MacBooks Get SSDs (Unofficially) [Apple]

While it’s possible to install standalone solid state hard drives into most any laptop, it’s always nice to see services selling preconfigured packages. Right now a company named ExperCom is offering both MacBooks and MacBook Pros with SSDs installed out of the box. And their prices are actually pretty reasonable.

While a new 15″ Macbook Pro with 200GB hard drive will run you $2,000 from Apple, Expercom’s version with a 120GB SSD will only cost $2649. That’s only a $50 price premium over the drive’s $600 pricepoint, so not nearly as bad as those beefed-up TiVos of yore. A 13″ Macbook with 60GB SSD will cost $1649…meaning that SSD laptops with functional hard drives will soon be getting downright buyable.

ExperCom will also transfer files off of existing systems you want to upgrade. That’ll run you $599 (60GB) or $899 (120GB) for the full hardware and service. [ExperCom via TUAW]

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Toshiba’s Dynadock USB video docking station gets reviewed

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

It took Toshiba long enough to get its socket-infused Dynadock onto store shelves, and considering the rough reputation held by the vast majority of USB video docking stations out there, you’ve probably been holding back on this well-spec’d unit due to fear alone. If we just rang your bell, you’ll be glad to know the critics over at Trusted Reviews were able to spend some quality time with the device and test out all those features that may or may not work as advertised. Overall, reviewers felt that the Dynadock performed adequately in everything save for “entertainment,” so be sure and give the article a bit of your time to determine whether or not it’ll handle the tasks you have in mind for it.

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TurboGrafx-16 is Now on the iPhone, Radical Dude! [Clips]

Our friends over the pond know it as the PC Engine. Most Americans know it as that console that played Bonk. Now it’s on the iPhone through emulator support. An iPhone version of the classic emulator Temper, temper4iphone looks like it’s running pretty smoothly on Apple’s mobile in this video. But you know the drill; jailbreak the iPhone before partaking. Too bad we’ll probably never see this stuff in a formal SDK… [ZodTTD via BBgadgets]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

Inventor extraordinaire Dean Kamen spoke at D today about the latest developments in the Luke arm. Not that it wasn’t already impressive enough, but Kamen’s company, DEKA Research, has made even more amazing developments in the arm’s interface, complementing the early mechanical controls with spatial and neural interfaces. The shot above was taken of a man with transected nerves, which were interfaced directly to the arm, enabling him to delicately utilize numerous degrees of motion within hours of installation. Also in development for the Luke arm is a spatial interface (which would intelligently give some control of movement back to the arm itself), as well as a non-invasive mind interface that utilizes infrared to read neural signals through the skull. Furthermore, to lend in balance and motion with heavier usage, a new body-mounting chassis was built, featuring embedded bladders that tense up (inflate). Fricking crazy stuff. Shots from Kamen’s demo videos below.

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Via [Engadget]

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Filed under: Robots

iRobot’s various military robots are already capable of packing some weaponry, but it looks like Metal Storm is set to give their arsenal a considerable boost, with it recently demonstrating its remotely-operated FireStorm weapons system on one of iRobot’s standard Warrior platforms. That system essentially makes the ammunition the only moving part in the weapon, with it able to fire bullets electronically at a rate of thousands of rounds per minute (or “theoretically” even up to a million), which Metal Storm says makes the system ideal for a whole range of applications including, somewhat ominously, “crowd control.”

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Via [Engadget]

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BBQ Baja is Barbeque in a Box [Grilling]

Charcoal grilling undoubtedly tastes better than gas, but coals can be a pain. This Baja BBQ is a solution to the more lazy among us who’d rather not deal with coal chimneys and lighter fluid. Constructed of 100% recycled biodegradable paper pulp, the Baja’s 2 pounds of coals will be perfectly hot after 20 minutes and a match. And the whole thing sounds just eco friendly enough to satiate the yuppies who will be buying the Baja at the “gourmet supermarkets” soon. [Mike and Maaike via core77]

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All Things D Live: Sir Howard Stringer CEO of Sony [All Things D]

9:45 Stringer is on stage. Mossberg: Last time you were up here, things were tough. Stringer: We’ve turned things around but before Profit was not bit priority in Japan. Reminds me too much of Benny Hill.

9:47 Mossberg: You didn’t build your own facilities for LCD production and had to buy them from a competitor, Samsung.

Stringer: That was done to leap frog the tech, but that didn’t work. The brand covered us and we were still number one in the US one year. LCDs have a lot of life in them, but we started doing OLEDs a few years ago and we can’t mass produce it, but we’ve got a $250 model. Mossberg corrects him, the XEL-1. Stringer jokes that it’s $250 for people in this room (a special deal.) And mossberg leads him: How big is it? Stringer: 11-inches, but the dreamwork execs love it.

He’s showing a 0.3mm OLED that is thin as a playing card and can be used in a 27 inch TV that will ship soon. But not at reasonable prices.

Mossberg: Is the video game business profitable?
Stringer: The PS3 is building excitement. The model is to lose money on the hardware for a long time and then make money on the software and later the hardware. The PS3 is expensive. We’ll see games in June, not GTA4, that take advantage of the network, too. (Metal Gear)

Mossberg: But don’t gamers want to just play games on these?
Stringer: People are starting to download content, though. The first million customers of the PS3 were gamers, but more people ended up after that being Blu-ray customers and that’s why we won the format war. So we’re on the edge of the

Mossberg: I thought you won the war with bags of cash?
Stringer: I thought that’s what they did. You read it in the paper. We are not in the check writing competition.
Mossberg: Then I believe it!

Mossberg: Does physical media have a future?
Stringer: You can finally see, using blu ray the number of arabs in Lawrence of Arabia. Digital downloads aren’t matching the detail now. (I don’t know if I agree that its not somewhat close, though-B.L.)
Mossberg: You’re in the PC business. Sales have dropped a bit…
Stringer: Actually we’ve done well, best year ever.
Mossberg: But I’m talking about marketshare. Why are you not the number one in the market?
Stringer: Because we’re high end and expensive.
Mossberg: Is this your strategy?
Stringer: Yes, the less profit the better. (Laughs from the crowd.) The fact that we have a low marketshare, like Apple, doesn’t mean we’re inferior. Our engineers like to try new things, too.
Mossberg: What about craplets on your pc? It loaded all this stuff on my machine I had to uninstall. (He owns a vaio.)
Stringer: I have to evaluate these craplets, and I promise you a craplet review. (Vaio’s have the most craplets of anyone-B.L.)

Mossberg: What about the Walkman phones?
Stringer: We started the trend and have more phones sold than the iPhone. All of this is on the back of music downloads. Nokia’s got that all you can eat system.

Stringer talks about being down on the iPod battle, too, but they’re coming back by his estimation, quoting that a London paper said the audio quality was better.

We’re a giant department store competing with lots of botiques like Apple (although not tiny anymore) and ebook readers from Amazon. But do we want to invest that much money to compete with the Kindle’s wireless? And we have to deal in millions in millions and prioritize.

Q from Crowd: What about advancing audio?
Stringer jokes, we have two new speakers that are so expensive, it’s mind boggling, and the three people who can afford them love it. He then says its not different from before.

Q Can Sony do software as good as their hardware?
Stringer: The test will be the PS3 network, and we have a lot of software engineers, contrary to popular opinion. They’re well versed at doing firmware, but our software engineers are in vertical silos separate from each other. We’ve knocked down those walls. Firmware is late, but app ware comes early. And you’ll see how we’ve done. (We’ve also taken a lot of American software engineers into the company because they are more flexible, typically.)
[All Things D]

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Montevina and Puma-based ASUS notebooks leak out

Filed under: Laptops

With Intel’s Montevina platform (hopefully) on the way and AMD’s claim that “over 100″ laptops will launch with Puma, it’s kind of surprising that we haven’t seen even more pre-release info on machines due to ship with the new chips, but apparently ASUS is getting ready to hit us with some new gear at Computex. Based on the existing M51 and M70 lines, the M51VR will feature a 2.26GHz Penryn P8400 with 3MB of L2 cache on Montevina’s 1.06GHz bus, while the M51VA and M70VM (pictured) will get 2.53GHz T9400s with 6MB of cache. ASUS should also be showing off the Puma-based F5Z and X50Z laptops with 1.9GHz AMD Athlon64 X2 QL-60 chips, 667MHz buses, ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics and 15.4-inch screens at Computex, so it’ll be interesting to see how these bad boys do side-by-side.

[Thanks, Sergio]

Read - ASUS Montevina laptops
Read - ASUS Puma laptops

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iControlpad, For the iPhone with PSP Envy [Gaming]

While the do-everything touchscreen of the iPhone seemed like the perfect solution for game emulation, it’s tough to top real buttons when it comes to mashing away at Track & Field. So the iControlpad attaches to the iPhone and gives it a PSP makeover. The prototype (pictured here) was pieced together from the internals of an old SNES pad, but the final version that will go on sale is promised to be “much more sleek and fitting.” We’re just hoping they’re ready to make an iPhone 2 version ASAP. [iControlpad via BGR]

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Refined Cereal Light Fixtures: Fortified With Frosted Flakes and Fluorescents [Lighting]

You won’t find any Grape Nuts or Fiber-rich Colon Blow on the Refined Cereal lighting fixture by the aptly titled Refined Sugar Studio. In fact, the light is meant as a nod toward our favorite sugary sweet breakfast cereals like Capn’ Crunch, Count Chocula and Trix. The cereal images are made using ultraviolet-protected inks so they should stay bright for years—and the fluorescent light that shines through will undoubtedly cast a unique spectrum of colors around the room. Pricing is available upon request. [Refined Sugar Studio via MocoLoco]

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