We’ve been eagerly waiting for iPhone cases with built-in keyboards to hit ever since iOS 4 added Bluetooth keyboard support, but they simply haven’t materialized like we’d hoped — in fact, ThinkGeek’s TK-421 case is the first to hit the market, nearly eight months after iOS 4 was first announced. Now that it’s finally here, we’ve got to ask — is this thing the ultimate iPhone accessory? Does the iPhone actually need a keyboard? Does flipping open automatically make something awesome? Read on to find out.

Continue reading ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review

ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic has finally made official several pack-in deals already in effect at retailers both physical and online that add Blu-ray 3D players, glasses and most notably, an exclusive copy of Avatar on Blu-ray 3D (also available to existing owners via a mail-in offer, owners of the Extended Collectors Edition can preview a 3D Easter Egg there too.) Despite being the highest grossing 3D movie of all, it’s still not available at retail and is unlikely to show up there anytime soon, sending the price of those pack-in copies skyrocketing on eBay as owners of non-Panasonic 3D capable TVs try to get their hands on the ultimate demo material. Many current auctions are above the $200 mark, while the highest sold price we saw was $399 about a week ago, although considering a copy of Bee Movie went for $400 back in the day, we can’t say we’re too surprised. Check out the details about Panasonic’s current promotions on its highly rated HDTVs (and the demo tour that just started) in the press release after the break and bring your calculator, if Dances With Smurfs wasn’t your cup of tea anyway, we might have found the perfect way to finance your new home theater upgrade.

Continue reading Panasonic officially launches exclusive Avatar Blu-ray 3D pack-in, discs hit $400+ on eBay

Panasonic officially launches exclusive Avatar Blu-ray 3D pack-in, discs hit $400+ on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus Eee Note digital notepad EA-800 is a slim and lightweight handheld tablet device with ultra-sensitive handwriting input that does away with the need to carry bulky notepads and books. Designed for easy handwritten input using the supplied stylus, the Asus Eee Note has an 8-inch glass touch-screen with a matte finish that mimics the smooth feel of paper. The ultra-sensitive digitizer captures every stroke of the stylus with extreme accuracy on the 2450 DPI screen for pixel-perfect renditions of everything from notes to sketches. Images are displayed in 768×1024 resolution in crisp monochrome, and the non-backlit display stays crisp and clear even in broad daylight.

In addition to its outstanding digital notepad features, the Eee Note is also an extremely capable ebook reader. Up to 10,000 ebooks can be stored in the Eee Note’s 4GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded using the external micro SD Card slot. Annotation of books and support for a wide range of ebook and document formats, including PDF and ePub, makes the Eee Note a versatile digital reader for both work and pleasure.

The integrated 2 megapixel digital camera and voice recorder also allow other types of material to be captured with ease and a wide array of built-in document templates make the Eee Note ideal for recording information in all manner of areas. With MP3 music files also supported, this means the Eee Note is as capable of playing music and audio books, while the built-in Longman dictionary, calculator and sticky note applications help cut down desktop clutter.

Although capable of carrying a complete, personally annotated library within its slender 520g frame, the Eee Note also provides access to online resources like Wikipedia and ebook retailers via internal Wi-Fi. PC connectivity comes courtesy of a micro USB port, and built-in EverNote support also makes two-way synchronisation with other computers in the cloud a cinch. The long 13.5-hour battery life also means the Eee Note can last through even the longest days between recharges.

Asus Eee Reader DR900 is the world’s first 9-inch e-Book reader that morphs paper like display quality with interactive touch-screen technology, to provide exceptional ease of use for a dedicated e-reader device. At a comfortable 9-inch in size, yet, with a razor-thin, sub-single centimetre deep design, the DR900 is a highly portable travel companion that will neatly slip into many handbags, backpacks and briefcases. Less than 10mm thick and weighing just 440g, the Eee Reader is a highly portable travelling companion that can be taken on any journey, whether it’s the daily commute or a long-haul flight. Its 2GB of internal storage (expandable via SD Card) can store up to 5,000 ebooks and the two-week battery life is long enough to read 20 novels back-to-back between recharges.

The Asus Eee Reader DR900′s capacitive touch-screen provides a directly interactive and very intuitive method of use; anyone, young or old can pick it up and start easily using this pad. As an enabling device, it offers clear advantages over other e-readers, such as a sketch book/notepad, easy text highlighting, handwriting recognition and annotation and full virtual keyboard functions.

Asus Eee Reader DR900’s anti-reflective Electro Phoretic Display (EPD) technology provides a natural reading experience that mimics ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display technology, which uses a harsh backlight to illuminate its pixels, EPD reflects light like ordinary paper making it far more comfortable to read from for long periods. Eee Reader ekes out a phenomenal battery life of up to two weeks!

With its large 1024×768 resolution display there’s ample reading room for Eee Reader’s popular portable document formats, including PDF, TXT, ePub, HTML, and FB2. It can also read ZIP and CBZ compressed files; popular images formats including JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP for pictures, comics and manga, and it can even plays MP3s via the built-in stereo speakers or the 3.5mm headphone jack. With a 3G network option and standard, integrated 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, it’s easy to get data on the go too.

Super Talent today announced that they will begin offering Ceedo Personal with their USB 3.0 Express RAM CACHE flash drives. Ceedo Personal is a portable Windows environment that runs from a USB flash drive. It can transform a flash drive into a virtual PC.Using Ceedo, many standard Windows applications can now be made portable for use on any PC; making it possible for you to install, carry and run the same standard Windows applications that you already own and already know how to use.

With the introduction of USB 3.0, external storage devices can now function at unprecedented speeds; up to 10x. This new found speed blurs the line between internal and external storage and has enabled some exciting new usage models.

Sony has developed Hybrid FPA (field-induced photo-reactive alignment), a new liquid crystal alignment technique which enables a significantly faster response time for liquid crystal displays. Fast responses of less than 3ms have been achieved in test cells through this technology. Aside from contributing to ‘picture quality enhancement in 3D and high frame rate video’, this technology will improve ‘product stability’ during the display panel manufacturing process as well as after long-term use.This technology will achieve production efficiencies by reducing the manufacturing process and time.

The new Sony Hybrid FPA technology is the result of further development of the aforementioned FPA technology with its superior features. Hybrid FPA technology has achieved an even faster liquid crystal response time by maintained the pre-tilt on just one side of the substrate alignment layer. Furthermore, this new technology has succeeded in facilitating drastic improvements in liquid crystal response time, especially faster movement of liquid crystal molecule when decreasing the voltage which was previously difficult to achieve, as well as higher contrast.

Sanyo today announced the completion of a new technical facility for lithium-ion batteries on the premises of the Tokushima Plant (Itano-gun, Tokushima, Japan), Sanyo’s development and production site for lithium-ion batteries. The Tokushima Plant has become Sanyo’s main site for the technical development and production of lithium-ion batteries. However, with the increasingly diversified use and requirements for lithium-ion batteries, it has become necessary to expand the space for the development and evaluation of new batteries. In order to maintain and expand Sanyo’s competitive strength in technology development for the future, the new facility will provide space for the experimental manufacture and performance evaluation of batteries.

The construction of the new facility will further increase Sanyo’s capabilities for developing new materials and manufacturing technologies, thereby enabling the company to become a leader in the lithium-ion battery market where further performance improvement is expected.

Sharp has developed a new single crystalline solar cell with high conversion efficiency. This Sharp single crystalline solar cell with high conversion efficiency uses a Back Contact structure (electrodes are connected on the back-side), which eliminates the need for electrodes to be set on the front-side. This new structure increases the light-receiving area on the front-side’s surface. In addition, a new alignment technology (Alignment Sheet system), which reduces the connection resistance between adjacent cells, was also developed.

Sharp will begin mass producing this solar cell at an annual production capacity of 200 MW within fiscal year 2010 at its solar cell plant in GREEN FRONT SAKAI, located in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The mass production will cover everything from solar cells to solar modules.

Canon U.S.A., today announced the addition of five new large format imaging solutions to its imagePROGRAF lineup with the new imagePROGRAF (iPF) MFP imaging systems. Offering tremendous versatility and functionality, each system includes a 40-inch color scanner utilizing Contact Imaging Sensor (CIS ) technology, a Dell Inspiron 560S Computer, 21.5-inch touch screen monitor, SmartWorks MFP scanning software, reprographics stand and the choice of one of five imagePROGRAF large format printers: the iPF710, iPF750, iPF755, iPF815 and iPF825.

The Canon iPF MFP imaging system will carry an estimated selling price of $7,495 for the 36-inch iPF710 printer, $8,495 for the 36-inch iPF750 printer, $8,995 for the 36-inch iPF755 printer, $9,795 for the 44-inch iPF815 printer and $11,495 for the 44-inch iPF825 printer. All of these new models will begin shipping in mid-December.

LG today announced the launch of the LG VL600, the first LTE (Long Term Evolution) USB modem for Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless service provider in the United States. Ideal for business professionals’ on-the-go, the LG VL600 features high-speed 4G internet connectivity, a lightweight design with a flip USB cover and sleek outer finish that makes traveling a streamlined, enjoyable experience. By just connecting with the LG VL600, customers in the 4G LTE service area can expect high speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps (megabits per second) on download and 2 to 5 Mbps on upload for high quality.

Verizon Wireless is set to launch 4G LTE service in 38 major U.S. metropolitan areas on Dec. 5.The service will cover 60 commercial airports and 110 million people -– more than one third of the United States population. The LG VL600 boasts a 4-color LED Service Status Indicator and supports major operating systems including Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. It has a built-in antenna and is both extremely light (50 g) and compact (98.5 x 37.6 x 14.7 mm).