Those incredibly sexy (as far as portable storage capacities are concerned) 64GB SDXC cards coming on the horizon? You’re gonna want some hardware to work with it, and according to DailyTech, three of the largest computer manufacturers are looking to bring the upgrade with Intel’s forthcoming Arrandale CPUs. Lenovo, HP, and Dell are reportedly working on new designs that’ll contain both the new 32nm chipsets and SDXC readers. Not that we’re surprised to see new SDHC’s time running out, but it does give you something to look forward to.

Dell, HP, and Lenovo bringing SDXC to laptops alongside 32nm Intel chipsets? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battlemodos give you a clear sense of what’s good and bad in a gadget category, but there’s no way to include everything. Consider the $99 Asus O!Play the new champ of HD video players—better late than never.

The Old Champs

If you remember the HD media player battlemodo, I awarded WDTV Live and Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ the two top spots. The WD is still best for people who want a smooth interface and a hopefully increasing number of online services for streamed media. (YouTube and Pandora now, who knows what else?) It’s actually the Seagate that gets KO’d by Asus.

The New Buttkicker

More functional than frilly, both the O!Play and the Theater+ handle every video file I could throw their way, they both read Mac- and PC-formatted drives, they both browse the local network well, they both read DVD menus from ripped ISO files, they both have superb video output—and they both suffer from having stupid punctuation characters in their name. But one costs $30 less than the other, according to Amazon’s current prices. Not only is the O!Play cheaper, but its second USB jack is also an eSATA port which might come in handy when you start getting 1080p rips of all your favorite movies, and it has a file-copy function that lets you dump stuff from one drive to another, or to drives on the network.

I had only one major complaint with the Asus: Every time I watched a video ripped from DVD, it showed chapter numbers in a big white font for an extended period, about 15 seconds. Not only did pushing every single button I could think of not help this, but I couldn’t even advance from one chapter to another by using the skip-forward button, so why do I need to know what chapter it is in the first place? A shame, but probably a bug that can be fixed really easily.

The Final Score

As I said in the battlemodo:

• If you want a full-on pirate kit, with torrent client built-in and everything, go with the Popcorn Hour (or the cheaper, quirky Patriot Box Office).
• If you want something with a nice interface and Pandora streaming music, go with WDTV.
• If you’re choosing something to work with your iTunes collection of music and video, or something for your parents, probably still better to pick Apple TV—and tell them to buy or rent all their videos.

But if you want something that can play a ton of home-ripped video, or stuff you’ve acquired in some other high-bandwidth way, Asus is a better deal than Seagate—just as tough to stump in my battery of file format tests, with a few extra nice features. That’s my best and final recommendation for HD video file playback—at least until Roku figures out what the USB jack on the HD-XR is really for. [Asus]

Great price for a high-def HDMI video player

Plays every video file I could throw at it, including DivX 7 MKVs, high-def H.264, even obscure home movies from out-of-date cameras

A bit larger than some products out there, but not by much

No streaming internet services

Annoying bug that shows chapter numbers in a large white font as you watch movies ripped from DVD

The path back to LCD leadership for Sharp begins at its just opened Sakai City manufacturing facility. Being a 10th generation facility means it can roll out more and bigger displays, producing six 60-inch LCDs from each glass substrate, 60% more than older 8g facilities. Check out the pics for a peek at where 72,000 substrates per month will be made, delivering those slim LED backlit televisions getting so much love, along with solar panels (also being installed on the roofs for that extra green vibe that’s in vogue these days) and a few of the more than 100,000 energy efficient LEDs lighting the factory itself. Whether your closest HDTV purchase is a turkey fueled memory from last weekend or yet to come, bargain hunters and AV fans alike can appreciate an eyeful of the robots and testing equipment slicing, dicing and stamping screens headed for shelves nearby, whether bearing an Aquos brand or any number of other nameplates.

Inside Sharp’s new LCD factory, we can see our next HDTV from here originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently us Yanks have been spoiled by the warm embrace of Google Maps Navigation, forgetting that our friends in the UK don’t have the same luxury. Leave it to Electricpig to connect worlds, finding a somewhat hack-induced way to bring the app upgrade to British Android 1.6 devices. Instructions are pretty easy, so if you’re game, don your DIY hat and click over.

Update: As indicated, the gang at xda-developers forum have been doing this for some time now. Consider the tutorial provided here as very straightforward and easy to follow — anyone with an Android 1.6 device would be remiss not to give Navigation a shot now.

Filed under: Cellphones

Google Maps Navigation makes trip across the pond, thanks to some hackery originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Notebook manufacturers Dell, HP and Lenovo could soon release their new 32nm notebooks that run on mobile Core i3, i5 and i7 processors to be equipped with an SDXC memory card slot in order to keep up with the times, offering the option for such notebooks to recognize up to 2TB of data within while boasting phenomenal theoretical transfer speeds of up to 300MB per second. If you really need a notebook now, then we’re sorry you won’t be able to play the waiting game as such 32nm machines won’t be out until sometime next year.

Permalink: SDXC memory card slot could see action in 32nm notebooks from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review

Asus is again at the forefront of things with their latest Eee PC 1201T showing up, where this 12.1″ netbook has an AMD Congo platform running within alongside the highly respected Ion graphics chipset from NVIDIA which ought to transform this into a multimedia-capable unit. Other specifications include 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a 6-cell battery and basically an all-round Eee PC look. No idea on pricing and availability as at press time, but we hope to see more light shed on either detail pretty soon.

Permalink: Asus Eee PC 1201T shows up from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review

Forget about Michael Jackson popularizing and refining the robot dance – we’re talking about real robots dancing here at the Robo-one dance competition, where these bipedal mechanical wonders attempt to impress you with their slick moves, putting us humans to shame on the dance floor in the process. Don’t believe us? Check out this chick in a short skirt go.

Permalink: Robo-one dance competition from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review

Oregon Scientific has long released weather stations with built-in alarm clocks to the masses, but their latest release has a heart for the environment by being solar-powered. Boasting a detachable solar panel which will help juice up its internal battery whenever the sun is not playing hide-and-seek behind clouds, you can choose from the $69 Oregon Scientific +ECO Solar Weather Clock (RMR331ESA) or the $99 Oregon Scientific +ECO Solar Weather Station (BAR332ESA).

Permalink: Oregon Scientific weather stations are solar powered from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review

The Scruzol magnetic screwdriver ought to be on the Christmas wish list of those who love performing DIY procedures in their homes, as it boasts a powerful central magnet that is capable of holding up to 12 screw bits alongside a bit socket on both ends. This design allows it to function as a screwdriver and a power driver for an electric drill when the need arises, letting you “grab it or grip it”, depending on the situation.

Permalink: Scruzol magnetic screwdriver from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review

Is Twitter getting out of hand? Well, it’s probably subjective, but nobody can deny that Twitter is insanely popular at the moment. Now it seems that the folks who work at Twitter in Japan are interested in charging users a price to access certain subscriptions. The prepaid accounts will cost anything between $1.15 and $11.60, and Twitter will pocket 30% of those fees.

Permalink: Twitter For Your Mobile Phone from Ubergizmo | Hot: Palm Pixi Review