Gadgets 'N Gear » Video

Belkin FlyWire Delayed Until August

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:33:22 +0000

About 15 months ago, Belkin introduced the FlyWire wireless HD/HDMI at CES 2008. However people are still waiting for it to ship. The FlyWire is supposed to take multiple HDMI inputs and stream them to HDTVs. Thx box runs on AMINMON WHDI. It won’t be arriving until August 2009 according to Belkin PR. The price of the FlyWire is $1,499.

Netflix Has Stellar 4th Quarter Results

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:22:39 +0000

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has released the numbers for their 4th quarter and WOW, are they stellar! Netflix’s 4th quarter profit climbed 45%. Netflix’s growth was driven by low prices and streaming video services.

Netflix’s customer base grew by 718,000 in the last three months of 2008. This is more than double the growth that management expected. Netflix has about 9.4 million customers now. Netflix launched about 10 years ago and charges about $5 to $17 per month to rent DVDs.

“We are very fortunate to have a great value proposition,” stated Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Netflix’s revenue for the fourth quarter is $359.6 million, up from $302.4 million in the same quarter last year. Netflix’s revenue for 2008 was $1.365 billion. The company expects to make between $1.58 billion and $1.635 billion in revenues for 2009.

IBM Acquires Stake In Changhong Electric

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:13:24 +0000

According to a company filing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, IBM has acquired stake in Changhong Electric worth $15.8 million. Changhong is China’s largest TV production company. The investment was made through IBM’s Global Services China unit. Through the investment, IBM acquired 1.56% stake in Sichuan Changhong Electric from their parent company, Changhong Group. Changhong transferred 29.76 million shares to IBM based on a stock value of 3.64 yuan (U.S. $0.53) per share.

Changhong also manufactures air conditioners, MP3 players, DVD players, batteries, packaging materials, and mold processors. Changhong is an IBM customer through the use of the American company’s Product Innovation Management model.

[via PC World]

New Line Of Sony Bravias Will Turn Off When No One Is In The Room

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:37:07 +0000

[Sony Bravia V1]

In order to preserve energy, a new line of Sony Bravia televisions will automatically turn off when no one is in the room. The Bravia V5 line of TVs will have a small sensor under the display screen that is able to tell whether there are people in the room. If someone leaves, then the LCD screen will cut off power. When someone returns, the TV will turn back on. This will reduce energy consumption by 50% during the time that display switches off.

Sound and other circuits will remain turned on for roughly thirty minutes. After that, the TV will go into standby mode.

Aside from standby and automatic detection, the Sony V5 Bravia lines will use less power than the V1 sets released last year. The 40 inch V5 will consume 129 watts and the 46 inch V5 models will consume 153 watts. The 40 inch Sony V1 Bravia TV uses 217 watts and the 46 inch V1 uses 263 watts. The V5 models were able to match and exceed the EnergyStar 3.0 specification by this reduction in energy.

These TVs will arrive in the U.S. within the first half of the year. Prices are not yet known for the U.S. market. But the TVs will be available in Japan starting February 20th. The 40 inch will cost ¥210,000 (US$2,323) and the 46 inch will cost ¥280,000 ($3,098).

[via PC World]

Eizo Unveils The FlexScan S2242W-H and FlexScan S2232W-E Monitors

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:36:18 +0000

Eizo is very well known for their specialized monitor products. Now they have introduced two new FlexScan LCD monitors. The two monitors expected to cover 95% of Adobe RGB and 92% of NTSC color space. The FlexScan 2242W-H and the FlexScan S2232W-E are both 22″. The S2242W-H has a 1920×1200 resolution and the S2232W-E has a 1680×1050 resolution.

Both monitors have a 1,200:1 contract ratio and a 12ms black-to-white response time. Both have VGA and HDCP-capable DVI port, but not HDMI. Each have two USB ports and built-in 0.5W speakers. The monitors are expected to retail in Japan for ¥69,800/¥62,800 ($780/$700)