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(Credit: Joshua Goldman/CNET)

Sony will be bringing its S-Frame DPP-F700 printer to the U.S. in January, the company announced Thursday. It's basically a dye-sub snapshot printer, but with a 7-inch LCD. The screen can be tilted up when the printer is in use and then folded flat against the printer so that when you remove the paper tray, you can stand the unit up horizontally or vertically.

I had a chance to play around with one and, well, it's a photo printer with a larger-than-usual LCD on top. The extra screen real estate is nice, though, especially when using the F700's editing options such as cropping and adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, and sharpness. And, of course, it's better than looking at just a photo printer.

Check out the slideshow below for more details or just because you're bored and/or love looking at pictures of tech products.

Also, quick poll, how long till point-and-shoot cameras are primarily set to shoot in wide-screen resolutions? Has anyone stopped shooting 4:3 in favor of 16:9?

Sony S-frame DPP-F700 digital frame photos

(Credit: Logitech)

It looks a lot like the Harmony One or the new Harmony 900 and the freshly announced Logitech Harmony 700 Remote only appears to be missing the touch screen found on its bigger brothers.

As we expected, the Harmony 700 retains most of the great features found in the One and 900 like a rechargeable battery, color screen (though smaller), and software-based setup for use with a PC or Mac.

Judging on looks alone, the 700 seems to be cut from the same cloth as the One and 900 but lacks a certain glossy finish found on the other two remotes. Also, the buttons seem a bit smaller as there's more space in between them.

The Harmony 700 is set to go on sale this month for $150. While we can't give our final take until we properly review the remote, it seems the extra cash you'd spend to upgrade to the Harmony One would be worth it--especially since the One can be found online for $180. Of course if it's RF you're looking for, the 900 is the way to go.

Full product shot after the jump: ... Read More

(Credit: Logitech)

Logitech has announced a new wireless keyboard and mouse combination today: the Wireless Desktop MK700. The system features the company's Incursve key design (buttons meant to cradle to your fingertips) and an LCD heads-up display for battery life status and caps and number lock notifications.

The included wireless mouse has a frictionless scroll wheel with two options: click-to-click and hyperfast. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the system is battery life. Logitech says the mouse should last up to one year on a pair of AA batteries, while the keyboard will supposedly yield a whopping three years of use on two AAs.

The Wireless Desktop MK700 will go for $100 and will be available next month.

Will Sony soon have a PRS-505 replacement?

(Credit: Sony)

In recent weeks there's been lots of news about new e-readers hitting the market. The Cool-er is out. Samsung's just released its first e-book reader in Korea. Plastic Logic is talking up its partnerships with Barnes & Noble and AT&T. And the Kindle 2 had a price drop to $299.

But what's up with Sony? True, its $400 PRS-700 hasn't been out that long, but surely the company has to put out a new e-reader sometime soon or risk losing that precious piece of market and mind share it currently enjoys in the e-reader space?

Well, we've barely heard a peep about a new Reader, but there's been a little activity over on the MobileRead forums. Back in June forum member forkyfork wrote he heard from a manager at Books-a-Million that Sony is coming out with a new e-reader in August. The manager "mentioned that it's going to have Wi-Fi, bigger screen, and more memory. When I asked him if it would have a touch screen, he said 'no.' When asked what the price point would be, he said 'most likely $300,' which might explain why they [Sony] are trying to clear out the PRS-505's now."

Now, it's hard to put much stock in a message board comment from a random reader, especially one who goes by forkyfork, but I've heard from a few sources outside Sony that they expect Sony to have something new fairly soon. So, why not August?

Hopefully, the new Reader, whenever it does arrive, will only be sightly larger and not blown up to the size of the Kindle DX.

When it released the PRS-700, Sony did talk about how it was looking at a wireless option, so it would seem likely that its next model would offer this feature. Also, while we like the touch-screen interface of the PRS-700, the screen did suffer from glare and contrast issues. We also assume a nontouch model would be cheaper to produce, which would help Sony keep the retail price of a new model under $300. At this point, it really needs to match the Kindle 2's price or better yet, go slightly cheaper.

Comments?

The LC-52LE700UN is one of Sharp's new LED-backlit Aquos TVs.

(Credit: Sharp)

Sharp's first line of LED-based LCD displays is called the LC-LE700UN series, and it's available in four screen sizes. Here's a quick look:

Models (availability, suggested retail price)

• LC-32LE700UN (July, $1,100)
• LC-40LE700UN (July, $1,700)
• LC-46LE700UN (July, $2,200)
• LC-52LE700UN (July, $2,800)

Key features of the Sharp LC-LE700 series

• 1080p native resolution
• LED backlight
• 120Hz refresh rate and dejudder processing
• EnergyStar compliant
• Four HDMI inputs

The company intends for the new Aquos LED series to be a wallet-friendly way to get LED-backlight technology. It looks like Sharp could live up to its low-price intention, as the LE700 series should be competitively priced against other LED-backlit models, like the Samsung UNB6000, the Toshiba SV670U, and the LG LH90 series.

The LE700 series features a "full array of LEDs" behind the screen, but doesn't have local dimming, a technology that allows different areas of the screen to brighten and dim separately. Past TVs we've reviewed with local dimming exhibited superb black levels, but we haven't tested any LED-equipped sets without local dimming aside from Samsung's edge-lit models, which didn't perform as well as the local dimming displays. Also, while Sharp is touting the LE700's native 120Hz refresh rate, a number of its LED competitors are already pushing 240Hz sets. Other than its energy-saving capabilities, it's not entirely clear how this kind of LED backlight offers much of an improvement over standard LCDs, so we'll have to look into it when we get our hands on the LE700 series.

Even for savvy home theater enthusiasts, buying an AV receiver can be a chore, requiring hours hunched over spec sheets trying to figure out what each model offers. From a general perspective, the Sony STR-DH700 looks to offer a good value, as a 7.1 AV receiver with three HDMI inputs, widely available for under $300.

However, the details aren't quite so kind to Sony's receiver, as it lacks onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and an onscreen display--both of which are available on Pioneer's VSX-819H, which has a street price only slightly higher.

We could have overlooked this if the STR-DH700 performed better than average for its price, but we were mostly underwhelmed by its sonics, although it's a decent choice for movies as long as you don't crank it too loud. While the STR-DH700 is a perfectly capable AV receiver at a budget price, we think most buyers will be better served by alternatives.

Die-hard Sony fans, meanwhile, will need to spend more for one of the better-appointed receivers in the company's 2009 line-up.

Read the full review of the Sony STR-DH700.

Sony STR-DH700 AV receiver photos

The Ultimate Ears 700 Noise-Isolating Earphones are the latest upscale earbuds to hit the market for your listening pleasure. What sets the new headset apart from previous Ultimate Ears models is that each bud includes two separate channels--one for high and midrange frequencies, the other for lows. (By comparison, the almost twice as expensive and considerably larger Shure SE530s cram three drivers into each earbud.) Other niceties included are five extra pairs of ear tips, so you can customize the fit to the size of your ear canal (small, medium, or large), as well as an airline attenuator (to tap down those stridently loud pilot announcements), and a pocket case to carry everything.

The Ultimate Ears 700s are currently available; list price is $229, though early online pricing is running $20 to $30 higher. They'll compete with a long and growing list of great in-ear headphones, including models from Shure, Etymotic, Klipsch, Denon--and Ultimate Ears itself.

(Source: Logitech via Crunchgear)

The wait for the Kindle--and rumored Kindle 2--continues.

(Credit: Boy Genius Report)

Ever since rumors--and some alleged photos--of Amazon's next-generation Kindle digital reader hit the Web late last year, I keep getting e-mails from readers asking me for buying advice. Here's a typical note:

Hi, David:

Around Christmas, I ordered the Amazon Kindle, but as I'm sure you know, it's back-ordered for a couple of months. Then I saw your article on the Kindle 2 coming out soon and I'm not sure what to do. Should I cancel my order? If the new Kindle 2 comes out right after I get mine, will I be able to return it?

Thanks for your help,

Susan

I understand where Susan's coming from. The Kindle's $359 right now--a decent chunk of change in a tight economy. And nothing sucks more than getting your timing wrong on the release of the next version of a product, particularly when you're dealing with a first-gen device like the Kindle that has room for improvement.

It's hard to say exactly who's to blame for this little mess, but any way you look at it Amazon has an interesting problem on its hands. If the company confirms that a new product is on the way, it potentially kills sales of the existing product. And if it puts out a product without warning its customers that a new product is coming, it risks alienating its customers.

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A colleague sent me this video Lenovo made and published to its official blog. My jaw dropped. Not because the content is particularly shocking or offensive, but because of how incredibly misplaced and lame it is as a Lenovo ad.

If anything, it makes clear one thing: Lenovo's talents lie in selling huge volumes of ThinkPads to business customers, and notably not in making smart, hip Internet video.

In the video, a guy recounts to his male co-worker a late-night work session with their female colleague the night before. While he and the girl are working, he starts describing the features of the new W700ds workstation from Lenovo. As he does this, she inexplicably begins removing various items of clothing until, it is suggested but not shown entirely, she is completely undressed.

Needless to say, the video is probably not safe for work for the average corporate office. But besides that, it's just odd. Does this video really find its home in the demographic that will buy this monstrous, expensive workstation? It's hard to imagine.

What's worse, this product is entirely remarkable on its own merits, and requires no suggestive videos to be noticed: It's a laptop with two screens. People will take notice without some silly video that makes the company appear as if it is trying way too hard.