Archive for January 8th, 2007

SanDisk unveils USBTV

SanDisk today introduced USBTV, a new, industry-wide initiative that is expected to enable consumers to easily move digital content from their PCs to their televisions for viewing in full, big-screen comfort.

“We believe that USBTV represents an exciting new category of flash-based products that will bring digital downloading of video to a broad spectrum of new consumers who prefer viewing on their TV sets rather than on a PC screen,” said Eli Harari, SanDisk CEO. “USBTV has the potential to become an industry-transforming category as significant as the introduction of the DVD and VHS players, because in the convergence of the Web and home entertainment, USBTV solves in a simple, elegant way the ‘last 10 feet’ of the content portability problem in the home between the PC and the TV,” he said.

A USBTV player can tackle the problem by plugging directly into the USB port of virtually any personal computer, where it acts as a USB storage device for a rapid “drag and drop” of any desired file. At a press conference at CES, SanDisk demonstrated a product concept that employs a TV cradle and a remote control, allowing USBTV to connect to virtually any TV set. A key innovation incorporated into USBTV is a multimedia processor that converts the stored files into various TV video/audio formats for direct playback on virtually any TV without the need for any changes to the TV set.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): USBTV, SanDisk, Media Player, Sansa View, Tracy & Matt]

Kingston Technology Releases microSD Dual Adapter Pack

Kingston Technology Company, the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is launching a special microSD card with dual adapter bundle to maximize compatibility and interoperability of microSD Flash memory cards among multiple device platforms. Given the myriad of Flash memory formats available to digital device manufacturers and the gain in popularity of the tiny microSD form factor with sleeker multifunction mobile phones, the new dual adapter pack is the first of its kind to offer increased flexibility for using microSD cards at a cost savings to consumers.

Consisting of a 1 GB microSD card; a microSD to miniSD card adapter; and a microSD to full-size SD card adapter, the new microSD dual adapter pack is priced at $39.99 and is backed by a lifetime warranty for the 1 GB microSD card and 24/7 technical support.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Kingston, microSD, Flash Memory, Tracy & Matt]

SanDisk launches it’s first pockatable video player

SanDisk® Corporation today introduced its first widescreen portable media player dubbed the “Sansa® View.” The flash-based Sansa View is a sleek, yet simple video player that supports a wide array of content formats and comes equipped with a flash memory expansion slot. The announcement was made at CES, where SanDisk is exhibiting in South Hall 4, booth 36206, in the Las Vegas Convention Center through January 11.

While the Sansa View is a pocket-able player–one of the slimmest on the market today—it features a large 4″widescreen display for optimal viewing. In addition to a DVD-like quality video experience, the Sansa View can display photos (up to 16 megapixels), play music, or even combine the two in a slideshow format. The durable player also comes equipped with an integrated speaker for watching and listening to any content on the player with a friend.

The Sansa View has 8GB of internal flash memory to store up to 33 video hours or 2,000 songs or thousands of photos. Its flash memory expansion slot allows for additional memory capacity and playback of content found on SD and SDHC cards, such as Disney® Max Clips™.

SanDisk is excited to unveil its first portable media device with remarkably rich video capabilities,” said Le Tran, SanDisk retail product marketing manager for the Sansa View. “The Sansa View is a sturdy, easy-to-use media player perfect for the road warrior or family looking for a video player that they all can enjoy.”

Sansa View Specification:

The Sansa View video player works with Windows Media Player™ 10 or 11 for syncing of content, and is designed to work with Windows Vista™.

The player contains a removable Li-Polymer battery that provides up to four hours of continuous video playback and 10 hours of continuous audio playback. The battery can be replaced by the customer to provide many years of continuous service. A user-replaceable Li-Polymer battery—along with an extended-life battery—will be sold separately.

Retailing for $299MSRP, the 8GB Sansa View is expected to be available from retailers in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2007, with Canada and Europe to follow in the second quarter.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): MP3 Player, SanDisk, Media Player, Sansa View, Tracy & Matt]

Cingular launch Treo 750

Palm, Inc. and Cingular Wireless today announced the first Palm Treo smart device running on Cingular’s 3G/UMTS network, providing mobile professionals with an exceptional phone experience and blazing-fast download speeds in U.S. markets and in dozens of countries around the world. The highly anticipated Treo 750 five-band world phone running Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push Technology offers Palm’s exclusive usability improvements with powerful business features, including email, security, and web access on the go.

The Treo 750 combines the Palm experience of a multifunction mobile phone with email, messaging, web browsing, organization software and a robust application portfolio with Cingular’s next-generation 3G network. Its new compact design features an internal antenna, soft-touch finish, and contoured edges to make it comfortable in the hand. The Treo 750 also has a full QWERTY keyboard for easy messaging, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a bright 240×240 touch screen and support for Bluetooth(R) stereo headsets. The built-in 60MB of user-available storage can be enhanced by using the miniSD slot to add memory cards of up to 2GB, which are great for storing data, photos, music and video.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, palm, cingular, Treo 750, Tracy & Matt]