April 18, 2006, 6:38 PM PDT
The VW Rabbit is back
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

Remember the Volkswagen Rabbit from the '80s? Ever wonder what happened to it? Volkswagen decided to standardize its model branding and use the same name as the model in other countries: Golf. Someone at Volkswagen realized people in this country have an affection for the old VW Rabbit and decided to put the old name back on, beginning with the restyled 2007 Volkswagen Golf, er, I mean Rabbit.

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April 18, 2006, 4:16 PM PDT
Maxtor's OneTouch III Mini Edition packs a wallop
Posted by: Felisa Yang

Yesterday Maxtor announced the newest member of its OneTouch III family of hard drives: the Mini Edition. The diminutive drive is only small in form factor: the two currently available capacities are 60GB and 100GB, more than enough to store gobs of data, music, photo, and video files. Though it's part of the OneTouch III family, the cute little drive resembles its ancestor, the OneTouch II product line, with its silver body (but its grippy, black side pieces reveal the OneTouch III influence). Though it doesn't have the smallest footprint (both the Apricorn EZ Bus Mini and the Transcend StoreJet are smaller), the Maxtor Mini weighs a mere 8 ounces and is small enough to pop into any laptop bag or briefcase.

Features include backup and rollback software, plus data sync and data-encryption capabilities. The 2.5-inch hard drive is bus-powered, which means you need to pack only the USB cable (the drive is not FireWire compatible). We would've liked a little carrying case, too, but that's a minor nit. Suggested pricing for the drives are $149.95 for the 60GB version and $199.95 for the 100GB version. Check back soon for a full review of this pint-size drive.

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April 18, 2006, 2:31 PM PDT
New Plantronics announcements include a stereo mobile headset
Posted by: Nicole Lee

As music-enabled cell phones become more ubiquitous, headset manufacturers are beginning to release stereo mobile headsets made especially for listening to music. Today Plantronics introduced one such headset, the MX203S, which is designed with WindSmart, a Plantronics technology designed for noise reduction. The MX203S lets consumers listen to music on their phones, and when a call comes in, they can pause the music and take the call. It also has a Flex Grip under-the-ear design for a comfortable fit.

Plantronics also released two more corded headsets, the MX200 and the MX250, both featuring WindSmart technology and the Flex Grip design.

The MX203S has an estimated price of $29.99, while the MX200 and the MX250 will be $19.95 and $24.95, respectively. All three headsets will be available later this month.

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April 18, 2006, 1:34 PM PDT
Hands-on: the Eurocom M590K Emperor
Posted by: Justin Jaffe

UPDATE: Video is up; click here to watch. Full review coming later this week.

Hotness in the CNET Labs today in the form of the Eurocom M590K Emperor, notable for the fact that it has a gargantuan, 19-inch (diagonal) display and two Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX cards in a scalable link interface configuration (read: two graphics cards running simultaneously). That's right: the first 19-incher and the first SLI notebook all raining down on us at once. After some preliminary benchmarking and hands-on testing, we've verified two things:

• 19 inches of display is good to look at, less fun to carry
• SLI equals mega frame rates

We first heard about this gaming rig back in February, when Canadian computer maker Eurocom sent us the specs for its 19-inch model, the grandiosely named M590K Emperor. Since then, eerily similar 19-inch models have popped up on many of the niche vendor sites (Sager, SavRow); word is that Taiwanese OEM, Clevo, is ultimately responsible for the design.

In any event, our review unit's specs:

• 2.21GHz AMD Turion 64 MT-40 processor
• 2GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (400MHz)
• Two Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX 256MB (SLI, 256MB each card)
• Native resolution: 1,680x1,050
• 100GB 7,200rpm SATA hard drive
• Operating system: Windows XP Pro
• Cost: About $4,000

Also, a few preliminary observations:

• Display: Very nice, very bright. Scored 192cd/m² on our Minolta luminance meter (compared to 170 for the Dell XPS M1710); 1,680x1,050 native resolution is lower than that of some 17-inch laptops but offers a nice balance of screen real estate, crispness, and readability.
• Graphics: While playing F.E.A.R., I saw some aliasing and a few stutters, but the game looks and plays beautifully.
• Heat/noise: The Emperor is considerably noisier than the Dell XPS M1710 sitting alongside it; it also got quite hot just to the right of the touch pad.

For now, let's review the performance data and talk some smack. Check out the charts below, and then tell me: for $4,000, would you rather have the 19-inch Emperor or the Dell XPS M1710? Or some other high-powered gaming rig? Talk back now.

See also: Alpha: 19-inch laptop alert: the Eurocom M590K Emperor

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April 18, 2006, 1:03 PM PDT
Roam with MetroPCS
Posted by: Kent German

Flat-rate carrier MetroPCS joined the modern cell phone era today when it announced it would now offer roaming services to its customers. TravelTalk, as the new service is dubbed, will enable MetroPCS subscribers to use their phone in major U.S. cities outside their home area. Roaming will cost between 49 and 79 cents per minute depending on the calling area. Calls will be free, however, when roaming in other MetroPCS markets.

The carrier also announced that it has added Detroit as its eighth urban market. Motown joins the carrier's existing roster of cities, which includes Miami; Tampa; Sarasota, Florida; Atlanta; San Francisco; Dallas; and Sacramento. Now in its fourth year, MetroPCS says it has more than 2 million subscribers.

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April 18, 2006, 12:42 PM PDT
Slim and trim: Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010
Posted by: Michelle Thatcher

Today I'm at a media event on Fujitsu's Sunnyvale campus, where the company just announced its newest ultraportable laptop, the LifeBook Q2010. Designed to be the laptop equivalent of the iPod and the Motorola Razr, the Q2010 is one good-lookin' machine. The 2.2-pound ultraportable felt like a toy when I picked it up; I thought it was a prototype and was shocked when it actually booted. Quip of the day goes to Fujitsu's Paul Moore, who said of the Q2010's 0.75-inch thickness, "If I got a sandwich this thin I'd send it back." Other specs:

• Choice of Intel Core Solo processors
• 12.1-inch wide-screen display
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• Titanium hinges, magnesium housing, shock-mounted hard drive with accelerometer
• Trusted Platform Module, built-in fingerprint reader
• Windows XP Pro (Windows Vista capable)
• Docking station with DVD burner

While competing corporate ultraportables, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X60s and the Sony VAIO VGN-TX670, integrate a WWAN antenna into their design, Fujitsu has been more cautious about locking users in with a specific cellular carrier; those who want cellular data connectivity will have to use a third-party WWAN PC card.

The LifeBook Q2010 will be available within the next six weeks, and pricing has yet to be finalized. We expect a unit in our labs soon and look forward to posting a full review as soon as we can.

Also announced today were updates to the LifeBook E series and S series. The LifeBook E8210 marks Fujitsu's first 15.4-inch wide-screen notebook for the corporate space; it updates the previous-generation E8020, which had a 15-inch standard-aspect display, with Intel Core Solo and Core Duo processors, a spill-resistant keyboard, fingerprint reader, and Trusted Platform Module. Those same features will grace the 14.1-inch LifeBook S7110, a refresh of the S7000 model. The base configuration of the LifeBook E8210 will cost $1,249, while pricing for the S7110 starts at $1,449.

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April 18, 2006, 12:21 PM PDT
DMC's Messenger portable media player ships with audio Bible
Posted by: James Kim

Digital Mind Corporation, the company responsible for the 100GB Xclef, has announced the Messenger portable media player, the first player that we know of that caters to Christians. From the release:

"The DMC Messenger is also available with various versions of audio Bibles for Christian customers," Jim Collier added (Digital Mind's President and CEO). "By listening to the audio Bible on the DMC Messenger for half an hour per day, customers can listen to the entire Bible in less than five months."

Available in white or black, the 4GB Messenger plays MP3s and WMA DRM 10, includes a photo viewer, an FM tuner, and a voice recorder. Additionally, the Messenger is marketed as a podcast receiver, as it ships with Replay Radio software, which automatically updates the player with user-subscribed podcasts.

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April 18, 2006, 12:19 PM PDT
LG CU500 approved by FCC
Posted by: Nicole Lee

When Cingular announced its brand-new 3G service early last month, it hinted at the release of the LG CU500, one of the first few cell phones to support its high-speed UMTS network. The FCC approved it a couple days ago, and so far, we know it's a quad-band GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) and triband UMTS/WCDMA (850/1900/2100) phone. From the photos on PhoneArena.com, it looks like the LG CU500 is a slim clamshell design. We look forward to the phone's launch and hope to have a review of it soon.

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April 18, 2006, 9:52 AM PDT
High-def DVD: the war is on
Posted by: Molly Wood

First to market? HD-DVD. Toshiba's high-def DVD players hit the streets today, ahead of competing Blu-ray players and, in fact, ahead of any actual HD-DVD movies. But hey, what's $500 to $800 for a temporarily useless hunk of plastic and metal when you could be the one to stand up and say, "Hey! Look at me, suckers! I'm at the top of the HD heap!" Ahh, early adoption. What a rush.

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April 18, 2006, 9:45 AM PDT
MLG coming to the TV
Posted by: Molly Wood

Major League Gaming, the new professional gamer's league whose name always makes me think it's some sort of pro video poker circuit, announced that its entire tournament season will be broadcast on national television. You'll see seven hour-long episodes of players competing in Halo 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee World. No word so far on whether the filming will include over-the-shoulder shots of players on the couch, or whether they'll be locked in steel cages with smoke machines and prowling tigers. You know, just to make for better TV.

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