Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Aftermarket 10-cell battery creates Eee PC 901: Hammerhead Edition


Like aftermarket batteries do ya? Just keep this picture in mind danger-boy when you're ordering a 10-cell, 13,000mAh Li-ion battery from eBay for your Eee PC 901. Also available in black to match the depths of your shame for turning your ultra-portable into a semi-luggable. One more for grins after the break.

Logitech's G13 gameboard turns it up to level 80


Check it PC and Mac gamers, Logitech just announced its G13 Gameboard. With a trio of game modes, built-in 160 x 43 pixel LCD for stats and messaging, 25 programmable keys, and a programmable joystick, Logitech says that the G13 "offers up to 87 ways for you to control your game." It comes with pre-configured settings for World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to name a few. Otherwise, you can setup custom button-profiles as you please and even create macros on the fly without having to pause your quest. Available in US and Europe sometime this month for $80.

Intel's 32nm chips ready for MIDs and netbooks in 2009


In 2005 Intel revealed its 65-nm manufacturing process, then 45-nm in 2007. Today, in keeping with its "tick-tock" strategy, Intel is announcing a further shrinkage to its manufacturing process as it ends the development phase for 32-nm chip circuitry. That puts the chips on a production schedule for Q4 2009 -- interesting as Intel's rumored 32-nm Medfield chip wasn't expected until the first half of 2010. According to Intel, the new chips incorporate second-generation high-k + metal gate technology with transistors that switch 22% faster than its current 45-nm Penryn chips. Why should you care? Well, the smaller chips are cheaper to manufacture which should translate to consumer savings. They also require less power than Intel's notoriously power-friendly Atom-class chips. As an interesting side note, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Intel has also disclosed a variant of its 45-nm process (the Lincroft-based Pineview we presume) "that is tailored to create chips for portable computing devices that require low power consumption." Uh, those wouldn't be targeting ARM by any chance would they Intel? Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Dell's UltraSharp 1909W does an awkward barrel roll into the realm of availability


Just when you thought Dell had every possible gap in its lineup of well-priced LCD monitors filled, here comes the UltraSharp 1909W to completely blow your mind. Featuring a 1440 x 900 19-inch panel, the 16:10 display boasts the mid-range sort of specs we've come to know and love, like a 5ms response time, 1,000:1 contrast ratio and 300 nits of brightness. On other unexciting fronts the display does VGA and DVI -- no HDMI here, folks -- and includes four USB plugs for bringing some crapgadget to your otherwise mundane existence. Luckily, the price is right: $239, sure to drop rapidly as the inevitable 1909X/Y/Z make their way onto the scene.

Lackluster line-up of new iriver DAPs leaked


It looks like we might have two new iriver DAPs to get semi-not-really excited about in the very near future, if the leaked photos and specs are to be believed. We know very little about the uber-basic T5 (picture above) beyond the fact that it supports MP3, WMA, and OGG formats and has a built-in USB jack. It's quite small, weighing just 25.9 grams, and will come in 2GB and 4GB sizes. The T6 is a little bigger, but also an apparently quite basic 4GB player with an added FM tuner. The rumor mill also reports that the T5 will run €50 (about $65) while the T6 will be €60 (about $77), but nothing's official and we don't know when they'll hit us with these bad boys.