Holding out for steeper price cuts from the Circuit City Liquidation Sale? Well it appears you’re finally in luck.

Liquidators have finally increased price cuts for many big ticket items in the store including plasma TVs (25% off now), LCD TVs (20% off now), and car audio products (40% off) with many other products also receiving substantial price cuts. In fact, I even saw a Circuit City “going out of business sale” commercial tonight on Fox stating the new price cuts were now in effect.

It’s about time the prices came down. I dropped by the Santa Monica Circuit City location a few weeks back and found the sale prices rather disappointing – with most prices not much lower than a normal sale day for the chain. Most consumers walking into the store were leaving empty handed simply because the sales were that underwhelming.

Yet despite the lame price cuts, liquidators claim the sale is ahead of schedule and expect it to continue for only another four to five weeks.

So why the steeper price cuts now? Liquidators are hoping to clear out products even faster by capitalizing on consumers looking to purchase big screen TVs for this weekends’ Super Bowl. Hope there are still products for you to buy!

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Circuit City Liquidation Sale

Remember that massive dual display Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds unveiled at CES 2009? Well Tony Hoffman of GearLog managed to get some hands-on time with the unit and had this to say at the end of the article:

“The target audience for the W700’s professional version–particularly those who spend a lot of time on the road or intend it as their only computer–should consider springing for the dual-screen version. With it, they can create art or edit photos to their heart’s content without ever having their work obscured by an e-mail or Word window.”

Keep in mind though – this 17 inch beast is pricey. The dual display version will run you around $4749. Ouch.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds, GearLog, Hands-on

So you have a standard 16:9 aspect ratio HDTV set and you’re enjoying the latest episode of American Idol in HD which nicely fills the screen from edge to edge. Then you pop in a copy of Transformers in Blu-ray and you’re bugged that the film doesn’t fill the entire display. Why?  Because Transformers is shown in anamorphic widescreen or 2.35:1 aspect ratio. So what do you do? You can always try and zoom in or scale the picture to fit the screen but you’ll either lose other data or distort the resulting picture.

Philips has a better idea – why not create a widescreen display that closely matches the anamorphic format? That’s exactly what they did in creating the new Cinema 21:9 display – a display that closely matches the 2.35:1 aspect ratio found in most movies today (it’s just slightly off). The Cinema 21:9 display measures a large 56 inches and features three-sided Ambilight Spectra technology which illuminates the background edges to match the content being displayed.

Oh and what about 4:3 and 16:9/16:10 content? According to the Philips press release, the content will be stretched or “adapted” to fill the 21:9 screen. Personally, I’d rather see it presented in the original aspect ratio and suffer through vertical black bars. Can’t win it all can we?

The Cinema 21:9 LCD TV will be available this spring.

[Check it out via CrunchGear]

Technorati Tags: Philips, Cinema 21:9 LCD TV

Ingram Micro’s house brand, known as V7, now has a complete line of carrying cases manufactured by Targus. The lineup includes laptop computer carrying cases, two backpacks, a messenger bag, and a slip case. Here’s what you need to know about each of the new products:

Deluxe Top Loader Carrying Case:

• Dedicated padded notebook section designed to fit up to 15.6” widescreen laptops
• Includes a separate zippered file section with two internal padded accessory pockets. Two front pockets for quick and easy access to business cards, pens, keys or other accessories.
• Ergonomic padded shoulder strap
• Includes two overlapping handles for easy carrying convenience.
• Multiple pockets for storage of accessories.
• Made of durable 420 denier nylon with 1680 denier polyester accents.
• MSRP of $49.99

Carry Case V7 Professional:

• Supports notebooks up to 15.4 inches
• Top loader design
• Notebook strongbox made of durable HDF padding
• Separate two-part document compartment
• Padded shoulder strap
• Trolley fastening strap

Urban Backpack Carrying Case:

• Fits up to 15.6 inch widescreen laptops
• Two front pockets and two side pockets
• Dual padded shoulder straps
• Key clip, three pen loops, two accessory pockets and as sleeve for files
• Made of durable 420 denier nylon with 1680 polyester accents
• MSRP of $59.99

Urban Slim Backpack Carrying Case:

• Dedicated padded notebook section that is designed to fit up to 15.6” widescreen laptops
• Includes a separate zippered pocket to hold books and paperwork. Two front pockets for quick and easy access to keys, a wallet or other accessories.
• Dual padded shoulder straps. Includes a padded handle for added carrying convenience.
• Multiple pockets for storage of accessories including two mesh pockets on the sides of the backpack to hold water bottles.
• Made of durable 420 denier nylon with 1680 denier polyester accents.
• MSRP of $39.99

Metro Messenger Carrying Case:

• Dedicated padded notebook section that is designed to fit up to 15.6” widescreen laptops
• Includes additional storage space in the main compartment for books and paperwork. Two front pockets for quick and easy access to accessories. Specific key clip, 2 pen loops and a cell phone pocket are included.
• Ergonomic padded shoulder strap. Includes a handle for easy carrying convenience.
• Two exterior mesh pockets for carrying water bottles or quick access to other accessories.
• Made of durable 420 denier nylon with 1680 denier polyester accents.
• MSRP of $34.99

Smart Slip Case:

• Dedicated padded notebook section that is designed to fit up to 15.6” widescreen laptops
• Front zippered pocket for power adapter or other accessory storage.
• Includes two overlapping handles for easy carrying convenience.
• Made of durable 420 denier nylon with 1680 denier polyester accents.
• MSRP of $24.99

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Ingram Micro, Targus, Laptop Cases, Carrying Cases, V7 by Targus laptop carrying cases

Taking high resolution panoramic images just got significantly easier thanks to the launch of the GigaPan Epic by GigaPan Systems. Utilizing technology from the NASA Mars Rover, the GigaPan Epic allows users to easily take “giga-pixel” panoramic images using almost any point-and-shoot digital camera.

The process itself is super-easy and straightforward.

• Attach your digital camera to the Epic robotic mount
• Set the upper left and lower right corners of the desired panorama
• Epic calculates how many photos you’ll need to take (it could be hundreds or even thousands of images mind you) and then automatically takes the images – organizing them in the correct rows and columns needed to capture the panorama
• Upload all of the captured images to your PC where the GigaPan Stitcher software automatically combines them into a super large panorama

You can then upload the giga-pixel, super immensely large image to GigaPan.org where users can view, zoom in/out of pictures using the GigaPan Viewer.

Need an example of what the GigaPan Epic can do? Check out this picture taken by professional freelance photographer David Bergman at the Obama inaugural address.

Play with the controls and see the incredible image he captured with the GigaPan Epic. Heck, if you were there maybe you’ll find yourself in the image! Yes.. I think it’s an awesome device.

Wondering what digital cameras are supported by the Epic? Check out this link to see a complete list of compatible cameras. If you have a larger point and shoot digital camera, then you might want to check out the GigaPan Epic 100 which will be available soon. All cameras supported by the Epic will also be supported by the Epic 100.

As for price, the GigaPan Epic is available now for $379 while the upcoming GigaPan Epic 100 will be priced at $449.

I might have to get a hold of that Epic at some point in the future! I’d love to take panoramic shots of the oceans out here in LA.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: GigaPan Systems, GigaPan Epic, GigaPan Epic 100, Panoramic Pictures,

The number of mobile handset product announcements are increasing as we get closer and closer to MWC 2009. Today we have Nokia which announces three new “classic” candy-bar handsets– the Nokia 6700 classic, Nokia 6303 classic, and Nokia 2700 classic. Here’s the quick 411 on these new models:

Nokia 6700 classic:

• Builds on the Nokia 6300 handset
• Premium finish with stainless steel covers, full metal keymat
• Built-in uplink noise cancellation removes background noise during conversations
• 5 megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash
• Assisted GPS navigation with Nokia Maps
• 3G networking support
• 2.2 inch 320 x 240 resolution display with support for 16.7 million colors
• Ambient light sensor
• Numeric keypad
• microSD slot
• Quad-band GSM
• EDGE/Triple band WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA support
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Hands-free speakerphone
• Enhanced voice dialing
• Messaging, email, web browser support
• Video recording at up to 640 x 480
• Nokia media player
• Measures 109.8 x 45 x 11.2 mm and weighs 116.5 grams
• Available in silver, matte, and black metallic
• Estimated price of EUR 235

Nokia 6303 classic:

• Stainless steel design
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, dual LED flash, 8x digital zoom
• 2.2 inch 320×240 resolution display with support for up to 16.7 million colors
• Numeric keypad
• Pre-loaded Nokia Maps
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• 64MB internal flash memory
• 32MB internal dynamic memory
• Built-in MP3 player
• Support for GPRS/EDGE
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Messaging, email, and web browser support
• Available in steel and matte black
• Measures 108.8 x 46.2 x 11.7 mm and weighs 96 grams
• Estimated price of EUR 135

Nokia 2700 classic:

• 2 inch, 320 x 240 resolution display with support for up to 262K colors
• Numeric keypad
• Available in jet black, mahogany red, and frost gray
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• microSD card slot
• 64MB internal dynamic memory
• Built-in music player and FM radio
• 2.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom lens
• Video recording
• Quad band GSM
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Measures 109.20 x 46 x 14 mm and weighs 85 grams
• Estimated price of EUR 65

All three Nokia devices will be coming out in the second quarter of this year.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, Nokia 6700 classic, Nokia 6303 classic, Nokia 2700 classic, handsets

ABI Research released some interesting numbers regarding the mobile handset industry for 2008. As you might have guessed by now, this past year was certainly a challenging year for all handset vendors. Yet despite the overall gloomy economic climate there were certainly winners and losers for the industry as a whole.

From a high level, roughly 1.21 billion handsets were shipped in 2008 – translating to an annual growth of 5.4% (but lower than the 15% growth in 2007). Sounds good right? Well.. the majority of this growth occurred during the first three quarters of 2008 (14% for the first half and 8% in Q3). Things took a serious downturn during the fourth quarter as the industry slipped a whopping 14%.

That’s the market level – but how about the company breakdowns? As we said earlier, there were winners.. and there were losers. We’ll start with the winners. Samsung grew by 2.7% to 16.2 percent of the industry. Nokia grew by 1.8% to 38.6 % of the industry and LG grew by 1.5% to 8.3% percent of the industry.  Of course, RIM and Apple also fairly positive growths for 2008 with RIM improving 0.9% and Apple improving 0.8%.

What comes up must go down right? RIGHT! The biggest loser this year was (drum roll please…) Motorola – down 5.1% in 2008 to an overall market share of 8.3%. Ironically, this is an improvement over 2007 when the company dropped 7.8%.

Motorola certainly wasn’t alone as Sony Ericsson also saw a drop in market share (down 0.7%) to 8% overall.

To summarize, here’s the overall market share map provided by ABI Research.

• Nokia – 38.6%
• Samsung – 16.2%
• LG – 8.3%
• Sony Ericsson – 8%
• Motorola – 8.3%
• RIM – 1.9%
• Kyocera – 1.4%
• Apple – 1.1%
• HTC – 1.1%
• Sharp – 1.0%
• Other – 13.1%

One final conclusion to draw upon all of this data – the smartphone market is definitely growing and will eventually prove to be the dominant force in the overall mobile handset market.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: ABI Research, mobile phones, smartphones

Sony’s new 11 inch OLED TV (XEL-1) is now available for purchase at the SonyStyle website. Things you need to know about the new “Organic Panel” TV – it measures 11 inches diagonally; it’s incredibly beautiful; and.. it’s incredibly expensive at $2499.99. Yes.. you read me correct – $2499.99.

AND.. I’m not kidding when I say this display is beautiful. Actually it’s gorgeous. We saw the displays at CES 2009 and colors absolutely pop out from the display. If they were only cheaper and larger..

Here’s the lowdown on the specs:

• Measures 3mm thin
• 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
• Sony Super Top Emission technology intensifies brightness and efficiency
• 105 percent of the NTSC color space
• Fast response time
• High brightness
• Consumes 40 percent less power than conventional 20 inch LCD panels
• 960 x 540 resolution with the same pixel density as a 40 inch 1080p LCD TV
• Dolby Digital support
• 1 optical audio input, 2 HDMI inputs with support for 1080p/60, 1 RF connector
• Memory Stick media slot

Yup – a very sweet display indeed. However, let’s be real for a second here. Despite the gorgeous screen, we certainly can’t recommend this display to anyone right now – simply because the price is just way too high (unless of course money is no object to you). Give it a few years though. OLED displays will slowly come down to earth as manufacturers figure out how to make larger displays at lower costs.

I’ll end things off with pictures that we took of the display at CES 2009. Again – these stills don’t fully express how beautiful the panels really are. OLEDs are our future!

Here are pictures of larger OLED display from Sony (prototypes of course)

Technorati Tags: Sony, OLED TV, XEL-1, Organic LED, CES 2009

Oh yeah – since we’re still talking about T-Mobile, the company officially unveiled the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone today. Of course this wasn’t a great surprise to anyone since the Curve 8900 was on display at CES 2009 and several websites had began publishing reviews of the new smartphone including PC Magazine which gave the unit their Editor’s Choice award.

If you haven’t seen the Curve 8900 yet – it’s utterly beautiful. This is RIM’s thinnest and lightest full QWERTY BlackBerry yet – weighing a mere 3.9 oz. Features of the Curve 8900 include:

• 2.44 inch 480 x 360 resolution 65K color display
• T-Mobile HotSpot@Home support for Wi-Fi and mobile calling
• Internet and corporate email support
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
• Built-in GPS
• Stereo Bluetooth support
• Sync with Microsoft Outlook
• T-Mobile myFaves support
• Web Browser
• text and picture messaging
• Voice dialing
• Built-in music player
• Video capture/playback
• AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live, and Google Talk IM
• EDGE and Wi-Fi support
• microSD slot
• Measures 2.4 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches
• 5.5 hour talk time and 15 day standby time
• Quad-band GSM

According to MobileBurn, the Curve 8900 will be available on February 11th for a price of $199.99 with a new two year contract.

[Check out the product page via MobileBurn]

Technorati Tags: T-Mobile, BlackBerry Curve 8900, PC Magazine Review

Customers of T-Mobile have two new handsets to choose from – the new Nokia 7510 and the updated T-Mobile Shadow smartphone. The Nokia 7510 is certainly no big surprise since Nokia announced earlier this month that the handset would be available at T-Mobile. Features and specs to the 7510 (pictured above) include:

• Changeable faceplates to match your mood and clothing
• Support for T-Mobile HotSpot@Home – switch between Wi-Fi and mobile phone calling
• 2 megapixel camera with video capture
• Built-in FM radio
• microSD slot
• Built-in music player
• speakerphone
• Bluetooth support
• Email support
• Photo caller ID, vibrating alert
• Measures 1.8 x 3.6 x 0.7 inches and weighs 4.4 oz
• 3 hour talk time and 12 day standby time
• Quad band GSM

The 7510 is available now for $49.99 after a new two year agreement and a $50 dollar mail-in rebate.

If you’re looking for a smartphone from T-Mobile, the company has a new option for you to choose from – the updated T-Mobile Shadow manufactured by HTC. Features and specs include:

• Supports T-Mobile HotSpot@Home for Wi-Fi and mobile calling
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Stereo Bluetooth support
• Video capture/playback
• Windows Mobile OS
• Picture, text messaging
• microSD slot
• Yahoo!, MSN, AOL IM
• EDGE and Wi-Fi network support
• Web browser
• Voice dialing
• Built-in music player
• Sync with Microsoft Outlook
• Measures 2.1 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches and weighs 5.3 oz
• Quad band GSM
• 7 hour talk time and 7 day standby time

The T-Mobile Shadow can be yours for $149.99 after a new two year agreement and a $50 dollar mail-in rebate.

[Check out the Nokia 7510]

[Check out the T-Mobile Shadow]

Technorati Tags: T-Mobile, Nokia 7510, T-Mobile Shadow, Windows Mobile, Smartphone