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Latest on 31 Days of the Dragon contest

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, PC / Laptop,

31 Days of the Dragon

So we told you that we are giving away an HP HDX Dragon alongside 31 other tech sites. We just wanted to hit you with an update on the contest. Today is May 22, which means you have access to the following contests today - click on the site names for the details on their contest rules:

May 15-22: MediabLab - ends this evening
May 16-23: Last 100
May 17-24: Digital Inspiration
May 18-25: Notebooks.com
May 19-26: SlashdotReview
May 20-27: Neowin
May 21-28: Geek.com

Of course, our contest starts on May 31, so you are going to want to check back here in nine days to get our specific contest rules. If you want to get a jump on it, one thing we will say if you will need a Gear Live account to enter. We’ve already said too much!


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Unboxing Live 036: HP Pavilion DV6885SE Special Edition notebook

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Laptop, PC, Videocasts,

We open up the Pavilion DV6885 notebook in this edition of Unboxing Live. We were completely amazed back when we saw it at , because of what we consider to be the machine’s striking beauty. If you are looking for a computer that goes against the status quo in the looks department, check this one out. The copper finish (which I believe is officially called “Clay” by HP) is as against the grain as you are going to get - plus, the specs aren’t too shabby either. You can find this one online for about $1,000 USD. Full feature list after the jump.

Check out the video above for the full unboxing. If you are interested, check out our other .

Click to continue reading Unboxing Live 036: HP Pavilion DV6885SE Special Edition notebook


The $50 million HP Deskjet 460WBT printer?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, PC / Laptop, Peripherals,

HP Deskjet

must be throwing some seriously precious metals into their mobile printer these days, judging by the price they are going for on Amazon. A cool $50 million. Oh, plus shipping.

Obviously, this is an oversight on someone’s part, but hey, you’d be disappointed in us if we didn’t point these things out, right?

[Thanks, David!]

Read More | $50 million HP printer

Bleeding Edge TV 262: HP Garage tour video

The HP Garage is recognized as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. We got the rare opportunity to get inside of the Garage (thanks to our sponsor HP) to bring you a look at an important piece of tech history. Be sure to also check out our HP Garage photo tour. We also have a bunch of images in our HP Garage photo gallery.

We give you a peek at the rich history behind HP - if you are into tech, this is definitely one to watch. We get the story of how two men took HP from your average startup, to what we see today.

A big thank you goes out to HP and Verizon FiOS for sponsoring this episode.


HP 2133 Mini-Note PC launches

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Design, PC / Laptop,

HP 2133 Mini-Note on books

Today, made rumors of their releasing a low-cost ultra-portable PC a reality with the official announcement of the HP 2133 Mini-Note. Meant for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note is designed with students in mind, and is optimized for both in-classroom and out-of-school learning. The 2133 Mini-Note features an 8.9-inch WXGA scratch-resistant display, lightweight anodized aluminum shell,and Wi-Fi. HP also threw in their 3D DriveGuard technology, which locks the drive in the event of sudden movement for protection of data, as well as HP DuraKeys, which prevents fading. You know kids and their greasy fingers.

“HP listened to our needs and now is delivering a product designed by education for education,” said Chris Sieger, director of information technology for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia. “Teachers and technology are the two most important assets in education. HP’s announcement demonstrates that it understands what schools need from industry.”

HP is aiming to keep this one inexpensive, so the Mini-Note starts at $499 USD. You can add on things like , integrated VGA webcam, and CompuTrace software which helps local law enforcement track stolen computers.

The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC should be available later this month, and you can check out more images of the device in our Mini-Note photo gallery.

Gallery:


HP Garage photo tour

Another view of HP Garage entrance

We had the honor of getting invited to tour the Garage, considered almost universally to be the “birthplace of Silicon Valley.” In a nutshell, the HP Garage is a literal 12’ x 18’ wooden garage. This is where Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett founded the Hewlett-Packard company, way back when in 1939. Yes, even HP was a struggling, bootstrapped startup.

The Gear Live crew, along with Xavier from Notebooks.com, Michael from Hardware Geeks, and Rob from Windows Now, got a fantastic history lesson from HP Archivist Anna Mancini. If you are a geek like we are, you would have had a blast hearing all the interesting tidbits that Anna shared. For example, did you know that the company name was decided by the flip of a coin? Had the coin landed different, the company would have instead been named Packard-Hewlett, and would no doubt have been nowhere near successful. That’s how those things work, right?

Another interesting fact is that the bread and butter of HP was their line of audio oscillators, which they actually made by hand. They even baked the metal slabs in their kitchen oven. Way to save cash, eh? After Disney ordered eight of them to use in conjunction with the release of Fantasia, HP was well on its way to the big time.

We’ve put together an HP Garage tour photo gallery, featuring a good 26 images that Xavier Lanier graciously hooked us up with. Check it out for a fantastic glimpse into the history of consumer electronics.

Read More | HP Garage photo tour

Gallery:


CES 2008 Video: HP’s Kevin Wentzel on HP TX-2000, Artist Edition, HP Imprint

HP’s Kevin Wentzel gives us a look at the and MTV Take Action Make Art winning notebook design, as well as a first-look at the TX-2000 tablet, during . Kevin goes into the HP Imprint process, which is how they get their notebook finishes looking completely fantastic. He also goes into the different specifications that you can get on the new HP notebook computers, which can really be powerhouses if you need them to be. We can expect to see the Artist Edition available this Spring, which will be a limited run. Definitely a collector’s item. Check the video for the full scoop on the latest on HP notebooks.


CES 2008 Video: HP MTV Artist Edition Notebook features Take Action Make Art winner

A couple of months ago we told you about the HP MTV Take Action Make Art laptop design contest, and we got to speak with the winning designer, Joao Oliveira. We talk to him about his inspiration for the design, how he feels about his artwork appearing on a Limited Edition laptop, and we give you a look at the winning design.


Unboxing Live 028: HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, GPS, Handhelds, Videocasts,

While getting ready to depart for today, we received a CES Navigation Kit via FedEx. Turns out our friends at wanted to make sure we made it through the rigorous tech conference in perfect health (as you’ll see in the video), and without getting lost. You see, they packed in their newly launched 310 Travel Companion. We actually did a pre-launch video on the whole line of HP iPaq models, so go watch that for a refresher. The 310 Travel Companion is included.

This is HP’s first dedicated device, so feast your eyes on the unboxing experience, and feel free to hit us back with any questions about it. The device retails for $449 USD. Full details on the iPaq 310, along with specs and price, after the jump.

Click to continue reading Unboxing Live 028: HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion


Unboxing Live 026: HP Pavilion HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook PC

In this episode, we open up the Pavilion HDX Dragon PC. This thing is a monster - a 20.1-inch notebook that specializes in home entertainment, sporting dual-lamp displays and weighing in at 15.5 pounds. Other stats of note on the HDX Dragon are the 64-bit Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB included memory (it supports up to 4GB), HP Imprint casing (looks very sleek), and fingerprint reader for security.

Since it’s a computer geared towards entertainment, the video card should also be mentioned. The HDX Dragon ships with a 512MB ATi Mobility Radeon HD2600 XT. That means that you get DirectX 10 support out of the box. Continuing on the whole entertainment meme, it also has a built-in -ROM drive, allowing you to play back your HD DVD movies at .

Finally we have the connections, which are too many for us to go through - so we will let HP tell the story here:

The HDX comes with 4 USB 2.0 ports, an Express Card/54 slot (which also supports Express Card/34), an HDMI port, an S-Video, a VGA, an RJ-11, an RK-45, an IEEE 1394 FireWire, and a Consumer IR. A 5-in-1 digital media Card reader supports Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMediaCard, and xD-Picture Cards. You get an eSATA port for high-speed data transfer to external storage devices up to six times faster than existing solutions, which is perfect for high-def video content recording. There’s an integrated 802.11a/g/b/pre-N plus Bluetooth for highest-speed wireless connections. And the adjustable webcam with integrated microphones lets you capture still photos and short videos and for live video chat.

So yeah - they packed a lot into this machine. Now hit the video to actually see how it all came together.

Let us know what you think, or what you want us to unbox next!

Read More |

HP Pavilion HDX Dragon Product Page


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