SlashGear Week In Review: Week 4 2010
Another week has passed and brought with it lots of cool new gear and the requisite number of new Apple rumors. Welcome to this week's Week in Review. I suspect that the guys at Google who pick the names of the Android OS versions may have been dieting when they started to name Android updates after tasty treats. We learned that the next Android version may be called frozen yogurt. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue.
Lockheed Martin announced a new secure PC on a stick that at first glance looks like any old Ironclad USB flash drive that has been around for a while. The key difference here is that this version is bootable for a secure environment on any PC. The Motorola MOTOROI that has headed to Korea will be hitting the US in March. The handset is pretty darn cool with 720p HD video capability, a 3.7-inch touchscreen, and GSM connectivity.
Sony has unveiled new specs on the cool Vaio Z notebook. We already heard a bit about the machine, but this time we find the carbon fiber beauty will have four SSDs inside along with a hoard of other cool features. Google announced during the week that it would be pushing the launch of two new Android devices in China back pending the outcome of its fight with the Chinese government.
We have been hearing about that AMD-powered XPPhone for a while now and have even seen the device in video. The handset finally got a price and official pics last week. The XPPhone will sell for between $400 and $600 here in America. Wintek is a big supplier of screens for many major companies like Apple and Nokia. A large part of Wintek employees are on strike right now and the strike could hurt production for Apple and Nokia. I wonder if this is why the 27-inch iMac is delayed for three weeks before it ships?
Teac and Avantgarde Acoustics have teamed up for a new speaker with a gigantic horn on top. I am pretty sure they modeled the speaker after Sponge Bob Squarepants' alarm clock. A supposedly simple fix for the 3G woes that some Google Nexus one users are having surfaced that was as easy as changing the settings to have the device select a network automatically. Some users say the fix didn't work, but it's worth a try.
YouTube landed the rights to stream live sports with a catch. The sport they are streaming is cricket, not a staple here in America but it's a start. We reviewed the Palm Pre Plus for Verizon this week and found it basically the same as the Sprint device, but it's good to get the handset on a new carrier.
That Sony Ericsson Vivaz smartphone went official this week. The thing is more like a camera with a phone inside than the other way around with 8.1MP resolution and 720p HD video capability. Amazon unveiled the Kindle Development Kit this week bringing with it the promise of active content and games for the reader. The KDK will be offered in a limited beta to start with.
With the Apple event set for next week the rumors are coming at a furious pace. The latest rumor about the tablet we all hope to see at the event is that it may have a webcam that can tell who is using it with facial recognition. Apparently new Eee netbooks with the Ion 2 platform are set to hit in April. The first machine will reportedly have a 12-inch LCD and that is all we really know about it right now.
If you have been waiting for a new MacBook Air sporting ULV Core i3 and i5 processors you may have to wait a bit longer. Apparently the refresh is delayed due to a shortage of the chips. Another new tablet rumor surfaced that claims there will be versions of the Apple Tablet for CDMA and GSM networks meaning both AT&T and Verizon. We will have to wait until next week to see if the rumor is accurate.
Acer unveiled a new gaming computer in Japan this week that updates its Predator line. The new machine is called the G7750-A64 and it crams a new Core i7-960 CPU into the works and dual NVIDIA GTX 260 video cards. There is no word on whether or not the machine will make it to the America. A rumor surfaced late in the week that Hulu might start charging for content at the price of $4.99 monthly. The subscription would reportedly allow users access to older episodes of their favorite shows. That's all for this week thanks for reading! Have a good week!