gadget news and reviews

Super Street Fighter IV (Preview) +

During CES 2010, I had to opportunity to play some highly anticipated titles at Capcom’s reception for the media. Amongst the titles present, I was most eager to try the new update to last year’s critically acclaimed title “Street Fighter 4″. One of the developers graciously showed me a few new features and challenged me to a few rounds to show off the new additions to the game.

I was first presented with the updated roster at the character select screen. According to the Capcom’s representative, there will be a gang of eight ‘new’ characters added into the mix from both previous titles and new ones. Despite a controversial decision, the game will now be a standalone installment instead of direct-to-download. There’s plenty of features to justify the decision including the healthy addition of new maps, new ultra combos (now selectable before the start of a match), a tweaked fighting engine, and new online modes. This game clearly would not have been feasible to market as “cheaper” downloadable content. Read More

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 2

Sonic the Hedgehog is finally coming back and at top speed. Sega is bringing the blue speed-demon back to what he does best. This new teaser for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4 arcade game shows how the high-octane 2D platformer stays true to its roots. If you’ve been nothing but disappointed with the “next generation” of the Sonic series over the past few years, you aren’t alone. Fans have spoken and Sonic is racing back at top gear to catch up with his loyal followers.

The franchise has struggled to catch up with the current consoles which has resulted in clunky, awkward controls for our favorite blue hedgehog. The new Sonic games have tried hard to look great and expand on the classic gameplay, however flashy changes have proven successful. The introduction of new gameplay elements have proven as overkill, changing the franchise altogether. If any ounce of high-speed gameplay is present in the newer games, it’s only there to tease on how great the game series was. Anybody who still owns a Sega Genesis knows how Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles work at their best.

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Apple Announces The iPad 4

Apple just finished up their Press Conference at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco and finally announced their poorly kept secret: the iPad. There’s a lot that the media expected, however details such as the price range was quite impressive. So here’s what it can do:

“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way”

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In Photos: Palm Pre Plus & Pixi Plus +

About two weeks ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless and Palm announced a new partnership and the launch of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Our review units just came in, courtesy of Verizon Wireless, and these are looking great. There’s one big difference between the ‘Plus’ and the regular version that we reviewed for Sprint last year: it sports a built-in hotspot feature. With just one-click, customers can enable a local WiFi hotspot for up to five devices. And of course, it that will run off Verizon Wireless’s 3G network. Both the phones still sport the existing popular features such as the webOS, Palm Synergy, App Catalog, QWERTY keybaords, WiFi b/g, GPS, Email, MMS, Sensors (Proximity, Light, Accelerometer), replaceable batteries, and much more.

The Pre Plus also comes with some extra goodies over its predecessor. It now comes with a touch-stone enabled rear cover. You won’t need to spend extra cash if you decided to buy a Touchstone Dock. The phone now has 16GB of internal storage versus the 8GB available on its older sibling still running on the Sprint network. The phone also has double the RAM, meaning more multitasking. The hardware gesture key is now embedded into the casing and is no longer visible, but functions just the same. The Pixi Plus also has some improvements in addition to the new hotspot feature. Yes, if you didn’t guess already, that means the Pixi now has WiFi. It’s also compatible with a variety of designer rear plates that are all compatible with the Touchstone Dock. Read More

CES 2010: Sharp Press Conference +

At CES 2010, Sharp unveiled a line of new products, including their new “Quad-Pixel” technology and new line of Sharp’s AQUOS televisions. Quad-Pixel technology features an additional color, yellow, into the conventional RGB spectrum. This allows for better colors such as greater gold, deeper Caribbean blues, and amazing shades of yellow. With RGBY, a user can see an impressive one trillion colors, rather than the traditional one billion with RGB. As the presenter put it, in terms of time, it would take 32 years to count one billion seconds, but 32,000 years to count to one trillion. Read More

CES 2010: Innovation With NVIDIA +

2010 is looking to be a very exciting year for dominant graphics card maker Nvidia as they release a plethora of new products aimed at driving future trends, starting today. From increasing the threshold of desktop graphics to dramatically changing the way users can experience the mobile revolution, Nvidia has put a significant amount at stake in their predictions for the coming trends. From what we at Skatter Tech have seen this year at CES, Nvidia looks to have a solid lineup and will definitely be a major player.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang gave a private press conference in which he announced three new and exciting technologies Nvidia and partners will bring to market over the coming year. Read More

CES 2010: Casio Press Conference +

The first part of the Casio Press Conference was presented by the CEO and President Kazuo Kashio. He spoke about a new digital art frame that creates paintings from digital photos. It does so by applying filters like pastel, watercolor, graphic oil, and airbrush to the photos in the frame.

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CES 2010: Audiovox Press Conference Live +

11:00 AM – Press conference just started. Tom Malone is speaking.

11:02 AM – Preview of FLO TV. A IPTV streaming service. Getting good content and channels was first priority. It happened.

11:04 AM – New hardware piece announcement. It’s for cars. Companies have to install it into their vehicles. It allows the TV service platform to be delivered to cars. Read More

CES 2010: Toshiba Press Conference Live +

Just got seated in Toshiba’s Press Conference. It’s starting. Here we go!

10:00 AM – A quick preview of Times Square Toshiba Ads!

10:03 AM – Toshiba’s representative just took stage. Talking about Social Media and dialogue between companies and customers.

10:05 AM – Toshiba is showing off their new Ad campaign

10:07 AM – They want us to tweet and update Facebook statuses more! They are launching a new social media hub. Read More

CES 2010: Netgear Press Confrence Live 2

We’re at the Netgear’s Press Conference. Let’s get started! It’s about to start soon.

9:00 AM – It’s started. Netgear’s sarcastic spokesperson is on stage

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