3M and Nanosys have just announced that they'll start shipping qualification samples of their Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) to manufacturers to bring a 50 percent wider color gamut and lower power consumption to LCD displays. Consisting of trillions of quantum dots tuned to create precise color hues, such films can be swapped in to replace existing backlighting tech, meaning manufacturers will need no special equipment to adopt it. The … [Read more...]
Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad are nice and all, but aren't you going to need to be within a wire's-length to see the thing anyway? To that end, Logitech has announced a full-sized wired iPad keyboard targeted to classrooms with an emphasis on durability and maintenance. It has a spill-resistant design, three-year warranty and key life of over 5 million strokes, according to the company, and comes in either lightning or 30-pin versions. If you … [Read more...]
After revealing it at I/O 2013 only days ago, Google's new conversational voice search function is up and running on Chrome 27. If you've got that version, you'll now get a spoken response on top of a web page display when using the voice search function (the microphone in the main search window), for starters. More interestingly, the new feature also includes semantic search, meaning you can ask follow-up questions without repeating needless … [Read more...]
If you're looking for pure storage for the dollar, SSDs have nothing on good old hard disks. And WD subsidiary HGST has packed more gigabytes into a smaller space than ever before with the new Travelstar 5K1500. It's a 2.5-inch, 9.5mm thin model packing 1.5TB, giving your notebook a huge shot of extra storage space while taking up very little physical space. The two platter drive boasts 694Gb per square inch and draws a mere 1.8W, though it must … [Read more...]
Microsoft has confirmed what many saw as inevitable: the Xbox will have a Blu-ray drive. The company just announced the victor in the drive wars will be installed as a slot-loading front unit in each new Xbox One to provide entertainment and gaming input along with a 500GB HDD, a 360-degree switch from Redmond's last console, as it were. Microsoft heavily resisted the move to Blu-ray in the Xbox 360, but has caved to the inevitable, no doubt … [Read more...]
Sharp has just introduced a couple of high-end TVs if you're rich enough to be seeking an UltraHD set and lucky enough to live in Japan: the 70-inch LC-70UD1 and the 60-inch LC-60UD1, part of the new 4K Aquos UD1 series. Each will feature Sharp's 4K "Moth-eye" panel, Aquos 4K-Master Engine Pro HD upconversion engine, 2.1 channel THX surround and 3D capability. The 70-inch model will run 850,000 yen ($8,290) and launch on June 15th, while the … [Read more...]
