and appear carrier-free. Still, we can always dream ...

To those in the know on this wonderful island of Manhattan, the Shake Shack has become a point of obsession to midtown trendoids.  The burgers, shakes, custards and Chicago-style hot dogs are really that good. 

Thanks to the wonders of technology, the Shackers have installed a webcam to track the Disney-theme-park-like line.  The website is nice, and even has a readout from weather.com if you're sealed in your office/glass tube.  Predictably, this wasn't enough for the Mac-based denizens of Manahttan: Justin at worksperfectly.net put together a Mac Os X 10.4 widget for the ShackCam, and it is brilliant. It displays the webcam footage (with a 5 second refresh), counts down the daily opening and closing, and lists the current custard flavor of the day.  It now takes up honored space on my Widget desktop.

See you at the Shack, and save me a seat!

[thanks to Eater for the inside tip!]

This is not for everyone, obviously, but if you're planning on taking a trip to Asia or have relatives who are still trying to master the English or Chinese language, the BBK AM99 is the way to go. The beauty of this pint-sized handheld is that it helps you pronounce Chinese characters and phrases in authentic Mandarin Chinese, with an actual voice coaching you through it. It's equipped with commonly used Chinese phrases, and you can use the English to Chinese dictionary to look up more complicated words and phrases.

This device is clearly aimed at the traveler: It's loaded with a built-in alarm clock, calendar, unit and currency converter, and stopwatch. You might want to look through the manual thoroughly, because this thing is not easy to master. But once you do, you'll fit right in with the locals. The price of the BBK AM99 starts at $99.99, and you get a one-year parts-and-labor warranty.

 

 

Gizmodo linked to a huge gallery of photos from the Sidekick 3 launch party on Tuesday night, of various young, female celebrities fondling their new SK3s.

But I had a mole at the party who told a very different story: of a sweaty inferno where the ice sculpture melted within minutes, stars and pseudo-stars elbowed each other in the scrum, the smoking patio glowed with an unholy light, entry came via an undignified cattle line and screams of "Don't you know WHO I AM?" abounded.

Aforementioned mole gave me another interesting fact, too: apparently, the more intellectually capable in young Hollywood are turning away from Sidekicks to ... Blackberries! The Blackberry 7100 and 8700 line are getting popular with producers, managers and stars looking for a sleek, low profile gadget. And getting a Blackberry 7105t or 8700g means you can stay with T-Mobile's low rates and cheerful customer service, while toting a somewhat more grownup gadget.

"The Blackberry works simply and totally unobtrusively, which carries a lot of weight, almost as much as the 'flashy factor' carried by the SK. If the SK is a Hummer with 22-inch wheels, the 'Berry is a sleek, black Benz." So says young Hollywood.

I was over at an ATI event in New York and had the chance to take a look at some current technology using their graphics chipset. Nothing groundbreaking and nothing we haven't seen before. The one thing that really caught my eye was an Acer Aspire notebook equipped with an HD DVD drive. Even more interesting is that it's running Cyberlink's PowerDVD 6.5 HD DVD, as opposed to the buggy Intervideo software found on the Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650 and the Sony VAIO VGN-AR190G. Playback on the Cyberlink's software seemed a lot smoother, though there were still problems navigating through the menus.

The notebook as a whole wasn't that impressive. It looked like a pre-production model, so we'll give Acer the benefit of the doubt. It's a 15.4 inch widescreen with a maximum resolution of 1280x800, which will only get you 720p playback. Still, image detail on the Last Samurai HD DVD was quite impressive. The system doesn't have an HDMI port, but it does have DVI-I. Depending on the price of this unit, this might be more of a miss than hit.

More pictures of the ATI event can be found here 

I stopped by an ATI event yesterday in New York and had a chance to play with the latest and greatest notebook from Acer, equipped with an HD DVD drive, as well as other impressive technology being showcased below

Below is PowerDVD HD DVD 6.5 up close

 A Copy of The Last Samurai in HD DVD

Close look at how ATI plans to use secondary displays on cell phones

The XBOX 360 uses ATI graphics

On the run this summer? Then it's always smart to take a buddy with you.

Design: Made by Digital Foci, the Media Buddy is a portable digital photo storage with a hard drive and memory card reader. With the memory card reader, you can copy and store photos directly from any digital camera card. It weighs 11 ounces (with hard drive and battery included) with dimensions of 5.8" (L) x 3.4" (W) x 1" (H). It comes in 3 colors: Powder Blue, Arctic Silver, and Pearl Gray.

Features: Media Buddy works with all media card formats, including CF I/II, MD, SM, xD-Picture Card, MMC, SD Card, miniSD, and Memory Stick. It's compatible with both Macs and PCs, can transfer up to 480 Mbps, and operates for 1.6 hours on a single charge.

How It Works: Insert the memory card from your digital camera into Media Buddy to download images. On the backlit text-based LCD screen you can view file information and operation status. Or, connect Media Buddy to a computer for storing images, documents and MP3s.

The Media Buddy comes with:
-Ulead Photo Explorer image management software
-USB cable
-earphones
-AC adapter
-Lithium-Ion battery
-carrying case
-resource disk

Price: The Media Buddy is available in the following capacities and prices: 40GB ($199), 60GB ($229), 80GB ($259).