Eizo CE240W 24" LCD Display


The Eizo CE240W 24" LCD Display is the epitome of LCD display excellence. Not only do I have no reservations about giving the Eizo five stars, but I sincerely wish I had more stars to award it. Sure the Eizo is not cheap, but there is nothing, and I mean nothing low end about the CE240W. If there were ever a poster product for you get what you pay for, Eizo has it right here. I have yet to see a display with better specs anywhere, and if you know one let me know because I have to see it!

Features of the Eizo CE240W 24" LCD Display

The features of the Eizo CE240W 24" LCD Display read like a geek's wish list. The native resolution is 1920x1200 with a contrast ratio virtually unheard of for an LCD monitor of 1000:1. Wow, most high end monitors have a contrast ratio of between 500:1 to 800:1 at best. For comparison the mighty Apple 30" Cinema display only has a contrast ratio of 700:1. The Eizo has a great contrast ratio, no doubt about that but what about brightness? How about a stellar 450 cd/m2! The aforementioned Apple 30" Cinema Display has a brightness of 400 cd/m2 as comparison and the brightest monitor I have reviewed recently was the Viewsonic VX2025WM 20" LCD that sported a 300cd/m2 brightness. This is a rare occasion for me when the product I am reviewing is better than the measuring stick I typically use. The Eizo ColorEdge CE240W is raising the bar significantly.


Eizo also has great viewing angles on the CE240W of 178 degrees horizontally and vertically, you almost have to be behind the monitor before the image is greatly affected. The CE240W's weakest point for gamers will likely be its gray-to-gray response time of 8ms. While certainly that is no slouch of a response time, faster monitors can be had, but at a huge hit in image quality. The viewable image size is 611 mm diagonally and the color pallet is 16.77 million. Both analog VGA and digital DVI-I connectors are included.

Eizo also included a built in USB hub on the side of the monitor that has two ports, one downstream and one upstream. The monitor stand on the CE240W is perfect and offers adjustability in most every angle you can think of. Height adjustability has long travel over a range of 95mm. The tilt for the monitor can go 60 degrees up and 5 degrees down. As you can see from the image above, the CE240W can almost lay flat for viewing while standing. You can also easily swivel the Eizo up to 172 degrees both right and left. The one thing the Eizo can't do is rotate for portrait viewing, which in all honesty I have never wanted to use. If that is a factor for you, Eizo has monitors that will do that.

One of the best things for design pros and business users about the Eizo ColorEdge CE240W is the included color calibration software making the act of calibrating the CE240W quick and easy. If you use a hardware calibration tool, the software will interface directly with Eye-One, MonacoOPTIX and Sypder2 calibration devices. Ambient light calibration is handled easily with the software allowing you to set the monitors white point to ensure that what you see on screen is what you end up with in print.

The CE240W is a wide aspect ratio monitor at a true 16:10. The aspect ratio allows you to have two documents side by side in popular office applications like word and even run multiple programs on the screen at once. I was able to run four web browsers when working with no problems at all reading the text in each window. This is a huge time saver. Color accuracy is boosted with Eizo's stock 14-bit color processing that provides for smooth gray transitions and midtone transitions as well.

Eizo CE240W in Use

I can sum my time with the Eizo CE240W up in one word, stunning! There is simply not a better monitor to be had on the current market than the CE240W. No matter what you plan to do with it, it just excells. Movie watching on the Eizo was the best I have ever seen. The dark scenes in my test movie, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, were so much clearer and sharper than with any other monitor I have used there was no comparison. Sometimes I see pixelation and dithering in the gray tones especially on lower end monitors, I didn't see any of that with the CE240W.

Gaming on the Eizo CE240W is hard to describe. The image quality response of the monitor to rapidly changing colors and quick motion is the best I have seen yet. No ghosting or smearing on games or movies was noticed. Gamers if your in the market for a high end monitor like the Apple 30" Cinema Display or the 30" Dell, seriously consider giving up the six inches in screen real estate and going with the superior specs of the Eizo CE240W. That said, I am seriously hoping Eizo has a 30" display to pull out of their hats. I'll be the first in line to buy!

abit AW9D-Max Mainboard


The PC enthusiast crowd out there knows that for a long time abit was one of the biggest and best names in enthusiast class mainboards. However, for a long while abit slipped and their performance dropped compared to the other big names in the marketplace like Asus. abit is back at the top now with their newest mainboard for the LGA775 Intel socket that is compatible with the Core 2 CPUs all the way up to my test machines Intel X6800 Core 2 Extreme.

Features & Use of the abit AW9D-Max Mainboard

abit decked the AW9D-Max out with nearly everything that a PC enthusiast could want starting with the Intel 975x chipset supporting Intel CPUs with up to a 1066 MHz front side bus, dual DDR2 800, dual PCI-E 16x slots for CrossFire graphics, and a whopping 7 SATA 3G ports. Also included is one eSATA port for external drives, dual PCI-E gigabit Ethernet adapters, dual IEEE 1394 FireWire headers, 7.1 channel HD AuidoMax sound, silent passive cooling and abit’s own uGuru tech.

At first glance, the packaging is large and very attractive. The view through front panel gives you a look at the unique audio riser card and the OTES-2 passive cooling pipes. OTES 2 is what abit calls their passive Northbridge and Southbridge cooling system. Those in Europe will be glad to know that the AW9D-Max is RoHS compliant as well.

Abit went with an AuidoMAX riser card for their onboard sound solution to remove the sound as far from the noise generating components on the mainboard as possible. Onboard sound is a big deal on this mainboard because if you intend to run dual graphics cards, you will very likely not be able to get a soundcard into the system.

If you are like me and typically shun onboard sound for the likes of an X-Fi card don’t fret, you typically buy a soundcard to get the kind of sound quality abit delivers with the AuidoMAX card. In fact, the AudioMAX HD system is Dolby Master Certified and delivers fantastic Dolby Digital 5.1 sound via SPDIF optical output. There are also enough analog connectors on the riser card for 7.1 surround sound.

If overclocking is your thing, this board will do it abit utilized what they call OC strips on the back of the board to dissipate the extra heat overclocking of components generates. The uGuru software included also allows you to overclock your system voltages and your CPU from within the uGuru application. OC Guru AutoDrive will also automatically over clock your system for you.

Do it yourself types, abit used a very friendly overclocking bios that puts all the settings you need form timings to voltages and the FSB in your hands. uGuru also provides hardware monitoring of system temperatures, fan speeds and voltages.

With the AW9D-Max, abit opted to forgo all legacy connections so you do not get serial or parallel ports for printers. Interestingly, while abit ditched the parallel and serial ports they opted to keep the PS2 ports for the mouse and keyboard. I seriously doubt that buyers of this board will be using anything other than USB powered keyboards and mice. I would have rather seen abit ditch the PS2 legacy ports and go with more USB ports personally.

Dual PCI-E x16 slots allow you to run dual graphics cards, though a bit confusingly since abit includes an SLI connector and the board runs an Intel chipset that can support SLI, you can only run ATI’s CrossFire dual card solution on the AW9D-Max. Personally, I would have preferred SLI and I figure someone will release some hacked drivers to allow this board to support SLI.

For testing, I used an ATI X1900 XT and an ATI X1900 CrossFire edition card. CrossFire performed well and I noted no issues at all during testing. The sole problem I found with the AW9D-Max running dual graphics cards was that the second graphics card covered the BIOS reset jumper. I once ran a bit too much overclocking on the system and needed to reset BIOS to get it running again. I ended up having to pull the second graphics card to access the BIOS jumper, which is a huge pain and quite a problem on a board destined to see lots of overclocking with dual cards in the system.

Abit makes the solution to this BIOS reset problem in their uGuru panel that moves CMOS reset to the front panel along with overclocking functions and system monitoring. However, I was still surprised to see something that important overlooked in the design of the AW9D-Max.

The only other thing I can say bad about the abit board is that if you run dual graphics cards that use two slots per card say goodbye to all hope of running other expansion cards in the system. I was unable to utilize my X-fi and you won’t be able to get network cards or physics cards into the system either.

At the end of the day, I was able to over look the few shortcomings of the abit AW9D-Max thanks to the overwhelming amount of fantastic features and great performance of the board. If you overclock a lot, I suggest you either get the uGuru panel or expect to have to pull your second graphics card every now and then. Overall, the abit AW9D-Max is one of the best Core 2 compatible mainboards you will find.

Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad

Description

  • Lag free even at extreme distances from the base station.
  • Great battery life for the cordless gamepad.
  • Buttons are programmable via included software.
  • Works on PC and Mac.

Features of the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad

The Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad's main feature is its wireless 30 foot operating range. The Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad boasts a 100 hours battery life from the two "AA" batteries that power the actual gamepad. The base station is powered by the USB port on your computer.

The ten button layout of the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad is programmable with the included software and the two analog control sticks give you 360 degree motion.

Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad in Use

When playing with the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad I noticed no lag at all even at long distances from the base station. This is a big deal and a point I was concerned about, cordless mice often fail at gaming due to lag. I think the 2.4 GHz frequency helps the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad's lag free ability. Another point I was concerned about was that my cordless phone also uses the 2.4GHz frequency as well. I noticed no interference between the controller and the phone, even when using them both at the same time.

Picking up this controller is like seeing an old friend after years, everything is familiar. If you are used to play station the learning cure with the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad is next to nothing. The Play Station 2 controller and the Logitech Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Gamepad fell near identical in your hands.

OCZ ATV Turbo 4GB Flash Drive Review


Features & Specifications

OCZ quotes read and write speeds for its OCZ ATV Turbo flash drive 33-35MB/s and 26-30MB/s respectively. The storage capacity for the drive is 4GB and it works with Windows and Mac computers. The rubber housing is shock and water-resistant and the drive has an orange LED on the back of the drive flashes when the drive is working. OCZ also covers the drive with a lifetime warranty.

Benchmarks & Testing

To test the OCZ ATV Turbo I used HD Tach, Sandra XII, transferred files to and from the drive while timing the operation. I also washed, and dried the drive with some laundry to see just how durable it was. The first test was Sandra XII’s removable storage benchmark. This test showed that the OCZ ATV Turbo had a drive index of 7740 ops/min and an endurance factor of 19.70. The Corsair Flash Survivor that I recently reviewed had a drive index of 9575 ops/min and an endurance rating of 16.4 for comparison.

The next test was HD Tach which showed the OCZ ATV Turbo had an average read speed of 27.9MB/s and an average write speed of 23.5MB/s. To compare the Corsair Flash Survivor had an average read speed of 23MB/s and an average write speed of 20.6MB/s. That makes the OCZ ATV Turbo quite a bit faster than the Corsair drive.

For the final test, I copied a folder with 944MB of data in it to the OCZ ATV Turbo and then copied the same folder from the OCZ ATV Turbo to the system drive and times the process with a stopwatch. Writing the folder to the OCZ ATV Turbo took 1-minute and 9-seconds, copying the folder from the OCZ ATV Turbo to the system drive took right at 41 seconds.

The OCZ ATV Turbo is certainly fast, but the drive promises shock and water resistance as well. To test the shock resistance I threw the drive onto concrete as hard as I could. The OCZ ATV Turbo worked without any issues after throwing it down repeatedly. To test the resistance to water, I ran the OCZ ATV Turbo through a full washer cycle in the pocket of my jeans. When the load was done, I found the cap had come off the OCZ ATV Turbo at some point in the wash cycle. I plugged the OCZ ATV Turbo into my computer expecting it to be ruined. However, the OCZ ATV Turbo performed flawlessly after its washing.

After the run through the washer, I put the drive back into the jeans for a dry cycle on high heat. Once again, when the load was dry, I found the cap to the OCZ ATV Turbo had come off at some point. Fortunately, the OCZ ATV Turbo still performed flawlessly. The cap covering the USB port comes off frequently in instances like this, which could lead to failure of the drive. My review sample survived without issue though, and most likely yours will too. Overall the OCZ ATV Turbo is the fastest flash drive I have tested to date and is durable enough to stand up to the rigors of the daily grind.

Korean Online games! It's time to march into U.S.

'Game&Game World Championship 2007' the final of the U.S. region was held on L.A.

At U.S. final selection, more than 60,000 players participated from preliminary match of ‘Shot online (Sports)’, ‘War rock (Action)’, ‘Silkroad online (MMORPG)’ and US regional final event held successfully with 17 players who advanced from preliminary match and more than 200 supporters from all over the US.

This regional event was held successfully at the ‘Internet PC Café’ near LA area, and it began with press conference to help local presses understanding, and participants had great time through Korean online games with special events like professional DJ performances, and participants side shows.

Over 20 journalists from 14 local presses such as ‘MMOGD’, ‘WarCry’ visited to this event, and they showed off hot interests to Korean game companies and Korean online games.

US regional final had various episodes and special participants due to lot of games took part of it.

Especially, ‘Lunia (Allm)’ has hot-spotlight than any other events, because more than 50% of Lunia users are located in US area.

The winner of Lunia, Travis Verhagen who is student of AIU, and wish to be programmer to make games like Lunia said “It is great pleasure to win this event and I will try harder to get better result at Grand final at Seoul on Dec.”

The winner of ‘Navy field (Enternet)’ is Jedi1 (US), and OPR (Poland) took second place on 15 vs. 15 team play match. Even though it is US regional final, the ‘Navy field’ excited envy in other games because participants showed off great passion like came from all over the world (Canada, U.K., Poland, etc.) and prepare for the final.

Also ‘Bomb’N Dash (Innodis)’ brought big attentions because a user who has special job. US Marine, Jason who enjoy ‘Bomb’N Dash’ with his friends very much will dispatch to Afghanistan expressed inconvenience because he cannot play ‘Bomb’N Dash’ often after dispatch.

Last year regional finalists of ‘Silkroad online (Joymax)’ Gerald Bastien and Zachary Witeof took first and second place in this year event again, and have chance to win at Grand final this year too.

The ‘War rock (Dream Execution) proceed this event with at scene registration. ‘War rock’ had great heat from more 50 participants who came very early to enroll this game.

Mr. Kwon (KIPA) said “Over 60,000 players from US, UK, Canada, and Poland participated in this event, it proves that Korean online game already take great part of the world game market.”, also “We will try best to lead world game market by Korean online games based on popularity of this event.”

Last August, starting with the GNGWC European Finals, Korea (Yongin, 9.29-30), Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, 10.13), the United States (Los Angeles, 10.20), Japan (Tokyo, 11.17) the series will be held, each chosen gamers through regional finals will be join the Grand final on December 1 during the SoftEXPO & DCF 2007 Seoul COEX exhibition.






via Aving.

Acer AcerPower FH Budget Desktop PC


AcerPower FH Desktop
©Acer

Description

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Dual Core Desktop Processor
  • Two Gigabytes PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
  • 160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
  • 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
  • Intel GMA 3000 Integrated Graphics
  • HDA 7.1 Audio
  • Gigabit Ethernet Interface
  • Six USB 2.0 Ports
  • Windows XP Professional

Guide Review - Acer AcerPower FH 4401 Budget Desktop PC

10/22/07 – The AcerPower FH lineup of desktops is very clearly directed at businesses looking for a low cost desktop option. That doesn't mean that this can't make a very usable home desktop system. Some of the features are very clearly targeted at business use. Take the Windows XP Professional operating system over the newer Vista. This may actually be a bonus for many people who don't want to migrate to the new OS yet.

In terms of performance, the AcerPower FH 4401 has lots of it for the price. Rather than using older Pentium D or Duo models, Acer has elected to use a newer Core 2 Duo E4400 dual core processor. This gives it an edge on most available budget desktops. Combine this with two full gigabytes of memory and the Windows XP Professional operating system and it should have no trouble handling multitasking.

Storage does suffer a bit over a traditional consumer system. Most budget desktops have 300GB or more of hard drive space, but the AcerPower FH comes only with a 160GB drive. This is large for a business system but still quite low overall for the market segment. At least they included a dual layer DVD burner over the more traditional CD-RW/DVD combo drive found in business PCs.

While performance is quite good, the business nature means that many smaller peripheral interconnects are missing. The system has six USB 2.0 ports, but lacks any FireWire connector or a media card reader for digital peripherals. They also elected to not include a modem with the system even though they are not used as frequently as in the past.

What this ends up with is a system that is a good fit for those needing strong performance but don't require much in terms of storage space or peripheral connectivity.

ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT


Upgrade your graphics to unleash the awesome power of DirectX® 10 for an immersive HD gaming experience

The ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 GPU unleashes the power of DirectX® 10 with awesome performance, stunning visual effects and more dynamic interactivity than ever before. Surpass reality with easy CrossFire™ scalability, built-in HDMI and 5.1 surround audio for an immersive HD Gaming experience.

ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT BoxKey Features:
  • 512MB GDDR3
  • 512-bit memory interface
  • 320 stream processing units
  • Superscalar unified shader architecture
  • Optimized for DirectX® 10 and Windows Vista™
  • CrossFire™ multi-GPU ready
  • ATI Avivo™ HD video & display technology
    • Built-in HDMI for one-cable audio and video connectivity
    • 5.1 (AC3) surround sound
    • Full HD 1080p video1
    • HDCP ready for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback2
  • ATI Catalyst™ software suite

Free Games Offer3
Included inside is a coupon for a free copy of The Black Box, a collection of three upcoming games from Valve: Half-Life 2®: Episode Two, Team Fortress®2, and Portal™.

Ultimate HD Gaming Technology
  • Comprehensive DirectX® 10 game support
  • Next-generation unified shader engine
  • 320 unified stream processors and 512-bit memory interface
  • Built-in HDMI with multi-channel 5.1 surround audio
  • Connect to your big-screen TV for massive gaming
Gamer in front of two large displays
CrossFire™ MultiI-GPU Performance
  • Add a second card and really get your game on!
  • Easy plug-and-play internal connector system
  • ATI Catalyst™ Control Center for easy setup and customized game settings
viaAving.

Record of Lunia War, an arcade making it's first appearance in Taiwan

Record of Lunia War (commonly known as Lunia) is a 3D on-line game that is an action packed arcade enjoyed by many from the past.

Record of Lunia War, a rendering of a comic, has a fairy tale like setting with graphics that fit the game rather than that which is not merely fancy, spectacular and high speed. Also, many users are drawn to this game because it has a great overall balance.


Record of Lunia War launched in Taiwan through Chinese Gamer

AllM (CEO Jong Myung Lee, www.allm.co.kr) announced on the 27th at a press conference in Taiwan that the online arcade RPG, Record of Lunia War, service contract was signed with Chinese Gamer (CEO Chin Po Wang, www.chinesegamer.net).

The Taiwan based Chinese Gamer is an affiliate of Softworld, a service provider for Ragnarok and World of Warcraft and more, develops and provides games. Both companies completed an Initial Public Offering (IPO). In Taiwan, over 190 thousand subscribers were connected simultaneously to Chinese Gamer’s Huang Yi Online reflecting its popularity. The successful launching of Trickster, the first published game, brought attention to management and publishing capabilities.

The CEO of Chinese Gamer, Chin Po Wang said with great confidence , “ I selected ‘Record of Lunia War’ because RPG is a new genre, the distinct game elements like experiencing a interesting story and the online game features that make the game more unique. We are in the final stages of the localizing process with AllM and we hope that this will have a greater success than Huang Yi online.”

The stress test beginning in October 17 will be the start of an all out on/off line marketing launch. Especially, the famous VJ characters have their real life voice recorded in voice chat system which more people are noticing. Famous Taiwan entertainers will participate with promotion in game channels, music channels and a variety of on/off line events.

Nexon Japan is the service provider of Record of Lunia War which is a hit in Japan and will provide GSP (Global Service Platform) to users in over 80 countries.viaAving.

Yepp YP-P2: Samsung's Challenge to the Apple iPod Touch


Ok we admit it, we thought the device pictured over the weekend by Akihabara News was just the iPhone obscured by that iLuv case. But really, those pics were a bit preoccupied with something other than the, ehem, gadget. Fortunately, the good kids over at dapreview sorted it out with pictures and a video of Samsung's sleek new flash player: the Yepp YP-P2. A bit of digging also reveals plenty of specs courtesy of several unsubstantiated German language sites. These include up to 8GB of flash; biggie 3-inch, 428 x 240 pixel touch-screen display; MP3, WMV, WMA, and H.264 (MPEG4 AVC), MPEG-4 (ASF) support; Bluetooth (oh yes); integrated speaker and mic; and FM radio in a device just 100 x 52 x 9.2-mm thin. They've even implemented some of that virtual click-wheel action hinted at by Apple patent applications but never quite implemented. Check another pic and video walkthrough of the interface after the break.

Possibly in an effort to compete against the recently announced iPod touch, Samsung has launched the Samsung Yepp YP-P2, a personal media player that boasts a touchscreen display. Surely, these can't be the first touchscreen media players, but the comparisons are inevitable. The touchscreen measures three inches across the diagonal, rocks a 480x272 resolution, and has a beautiful 16:9 aspect ratio.

Measuring just 9.9mm thick -- Samsung loves thin gadgetry -- the Yepp YP-P2 also has Bluetooth 2.0 and support for a Korea-only iTunes-like music store (Samsung Media Studio). In fact, the Bluetooth-ness will pair with two Bluetooth headphones and one wired headphone simultaneously.viaAving.

Macromedia Flash 8

The Bottom Line

While Flash 8 is a great program that continues the tradition of excellence begun by its previous incarnations, upgrading from Flash MX isn't really essential to continue animating and developing effectively. The only major change that really stands out is the addition to Flash's video capabilities. If you're looking to try Flash for the first time, then I would recommend Flash 8 Basic--but if you're comfortable with MX, you may want to avoid the rather heavy upgrade costs.



Pros

* Easy to adjust to from Flash MX.
* Improves on minor flaws in previous versions.
* Intensive focus on developer functionality.
* Additional one-click effects.

Cons

* Even more cluttered than Flash MX.
* Some "new" features are frivolous and useless.
* The price tag is hefty for both Basic and Professional.

Description

* Flash 8 offers more advanced controls, streamlining once-complex actions and effects into one click.
* Enhanced video options offer a wide range of codecs and output options previously unavailable.
* Expanded functionality turns Flash 8 into a full-featured graphics editing program.
* Animation and drawing are easier than ever with new visualization tools.
* Actionscripting has new script assists; even beginners can program on an easy learning curve.

Guide Review - Flash Professional 8

At first glance, Flash Professional 8 looks like Flash MX wrapped up in a prettier package--but that's reassuring when making the transition from MX to 8. Moving up to Flash 8 is like coming home to a familiar house that's been spruced up with a new coat of paint and a few renovations--still the same comfortable rooms, but with a clean, fresh new feel.

My first impression, after trying out the program, was that a great deal of the struggle had been removed from certain functions. Filter effects that were once a "jerry-rig" process are now accomplished automatically with a single click; the Library is now a static panel with improved object tracking. Fonts look crisp without degradation; graphic transitions are now standard; line and fill controls now have more options, and Flash's video capabilities have undergone a complete revolution to turn the program into a full-featured video publishing suite. Even Actionscripting is easier, for developers--with an assist mode that practically completes the scripts for you.

Flash 8 still has a few of the problems of MX. It's still a memory-hog, for one, and although Macromedia touts an improved interface I still find it to be a bit too cluttered and overstuffed. Some of the improvements are just "fluff" that don't really matter, but they're still nice to have. While I would recommend an upgrade to Flash 8 (Professional or Basic) to anyone seeking enhanced video capability, I find that I'm just as comfortable sticking with Flash MX.

Samsung Sense x22



Samsung Electronics unveiled its 14.1-inch Santa Rosa-based notebook pc ‘Sense X22’ during KES 2007, which adopts ATI Radeon HD 2400 card.

Measuring 28.2~38.8mm thickness and 2.18kg weight, the Sense X22 supports HSDPA/WiBro, HDMI port and multi memory card slot. With metal brown color, it is expected to be released in Korea market in November.



Samsung has recently exhibited its new and latest notebook called Sens X22 Notebook in SEK 2007 and has been the most talked notebook in the exhibition. Looking at the image it is clear that it has very good design element but along with that you will get 14.1 inch WXGA screen with 1280×800 resolution and power of Intel Santa Rosa.

Other features includes Radeon Mobility HD 2400 graphics engine, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 120GB of SATA hard drive,1.3 megapixel webcam, dual-layer DVD burner, media card reader, Firewire, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, and 802.11a/b/g/n WiFI connectivity.

This nicely designed with aluminum plastic finish Sens X22 notebook also comes preloaded with Windows Vista Premium edition and is very light weight. (2.2 Kg) Product is expected to be in market in July in korean market.

Specification :

- 14" WXGA SuperBright NonGlare TFT, max. Aufl. 1280x800
- Intel Core 2 Duo Prozessor T7300 (2.00GHz/4MB/800FSB)
- 2048 MB DDR2-RAM
- 200 GB SATA hard disc 4200rpm
- 128 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400, 756 MB Turbocache
- DVD+-R/+-RW DL drive (8x/4x/5x/16x/10x/12x/24x)
- integrated Wireless LAN (a/b/g/n)
- integrated Bluetooth 2.0
- integrated 1.3 Megapixel camera
- only 2.18 kg light
- Docking-Station connection
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
- 2 Jahre FastGuard EuroCollect and Return-Service

viaAving.

Norton All in 1



The Best of Both Worlds: Protection and Performance.

* Industry-leading virus and spyware detection
* Transaction security to protect against identity theft
* Automatic backup and restore to safeguard important files
* PC tuneup to keep everything running at peak performance
* Unparalleled combination of speed and performance featuring:*
o Significantly faster scan and surf speed
o More responsive interface
o Up to 84 percent less memory use than the average used by competing products


All of this means that you can take advantage of the industry leading reliability and protection without sacrificing your PC's performance.
Also Easier to Use.**

* Easier to understand and navigate
* Simpler to back up files and get support
* Effortless to protect your PC thanks to ongoing automated threat handling and silent, background operations that reduce errors and give you confidence that your PC is safe

All-in-One, Comprehensive Protection for Your Family and Your PCs.

* Bank, shop, and surf the Web with confidence
* Connect securely to any wireless hot spot
* Block hackers and other threats from entering your PC
* Remove threats from email; IM; and photo, music, and software downloads
* Stop spyware from tracking and hijacking your computer
* Protect files from computer crashes
* Fix problems and remove Internet clutter that slow your computer

Protection for Up to Three Household PCs.

* Antivirus and antispyware
* Email scanning
* Antiphishing
* Online identity protection
* Web site authentication
* Automatic backup and restore
* Automatic updates via LiveUpdate™‡
* PC performance tuneups
* 2 GB of secured online storage (with option to purchase more)†
* Free technical support via email and live chat
* Windows Vista® and Windows® XP support
* Ongoing protection that keeps your computer safe by automatically renewing your subscription at the regular subscription price (plus applicable tax). For more information, click here.

Award-Winning Protection

* April 2007 LapTop Magazine: Editors' Choice Award
* March 2007 PC Magazine: Editors' Choice Award††
* February 2007 CNET: Editors' Choice Award.

LG to unveil world's first second-gen 'Super Blue' Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid drives


LG unveiled its world’s first second generation ‘Super Blue’ Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid drives during KES 2007.

Company plans to launch dual-format drive at the same time

At CES this week, LG Electronics announced what could become the first of many similar products -- a hybrid Blu-ray and HD-DVD all-in-one player. Called the BH100 and the GGW-H10N, LG establishes the units as part of a line that it refers to as the "Super Multi Blue" line of players. LG said in its original press release that there's great confusion and consumer frustration in the high definition market right now.


Many consumers are definitely applauding the direction that LG is heading in and are hoping that other manufacturers follow suit. Sony’s Blu-ray format has seen a fair share of problems that HD-DVD did not have, making the later a format that was sought after more quickly. According to LG:

LG Electronics offers flexibility to consumers in the next generation in optical disc drives. The GGW-H10N is compatible with both Blu-ray Discs and HD-DVD formats. The Super Multi Blue drive is compatible with Blu-ray Disc, DVD, CD read/write and HD-DVD-ROM (read), offering consumers with the most universal unit available.

Besides a set-top player, LG is also launching a Super Multi Blue drive capable of reading both HD formats. The two products marks first in the industry. The drive will be able to write to recordable Blu-ray discs in both single layer and dual-layer formats, stacking in roughly 25GB and 50GB respectively. The drives are fast too, being able to burn a single 25GB Blu-ray disc in about 25 minutes.

In a statement to the press, Dr. Hee Gook Lee, president and chief technology officer of LG Electronics said, "we’ve developed the Super Multi Blue Player to end the confusion caused by the current competition between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Customers are no longer forced to choose between the two formats.

Anyone who was planning on buying LG's hybrid high-def player may wanna sit down for this one. As we reported from CES, the BH100 fully supports Blu-ray discs, but since it lacks support for HD DVD's iHD, you can't access an HD DVD's interactive menus, you can only see the movie straight through.

So as a result, the DVD Forum might sue LG for falsely using the HD DVD logo and for falsely saying that their hybrid player plays HD DVDs when in fact it doesn't play them the way they were intended to be played. Microsoft was also a bit miffed at LG for...

not giving them a heads up before announcing the BH100. So it looks like LG's baby won't see the light of day, which is a damn shame. Both sides have valid points—we just hope they manage to work something out because all this does is make me wanna stick with my old school DVDs even more.

It took a long time for dual-format DVD-R and DVD+R drives to arrive on the computer market, but thankfully things are speeding along in the Blu-ray and HD-DVD battle. Expect more electronic giants like NEC, Pioneer and Matsushita to announce and launch dual-format readers in the future.

I would not care about a hybrid HDDVD/BD disc if I have a universal player. It would be uncalled for, unless you were all gun-ho and bought one of the formats already during this war. Anyone who did that has got big kahunas! And for the people out there that say HDDVD and BD is a waste of time and we do not need another format don't have a t.v. that is 1080p capable. I just bought one 2 weeks ago and when you watch sports in hi-def, it is amazing. The current dvd's don't play that clear and that is why there is a new format war. I have an upconvert dvd and it still does not compare to watching a movie on HBO in high-def. That is what you will get when you watch a movie in the new format! I will be getting the universal player when it comes out. This will end the format war period. We don't care as consumers what format we get hd movies in, as long as it is hd and it looks good and the quality is there! Bring on the Universal Players!!
viaAving.

HITACHI to unveil a future concept of remote controller

HITACHI unveiled a future concept of remote controller during CEATEC 2007, which features intuitive user interface.

As CEATEC goes on, the weirder ideas find their way onto the web. Here's Hitachi's concept RC device with an intuitive user interface. Below the bump is a pic of the prototype that they're currently working on. I can't decide whether it looks more like an MP3 player or a sex toy.



For everyday uptime improvement and rapid recovery in the event of an outage. Hitachi maintains research and development departments in all branches of the company which are continually working on the improvement of products and technologies. Synergy effects are specifically used in product policy. As a result, many components for Hitachi products are produced within the company itself.via Aving.

Alien Skin Exposure 2 Photography Plug-In

The Bottom Line

Alien Skin Exposure is a plug-in designed to accurately simulate the look and feel of film in your digital photos. Exposure comes with a number of presets to imitate the appearance of Velvia, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, GAF 500, TRI-X, Ilford, and many other film types. It also offers controls for tweaking the color, tone, focus and grain of your photos. Through these settings, you can develop your own signature style and reproduce traditional darkroom effects. Being a plug-in, it runs inside a host program such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, or Fireworks.


Pros
  • Simulates the look of popular film stocks, including many that are no longer available.
  • Provides extraordinarily realistic film grain simulation.
  • Users can easily save their own custom presets to use on another computer, or to share with others.
  • Hybrid CD includes Macintosh and Windows versions, plus a 50-page manual. Now Universal for Mac.
  • There's an online forum where you can share presets or get help from other users and the developers.
Cons
  • Price increase and stricter host requirements from Exposure version 1.
  • Note: All 'cons' from Exposure 1 have been addressed in Exposure 2.
Description
  • Exposure simulates the look of traditional color and black and white film stock, including many discontinued films.
  • Offers more than 200 presets for Fuji Velvia, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, GAF 500, TRI-X, Ilford Delta, Polaroid, and many more.
  • Includes special presets for recreating darkroom effects, push processing and cross-processing techniques.
  • Custom controls for color, tone, focus, and grain let you make sophisticated adjustments.
  • Grain can be larger than one pixel, irregularly shaped, and randomly spaced to mimic the subtle features of real grain.
  • Grain can be adjusted independently for different strengths in the highlights, midtones, and shadows.
  • Option to create output in a new layer allows for non-destructive editing. Compatible with Photoshop CS3 Smart Filters.
  • Preview can be toggled on or off for comparison, or you can view before and after results side-by-side in split preview.
  • Scriptable through Photoshop Actions, unlimited undo/redo, save and share custom settings, keyboard shortcuts.
  • Requires Photoshop CS2 or later, Photoshop Elements 4 or later, Fireworks CS3 or later, or Paint Shop Pro Photo XI or later.

Guide Review - Alien Skin Exposure 2 Photography Plug-In

Alien Skin Exposure was designed for professional photographers who have used film for years and are now going digital. I am not a professional photographer, so I'm not familiar with the film types that Exposure is trying to simulate. However, I do know that Alien Skin has a long history of making excellent plug-ins, and if they say they did detailed microscope analysis of real world film stocks to accurately simulate them in Exposure, I believe them. But I didn't just take their word for it; I have done a lot of research and Exposure comes highly recommended by pro photographers.

Exposure comes with presets to imitate the appearance of real world film stocks. It also offers controls for tweaking the color, tone, focus and grain of your photos. Using these, you can develop your own signature style and reproduce traditional darkroom effects such as Lomo, Daguerreotype, glamour shot softening, and so on. Custom settings can be saved as a preset and shared with others.

The adjustments you can make in Exposure were developed for a photography workflow. For instance, color saturation can be adjusted independently for the red, green, and blue channels, and toning can be manipulated separately for contrast, shadow, midtone, and highlight. With Exposure you can do advanced black and white conversions, digital toning, color filtering, and advanced sharpening and softening.

Exposure 2 brings user interface enhancements and many new film stock simulations, including the much-desired Fuji Velvia 50. Other new film stock presets include Kodak Ultra Color 100UC, Fuji Superia Reala, Polaroid, and the now-extinct Agfa Scala, and Polaroid Polapan.

Whether you're an old school photographer nostalgic for the look of film or someone who's only known digital, Exposure can bring a unique quality and new variety to your digital photography.

HIS Radeon HD 2900 PRO 512MB Early Test


Introduction

We wanted it and now we’ve got it. The HD 2900 PRO has been one of the most talked about products since the release of the HD 2900 series from AMD. Sure the HD 2900 XT offers great value for money these days due to some excellent driver updates from AMD, but the bottom line is that the card still comes in at around $500 AUD or $400 USD meaning that it’s simply out of reach for a lot of people.


When the X1950PRO launched it wasn’t greeted with the warmest welcome, much like the HD 2900 XT. While on paper it looked like it was going to be the next best thing, poor drivers at launch and a high price tag saw the card not really wowing a lot of people. The 7900GS from NVIDIA thanks to its extremely high overclocking ability was simply the low high-end card or high mid-range card to have.

Hopefully AMD have learnt from their mistakes and the HD 2900 PRO is simply going to blow us away as the next best thing. Its main competition is the 8800GTS 320MB from NVIDIA.

Initial pricing from HIS shows the card’s MSRP at $250USD, for comparison the 8800GTS 320MB starts at about $290 USD. As we see more brands come on though and the initial price premium drop there isn’t any reason why we won’t see the HD 2900 PRO closer to the $200 USD mark.

All it really has to do is perform better than the 8800GTS 320MB and the card is an absolute shoe-in but that might be easier said than done.

The particular HD 2900 PRO we have in hand today is the 512MB model from HIS. Before we get stuck into the benchmarks we will have a look at the card and what HIS have managed to do with the package.

NV inside document proved that 8800GT unveiled

Today we got a picture of high-end graphic cards 8800 and 2900 decoding H.264 HD CPU usages contrast. You maybe familiar with it, yeah, it is the NV inside PPT.

It based on Core 2 Duo processor. The blue ones are the CPU usage only decoded by CPU, the red ones are after inserted 2900 while the green ones are after inserted 8800.

The value of the picture is not there histograms but the notes. The little words read: 2900XT Pro and 8800GT!

It means that 8800GT supports H.264 hardware decoding but 2900XT and 2900Pro dont. From the names we can say 8800GT is between 8800GTS 320M and 8600GTS. It possible is 256bit and the SP doubled 8600GTS.

Toshiba Qosmio G45


The Qosmio under review is only offered in one configuration at this time, with the part number of G45-AV680. It has the following specifications:

  • OS: Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300 (2.20GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
  • Chipset: Mobile Intel P965 Express Chipset
  • Wireless: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n), Bluetooth version 2.0 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)
  • Memory: 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 4GB)
  • Hard Drive: 320GB Total Space (160GB x 2)
  • Optical Drive: HD DVD-R/DVD SuperMulti (+/- double layer) drive (in one optical drive), supporting 13 formats
  • Screen: 17.0" diagonal widescreen TrueLife TFT LCD display at 1920x1200 (WUXGA, Glossy)
  • Graphics: 512MB nVidia GeForce Go 8600m GT
  • Web Cam: 2.0 megapixel webcam
  • Slots: ExpressCard slot (ExpressCard/34 and Express Card/54) and PC-Card Slot, 5-in-1 media card reader
  • Ports: VGA, HDMI, and S-Video out, Mic, 2 Headphone, line out, 2 IR out, IEEE-1394 (FireWire), Five USB 2.0 ports
  • Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 17.25" x 11.75" x 1.759"
  • Weight: 10.6 Advertised, 9lbs 15oz actual w/ battery
  • 90W (19V x 4.62A) 100-240V AC adapter (1lb 10.6oz)
  • 9-cell (85Wh) Lithium Ion battery (1lb 2.3 oz)
  • 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty

Build and Design

Compared to most notebooks the Qosmio is an extremely flashy computer. The display cover is glossy black with the Qosmio brand name embossed over it; proudly announcing its name to those around you. Opening the laptop reveals its glossy white palm rest and keyboard surround, nicely contrasting the top cover, with chrome dials and touch-sensitive selection buttons to control various functions. Bright blue LEDs illuminate all soft media buttons, as well as the volume dial and power switch when the unit is powered up. The LED’s can be disabled if the user so wishes, by pressing a soft-key above the keyboard.

Underneath the glossy plastic shell, bright blue LEDs, and chrome knobs is an alloy frame that supports the entire laptop. Many laptops these days have a metal alloy frame and it usually results in a very durable case having little flex. However, even though the Qosmio has this alloy frame, it seems the frame isn't thick enough as there is plentiful flex to be found. The palm rest, the keyboard, and bezel around the keyboard all bow in with moderate pressure. The flexing becomes most apparent when the laptop is not on a flat surface. With one corner hanging off of a desk surface, weight from your wrist and arm while typing will bend the corner down a quarter inch or more. For such a high price tag you would expect better build quality when other Toshiba models costing a third less feel more durable.

Screen

Being a multimedia oriented machine, this laptop revolves around a high quality display. Coming in at 17”, with a WUXGA resolution, and a glossy finish it is something to behold. Wide horizontal viewing angles let you share movies with friends next to you, but limited vertical angles had the screen dim sharply as you moved to steeper vantage points. Colors were vibrant, whites were pure, and backlighting was even across the screen. Backlight bleed was only noticed at maximum brightness levels, but it's very hard to notice this unless you really look for it.

Throughout the review period, the backlight failed by turning off multiple times. The inverter whined on startup and at seemingly random intervals the backlight would just shut off. The first time it happened I thought the machine had locked and shutdown, but noticed by looking closely at the screen the desktop was still visible. At first I thought it was a fluke, but after several occurrences it got on my nerves. With a price tag of $3,200, you would hope that flaws like this would be caught early in the manufacturing process. I'm hoping this was just an issue with our review unit.

Speakers

The 4.1 speaker setup on the laptop is one of the best setups I have heard to date. Bass was clear and defined, midrange and high were both pretty accurate. I was able to get the volume quite loud before any distortion was heard, although with particularly loud bass you will get the plastic case to rattle.

The main speakers are located right above the keyboard, with the 2 smaller speakers located on either side of the LCD. The subwoofer is on the bottom side of the laptop near the left side.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the Qosimo felt large enough for comfortable typing, but could have had a dedicated number pad if the designers had relocated the volume dial and media controls. With its current layout there is plenty of extra whitespace around the entire typing surface to keep things uncluttered. The typing surface felt very solid and supported, and flexed much less than the rest of the body. Keystrokes required minimal pressure to recognize a key press, keeping my wrists stress free while writing. Typing was also quiet compared to some keyboards, so clacking away in a quiet room is not a concern.

The touchpad surface is large (3”x1.8”) allowing plenty of control in games and other mouse intensive activities. The two mouse control buttons provide a positive click when pressed, although I do prefer touchpad buttons with more travel. The fingerprint reader on this notebook was located between the buttons, staying out of the way during normal use.

Performance and Benchmarks

With only one Qosmio G45 configuration at the moment, you are limited to the base configuration. This leaves you with the fast, but nowhere near top end, Intel T7300. As such, some processor intensive benchmarks came up less than laptops well under its price bracket.

Samsung U600 Slim is sweet

It seems Samsung really takes making sleek looking and ultra thin mobile phones to heart. It's no wonder that the Samsung Ultra lineup has become a significant part of the company's mobile portfolio. We got hold of another Ultra Series II member, the Samsung U600, and we'll be more than happy to check if it hits the spot for you. Also known as Samsung Ultra 10.9, it perfectly fits the Ultra series bill and, what's more, looks all set to become its most successful member. Stylish and comfortable to hold are the two things that best describe the first impression the slim handset makes, but we are now to see if it performs as well as it looks.


Key features:

  • Great looking and very well built
  • Navigation combining touch-sensitive and standard keys
  • Camera with 3.2 megapixel resolution and autofocus
  • EDGE
  • Large display with great image quality
  • microSD memory card slot
  • Seamless PC connectivity and synchronization
  • FM radio
  • Smart search
  • Nice image editor

Main disadvantages:

  • Weak sunlight legibility
  • No 3G
  • User interface is on the slow side
  • Confirm key starts the web browser in stand-by
  • Keys within the same row have no distinguishable borders and typos are likely
  • Battery life is not among the best

Samsung U600 is considered to be the runner-up for leadership in the Ultra line II, behind Samsung U700, but that is not completely true. Actually the two phones come from two different research and development centers of Samsung and we would prefer to consider them as distinct products, rather than think of one being an upgrade of the other. Samsung U600 is a bit slimmer than U700 and stands at only 10.9 mm thickness. Actually that makes it the world's slimmest slider. Other U600 niceties that U700 lacks are the FM radio and TV out functionality, so that should be enough to prove that they differ in purpose more than they do in ideology and, therefore, class affiliation.


via Aving.

Sony Ericsson's CDMA 1X WIN phone with one hundred of style-up panels


KDDI introduced Sony Ericsson's CDMA 1X WIN phone 'W53S' with one hundred of style-up panels during CEATEC 2007.

The W53S has a 2M camera, 2.7-inch QVGA LCD display, which is powered by Sony’s BRAVIA technology, and supports Memory Stick Pro/Pro Duo card slot. It is available in Japan market on October 4, 2007.




Titrate Sony Ericsson W53S
Description Announced recently by SE, this new Clamshell with interchangeable hulls. Just for the fun.....
Screen 262' 000 colors TFT/240 × 432 pixels
Communication/network CDMA (Japan only for the moment)
Multi-media APN 2 Mega Pixels, Ringings polyphonic and MP3, Radio operator FM
Memory 100Mb
Office automation n/c
Connector industry n/c
General information Dimensions 107 X 49 X 19.9 mm
Weight 120 grams
Processor n/c
OS owner
Endurance takes care 270 hours of them
Autonomy in communication 200 minutes
Availability?ème quarter 200?

via Aving.

Olympus Digital Camera


Olympus Korea had a press event to launch its digital cameras ‘μ795SW' and ‘μ790SW' protecting against shock and water. Featuring refined design with various colors, the μ795SW is shockproof against falls of up to 1.5m, 100kg and waterproof to 10m depth, and the μ790SW is shockproof against falls of up to 3m and waterproof to 3m depth.




via Aving.

Samsung slim MP3P supporing video play

Samsung Electronics announced the launching of his 2G slim mp3 to player, the YP-S5 in the IFA 2007 next to arrive, which comes equipped with loudspeaker incorporated stere, screen of 1,8 inches, tuner of radio FM and this time integrated Bluetooth 2.0.

Like its previous model the YP-K5 that was sent the last year, the YP-S5 has a size of 14.95mm-thickness, and 86g of weight, supports to 25 hours of music and 4 hours of video from a load. Adopting touchpad of 4 ways and a fast button, the YP-S5 will come in models from 2GB and 4GB in black and white color.

Samsung YP-S5 MP3 player : Samsung Electronics announces at IFA 2007 that it continues to develop market-leading technology, with the releases of a new music player, the Samsung YP-S5. The new Samsung YP-S5 mp3 player combines awesome design, incredible sound and convenient connectivity options. Millimeters have been shaved off to create a player that fit comfortably in one’s hand, while slipping easily into pockets and purses. Samsung’s proprietary sound technology, Digital Natural Sound engine (DNSe.) provides high quality acoustics aiming to facilitate the best sonic experience to the end user. Better still, the new Samsung YP-S5 enables boasts Bluetooth-enabled wireless stereo- providing the ultimate ‘easy listening’ experience!

Samsung YP-S5 - Availability
“Samsung is excited to unveil a feature-rich high-performing MP3 player.” said Dongsoo Jun, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Samsung’s Digital AV Division. “We have improved the sound quality of MP3 Players with our leading technology to deliver an amazing experience." The Samsung YP-S5 MP3 player will be available in the third quarter of 2007. Samsung’s new Samsung YP-S5, the follow-up to last year’s groundbreaking Samsung YP-K5 MP3 player, offers musical freedom in an evenslimmer, sleeker and more compact form. The portable 14.95 mm player has integrated 1.5 W stereo speakers, so everyone can listen together and share the music without an added speaker device. When Samsung EP-150 earphones are used, the bass sound quality is enhanced.

via Aving.

Silkroad Online, the road to the world

Silkroad Online, developed and provided by Joymax, is a dynamic fantasy MMORPG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) which is staged in ancient civilizations of China, Europe and Islam.

The world moves and breathes, Silkroad Online

The most distinct feature of this game is that unlike the fixed conventional settings the world is alive. It might look like it is still but merchants who are there for trade, bandits who rob the merchants, the hunters who hunt down the bandits, hostility and covert actions between the merchants and hunters within the Silkroad give life to the game.



The character will grow more experienced according to the actions. In this realm, there is no fixed job. You can freely choose among the merchant, bandit, hunter groups and switch in between which will give you and endless variety of worlds to play in.

The road to the world, Silkroad Online

Joymax is going to expand their target to the global market using Silkroad as a corner stone which is also a GNGWC (Game & Game World Championship) official event and has begun to get the spotlight of the global audience. Silkroad online has been exported to China, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam.

In present, there are 15 million members foreign and domestic. In about 200 countries, regional global service is being provided.

Silkroad online, Joymax’s successful globalization project, and other games were joined into JOYMAX.COM, in Oct. 2, which will provide global game portal services. Also, Silkroad online 2, an extension of worldly view and game qualities of the previous Silkroad online, will be developed with hopes of becoming the next driving force.

Silkroad online got popular at the GNGWC 2006. There will be tryouts for the National team in Yongin on Sep. 30. Silkroad online will be an official event in the upcoming GNGWC 2007. The gamers of the world will unite to see who the top player for Silkroad online is.
viaAving.

KDDI Infobar 2

KDDI is back to show LG, Apple, and Samsung that a keypad totin' candybar can still bring the sex-ay. Meet the Infobar 2 for KDDI's CDMA-based au network, first peeped as a concept back in November as a possible follow-up to the wildly popular (in Japan anyway) first generation Infobar launched in 2003. Measuring 47 × 138 × 15.5-mm / 104-grams, it packs a 2.6-inch 240 x 400 pixel OLED display, stereo speakers, microSD expansion, EZ FeliCA support, 2-megapixel camera, and built-in 1Seg mobile TV tuner. It'll squeeze in about 290 minutes of talk time or 350 hours of standy when these hit Japan in November. Call us spoiled, but we still can't help but to think that it would look better without those dedicated keys.

Subscribers of Japanese carrier KDDI will be able to pick up the INFOBAR 2 candybar handset when it is released soon, and this Naoto Fukasawa-designed cellphone retains the same basic philosophy as its predecessor, bringing minimalism to the table in a smooth surfaced form factor. The keys are large enough for convenient and quick dialing, while other features include a 2.6" OLED display, the customary 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, and a microSD memory card slot for expansion options. The INFOBAR 2 is tipped to be released this November in red, green, beige and silver colors.
via Aving.

Toshiba Dynabook CX


The Toshiba Dynabook CX is a compact notebook weighing 2.5kg. It features:

* 14.1-inch WXGA display
* Core Duo T2300 processor
* harmon/kardon speakers
* dual-layer DVD burner

The Dynabook takes a little breather in terms of processor performance, utilizing a mere 1GHz Core Solo processor in order to provide you with a long battery life of 9 hours on the standard battery.


Bundle With

The geniuses behind this all? Why surely it has to be some sort of tiny insignificant Chinese DAP-cloning company? Err. No. Toshiba made this (that is, they whipped some poor souls in a generic factory in Taiwan). It's a 512MB flashmem pendrive-kinda MP3/WMA (no DRM supported) player. We'll find an LCD mounted into the belly of the beast - its tail fin is removable (rather uncommon feature in a fish) and protects the USB2.0 connector. A Li-ion battery provides the l'il bugger with the power it so dearly needs in order to become a man/laptop-eating great white shark.

Dynabook CX notebook that costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars, since the fish-shaped player thingy comes bundled with that. Oh, and you'll probably have to live in Japan too. Well, it's a small sacrifice spending your life savings and move to Tokyo with only a laptop to provide you with any form of shelter, of course. You know you need this (plus you could beg your way into getting one of these Gigabeat S-series while you're there).


via Aving.

HP Compaq Presario B1200

SEOUL, Korea -- HP Korea(www.hp.co.kr) launched its 12.1-inch wide ‘Compaq Presario B1200’ notebook pc series, which consists of three models.

Weighing 1.72kg, it supports optional 8-cell battery that runs 7 hours and 50 minutes. Running on Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo CPU and Windows Vista Business, it adopted Super Multi 8x DVD±RW with Double Layer Support and Intel GMA X3100 graphic technology.


Overview

Be the trailblazer with the stylish and compact Compaq Presario B1200 notebook PC. Designed for Asia's dynamic young professionals and students, it has all the power, functionality and style to keep you at the cutting-edge of your digital lifestyle.

Features

• Featuring genuine Windows for a familiar and intuitive environment
The bright and crisp 12.1” widescreen entertainment with BrightView technology, delivers outstanding viewing pleasure for both work and entertainment.
Enjoy the excellent performance of the integrated video camera and microphones. Your video calls over VoIP and videobased IM chats will be that much brighter and clearer.
Excellent battery life lets you enjoy anywhere! With the optional 8-cell primary battery, you get up to 7 hours and 50 minutes performance on the move.
The Presario notebook is an expression of style, creativity and fun. The asymmetrical curve imprint pattern draws its inspiration from the human fingerprint, reaffirming your own uniqueness and connection to your Presario notebook PC.

via Aving.

ASUS G1 Gaming Thin and Light Notebook

The Bottom Line

Those looking for a notebook system that has good gaming possiblities without it being too bulky or expensive should take a close look at the ASUS G1 thin and light notebook.

Pros
  • Strong 3D Graphics
  • Two Full Gigabytes Memory
  • Good Storage Capacity
Cons
  • No ExpressCard Slot
  • LCD Panel Has Some Light Bleed
Description
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 Dual Core Mobile Processor
  • 2GB PC2-5400 DDR2 Memory
  • 160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
  • 8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
  • 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD with 1.3MP Webcam
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7700 Graphics with 512MB Memory
  • v.92 56Kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11a/b/g Wireless
  • Four USB 2.0, One FireWire, Type II PC Card and 4-in-1 Card Reader
  • 13.9" x 11.2" x 1.5" @ 6.8 lbs.
  • Windows Vist Home Premium, ASUSDVD, Power Director, Norton Internet Security

Guide Review - ASUS G1 Gaming Thin and Light Notebook

5/7/07 – The ASUS G1 notebook name is derived from its primary purpose, an affordable yet portable notebook gaming platform. Most gaming notebooks tend to use large 17” LCD panels that make them big and bulky. ASUS has decided to use a high resolution 15.4” widescreen LCD panel to give the G1 a smaller and lighter design.

Graphics are driven by the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700 processor with 512MB of memory. While this isn't as fast as the higher end 7800 models from NVIDIA, it does provide strong performance that lets it play today's crop of PC games. It doesn't support Direct X 10 though for upcoming games. The design includes features such as a secondary OLED display, highlighted WASD keys, sleek black case and DVD-D output for an external monitor.

Performance of the system is good thanks to the Core 2 Duo T7200 dual core processor and the full two gigabytes of memory supplied with it. This is especially helpful with the new Vista Home Premium operating system that demands a bit more memory than the older Windows XP. Storage is also quite good with a large 160GB hard drive and 8x dual layer DVD burner.

There are some minor drawbacks to the ASUS G1 notebook though. Even with all its great features, the chassis lacks the newer ExpressCard interface. This prevents the use of external peripherals such as the upcoming ExpressCard graphics box from ASUS. In addition, the LCD panel while quite bright does exhibit some light bleed on the edges and is not as solid as some other notebooks.

The biggest surprise with the ASUS G1 is the price. Most gaming specific notebook computers easily cost double most notebook PCs. The G1 is probably one of the most affordable gaming notebooks currently on the market.