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Apple $599 iPhone less than $300 in parts

Apple will likely have some wiggle room to cut prices on the iPhone, if a report from iSuppli proves correct.

The consulting firm just released an analysis of what the components will likely cost for the iPhone. The $499 phone, which comes with 4GB of memory, will likely have a component budget of $229.85. Assembly costs will raise the total manufacturing price to $245.83.

Meanwhile, the $599 iPhone, sporting 8GB of memory, will have a component budget of $264.85 hardware cost and a manufacturing cost of $280.83. The large margins make price cuts inevitable. "They … Read more

Panasonic follows Sony's HD camcorder twinset model

As if heading up a ramp to Noah's ark, the Flash and DVD models move in pairs. Panasonic at least manages to differentiate the models a bit. The DVD-based HDC-DX1, announced this week, and the SD card-based HDC-SD1 (announced in late 2006), are the latest pair of AVCHD cancorders to get on the boat. Both incorporate a trio of 1/4-inch, 580K-pixel CCDs, a 12x zoom, and an optical image stabilizer. The DX1 has dual-layer support, as well as DVD-RAM capability.

The difference? Aside from some design tweaks made necessary by the different media support, the DX1 seems … Read more

Sony's flash memory-based UMPC comes stateside

Not exactly new, but perhaps new to you: Sony's VAIO UX ultramobile PC garnered a lot of attention last year for its cool palm-size design, but even though it contained a fully fledged Intel Core Solo CPU and ran Windows XP, it fell somewhat short as a usable mobile computer.

The latest update, which sounds very promising, is the UX Premium Micro PC. This version has a 32GB solid state hard drive, which means no moving parts, better battery life, less heat, and faster access to your data (or at least 32GB worth of your data).

Flash memory-based hard … Read more

Fun in a Flash

Got a few minutes between meetings, or just need to blow off some steam?

Flash game site Kongregate opened up to the public last week. The site is full of great independent Flash games without pop-ups, annoying flash banners, or in-game advertising. It also has solid community features like in-game chat with users who are playing other games, and a rewards system that gives you points for playing and rating games. I also like how the site shares advertising revenue with game developers based on how often their games are played.

My pick for the easiest and most involving game … Read more

Liberated Films gets independent, charitable

Despite the year of video coming to a close, the surge of video hosting sites hasn't really stopped. Jumping into the fray is Liberated Films, a niche site aimed at bringing film enthusiasts and filmmakers together. Liberated Films takes it one step further with a charity service they intend to implement once they have a large enough user base. After-tax profits would go to user-selected charities or help organizations.

As on other video sites, films are served up in Flash with a short advertisement at the start. Videos range from short cartoons about alcoholic reindeer to full-on mob dramas. … Read more

iPod lights to irritate us all from afar

What is it that makes accessory manufacturers think that media players need flashing lights? Griffin recently came out with its "Disko" case in all its blinking glory, much to the dismay of some true Apple loyalists. But at least that product had some practical protective use.

The "Lumi Flasher" by Japan's Trinity, on the other hand, is simply lights for the sake of lights, with one white and four red LEDs that plug into the iPod's dock connector. It does include a "flashlight mode," according to Newlaunches, but we're not sure … Read more

Viddler one ups YouTube, Google Video

Short of paying for hosting services or using P2P tools such as Pando, there aren't many ways to upload and share large video files. Viddler, which launched its public beta earlier this month, is a video hosting service with some new tools to enhance both the sharing and viewing experience. Videos can be uploaded to Viddler in batches as opposed to one at a time, a really nice feature. Unlike YouTube and Google Video, which have 100MB limits, individual video uploads are capped at 500MB. During the uploading process, you're shown two separate progress bars; one for the … Read more