Sony Eclipse Concept Media Player

Sony Eclipse

This Sony Eclipse concept  is a media player that uses photovoltaic cells situated on its backside to draw in solar power. With this player you have a slight change of seeing the battery low warning very very rare.

The backside of the Eclipse is one big solar panel so the device can get the juice it needs directly from the sun rather than batteries or AC power. The concept has Bluetooth connectivity to stream music, podcasts, and weather updates from a smartphone or computer.

Other features of the concept are a pop out holder for your PMP that looks like a cassette deck from the 80′s. Speakers are integrated into the design and a supporting app for the iPhone would let the user get screen savers to go along with the songs being played. The Eclipse was designed by Hoang M Nguyen and Anh Nguyen.

How to fix your iPhone 3GS cracked screen

How to fix your iPhone 3GS cracked screen

1. Remove the two screws from the bottom of your iPhone. These are located next to the dock connector, remove these with a mini Philips screwdriver and make sure you put them in a safe place. Labelling which screws are for what is a good idea.
   
2. Lift the iPhone screen away.  Using the plunger you got with your kit, place it just above the home button and carefully try and lift the screen out from the casing, you may need to use a tool to prise it out from the sides, but be careful doing this as you can damage the seal.
   If your kit doesn’t contain a plunger, put a mini screwdriver or other tool between the screen and rubber and try to lift it out. This method is not recommended, as it’s very easy to damage the rubber seal.
   
3. Lift the screen back from the iPhone casing, be careful, as it’ll still be attached.
   
4. Disconnect the cables. There are three cables to disconnect from the iPhone itself; these are numbered 1,2 and 3 (number 3 is hidden below number 2). Number 1 and 2 cables are easy to remove, simply lift them out from their connectors using the wedge tool.
   
5. Be careful removing number 3. Number 3 is a little more difficult to remove and you can damage your iPhone if done incorrectly. It’s clamped into place, in order to remove it you need to release this clamp. To do this, slide the wedging tool or another plastic apparatus underneath the cream-coloured clamp and flip it up 90 degrees. This is the clamp released. Be sure to flick the clamp back down to prevent it from getting damaged while we replace the iPhone screen.
   
6. Remove 6 Screws. Three of the screws are located on one of the metal frames sides, two on the other side and one is located in the top right.
   
   
   
7. Prise the LCD screen out from the frame. Once the screws are removed you can use a wedge tool or small screwdriver between the LCD and glass frame to separate them.
   
8. Remove the cracked and broken iPhone screen glass. This is probably the toughest part of the tutorial, removing the glass. I would recommend using gloves for this step unless you want small shards of glass in your hands. Best way to remove the glass is to forcefully push it out or smash it even more with a screwdriver so it’s easier.
   
9. Clean the iPhone frame up. Make sure you remove ALL the left over adhesive residue and pieces of glass from the frame. A heat gun can help with this, but be careful not to melt the plastic frame.
10. Apply your new iPhone screen glass. With your kit you should have some double sided tape cut to size or adhesive, carefully apply this to the frame making sure you don’t cover any of the sensors or buttons. Reapply the new screen glass to this, pushing down to ensure it is located perfectly and is secure, give it a couple of minutes to set if using adhesive.Reassemble the iPhone. In the methods we took it apart, do these in the reverse order.
    • Attach LCD frame back to glass frame, secure with 6 screws.
    • Lift the clamp and slide number 3 cable back in, reapply clamp. This can be tricky, straighten out the cable by pushing down on it with a wedging tool while holding number 1 and 2 cables with your thumb and then slide it into position.
    • Reconnect number 2 and number 1 cables. This is simple, you just need to push down on them so they slot into their connectors.
    • Put the screen back onto the phone. Insert the screen from the top (where the screen is connected) and close it at the bottom. It should fit comfortably; now push down to make sure its in position.
    • Secure the two remaining screws in the bottom.
    
11. Job Done! Well done on replacing your iPhone 3GS smashed screen, now that you’ve probably saved about a £100, go buy yourself a pint!
    

Incredible Gadgets You Would Kill For !

Gadgets are more unusual and more clever than normal technological objects and that makes them gain popularity. These wonderful gizmos ease our daily routine and keep us in contact with the innovative movement, making sure we don’t get stuck in the past. But of course, in the world of gadgets there are also some devices that take it a little bit far, making us gaze at them with hope that we will get our hands on them sooner.

Window phone concept

Is it a window, is it a phone? No. Actually, it’s Window phone and this is the part where you are saying “Whaaat? What are you talking about?”. The phone is actually a concept with extraordinary features. Surely if this could be actually put into production, it would set a new standard for the term “cool”.

AFGT Gaming Device

This gadget seems to be the holy grail of the gaming world. Its interesting feature is the tactile feedback that is used to enhance the gaming experience. This very interesting gadget is made out of touch sensitive silicon, to be more specific, silicon air pockets, each with a pressure generator.

Sound Mug Speaker

This particular device could look a little bit strange at a first impression but actually it’s a damn cool thing. The crazy looking speaker can fit in your car’s cupholder and don’t worry about batteries, the gadget is powered by car’s accessory socket.

Vestalife BumbleBee Earbuds

If you’re a guy, it’s unlikely that you will be interested in these little pink earbuds but as a girl, you’ll find them pretty glamy.

Babelfisk

In case you’re getting lazy in classes these wonderful glasses will give you some help. They have two microphones that can be directed to where someone is speaking and you have text and audio recorded into a flash drive.

QWERTY Keyboard For iPhone

Surely, this sounds like a dream come true. The Iphone is everywhere and probably a lot of you have it encountered the typing problem. With this tiny little qwerty keyboard you can type fast and accurately.

Sliding Pooltable

Bio Robot Refrigerator

The Bio Robot fridge cools biopolymer gel through luminescence. It might look stinky and sticky but it’s actually an odorless gel that envelopes the food.

eRoll

eRoll could be the future of e-reading, along with iPad and another gadget that will be presented in this article. If you don’t want it to read ebooks on it, you can use it as a self defense weapon.

Folding-out Laptop

The Transformers wallpaper on this laptop says it all. This laptop transforms into a mega-laptop as soon as you unfold its keyboard.

MU SPACE

Listening music in bed with your headbuds in your ears can be really annoying and it appears that Yuan-Hao Hsu and Lin Tzu Hsuan have figured that one out. The result consists in a mp3 player pillow that will help you relax when taking your nap.

Wind circle

This will surely start a lot of discussions with your house guests but besides that it will also cool the air in the room. Yeah, it does that too…

Bracelet phone

Concept phones are becoming very popular these days. The stranger their shape is, the more popular they get. Probably that’s why this bracelet phone got so many fans or because it has a round dialer on it, like in old land phones.

Mint Sputnik projector

Portable Interactive Display

This device should be interesting especially for architects or industrial designers because of its interesting features. Its software can take CAD drawings and display them on the surface where they can be manipulated easily.

Newspaper of the future

Nowadays people try to find alternatives to using paper and they come up with interesting solutions. We already saw the eRoll in this article and tablets like iPad are made in a lot of variations today but Seon-Keun Park and Byung-Min Woo came with a different idea.

Air Clean Balls

Enough with the serious talking, let’s talk about balls (…?!). They have a funny name but an interesting feature, they can clean the air in the room by using a form of ionization with a photocatalyst complex sterilizing. It is interesting that it doesn’t freshen the air as you would probably think, but it actually cleans it, removing bacterias and viruses too, besides strange odors.

Geist Projector

We’ll keep on going with the balls issue but this time it’s about a projector. The mobility of the projected image is given by the levitating ball that sustains itself in the air with the help of electromagnetism.

Help Readers device

This device converts text to audio, helping you in case you have eye problems or because you’re infected with the laziness virus. in

HP LIM Glass computer

The HP LiM (Less is More) concept is set to feature a 19″ transparent touch OLED screen along with a wireless keyboard. The touch screen slides down to create a more ergonomic touch experience and easy navigation.

Review : AMD Phenom x4 955 Black Edition

Introduction

There are many essential components to every computer – some perhaps are less important i.e. sound cards etc – but most are vital. One such component which the entire system depends on is the CPU; basically the CPU is the “heart” of the computer. But it is more than that, it is the component which performs programmed instructions, performs arithmetic and controls data input/output functions.

About AMD

AMD is the customer-centric innovation company, a processing powerhouse that offers smarter choices for its customers and makes technology more accessible to the world. AMD is focused on best meeting the needs of leading computing, wireless and consumer electronics companies to help them deliver high-performance, energy-efficient and visually realistic solutions.

Phenom Series Specs

Model Number and Feature Comparisons – AMD Phenom™ II Processors

AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor
Model Number	Frequency	Total L2 Cache	L3 Cache	Packaging	Thermal Design Power	CMOS Technology
955*	3.2 GHz	2MB	6MB	socket AM3	125W	45nm SOI
945	3.0 GHz	2MB	6MB	socket AM3	125W	45nm SOI
940	3.0 GHz	2MB	6MB	socket AM2+	125W	45nm SOI
920	2.8 GHz	2MB	6MB	socket AM2+	125W	45nm SOI
910	2.6 GHz	2MB	6MB	socket AM3	95W	45nm SOI
810	2.6 GHz	2MB	4MB	socket AM3	95W	45nm SOI
805	2.5 GHz	2MB	4MB	socket AM3	95W	45nm SOI

Phenom II 955 Black Edition Specs

Processor	AMD Phenom™ II X4
Model	955
OPN Tray	HDZ955FBK4DGI
OPN PIB	HDZ955FBGIBOX
Operating Mode 32 Bit	Yes
Operating Mode 64 Bit	Yes
Revision	C2
Core Speed (MHz)	3200
Voltages	0.875-1.5V
Max Temps (C)	62’C
Wattage	125 W
L1 Cache Size (KB)	128
L1 Cache Count	4
L2 Cache Size (KB)	512
L2 Cache Count	4
L3 Cache Size (KB)	6144 (shared)
CMOS	45nm SOI
Socket	AM3
AMD Business Class	No
Black Edition	Yes

AMD Phenom X4 955BE Features

The AMD Phenom X4 955BE has a brilliant party piece. This being that it is backwards compatible with older sockets (AM2+), as long as the motherboard has the suitable bios update.  Most high end AM2+ motherboards should have bios updates but this is not a guarantee so check you motherboard manufacturer’s website before upgrading.

The Phenom 955 is the latest processor from AMD, it is their latest flagship model and the at the forefront of their new “Dragon” platform. The 955 runs at 3.2ghz when at stock frequencies and apparently boasts great overclocking potential. The 955 is backwards compatible with AM2+ motherboards as it is basically the same pin layout as AM2 and AM2+ processors just with 2 pins removed. This means that the AM3 socket is only 938 pins whereas the AM2 and AM2+ sockets have 940 pins. This means that AM2+ CPUs cannot be used in AM3 sockets, and no the 2 extra pins cannot be snapped off.

This is what allows for the backwards compatibility but don’t get your hopes up too much as even though this CPU has a DDR3 and a DDR2 memory controller, when used in an AM2+ motherboard only DDR2 memory can be used and likewise for AM3 boards only DDR3 can be used until a “hybrid board” is created. DDR3 currently doesn’t look to be the way to go though with its benefits over DDR2 still not shining through. DDR3 still has some pretty loose timings which until they are tightened up rule it out for me.

The 955 has a few more benefits over its AM2+ counterparts, first and foremost being a vastly increased total cache size, with the 955 having a total 8mb cache size.

AMD Overdrive 3

AMD Overdrive 3 is the latest version of AMD’s overclocking platform. It allows users to easily overclock their system by using it’s built in Performance Control feature. Using these features users can change voltages frequencies multipliers etc, provided the motherboard has a supported AMD chipset.

Another feature of Overdrive is that it allows the user to create smart profiles for different programs. These are basically program specific overclocking settings for when more or less performance is needed. For example when a user is typing a document in word they will not need such high performance as they would playing Crysis. This means that the user can switch quickly between settings enhancing performance and prolonging hardware longevity.

Conclusion

In short the AMD Phenom 955 is a solid all-round performer with the raw power and speed to get AMD fan boys shouting. It is a disappointment though that this is AMD’s best answer at current to Intel’s market dominance, and now that the core i7 CPU’s are starting to show their worth can AMD really hope to keep up if this is their flagship model?

Regardless of this though the Phenom 955 is the best CPU that you can get for the money and with the backwards compatibility may just win a few people over as it cost’s less for an AM2+/AM3 system at current than it will for the Intel equivalent.

Bottom line: If you want bang for buck and are an avid gamer or multimedia enthusiast then you cant really go wrong with this CPU, it has everything from the speed all the way down to the reasonably low price.

Review : Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti AMP! Edition

Building a new computer isn’t the easiest of tasks. You’ve got to choose the right processor, RAM, motherboard and most importantly, the graphics card. This is where the Zotac GeForce GTX 500 Ti AMP! Edition comes in to play. It retails for around the £100 mark and offers 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

Also, thanks to the GTX 550 Ti being carefully tweaked and tuned for the best performance possible, it should prove to be a relatively cheap and great performing card. Let’s take a closer look…

Design

The overall look of the card is fairly sharp and attractive with a black and dark yellow colour scheme. Obviously, we’ve got the fan in the centre of the card, a single 75mm fan to be exact. The fan is situated just above the heat sink, which is attached to the GPU.

As you can tell from the image below, the GTX 550 Ti does not feature any fancy heat pipes or advanced cooling solutions, but in terms of power to heat ratio, it shouldn’t need as much cooling as some of the more expensive, and even more powerful, graphics cards.

The rear of the card carries on the black and yellow theme with a completely black board. If you look in the top corner, you can also see the 2-way SLI connection.

Now, ZOTAC have slightly modified the design of the NVIDIA GTX550 Ti, on which the AMP! Edition is based, here so that the AMP! Edition also features a port to make Display Port connectivity possible. As you can see, there are two DVI ports, a HDMI port and the Display Port.

Above these, the hot air from the card will be blown out whilst in use. However, due to the size limitation, some hot air could be blown back in to the PC. If you’ve got decent case airflow, this shouldn’t cause too much of a problem though.

Test System
Processor	AMD Athlon II X4 620    (2.60 GHZ)
Memory	Kingston HyperX   DDR3-2133 ( 2X2GB )
Motherboard	ASUS-M4A785TD-M EVO
Graphics card	Zotac GeForce GTX 550Ti DDR5 – 1GB
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower 650w
Operating System	Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Overall, we’ve had a fairly good time with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti AMP! Edition. Obviously, this isn’t a high-end gaming card, but we’ve seen some fairly impressive results for a card that only costs around £100.

There were a few aspects, such as the temperature, which have let the card down slightly with it reaching almost 90 degrees (celcius) whilst under load.

The 550 Ti AMP! has certainly out-performed the previous NVIDIA card, the GeForce GTS 450, but the card does struggle slightly with the most recent DX11 games.

Despite the few aspects that weren’t up to standard, we’d definitely recommend this card for people on a tight budget, but need decent graphics for their gaming needs.

Pros

• Price


• Overclocked


• Can fit in all PCs due to small size

Cons

• Cooling system isn’t brilliant
  

News : Apple iPad 3

Now, with one hell of a lot of rumours going around at the moment, the release date of the Apple iPad 3 is still unknown, but there’s certainly been quite a few guesses as to when the new device will be released.

Reports, at the moment, have suggested that the Apple iPad 3 will be unveiled during the first week of March (so that’s just under a month away!), followed by the release soon after.

There have been many rumours regarding the design and hardware that might feature in the Apple iPad 3, the most popular being a HD screen, which will feature a very high resolution and will be similar to the Retina Display we’ve come to know and love in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

An unnamed insider recently said this: “The new display is capable of greater resolution than the current iPad, with more pixels on its screen than some high- definition televisions. The pixels are small enough to make the images look like printed material. Videos begin playing almost instantly because of the additional graphics processing.”

Reports have also suggested that whilst the Apple iPad 3 might just be receiving a hardware upgrade, the overall thickness might even become thicker by 1mm, to accommodate a new display, A6 quad-core CPU and improved optics for the rear camera.

Review : Logitech G5 V2 Gaming Mouse

Introduction

One of the leading dominators of the gaming mouse market is Logitech. Since their MX518 gaming mouse release, their mice have gone from strength to strength. Today we’ve got one of the newer gaming mice, in favour of the G5 Version 2. Let’s see if it lives up to its predecessors…

Features

• Adjustable weight cartridge: Use up to 36 grams of weight to customize your mouse with a heft and balance that’s just right for your game.
• Adjustable sensitivity: Shift from pixel-precise targeting to lightning-fast manoeuvres, without pausing the action. The G5 gives you instant access to three sensitivity levels—400, 800, and 2000 dpi—before driver installation.
• 2000 dpi laser engine: Experience the blinding speed and unequalled response of a 6.4 megapixels/second image processor.
• Full-speed USB: Get blazing speed and instant acceleration from up to 1000 reports/second; bidirectional connection
• Right-handed comfort grip: Enjoy a natural grip that won’t fatigue you.
• Polytetrafluoroethylene feet: Forget sticky workarounds—these low-friction feet glide effortlessly across almost any surface.

Specifications

• Tracking resolution: 2000/800/400 dpi (user-selectable)
• Image processing: 6.4 megapixels/second
• Maximum acceleration: 20 g
• Maximum speed: 45–65 inches/second (depending on surface)
• USB data format: 16 bits/axis
• USB report rate: 1000 reports/second
• Sleep mode: Disabled

Packaging

The Logitech G5 arrives in a rather eye catching box. Typical of Logitech, the colour scheme of teal, blank and white is continued. However, there is a fire-orange insert in the centre. Randomly placed around the front of the package are features which the Logitech entails – - these seem to be listed in more than one language.



On the back of the box are specifications listed in six different languages. This is good as it allows the buyer to know plenty of details about the mouse before making their purchase.



Opening the box up reveals the G5 seated in a vacuum formed plastic box along with the included accessories:

• Adjustable weight cartridge
• Tuning weights and case
• CD with Logitech SetPoint software
• Installation guide
• 3-year limited warranty

Altogether there are 16 weights in the weight tin- from 1.7g increments to 4.5g.

Logitech G5

The G5 is quite an odd mouse in its appearance; it features a cracked blue design which remains all over the top of the mouse. The top of the mouse isn’t smooth glossy plastic unlike most mice and has a slight texture – - of the painted blue cracks. At the rear of the mouse is the Logitech logo and ‘G5’ beneath it. There is a DPI indicator on the left hand side, showing what speed the mouse is currently set to by blocks which light up.



Like most mice, there is a scroll wheel at the front. This scroll wheel is a little different to the wheels we’ve used on most mice because as well as vertical scrolling; the wheel can be moved horizontally for horizontal scrolling.





On the left hand side of the mouse, there is a large indent where your thumb would be comfortably seated. Just above the indent are two buttons – - which can be configured with the software. These buttons come in useful for functions such as copy and paste, or back and forward on your web browser.



The right hand side has a much mellower indent, this highlights that this mouse is not really designed for lefties.



At the bottom of the mouse are three quite large mice feet – – these are very smooth and quite rugged. There is also an insert and button. Here is where you insert the weight cartridge for tuning the mouse. Pressing the button releases the cartridge from the mouse.







The trailing USB wire is unlike most mice cables. Instead of the standard coating which you’d normally expect on a mouse cable, the G5’s cable is braided in black fabric – - like a rope. To me this looks better and is probably slightly more hard wearing.

Installation

Installing the mouse is a fairly simple process. Plug in the USB cable and then begin the installation of the driver CD and software.

The installation started automatically and went flawlessly. The software includes Yahoo Toolbar, so make sure you deselect it if you don’t need it. After the install, the software may prompt you to install an update for the software (depending on what version software you have). In my opinion, this is a good plan, as auto updating the mouse allows the G5 to be kept up-to-date without any hassle.

Without turning this review into a guided tour of the software, I’m just going to talk about the basic and gaming features of the Set Point software.

The SetPoint software has the usual features for configuring the various buttons on the mouse, changing DPI for windows use etc. The gaming section allows you to configure the DPI of the mouse for gaming and change it depending on certain games.

Testing

I tested the G5 using an XTracPads Hammer – - which has a similar appearance. In windows/ general usage the mouse performed flawlessly. The laser in this mouse is very accurate and after getting use to the high DPI, I was able to navigate straight to shortcuts with ease. One thing I didn’t like very much was the texture of the mouse, this is supposed to increase grip, though I just found it quite uncomfortable and nasty to touch. However, after using the mouse for about a week now, I have got used to the textured surface of the mouse. I don’t even notice it now.



Just like Windows use, the mouse also performed very well in game. The 2000 DPI was a bit too high for me in first person shooters (Battlefield 2) and I ended up dropping it down to 1600 – - which was fine after a while of getting use to it.

Though all of this is good, there was one slight downside to the mouse, the feet. These feet are Teflon-like material and are quite frankly pretty good at gliding. However, as they are so big, they increase friction, slightly slowing the glide down. I noticed this from using my MX518 and then G5 – - the MX518 glides much more easily.

Conclusion

I can conclude to say, the Logitech G5 Gaming mouse is a very good buy. The appearance is either a love or hate relationship. However, if you love it, you really will love it because it’s very unique.

The additional buttons on the mouse and features such as vertical and horizontal scrolling are very handy. Once set up properly you’ll find that you’ll be using them a lot of the time for features such as copy and paste.

Comfort wise, with the indent for your thumb and the unique ergonomic shape, the mouse is very comfortable to use. You’ll find that you won’t ever use another mouse once you use the comfortable shape of the G5 – - a smart marketing move by Logitech, design a mouse that’s addictive!

Gaming wise, with the high DPI setting, popping those heat shots is very easy as the laser on the Logitech is very responsive. The Teflon feet are also very good at allowing the mouse to glide easily along your chosen pad. However, I’d recommend maybe cutting the feet to a smaller size; this increases the glide even more.

So if you’re after a mouse and don’t mind a corded one. Believe me, the Logitech G5 is a very good buy.