Is there room for a product that’s part digital picture frame, part all-in-one PC, but mostly just a monitor? Acer seems to think so, and it’s doing its best to carve out a niche for itself with its new 24-inch D241H model, which promises to do nothing short of “revolutionize the way you use a monitor.” To accomplish that feat, the monitor packs built-in WiFi, along some basic internet / media player capabilities that will let you check your email, keep watch on the news, weather and other things via some widgets, or simply enjoy some music, photos or videos. You’ll also get a built-in memory card reader, a pair of USB ports, a wired LAN port, and an apparently included wireless keyboard (no touchscreen here, folks). No indication of a price or release date just yet, but we’re going to go out on a limb and guess it’ll fall somewhere between a standard 24-inch monitor and an all-in-one PC.
Acer D241H monitor has built-in WiFi, media player, identity crisis originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Want more evidence of the patent degradation of modern society? Well, here’s Sony with its latest idea for selling games. The feature-eroding demo concept gives the user the full game to start off with, but then grows increasingly more limited the more you play it. In racing games, that means the number of tracks you can race on gradually dwindles, whereas in classically themed smack-em-ups like God of War your sword, erm… well, it also dwindles. We’re kind of on the fence about this — on the one hand, it’s hilariously insulting to the user as it perpetually nags him about what a cheapskate he is for not purchasing the entire game, and yet on the other it does at least let you taste the full breadth of the game, albeit for a limited time. However you may feel, this is still at the application stage, but given the patent office’s recent track record, there’s no reason why Sony should be denied the rights over this supposed innovation.
Sony wants to patent ‘feature erosion’ in game demos, illustrates the idea vividly originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google on Friday said it has bought start-up DocVerse in a move that escalates the Internet giant’s battle with Microsoft in the arena of applications being offered online as services.
(AP) — Federal regulators trying to bring high-speed Internet connections to all Americans will propose tapping the government program that now subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.
The Libre isn’t the first e-book reader that I have reviewed, and I must admit that I have reviewed few of them. I didn’t find the Libre from Aluratek to be different from the last one that I reviewed.
Then again, last year brought about more e-readers than I think the general public really wanted, as most were only turning to Amazon’s Kindle to satisfy their e-reading needs. I suppose that this will be the year of the tablet and its derivatives.
But I digress. I will discuss what the Libre does that is different. According to the company, the Libre’s 5 inch black and white screen has “the same appearance and readibility” of printed paper. Since it has no backlight, it is just like reading a book. I think that most other e-book readers can do that, actually.
I do like the way that the Libre wants the first-time e-book user to get reading. It is made to be set up to get an easy Internet connection so you can download many free titles from ebook sites from googlebooks.com and gutenberg.org. The Libre also comes with a 2GB SD Card with 100 titles on it. You can see a complete list here.
The battery life is good for 24 hours worth of reading, and it can also do music files. No big surprise there, as for the support of BMP, JPG, GIF, MP3, and animated GIF picture format. I do like the page turning controller on the left hand side, which feels a little like turning the pages of a real book.
You should be able to get the Aluratek Libre for about $150-$170 on Amazon, and many other retail stores.
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