technology on technabob...

It’s official. After many months of rumors and false starts, it’s been announced that chip maker AMD has plans to purchase top graphics chip maker ATI for appx. $5.4 billion. Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal should close in Q4 2006.
AMD will pay $4.2 billion in cash plus $2.5 billion in funding from Morgan Stanley…

Microsoft’s so-called “iPod killer”, currently known as “Zune” could be unveiled as early as late next month, with the company preparing to build momentum towards an October launch, sources close to the situation have told BetaNews. Stay tuned for more details.

UPDATE: Microsoft has officially acknolwedged the existence of Zune…

Set to ship just in time for the 2006 holidays, Panasonic has finally announced it’s pricing on its massive 103″ TH-103PZ600U Plasma TV.

The set features 1080p resolution and a 4000:1 contrast ratio. With a display area of 89.3″ wide by over 50.2″ high, it’s as large as four 50″ Plasma screens.
The price: “just” $69,995 USD…

Japanese gadget importer Audiocubes these really nifty kits from Tomy that let you make your own desktop video game art using “bitmap” pegs. Comes with 520 pegs and available in Mario Brothers Red & Green, Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, and Space Invaders versions. At just under 20 bucks, how can you go wrong?

Product Ordering Info

Panasonic announced a September release date for its new Lumix DMC-LX2 digital camera (MSRP $499.95). Featuring a whopping 10.2 megapixel, 16:9 aspect ratio CCD, I can’t imagine anyone needing more resolution…

This new phone from Samsung, the SGH-P200, supports a new feature called UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access, not Thurman). This allows the phone to freely switch between cellular networks such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WiFi (802.11 b/g) for connectivity…

Rumor has it that Microsoft’s “iPod killer” / portable gaming device, known as “Zune” will integrate the social networking (aka “friends list” from Xbox Live) features of the previously announced Live Anywhere system. The Zune, developed by Xbox 360 guru J…

This nifty gadget is one of the most flexible, compact karaoke devices I’ve seen. It includes docking capabilities for pretty much every iPod model since the 3G, and can also pull its data from files on USB storage devices. The karaoke feature includes tempo and key control along with two microphone inputs…

This screen capture grabbed from xbox.com today is either a slip-up or Cliffy B’s much-anticipated Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War has an official date of October 2, 2006. It wouldn’t be the first time that a date was posted for a game that isn’t accurate, but I’m marking my calendar just in case. You be the judge.