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วันอาทิตย์ที่ 3 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2551

Transcend 2GB microSD Memory Card with Dual Adapters

  • Taipei, April 10, 2007 -- Transcend has announced its 2GB microSD memory card with dual adapters. This new card is the smallest memory card (15mm x 11mm x 1mm) in the world, and it is a great choice for the next generation of mobile phones and portable devices, which include a memory card slot as a standard. This microSD card comes with a miniSD and a full-size SD adapter that allows you to use it in multiple devices. The growing popularity of high-resolution digital cameras, digital video cameras, mobile phones, and PDAs has created the need for higher performance and bigger capacity flash memory cards. Transcend has focused on the research and development of flash memory cards for many years, and with our tiny 2GB microSD Card with two adapters, you are able to save all of your favorite pictures, MP3 music or MPEG 4 video clips in your MP3 Player, Digital Camera, Mobile Phone, Smart Phone, or PDA. Product Features
    Approximately 20% the size of a full-sized SD Card, but with all the features and performance
    Perfect for the next generation of cell phone and mobile devices
    Two microSD adapters, one for use with standard SD card slots and one for miniSD card slots
    Compliant with the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
    Lifetime warranty
    More info at http://www.transcend.com.tw

Kingston Releases Two New USB microSD Readers with Cards

  • Kingston Technology Releases Ultra-Portable USB microSD Reader + Card Bundles
    1GB, 2GB Memory Card, Reader Combos Make Mobile Data Transfer Faster, Easier
    Hsinchu, Taiwan – (June 21, 2007) – Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced two USB microSD reader plus card bundles designed to enhance mobile consumers’ moving data between multiple mobile phones, PCs and digital devices. Available immediately, the new USB readers ship with either a 1GB or 2GB capacity microSD card.
    “Kingston saw an opportunity to serve mobile customers with our new USB microSD card/reader bundle,” said Wendy Lecot, Flash marketing manager, Kingston®. “Consumers now have a handy option to back up contact info when changing phones; move digital music and videos between PC and phone more easily; and download new mobile applications for mobile phones without using additional network time,” continued Lecot.
    Designed with a USB connector and memory expansion slot that accepts the microSD card format, the mobile device-ready reader bundle eliminates the need to carry additional USB cables and reduces wait times typically associated with Bluetooth® transfers between cell phones and PCs.
    The new USB microSD Reader + Card bundle features a red reader for the 2GB card combo and black for the 1GB version. When in use, the USB microSD Reader appears as a separate drive letter (for example E:\) and data transfer is as easy as drag and drop. The USB microSD reader + card is ultra portable and with the included key loop, can be hung from a mobile phone as a convenient digital data moving solution.
    Kingston USB microSD Reader + Card Specifications

    Part Number

    Product Description

    FCR-MRR+SDC/2GBFE

    USB microSD Reader (Red) + 2GB microSD Card

    FCR-MRB+SDC/1GBFE

    USB microSD Reader (Black) + 1GB microSD Card

    USB microSD Reader Features and Specifications: • Dimensions: 1.29” x 0.60” x 0.30” (32.89mm x 15.3mm x 7.66mm) • Speed Rating*: Up to 13MB/sec read; 3.5MB/sec write • Compliant Standards: USB 2.0, SD 2.00 (reader); SD Association specification standard (card) • Weight: 0.010 lbs. / 4.6g • Operating Temperature: 32° to 140°F (0° to 60°C) • Storage Temperature: -40° to 185°F (-40° to 85°C) • System Requirements: USB (1.1 and above); Windows Vista™ (ReadyBoost™ not supported), XP (SP1 and above), Windows 2000 (SP3 and above); Mac OS (10.x and above) • Guarantee: Two-year warranty on USB microSD reader; lifetime on microSD memory card. * Speed may vary due to host and device configurations.

From : http://hardwarezone.co.th/news/view.php?id=7013&cid=4

วันอังคารที่ 29 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2551

Metal Gear Solid 4 Almost Done

Snake's latest adventure? Crushing bugs.
January 10, 2008
By Jeff Haynes

One of the biggest questions for PS3 action fans has been when Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will finally come out. With the title pushed late last year to Q2 2008, Snake fans weren't sure if the game would actually come out at that time, or if it would suffer a further delay. Well, according to Shack News, on the latest Kojima Productions Report podcast, Assistant Producer Ryan Payton announced that the game is in its "last push." He further confirmed that the game is fully playable and is currently about to go through extensive bug testing."Mr. Kojima of all people is really committed to [the date] because he really hates to disappoint people, and I know he is embarrassed by what happened with the 2007 slip into 2008," said Payton. Some features may be added, but "for the majority of the team, this is the end."This bodes well for the title coming out during the projected Q2 2008 window by Konami of Japan, and Payton mentioned within the podcast that a near-simultaneous release is planned for the game, with most territories receiving the game within days of each other. Upcoming details on the release date, contents of the game, and other details were not available. Similarly, answering questions about MGS4 going to the Xbox 360 weren't answered in the podcast, although Payton alluded to an "emergence day" similar to that of Gears of War.
We tried to contact Konami of America for comment, but were unable to receive a statement from them at the time this piece was published. Rest assured, though, that we'll have any additional information as soon as it becomes available.
©2008-01-10, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
From http://www.us.playstation.com/News/Stories/8394

วันจันทร์ที่ 28 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2551

Thank Warner Bros For Blu-ray Sales Spike?

Thank Warner Bros For Blu-ray Sales Spike?
By Andy Patrizio
There was much celebrating and gloating from the Blu-ray community across the Internet this week as weekly numbers from market researcher NPD Group seemed to indicate the near-even split in sales between Blu-ray and HD DVD had become completely one-sided.
However, NPD cautions not to start dancing on HD DVD's grave. First off, HD doesn't have a grave yet, secondly, one week of numbers do not a trend make.
Blu-ray and HD DVD are two competing formats battling it out for the chance to replace your DVD player as the next generation home media playback format. Both are fairly similar, with the only real difference being capacity. A single layer HD DVD disc holds 15GB of data while a single layer Blu-ray disc holds 25GB. HD DVD was developed by Toshiba while Blu-ray is a Sony creation.
The two have been battling for the market for almost a year now, with the slight edge going to Blu-ray but not enough to put away HD DVD. Then it all seemed over in a flash when on the eve of CES, Warner Bros announced it would go exclusively Blu-ray. The HD DVD Consortium cancelled its CES events while the Blu-ray camp spent the entire conference gloating.
The figures were not officially disclosed by NPD, a subscriber with access to the numbers let them out. NPD doesn't disclose weekly numbers because it says such short term data can give an inaccurate picture.
"Weekly data can be very volatile and is designed to be used tactically," Stephen Baker, vice president of NPD, explained to InternetNews.com. "Because of that, brands and retailers can do all sorts of things in one week to change the direction of a category for a week. That's typically not a hard thing to do."
However, Baker admitted he'd never seen a change this bad. For the week ending January 5, 2008, Blu-ray Disc player sales were at 15,257 units, while HD DVD player sales were at 14,558 units, for a near 50-50 split.
One week later, after the Warner decision to stop supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD and support Blu-ray only, the numbers went totally lopsided. Blu-ray sales were 21,770 units, a 42 percent gain, to HD's 1,758, an 88 percent plunge.
On top of that Nielsen VideoScan reported the top selling high definition DVDs for the week of January 13, and it was entirely Blu-ray titles, with the critically-praised film "3:10 To Yuma" topping the list and three from the "Harry Potter" series making up the listing. Those "Harry Potter" titles are also available on HD DVD, as they are Warner titles and Warner does not go exclusive until the summer, but it reflects the difference in unit sales between the formats.
"It was obviously a big shift, and I'm not saying [the Warner decision] didn't have anything to do with it," said Baker. "It likely did but there were other things to do with it as well."
The following week, Toshiba made drastic cuts to its HD DVD players, slashing the prices by half, and that data is not in yet. Baker said NPD doesn't plan on releasing it, but added with a laugh "who knows what ends up out there again," in reference to DVD fan sites.
Van Baker, research director with Gartner, said he was inclined to think the Warner deal did cause the huge shift. "It all depends on what films have been released recently and what promotions took place," he said. "That said, the Warner announcement and Microsoft comment, when they came out and said they could shift to a Blu-ray based Xbox easily, kinda pulled the rug out from under HD DVD."
Microsoft's Xbox 360 console has an add-on HD DVD drive for $149. The company was asked at CES if a similar Blu-ray drive would be possible and company officials said it was easy enough to do. It just didn't say it would make a drive any time soon.
Van Baker doesn't think HD DVD owners are abandoning their players, but it might be making people get off the fence. "What could be giving rise to this is some people who have been reticent, maybe they have a PS3 in the house, are now saying 'oh it's over now, I can buy movies.' So people who may have been on the fence are feeling justified in buying movies now."
He said his bet is that the Blu-ray/HD format war "will be over by this Christmas. But we'll have to wait and see."
From http://www.internetnews.com/stats/article.php/3723496

Healthy Breakfast for Your DogHi

Healthy Breakfast for Your DogHi, I'm Christie Shaver and I am the Healthy Pet Gourment, founder of The Healthy Pet Gourmet, for About.com Home. Today, I'm going to show you how to make a bugs-away breakfast for your pets. It's a simple meal that you can make to help keep fleas and other pests away from your pets during the summer. Healthy Dog Breakfast IngredientsTo make a bugs-away breakfast, you can use the same ingredients you might use to make a morning omelet:3 cups boiled potatoes 3 hard-boiled eggs 2 tablespoons tomato sauce (make sure there are no onions) 1 clove garlic 2 tablespoons sardines a few leaves of parsley 1/2 cup chicken stock To make chicken stock, I boiled some chickens, and the water that is left over is what I have here. You can also buy a chicken stock at your local grocery store; just make sure that it does not contain any onions. Add Vitamin and Mineral SupplementsIf you're going to make this more than an occasional meal for your pet, you do need to add vitamin and mineral supplements to make sure the diet is complete. Today for my dog hunter, we're going to be adding a multivitamin, a vegetable source vegetable calcium supplement, and vitamin C from dried cranberries. Now, I like to use powder form or liquid because they are more easily digestible than the ordinary tablet vitamins that pets can sometimes take. In order to make sure your pet is getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals, contact your veterinarian or someone like myself. Combine the Eggs and PotatoesI'm going to start by adding our hard-boiled eggs. I'm just going to chop them up. So once we have the eggs chopped up pretty well, you're going to want to add your boiled potatoes. You'll want to leave those skins on; the skins do have a lot of vitamins in them that we are going to want our dogs to have. Benefits of PotatoesA lot of people think that if their dog is suffering from diarrhea or other stomach problems, they should give them rice. But I am here to tell you that potatoes are a much better way to go. Potatoes bind much better in the stomach and will make the stool firmer than rice does, which is so easily digestible. Make the Parsley WaterThis is about all the parsley you're going to need. I've just pulled off a small amount from the bunch that I had and made sure to wash it. So we're going to add this 1/2 cup of chicken stock to our parsley to make what we will call a parsley water that we can put over the top of the rest of the meal. And this will give it a nice smooth texture. Some people call it parsley water, but you can call it whatever you like. All that matters is that we are able to really combine it and consolidate it really well. Benefits of ParsleyNow, you may be wondering why we're adding parsley to a diet for a dog, and I'll tell you it's because of the eggs. Now, eggs may be the most digestible of all proteins that our pets can eat, but just like for you and me, they can sometimes cause gas. So the parsley is going to help your pet prevent that, and it will also add a lot of vitamins to your dog's diet to help keep their immune system at its peak. Combine the Other IngredientsAll right, so that looks pretty good. Now, you're going to want to just grab one clove of garlic. Garlic is the reason this diet is so great to prevent fleas. They really don't like it. So now we're going to blend that up back with our parsley. I am also going to add the 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce that is onion-free. And I'm also going to go ahead and add the sardines. The reason they are so great is the Omega 3s and 6s that are in here really help keep your dog's skin and coat in the best condition. Add the SupplementsSo now that you've combined all the ingredients in the blender, you're ready to pour it over our mixture in the bowl. You are going to mix that thoroughly. Now you can stop here if you already have your pet on a great vitamin and supplement regimen. But like I said, to make this meal complete for my dog hunter today, I am going to be adding vitamin mineral supplement, calcium supplement, and vitamin C from cranberry. Serve Your Dog the BreakfastThis meal has about 730 calories, which is great for a dog that weighs about 30 pounds. My dog hunter only weighs about 15 pounds, so I'm not going to give her the full portion today. Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the Web at homegarden.about.com.

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 17 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2551

Eat Your Way to a Free Music Download

Wendy's, the third largest fast food retailer in the United States, has teamed up with RealNetworks to give away free digital music. Starting November 12th, if you buy a medium or large combo meal, you will be given a ‘cup code’ that can be redeemed for a complimentary music track. There are 100 million downloads to be given away during the campaign with access to over 4 million songs via the Rhapsody digital music service. Visitors to the Wendy’s web site will also be able to register their details for the chance to win other music related prizes.
With the holiday season nearly upon us, this is a good excuse to take the family out for a meal and get something in return. If you’re on a diet, you may just want to buy them all digital music gift cards instead!
From http://mp3.about.com/

Warner Music Group Strike Deal With Amazon

Warner Music Group (WMG), who are one of the big four record labels, have finally jumped on the increasingly popular DRM-free bandwagon and signed a deal with Amazon to provide their music catalog in MP3 format. This is a significant step for WMG who have until now resisted dropping DRM watermarking of digital music. This development not only strengthens the DRM-free trend, but leaves Sony BMG out in the cold as the only member of the big four who has not gone the DRM-free route.
Amazon who operates AmazonMP3 get a huge boost in taking on Apple’s iTunes Store and strengthens their position in the digital music downloads market. AmazonMP3 is a digital music service that is not only cheaper than the king of digital music downloads (iTunes) but also offer all their music as MP3 files - playable on virtually any MP3 capable device.
Will 2008 be a year where we see the continuing shift to DRM-free music? Let’s hope so. Consumers demand the freedom to playback their purchased music without restrictions and not have to use DRM removal software such as Tunebite 5 to remove DRM for every track. Why not read the great DRM debate for more information on the pros and cons of digital rights management.
From http://mp3.about.com/

Amazon and Pepsi to Offer Free MP3 Music

Amazon and Pepsi to Offer Free MP3 Music
Amazon and Pepsi have teamed up for a promotional blast and will be giving away up to $1 billion in prizes. The Pepsi Stuff promotion, as it is called, will debut during Super Bowl Sunday (February 3rd), and songs will be redeemable via the AmazonMP3 digital music service. Pepsi Stuff points can be accrued from bottle caps and other specially labeled products – according to the companies involved, 5 bottle caps qualifies for a download. Incidentally, Pepsi did a similar promotion back in 2004 with the iTunes Store. The promotion at that time was also ran during the Super Bowl but on a much smaller scale – a miniscule 100 million songs!
The AmazonMP3 music service has been gaining momentum recently, not only has it teamed up with Pepsi but has also struck a deal with Sony BMG who will be licensing their music to Amazon in the near future. This is obviously another blow for Apple, but don’t feel too sorry for them – the iTunes Store is still king compared to other digital music services.
Having to deal with a multitude of different digital music formats has always been an issue and it’s nice to see some uniformity starting to develop. The trend in the music industry continues to move away from DRM’ed music in favor of MP3; it will be interesting to see if other popular formats eventually get dropped such as WMA. We have already seen this with Napster’s recent announcement.
If you have music on your computer in WMA format and need to know how to convert it to MP3, then be sure to read the WMA to MP3 tutorial.
From Mark Harris,