31 Dec 09 When Bad things happen to Good players

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There is a 5th dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as….ah screw it. Not even Rod Serling could prepare you for the horror you see above. A member at epiZENter named “Powertorsk” recently posted this beauty. Here’s how he did it:

Surprisingly the screen is still responsive, save for the bits of glass that come off every now and again. What’s more shocking is, he was more upset that the store didn’t have any Dr Pepper than he was about the S9 breaking. Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone after all…

Happy New Year Everyone!

30 Dec 09 Samsung R1 Firmware 3.0 improves Battery Life, adds UCI theming

Samsung has just released a new firmware for the YP-R1 (aka R’mix). Among other things it increases the battery life while using DNSe, adds an SDK for users to create their own themes, and icons, and improves the responsiveness of the GUI. Here’s a translation (from Korean) of the Firmware log:

The word “Pay” caught my eye. If I’m reading this correctly, some theme packs (like the ones above) will apparently be sold at their UCI Shop. The one in the middle is called “Simpe Text Style” or as I call it “Zune Menu Style”. On a similar note, I’d like to know how everyone feels about micro-transactions. Are you willing to pay a small fee to buy new themes, fonts, and so forth?

Samsung R1 FW 3.0

via GMP3

24 Dec 09 Happy Holidays ‘09 from DAPreview!

So it’s nearly midnight here, and I think I just heard Santa on my roof. He’s been up there for a while now actually probably trying to figure out how to get in to my chimney-less apartment. Anyway, I’m in the middle of watching the Nightmare before Christmas, but I just wanted to wish everyone, on behalf of DAPreview, all the best for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus and all the rest! Make sure to tell us what you got in our comments section too.

(image credit)

21 Dec 09 Cowon V5 HD announced

We haven’t heard from Cowon in a while, but with CES 2010 coming in less than a month, it was only a matter of time. Today they announced their newest PMP, the V5 HD. At first glance, the V5 looks nearly identical to the O2, but it has a larger display (4.8″ vs 4.3″), and it’s a bit slimmer (15.7 vs 18mm) The two players share most of the same features, but the V5 separates itself with the ability to play 720P videos natively, the inclusion of an HDMI-out port, and the fact that its running on Windows CE 6.0.

Extras include a dictionary, an office app, a notepad/paint app, and oddly enough an RSS reader. The Korean market will also have a DMB TV edition.. It’ll come in sizes ranging from 8 to 32GB, plus an SDHC expansion slot. The V5 HD will be released in early January starting a 299,000 KRW, or about $252US.

LINK

18 Dec 09 The Zune HD now has a Twitter app

Just a heads-up to all you tweeters out there, Microsoft has now added a Twitter app to the Zune Marketplace. According to Cnet, the app doesn’t have any ads, and allows you to automatically tweet about the songs you’re listening to. On the downside, there’s no landscape mode for typing, profanity is being censored, and there’s been several reports of lag.

Sources:

Cnet
engadget

15 Dec 09 Nintendo trademarks “Zii” in Japan, are they trying to block Creative?

I will admit, when the Zii was first revealed, I laughed a little at the name. It sounded like a complete rip-off of the Nintendo Wii. Later, we learned the name was a shortened form for “ZEN II”. Whether that’s true or not, it seems like Nintendo sees enough similarity to do some patenting of their own. On October 30th, they trademarked the word “Zii” which they claim will be used for “video games and other electronic devices”.

There isn’t any proof that Nintendo is actively trying to block Creative from releasing any Zii related products in Japan, but a popular and well-informed gaming blog called Kotaku updated their article on the matter to say this: “Update: Looks like Nintendo is attempting to block the branding of the Zee [sic] EGG in Japan”. Engadget states that this could just be a renewal of a 2006 application where Nintendo also trademarked Cii, Bii, Oii and Yii.

Creative has already trademarked “Zii” in the US, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out from here. If Creative wants to release any Zii products in Japan, it’ll likely have to be under a different name.

via epiZENter

11 Dec 09 GenerationMP3 reviews the YP-R0 (R’Play)

So you’re watching a basketball game, and someone comes off the bench with a big fat “0″ on their jersey, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it’s “Oh great, they’re sending in the scrubs”. Does the same thing apply to DAP’s? Samsung has released a boatload of players in 2009, most barely differing from one another. The R0 (aka R’Play) looks like much of the same, but according to GenerationMP3 it’s no pushover. In fact, the reviewer at GMP3 claims the R0 is “o my taste the best player from Samsung yet”. Check out the video review and scoring below to see if you agree.

You know times have changed when the inclusion of real controls gets listed as a Pro.

LINK

09 Dec 09 The Meizu M8 now has an App store

One of the biggest selling points about the iPhone is its app store. As Apple says in their commercials, “There’s an app for just about anything.” Want to make digital fart noises? There’s an app for that. Want to look at a virtual Zippo lighter? There’s an app for that too. Yes, there is a lot of crap to sift through in the store, but the good stuff more than makes up for it. Now it looks like Meizu M8 owners are getting a store of their own. It’s called “MyStore”, and is said (by me) to make the M8 38% more like the iPhone. Take a look at the demo below:

via MeizuMe

07 Dec 09 Archos 1 Vision Now available

Today, Archos officially added the “1 Vision” to their lineup. It’s an entry-level device with no bells and/or whistles to be found. It only comes in a 4GB capacity, has a 1.5″ display, a Voice recorder, and supports MP3, WMA. FLAC, WAV, and APE. Battery life is a bit higher than most other Archos players, with an estimated 21 hours of playback. So no video playback, or even an FM tuner, but at least it’s cheap. It has a retail price of 39.99 Euros and, in all likelihood, the same amount in US.

Archos 1 Vision

via GMP3

01 Dec 09 Creative announces the Zii Trinity Mobile Phone Platform

Today in China, Creative held a Summit to discuss the future of their Zii Processor, and their business/marketing strategies with OEM partners. At the event they revealed the Zii Trinity, a powerful mobile phone platform. The concept phone shown is running on a linux-based “Zii Optimized” Android OS, and has a 3.1″ multitouch OLED display. Check out the full spaces below:

Features of the Zii TRINITY 3.5G Concept Phone

* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Tri-band WCDMA, HSDPA Cat 8 at 7.2mbps
* Full featured platform featuring ZMS-05 StemCell Processor
* Linux-based Zii Optimized Android and Plaszma Support
* Accelerated OpenGL ES 3D Graphics, Video and Imaging
* 3.1″ 480×800 16M colour Active Matrix OLED with capacitive multi-touch
* Mini HDMI port for 1080p video output
* Xtreme Fidelity#8482 X-Fi audio technology
* 5M pixel rear facing, auto-focus camera
* VGA forward facing camera for video conferencing
* USB 2.0 Micro port for connectivity and charging
* MicroSD storage expansion and SIM card slots
* 256MB low-power DDR memory
* Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR and Hardware GPS
* Composite Video output
* 1130mAH lithium polymer battery

Additionally, Creative announced ZiiLife, a software suite designed to accompany the Trinity platform. Here’s a summary of what it provides:

- ZiiLife™ Software, Services and Content Suite
To add value to the Zii range of devices, Creative introduces ZiiLife which consist of 4 main services:

• ZiiMeet – The Next Generation 7M™ Collaborative Conferencing System
  “ZiiMeet is a highly-scalable Multi-Purpose, Multi-View, Multi-Platform, Multi-Medium, Multi-Host, Multi-Party and Multi-Device collaborative conferencing solution that works on PC, Mac and Zii Powered devices. ZiiMeet allows different parties to communicate and broadcast themselves ‘live’ simultaneously across different devices and platforms.”

• ZiiVue - For all your entertainment needs
  The ZiiVue is Creative’s attempt to be a content provider. It boast a wide variety of content offerings such as HD movies, music, and TV media. Creative is already in talks with various music labels and production companies.
• ZiiAcademy - The world in your hands
  “ZiiAcademy is the future of education, paving the way towards a collaborative model for knowledge acquisition and assimilation. ZiiAcademy allows users to explore the information world in an interactive and immersive learning experience, and engage in live discussions. Future Books with embedded video, text-to-speech, dictionaries, online tutorials and even engaging in live dialogue with lecturers or textbook authors can be encompassed in ZiiAcademy, revolutionizing educational pedagogy as we know it.” Sounds totally like the Zii MediaBook.
• ZiiApps - There’s an app for everything
  “ZiiApps works with developers to produce game offerings, applications and utilities that support the Zii Platform. Developers who work on the Plaszma SDK can upload their applications to the ZiiApps store, which offers global support and distribution.” Read: Zii App Store.

Creative has certainly created an attractive ecosystem here, but like the Zii EGG, its success depends on the willingness of other companies to sell them. We’ll update you with more information as it comes in.

[ZiiLABS Announces TRINITY]
[Creative Launches ZiiLife™]

via epiZENter