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Samsung revolutionise its DVD Players look!
The new Samsung DVD-F1080 becomes a true ‘home decoration’ appliance with high-end performances and the ability to playback almost any video format upto 1080p (that is: full HD) with the most popular multimedia formats like DivX, MP3, WMA, JPEG and MPEG-4 clips.

Samsung DVD-F1080 technical details at a glance:

Amazon.com is running a promotion right now for the Apple iPod touch 32 GB player where you get a free 1GB iPod shuffle when you buy the largest capacity iPod touch selling for $494.

The iPod shuffle 1 GB is about a $50 value, so this is not a bad deal. It only applies to the Apple iPod touch 32 GB though and not to the 8GB or 16GB models.

The Memorex Mi8000BLK iFlip 8.4-Inch Portable Video System for iPod docks and charges your 5G iPod and plays video on a 7-inch LCD.
Your out-the-door price: $59.99, no rebate required.

The Memorex iFlip may look like a mini laptop, but underneath the lid sits a whole new world of video possibilities.
Open the Memorex iFlip cover and you’ll see a universal dock on the bottom that holds and charges select iPods, along with an 8.4-inch widescreen LCD display for video playback. The screen is ideal for watching stored iPod movies on planes or entertaining the kids on long car trips, plus it offers an easy way to share your favorite digital photos with friends without hooking up to a full-size TV. Add in an intuitive onscreen menu system and a host of connectivity options and you have the perfect portable video player for almost all on-the-go applications.
The video screen is crisp and versatile, with such features as a selectable aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3), a 480 x 234 native resolution in RGB mode, a 300 cd/m2 brightness rating, and a 350:1 contrast ratio. In addition, the 75-degree horizontal viewing angle and 70- degree vertical viewing angle lets fellow passengers see the screen without straining their necks. And don’t worry about the iFlip running out of juice on the first leg of your cross-country trip, as the integrated rechargeable lithium-ion battery delivers roughly five hours of video playback per charge. To renew the battery, simply plug in the AC adapter and you’ll recharge both the Memorex iFlip and iPod simultaneously.

Finally, the Memorex iFlip isn’t restricted to iPod use only, as it connects to other video devices via the S-video output and line-in jacks.

Other details include dual headphone jacks for people who travel in pairs and adjustable brightness, color, hue, and contrast controls. The Memorex iFlip–which is compatible with the iPod nano (1G and 2G), iPod video (5G), iPod photo (regular and U2 model), iPod 4G with click wheel (regular and U2 model), and iPod mini–measures 8.7 by 1.8 by 6.7 inches (W x H x D) when closed.

Featuring Ambisound, the HTS8100 delivers full multi-channel surround sound in any sort of room. The 1-piece integrated system fits into the home with ease, providing a full home theater experience with excellent sound and picture quality.

Want dolby digital surround without the wires? Look no further than the Philips AmbiSound Home Theater Sound Bar with Integrated 1080p-Upscaling DVD/MP3 Player.
Philips engineers have tackled this problem. They’ve managed to take the output from 5 distinct channel amplifiers and placed them in a single speaker called a Soundbar. Within the soundbar, speakers are angled to provide a realistic audio environment that literally emulates sound as if it’s coming from all sides. It’s 5.1 surround without the mess! In addition to the latest audio technology, the Ambisound system is only five inches thick and can be easily mounted onto a wall underneath an existing Flat-TV. The simple, yet elegant design enhances the décor of any home theater space, regardless of the room layout or design.

Within the soundbar, speakers are angled to provide a realistic audio environment that literally emulates sound as if it’s coming from all sides. It’s 5.1 surround without the mess!
For maximum audio quality and clarity, the Ambisound SoundBar provides a stylish system with amplifier and a DVD player all in a single speaker called a Soundbar.

Sony Cybershot DSC-H3 8.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization.

An eight megapixel sensor, a special mode aimed at moving subjects, Sony’s proprietary technology Sony Dynamic Range Optimizer, image stabilizer and a compact body are the key points for this unique superzoom camera.

Somehow oddly shaped (just like other previous Sony prosumer cameras) mainly due to the robust grip, the Sony Cybershot DSC-H3 compact digital features a superb zoom in a truly compact body design (4.2 x 2.7 x 1.9 inches - 13.4 ounces, 106 x 68.5 x 47.5 mm - 380 gr).

The Sony Cybershot H3 - available in silver or black - has a 8 MP CCD but what really stands out is its Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar 10x zoom lens: a 35-mm equivalent of 38-380 mm, aperture F/3.5-4.4 definitely places this Sony offering near the top of this class of cameras. Macro mode allows for less than 2 cm (much less than an inch) focusing distance from the subject.

Super Steadyshot image stabilizer helps avoiding motion-blur in images for both newbies and consumed photographers; for faster shooting, Sony incorporates an Advanced Sports Shooting Mode along with a predictive, multipoint autofocus (9 points matrix).

The ubiquitous Face Detection technology is here too, though it still fails to recognize cool people from their faces…

Sony Dynamic Range Optimizer technology, developed for the company’s flagship Alpha DSLR and reused in this high end compact model, analizes CCD captured data and optimizes exposure and hue before JPEG compression and storing.

The H3 Cybershot has a 2.5″ LCD display, a Li-Ion NP-BG1 battery - rated at 330 shootings by Sony, uses Memory Stick Pro Duo as storage media and allows for VGA-resolution, 30 fps video recording with audio.

Last but not least, the HD output (1080 lines) provides spectacular photo viewing on your Sony KDL-40V2500 40″ Bravia V-Series 1080p LCD HDTV and other compatible HDTV screens (cable available separately).

This a recent (and welcome!) trend even for compact and point-and-shoot cameras: Sony already announced on February the Sony Cybershot DSCW200 12.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot, which sports HDMI output.

Available for pre-order now, and expected to be in stores by November 2007, the price For the H3 will be around US$ 300.00.

Update: Additional lenses for the H3 are now available, both Super Wide Angle , tele zoom and Macro for close-ups.

The VIZIO Gallevia GV47LF HDTV is a huge 47″ widescreen TV, featuring full HD resolution of 1080p and boosting a fast response panel (8ms). According to the Vizio website, the TV has a full 178 degree viewing angle and a brightness of 500 cd/m2, with detachable stand (allowing users to wall mount the panel) and speakers.
So far, all typical specs for a TV set of this size: what is out of the norm for a panel this big is the diminutive price - $1699.99!
So if you are looking for a bargain showpiece for your living/entertainment room, this product may just fit the bill (and not break the bank).

The most anticipated launch of the year is finally upon us: since it was first announced in back in January of 2007, the iPhone has been one of the most talked about topics on the internet. Apple has once again showed how it’s done in the marketing and hype department: now it’s up to consumers and early buyers to try first hand if the iPhone will live up to the huge expectations created around it

So far the first press and web reviews have been positive, with small nags overpowered by the great advanced feature of the iPod/Phone hybrid that have wowed the public and professionals alike. The only thing stopping this device from being a market winner overnight seems to be the high price, which of course is justified by the advanced and new features like the multi touch technology display.

We won’t bore you with tech specs, you can find all the info you want and more on Apple’s website. If you are lucky enough to be near an AT&T or Apple store tonight at 6pm, you might be in for a spectacle as people queue up to get their hands on a brand new iPhone. If you are even more lucky, you may even be able to go out and buy one!

Update: partner site ipodpalace.com reports on the very first iPhone disassembly done by iFixit.com guys!

Check here full story.

The accessory market surrounding Apple’s best selling music player is vast and ever expanding: today Sourcecrowd takes a look at two of the latest gadgets promising to further the enjoyment of your mp3 player and help you take it to new places!

Altec Lansing inMotion iMV712 is a portable mini-theater and speaker system for iPods. It has a built-in 8.5-inch wide-screen LCD, surrounded by a pair of 3-inch speakers and a 4-inch subwoofer. Clean black lines make up for a stylish design, with the iPod dock sitting on top of the display, and a supplied credit card-sized remote to easily control all the functions. Measuring 18.5 inches long, 8.2 inches wide, and 7.7 inches high, the unit weighs just 8.4-pound, offering a video input and S-Video output, as well as an auxiliary jack for non-iPod portable audio devices.

The iHome iH20W Hidro-Fi is a Water-Resistant Shower Speaker System for the iPod, nano, and shuffle. Designed to be hung from a shower hook or rod, this clever gadget lets you enclose your player in its waterproof casing, connect it via iPod Dock or auxiliary input port (for the shuffle or other mp3 players) and listen to your music from two integrated speakers. Easily accessible controls on the front give the user access to track and volume control, while an AC adapter is provided for use away from water and to double as an iPod charger.

…because sometimes, you have to give your father a hand if you want him to be a “Cool Daddy”

Olympus Stylus 750: this compact, slim metal bodied point&shoot 7.1MP Digital Camera with dual Image Stabilization (Digital and through CCD Shift) comes with a 5x Optical Zoom (36mm-180mm, f3.3-f 5.0 35mm equivalent) and 2.5-inch LCD with Bright Capture Technology for low-light photography.

Canon HV10: the world’s smallest HDV (High-Definition Video) camcorder, this ultra-compact and stylish offering from imaging giant Canon sports a 3.1MP CMOS sensor with 10x Optical Zoom and Image Stabilization. This camcorder/camera captures true 1080 high-definition resolution video in 16:9 format, using MiniDV cassette tapes. The HV10’s true 16:9 widescreen HD image is ideal if you want to play back your memories on next-gen HD widescreen TV.

Jabra BT250v Bluetooth Headset: a stylish, light Bluetooth Headset with Vibrating Alert. Operated via a single button, the Jabra headset offers total control of your phone up to 30 feet away: operations such as voice dialing, answering and ending calls, redialing and transferring are just a touch of a button away. You can also select vibrating call alert to have calls signaled silently.

Garmin Nuvi 350: this pocket-sized, portable highly versatile vehicle GPS Navigator comes with 700MB of memory for maps and files (expandable via Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot), and is bundled with MP3/audiobook player, photo viewer, and world travel clock. Small enough to fit in a pocket (just 3.87 x 2.91 x 0.87 inches), it can be mounted on multiple vehicles with the included windshield suction cup. The Garmin comes preloaded with the latest version of City Navigator NT V.8, complete with local maps and offering turn-by-turn directions, automatic routing, all clearly and comfortbly visible on the bright 320 x 240 color touchscreen display.

Ok, we all love the image quality offered by DV video cameras (or even the latest model High Definition ones): but what’s better than a pocketful of simplicity? SourceCrowd.com is bringing you a small roundup of higly portable, take-everywhere gadgets that bring the FUN factor back into taking a snapshot or a quick movie and sharing it with friends and family. Forget about having to carry bulky battery packs, winding tapes or anything of the sort: just point, shoot, copy, watch & share!

These tiny videocameras, aptly called Flip Video, allow you to record a maximum of 60 minutes of digital video (on 1GB of storage, 512 MB on the 30 minute version) that can be copied straight into your PC as an AVI file. The camcorder has a 1.4 inch color screen for instant viewing, full 30 fps MPEG-4 video quality at VGA (640×480) resolution, video-out capability for viewing on your TV, built in mic and speakers, and a flip-out USB 2.0 arm for connecting straight into a computer.

Also of note, the RCA EZ105 Small Wonder, a small and sleek minicamcorder capable of recording 60 minutes of standard quality MPEG4 video or 30 minutes of high quality video. At the back of the slim enclosure is a 1.5 inch LCD display to view your footage, and the lens is capable of 2x zoom. It has the same video out capability as the Flip Video, and sports a built in tripod mount. This really is a bring-everywhere piece of kit, running on 2 standard AA batteries.

You can now record your videos anywhere and never worry about dust, sand or even kids crushing a $1000+ videocamera: these solid-state camcorders will get you through the most dangerous missions! All your birthdays, rave parties or whatever you get involved into, can be just a snap away from online viewing & sharing on youtube or e-mailing to your friends.

Sony is rolling out firmware 1.80 for its PlayStation 3. This latest update will add resolution upscaling capability for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles, as well as bring DVD playback to full 1080p resolution when viewed on compatible HDTVs. Further enhancements include Remote Play functionality for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which allows users to access their PlayStation 3 consoles remotely from its portable little brother using any available wireless connection. Moreover, Sony is boosting the PS3 as a media hub for the front room, adding the ability to network the console with home PCs to stream media content on to TV sets.

In related news, VoIP service Jajah has made an update to its website that streamlines it for use on the PS3. As voipstage.com reports, Jajah lets you register with your “home phone number, then when you want to call someone you enter their number into your browser and Jajah will dial your phone and connect you directly”, doing away with headsets as it uses your existing handset (or mobile phone). The service is free between Jajah users.

SANYO has introduced the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 6MP Waterproof MPEG4 Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom , a waterproof camcorder aimed at active families, vacationers and water sports enthusiasts. Encased in a colorful compact design, the E1 can record high-quality MPEG-4 video (using the H.264 standard) and doubles as a 6-megapixel stills camera under water to a depth of five feet for up to one hour at a time. The device records to a standard SD memory card or high-capacity SDHC card (up to 10 hours of 640 x 480 pixel, 30 fps video on a 8GB card). Moreover, the Xacti E1 sports a flip-out 2.5-inch LCD color display, 5x optical zoom and an anti-shake digital image stabilizer. It measures 2.8 x 4.4 x 1.6 (W x H x D, in inches) weighing in at 8.3 oz. SANYO does away with the need of a bulky underwater housing and is counting on the easy, one hand operation of the camcorder to allow users to take it everywhere all year round: the beach and the lake for snorkeling and water-skiing enthusiasts, and the snowy slopes for skiers and snowboarders. And of course it is handy for recording all the fun at parties, children’s school or sports events and family outings.

The SANYO Xacti E1 will be available in the U.S.A. in a choice of blue, yellow and white colors in mid-June 2007 at $499.99 MSRP.

More Tech-Summer stuff here.

Welcome to the second part of our special report. We left off with Apple representative Richard West talking about the importance of color calibration…

Next up was Jonathan Ferman, Business Development Manager, Media & Publishing for Adobe, going through some of the new features of the main applications in CS3. He started off with Bridge, Adobe’s asset management program, which managed to first draw blanks from the audience (a show of hands revealed that although all of the attendees used CS2 or at least a few of its programs, none used Bridge for asset management) and then chuckles when Ferman showed its “completely reworked and improved UI”: everything from functionality to colour scheme seems to have been lifted from Apple’s Aperture (down to the 100% magnification function, a square called Zoom in Bridge, more than reminiscent of the circular Loupe in Aperture). Inside Bridge are some new collaborative features like Version Cue, offering built-in support for workgroups and check-in and check-out functionality when multiple people are working on the same file/project, and Acrobat Connect, a flash-based mini-app that allows onscreen meetings and classes with remote assets-sharing capabilities.

Photoshop sports faster startup times and a reworked UI. Palettes have now been renamed Panels, and have been made more fluid and easily customizable. Panels work in a way that is similar to browser tabs, movable and switchable around the workspace, and new tools/name/icon views allow saving screen real estate to concentrate on the image and minimize the pixels taken over by the tool switches. A very cool feature is the quick selection tool, an improvement on the lasso tool to cut out elements of an image with stunning precision. The new tool takes into account not only edges, but also colour and even texture: and if that’s still not precise enough for you, a Refine Edge tool brings you into the finest details like hair and fabrics. The ease of use of this features was quite impressive. Perhaps the most interesting feature of all was the auto align pictures: you can now select a bunch of similar pictures, and PS will align them for you based on content, layering them in an onion skin fashion, and allow users to choose the best exposure by deleting or bringing parts of the layers to the front. Stitching panoramas with auto exposure correction via auto blending is also possible, all at a click of one button. 3D and video/audio are now supported, and fully editable, inside PhotoShop. 3D layers, wireframe views, lighting effects, frame by frame editing, music scoring, all in one place and with tight integration with the other programs of the Suite.

Dreamweaver is one of the Macromedia applications Adobe is bundling in CS3, and is now fully compatible and integrated with Photoshop. It boasts even better tools to check browser compatibility issues (offering solutions through a community-driven website) and CSS stylesheet manipulation, with presets for outputting the same content for web, print, and mobile devices alike. In particular, users are able to preview how their work will look on different handeld decives through Device Central, a fully featured emulator with a list of the latest phones from the main manufacturers (which Adobe promises to update regularly). From screen size to processor simulation, no detail is left off to replicate the user experience on different devices. And developing for different platforms is just a matter of clicking a button, Dreamweaver will do it automatically for you, adapting the content to your choice of device.

Square Group Ltd in association with Adobe, Apple and a slew of other partners organized an Adobe Creative Suite CS3 seminar at BFI Southbank in London last Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The seminar featured presentations from both Adobe and Apple about the new features of the many applications that make up Adobe’s new crown jewel, CS3, alongside demonstrations of related products from the likes of Eizo, Wacom, Extensis, HP and G-Tech. SourceCrowd was in attendance and can bring you an exclusive report from the event.
Before the seminar, attendees were able to peruse stands with a few interesting products on show. Eizo wowed the crowd with its stunning professional quality displays like the ColorEdge CE240W sporting hardware colour calibration, 14-bit color processing and easy profiling. Extensis was showcasing two of its software products for asset management: Suitcase Fusion, a font manager to organize, categorize and activate/deactivate fonts on the fly, and Portfolio, a complete multimedia files management tool. HP was showcasing the HP B9180 Photosmart Pro Printer, an eight-tanks pigment ink powerhouse which demonstrated stunning results on some of HP’s custom papers (especially impressive were the results on canvas-textured paper). Wacom had both the A4 Intuos3 graphic tablet and the Cintiq 21UX display available for hands-on demonstrations, making precise editing of pictures a breeze. Last but not least, G-Tech had the whole range of its external high speed hard drives solution on display. The elegant silver enclosures sport the latest in eSata and Firewire connections on the G-Raid2, G-Drive 250GB External FW400/USB2, G-Mini and G-Safe, with high-end fibre-channel RAID solutions also available in the G-Speed models.

Then it was finally time to immerse into the presentation!

The first speaker was Richard West, Apple Business Development Manager for the UK and Ireland. He started by stressing how important it is, in a multimedia communicational landscape, to put to good use the plethora of different ways that businesses have to reach clients, by customizing communications to target and focus on different markets. Adobe Creative Suite CS3, he argued, is the tool of choice to do so, allowing the use of a single creative process for multiple disciplines through its multiplicity of applications. Since output is so important to the designers and developers who use CS3, he then went on to demonstrate how colour calibration devices (in this case, the Pantone Huey Pro MEU113) can work in tandem with OS X ColorSync Utility (found in the Applications>Utilities folder) to prevent disparity between screen output versus print/web output. In particular he showed how it is possible to compare colour spaces graphically, and onscreen proofing of different colour spaces just by dragging and dropping images on the application. Microsoft’s Windows has “borrowed” the same functionality for its latest OS, implemented in Vista under the name Windows Colour System (located in the Control Panel).

Stay tuned for the second part of our report - coming soon!

LG.Philips LCD announced it has developed the world’s first 14.1″ flexible color E-paper display, equivalent in size to an A4 sheet of paper and less than 300 micrometers(㎛) thick. The images displayed are said to be comparable in quality to printed pages. This new device is a further enhancement after the company’s black and white flexible E-paper display announced in May 2006. According to the LG.Philips website, the E-paper uses electronic ink from E-Ink Corp. to produce a maximum of 4,096 colors. It has a viewing angle of 180 degrees, allowing images to be viewed even when the display is bent.
This new colour version uses a substrate that arranges Thin-Film Transistors (TFT) on metal foil rather than glass, allowing it to recover its original shape after being bent.