Meet the Zoom G5, which combines a stompbox pedalboard, multi-effects pedal,USB audio interface and more into a single sleek machine.
Plant-shaped solar lights give character to any garden
Another eco-friendly décor for your home: Add light and color into your garden and show off those lovely flowers (or vegetables) even in the night-time. With the Mohzy petal solar light and petal solar light mini, you can give your garden (indoor or outdoor) some character and charm. These two solar lights come with a rechargeable battery and solar panels which charge in direct sunlight. It automatically lights up as the sun sets and deactivates as the sun rises.
Of course, in the Philippines, most gardens are enclosed in huge gates to keep prying eyes from seeing the inside of your home as well as easy access to break into it. With all of these solar lights lining your garden, they might even keep burglars away.
Bang and Olufsen’s BeoSound 8 iPod dock adds a touch of class to your home, won’t completely bankrupt you
If there’s two things we know about Bang and Olufsen products it’s that they a) have awesome quality b) have prices that usually put them out of the reach of normal people. But if you’ve been lusting to add a B&O product to your home but are unwilling to sell both your kidneys, you’ll be glad to know that the firm has released their BeoSound 8 iPod dock. Featuring the firm’s iconic style and audio quality, the BeoSound 8 is an elegant solution for your music woes, especially when you consider that it can also double as an auxiliary speaker that you can connect to your PC when needed. You can even connect to it wirelessly using Airport Express and Bluetooth. Of course, while the BeoSound 8 is one of B&O’s more affordable offerings, you’ll still have to shell out Php 65,450 for the privilege of owning one. The BeoSound 8 is sold locally by Living Innovations.
Do you have a story to tell? Join Youtube’s Your Film Festival.
YouTube and Emirates, in partnership with La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Film Festival) and Scott Free, announced Your Film Festival – a global competition to find the world’s best storytellers, connect them with a global audience, and provide one deserving entrant with a career-changing opportunity.
Content creators around the world are invited to submit a 15-minute, story-driven video of any format, style and genre, to Youtube.com/yourfilmfestival. After submissions are whittled down to 50 semi-finalists, audiences from around the world will cast their votes, choosing ten finalists. The ten finalists will travel to Italy, where their work will screen at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August. A grand prize winner will then be named by a special jury and awarded a $500,000 YouTube original production grant to work with Scott Free, ultimately creating a brand new work for the world to see.
Submissions, which open February 2, 2012 and close on March 31, 2012, will be reviewed by Scott Free and narrowed down to 50 semi-finalists from around the world in the summer of 2012. The YouTube community will then vote for ten finalists who will be flown to unveil their films in a special program at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. In Venice, a jury will vote among the ten films to select one Grand Prize Winner. The winner will receive a development deal with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions.
Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, is the sponsor of this year’s YouTube Your Film Festival. “The foundation of the Emirates brand is connecting people. As an airline, we link people from one destination to another and we also act as a cultural bridge for people’s thoughts, ideas and dreams,” said Boutros Boutros, Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Emirates. “Through our sponsorship of Your Film Festival we are supporting the journey of emerging filmmakers through YouTube’s innovative entertainment platform.”
Your Film Festival is one of several efforts by YouTube to push the boundaries of music, art, and film.
For more information, please visit youtube.com/yourfilmfestival and submit your film between February 2 and March 31, 2012.
Review: HTC Sensation XL
We’ve spent a lot of time with HTC’s Beats equipped Sensation XE over the holidays, and now we’ve managed to snag its bigger brother, the HTC Sensation XL. Like the XE, the XL offers Beats Audio to the masses, along with a larger, 4.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel screen, albeit with a slower, single core Qualcomm 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor. Is the size difference enough of a motivation to grab one?
One of the most striking physical aspects of the Sensation XL is the overall size of the device. At around 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9mm, it’s pretty substantial, though it’s not as big as the gigantic Galaxy Note we reviewed a few weeks back. The device sports an all white exterior with an aluminum back, with the relevant Beats Audio branding near the bottom. The volume rocker sits on the right side of the device, with the power button sitting flush against the chassis on top near the 3.5mm jack. Aside from the power/data micro-USB port, the left side of the device sits bare. All of the relevant Android-related navigation is done via the touch-sensitive buttons on the bottom of the device. Imaging duties are handled by an 8-megapixel camera (with dual LED flash) and a smaller, 1.3-megapixel camera at the front. Overall the device is pretty damn solid and feels like a premium device.
Like we said the Sensation XL is powered by a single core Qualcomm 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, paired with 768 MB of RAM. This means that this particular device is slower than its smaller brethren, the Sensation XE. Worse still is that while the the screen is bigger at around 4.7-inches, the resolution is worse than the XE, which is around 540 x 960. It doesn’t mean that the XL has a bad display – far from it – its just that when compared to the competition (which at this point let’s be honest, it’s the Samsung Galaxy Note) which has a better 800 x 1280 pixel resolution, the XL kinda looks a bit flat.
The device is currently packed with Android 2.3 (with an ICS update coming soon, or so we hope) with the customary HTC Sense UI on top of it. Like we said before, HTC’s Sense UI adds a bunch of added functionality to your device, including the ability to locate your device if it’s ever misplaced, as well as locking and wiping it remotely (as long as you have an active data connection).
The XL also has Beats Audio inside, along with a pair of Beats Audio branded in-ear headphones. We’re not going to get into a more in-depth review about the headphones as you can check out what we said about it in our earlier review of the Sensation XE, suffice to say that they bring decent sound quality to the table (if a bit bassy). Aside from the color (white instead of red and black) the in-ear headphones included with the device is virtually identical to the one in the XE version.
Like any other Android device that passes through the gadgets office, the Sensation XL went through benchmark tests using AnTuTu. Unfortunately, this is where the Sensation XL’s shortcoming really shine through – as the device only posted a score of 3249, which frankly isn’t good. The device’s score only just beats the Google Nexus S, and falls far behind the established scores of its dual-core competitors like the LG Optimus 2X and the Samsung Galaxy S II.
If there’s a silver lining to the Sensation XL’s performance it’d be battery life. And though it pales in comparison performance-wise to its contemporaries, it certainly has more endurance. The Sensation XL lasted a bit more than the XE, lasting about a day and a quarter with moderate use. Then again, we weren’t really using the XL for anything more complicated than browsing, music and the occasional video clip as the XL simply is not as fast as its other competitors.
Probably one of the biggest things going for the XL is the size of the screen – at 4.7-inches, it’s pretty substantial. To be honest, we found that the 5.3-inch screen of the Note too big at times. The 4.7-inch screen of the XL is perfect for folks who want a smartphone with a bigger screen but aren’t keen on getting the absolutely huge 5.3-inch Note.
Which actually puts the XL in a precarious position. It’s certainly not the fastest device currently out in the market, and the Beats Audio branding may not do it for most people who have to swallow its almost Php 30,000 sticker price. But then again, its closest competitor, the Galaxy Note, isn’t something that you’d be able fit in your pocket (well, it’ll fit some pockets, but not all) and the huge 5.3-inch screen may not be for everyone, plus at over Php 30,000 it may be too expensive to justify. Of course, it all boils down to personal preference, and if you’re the type that wants to buy a large smartphone with Beats Audio, well, the Sensation XL might just be for you.
What’s Hot:
Large screen
Comes with Beats Audio in-ear headphones
Solidly built
What’s Not:
Single Core Processor
A bit expensive
Bottomline:
The HTC Sensation XE appeals to a very select market, one that wants a large screen but are unwilling to go settle with a device that is more than five inches. If you’re the type that wants a smartphone that has a good set of cans and a large screen, then you might want to give the Sensation XL a try.
Buymeter:
3.5/5
Tech Specs:
- Operating System: Android 2.3 Gingerbread (ICS update to follow)
- CPU: Qualcomm MSM8255 1.5 GHz Scorpion
- LCD size: 4.7-inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 800 resolution
- Physical Dimensions: 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm
- Weight: 162.5
- Band: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100
- Storage: 16GB
Line 6 StageScape rethinks live mixing with a touchscreen and graphical interface
Line 6 dives into the heart of live sound with the StageScape M30d, a touchscreen digital “smart” mixer that provides a unique (and daring) DSP-based mixing environment.
Asia/Pacific PC market grew 11%, Lenovo number 1 with Acer following close behind – IDC
You’d think that after all the challenges from both natural (the Thai flood) and man-made (economic downturn) disasters that rocked our part of the world that there’d be a slump when it came to PC sales, but IDC says otherwise – the firm has just announced that the PC market actually grew by 11% – not the best growth numbers sure, but hey, it’s still growth. And even though there were supply issues for PCs because of the floods in Thailand, markets like Indonesia and China were partially insulated from the hard disk drive shortages that IDC had initially feared would hurt shipments.
“The PC market took a number of punches last year, be it from the uncertain global economy or from Media Tablets that competed for consumer attention,” said Bryan Ma, Associate Vice President of Asia/Pacific Client Devices Research at IDC. “PCs will still face disk drive supply challenges in the early part of 2012, but IDC also expects the market to rebound quickly by the second half of the year to remain close to 10% growth for the year in the Asia/Pacific region.”
The biggest winner for this year in the region were, unsurprisingly, Lenovo, with the manufacturer growing about 24% from last year. Acer also grew quite a bit, with the manufacturer growing about 38% even though it posted their first loss in a decade this year. Another big winner here is Asus, as the Taiwanese manufacturer grew 34% this year. Unfortunately, all the troubles in HP did nothing to help the brand, with the manufacturer suffering -6% growth as far as market share is concerned.
| Table 1
Asia/Pacific (ex. Japan) PC Shipments by Vendor, 2011 (Preliminary) vs 2010 |
|||||||
|
Rank |
Vendor | 2011
Market Share |
2010
Market Share |
Year-on-Year Unit Growth | |||
|
1 |
Lenovo |
22.5% |
20.2% |
24% | |||
|
2 |
Acer |
11.6% |
9.3% |
38% | |||
|
3 |
Dell |
10.4% |
9.4% |
23% | |||
|
4 |
HP |
9.9% |
11.8% |
-6% | |||
|
5 |
ASUS |
6.4% |
5.3% |
34% | |||
|
|
Others |
39.2% |
44.0% |
-1% | |||
|
|
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 11% | |||
| Source: IDC, January 2012 | |||||||
| Table 2
Asia/Pacific (ex. Japan) PC Shipments by Vendor, 4Q11 (Preliminary) vs 3Q11 and 4Q10 |
|||||||
|
Rank |
Vendor | 4Q11
Market Share |
3Q11
Market Share |
4Q10
Market Share |
Year-on-Year Unit Growth | ||
|
1 |
Lenovo |
25.4% |
22.9% |
22.4% |
26% | ||
|
2 |
Acer |
11.9% |
11.7% |
11.1% |
19% | ||
|
3 |
Dell |
10.5% |
10.1% |
8.7% |
34% | ||
|
4 |
HP |
8.1% |
10.0% |
10.8% |
-17% | ||
|
5 |
ASUS |
6.5% |
7.2% |
5.2% |
38% | ||
|
|
Others |
37.6% |
38.1% |
41.8% |
-1% | ||
|
|
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 11% | ||
| Source: IDC, January 2012 | |||||||
Leaked: LG’s Quad-Core X3 Smartphone
This year is certainly shaping up to be the year of the quad-core, as another quad-core device has leaked ahead of its scheduled unveil. Today it’s LG’s X3, a supposedly sub 9mm thick smartphone that’s packing quite a hefty amount of goodies. Aside from NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor, the X3 supposedly packs a large, 4.7-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, 8 megapixel camera, 16GB on internal storage and ICS on launch. Connectivity is brought to us via Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and HSPA. PocketNow is also reporting a rather large 2000mAh battery, which means that this particular quad-core device may have more legs than its competitors. PocketNow is saying that this particular device will drop in the 1st quarter of 2012, so it makes sense that we might hear the official word come February during MWC.
Source: PocketNow
17th Edition of Cards & Payments Asia 2012 brings you latest NFC and contactless payment technology
Opens in Singapore 25 – 27 April 2012, Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre
The 17th edition, Cards & Payments Asia 2012, Asia’s largest smart technology exhibition is set to wow with a bigger and better event this year. It will showcase highly anticipated new technologies in Near Field Communication (NFC) and contactless payment together with the entire spectrum of smart technology initiatives. Key stakeholders from the telecommunications, government authorities and services, banking, hospitality, retail, healthcare, transport, aviation and logistics sectors will come together to reveal how the latest applications and product innovations can drive service, growth and business opportunities in their respective industries across Asia.
Singapore may be one of the first nations to see the widespread adoption of NFC as a payment mode. This is made possible via the S$40 million Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) initiative, allowing up to 20,000 retail points and taxis to be NFC-enabled by mid 2012. This initiative, by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and 7 companies, namely mobile operators M1, StarHub, SingTel, payment service providers Citibank, DBS and EZ-Link, as well as Gemalto, a digital security company, marks Asia’s first interoperable nationwide deployment of NFC mobile payment system. Along with the rest of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region which sees more than 9 countries like Thailand, Malaysia, India, China, South Korea and Sri Lanka making advances in NFC technology, experts believe that this tech savvy region could be the first adopters of NFC enabled mobile payment for their next mobility solutions.
Richard Ireland, Chief Executive, Terrapinn Asia Pacific said, “This year’s Cards & Payments Asia not only allows attendees to gain valuable insights on how to capitalise on the exponential growth of e-commerce and mobile commerce, but leverage on cutting-edge knowledge of multi-channel strategies for effective customer engagement, making it a must-attend event for all stakeholders seeking an edge over their competitions.”
This three-day event expects to draw more than 8,000 attendees, over 200 international leading solution providers from Singapore, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy and many more. 7 concurrent conferences and pre- and post-workshops will feature renowned speakers from all over Asia and beyond.
Co-located with Cards & Payments Asia 2012 are seven synergistic events: Prepaid Cards Asia, Near Field Communication (NFC) World Asia, Digital ID World Asia, RFID World Asia, Retail World Asia, Online Retail World Asia and Digital Signage World Asia .
To participate in Cards & Payments Asia 2012, please visit http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cards-asia/.
Audio Technica’s ATH-M50 is now available in white
After the long line of requests from Apple users, the famous ATH-M50 monitoring headphones now comes in white.
RIM has a new CEO, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are out
RIM’s two co-CEOs have just stepped down from their position from the company (effective tomorrow), handing over the reins of the company to Thorsten Heins, which previously held the position of COO of the company. The changes come after cstruggling to compete with smartphone rivals, namely Apple and Google. The new CEO has his work cut out for him, and as such has a few things planned to reinvigorate the brand, including the possible licensing of RIM’s BlackBerry OS to other manufacturers. Will BlackBerry’s luck finally turn in the US and thrive this year under Heins’ leadership? More importantly, will other smartphone manufacturers pick up BlackBerry OS? Do they have a reason to? All of that remains to be seen, though the company may still have some fight left in it especially since it’s under new management.
Source: RIM
SpareOne: the only mobile phone that is powered by a AA battery and stays charged for 15 years
One of the biggest issues with mobile devices nowadays is how fast they guzzle up power. A typical smartphone will probably get you through the day, but if you forget to charge it, it’ll be dead the next morning. Not the SpareOne. Although it doesn’t have all the features of a smartphone, it’s a mobile phone that you’ll probably depend on when the shit hits the fan – which happens quite a bit in our country, to be honest. The SpareOne doesn’t have a display, so it’s only going to be used primarily for calls and is powered by a single AA battery, which gives it about 10 hours of vital talk time, and will keep a charge for 15 years. The SpareOne will cost about $50 (Php 2200) and will be available come March at their online store here.
[album: https://gadgetsmagazine.com.ph/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/[email protected]/SpareOne/]
Source: SpareOne
Angry Birds Seasons gets Chinese New Year Update
Heads up, lovers of birds screeching through the air – Rovio has pushed a Year of the Dragon update for Angry Birds Seasons. Players can expect the same building busting, masonry collapsing, bird-related mayhemthat is the hallmark of the series, along with a collection of new levels, appropriate Chinese New Year livery and the appearance of the Mighty Dragon. Best part is that the CNY update is absolutely free. You can check out the update here, or in the Android Marketplace on your Android device.
Counter Strike unofficially ported to Android (VIDEO)
We have fond memories of Counter Strike – the hit multiplayer FPS that filled cyber cafes back in the day. Now you can play the iconic FPS on your Android equipped device, thanks to the enterprising work of the members of XDA Developers. The game is being rebuilt from the ground up using the Unity3D platform, and will feature cross-platform play with the Facebook and Kongregate versions of the game. Apparently there will be 2 versions of the game – a series 5o version for Android 2.0+ owners and a 6p version for Android 2.3+. The game will reportedly have all the modes maps and features of the original, as well as support for mods. The game is still a bit buggy, but if you’re looking for a way to pwn your friends on the go, then this could be your ticket. Download links have been provided below.
Source: Phandroid, XDA Developers
Want your Galaxy Nexus? You’ll have to get it through Smart
Want to get Ice Cream Sandwich before everyone else? Well, You’re in luck, as the Galaxy Nexus, the first Android 4.0 ICS device is here, and it’s being carried exclusively by Smart. If you’ve forgotten what makes the Galaxy Nexus so great (well, aside from ICS) then let us remind you: 4.65-inch HD AMOLED display, dual-core 1.2GHz processor and a crap-ton of OS improvements via Android 4.0. Interested? Of course you are. Head on over to http://smart.com.ph/samsung-nexus to express your interest. Once registered, you’ll only have to wait till the 28th of January to claim your very own Galaxy Nexus.