SlashGear Week In Review - Week 34 2009

Here we go again with another week in review for your perusal. A mystery Android-powered MID tipped up this week looking very much like those renderings of the Apple tablet to my eyes. It's cool to see android showing up on so many devices. Logitech unveiled an update to the coolest racing wheel ever, the G25, called simply enough the G27. The new wheel promises more accurate force feedback effects and keeps with the slick clutch and gated shifter we loved from the G25.

We found out this week that owners of the T-Mobile G1 may be out of luck down the road when large updates for the Android OS are offered. Apparently, the G1 is running out of memory to store significant updates. T-Mobile maintains the device has plenty of memory for updates. An iPod touch was spotted in the wild Monday sporting a camera. The device is said to have been recovered by an electronics recycler who acquired the device after Apple threw it away.

The results of a report published this week found that the Xbox 360 has a massive failure rate of 54.2%. The survey was of 5,000 people and if the numbers are accurate, more than half of the consoles sold have failed. Redbox unveiled its plans for game rentals this week and has pilot programs in place in Reno, Nevada. I love renting flicks form Redbox, but I am not sure about game rentals.

Sprint's 4G WiMax service was rolled out in Portland and Las Vegas for consumers to buy for $69.99 per month. That's a $10 premium over 3G service, which isn't too bad really. I can't wait until 4G is available nationwide. Microsoft unveiled a new webcam for those who want to show themselves online in HD glory. The LifeCam Cinema cam has a native 720p resolution sensor and can record at 30 frames per second.

Rumors that the Palm Eos, the next handset to run webOS like the Pre, might be delayed until 2010 have surfaced. My money says that the sales numbers for the Pre aren't that great and Palm is playing a wait and see game before it tosses another handset into the mix. Lenovo offered up a new home server called the D400 and new nettops this week. The machines are reasonably priced and should be appealing to users looking for storage or a cheap desktop PC.

Finally some good news from AMD, the company was able to grab the lead in the discrete notebook GPU market from NVIDIA with a solid 53% market share. I am sure all the defective NVIDIA discrete GPUs in notebooks didn't help NVIDIA grow. Kmart jumped the gun on Tuesday prior to the PS3 slim being announced and started taking preorders for the console. I bet Sony wasn't too happy with whoever pushed the go button early.

It wasn't too long after Kmart started taking its preorders early that Sony officially announced the long rumored PS3 slim. The new console lacks PS2 support, has a 120GB HDD, and will sell for $299. I wonder if the game devs will be happy now. Dell whipped out its Inspiron 11Z CULV ultraportable notebook at $399. The little machine looks like a worthy replacement for the DOA Mini 12.

Logitech unveiled the ominous sounding Darkfield laser mice this week. Two products come with the new laser tech called the Performance Mouse MX and the Anywhere Mouse MX. The big feature is that the mice can track accurately on clear glass at least 4mm thick. We ran a feature story this week giving you all the details you could ever need on the new PS3 Slim. If you have PS3 Slim questions, that feature is where you will find your answers.

Acer offered up a new nettop for business users called the Veriton N260G Wednesday that sells for $399. The rig is designed to be freestanding with an integrated prop or it can be attached to the rear of an LCD. New rumors about the Apple tablet surfaced mid-week that claim we should expect not one but two Apple tablets. One is said to be a 6-inch Kindle competitor and the other a larger device possibly running OS X. The rub is the things aren't supposed to hit until 2010.

Canon offered up six new point-and-shoot digital cameras this week, the most interesting of them is the G11. The device offers RAW + JPEG mode and a slew of manual controls. All six of the new cams are set to debut this month and next. Wednesday we reviewed the cool new Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth headset. The device is one of the cooler looking Bluetooth devices I have seen, even if it is a bit feminine.

Razer announced a new mouse this week specifically designed for MMO players called the Naga. It looks like the love child of a graphics calculator and a gaming mouse to me. I would never remember where I bound what control on the 17-key rodent. Sony killed off the Vaio TT premium ultraportable this week. The notebook never really made sense considering that it was so much more expensive than the netbooks consumers were buying in droves and was about $4000 more than the average netbook.

The cool little mintpass mintpad is finally coming to America and will be selling through Amazon.com. The little PMP and web surfing device may be the perfect small screen device for the kitchen. We talked on Thursday about the new and faster 45nm Cell CPU in the PS3 Slim. The Cell processor in other PS3 consoles is built on the 65nm process and is cheaper to make and a reason the new Slim is cheaper than the older consoles.

Vizio proudly proclaimed that it had taken the top spot in LCD TV sales in America this week. The budget retailer beat out Samsung and Sony for the top spot in American sales. Bose introduced a new set of noise cancelling headphones this week that you are sure to see on the next commercial flight you take. The headphones are called the QuietComfort 15 and have new active and passive noise cancellation features built-in.

I remember when I was a kid the thing that always threw me when I asked my dad what time it was, was when he would say half past four. If you prefer to tell time like that we found your perfect clock this week called the QLOCKTWO. Instead of numbers, the clock uses words to tell time just like dad did. Apple's next Mac version is shipping on August 28 so if you have already preordered Snow Leopard, you should be getting a package soon.

Duracell showed off some new rechargeable battery devices and one of them was called the my Grid. MyGrid is a clone of the WildCharge wireless charging device that I have been drooling over for weeks. Suddenly those Walmart bargain DVD players are a hot deal, but not in a good way. Walmart announced a recall of 1.5 million DVD players because of a fire risk. The DVD players sold under the Durabrand name for $29.

PCI Express 3.0 was delayed until 2010 with product said to not come to market until 2011. The specification was expected to be available this year with product coming in 2010, things obviously didn't work out according to plans. Well, there is yet another week in review, until next week! Goodbye and thanks for the fishes!