16
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony WEGA Concept 51K All-in-One Stereo [Giz 79]
This table top stereo by famed Frog founder, Hartmut Esslinger, has a turntable, tape player and tuner. It was huge—speakers were separate—but gorgeous. From 1976.
Gizmodo ‘79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
When Tech Gods Were Mortal Men [Gizmodo 79]
Anyone who knows tech knows certain names—Gates, Jobs, Woz, Kamen, Stringer—but before they became legends, they were busy doing, well, some curious stuff. Here’s a glance at their lives circa 1979:
Steve Jobs
Now: Just returning to daily work at Apple after a prolonged health scare, he’s still one of the most powerful—and recognizable—names in the [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
Keepin’ it real fake, part CCXXV: Fashion A10 netbook strikes a pose, Acer-style
Sadly, plenty of folks just can’t seem to shake the notion that “netbooks” and “high fashion” go hand in hand — and clearly the KIRFmeisters of Shenzhen and environs are no exception. As if that couldn’t be any clearer, the kids at Shanzai.com have clued us in on the JingWah Digital Fashion A10, a note-by-note [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony Ericsson hand delivers 8.1MP C905a and W518a Walkman to AT&T
While one could argue that Sony Ericsson should really be focusing its efforts on getting a Rachael / Android-based handset out on the double, it’s evidently content with digging up a year-old phone, slapping an “a” on the end of it and passing it along to AT&T. The 8.1 megapixel C905 that we were so [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
No One Really Knows How Many Albums Michael Jackson Sold [Michael Jackson]
Some earth-shattering sleuthing from the WSJ: No one really knows how many albums Michael Jackson sold—certainly not 750 million. See, in the barbaric days before album sales were electronically reported to Nielsen SoundScan—1991—it was all guesswork.
Here’s how messed up the Billboard rankings were in the pre-electronic days: It used rankings, not actual sales numbers, assumed [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
The Blank Generation: 1979 as Audio Cassette Enabler [Personal Audio]
Sony introduced the Walkman in 1979, and I got mine a year later. The Walkman boosted the profile of audio cassettes, which had been challenging LPs and 8-Tracks as a music medium. They soon dominated the music scene.
A $185 TSC-300 I bought from J&R, my Walkman was also a stereo recorder. (Note the spiffy name—even [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
Logitech ups its skins game with the Guitar Hero Wireless Drum Controller
Have your World Tour drums lost their bounce, or the ability to register each hit of your your sweet, smooth licks? You’re not alone our rhythmically majestic friend, and Logi’s here to bring your groove back, introducing the pretend drum kit with the no-nonsense name: Wireless Drum Controller. It’s a Sony-only affair at the moment, [...]
15
Jul/090
Jul/090
What Mystery Product Is Sony Ericsson Announcing Today? [Sony Ericsson]
We’re usually excited to get clued in on new product launches, but this vague tease from Sony Ericsson doesn’t help us out much. Is it the Rachael? The Kiki? Release dates for some boring old feature phones? Something else entirely?
All we’ve got to go on is this teeny tweet from Sony Ericsson North America’s feed:
new [...]
14
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony Europe announces E-Series Video Walkman
Sure, dog — after seeing that OLED Walkman do its thing, anything less from Sony is kind of a let down. But if you’re a music lover and not on an OLED budget, this new device might have to do the trick. Just announced for Europe, the Walkman E-Series Video MP3 players come in your [...]
14
Jul/090
Jul/090
Why You Can’t Complain About the Price of Today’s Gadgets [Prof. Dealzmodo]
So your MacBook cost $1500—boo hoo. Thirty years ago, when the average salary was under $18,000, you’d have paid $2638 for an Apple II with 48K of RAM ($7770 in today’s dollars). And a cellphone? Waaaay more.
Cellular technology had been in development since the early ’50s, but cellphones didn’t become commercially available until Motorola’s DynaTAC [...]
14
Jul/090
Jul/090
Lightning Review: Panasonic Quadraphonic Turntable and GE 8-Track Receiver [Home Audio]
The Gadgets: Panasonic’s SL-850 quadraphonic turntable, featuring the unusual 4.0 discrete-channel format for stereo-besting sound. (As the brochure says, “In the real world, sound comes from literally every direction.”) Plus, GE’s 4-Channel Receiver, with a built-in 8-track cassette player.
The Verdicts: First, the Panasonic SL-850 turntable: This turntable uses the first version of quadraphonic sound, CD-4, [...]
13
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony Squirts Out Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo at 32GB [Sony]
The Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX (yet another example of idiotic and indecipherable Sony product naming) now goes up to 32GB, offering 15MB/sec writes and 20MB/sec reads. [Electronista]
13
Jul/090
Jul/090
Gizmodo ‘79 [Retromodo]
My world really began in the late ’70s. Yes, I was born then, but what I’m talking about is the beginnings of this age of gadgets. The seeds of digital happened while I was in diapers, and analog was alive.
I recall my brushes with ’70s technology in the form of VHS and Betamax (we had [...]
13
Jul/090
Jul/090
Apple’s 9.7-inch ‘netbook’ to debut in October for $800?
It’s back. The Quanta assembled Apple netbook rumor that kicked off in March with a Commercial Times report calling for a Wintek-supplied touchscreen has returned… with a fever. China Times has now stepped in with a claim of a 9.7-inch touchscreen netbook to debut in October. CT claims that Wintek, and Dynapack have all received [...]
13
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony’s 32GB Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX proves that product naming is hard
What’s not to love here? Just look at that handsome blister pack, ready to mince flesh in your enthusiasm to get at Sony’s largest and most convolutedly named Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX. The 32GB stick is rated at 20MBps reads or 15MBps writes when using the bundled USB adapter. Imagine, had you purchased pretty [...]
12
Jul/090
Jul/090
Probably-fake video of the PS3 slim surfaces
We’re pretty much assuming this video of a purportedly “stolen” PS3 slim at a street market in the Philippines is fake, but given the mounting pile of evidence and Sony’s other recent leaks, we feel compelled to share it with you. Nothing particularly amazing here — it’s a blurry video of a black plastic [...]
12
Jul/090
Jul/090
Keepin’ it real fake, part CCXXIII: Vaio W netbook clone handily beats Sony to market
Turns out by the time Sony went official with its inaugural Vaio W netbook, it was already old news to the Chinese KIRF market. The “Vaio” pictured above apparently came out some time in mid-June and does a laudable job of honoring the actual one’s chassis, although the keyboard is more traditional than Sony’s [...]
11
Jul/090
Jul/090
Engadget Podcast 154 – 07.11.2009
The podcast is a little late this week, but for good reason — special guest Michael Gartenberg joins Josh, Paul, and Nilay this week as they sort through the Google-dominated week in news. We’ve got Chrome OS, the myTouch 3G, some more HTC Hero hands-on time (as well as a Magic flashed with the Hero [...]
11
Jul/090
Jul/090
How would you change Sony’s OLED Walkman?
Sony’s OLED Walkman is something else. Literally. In many ways, it’s Sony’s first formidable iPod rival to emerge in quite some time, and with its striking OLED panel, tastefully appointed graphite casing and absolutely amazing audio quality, it’s certainly worth a look. For those of you around the world that have picked one up, we’re [...]
10
Jul/090
Jul/090
Sony Ericsson’s More-Camera-Than-Phone C905 AT&T’s First 8MP Cameraphone [Rumor]
A whole year after it was announced, it looks like Sony Ericsson’s C905 is coming stateside by way of AT&T July 19, making it AT&T’s first 8-megapixel cameraphone. I’m sure Jesus would hate it. [BGR]
Gallery