Samsung hopes to launch OLED laptops next year

Samsung is hoping to launch OLED-equipped laptops by the third quarter of next year. According the company's head of worldwide sales and marketing, Kyu Uhm, Samsung is the largest OLED screen manufacturer. Uhm added that Samsung will adopt OLED displays as soon as they are commercially available for laptops.

Research firm Gartner believes that mainstream OLED notebooks will have an increasing presence over the next five years. Samsung is surely sold on the technology, having already shown off an AMOLED notebook prototype. Introducing an OLED laptop toward the end of 2010 would be about a year later than Samsung's previous forecast.

In October of 2007, the company said it planned to have 3.5" to 7" panels prepared for ultra-portable systems in 2008, which would be followed by 14", 15", and 21" displays for laptop and desktop computers in 2009. It predicted that it would have full 40" and 42" HD OLED panels by 2010 and Flexible OLED (FOLED) displays by 2012 at the latest.

Toshiba announces Blu-ray-equipped Satellite P500

Toshiba has announced its new media-centric notebook, the Satellite P500. The Satellite P500 features an 18.4" 16:9 (1680x945 or 1920x1080) LCD display, an Intel Core 2 Duo, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, an Nvidia GeForce G210M (512MB VRAM) or 230M GT (1GB VRAM), and two 500GB HDDs.

Equipped with a Blu-ray drive and focused on entertainment, the P500 ships with more than just the expected trimmings. Additional specs include a TV tuner card, VGA and HDMI-out, a remote control, 802.11a/b/g/n, an HD webcam, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, three USB 2.0 as well as Firewire and eSATA ports, S/PDIF digital audio interfacing, an Express Card slot, a 5-in-1 Bridge Media port, and Harmon Kardon speakers.

Toshiba boasts that the Satellite P500 is Energy Star 5.0 certified -- but that seems moot with an 18.4" display, an Nvidia G210/230M GT and dual HDDs. The P500 is expected to hit shelves in the fourth quarter of this year, which likely means you can expect to see Windows 7 installed. Pricing wasn't disclosed

Toshiba introduces its first Blu-ray player

Toshiba's battle against Blu-ray has come full circle, it seems. After they announced their decision to end HD DVD, there were many questions about what their future held. Some suggested they'd compete with another format; others said they'd drop out of the market. Instead, Toshiba sought access to the BDA earlier this year, and began working on a Blu-ray player of their own.

That work has come to fruition, with Toshiba officially announcing their first Blu-ray player. Toshiba's BDX2000 will feature true 1080p playback, the newest BD-Live 2.0 Profile, compatibility with Toshiba's REGZA-LINK, an SD card slot and more. The BDX2000's introductory price will be about $250, putting it somewhat in line with offerings like Sony's BDP-S350. That's still only $50 less than Sony's 120GB PlayStation 3 Slim, though. Toshiba expects their Blu-ray player to be available in retail starting November, hoping to capitalize on the holiday season.

Though it goes without saying, the BDX2000 will not support HD DVD playback.

OnLive cloud-based gaming service now in public beta

OnLive's cloud-based gaming service has just rolled into open beta, so if you've been patiently awaiting its release, now might be a great time to test it out. According to OnLive's official blog, to gain entry to the public beta you must sign up on their site.

After signing up, you will have to provide general information about your ISP, computer specs and your location. OnLive uses this information to organize beta testers into groups. If you fit into a particular test group, OnLive will email you and request that you run a detailed performance test on your network connection and system configuration. They will review that information and may choose your setup to install the OnLive browser plug-in.

For the unfamiliar, OnLive is an on-demand video game service which takes the computational load of running today's high end games off of your PC, and places it onto their servers. Games are synchronized, rendered, and stored remotely and delivered via broadband Internet. The service allows you to play games on low-end systems running Windows XP, Vista (and presumably 7), as well as any Intel-based Mac with OS X.

You're probably thinking that the service will host the typical lame browser-based games, but it has numerous big names on-board, including Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Atari, Codemasters, THQ, Warner Bros., 2D Boy and Eidos Interactive. It has a library of top-end games you would expect to see on the shelves of your local GameStop.

OnLive will also be selling a router-sized "MicroConsole" which has USB, HDMI, and Ethernet ports. By hooking the MicroConsole up to your TV and broadband line, you can play OnLive games sans computer. The service will require you to pay, but OnLive CEO Steve Perlman believes the console, controller, and subscription fee will be cheaper than the cheapest of consoles.

Philips announces pricey Wireless HDMI solution

Computer and gadget lovers like us are no strangers to the rat's nest of hanging cables that usually forms behind our desks. But this isn't the only place where electronic components are wired together; more and more our living rooms have morphed into media centers with at least a mid-sized TV, several audio / video components and typically a gaming console.

Fortunately there has been some development aimed at wirelessly connecting HDTVs to our entertainment setups, particularly with Wireless HDMI and WirelessHD. The bad news: it's expensive and not entirely practical for now. Nevertheless, looking to gain an early foothold on the market, Philips has announced a pair of Wireless HDMI boxes which aim to let users connect audio and video devices to their TVs without all the clutter.

The Wireless HDTV link will let you relocate or even hide your components up to 20 meters away while still sending a 1080p/30 HD signal. But getting rid of wires will come at the cost of adding two separate boxes; the image source (Blu-ray player, for example) is connected to a transmitter box and the TV or projector is connected to a smaller receiver box.

This setup makes more sense if the two devices are not located next to each other, but eventually Wireless HDMI technology will be built into home electronic products -- thus obviating the need for transmitter and receiver boxes. Phillips' solution includes two digital HDMI connections, two component connections, and a hefty 600 Euro ($850) price tag.

ATI Radeon HD 5800-series pricing revealed.

We've been hearing many good things about AMD's upcoming DirectX 11 GPU, code-named RV870. Starting with an early demonstration back in June, the company has been touting new features like tessellation, soft shadows, and ambient occlusion -- even offering a glimpse at them running on an “Evergreen” reference card at QuakeCon.

There are also rumors floating around about a 1.6x performance increase over current RV770 chips; and yet solid details regarding price are still elusive to us. Several sites have suggested a starting point at around $249. However, if Bright Side of News is correct, the first cards could sell for a bit more than that.

According to the site, the Radeon HD 5850 should retail for $279-299 (about the same price that the 4870 launched last year) while the 5870 will sell for $100 more. They also expect AMD to announce a dual-GPU, single PCB variant dubbed Radeon HD 5870 X2, which will reportedly launch at a hefty $599. The graphics firm will leave the $499 bracket empty, perhaps waiting for Nvidia to make its move and then adjusting its pricing strategy accordingly.

Nvidia may be a little late to the party, though. The latest rumors suggest their competing GT300 card will begin shipping "in December at the earliest," while AMD is prepared to launch its Radeon HD 5800 series in late September and will start mass shipping in October.

EVGA intros enthusiast four-way SLI X58 motherboard

EVGA has pulled back the curtain on the world's first four-way GTX 285 SLI capable X58-based motherboard. Simply christened "EVGA X58 Classified 4-Way SLI," the board supports the use of up to four single-PCB GPUs simultaneously. To accompany it, EVGA has also introduced a Classified-branded GTX 285 video card.

EVGA's has built their new motherboard around the XL-ATX form factor, and houses seven PCI-E slots with support for two, three, and four-way SLI or CrossFireX configurations. It features a 10 phase digital PWM with a switching frequency of 1333KHz, low ESR/ESL film capacitor, 100% solid state capacitors, and 300% more gold content on the LGA1366 socket.

Other specs include support for 24GB of DDR3 1600MHz RAM, nine SATA II host adapters with support for RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, and JBOD, dual gigabit Ethernet, twelve USB 2.0 ports, and more. The board's complementary GTX 285 features an 8 phase digital PWM, low ESR/ESL film capacitor, X-Cool jumper, three PCI-E 6-pin connectors, and dedicated voltage read points.

EVGA's impressive offering is said to have broken four 3DMark world records during the Motor City Overclocking Event. The company recommends that the X58 Classified motherboard be used with a chassis that has nine or more expansion slots. Note that the board is quite large at 13.5" x 10.3", so be sure to break out a measuring tape before placing your order.

EVGA is obviously targeting the extreme enthusiast community, and as such, you can expect to pay for it. The X58 Classified 4-Way SLI motherboard is stamped with an MSRP of $450, and the GTX 285 Classified GPU is equally pricey at $380.

Nokia reveals full specs and price of Booklet 3G

Early last week, Nokia announced its much-expected entry into the netbook space with the Booklet 3G. The company hyped the device's 3G connectivity, lightweight design and alleged 12 hours of battery life; but for the most part hardware details were kept under wraps. Now, with its Nokia World Conference currently underway in Germany, the Finnish manufacturer has shed some additional light on its netbook.

The Booklet 3G is constructed from a single piece of machined aluminum, weighs 2.75 pounds, and is just 0.78 inches thick. Color options at launch will be black, ice (white) and azure (blue). The device has a 10-inch screen with a 1280x720 pixel resolution, and can connect to bigger displays using an HDMI port, according to Nokia. It also sports an almost unheard of 16-cell user-removable battery to accomplish the promised half-day runtime.

Under the hood there is an Intel Atom Z530 running at 1.6 GHz and Poulsbo US15W chipset with a fanless design, as well as 1GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive (1.8-inch, 4200RPM). As expected of a Nokia device, there are plenty connectivity options, including Wi-Fi and 3G/HSPA cellular data network access thanks to a modem and hot-swappable SIM card slot. Other specs include a 1.3-megapixel webcam with integrated microphone, 3 USB ports, Bluetooth, assisted GPS, SD card reader and even an accelerometer.

On the software side, the netbook will come pre-loaded with Microsoft's Windows 7 (Starter, Home Premium or Professional editions) and Nokia services like Ovi Suite 2.0, Nokia Music for PC and Ovi Maps. The Nokia Booklet 3G will retail for 570 Euros (about $810) in Q4 2009, which seems quite pricey for a netbook, but Nokia is expecting the device to be heavily subsidized by phone carriers globally.

Opera 10 complete, waiting to be downloaded

As expected, Opera has finally released the completed tenth version of their browser. Opera 10 delivers a revamped interface, a "turbo mode" for those with slower connections, automatic updates and more. Those who are using the release candidate build rolled out a week back may not notice a dramatic difference; the company only lists a few minor changes.

The newest Opera build boasts a 40% speed increase when running web applications (Gmail for instance). Opera Mail has seen numerous improvements and an inline spellchecker has been implemented. Other additions include resizable thumbnail tabs, and Speed Dial has been given personalization features. If you're one of the many who have been awaiting the arrival of Opera 10, grab your download for Windows here.

Sony to pre-install Chrome browser on Vaio laptops

Google is stepping up its efforts to nab some additional browser market share from leader Internet Explorer and second-placed Firefox. As promised earlier this year, the company has now formalized and revealed an agreement that will see Chrome pre-installed on all Sony Vaio-brand laptops sold in the U.S.

Although specific terms of the deal are not being disclosed, it probably includes some form of search advertising revenue sharing between the two. Google says it is actively pursuing other manufacturers to try and get its browser included on more machines. Indeed, OEM deals may be a key tool in the next generation of browser wars -- and Google is one of the few companies with the financial strength to pick off Microsoft.

The company even has plans to develop its own operating system, which is aimed primarily at low-power machines and netbooks, and will act as an access point for its web-based services.

The deal is not expected to include European markets. With the advent of Windows 7, Microsoft has already announced plans to introduce a web browser ballot screen for all current Windows versions in that region, giving users a choice of which software to use. Nevertheless, the move marks an important development for Chrome a year after it was first launched. Currently, Google's browser has around 30 million active users or around 2-3 percent of the global market, making it the fourth most-popular browser after Apple's Safari.

Microsoft Office Build 4417 leaked

As usual, when Microsoft has a new operating system or productivity suite on the assembly line, the public domain has a front seat show. Microsoft Office 2010 Build 4417 has reportedly hit the Web with some minor tweaks and improved stability.

According to Neowin, the most noteworthy change to Build 4417 is that Redmond has fine-tuned and polished the Back-Stage view feature. The latest leak packs a new upload center to store and share documents online, a new activation system, and updated icons. Users are reporting that the uninstall issues of a previously leaked Mondo build have been corrected, and the current version can be uninstalled.

Microsoft Office 2010 first leaked to torrent sites back in May, and Microsoft pushed out a technical preview on July 13. I have no doubt there will be many more unofficial builds to come. If you're going to partake in that scene, be careful of shady sources -- it's not uncommon for these leaks to be laced with malware.

ATI's next generation video card to be 1.6x faster?

According to a report by Fudzilla, ATI's upcoming DirectX 11 GPU - known as RV870 or Evergreen - is roughly 1.6x faster than the current RV770 chip. RV770 powers ATI's Radeon 4870 graphics card, which is among the top performing single-GPU cards on the market. I suspect that a performance leap of 1.6x is mostly in theory - or in an absolute best-case scenario. Regardless, ATI's approaching 40nm offering should be an impressive step forward in the never-ceasing GPU arms race.

Meanwhile, the Nvidia camp is prepping their November response to ATI's Evergreen line. Nvidia is working on a GT300 card, which supposedly features 512 processor cores among other architectural enhancements including MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data), an improvement over the presently utilized SIMD technology.

It is alleged that Nvidia's project may outdo ATI's in terms of performance, but at the expensive of a larger, hotter card.

Samsung app store to go online on September 14

The mobile application scene has exploded, and Samsung wants a piece of the pie. The company is anticipating a September 14 launch for their mobile app store entry. The store, shrewdly dubbed "Samsung Application Store," will initially appear in the UK, France, and Italy, but the company eventually expects it to be available in more than 30 countries including Germany and Spain.

To begin with, users of Samsung's Omnia and I8910 HD devices will have access to the store, but it will expand to include other models such as the Omnia II and OmniaLITE. The Samsung Application Store, like any other, will contain a variety of software including utilities for reference, social networking, health, and e-books. Like most similar services, the store will encompass one-click downloading.

At launch, Samsung will provide around 300 approved applications. The company expects that number to swell beyond 2,000 by the year's end. Among the new store's application providers are Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Handmark, TAITO, Paragon SW, Capcom, Com2us, Prompt, Pearson Longman, Bokan Tech and Diotek.

Users of the supported handsets will need to upgrade their devices in order to activate the service. Omnia owners can reportedly download and install the mobile client here, and I8910 HD customers can update via the "Application Download" icon on their phone.

LG's 15-inch OLED TV on sale in Korea this November, overseas in 2010

LG will be showing off its next-gen OLED model at next week's IFA trade show, and then expects to start selling it in Korea this November, followed by overseas sometime next year. Excited? You bet. Affordable? Price unknown, with Sony's two-year old 11-inch XEL-1 still retailing for $2,500 in the US -- and worse elsewhere -- you can expect to be sacrificing a pretty penny for small-screen bliss. LG also plans to show off a 40-inch OLED in the "not too distant future," but don't expect to be seeing that hit retail shelves for a good long time to come

Canon EOS 7D pics and specs leak out

Canon's EOS 7D has been leaked in (most of) its gory detail. At the heart there's an 18 megapixel sensor and dual DIGIC 4 processors, which shoots stills at 8 FPS with ISO from 100 to 6400 and a special 12800 ISO mode. The 3-inch LCD has a 920,000 dot resolution, while the viewfinder offers 100% coverage and a built-in digital level. Naturally the camera picks up the HD movie capabilities of the 5D, but no word on how it might expand upon them just yet. All this info has been gleaned from a Chinese forum, so we're still obviously awaiting on official word from Canon -- but if the rapid leakage rate is any indication, it can't be too far off.

Samsung's upcoming WB5000 24x zoomer shoots RAW photos and HD video

Samsung has a new one in the works, the WB5000, presumably offering the price advantages of an 24x zoomin' all-in-one with some of the features and image quality of a DSLR -- that's the dream, anyway. The camera shoots 12.5 megapixel stills, with full manual controls, face detection and support for RAW formatted images, while also offering HD recording and a relatively compact form factor. True details are scarce, but it sounds promising on the surface. The WB5000 should be out in the fourth quarter, no word on price just yet.