As additional aid to your valentine-inspired shopping, here are some discounts currently running on Dell.com. Unless otherwise noted, the promos below all end on 2/11/2010, 5:55 AM CT. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST – Save $423 on this Fully Loaded Studio XPS 8000 with 20″ Monitor only $999 after instant savings! (until supplies last)

Treat yourself to big savings on popular laptops starting at $449 after instant savings!
Studio 15 laptop with new Core i7 processor for just $899 after instant savings.
Find an Inspiron Mini 10 netbook to fit your needs starting at $249 + free 2 business day shipping!
Over $300 in savings on …read more

Practically everyone knows that the Nintendo Wii easily outsells competitors from Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (Playstation 3), making it a clear winner of the “7th-generation” console wars. A source of minor amazement on its own, analyzing the little Wii’s market performance shows that you can’t rely on specs alone to sell well.

Spectograph, a website that lets people view and compare the specs of gadgets (and a personal side-project of mine), has the specs of the Nintendo Wii, the nine variants of the PlayStation 3, and the seven Xbox 360 versions.
As you can see, the Wii succeeds even if there’s …read more

All the following deals available from Dell.com, and are available only to US shoppers. But they will last until the 26th or the 28th. So if you need something new for 2010, now’s the perfect time to save on your purchase!
Promos ending on January 28:
Dell’s most popular laptops starting at only $449 after instant savings.
Studio 15 laptop with new Core i3 processor for just $799 after instant savings.
Find an Inspiron Mini 10 netbook to fit your needs starting at $299 + free 2 business day shipping!
Over $300 in savings on a fully loaded Studio desktop with 24″ monitor. Only …read more

A quick face-to-palm worthy moment: The Register reports on a company suing Apple, Microsoft, and other big operators like Sony for infringing on their patent—or the “standard activation software used by a vast array of software”.
Consider this your monthly dose of patent trolls (BetaNet LLC in this case) seeking to profit off the hard work of others.

Here’s a good attempt to attract viral attention from Epson:
A quick summary for those who can’t watch the video right now: guy gets into jumpsuit, then wears a specially-designed (and most likely heavy) harness that carries a HD-capable Epson projector, a PS3, and loads of batteries. Guy goes around the vicinity, playing games on the a building’s side wall, the road, and even the while floating in the air courtesy of a practice parachuting vertical fan. The video ends with a brief warning not to attempt said stunt in any way, anywhere.
Game played: An unspecified member of the Need for …read more

According to research by warranty firm SquareTrade, you really get what you pay for, with premium-priced laptops lasting longer than their cheaper counterparts on average. Good news for those who’ve spent money for specs, bad for buyers trying to eke by on affordable netbooks; from the survey of 30,000 portables, netbooks have a 5.8% chance of failing within the first year.

Another notable trend becomes clear when comparing brands. Here’s the list of nine different brands, ranked from most reliable to least, in terms of malfunction rate:

Asus
Toshiba
Sony
Apple
Dell
Lenovo
Acer
Gateway
HP

Looks like Asus‘ marketing department have a new talking point to advertise, while Apple has …read more

Looks like Sony’s really pushing the Cyber-shot TX1, the new flagship of its “ultra-thin” compact series. Or at least they’re doing so in Asia, complete with the “Love the Night” tag line and “Lucky in Love” contest, both attempts to highlight the camera’s low-light and panorama shot abilities.

“Lucky in Love” mainly involves a Flash-game where players have to drag and rotate a series of photos to create a panoramic shot. It’s a pretty straightforward yet cumbersome game: not only do players have to properly align images as much as possible, they are also under time pressure. Obviously, the point of …read more

Through some clever use of time-scape photography and sound editing, Sony Australia makes a pretty compelling ad for their campaign to give away 25,000 PS3s. Slow-mo video of a PS3 crashing into a Sony BRAVIA HDTV is below:
Gizmag was on the scene during the production of this unique and cringe-inducing (for gadget lovers) video. Full details are available here.

Sony sent in a Cyber-shot TX1 to review. As the camera features a 3.0″ touch-screen, the only physical controls (zoom, preview, and the on-off buttons) are situated on the top of the device. Here’s what comes with the TX1:

Instruction manuals in 4 different languages (region-dependent)
Warranty card
Software CD
Catalog of Cyber-shot TX1 accessories
USB / TV-out cable
NP-BD1 battery in a plastic case
Changing dock and power cord
Wrist strap (already attached to camera
Paint pen (attaches to wrist strap, used to operate touch-screen

At first glance, that seems like a lot. Yet Sony could’ve done a little better with the bundle, including a Memory Stick and a …read more

The PlayStation 3 Slim officially shipped last September 1. Owners of the original PlayStation 3 should be content with what they already have. For those who want to buy their first current-generation gaming console, or are looking to play PlayStation 3 games, the new PlayStation 3 Slim is a good choice.

Size-wise, the PlayStation 3 Slim isn’t really a revolution compared to its predecessor—despite the 33% profile reduction, both consoles are meant to stay stationary for most of their operational lives anyway. The Slim is still a more attractive option though because of its roomier 120GB hard disk, a definite step …read more