LG has revealed two new laptops: the X-R700 and X-S900. Both units are being billed as desktop replacements and may appeal to those with aging units. To find out more, check out the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

If you're getting bored with all the text-heavy applications running on your iPhone, then you might want to try Andreas Linde's new image viewing application, Locations. This nifty app allows you to watch webcam images in the background while another application is running. Locations definitely spices up your mobile phone with all the added visuals it has to offer. To find out all the features in version 0.3.0 of Locations, read the full article.

What do you get if you cross a webcam portal and a Sony PSP Flash portal together? You get M(P)ortal! PSP homebrew developer Muhie shares a PSP portal of a different blend, offering an assortment of 56 Flash games, 20 videos, and 11 applications together with links to view webcams stationed in 13 nations around the world.

The developer has removed site music, though certain Flash games were admittedly not working properly as of the release of M(P)ortal v1.0. Muhie also claimed that webcam shots from the Albert Bridge in London and Buenos Aires didn't work. For some reason though, it worked for us. The webcam shots aren't live content as of this moment, but perhaps that would be remedied in the near future.

The installation should be easy picking for experienced PSP homebrew  users, but if you're a newcomer to the world of free, third-party apps on the Sony PlayStation Portable, it would be best to go through the bundled documentation first. This one's a hefty download for all its content (55 MB), so feel free to visit the release thread provided below or browse around while you wait for the download to finish.
    
Download: M(P)ortal v1.0
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forum

PlayStation Portable homebrew developer califrag seems to have something good going on; after skyPSP which can turn your PSP into an actual webcam, comes an app that lets your handheld recognize a laser pointer's movements. The concept is still fresh, but just imagine what eyePSP can do in the near future.

With the help of a Chotto Shot or GoCam, eyePSP can read movements of a projected laser pointer and allow the PSP screen to display what's going on. There's only a demo as of now, but it would be pretty cool to have games controlled by the laser's movements.

You can find eyePSP in action by watching the video below, or try it out yourself by grabbing the demo. Might as well visit the thread where califrag made the release, because discussions of eyePSP's future can be found there.

Download: eyePSP demo
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forums

PlayStation Portable homebrew developer califrag has informed us that the server application for the skyPSP Webcam Suite has recently been released on our PSP Development Forums.

According to califrag, the server application essentially turns users' PSPs into actual webcam servers. It uses a GoCam! or ChottoShot to upload images via FTP to a specific destination. The images can then be viewed online, just like a real webcam.

Speaking of the GoCam! and ChottoShot accessories, users don't actually need either of these to run the client application which we covered in a previous post. For the server version however, either of the two accessories are required. For more information, please click on the Visit link below.

Download: skyPSP Webcam Suite server application
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forums thread

With the recent release of the PSP Slim complete with new video output feature, and the PSP Camera out on the market for some months now, it's only a matter of time before someone tinkered with the possible hardware/software tricks between the two. Lunacy8m of Gadgetmadness did exactly that and he's now showing us in his Youtube video what he dubs as the world's first PSP webcam.

Basically, what Lunacy8m did is attach a PSP Camera to the video output-equipped PSP 2000, connect it to his laptop and voila, he now has a working PSP webcam. What made the PSP to laptop connection possible is the Adaptec Gamebridge, a hardware add-on that establishes compatibility between gaming consoles and PCs (it's usually used to play games on the PC without the need of TV).

It's not that hard of a trick really, Lunacy8m just happened to have a really good common sense and the right stuff to make it work. To those wondering if this one's legit, it should be noted that Lunacy8m is the same guy who came up with the Gameboy webcam and the original EyeToy webcam.

Homebrew developer mat_dizzy is back and he's got a new version of his PSP Earth application with him. This homebrew app is essentially a Webcam Portal for your Sony PlayStation Portable, and the new version has some nice improvements over its predecessors.

The niftiest of these is a cool, new weather feature that displays times across Europe and corresponding weather information. What's more, the interface is a lot more chic than before with a black and silver theme.

This is the complete list of new features:

• Better GUI
• Live Weather Forecast
• Full Screen Live Webcam - (Like Build 0.2)
• Easier To Operate

mat_dizzy reminds everyone that the source code is right in the download, so everyone's free to look at it and modify the application. As always, don't forget to check out the readme for installation instructions and other useful stuff. Enjoy!

Download: PSP Earth v0.5

 

Sony and NEC Corporation released, simultaneously but separately, the other day a new line of computers that carry Hybrid HDD. For the uninitiated, these are new kinds of hard disk drives employing large buffer of non-volatile flash memory.

Sony's VAIO Type F was released yesterday while NEC's LaVie C came out the day before that in Japan. Like we said, both carry hybrid HDD that give users the following advantages: speed increase, decrease of power consumption, improved reliability and lifespan, faster boot process, and less noises.

The following features are available for the high-end units of both lines:

• Sony VAIO Type F (FZ71)
• 15.4 inches monitor
• GeForce 8400M GT
• Wi-Fi A/B/G/N
• 200GB of Hybrid HDD (256MB of Flash)
• 1 to 4GB RAM
• Core 2 Duo T7250 at 2GHz (BTO up to 2.8GHz)
• Webcam
• HDMI, Blu-ray drive
  

• NEC LaVie C (LC950/KC)
• Face Pass: face recognition system that lets users log on into the computer once they show up  their face to the computer web camera
• Blu-ray disc drive (read only)
• HDMI output for HD Video
• Hybrid HDD of 160GB with Flash Memory (256MB)

While we've heard a lot about the EyeToy's next-gen coming, the PlayStation Eye for the PlayStation 3, here's something to finally put all the doubts about it to rest: an actual trailer video displaying just what the webcam-like device really is capable of. Real-time video input with the PlayStation 3's incredible graphics? Do WANT.

In this trailer video, we see the PlayStation Eye being extensively used in three very cool-looking titles - namely Operation: Creature Feature, The Trials of Topoq, and Aqua Vita.

The gameplay mechanics are pretty much the same with the EyeToy - your likeness and movements are key to progressing in the game, as you "interact" with the game's elements via the PlayStation Eye - while sporting some pretty awesome visuals. The Trials of Topoq puts a neat spin to it, with the little quirk that it uses your body movement to raise and lower tiles to tilt a ball through some pretty complicated mazes.

Sony's certainly upping the ante with the PlayStation Eye, and we can't help but be impressed. Check it out and see if you would be, too.

This update doesn't include a download link just yet, but those waiting for PSP Earth v0.5 will probably be quite happy to know that version 0.5 of the homebrew application will be released on August 16.

There's some bad news though: mat+dizzy says that the source code for the next PSP Earth release will be locked "due to one person simply breaking the trust rules of PSP Earth". PSP Earth's code will now be copyrighted to minimize the chances of similar issues happening.

Anyway, mat_dizzy says that version 0.5 will not include all the promised things, but it does fix quite a lot of the known bugs in the  SHR. Here are the features of the as-yet-unknown-code-name Eboot release:

• Runs Straight From The Game Menu On The XMB
• No Need To Run Internet Browser
• Weather Forecast For The Area
• Some Video Streams (Not Picture Refreshing) Although some will still be based on that!
• Information About The Area
• Map On The Area (Maybe A Joint Project With GPS ? Who knows)
• Better GUI
• More Webcam Streams

So keep checking back here until we update this post with the download.