LG reveals details about its 2.6mm 42-inch LCD HDTV

Grab two SD cards and sandwich them together. Done? That’s how thin the latest 42-inch LG LCD TV is: 2.6mm. My kid would break it. No, I would break it.
Even though the TV is super-duper crazy thin, it still maintains top-tier specs: 1080p, 120Hz, and edge-lit LED backlighting. The set weighs in at only 4 kilograms too, which LG says makes it perfect for wall mounting. That’s light enough that duct tape could hold it up. Or push-pins.
LG will reveal more about the set in a few weeks at CES and we’ll be there to make even more jokes about how thin the TV is. And I thought the TVs were getting too thin last year.
[CrunchGear]

Samsung's New Ultra Slim 30-Nanometer Flash Memory Chips Will Cause Gadget Shrinkage [Flash Memory]

With stacks of eight being only 0.6mm thick, Samsung's new 30-nanometer NAND chips are practically anorexic, but for once that's a good thing. Thinner chips like these could bring smaller gadgets and hopefully also lead to lower SSD prices.
According to Samsung, their new chips are actually the slimmest ever and '40% thinner and lighter than a conventional memory package.' Whether those details are true or not, I look forward to seeing them hit the market and start slipping into newer, smaller gadgets.
[Gizmodo via Information Week via Engadget]

Honda's carbon nanotubes will change the world

Carbon nanotubes have otherworldly qualities, and now Honda says its figured out a way to make the manufacture of such miraculous materials practical. Get this: Honda says its carbon nanotubes are:

• 100,000 times thinner than human hair
• Stronger than steel
• Conduct electricity better than copper
• Conduct heat better than a diamond
• Light as cotton

Imagine constructing our world from such materials, resulting in lighter and stronger cars, tinier computers, super capacitors, more efficient flexible batteries, more powerful solar panels, practical fuel cells, super-strong composite materials, and maybe even a Spider-Man suit. The breakthrough? Honda says it can manufacture such nanotubes with a 91% success rate, compared to the 25 to 50% success rate currently possible.
[DVICE via Jalopnik]

The Dell Adamo XPS gets pictured

First, a rant: Dell is really taking advantage of the media with the new Adamo XPS notebook. It’s classic. First they put up a teaser website a month ago that shows nothing but the incredibly thin dimensions and a side picture. Then they call a press conference where all they do is wave around the notebook for 3.5 seconds and then put it away. Now, there is a press release that contains nothing but two new pictures. This practice is tiresome and I hate that we must play the game, Dell. Anyway… on to the press release.



The new pictures shows off the unique hinge design of the Adamo XPS. It’s exactly how I thought it would work after seeing some pictures from the 9/9/09 event. The notebook is so small that designers had to pack all the computing hardware under the screen instead of around/under the keyboard. The result is what we see above as the hinge had to be moved up so the screen to keyboard ratio isn’t thrown off. I’m just curious how the notebook will stay open when sitting on your lap. Oh, and I of course wanna know the price and specs too.
[CrunchGear]

Motorola Tao Gets Release Date, Full Specs Coming Together

A super secret document made its way into the hands of Taylor and company over at AndroidAndMe which outlines the plans for Motorola’s Tao handset. We’re being treated to some insider information that sheds light on what to expect from both Motorola and Verizon. This phone definitely plans to deliver the goods.
Rumored to drop December 1st, the Tao is being billed as the world’s thinnest slide QWERTY phone at 13.7mm thick. Other details include a 3.7″ touch screen with 16:9 ratio, 16GB on board storage, Flash and a little something called Android 2.0, whatever that is.

There’s mention of a dock that transforms the phone into a beside clock, digital picture frame, or bedside clock. From the sounds of it, the Tao will come with it in the box. There are tons of little goodies in the document – Too many to list out here. If you’re into things that get Android fans excited, then might we suggest reading it for yourself?
If you’re looking for the full-on spec list, we have that for ya. Here’s what we have so far. You’ll note that some of it is a little conflicting.
Specs:

• OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)
• Dimensions 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
• Weight 169 g
• Battery Li-ion 1400 mAh.
• Standby 450 hours, talk time 420 minutes
• 3.7-inch touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels, 16 million color depth. Physical screen size is 45.72 mm by 81.34 mm.
• 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM
• microSD / microSDHC expansion slot
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and video recorder
• Connectivity: USB2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi
• Operating System: Android 2.0 (with Eclair, no Motoblur)
• Package Contents: Phone Motorola Sholes, battery, charger, USB cable, 8GB MicroSD memory card and other literature

The list we were passed does not indicate the dock, nor does it match up in terms of on board storage. Also noteworthy is that this is not going to have MOTOBLUR, the new interface developed by Motorola. This matches up with the pictures we’ve seen so far.

Hang on folks, this is about to get really fun!
[AndroidGuys]

Sony A-Series Is the Thinnest Walkman Yet, Has OLED Screen [PMPs]

The pretty player has a 2.8-inch OLED screen (240x400), FM radio, TV-out, noise canceling, and is beautifully thin at 7.2mm. Oh, and it only weighs 2.2 ounces. But unlike the failed X-Series, the A has no touch screen or Wi-Fi.
Along with standard codec support, there's also new drag and drop feature that auto-transcodes video from your computer. And in Japan at least, the player comes with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones. Battery life is listed as 29 hours for music, and 9 hours for video.
No word on U.S. availability yet, but if the recent S and E series Walkmans are any gauge, the wait won't be long after it hits Japan on October 31. Pricing there will be: 16GB (Y24,000; $226), 32GB (Y30,000; $332), and (Y40,000; $443).
Enough to tempt you away from the more powerful $280 32GB Zune HD or $400 64GB iPod touch? I just don't know about those Mickey Mouse like controls myself... [Sony Japan (translated) via Akihabara News]