Panasonic Japan announced the VW-BN2 [JP] today, an external DVD burner that supports video recorded in the AVCHD format. The device allows you to burn your AVCHD video files directly from the camera (via USB 2.0) onto DVD. You can also use it to convert HD video quality into standard quality videos.

The maximum burning speed is 8x for DVD±R, 4x for DVD±R DL, 6x for DVD-RW, 8x for DVD+RW and 3x for DVD-RAM. The device is sized at 139×138.8×18mm and weighs 395g.

Panasonic plans to start selling the burner in Japan for $290 from December 25. No word yet on international sales plans.

Is there anything the iPhone can’t do? Sure you can store your files, add contacts, and play Civilization Revolution on it but did you know you could drive your car with it?

The lads from Engineer Awesome rigged up a Oldsmobile Delta 88 to run entirely by remote control and then created an iPhone app so they could drive the sucker with a few choice taps and swipes.

They also ride their car like a surf board.

The boys come from Waterloo Labs at National Instruments so these guys know how to bring the science.

PS3 owners no longer have to be jealous of Xbox 360 owners. Now, they too can stream Netflix goodness through their gaming console of choice. That is, with a little help from a free Netflix disc they can.

The loader disc should have arrived last week for those that jumped on the offer right away. Just pop that Netflix disc into your PS3 to load-up the software and away you go. Of course you have to use that disc, which activates the service via Blu-ray’s BD-Live service, every time you want to stream something from Netflix, but it’s better than nothing. Hopefully Sony and Netflix are working on a software update that will enable the service without this step. Hopefully.

It was a heavily contested race and some of you weren’t happy with the results but Karen AKA Miss Firefox won our costume contest. Her mix of cleverness and cute beat out even two Iron Men and my personal favorite, Wall-E. Thanks to all the entrants and stay tuned for more great contests!

You know what day it is! Herein lies my usual review round-up (see yesterday’s preview), starring Modern Warfare 2. Right now I’ll highlight the good in the game, and later today I’ll highlight the bad. Very exciting, yes.

From 1UP (gave the game an “A”:

Mixing real-world locations with bombastic set-pieces MW2 continues the guided, thrill-ride experiences of its predecessor, and adds even more depth to its multiplayer offerings. It might not have fixed all the problems from the first game, but there’s just so much quality content packed into this game that it will almost certainly be one of the most-played games in your library for a long time to come.

From IGN (gave the game a “9.5,” but I wanted to see a “9.7”):

When you look at the total package, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is hands-down one of the best first-person shooters out there, and a truly amazing offering across any system. For those planning to check out everything Modern Warefare 2 has to offer – online competition, full co-op Spec Ops mode, as well as the campaign – you’re looking at a no-brainer purchase. For the strictly single player crowd, however, Modern Warfare 2 is surprisingly short, and doesn’t live up to the standard set by previous Call of Duty games. The campaign can be completed in as little as four and a half hours, and the missions make better scenarios and moment-to-moment adrenaline rushes than they do a cohesive, well-told story. If you’re going solo, you’ve officially been warned. Look at the complete Modern Warfare 2 experience though, and there’s no denying its rightful place at the top.

From Kotaku (no review number, thank God):

Modern Warfare 2 may not innovate or raise the bar as impressively as Call of Duty 4 did in order to grant it automatic game of the year consideration. The better praise it may deserve is that it’s likely the game that many will be playing well into next year.

From Joystiq (no review number, thank God)

Though we can’t comment on the plastic night vision goggles or the other bonuses you’ll get in the Hardened and Prestige editions, the actual disc containing the game is well worth every cent you’ll shell out for it. The single-player campaign might not engross you enough to want to play through the entire game again, but multiplayer and Spec Ops will both bring you back many, many times.

I’ll add more as I find ‘em throughout the day.

Additionally, later today I’ll do a round-up of negative things about the game—it seems the single-player is a bit short, which is a problem for me since I’m primarily a single-player guy—as well as some other Modern Warfare 2-related ideas I’ve got in my head.

Oh, I’m pretty sure none of us have the game yet, so it’ll be a while before you see one of us say “I think the game is such and such.”

This is one of the smallest netbooks I’ve had the pleasure to carry. It weighs less than three pounds and is about 12 inches long. It is quite thin and the 10-inch, 1280×720 pixel screen is covered in glossy glass. The keyboard us tucked tight against the screen giving you about four inches of palm space on the wrist-rest/trackpad portion versus the same space for all the keys.

The model we tested had a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and a Intel Atom Z530 Processor running at 1.6 GHz. I has an SD card slot, SIM slot, and supports WiFi and Bluetooth. It includes an HDMI out port and a 1.3 megapixel camera. It is made of lightweight aluminum and has a definite MacBook feel except for the rounded front and top.

It also includes integrated A-GPS and GPS along with Ovi Maps, Nokia’s mapping software. It runs Windows 7 Starter edition. More on that shortly.

So what is this thing?
If your first question about the Booklet 3G is “Where can I buy it?” you may be slightly surprised. The Booklet is selling at Best Buy for $299.99 with two year Data Connect contract which ensures you’ll have 3G Internet in areas, presumably, where AT&T 3G is supported. It costs $599.99 without contract.

What you’re essentially buying here, then, is one of the first carrier subsidized netbooks. The question, here, then is whether to buy one of AT&Ts other mobile offerings for about $300 (*cough* iPhone *cough*) or a laptop with a keyboard and Windows 7. Call me old fashioned, but my money is still on a 3G phone when it comes to anything with a screen and a Mi-Fi dongle when it comes to portable networking. To lock yourself into one laptop for two years, especially one so underpowered, is, unfortunately, folly.

The Booklet scored 2.2 on the Windows Experience Index which puts it in the same classification as that old Dell in the closet or a potato ricer. It got 774 on GeekBench, a fairly lackadaisical score considering the year old MSI Wind scored 837.

The question, then, is whether this thing is a really big cellphone or a small, underpowered laptop. Given that you can’t make calls on it, I’m aiming for the latter. The buy-in required to own it is also a bit onerous.

Bad News: It’s Laggy
The biggest problem I found was lag. Closing a window takes a few seconds while browsing the web is an exercise in frustration. Because the processor can’t render pages fast enough you find yourself waiting quite a bit. YouTube videos took quite a while to load while other Flash load times were interminable. Netbooks were designed for web use and this is one slow web device.

The trackpad buttons are also a bit hard to press, which adds insult to laggy injury.

Good News: It literally lasts for hours
At first couldn’t test the battery on this thing because I didn’t have enough time to sit around and watch it. This laptop literally keeps going and going. It’s rated for 12 hours and I saw about 10 hours in movie playback. That’s great.

So who is it good for?
I feel that the Booklet is an odd chimera by any standard. It’s a netbook by one of the most famous cellphone makers and it’s subsidized like a cellphone but is not worth its unsubsidized price. In a nutshell, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Perhaps there is a market out there for subsidized netbooks. Perhaps a fleet of these things given out to a sales force in lieu of BlackBerrys might make sense. However, I’d be hard-pressed to find a mobile professional who wants to skimp on processor power to get WWAN capabilities.

I think devices like the Booklet are filling a hole in the market that will soon be overtaken by standalone, wireless WWAN-to-WiFi devices or, dare I say it, WiMax dongles. Until then, devices like this will fill that void although I feel that the end user will be underserved with these devices.

However, Nokia has proven it can make and build a nice netback, all things being equal, for the low end of the market. Is it a dream device? No, but it’s a strong showing and if they can get the unsubsidized price down to the subsidized price I’d be willing to recommend it to the general user.

The exact model will be revealed tomorrow, but at least the key specs have been released today: an Intel Celeron 900 CPU, 2GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive. Chances are the screen will be around 15-inches too and it will have the standard assortment of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DVD optical drive, webcam, and a 6-cell battery life. But for $249, who cares. It’s not like your mom is going to do anything but play Farkle on Facebook anyway.

The promo starts on November 16 and runs through January 15, 2010. The only catch is that once you log onto the free Wi-Fi, you will be prompted to try Google Chrome and set Google as your default search engine. Fine by me. In fact, it sounds less annoying that current airport Wi-Fi that generally has a gigantic banner somewhere on the screen reminding you that you’re in a wonderful airport waiting to board an H1N1-infested plane.

The Kindle for PC app has full access to the Kindle Book store, but it’s through the computers Internet browsers and not a touchscreen-friendly app. Ebooks look great in the app but only Kindle ebooks; you can’t import anything including PDFs or any other ebook. The app itself looks great but isn’t especially meant for a a touchscreen.

Amazon is onto something here but it’s a good thing this app is still in a beta. If Amazon could make the app a little more touchscreen friendly with larger buttons and a dedicated book store, it very well could be a must-have app on all the touchscreen MID and UMPCs. The stradegy would be solid, get those proven gadget fans hooked with a free app and then possible sell them a Kindle. If they don’t buy a Kindle, at least they are still dropping $10 for each book. That’s money.

The beta is free so why not jump over to Amazon and download it yourself. Mac users will need to sit quietly in the corner until Amazon outs an OS X edition.

GamersGate has a virtual currency I might actually want to earn
Excellent idea: flat outlet pulls out to allow extra plug
USB-powered gloves that keep your fingers warm (but why?)
Finally, Roombas enacting a game of Pac-Man
Star Trek Blu-ray release earns a perfect score at Blu-ray.com
Trillions: a short film on the future of computing

Not sure exactly how they do it, and power consumption might be an issue, but it certainly is a cool looking watch that looks more like an accessory then your bog standard watch.

No formal announcement on the release date or the price, but it should probably be out in the next few months and be in the sub-$400 range.

[via ablogtoread]

There is one common thing between all these tweets: everyone is excited to play this game. It’s already gotten two perfect scores and if what early players say is true, I’m sure more high scores are to come. I would add more to this, but let’s be honest, the lines on the West Coast are already two hundred deep and growing, and I need this game. Tonight.

The former Digeo has managed to stay busy despite going through an acquisition by Arris. The company just went live with a slew of updates that show the company is serious about the DVR game. First and foremost is a new HD DVR model. This boy is almost exactly like the current Moxi HD DVR except it comes equipped with three tuners that will allow you to record three separate stations at one time off of a single multi-stream Cable Card. Take that, TiVo.

The new three-tuner model is perfect for the somewhat new Moxi Mate that will soon be able to utilize the tuners in a Moxi HD DVR for live TV viewing. Picture this: you’re streaming a recording from your main Moxi HD DVR onto the Moxi Mate in your bedroom but the wife fails asleep. This means you’re no longer obligated to watch Gray’s Anatomy and instead of switching to your TV’s tuner, the Moxi Mate will act just like a full size Moxi HD DVR and stream content live from one of the free tuners located in the full size Moxi HD DVR. You can even change the channel, view the guide, and timeshift live TV all over magic of Ethernet.

Up to two Moxi Mates can connect to one three-tuner DVR but can access live TV only when the main Moxi has a tuner available. If the tuners are in use, the user will be notified of the conflict and given the option to cancel the recording to free up the tuner. The necessary Moxi Mate software update will be available within the coming weeks along with an update to the Moxi HD DVR that tweaks the menu structure a bit.

Of course the new three tuner Moxi HD DVR can do the standard DVR functions too. Except this model allows you to record on three stations while watching a previously recorded program.

With the new model comes price drops. The two-tuner HD DVR is now $499 down from $799 and the standalone Moxi Mate is $299 instead of $399. The three-tuner model is only available in a bundle pack with either one or two Moxi Mates for $799 and $999, respectively. Just like before, there is no monthly fee with any of these products.

Arris, and formerly, Digeo has been on a roll ever since the Moxi HD DVR was released last December. This is the 3rd straight quarter that the company has significantly updated its Moxi HD DVR product line. TiVo hasn’t done that in years.

New Three-Tuner Moxi® HD DVR and Reduced Pricing for Moxi Multi-Room Packages Unwrapped for Holiday Season

Under ARRIS Ownership, Moxi Continues to Innovate and Deliver New Features to Consumers

SUWANEE, GA – November 10, 2009 – As part of its first product update since acquiring the award-winning Moxi product line from Digeo, Inc. in September, ARRIS (Nasdaq: ARRS) today announced the introduction of a three-tuner version of the Moxi HD DVR as well as reduced pricing for its two-tuner Moxi HD DVR and Moxi multi-room packages.

• The new three-tuner Moxi HD DVR, which allows for recording of three channels simultaneously while watching a fourth recorded program, is available in a Moxi HD DVR plus Moxi Mate bundle for $799 MSRP.
• The price of the two-tuner Moxi HD DVR introduced earlier this year has been reduced to $499 MSRP (formerly $799).
• In addition, ARRIS is introducing a three-room multi-room bundle option—a three-tuner Moxi HD DVR plus two Moxi Mates that collectively serve three rooms for $999.

The company also announced plans to deliver live TV on the Moxi Mate via the Moxi HD DVR. The Moxi HD DVR will receive the update automatically through a software download. Additionally, the price of the Moxi Mate has been reduced to $299 (formerly $399).

“We’ve heard from consumers that they love the Moxi products but are looking for different price and component options to serve their individual needs,” said Marc Beckwitt, VP of CPE Video Business Development, ARRIS. “The recent acquisition by ARRIS brings the market presence and leverage required to drive cost out of the product, and consequently, we’re able to offer these very competitive prices to consumers.”

ARRIS continues to stand by the commitment to deliver the Moxi “all in”, with no monthly or lifetime DVR service fees. Moxi also has no in-menu advertisements.

The Moxi HD DVR is designed to appeal to the most demanding digital cable entertainment enthusiasts. Some of its key attributes include:

• A native HD interface and Emmy® award-winning Moxi Menu
• Up to 75 hours of HD recording space or up to 300 hours at standard definition, and expandable to 6.5 Terabytes for up to 1000 hours of HD recording with an external eSATA drive
• Access to many Internet services consumers already use, such as Rhapsody®, Flickr® and online video from Netflix®, Hulu™, and YouTube™ via DLNA server software such as PlayOn™ (currently provided at no charge) running on their PC
• Multi-room viewing with the Moxi Mate and the ability to record three channels simultaneously while watching a fourth recorded program on the three-tuner version of the Moxi HD DVR
• Remote and mobile browser scheduling to set recordings while away from home moxi.com
• MoxiNet for full-screen web browsing and SupertickerTM —a ticker widget that provides information, such as weather, sports scores and news along the bottom of the screen

The Moxi HD DVR makes it effortless for consumers to discover, experience and share high definition media from their digital cable provider, PCs on the home network, and the Internet.

Also scheduled for release later this month are additional software upgrades to Moxi, which include new search and record option menus. These software updates will enable users to specify preferred record settings that can be applied to any new recorded TV shows or TV series. The new menu structure delivers easier access and better visibility related to the DVR function of the Moxi HD DVR, such as available hard drive space and other Moxi HD DVR related recording and scheduling functions.

Software upgrades, which have been delivered each quarter since unveiling the Moxi at CES in January 2009, continue to be delivered to the consumer automatically and at no charge.

Taking advantage of ARRIS e-tail infrastructure, the company is also introducing payment via major credit card instead of the PayPal option previously offered. The new Moxi pricing and bundle options are available now at www.moxi.com.

For more details, technical specifications and screen images of the Moxi HD DVR and Moxi Mate, please visit: www.moxi.com. You can also follow Moxi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/moxi_hd or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/moxi.hd.

Yup, that gigantic Dell box contained a huge color laser printer. But to my pleasant surprise, the 100 lbs 5130cdn isn’t nearly as boring and mundane as I thought it was going to be. I really don’t know if it’s the fastest printer in the world like Dell claims, but I do know that this printer could be a serious weapon in the hands of a comic book pirate. (I would like to think they exist)

Disclaimer: I don’t know jack about business-level printers. When Dell first asked me to look the world’s fastest color laser printer, I thought it was going to be a desktop model like Best Buy sells. Nope, the 5130cdn is a full scale, business printer with a monthly load throughput capacity of a 110,000 pages. This printer is serious business but for $1,549 I would expect nothing less.

I managed to get the printer set up after some issues with Windows 7. For some reason, this brand new printer doesn’t ship with Windows 7 drivers, instead I had share the printer on another computer and then the print speed wasn’t up to spec. But once Dell gave me the right drivers and assured me that I got a pre-production model and the retail version will have the compatible drivers, I was off to the races.

The printer is rated at 47ppm in both mono and color and I found those numbers to be accurate. With just a random text-only PDF, I was able to get about 39ppm when printing over a wireless network and exactly 47ppm via a direct USB connection. Even when the document has a splattering of color, the speed isn’t noticeably affected.

But let’s say you want to print a full-color comic book for some random reason. Just how fast is it then? Well, the 5130cdn managed to spit out the 38 pages in 1:38 as shown in the video above. Trust me, that’s fast considering each page is a full color image around 800KB in size. Try that with your inkjet and see what you get.

Dell has of course loaded this printer with a ton of new technology to get these results. It’s the first Dell printer to use ColorByDell, which is a total print quality solution that improves color saturation, sharpness, and print quality. Plus, the printer has a Cost Per Page of 1.04c per page for black and white, and 7.72c for color.

The 5130cdn is available starting today for $1,549, which includes a 3 year next business day on-site service contract. Let me warn you though, if you do buy this monster, its shipping weight is 120 lbs on a pallet and your wife won’t like it if it sits in the living room all evening.

Dell Launches World’s Fastest Color Laser Printer

3 New Commercial Printers Help Customers Boost Productivity & Lower TCO

ROUND ROCK, NOVEMBER 10, 2009 – Dell today announced three new commercial workgroup printers to help businesses of all sizes increase productivity and lower their total cost of printing. Printers available today include the Dell 5130cdn, the world’s fastest single function letter (LTR) size color laser printer, the Dell 7130cdn, Dell’s first LED color printer with tabloid size printing capability; and the Dell 3330dn, a single function monochrome laser printer for high performance class black and white printing. These new printers will be launched and available in Europe and the Middle East on November 24.

The Dell 5130cdn can print up to 47 single-side and 37.6 double-side LTR pages per minute (ppm) in both mono and color, making it the world’s fastest LTR size single-function color laser printer.  The 5130cdn also premiers ColorbyDell, a total print quality solution that delivers improved color saturation and image sharpness and outstanding print quality. This is enabled through a combination of a powerful new image enhancement algorithm, advanced toner technology and improvements in print engine design. The Dell5130cdn also brings significant energy and cost savings by using a new toner formulation that fuses at a lower temperature, enabling a remarkable Cost Per Page (CPP) of 1.04c for black and white and 7.72c for color print outs[i]. With a maximum duty cycle up to 110,000 pages a month, the Dell 5130cdn provides outstanding reliability and is available today in the US from $1,549 with 3 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after remote diagnosis[ii].

To help companies reign in the costs of their color printing, Dell also announced the availability of Dell ColorTrack Pro—a remote administration tool for IT administrators to centrally monitor and control access to color printing on the Dell 5130cdn. Designed for workgroup environments, Dell ColorTrack Pro manages user access at the server level, to more easily control printing and toner costs.

“With a school district as large as ours, it’s important that we provide students, faculty and staff access to quality technology,” said Tim McNeese, Information Systems Director of Williamson County Schools. “After installing the new Dell 5130cdn printers, we noticed a big difference in the quality and speed of the printouts. The great value and high production rate helps our schools run smoothly and collaboratively,” he added.

The Dell 7130cdn is Dell’s first LED-based color printer with the ability to print up to tabloid-size, high quality Pantone® approved color prints, for more accurate color reproduction. With its ability to bring professional quality color printing in-house with lower costs and improved printing options, the Dell 7130cdn includes a rich feature set, including numerous paper handling options, a powerful processor and enhanced memory. This allows the printer to print the first page (First Print Out Time) as quickly as 6.5 seconds in both mono and color. The Dell 7130cdn is available today in the US from $2,799 with 1 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis[iii].

“Dell’s new commercial printers add to a compelling portfolio of business color and mono printers for organizations of all sizes,” said Keith Kmetz, Vice President of Hardcopy Peripherals Solutions and Services at IDC. “The Dell 5130cdn revolutionizes speed and usability. And its user-friendly appeal makes it attractive to organizations looking for high quality color output at a low total cost of ownership,” he added.

On the black and white printing front, Dell announced the Dell 3330dn, a single-function black and white performance printer that can print up to 40 pages per minute (ppm), with a monthly duty cycle up to 80,000 pages. Built for high performance printing needs, the Dell 3330dn packs work-horse reliability, and includes paper drawer and memory expansion capabilities that grow with increasing business demands, all in a compact desktop size. The Dell 3330dn is currently available from today in the US from $599 with 1 year Advanced Exchange Service.

“Dell has always focused on efficiency, reducing costs and increasing productivity for businesses of all sizes, and today we have extended that same winning formula to the printing world,” said Mike Arterbury, Global Director Commercial Software & Peripherals at Dell Inc. “Our portfolio of printers provides customers with valuable and affordable choices and lower cost of printing, saving them time – and real money!” he added.

“Dell’s complete lineup of laser printers provide customers with outstanding value, world class reliability and ease of use to help them achieve more with less, with minimum downtime and complexity,” said C. K. Lim, General Manager of Dell’s Global Imaging Business.

Dell printers are available direct from Dell and from Dell’s more than 50,000 partners worldwide.

Printer Specifications

	5130cdn Color Laser Printer	7130cdn Color Laser Printer	3330dn Mono Laser Printer
List price	US$ 1,549 (includes 3-yr NBD On-site Service after remote diagnosis)	US$ 2,799 with 1-yr NBD Onsite Service after remote diagnosis	US$599 with 1-yr NBD Advanced Exchange after remote diagnosis
Consumables type	Separated toner and drum unit	Separated toner and drum unit	Separated toner and drum unit
Print Speed (Letter)	Up to 47ppm in both mono and color (Actual print speed will vary with use)	Up to 35ppm (actual print speed will vary with use)	Up to 40ppm  (actual print speed will vary with use)
Duplex Print	Standard	Standard	Standard
Max. resolution	Up to 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi	Up to 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi	Up to 1200×1200 dpi / 2400 IQ
User interface	160 x 64 Mono Graphics backlit LCD text	128 x 64 Graphics backlit LCD text	4 line backlit LCD (text and graphics)
	3-button + 5-way cursor keypad	6-button cluster	20 buttons keypad
	1 LED: Status (green, yellow & red)	1 LED: Status (green, yellow & red)	1 two-tone LED
Processor	800 MHz	1 GHz	466 MHz
Connectivity	High-speed USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet	High-speed USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet	USB 2.0 (Hi speed), Parallel, 10/100 Ethernet
Print Language	PCL® 5c, 5e/6 Emulation: 81 fonts Adobe® PostScript® 3: 136 fonts	PCL® 5c,  PDF direct v1.4 , Adobe® PostScript® 3 Adobe® PostScript® 3	PCL® 5e, PCL 6, PCL XL, HBP (GDI), XPS (GDI) and PostScript® Level 3 Emulation
Paper input (std/max)	700 / 2900 sheets	600 / 2100 sheets	250 / 850 sheets (550tray+MPT)
Paper output (std/max)	500 / 1000 sheets	400 / 400 sheets	50 sheets
Multi-purpose input	150 sheet	100 sheet	150 sheets
Max. monthly duty cycle	Up to 110,000 pages	Up to 150,000 pages	Up to 80,000 pages
Size (W x D x H)	22.1” x 20.0” x 17.0”	25.2” x 26.2” x 15.7”	10.2″ x 16.6″ x 14.53″
Weight	99lbs (45kg)	145.2lbs (66 kg)	31.15 lb.

Related Links:

For more details, please go to www.dell.com/printers

I suppose the major challenge with something like this is making sure there’s no current interference. Or… resistance… polarization. Never mind, I give up. Can you guys think of any reasons why this shouldn’t work?

More info and pictures at Art Lebedev’s site.