Gadget news

The Audiophiliac has been prowling the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo in Denver over the past several days, looking for the latest and greatest audio products.

McIntosh's MT-10 turntable ($8,000) caused a stir. The turntable's bearing uses opposing magnets to "float" the platter and keep noise low.

I was blown away by Definitive Technology's new Mythos ST speakers ($3,600/pair). The skinny speakers somehow deliver truly deep bass, and the midrange and treble ranges were also exceptional.

Krell's iPod dock on steroids, the KID (Krell Interface Dock, $1,500) … Read more

Will a bigger hard drive and a slightly lower price tag move more UMPCs for Oqo?

Oqo has updated its Vista-powered handheld computer, and knocked 33 percent of the cost, bringing it down to $1,299.

The San Francisco-based company has increased the hard drive capacities of both versions of the model 02. The entry-level went from 30GB to 40GB and the higher-end from 60GB to 80GB. Plus, now there's a 32GB flash-based option. They've also slightly upped the CPU speed to 1.6 Gigahertz.

But it has yet to solved the in-between nature of its concept. It'… Read more

LONDON--Last week, we mentioned that HMV Oxford Street was the place to go this morning if you were a Matrix fan and wanted to pick up a free HD DVD player (the Toshiba HD-E1) with your purchase of the box set.

We were expecting this to be a popular promotion, but we were blown away by exactly how many people were prepared to queue all night in a filthy alley just off Oxford Street in order to snag a free player.

The queue was full at 5 a.m., and then it was just a matter of the fans standing … Read more

Mark your calendars, my friends. On September 12, Palm will be making an announcement about a "new device" from their friends "across the pond." Eh? Well, we certainly know it's not going to be the Foleo. According to Palm employee Stephanie Richardson's blog, the news won't be about the Palm Centro smart phone, either. So what oh what could it be? Do you guys have any ideas? Or what would you like to see from Palm?

Over the last few days, we've been covering the best new products announced at CEDIA 2007. In case you missed any of our coverage, here's a quick roundup:

CEDIA 2007 coverage New Toshiba LCDs pinch an inch Panasonic lowers 1080p plasma bar Big Blu: Sony's 200-disc Blu-ray changer, plus Blu-ray burner and 500GB HDD New Polk I-Sonic debuts iTunes Tagging for HD Radio Pioneer proffers another $1K Blu-ray Sharp's Blu-ray player loads discs in 10 seconds New Sony Blu-ray players, but still expensive More details on Samsung's HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player LG's new combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player… Read more

Toshiba on Wednesday pushed the capacity of its 1.8-inch hard drives up one more notch to 160GB but said it also made the products more power-efficient.

The 8mm-thick, dual-platter model also employs a new interface called CE-ATA for consumer electronics devices. Toshiba also introduced a 5mm-thick single-platter 80GB drive; both drives spin at 3,600rpm and have an average seek time of 15 microseconds.

Toshiba won't comment on who's buying this drive, but it doesn't take big brains to figure out one company Toshiba is courting: also on Wednesday, Apple introduced new iPod media players with 160GB drives. … Read more

The show may be over, but the gadgets are yet to come.

If you couldn't get to Berlin over the last week for the IFA consumer electronics show, don't fret. ZDNet Germany and CNET News.com have teamed up to bring you some of the highlights. A lot of the gear, whether brand-spanking new or updates of not-so-old favorites, will only be hitting stores sometime this month or later still.

GPS devices--such as the Navigon 2100 pictured here--were prevalent at the gizmo fest. Notable, too, among the consumer-friendly machinery were a circular Sony PC for the living room, … Read more

Just got the press release on JVC's new in-ear HA-FX66 headphones. For a second I thought I was looking at a Nike press release after I read the headline "JVC Introduces In-ear Air Cushion headphones" and that they "use a soft cushion of air to provide a secure, comfortable fit."

The release goes on to note that JVC's research shows that "consumers' biggest problem with in-ear headphones is their tendency to fall out." (Wow, guys, you needed to conduct a study to come to that conclusion?) "The HA-FX66 headphones tackle that … Read more

Again, the video here tells most of the story for this new sixth-generation version of the iPod, now called the iPod Classic. Still, there are a few specific details worth focusing some extra attention on.

Capacity

The iPod Classic is now the only iPod Apple makes with a storage capacity over 16GB. In fact, the base model ($249) starts with a whopping 80GB of storage, and the next model up ($349) jumps to 160GB. These are serious numbers that are bound to excite those of us who carry huge music and/or video libraries. Many people were worried that Apple would ditch high-capacity players altogether with their latest line of iPods, but maintaining a high-capacity legacy MP3 player makes sense. After all, the iPod at this point has become an icon of industrial design and a symbol (for better or for worse) of our current digital music economy.… Read more