Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Well, well, well — it seems that Toshiba’s been up to more in the portable media space lately than just helping Microsoft out with the Zune manufacturing. In fact, ole Tosh has been working on a DTV-less version of its Japanese OneSeg-capable 30GB V30T; shake off the TV tuner, and you’ve got America’s own MEV30K. This model borrows many of its features from the popular S series — including Microsoft’s Portable Media Center software, WMV9, WMV10, and PlaysForSure video playback, plus support for MP3, WMA, WMA lossless, WAV, and Windows DRM 9 / 10 audio files — but, like the V30T, tosses what will probably be some well-received spec bumps into the mix. Besides the addition of a built-in speaker, the main changes here involve screen size and battery life: the V30K sports a 3.5-inch TFT LCD (compared to the 2.5-incher on the S, though both share the same QVGA resolution) and promises up to 8 hours of video or 25 hours of audio playback on a full charge (as opposed to the meager 2.5 and 12 hour lifespans for video and audio, respectively, on the S). We’re sure that there are more than few people interested in this stamina-filled $400 Gigabeat, so the good news is that pre-ordering begins today through Crutchfield and Amazon, though a nationwide rollout is not expected until sometime in October. Let the iPod comparisons commence!

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Filed under: Displays

Some behind-the-"screens" work just completed by Samsung will soon enable many of the portable devices you enjoy to offer thinner and lighter touch panel displays. The Korean electronics giant has announced a new LCD technology called hTSP (Hybrid Touch Screen Panel) that will allow manufacturers to incorporate touch screen functionality directly into the TFT fabrication process, whereas most current touch-sensitive applications require a separate, sensor-laden printed circuit board (PCB) attached to the top of the display. So far the company is able to create LCDs as big as 3.5 inches using the new method, meaning that you can expect to see hTSP-sporting smartphones, PMPs, and nav devices on store shelves in the near future.

Filed under: Storage

Ever since we saw that flash movie from Hitachi, the incredibly educational disco-tinged animation that practically inspired the perpendicular "revolution" as we know it, we've been waiting for the tech to make residence on those huge 3.5-inch platters in our desktops. Well, that time has finally come, with Seagate dropping their new Cheetah 15K.5 drives with up to 300GB of space. The 15,000 rpm drives claim to offer 30% better performance than their predecessors, and have a sustained data rate around 73-125 MB/s. You'll of course need SCSI, Ultra320 SCSI or fiber hookups to enjoy this speed, and you should be able to nab you very own 300GB, 147GB or 73GB drive this June. No price is announced as of yet, but it doesn't look like they'll be giving these away.