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Gear Lover - by Craig Hill

Wiz, the Japanese toy maker behind great stuff like the Flying Ultraman and the consolation money pocket calculator, today unveiled their newest stroke of genius, a mini USB construction site.

As most USB gadgets, it doesn’t serve any real purpose (except for those Thanko makes, of course) but it looks kind of cute. Wiz says the main target group consists of male students aged 15 and up and stressed out salary men.

The construction site costs around $20 in Japan, is available in three different versions and goes on sale February 21.

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers, Gadgets

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Face Double iPhone Application Celebrity Lookalikes

February 18th 2009 12:48

Just about everyone is curious about which celebrity they look like. The website MyHeritage will show you who your famous look-alike is, but if you're not sitting at a computer then add the Face Double Application to your iPhone!

It makes more sense to have this free app on your iPhone, too, because you can snap anyone's face in the ideal orientation and find out who their celebrity twin is anywhere.

It could also be handy for those times when you're staring at someone, trying to figure out who they look like. Next time, just snap an iPhone picture and use this.

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Cellphones, Computers

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Buffalo 7 Inch USB External Swivel Display

January 29th 2009 06:54

Small external displays are becoming increasingly commonplace but the little displays are still special to us. They are so freking handy and this one from Buffalo is no different. The 7-inch display is powered by USB and features a decent 800×480 display resolution which should display Adium or Trillian buddy lists just fine. Even video would be fine. However, this external display is only PC compatible. No fun there for Mac users.

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers

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Sony Patents Touchscreen Printer

January 29th 2009 06:31

Microsoft’s high-tech Surface table has a nifty feature that lets it communicate with electronic devices wirelessly and exchange data with them. For example, if you place a digital camera on top of the Microsoft Surface, the surface can automagically suck out all of the photos in the digital camera and display them on the table for you (and anyone else nearby) to see. Sony is trying to put this great feature to good use for its wide range of digital cameras by building a smaller version of the Surface in the form of a touchscreen equipped inkjet printer.

In Sony’s patent, entitled “Image forming device, having an ejection tray, and a display is mounted to a cover,” Sony details plans for a device with a touchscreen surface, a large display, and an ejection tray from which prints of digital photos can be produced. According to Sony, this device works in the following manner:

The surface is a touchscreen that can connect with a digital camera wirelessly and automatically retrieve digital photos and save it to memory. The digital camera may be placed anywhere on the surface of the display.

A user will then have the option to either just browse the photos on the inkjet printer’s display, or print them out and get them via the ejection tray on the side.

Sony doesn’t say when this product of theirs will come out for purchase of the general public, but since the technology to create one of these is already here, I have a feeling it won’t be long until we see this baby beside digital cameras in our favorite retail stores.

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Cameras, Computers

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Firefox Mobile (Fennec) Ready For Windows Mobile

January 29th 2009 05:24

Firefox Mobile looks like it’ll finally be released for Windows Mobile next week, according to internal documents.

According to minutes from internal Mozilla meetings, Firefox Mobile will be launching on Windows Mobile in the first week of February. The notes, left online for the whole world to see clearly state that Firefox Mobile, or Fennec as it’s officially known, will make the leap to Microsoft’s mobile OS next month.

It doesn’t get more blunt than this: “Fennec…Windows Mobile - We are targeting a Milestone release for the first week of February, targeting the HTC Touch Pro.”

So, there you have it! Anyone with a HTC Touch Pro should be able to try out the first real rival to Opera Mini and Opera Mobile very soon, joining the few Nokia N810 owners who have been able to test out the Fennec Alpha already.

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers

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Sony PRS-700 Touchscreen Reader

January 28th 2009 14:25

With the latest edition of Sony’s Reader Digital Book, announced today, readers can truly let their fingers do the walking.

An interactive touch screen display allows for the most intuitive digital reading experience to date. The new model, PRS-700, will join the PRS-505 model in the Reader family to give consumers a choice of how they would like to read electronically.

Svelte and stylish, the newest Reader still sports the dimensions of a slimmed down paperback book. The textured black casing and soft black cover contribute to its envy-inspiring design. And, at about 10 ounces, it’s the perfect way to carry all of your favorite books with you wherever you go.

A sizeable six-inch display with touch screen capability allows booklovers to flip pages with the slide of a finger. In addition, readers can easily search terms within a document or book, create notes using the virtual keyboard and highlight text with the included stylus pen.

Five pre-set text sizes are available so readers can find the one most comfortable for them and for those who need an even closer look, zooming in is as easy as tapping the screen.

The device still features high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display technology which provides a reading experience very much akin to ink-on-paper. The result is crisp text and graphics that are highly readable, even in bright sunlight. For times when ambient light is not available, Sony is the first to offer a built-in LED reading light.

Expanded memory offers enough capacity to store about 350 average digital books. Using optional removable Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards, this Reader can hold literally thousands of books and documents.

“Readers now have another choice in digital books,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division. “This new model has the eye-popping design and intuitive functionality that people have come to expect from Sony.”

Family Resemblance

Like its close relative the PRS-505model, the new 700 model uses minimal power and can sustain up to 7,500 pages of continuous reading on a single battery charge. It supports multiple file formats for eBooks, personal documents and music. With the included eBook Library 2.5 PC software, you can easily transfer Adobe PDF documents with reflow capability, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB files and other text file formats to the Reader. The device can store and display EPUB files and work with Adobe Digital Editions software, opening it up to almost a limitless quantity of content.

Improved Sony eBook Store

Sony’s eBook store will also have a new face. This month, a re-designed page layout with more prominent book cover art will improve the overall visual appeal of the site. A streamlined checkout process along with updated search and discovery make finding and purchasing an eBook a breeze.

Pricing and Availability

The new Reader will be available next month for about $400. It will come complete with a USB cable, eBook Library PC companion software and a color-coordinated, protective soft cover. Both the PRS-505 and the PRS-700 models along with their optional accessories can be purchased direct through www.sonystyle.com

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers

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Datto's Box2Box Is Easy But Expensive Offsite Backup

January 28th 2009 12:22

Offsite backup is the way to go if you want your data to survive a fire, but it usually requires costly monthly subscription fees and bandwidth usage. Datto's Box2Box does not.

Datto's previous boxes consisted of an on-site (in your home/office) NAS that uploads its contents onto a server for safekeeping. This Box2Box consists of two boxes, one at your place and one at your friend's, that synchronizes between each other. This way there's no subscription fee for online storage, but you still have to transfer the files between the two boxes; a time-intensive task the first time you do it over a cable modem connection.

Although there's no subscription fee, you still have to pay for the box itself, and prices are quite high.

Two 250GB boxes come at $620, two 500GB are $660 and two 1TB are $850. If you're somewhat familiar with Linux, you could build a cheap homebrew version yourself, but for small businesses that don't have much of an IT staff, it's not a bad choice.

Datto's Box2Box

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Photographers Choice 4 - Lenovo ThinkPad W700

January 28th 2009 12:00

The last in the series is the Lenovo ThinkPad W700. It is specifically designed for professional use in industries such as graphic design, photography and CAD.

Lenovo Media Release

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – August 12, 2008: Lenovo today introduced the ThinkPad W700, a 17-inch widescreen mobile workstation engineered with game-changing technologies and innovations to exceed the demands of the most data and graphics-intensive users. Lenovo brings the industry's first built-in digitizer and color calibrator to a mobile workstation and combines these innovations with first-in-market technologies such as new NVIDIA Quadro FX mobile graphics and supporting the upcoming Intel® mobile quad core processor.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700

Other features such as optional dual hard drives with RAID configurations, up to 8 GB of high speed DDR3 memory, a range of wireless connectivity options and excellent multimedia capabilities including an optional Blu-ray DVD burner/player make the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation the standard-bearer for power and performance in a mobile workstation.

"Lenovo has engineered a new breed of mobile workstation with the ThinkPad W700," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Notebook Business Unit, Lenovo. "No other PC manufacturer has a mobile workstation that delivers the sheer power, performance and cutting-edge innovation that Lenovo has packed into the ThinkPad W700. The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation flat out delivers the command performance our customers demand at the desk as well as in the field."

According to IDC, the compound annual growth rate for the worldwide mobile workstation market has been more than 60 percent per year since 2002.1The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation extends Lenovo's commitment to workstation users, complementing Lenovo's W500 mobile workstation and ThinkStation S10 and D10 workstations. As workers in fields such as digital content creation, computer-aided design and manufacturing, digital photography and science fields including the oil and gas industries become increasingly mobile, they are demanding the full-featured performance of a desktop workstation in a mobile workstation.

First-in-Industry Engineered Innovation

The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation takes customer driven innovation to a new level with an optional built-in palm rest digitizer and color calibrator. Lenovo and Intel collaborated to integrate the color calibrator and digitizer into the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation. Designed for digital content creators and users, the mobile workstation's digitizer helps them easily configure an image, either mapping it to the entire screen or to an area defined by the user. High performance users, especially digital photographers, will benefit from models with the built-in color calibrator as color continues to play an important role in their work. The calibrator automatically adjusts the display's color in up to half the time of many external calibrators and with higher accuracy, resulting in the most accurate, true-to-life images in an integrated package. Together with the upcoming Intel® mobile quad core processor, multimedia designers and animators now have outstanding quad-core processor performance and true color replication that is critical for realistic digital creations and workflow efficiencies.

Super-Charged Performance Unleashed

Supporting the latest Intel processor technologies including the upcoming mobile quad core processor, the mobile workstation can be configured with up to 8 GB of memory with an additional 2 GB of Intel Turbo Memory. Lenovo also offers models with Intel® vPro™ technology for complete manageability. The mobile workstation can be equipped with dual internal hard drives, including solid state drive storage. The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation offers both the NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 2700M and 3700M Open GL graphics processors with up to 1 GB of dedicated video memory for exceptional graphics performance in a 17-inch mobile workstation. The hard drives can be configured for RAID 0 to help users access and save their data faster than traditional disk-writing methods, or users can choose RAID 1 for mirrored data redundancy.

The mobile workstation includes WiFi wireless connectivity. Additionally, users can connect to other devices wirelessly using mobile workstation models featuring Bluetooth and ultra wideband technology. Models supporting WiMAX will be available later this year.

New Heights in Display Technology and Multimedia Excellence

As the company's first product with a 17-inch display, the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation delivers an unparalleled viewing experience with a combination of leading technologies. Its optional 400-nit WUXGA display provides up to twice the brightness of earlier ThinkPad mobile workstation models, and the 72 percent wide color gamut provides more than 50 percent greater color intensity. The high resolution, extreme brightness and wide color gamut coupled with the NVIDIA Quadro FX MXM graphics solution results in a user experience unequalled in a mobile workstation today. For external connectivity, the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation provides support for Dual Link DVI, Display Port and VGA. A 7-in-1 multicard reader, and five USB ports give users flexibility in transferring and accessing digital content. Additionally, the workstation comes with an optional compact flash reader and Blu-ray™ DVD burner/player. An optional mini-dock extends the mobile workstation's capabilities with eSATA and digital audio ports as well as convenient cabling for power, external monitors and peripherals.

Packed for extreme performance, the mobile workstation also features BIOS/port disablement and an optional fingerprint reader, a smartcard reader and hard drives with full-disk encryption. It will carry more than 20 certifications from independent software vendors.

"Our engineers use Lenovo ThinkStation workstations to help them design the next-generation Williams - Toyota FW31 race cars, aiming to make them faster and more agile, with greater performance than the competition," said Chris Taylor, IT manager, AT&T Williams. "We're
thrilled to see Lenovo deliver the workstation performance we've come to rely on - now in a mobile, portable solution."

Pricing and Availability

The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation will be available beginning in September with models starting at $2,978. It is available through Lenovo Business Partners and www.lenovo.com.

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Photographer's Choice 3 - IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60

January 28th 2009 11:48

ThinkPad T60 delivers a sturdy design, a complete range of network connectivity, top-shelf performance, long battery life, and just enough ports for the typical business user.

The first new iteration of the ThinkPad T series since Lenovo bought the ThinkPad business from IBM, the ThinkPad T60 retains its trademark design but adds in the latest components, including Intel's Core Duo chipset and a handful of new features.

IBM_Lenovo ThinkPad T60

Lenovo Media Release

Core technology

ThinkPad T Series leads the way: Our best processors, fastest graphics, and durable, reliable data storage. It is why T Series notebooks have earned a place on the desks – and in the briefcases – of business leaders worldwide.

Processors

* Powerful Intel Core™2 Duo processors

Graphics

* ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650 on T500 and ATI Mobility Radeon HD3670 on T400
* Switchable graphics

Storage

* Up to 250GB 5400rpm hard disk drive
* Up to 200GB 7200rpm hard disk drive
* Up to 320GB 5400rpm hard disk drive
* Up to 64GB solid-state storage drive

Now with standard solid-state storage drives available. Solid-state drives or SSDs, access data faster, use less power and – with no moving parts – are considered less susceptible to damage and breakdown than traditional hard drives. Therefore, you get extra durability, longer battery life and faster boot and application load times.

In addition, Intel Turbo Memory on select ThinkPad T Series models helps speed boot time, loads applications faster, and saves power.

Energy efficiency

The new ThinkPad T Series has improved energy efficiency by more than 25% over previous T Series, which increases your mobile computing time. Hardware improvements like LCD Backlight Displays and SSD drives use less battery power and create less heat. Switchable graphics let you move to lower quality graphics when you need to maximize mobile computing time. In addition, when there is no activity, the optical disk drive and audio auto switch to a low power state. Coupled with software enhancements such as the new Green Power Scheme, Battery Stretch, and ThinkPad EnergySaver technology, the ThinkPad T Series lets you get the most out of your mobile computing time.

Graphics performance

New switchable graphics, LCD backlit displays, and DisplayPort technology features give you superior graphics performance on your ThinkPad T Series notebook.
Get improved battery life and lower energy consumption than discrete graphics systems with ThinkPad T Series' new switchable graphics feature. And don't worry; switchable graphics are easy to use. You can hot-key between Performance and Power Saving graphics modes, or switch via the software user interface. No reboot is required to switch modes, and one unified driver covers both discrete and integrated graphics. Whether you need high-end graphics support or to stretch your computing time, switchable graphics has you covered.

Experience brighter, crisper colors and lower power consumption life with the new LED backlit displays on the ThinkPad T Series. These new displays are bright without sacrificing battery life, with 25% brighter displays and using 2W less power than conventional CCFL displays. These high-resolution displays also contribute to the thin and light design of ThinkPad T Series notebooks, weighing 70 grams lighter than conventional displays. Users who travel frequently will appreciate the wide dimming range of the LED backlit display. This allows you to reduce brightness while still experiencing a crisp, comfortable display in dim environments such as an aircraft cabin. Finally, to protect the environment, our LED backlit displays are mercury-free.

Available on the new ThinkPad T500, the new DisplayPort video port gives you the ability to attach a high-resolution digital DVI monitor using a DisplayPort connector. DisplayPort is a next generation display interface technology used for a broad range of applications – not only for notebooks, but also for monitors, televisions, and projectors.

Wireless performance

Get the best wireless performance with a variety of connectivity choices with the ThinkPad T Series. The new T Series now comes with Mobile Broadband-ready, Ultra-Wideband Bluetooth, and WiMax-ready capability. Mobile Broadband-ready capability lets you connect to a mobile broadband network and switch to a different carrier during the life of the system. Ultra-Wideband lets you clear cable clutter and free up your USB ports by utilizing Certified Wireless USB technology. Take advantage of this technology today using a wireless USB hub, and in the future as wireless USB devices become available. Finally, the new ThinkPad T Series is WiMax-ready so you can take advantage of this emerging long-range wireless broadband technology.

And like all ThinkPad models, T Series notebooks come with convenient Access Connections™ software to manage your connectivity options as you move from location to location.

Cool and quiet

The third-generation fan and Adaptive Thermal Technology combine to make the new ThinkPad T Series the coolest and quietest T Series ever. New Thermal Design with tuned air flow provides cooler systems and balanced temperatures across the system. As a result, ThinkPad base cover temperatures run lower than any previous generation.

Adaptive Thermal Management automatically adjusts processor and fan speeds to keep a consistently quieter system. This puts the T Series into what we call silent/stealth mode, providing a more pleasant computing experience. Its 3-speed to 4-speed Fan transition mode also makes for improved acoustic levels, lowering its noise level by 3db.
security.

Information security is more critical than ever in today's mobile computing environment. That's why Lenovo's exclusive ThinkVantage® Technologies maximize security and convenience. The Client Security Solution offers your business an integrated security solution right out of the box. And select T Series notebooks feature an Integrated Fingerprint Reader, enabling biometric authentication with the swipe of a finger.

ThinkPad T400 notebooks are the first in the industry to offer Intel® Anti-Theft protection, an extra layer of security and manageability incorporated with Computrace® Data Protection™ and Intel vPro™ technology. Intel AT-p offers you the option of activating hardware-based, client-side intelligence to secure the PC and/or data if a notebook is lost or stolen. Because the technology is built into the PC hardware, it provides local, tamper-resistant defense that works even if the OS is reimaged, a new hard-drive is installed, or the notebook is disconnected from the network – for the ultimate in data protection and mobile security.

Portability

ThinkPad T Series notebooks are powerful and portable. Thanks to advanced chassis materials and innovative ThinkPad design, T Series models are thin, light and offer impressive battery life.

Model Starting size and weight Battery life67
T400 14.1" widescreen 1.1" thin
4.7 lbs. Integrated graphics: Up to 13 hours;
Switchable Graphics: Up to 12.7 hours
T500 15.4" widescreen 1.2" thin
5.5 lbs. Integrated graphics: Up to 10.4 hours;
Switchable Graphics: Up to 7.3 hours.

T Series models come with Lenovo Battery Stretch, a new feature of Power Manager that lets you make temporary selections in extreme situations to extend battery life beyond what your regular Power Manager settings might produce.

Green features

Lenovo considers green features a standard, not an option, and our T Series features energy-efficient, environmentally responsible notebooks that are EPEAT Gold qualified and Energy Star® 4.0 rated. Discover some of the features that make ThinkPad T Series some our greenest, most energy-efficient PCs ever.

* LED backlit, mercury-free displays
* Dual-core processors consume 10% less power than standard-voltage processors
* 25% cooler and quieter than previous T Series
* Switchable graphics feature uses 15% less power than previous T Series
* SSD drives use 90% less power than standard hard drives
* Low-wattage processor technology (25 watt processors)
* Battery Stretch feature extends battery life and reduces waste
* Reusable packaging is designed for minimum 5 reuses
* Energy Calculator enables you to calculate power savings for your system configuration

Additional features

T Series notebooks are available with a variety of convenience and multimedia features and software, including:

Full-size, ergonomic keyboard
T Series features the famous ThinkPad keyboard, renowned for its full array of keys and excellent feel.

Trackpoint
ThinkPad is famous for the little red TrackPoint in the center of the keyboard.

7-in-1 Media Card Reader
The ThinkPad T500 features a 7-in-1 media card reader supporting many popular multimedia card formats.

ThinkLight
A tiny LED in the top edge of the display lights the keyboard so you can keep working even in the dark.

Boost Your Performance with a Solid State Drive
Samsung SSD launches applications faster, and eliminates hard drive crashes, ensuring your valuable data stays safe and sound.

Accessories
Lenovo offers a full line of accessories, including docks, port replicators, wireless mice and extra batteries.

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Photographers Choice 2 - Dell Inspiron Mini 9

January 28th 2009 11:41

The Inspiron Mini 9 netbook is an ultra small and mobile companion weighing in at a mere 1.035 kg and only 1.07¨ thin that is sure to keep up with your on-the-go lifestyle. It is the ideal size to easily carry to photo shoots and locations, without the trouble of dragging around a full size laptop.

The keyboard is 89% the size of a standard keyboard. It is available with Windows XP. Stay connected with advanced wireless options.

Dell Media Release

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Sept. 4, 2008 –Dell today officially unveiled the Inspiron Mini 9. This small, easy-to-carry device stands ready to connect teens, tweens, travelers and “Tweeters” to their online world be it surfing the Web, chatting with friends, blogging, streaming content, uploading photos or enjoying favorite online videos, music and games.

Dell Inspiron Mini 9

The Inspiron Mini is an affordable Internet companion that can be fine-tuned to fit users’ specific needs and deeds. It is available now on www.dell.com/mini in the U.S., Japan and select countries in Europe. Availability elsewhere will be handled on a country -by-country basis.

Solid Construction & Connections

With a starting weight of 2.28 lbs, digital nomads will value the Inspiron Mini’s durable design, with sealed keyboard and reliable solid state drive (SSD) memory storage. A bright 8.9‑inch glossy LED display (1024x600) presents most web pages with no left-right scrolling, and the keypads are large and easy to navigate. Standard built-in Wi-Fi means quick and easy wireless internet access to hotspots in the home, on campus, in a local coffee shop, in the office or at a conference. The Inspiron Mini can be further customized with optional technology like:

· Built-in Webcam, bundled with Dell Video Chat, making it easy to stay in touch using video chat, recording and sending video emails, or even PC-to-PC phone calls around the world. DVC even supports four-way calling, making virtual family reunions a reality.

· Built-in Bluetooth for easy wireless connections to Bluetooth-enabled accessories like a pair of stereo headphones, a mouse, a printer, etc.

Dell has teamed up with Box.net to offer exclusive web-based file storage, access and sharing to Inspiron Mini users, including a free Basic plan with 2GB of remote storage space, expandable to 25GB. Dell’s Inspiron Mini will include a direct link to a Dell-exclusive home page on Box.net (www.box.net/dell), providing users with an easy way to add incremental online storage space to easily manage their digital lives. Individuals can safely and securely upload files of any type to their Box, including photos, videos, music, documents and presentations, and then access those files from almost anywhere on any device.

Box.net’s world-class service requires no software to download. With its OpenBox platform, Box.net enables people to edit documents and photos directly from their web-browser and post media to their blog or social networks, further enhancing the mobility and user experience on the Inspiron Mini.

Individual & Intuitive, Simple & Stylish

Individuals can personalize their Inspiron Mini with choice of colors – Obsidian Black or Alpine White – and interaction experience – optional Windows® XP® or Ubuntu 8.04 with custom Dell interface (coming soon). For those looking for a more traditional and familiar experience, the Inspiron Mini with Windows XP Home is available immediately starting at $399.

Inspiron Mini devices featuring an intuitive Dell-developed custom interface are expected to be available in a few weeks with a starting price of $349. The custom home screen is designed to make it easy to find what people are looking for. Intuitive icons link directly to groups of similar applications, like games, Web and entertainment, and favorite web links for quick access. Plus, the home screen can be personalized, putting your favorites front and center.

This highly mobile and fun device can be carried anywhere in style thanks to a full line of custom “Designed for Dell” backpacks, messenger bags and convertible cases from merchants including Timbuk2. Blending high fashion and superior function, the coordinated bags and accessories incorporate subtle design elements and offer Inspiron Mini owners a unique way to express a personalized, integrated style. “Designed for Dell” products currently are available in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Finishing Touches

Dell provides a variety of service offerings and add-on options to help ensure devices are easy to use and maintain optimal performance, including:

· Dell Support Center: Quickly access Dell service and support from an icon on your desktop that provides automated fixes, software upgrades and tools to help keep your system up-to-date and running efficiently.

· DellConnect Remote Assistance:[ii] Dell experts help diagnose and solve PC problems via an Internet connection (available only on Windows-based systems)."

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Photographer's Choice 1 - Apple MacBook Pro 15 inch

January 28th 2009 10:58

The first in a series of four, on the fourlaptops of choice from a photographers point of view.

Released in the fourth quarter of 2008, this computer's display incorporates an all-glass front designed to minimize flex in the lid. And that it does, as the lid is both impressively thin and impressively rigid. The rest of this portable computer is typical of the current Apple: it's sleek, skinny and beautiful to behold.

Precision aluminum. The new gold standard.

Carved from a single block of aluminum, the new MacBook Pro unibody enclosure is slim and streamlined with a soft-brushed surface and stunning contours. But it’s not all about beauty. The unibody also makes MacBook Pro more durable than ever. So you can throw it in your briefcase or messenger bag and pull it out at an airport, in a hotel room, or on location without a second thought.

Apple MacBook Pro 15 Inch

Brilliant brilliance.

The moment you open your MacBook Pro you’re greeted by glorious, full screen brightness. But that’s only one gleaming quality of the glossy LED-backlit widescreen display. The picture is brilliant and sharp from corner to corner. And anything you view — including the ultrathin display itself — is a spectacular experience. The seamless glass enclosure makes this display strong and durable. And the display is power efficient and mercury- and arsenic-free, so it’s greener than ever.

Graphics in full force.

The MacBook Pro reaches a new level of high-speed, high-end game-playing power. Not to mention pure performance for graphics-intensive applications like Aperture and Motion. Use the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for great everyday performance with up to 5 hours of battery life.1 Or switch to the discrete NVIDIA 9600M GT graphics processor for the fastest, smoothest, clearest graphics yet.

Even the keyboard is advanced

The rigid aluminum keyboard webbing has been cut precisely to hold the keys. And the keys are curved to perfectly fit fingers. The result? Pure typing bliss. The keyboard is also illuminated, so when you’re in low-light settings, such as airplanes or conference rooms, you can always see what you’re typing.

It all just clicks.

The first thing you might notice — or not notice — is the button. The entire trackpad is the button, so you can click anywhere. Without a separate button, your hands have 39 percent more room to move on the large, silky glass surface. Use two fingers to scroll up and down a page. Pinch to zoom in and out. Rotate an image with your fingertips. Swipe with three fingers to flip through your photo libraries. Swipe with four fingers to show your desktop, view all open windows, or switch applications. If you’re coming from a right-click world, you can right-click with two fingers or configure a right-click area on the trackpad. The more you use the Multi-Touch trackpad, the more you’ll wonder what you ever did without it.

All-new Multi-Touch trackpad

Multi-Touch comes to MacBook Pro in a spacious, smooth trackpad that is also the button. Watch the video
MacBook Pro notebook trackpad. To stay smooth and pristine, the new Multi-Touch trackpad is made from wear-resistant etched glass.

Everything fits.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro has a hard drive up to 320GB2 and holds up to 4GB of RAM. So there’s plenty of room for your photo libraries, video projects, and files. With fast 1066MHz DDR3 memory, you can run more applications at once and instantly access even more of your stuff. Burn DVDs using the ultrafast 8x SuperDrive. MacBook Pro also offers optional solid-state drives, which have no moving parts for enhanced durability.

Ports with possibilities.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is iPod, iPhone, digital camera, and external hard drive ready. If it has a cable, there’s a place for it. You’ll find two USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire 800 port for connecting faster peripherals. The Mini DisplayPort is a perfect fit for the new Apple LED Cinema Display. MacBook Pro even recognizes what you plug in, so you don’t have to install new drivers.

Think fast.

Inside the 15-inch MacBook Pro is a fast Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at up to 2.93GHz. It’s based on groundbreaking 45-nm process technology and advanced Core microarchitecture. With the 1066MHz frontside bus and up to 6MB of shared L2 cache, MacBook Pro runs applications faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Your studio to go.

Wherever you go, wireless capabilities go with you. With the latest 802.11n wireless technology built into MacBook Pro, you’re always seamlessly and effortlessly connected to the wireless world out there, at home, and at work.3 MacBook Pro automatically finds available networks and allows you to join them with just one click. Then surf the web, send email, video chat, print, stream your music, and more. Bluetooth capabilities are also built in, so brilliant accessories can become your wireless accomplices. And when a Wi-Fi network isn’t available, you can connect to the Internet anywhere there’s a cellular network using the ExpressCard/34 slot and a 3G wireless card. With up to 5 hours of battery life, do everything you need to do, wherever you need to do it.

Be everywhere at once.

Cleverly integrated — almost hidden — at the top of the MacBook Pro display is an iSight camera. Use it with iChat, and you can be anywhere without actually being there. Video chat with a buddy, share a video with a colleague, or present to a client.4 Use iSight with Photo Booth for fun photo effects. And there’s no need to waste valuable primping time installing software or configuring the camera. Like everything Mac, iSight just works.

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Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green Drive

January 27th 2009 13:15

Western Digital have announced the first 2 terabyte (TB) hard drive, the world's highest capacity drive and the latest addition to WD's popular, environmentally friendly, cool and quiet, WD Caviar Green hard drive family. This new 3.5-inch platform is based on WD's industry-leading 500 GB/platter technology (with 400 Gb/in2 areal density) with 32 MB cache, producing drives with capacities of up to 2 TB.

"While some in the industry wondered if the end consumer would buy a 1 TB drive, already some 10 percent of 3.5-inch hard drive sales are at the 1 TB level or higher, serving demand from video applications and expanding consumer media libraries," said Mark Geenen, President of Trend Focus. "The 2 TB hard drives will continue to satisfy end user's insatiable desire to store more data on ever larger hard drives."

WD Caviar Green is one of the most successful product lines in the company's recent history with its third-generation GreenPower technology, now providing 2 TB of proven reliable storage for today's high-resolution files and graphics. WD Caviar Green drives are designed for use in USB/FireWire/eSATA external hard drives, desktop computers, workstations, and desktop RAID environments.

"Saving power without sacrificing storage capacity is what consumers want, and what many businesses are requiring today. With the launch of the new WD Caviar Green 2 TB hard drive, customers receive the additional capacities needed to operate today's highly advanced programs and high-resolution digital files while using less power than typical drives with similar performance and capacities," said Jim Morris, WD senior vice president and general manager of client systems.

Rock Solid Mechanical Architecture, Cool, Quiet Hard Drives

A number of advanced technologies enable the speed, capacity and performance of WD's Caviar Green 1.5 TB and 2 TB hard drives. Those include: StableTrac, which secures the motor shaft at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations1; IntelliPower, which fine-tunes the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance; IntelliSeek, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration; and NoTouch ramp load technology, which is designed to ensure the recording head never touches the disk media resulting in significantly less wear to the recording head and media, as well as better drive protection while in transit.

Availability and Pricing

The WD Caviar Green 2 TB is available at select resellers and distributors. MSRP for the WD Caviar Green 2 TB hard drives (model WD20EADS) is $299.00 USD. More information about WD Caviar Green desktop drives may be found on the company's Web site at Really Long Link

Western Digital Media Release

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers

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Google Get Free Ideas

January 26th 2009 13:01

Google has figured out that it can save money by getting product ideas from users rather than engineers. After all, you can't pay engineers in "shout outs" on their blogs like they're offering for users.

Yes, the tanking economy is hitting the mighty Google just as hard as every other company out there, and they're having to cut costs as a result. Gone is the 20% time that allowed engineers to dedicate one day a week to pet projects. And hell, why pay those engineers at all? Users can come up with ideas just as well as they can, and they don't even have to pay them.

That's the idea behind the new Google Product Ideas blog, a place for people to submit and vote on ideas for new Google products. And what if you come up with a genius idea that makes Google millions of dollars? "If you post an idea or suggestion and we put it into action, we may give you a shout out on our Product Ideas blog, but we won't be compensating users for their ideas."

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Posted By: KC Hill - Category: Computers

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SkiGym Simulator

January 3rd 2009 05:28

The SkiGym simulator looks like it's going for realism rather than the silly fun offered by the Wii, but some people probably want an accurate depiction of brief exhilaration before the inevitable faceplant.

The SkiGym hooks up to a PC to use the included game Alpine Ski Racing, or it can be used as a standalone gym. The game includes 32 different courses from 18 real-world mountains, just to add to the realism. It's available for a bank account-crushing $2300, which if I'm not mistaken could purchase a pretty sweet ski trip, but if you're loaded and scared of crashing, give it a look.