Curse the fact (again) I don’t live in Japan! Akihabara News has greased their mitts all over Hanwa’s dongle, which upgrades the audio on your laptop to that of DTS surround sound sensation.

After admitting they were—understandably—skeptical about what the dongle would do to a laptop’s audio, the Windows-only peripheral comes with DTS headphones, an installation CD and detachable USB port.

Akihabara News says the dongle is “stylish and well-built,” but “you won’t get a sound like that produced by a real tube headphone amp since it’s not a real vacuum tube.” While the dongle may’ve gone down well with the site, the headphones were derided as being “cheap” (though with the whole bundle costing the equivalent of $45 it’s not surprising really), so they used their own headphones instead.

After installing the software, you have to set the surround effects for either music or movies, with both formats working well—”the result is far from being bad,” though it’s “more of an amplification of the sound than a surrounding simulation.”

It may only be available in Japan so far, but with Akihabara News saying it “may be the best alternative to your laptop built-in audio system,” I can already sense all the Japanese export sites buying up stock. [Akihabara News]

Seen back in January at CES, the 17.5mm thick LG X300 netbook’s formally been announced as going on sale this month to our South American, Asian and Middle Eastern friends. It’s worth considering if you’re wanting a Windows 7 netbook.

Cast your mind back a few months, and you’ll recall it caused quite a storm due to its slinky size. Its 11.6-inch LCD screen doesn’t have much of a bezel to speak of, and the chiclet tiled keyboard is close to full-size. Check the press release below for the full story on the Dell Adamo-like netbook. (I say Dell Adamo rather than the MacBook Air, due to how square and tray-like it is). [LG]

LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, today announced the launch of the LG X300, the ultra-thin premium mobile PC. Its sleek and stylish look wowed the visitors at CES 2010 in Las Vegas.

“Given how demanding and discerning consumers are nowadays, we were delighted to receive such acclaim from the public and media at the CES for our new mobile PC,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “It’s a vindication of LG’s efforts to maintain the very highest standards in design without any sacrifices in high-tech or functionality, and ensure our consumers’ experiences with LG PCs just keep getting better.”

The LG X300, LG’s new flagship mobile computing device for 2010, tips the scales at a mere 970g and is only 17.5mm thick for the ultimate in portability.

What’s more, the LG X300 boasts an array of enticing design features. The sleek but wide 11.6-inch LCD screen maximizes the viewing area by eschewing a bezel. Also, its unique reflective keyboard and borderless touchpad add further elegance to this premium mobile PC. To offer the complete package for the most style-conscious users, the LG X300 comes in two colors, shiny white and light brown.

Fitted with a 2.0 GHz Intel Menlow platform with up to 2GB memory and 128GB SSD, the LG X300 runs Windows 7 Home Premium OS and ships with a spare 2-cell battery to provide up to seven hours of use. Thanks to its fan-less, silent operation, the portable PC is also extremely quiet to run, while the LG Smart Pack – LG’s smartest software suite for PC users – ensures the LG X300 is easy to use, even for novices.

The LG X300 packs multimedia features including a 1.3-megapixel webcam with a You-Cam viewer, and SRS TruSurround HD sound. And thanks to an embedded 3G modem chipset, users can easily get online via GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, or HSDPA networks.

The LG X300 will be available in Asia starting in March, followed by the Middle East and South America. Prices will vary country-to-country and will be announced separately in each market.

Who knows what’s actually housed in the device, but judging by the accompanying placard, MSI is playing the aesthetic card with this one. Designed as both a PC and a decoration for the home, it’s certainly pleasing on the eye. And like the sign says, “don’t try to put in toast” — cute, but we’d rather that line had a commitment to releasing this sucker. Or a price range. Or some hint as specs. Or anything tangible, really.

MSI Toast PC catches our eye, and that’s all she wrote originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So here’s the good news: Turtle Beach announced a universal version of their gaming-oriented chat headset. In stereo, it mixes your talking with your gaming perfectly, meaning you won’t be shouting at your teammates (unintentionally). Here’s the bad news:

Just like the otherwise superb Astro A40s, the Ear Force PX21s require a lot of cordage—namely, a USB plug for chat audio and a line to your stereo RCA outputs. Plus, they cost $80, which, at $20 more than Turtle Beach’s similar Xbox 360 exclusive stereo headset, is putting you into surround sound headset territory.

But if you game a lot on the 360 and the PS3—which many of you do—the PX21 may be worth a look.

Note: If you’re willing to drop a bit more coin and can go without chatting on the PS3, the more expensive X41 headset is both wireless and fantastic. [Turtle Beach]

It’s been done before, and in many ways, but Cablevision’s new plan for slinging what’s on your PC to your TV might be one of the most interesting tries yet. Dubbed “PC to TV Media Relay,” the new service will let subscribers that get their broadband internet and cable TV from Cablevision load up a bit of software on their Windows PC (a Mac version is forthcoming) that pushes whatever is on the computer through to a dedicated channel on the cable box. The real win here is the absolute lack of new hardware that’s required (as far as we can tell), though we’re guessing Cablevision is doing something fancy on the back end to route the video locally instead of streaming it over the entire internet. The service will start trials in June, and is a pretty overt move to keep users from dropping their cable TV service altogether as internet video continues to gain steam and Intel Wireless Display makes something like this into default functionality. In all, it’s hard not to see this as just a stopgap, but it’s certainly an intriguing one.

Cablevision’s new ‘PC to TV Media Relay’ slings PC media to your cable box, fuzzy on the details originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not the first time Nvidia’s slapped bigger numbers on older cards, PC Perspective reports that a bunch of the 300 series cards are reincarnated versions of previous cards.

The GeForce 310 is the same as the GeForce 210, using the GT218 core; the GeForce 315 uses the same GT216 core as the GT 220; and the GT 340 is basically a GT 240. And then there’s the GT 320 and GT 330, which use the G92b core, which has roots going back to the GeForce 8800 GT (a card that debuted in 2007).

Man, those new Fermi-powered chips can’t come fast enough. [PC Perspective]

Habey’s no stranger to the diminutive PC arena, but the latest from the company just might be the one you’ve been scouting. If you’ve been scouting a mini PC that’s dead-silent, that is. The BIS-6620 is described as “an ultra-compact fanless and noiseless PC platform based on the Intel Atom Z510 processor,” measuring just 4.5- x 4.5- x 1.5-inches and offering up GMA 500 graphics, 1080p hardware decoding, a single DDR2 SODIMM memory slot, room for a 1.8-inch (iPod classic-sized), a few USB 2.0 sockets, integrated SD / CF card readers, gigabit Ethernet port, an optional WiFi module and your choice of OS (Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Linux). There’s a fair chance this could double as a simplistic media player in your cramped studio apartment, and at just $299.99 at NewEgg, you won’t be shattering the bank in the process. Video’s after the break.

Continue reading Habey intros fanless, noiseless Atom Z510-based BIS-6620 mini PC: shh!

Habey intros fanless, noiseless Atom Z510-based BIS-6620 mini PC: shh! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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