gadget news and reviews

Upcoming PSP Games: October 1

The following is the Offical list of games, as published by SCEA, that will be released for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) in North America for October 2006. Note: This was the accurate list of games as of 09.30.06, games may be removed and new ones may be added later.

Our Picks:

• ATV Offroad Fury Pro – SCEA
• BattleZone – Atari
• FIFA 07 – Electronic Arts (EA)
• Gangs of London – SCEA
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories – Rockstar
• Killzone: Liberation – SCEA
• Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City – EA
  View The Full List

According to a recent Sony press release, a GPS module, Camera add on, and a firmware upgrade to support playing PlayStation One games should all be availble by the end of this month (more info). We will post any new information as it becomes available, so please check back soon.

Past Links: Upcoming PSP & DS Games: July
Related: PSP Firmware v2.80 Released | How To: Stream iTunes To PSP Read More

Verizon Wireless – Moto KRZR 245

Looking for a new phone? Well the brand new Motorola KRZR K1m is now available through Verizon Wireless. After being frowned upon for being the last cell phone provider to get the RAZR, VZW is now the first to get the new KRZR. This new RAZR-like phone features a 1.3MP camera, Mp3/Mp4 playback (plus V Cast Music/Video), MicroSD expansion slot, Bluetooth, and Verizon’s V Cast services. The KRZR has now has many of the features that the RAZR lacked, which include external music controls (touch sensitive), a more robust battery life, and a slightly larger internal storage capacity.

Anyways if you wish to get one it is available online now for $199 with a new 2-year contract and $99 for existing customers who are eligible for upgrade. (Note: Won’t be in stores until October 5th) Although we havn’t had a hands-on-review yet, by the looks of it, it seems as though it will be a pretty good phone, despite the fact that it is a bit pricy. Also Skatter Tech will be getting a KRZR by Monday (10/02/06), so check back and expect an in depth review with plenty of pictures soon!

UPDATE: Moto KRZR Review (Verizon)

Links: Verizon Wireless | Motorola
Press Releases: Verizon News Center | MotoInfo Center

Apple – iTunes v7.0.1 +

Less than two weeks after the launch of the revamped iTunes Music Media Store, Apple has quietly pushed out a minor update to patch many of the bugs iTunes users were experiencing. Apple claims that the patch will improve performance, increase stability, reduce memory usage, and fix issues with CD importing/iPod sync/Coverflow.

I do have to say that iTunes 7.0 is not for everyone. I recently tested it on a slightly older machine, which did just meet the minimum requirements for running iTunes, but even so, it took an extremely long time to load iTunes even only a handful of items in the library. I also found that iTunes 7.0 is a memory hog, which can consume over 3x the amount of RAM that iTunes 6.0 did. Therefore be warned if you are on a slower machine.

However if you do have a decent machine, iTunes 7.0.1 is still probably the best media play available for both Windows and Macintosh machines. I suggest getting the new update if you are experiencing any problems with 7.0. Finally, we want to know: What do you think about iTunes 7.0?

Links: Apple iTunes (info) | Download iTunes 7.0.1
Related: NEW iPod Shuffle | NEW iPod Nano

Skatter Tech: We Are Back! 2

Skatter Tech recently run into problems with our hosting provider 1and1, who decided it, would cost them too much to host us. The had pulled the site from their hosting server and decided to hold it until we upgraded our hosting plan. Anyways we decided to leave and after going through another hosting provide Yahoo, where we once again ran into some technical issues, we wound up with Media Temple. Media Temple seems to be working out for the time being. With this being said, Skatter Tech has been restored and we’ll be getting back on track right away. Definitely expect more posts, new authors, and better content soon!

Links: Skatter Tech | SahasKatta.com