About Electronics

Gizmodo: New details have been leaked about Creative’s answer to the iPod touch and Zune, a wireless music player with Wi-Fi media sharing capabilities called the Zen X-Fi.

Pictures show the device sporting a chrome-and-black plastic look that’s vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone, along with a nine-point directional pad. Besides certain Internet features, X-Fi will also come with an SD card slot and a built-in speaker.

According to leaked specs, the nine-point pad will offer users the option of instant messaging on Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger in a phone-style typing schema. The device will also use wireless to share media between home networked computers and access an Internet-based media pool, called a Public Home Server.

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Akihabara: Creative has a new MP3 player out on the market, the MuVo T200. Nothing uniquely special, but it does look sharp and of course reads MP3, WMA, and WAV files.

Our little device has a storage capacity of 4GB, measures 25×77.7x11mm, weighs 20.6g, and costs 6980yen (43 euro).

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DVICE: Who needs Apple TV Deux or to spend an extra buck for renting iTunes movies in HD? This spring, both DLO and Creative Labs will have iPod docks that connect to HDTVs via HDMI and will upconvert standard def movies from your iPod to HD.

The DLO HomeDock HD will upconvert films to either 720p or 1080i, depending on your HDTV’s native resolution, includes a TOSLINK digital audio jack and an RF remote.

Creative Labs’ Xdock HD only does 720p but includes component video jacks for older sets, and also converts a movie’s stereo sound into 5.1 surround. Along with the dock, you get a 2.4 GHz wireless distribution hub that sends your iPod sound to a second audio system in another room.

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Engadget: We have no idea why luxury watch and occasional cellphone maker TAG Heuer would be getting into the PC peripherals game, yet according to an FCC filing, the 150-year-old Swiss watchmaker has a Creative Labs-built USB headset in the pipeline.

And although this wireless unit is branded TAG and developed by Creative, the actual cans themselves will likely be sold by Listen To Believe (LTB) Audio, another accessories company with very similar products. Either way, what you’re getting here is reportedly “the world [sic] first digital wireless headset that delivers high-quality 2.0-channel stereo audio with extra sound clarity and soft, deep bass effects,” according to the manual.

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