It’s official. Microsoft will begin selling its new Xbox, called Xbox 360 Elite, come April 29th. No HD DVD drive, but the ‘new’ machine will sport a larger hard drive (120GB), an HDMI out.  Other items included are a matching black wireless controller, a black Xbox live headset,  and a hi-def cable. Price is set at $479.99 and it will be finished in black. Microsoft’s current top Xbox 360 goes for $399 and MS says they’ll continue to sell this version with an option to purchase the 120GB hard drive separately for $179.99.

Official page here.

Microsoft to sell Xbox 360 with larger hard drive [Reuters]

The small screen on our portable device can sometimes prove frustrating and eye numbing. If Texas Instruments has their way, we’ll all be ‘gorilla projection artists’ and no longer will be all attempt to huddle around small handheld device in hopes of catching a glimpse of ‘Sasquatch’ in the wild. Now, we’ve reported on this before, but at the time there wasn’t a working prototype. Apparently at this year’s CTIA Wireless 2007 show, Texas Instruments showed off its mini DLP projector, called the Pico; small enough to fit in a cell phone – they had it inside a replica device. According to TI the projector will display in DVD quality (course it depends on the source) and is composed of a DLP, 3 lasers, and a power supply. No word when this thing will hit the street, but I’d expect the ‘power supply’ issue to be their last major hurdle.

Texas Instruments announces cell phone DLP Projector [M&C]

You’ve probably heard of the Pleo by now. It was supposed to be released March ’07 but has been pushed back to Summer ’07 due to some engineering problems (sort of guessing), and Caleb and team’s desire to seek perfection (I think they decided to add yet another sensor). We still don’t have the official release date or price, but this video will no doubt attract even more buyers and knock your socks off at the same time. If you sign up for their newsletter you’ll get preorder rights before the general product.

Video here.

If you’re trying to clear your conscience – perhaps you hit a small dear or squirrel on your way to the office today – then you might want to consider donating a portion of your cell phone bill. Amnesty International plans to roll out their own cellular service. For $29.99 you’ll get 200 anytime minutes, and free night and weekends. You’re probably scratching your head and thinking “why the hell would I pay $30 for 200 minutes when T-Mob gives me 600 minutes for $35.99?”. For the good of humanity of course. The lack of minutes means they can donate 10% of your payments to charity. Included in the 2 year agreement (I almost called it a ‘deal’…laughable) is an LG 225 camera phone (think pics of 3rd world children when, and if you visit), ear piece and car charger. “Car charger” exclaims one reader! There’s also some part of the bill that includes Citizen Action Alerts where you can reach out to “targeted decision makers”. This last part is unclear, but just take pride in knowing every minutes is a minute well spent, especially when your calling gramps and supporting a small 3rd world orphan all in a few key strokes.

More info here.

Amnesty Int’l Debuts Wireless Service [DigitalTrends]

Digitalreviews got their mitts on a MoGo Bluetooth Mouse by Newton Peripherals. We featured this product some time ago, but at the time I don’t think it was available for review. DR walked away pretty pleased with the slender device and were surprised that it could feel so ergonomic given that it fits in any PC card slot for charging. According to them there’s a small version already available and they’re already lookin’ to review it. My take aways: a must have mouse for any road warrior, but don’t expect a desktop replacement…but if you did you’re an idiot and shouldn’t have a job that entitles (forces) you to travel.

JVC Everio GZMG21 Introduction
Imagine putting a hard drive in a camcorder case that can record hours upon hours of video, no more need to switch out a tape or a DVD. Imagine that camcorder is small–really small, about the size of a large fist. It’s light, too, weighing less than 14 ounces with its battery. Well, the product is the JVC Everio GZMG21 20GB HDD Digital Media Camcorder.

JVC Everio GZMG21 Design
The Everio looks like any other camcorder, but smaller and easier to use. It has a strap handle on the right side, a flip-out LCD on the left side, the battery pack in the back. The bottom side of the camera holds a tripod mount and a Secure Digital card slot. Since the camcorder uses a hard drive rather than tapes or DVDs, the entire case is solid, with no pop-out door for video media as in most camcorders. 5.8 x 7.7 x 7.3 inches.

JVC Everio GZMG21 Features
With a high-capacity 1.8-inch hard disk drive built into a compact body that weighs-in at less than 1 pound, Everio G camcorders are the perfect companion to record your moving and still memories. Its onboard 20GB hard drive can record as much as 25 hours of video at the lowest quality or 4.5 hours of video at the highest setting. Its 680,000-pixel CCD works with an image-stabilized 32X optical zoom lens. The GZ-MG21 can shoot both standard 4:3 and wide-screen 16:9 video. The 2.5-inch LCD is nice and bright.

JVC Everio GZMG21 Performance
Once you record video to the camcorder’s hard drive, you can transfer it to a computer via a USB 2.0 connection. The video uses standard MPEG-2 encoding format, although you’ll have to rename the .mod file extensions to .mpg so that many players will recognize them.

Whats included in the package
GZ-MG21 Everio camcorder, AC power adapter, BN-VF707 rechargeable battery pack, AV cable, USB cable, remote control, shoulder strap, lens cap, and user’s manual.

Conclusion
Just keep on shooting, because the built-in large capacity hard drive easily stores hours and hours of your video inside a lightweight compact camcorder. Plus shoot thousands of digital still images. So whether you’re at home or on the go, you’ll always be ready to record or playback your memories.

This was seen like a million and one times on Youtube. As if using the toilet was too much work. On the upside, it could save a tree by preventing over use.

Click here to watch.

I just got an email from the makers of ‘Clocky: the alarm clock that runs away and hides to get you out of bed” (deep breath, panting…). Back in the dizay (yes, I did just say ‘dizay’) it was simply a prototype. So if you’re still snoozing 20 times before you crawl out of your cotton cave – like me – then here’s one more thing to get you out of bed. Course, if you’re really like me, you’ll turn it off with one eye open and then get back into bed.

Available here for $50 and comes in almond white (yum), aqua and mint.

Fujistu began ‘offering’ its first set of ‘solid state drive’, or as I have awkwardly called them Flash Memory (hard drive) Based notebooks, today. The drives are set to appear in the touchscreen Lifebook P1610 and B6210. There will be two sizes available: 16GB and 32GB and will carry a premium of $500 and $1,300 respectively. According to Informationweek, Fujitsu will start by targeting companies that are looking to order 50+ notebooks, so I don’t expect these specific models on store shelves in the very near future, but sometime soon (I really don’t know and I’m just inferring – take it or leave it). The P1610 weighs a mere 2.2lbs, while the B6210 weighs 3.2lbs. The current P1610 and B6210 go for about $2k and $1400 respectively.

I didn’t know this, but it turns out Cingular just settled an $18.5 million class action lawsuit. If you are a California resident who cancelled their service between Jan 2000 and April 2002 and were charged an early termination fee (this is 115,000 folks) then you should expect a $160 check in the mail, interest included, in about 60 days. Why are they paying folks back? The settlement claims, which I guess they proved, that Cingular (now AT&T) didn’t provide adequate service when they nearly doubled the number of customers (to 3 million) on their network - it strained the system. The best part is that a Cingular spokes person said “While we have a strong case for appeal, it is time to move forward”. Guess I know it now - duh.

Cingular Wireless to refund customers $18.5 million [Whittierdailynews via CrunchGear]