All 4 Toys

Seriously Nintendo, what is it? Do you hate freedom? Are you still bitter about the US reception to your underwhelming GameCube? Whatever the case, we’re never going to forgive you for this one. After waiting for years for a Wii in any color other than glossy white, it seems that only the Japanese will be able to enjoy the sleek, sexy and altogether drool-worthy black Wii console. In fact, a rep for the Big N informed GameDaily that there are “no plans to have other colors of the Wii in the United States.” As for us? We’re plugging our ears and pretending this “individual” has no idea what he / she is talking about. And weeping, uncontrollably.

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Dells new 17.3-inch laptop the Inspiron 17 – is now available for purchase. Coming with 17.3-inch LED backlit LCD at 1600×900 resolution with 16:9 of aspect ratio, the configurable Inspiron 17 features the processor ranging from 2GHz Pentium dual-core to a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, up to 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray, a 6-cell battery and a dedicated 256MB Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics core and Vista Home Basic. Starting today you can pre-order the Inspiron 17 and it will ship in early August with a starting price of $499 and will charge you more depending on your configuration.

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Samsung today announced a couple new of pocket-sized standard definition (SD, 720p) camcorder which has include a 52x optical zoom and optical image stabilization, known as the SMX-K40 and the SMX-K45. Both of cameras also packs a 2.7 LCD screen for live view, one-touch YouTube upload and animated playback thumbnails, USB 2.0, and HDMI output with an advanced upscaling technology on the camera and HDMI cable (sold separately), thus allowing you to connect the camcorder directly to a HDTV for near full-HD playback. The only difference is that the former can record on removable flash cards only, while the latter has a 32GB SSD. No idea on pricing, but the Samsung’s SMX-K40 and SMX-K45 will be out in August.

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Ah DigiTimes, what would a morning be without your rumors sourced from within Taiwan’s component suppliers? Today’s tattle has Acer launching its A1, C1/E1, F1, and L1 smartphones “at the end of September and in the fourth quarter” — that a four-month spread. Of these, the F1 running WinMo 6.5 (pictured above) on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform and A1 running Android are undoubtedly the most interesting. It’s just rumor but it does corroborate the hushed September whispers already heard. Read more »

Samsung has just revealed the specs of the Samsung B7620 Armani 2 phone that is said to be powered by a fast 800 MHz CPU that should keep the integrated Windows Mobile 6.1 Operating System running smoothly and all animations flowing as supposed. The Samsung B7620 also will come with A-GPS, Wi-Fi, dedicated graphics chip, HTML browser, Bluetooth, stereo FM radio with RDS, Music player (MP3, WAV, e-AAC+, WMA, AMR), Video player (DivX, XviD, MPEG4, 3gp, H.263, H.264) and business card scanner. Other info, such as price and announces have not been revealed. Stay tune for more updates…

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After stocking up on premium networks with HBO and Starz, Comcast’s On Demand Online project has added its first broadcast TV partner, CBS. One of the worries regarding TV Everywhere / On Demand Online has been what it would mean for free streaming portals like Hulu, with broadcasters potentially shifting content behind pay-tv walls to keep people from dropping cable and satellite TV subscriptions. CBS has been the notable Hulu holdout, although it has also pushed forward with free streaming on its website, including March Madness and even upping the resolution of its Flash video to 1080p. Further conflicting the issue? 17 more cable networks (A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E!, The Style Network, G4 and FEARnet) have also announced plans to join the 5,000 subscriber trial. Just like the previous agreements, it appears customers should expect access during the trial to reflect a lot of what CBS and the others already offer through standard VOD but now with more placeshifting goodness. While media execs watch the bottom line, we’re just hoping the stated CBS strategy of “open, non-exclusive distribution of our content in a consumer friendly way” (from the press release, available in full after the break) could push Hulu to add more HD, or at least unblock the PlayStation 3 & Windows Mobile. Read more »

Remember when we thought that those $90 million and $190 million judgments in the endless TiVo / EchoStar case were big noise? Yeah, they were apparently pocket change: according to documents recently filed with the court, TiVo’s asking for nearly a billion dollars in contempt sanctions against EchoStar. Unfortunately, the original document in which TiVo made the request was filed under seal because it contains confidential information, but it appears that TiVo’s none too pleased that EchoStar violated the permanent injunction that ordered it to disable some 193,000 DVRs in the wild, and it’s looking for some payback. For its part, EchoStar says that it doesn’t have to comply with the court’s order because the injunction was put on hold pending appeal — an argument that appears on the surface to make perfect sense, but since we can’t read TiVo’s motion we can’t say for sure what’s going on, and there’s always a chance the company’s just playing hardball in order to force a late settlement. Given the rocky history of this endless case, we doubt that’s likely, but one thing’s for certain: all these lawyers are eating well tonight. Read more »

The new Nokia Surge just announced by Nokia as its portable Internet device that aimed to the users who like stay connected whether using IM, text or email, sending multimedia messages, AT&T Video Share, or updating and connecting via their favorite social networks. The Nokia Surge is running under S60 3rd Edition and support quad-band GSM/EDGE, 850/1900 WCDMA/HSDPA network. Other features include a QWERTY-keypad, GPS, a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, FM radios on board, and a Flash-enabled web browser. Nokia says the Surge will be available online and in AT&T stores starting from July 19 and it will cost $80 after rebate with new agreement (which requires a $40 voice plan and $30 data plan).

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