Apple MacBook Review

The company claims to have produced for the first time, a notebook from an aluminum unibody enclosure, which makes the MacBook thinner, lighter, durable and yes more appealing.
Apple has the reputation of never failing to please its customers and the new Apple MacBook is the proof!

Apple has included a comfortable and responsive keyboard, making your typing activities stress free. The two available models are the 2.0 GHz MacBook and the 2.4 GHz MacBook. The latter like the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, comes with an illuminated keyboard, which efficiently helps you in low light conditions. The trackpad now with the Multi-Touch gestures also serves as the button. The absence of the buttons means you have greater space to move your fingers around the silky smooth glass surface. You can use two fingers to scroll up and down a page, pinch to zoom in and out and experience the three and four finger swipe gestures.

The 13.3 inch LED backlit screen enchants the user with its glossy display. The aluminum casing is well combined with the glass that extends to the corners of the notebook, without any integrated metal. The LED backlit display produces a better display quality and is more power saving than the ordinary display screens.

The MacBook makes it possible to play 3D games, view movies with a rich array of colours and use graphic-intensive applications such as iPhoto and iMovie at high speeds. Thanks to the built-in NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphic card, graphic performance is now delivered up to five times faster.

A hard drive of up to 320 GB allows you to carry all your favourite movies and songs and important documents on the go. You can even upgrade to a 128 GB solid-state drive, consisting of immovable parts, which greatly enhances the disk’s durability. The SuperDrive enables you to burn your movies or data, taking the load off your notebook and making room for more storage.

The machine encloses the grand Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which has the 2.0 GHz or 2.4 GHz running speed, depending upon the model. A 2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SD RAM lets you run multiple applications simultaneously without slowing down your notebook. In addition, there are two included So-DIMM slots that support up to 4 GB of RAM. A promising combination of the processor and RAM ensures a faster performance laptop, meeting up to your demands.

The MacBook features the Mac OS X v10.5 leopard, which also comes with installed softwares like Quick Look, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD player, Photo Booth and X Code Developer Tools.

There are two USB 2.0 ports, through which you may connect any desired accessory, be it your printer, scanner or a USB mouse. A Mini Display Port is included in the notebook, which allows connection for the new Apple LED Cinema Display. The MagSafe power port protects your system and valuable data through a trip-proof connection. In addition to this, you can even safeguard your MacBook, battery and hard drive via the Kensington lock slot. Audio line in and out slots also accompany these expansion slots.

At the top of your MacBook, rests the iSight camera- which is almost hidden. You can use it to capture pictures and videos or use it as a web cam. You can add effects to your photos by using the iSight with the Photo Booth.

The MacBook offers Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Ethernet technology, all integrated in its perfectly designed board. The battery can support up to 5 hours of wireless connectivity. Bluetooth can be very handy at times, especially when you want to connect a keyboard or mouse but don’t want the wires to restrict your movements. Apple itself offers many wireless keyboards and mice, which connect you to your notebook via the Bluetooth.

Last but not the least; Apple MacBook is greener than any of its competitors. The notebook is not only mercury and arsenic free, but also completely eliminates the use of chlorine and bromine compounds throughout its manufacture. Made up of glass and aluminum only, almost whole of the MacBook can be recycled.

I would highly recommend the Apple MacBook, which serves as your iPod, your iPhone and your notebook, brought together into one piece of machinery on your lap. Its ideal combination of durable hardware and software makes it a compact, portable and efficient laptop. True, Apple has given us the taste of the next generation notebooks, with no doubt that MacBook would be one of the leaders.

Emergency illuminator lights

Perhaps the best piece of advice I never got was "leave your flashlight in an obvious, easily accessible place”, because the one time you’ll really need it will be during a power outage or a blown fuse and the last thing you want at that time is wonder where the heck you put it.
Oh, and keep it fully charged (you know why). While the mPower Emergency Illuminator won’t insist you keep it close by, it does have some impressive features – battery technology that will last up to 20 years (though not if you use it continuously) and a USB outlet which lets you charge other devices.

Designed by the Porsche Design Studios and manufactured by mPhase Technologies, the mPower Emergency Illuminator LED flashlight has two separate battery “tubes” – one is for normal use and holds two CR123 batteries, while the other has what mPhase Technologies calls the OnCommand Reserve Battery. If the regular CR123 batteries run down, the Reserve Battery takes over – even after laying idle for 20 years.

Though not rechargeable, you can grab a replacement battery for your mPower unit for around US$25 (let’s just hope they’re still making them in 20 years time).

The trick will be to get hold of one before you find yourself sitting in your living room during a black out trying to read a newspaper with only a solitary candle.

mPhase Technologies has been named an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree and expects the product to become available in March 2010.

Apple turns up heat in Nokia battle

From the first time we saw Nokia's N900 handheld computer we thought that it would be the ultimate communications device.
With a large screen, fast processor, open OS and Firefox based browser, it seemed destined to become one of Nokia's major success stories. This was early September 2009, Nokia was showing off the device at their NokiaWorld conference, along with a new version of their N97 Symbian smartphone, and it looked like the N900 was the flagship product the the N97 SHOULD have been when it came out a few months earlier. We jumped on the bandwagon and were early supporters of the device.

Fast forward to the end of 2009 and it seems like the N97, now with its 2.0 firmware, is the better device despite all the power user advantages that the N900 should be enjoying. Meanwhile Nokia can't seem to get the N900 software stable enough for executives and power users to depend upon.

We also really like the way that Nokia has opened up the Maemo OS platform to developers. But it's just impossible to ignore the fact that Nokia isn't able to put enough power behind Maemo to compete with Google and their Android OS. In the same time that Nokia has managed to soft launch one Maemo device, there have been a dozen Android devices from multiple vendors, and 40 or 50 more scheduled for 2010. Additionally, there are over 20,000 applications available from third parties already for Android. There's a few quality applications for Maemo, but honestly you can count them on your fingers and toes, and none of them are really mission critical.

The software
Nearly all of our disappointments, with the exception of battery life which we'll address separately, are software related - although Nokia is putting out updates regularly. While the core applications are good, they show a general lack of maturity, and left us thinking that two thirds of the things that you'd like to be able to configure and change just weren't configurable.

In a recent example that it is being proactive on the software front, Nokia released a firmware update the adds support for the still widely used Exchange 2003 E-mail/calendar/address book (previously there was only support for Exchange 2007).

Advanced messaging including Skype, Google Talk, and SIP (VoIP) has been beautifully integrated into the native address book, dialer, and SMS/IM client, but isn't polished or configurable enough. For example, Skype is fully integrated as a core service for the N900. It works wonderfully for making Skype calls via WiFi, and offers Skype "chat" as well. This integration is so complete that the Skype status of you Skype contact shows up in the address book and on desktop icons.

It's impressive and powerful, but it also comes with address book integration problems that cause multiple entries for your contacts, and while these can be "merged" together using a feature of the N900 address book, these merged entries don't sync back to Exchange correctly. And good luck trying on "un-merge" two entries if you make a mistake during the merging process.

There's also the issue that any instant messaging "conversation" you have (including Skype chat) sets off your N900's alarms with every line of text received. In a more mature product there would be some way to have it "beep" when the conversation was started, but keep quiet after for subsequent messages. There's a general lack of font selectability in e-mail and chat applications, which is something that would add to usability but just isn't configurable. We could make an exhaustive list, but there's little point; the platform needs more time to mature.

Impressive browsing
Despite its shortcomings, there is potential with the N900, and it shines as a mobile browsing device. Nokia based the native browser on Mozilla's Firefox and it's the closest thing to a desktop browser we've ever seen before in a mobile device. In fact many of the add-ons built for the desktop version of Firefox will work with minimal changes on the N900. Multi-tasking support allows multiple applications to be running at once, and multiple browser sessions to be running at the same time. Switching between windows is fast and simple, and it's easy to launch new tasks without disturbing your existing ones.

Battery life
The N900 is approximately 20% bigger than Nokia's N97 flagship Symbian device, has a larger screen (800x600 vs. 640x360), and a faster processor, yet for some inexplicable reason Nokia chose to equip it with a smaller battery. While using the N900 configured for exchange syncing and with moderate calling and browsing, we found that we couldn't last a full day on a charge. It's almost as bad as an iPhone in this respect, but at least with the N900 you can swap in a second battery, the iPhone gives you no such option.

Overall, we'd have to say we're frustrated with the N900. We had high hopes for the device, and it seems that there's a lot of work still needed to bring the Maemo platform to maturity. The key to this will be to have core applications that are rock solid and to attract third party developers that will write applications for the platform. Nokia really isn't there yet with either of these, and frankly we're not sure how they can win the hearts and minds of the developers with the lead the Apple and Google have with their platforms. For now we're just going to wait and see how quickly Nokia can shave off the sharp corners on Maemo, improve the core applications on the N900, and generally make the device more usable. Until then, Nokia's N900's potential remains, for the most part, unrealized.

Nokia's N900: potential unrealized

From the first time we saw Nokia's N900 handheld computer we thought that it would be the ultimate communications device.
With a large screen, fast processor, open OS and Firefox based browser, it seemed destined to become one of Nokia's major success stories. This was early September 2009, Nokia was showing off the device at their NokiaWorld conference, along with a new version of their N97 Symbian smartphone, and it looked like the N900 was the flagship product the the N97 SHOULD have been when it came out a few months earlier. We jumped on the bandwagon and were early supporters of the device.

Fast forward to the end of 2009 and it seems like the N97, now with its 2.0 firmware, is the better device despite all the power user advantages that the N900 should be enjoying. Meanwhile Nokia can't seem to get the N900 software stable enough for executives and power users to depend upon.

We also really like the way that Nokia has opened up the Maemo OS platform to developers. But it's just impossible to ignore the fact that Nokia isn't able to put enough power behind Maemo to compete with Google and their Android OS. In the same time that Nokia has managed to soft launch one Maemo device, there have been a dozen Android devices from multiple vendors, and 40 or 50 more scheduled for 2010. Additionally, there are over 20,000 applications available from third parties already for Android. There's a few quality applications for Maemo, but honestly you can count them on your fingers and toes, and none of them are really mission critical.

The software
Nearly all of our disappointments, with the exception of battery life which we'll address separately, are software related - although Nokia is putting out updates regularly. While the core applications are good, they show a general lack of maturity, and left us thinking that two thirds of the things that you'd like to be able to configure and change just weren't configurable.

In a recent example that it is being proactive on the software front, Nokia released a firmware update the adds support for the still widely used Exchange 2003 E-mail/calendar/address book (previously there was only support for Exchange 2007).

Advanced messaging including Skype, Google Talk, and SIP (VoIP) has been beautifully integrated into the native address book, dialer, and SMS/IM client, but isn't polished or configurable enough. For example, Skype is fully integrated as a core service for the N900. It works wonderfully for making Skype calls via WiFi, and offers Skype "chat" as well. This integration is so complete that the Skype status of you Skype contact shows up in the address book and on desktop icons.

It's impressive and powerful, but it also comes with address book integration problems that cause multiple entries for your contacts, and while these can be "merged" together using a feature of the N900 address book, these merged entries don't sync back to Exchange correctly. And good luck trying on "un-merge" two entries if you make a mistake during the merging process.

There's also the issue that any instant messaging "conversation" you have (including Skype chat) sets off your N900's alarms with every line of text received. In a more mature product there would be some way to have it "beep" when the conversation was started, but keep quiet after for subsequent messages. There's a general lack of font selectability in e-mail and chat applications, which is something that would add to usability but just isn't configurable. We could make an exhaustive list, but there's little point; the platform needs more time to mature.

Impressive browsing
Despite its shortcomings, there is potential with the N900, and it shines as a mobile browsing device. Nokia based the native browser on Mozilla's Firefox and it's the closest thing to a desktop browser we've ever seen before in a mobile device. In fact many of the add-ons built for the desktop version of Firefox will work with minimal changes on the N900. Multi-tasking support allows multiple applications to be running at once, and multiple browser sessions to be running at the same time. Switching between windows is fast and simple, and it's easy to launch new tasks without disturbing your existing ones.

Battery life
The N900 is approximately 20% bigger than Nokia's N97 flagship Symbian device, has a larger screen (800x600 vs. 640x360), and a faster processor, yet for some inexplicable reason Nokia chose to equip it with a smaller battery. While using the N900 configured for exchange syncing and with moderate calling and browsing, we found that we couldn't last a full day on a charge. It's almost as bad as an iPhone in this respect, but at least with the N900 you can swap in a second battery, the iPhone gives you no such option.

Overall, we'd have to say we're frustrated with the N900. We had high hopes for the device, and it seems that there's a lot of work still needed to bring the Maemo platform to maturity. The key to this will be to have core applications that are rock solid and to attract third party developers that will write applications for the platform. Nokia really isn't there yet with either of these, and frankly we're not sure how they can win the hearts and minds of the developers with the lead the Apple and Google have with their platforms. For now we're just going to wait and see how quickly Nokia can shave off the sharp corners on Maemo, improve the core applications on the N900, and generally make the device more usable. Until then, Nokia's N900's potential remains, for the most part, unrealized.

World's smallest electric espresso machine

If you frequently travel to a lot of different places, then you are doubtless familiar with one of the biggest challenges facing today’s jet-setter - finding a decent cup of coffee.
Well, help is on the way. In fact, scratch that, it’s here. Danish fancy-gadget-seller Stelton is now offering the world’s smallest battery-powered espresso machine.

Called Simply Espresso, this caffeine-lover’s steamy-dream-come-true was designed for Stelton by French tech company Nielsen Innovation. It is reportedly quite easy to use, and even reaches a pressure of 16 bar, just like the big boys. And at just 23 x 8 centimeters (9 x 3 inches), the stainless steel beauty will easily fit in a suitcase

HP TouchSmart tm2t series Tablet PC

HP launches its TouchSmart tm2t series tablet PC that comes with a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen with LED-backlight and 1280×800 resolution. Starting at $949.99, the tm2t series is boosted by Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300/SU9600 CULV processor, up to 8GB of RAM and either integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD or 512MB ATI Mobilty Radeon HD4550 graphics card.

The new TouchSmart tm2t is equipped with up to 500GB hard drive and a 8X DVD SuperMulti burner. It comes with webcam, optional fingerprint scanner, built-in Altec Lansing stereo speakers, 5-in-1 card reader, and support for WiFi. This tablet has a brushed aluminum in argento blush finish.

Nokia reports fourth quarter earnings with 126.9 units sold

Nokia has recently reported their fourth quarter reports, and they have shipped 126.9 million units. That’s 12 percent more than the previous year, and only 3.8 million was sold in the U.S.

The N900, N97, and N97 Mini were big in Europe, and the Ovi Maps turn-by-turn free navigation app could cause those numbers to rise even more.

Not bad for a Finnish company. Lets see how they finish next quarter.



Autograph App for iPhones Released

Now, you can really affix your signature the digital way. With the Autograph for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, you can now sign documents by creating a digital signature directly on your device’s touch screen. The app was made possible by Ten One Design which should come in handy for business and personal use, depending on how many times your signature is needed.

The Autograph app for the iPhone is now available at the iTunes app store for $6.95. Check out the video below.

MSI 10” Tablet for $499 Spotted

PC tablets are coming out like crazy and MSI is about to add another one with its MSI 10” tablet which will retail for $499. It will come with an NVIDIA Tegra Chipset and the usual wireless support. It will run on an Android OS.

Though many may call the iPad clones, these tablets were in the works long before the release of the iPad. Too bad they were late in releasing them!

Computrace LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software

Usually,i don't do software reviews but today i thought i should share this piece of information with you so without further ado i am going to share a very good software for laptop,notebook and yeah tablet owners.Sometimes we feel that somebody might steal our laptop.Well actually now you don't need to worry anymore because Computrace has comeup with a great solution to this problem.

If one day you encounter a stupid thief, and if he gets away with your laptop, the Computrace LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software will insure that he or she won’t get away with it. The software can track, locate, and recover a stolen laptop while providing the user protection from personal information, so the thief can’t steal your identity before he attempts to sell my laptop at a pawn shop.

The Standard Edition is $39.99 for one year and includes theft recovery services. The Premium Edition is $59.99 and includes the theft recovery, plus data and device security with a service guarantee. Check it out on the Absolute Software site.

Chargepod V2 from Callpod

Now,here is the stuff that i personally recommend to everybody.It is very useful for everyone.It is Chargepod.

The Chargepod V2 has three sides for charging many a mobile device. The first side charges a PC/Mac laptop, and the second side is for a cell phone, MP3 player, PD, Bluetooth headset, digital reader, as well as video camera, portable DVD player, and so on. The third side is a 3-port USB 2.0 Hub for data transfer such as transfering music and data.

The Chargepod V2 costs $200, plus $10 for each of the cable tips.

Keyboard dock is one of the first iPad accessories

As soon as the iPhone was a announced a few years ago, immediately accessories were released. Now, there are companies that make their millions selling iPhone accessories, and I’m wondering if this is the case with the iPad.

This keyboard dock for the iPad is one of the first accessories that I have seen, but it clearly won’t be the last. Note how the iPad is designed to dock at an angle, which is very similar to iPod/iPhone docks.

I’ve heard that the touchscreen keyboard for the iPad is almost the same size as an ordinary keyboard, but for those that want to hear the clickity-click of the keys might want to invest $70 for this.

AT&T fourth quarter earnings up 26 percent compared to last year

It would appear that everyone’s fourth quarter earnings are on display, and AT&T’s earnings are up 26 percent compared to last year. I suppose what helped that number are the 3.1 million iPhone activations, 2.7 million wireless customers, and the 1 million new customers stemming from e-book readers.

The profits could go up compared to the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and iPad, but we’ll need to compare that to Verizon.

Some small profits and losses were made on Motorola’s Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter profits are in for Motorola, and a small profit of $142 million was made. Granted, that might not seem small to you, but when you’re dealing with revenue of $5.723 billion, it isn’t all that good. Mobile Devices did $1.8 billion in sales, but lost $132 million. Home Networks and Mobility made $91 million on sales of $2 billion.

I suppose the down sales will lead to a few cents off a share, but we’ll see how they do in 2010.

Onda VX595 PMP

Onda is set to unveil a new portable media player with the Onda VX595 PMP.

This soon-to-be released PMP sports a 4.3” LTPS touch screen at 800×480 resolution with full HD support. It also has an HDMI port and supports most video formats in use today.No word on pricing or availability for the time being.

Newman’s Newsmy 6101 e-book reader

Newman has been putting out a lot of Portable Media Players for quite a while, and they are about to go into the e-book reader market with the Newsmy 6101.

It has a 6-inch 600 x 800 Vizplex e-ink display, 512MB of internal memory, plus a microSD card slot for up to 4GB more storage. It supports formats like EPUB, PDF, TXT, and MP3 files, and has a 1000 mAh battery.

The Newman Newsmy 6101 should be released in China for about $262.

Apple launches a new iWork, for the iPad

The iPad wasn’t the only big announcement that Jobs had to say yesterday. He also announced a new version of iWork, which is designed for the iPad.

This version of iWork has Keynote, a PowerPoint that allows you to create and view slides with multitouch. Pages is the word processor, and Numbers is the spreadsheet. These applications cost about $9.99 a piece.

Set MP3 as Ringtone on HTC Touch2

If you are the proud owner of a HTC Touch2 cellphone and have always wanted to set a specific MP3 file as your ringtone, wait no longer because HTC has just launched an update which includes that feature.

The update was launched yesterday and you just need to follow the instructions on this page to get it working.

iHeart Docking Station

The iHeart Docking Station is a timely iPod docking station that comes in time for Valentine’s Day (although it may not come out in time for Valentine’s). As you would guess, the iHeart is an iPod Dock that comes in a heart-shaped design, carrying a unique looking iPod add-on that should get the nod of females.

The iHeart is not yet available though. It is scheduled to come out in late February for $110. Now that is a bummer considering its make is certainly something made for Heart’s day!

Lenovo G560 laptop available for purchase

The fresh Lenovo G560 which is part of the “Essential G Series” is finally available for purchase at the Lenovo website, and the price tag is set at $850.

This G560 model boasts the latest Intel Core i3-330M processor running at 2.13GHz, and has an Intel GMA HD on the graphics. As for the RAM memory it is set at 4GB of DDR3 and the hard-drive has 320GB of space. The Lenovo G560 is a 15.6-inch laptop with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels.

Check the Lenovo website to purchase one or to check more details.

Garmin presents new GPS: Nuvi 1490TV

Nuvi 1490TV is the codename of the new GPS navigation system released by Garmin. As you can imagine by the name of the product, it will support digital TV aka DVB-T which gives you access to 50 TV channels and more than 20 radio stations in Europe, for free.

Besides the new feature of the TV, this Garmin Nuvi model has built-in speakers and a 3.5mm headphone output. In terms of GPS features, it comes with maps of Europe, safety camera warnings, and the usual text-to-speech function as well as free premium traffic updates.

The Garmin Nuvi 1490TV will be released on Europe during April, for €300.

Garmin Zumo 220 GPS

In addition to the Garmin Nuvi 1490TV there is a new GPS navigation system on the market codenamed Zumo 220. It won’t cost as much as the other Zumo models – 665 and 550 – because the price tag is set at $600.

The Zumo 220 can be considered a medium level system, and has a 3.5-inch screen with text-to-speech and lane assistance. Other details of the GPS include being rugged and water proof, and a bluetooth headset support. The included maps are 3 – US, Canada, and Puerto Rico – and the points of interest are more than 6 million.

The Garmin Zumo 220 will become available in March 2010.

Motorola presents MOTOROI XT720 cellphone

Motorola has recently presented a very good cellphone in Korea, the MOTOROI XT720.

In terms of specifications the XT720 is very powerful like it can be proved by the 8-megapixel camera, or the support for microSD memory cards with 32GB, or even the 720p HD video recorder. As for the more normal features, it has a 3.7.inch WVGA display, an HDMI output and GPS capability.

Did I mention the T-DMB support for TV on the go? And did I forgot to say it runs the Android OS? Oh well, this sure looks like a good cellphone lets just hope the price is reasonable.

iRiver K1 Smart HD PMP Video Demo

If you love PMP then you shouldn't miss out this one.The company really proved to be on of the best PMP Manufacturer in the world.Recently,they launched their latest PMP model iRiver K1,The iRiver K1 Smart HD PMP boasts of a touch screen, WiFi capable and runs on a Windows CE OS,No words on pricing or availability of the model so far but i'll keep you updated.

TripTracker App for the iPhone Released

Here is another useful app for the constant travelers. Pageonce has launched the TripTracker app which enables travelers to keep track of their itinerary when on the go. To get the most out of the app, you forward all of your itineraries to plans@tripit.com and it “automagically” fixes your itinerary and populates your flight information.

The app is available for free over at the iTunes app store. If you want the app to be ad-free, just shell out $1 for it.

Wireless Page to TV Magnifier

As far as book reading is concerned, the Kindle or e-books may not necessarily have the solution for it all. Especially since these devices are compact and small, not all people have great 20/20 vision. However don’t fret. The Wireless Page to TV Magnifier is here to save the day.

This new device can magnify reading materials up to 25X. The handheld scanner picks up every detail of a picture or every letter of a word and transfers data to the base station which is plugged into your TV.

Motorola Milestone A853 Pops Up

The Motorola Milesone A853 is coming to North America. At least that what appears to be on the rise as the Motorola A853 was spotted over at Bluetooth CIG.

The A853 features a quad band GSM and tri-band 850/1900/2100 3G connectivity. In fact, with the impending loss of exclusivity of AT&T over the iPhone, the coming of the Motorola Milestone A853 couldn’t have come at a better time.

Lenovo eBook Reader: Phaeda iBook

Lenovo has a special product that was only launched in China, it’s their eBook reader named Lenovo Phaeda iBook.

In China the Lenovo eBook is also known as Tianji iBook EB-605 and in terms of specifications it has a 6-inch E-Ink screen which is powered by a Samsung ARM 400MHz processor. It is compatible with a lot of different file formats, such as RTF, PDF, TXT, CHM, and many others.

The 9.9mm thin eBook aka Lenovo Phaeda iBook won’t cost more than $300.

New Watch: Timex Ironman Global Trainer

Timex will release a new watch on the following months which is named Ironman Global Trainer and has a GPS receiver, so all the sporty people can track their data like speed, distance, and pace.

The Ironman Global Trainer is able to record up to 100 waypoints and comes with a case that is water resistance and a limit of 50 meters. One of the cool details is the special USB connection so you can charge it and sync it easily. This new Timex watch with GPS is compatible with the popular bike power sensors that use ANT+.

Uxsight clamshell portable projector

I’ve covered a lot of miniature projectors here on Technoevolution, and this one certainly isn’t the smallest, but it may be the cheapest.

The Uxsight is designed to be work at the home, and folds up like a clamshell. It looks like there is some sort of mini USB jack of some sort to plug your source electronics, but I’m not certain what to connect to it, desktop PC, laptop, netbook, or mobile phone.

Photoshop for iPhone receives update

If you think the iPad is the only Apple news that i'll mention here today, you’re wrong. The Photoshop mobile app for iPhone is also good news for everyone that enjoys to work with graphics on their phone, and it has receive an update which makes it version 1.1.

With this new version you will be able to easily edit, view, and share images on your iPhone. It can also playback videos which are hosted on the Adobe server, and there is a new Sharpen tool to increase and decrease the sharpness of an image. To make your photos look even better, this version comes with 8 artistic borders.

Boost Mobile adds Sanyo Incognito SCP-6760

Boost Mobile has added a new cellphone to their big catalog, more specifically the Sanyo Incognito SCP-6760 which is priced at $130 without a contract.

The Incognito SCP-6760 has a 2.6-inch QVGA internal display, and a 2-megapixel camera with VGA resolution so you can record videos with more quality. The keyboard is a “full QWERTY” type and the new cellphone is able to playback the usual audio and video files.

Does the $130 price tag sounds too expensive for this Sanyo Incognito? Not really…

Quake Zones app for iPhone

Quake Zones is a fresh application made for the iPhone that has plenty of information related to earthquakes, more than 30 years of data is available in the app.

Inside the application you can view it in a normal list, or in a big map – the latter should be the best option. The results can be filtered by magnitude, or proximity, or date, and lastly alphabetically. There are more than 300,00 cities included in the index.

The Quake Zones application is already available at the iPhone App Store and costs $2. By the way, the developers of Quake Zones are called AppDudes.

RealSki Augmented Reality iPhone App

RealSki has created an augmented reality iPhone app that gives you a good reason to take your iPhone on the ski-lift.

The augmented reality app allows the user to look at digital overlays to show the lifts, lodges, restrooms, and even where the restaurants are. It will also show you the trails as well as the skill level. This app is free, but requires an iPhone 3GS with OS 3.1.2.

Micromax launches new EZPAD Q2 phone

Micromax has launched a new phone codenamed Micromax EZPAD Q2 which comes with a full QWERTY keyboard and is shaped as a bar.

The EZPAD Q2 boasts a 2.2-inch TFT display that offers a resolution of 220×176 pixels, and it only weighs about 97 grams. It comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo FM radio, and a slot for microSD memory cards of 8GB.

Other features include the support of different music formats like MP3, AMR, MIDI, and WAV, as well as an easy to use 5-way navigation key.

Delta Electronics color e-reader coming in Q2 2010

Today is not a good day to announce something new in electronics. I mean, do you really want to try and one-up Apple’s iPad? Well, Asus has made an announcement on their Eee Pad, and Taiwan’s Delta Electronics have an announcement of their own with their color e-reader.

That’s right, a full-color e-reader. It has a 13.1-inch color screen and relies on e-paper technology from Bridgestone. It should be available in the second quarter of 2010, but I don’t know the price as yet.

Apple iPad announced

Well, after years of waiting, Apple has finally come forth and revealed their tablet which they will officially be calling the iPad. This device will feature a 1GHz Apple developed A4 chip and a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display. Hard drive space will come in 16, 32 and 64GB sizes. Other specs include a 30-pin connector, speaker, microphone, Bluetooth and WiFi. 802.11n to be exact.

Software wise it looks to be sporting a modified iPhone OS and will in fact run iPhone applications. There are two methods of running these applications, either full screen or in a window.

Text input will be handled with a onscreen software keyboard, if you couldn’t have guessed that.

Oh yeah, did I mention it gets 10 hours of battery life?

I’ll keep you posted as more information is made known.

Indian company copies Amazon’s website, Kindle

We’ve seen a ridiculous amount of knocked off devices come out of Asia, but this one takes it to a whole new level. What you see above is a screenshot of infibeam’s company website. Does it look familiar? It should as they basically took Amazon.com’s website layout and did nothing more than change the name.

Another thing to note is their infibeam Pi ebook reader. Not only does it bear a resemblance to the Kindle, minus a keyboard, but it uses the same general layout for the advertisement.

Ridiculous? Yes. Inevitable lawsuit? Oh yeah.

Nexus One coming to Walmart

Currently the only way to get a Nexus One is straight from Google be it unlocked or with a wireless plan provided by T-Mobile. However, it was recently made known that Walmart will be stocking the desireable devices at some point in the near future.

Currently, the advertisement that lets us know the Nexus One will be coming to Walmart only says that it will be coming soon with no price or exact release date. However, this deal raises questions over whether or not Walmart will be selling the device unlocked along with subsidized for T-Mobile. And if so, will they discount the price a bit?

Only time will tell.

Blackberry Curve 8530 Cell Phone Review–A Small Step Up

You may wonder why I’m talking about the Blackberry 8530 Curve cell phone after only just talking about the Blackberry Curve 8330, and the answer is, frankly, simple.  The Blackberry Curve 8530 will offer a few new features that the 8330 did not, and thus, it bears some discussion.

The BlackBerry Curve 8530 Comes with a two megapixel camera with a 5X digital zoom, video recording capability, the Blackberry trackball, a thirty five key QWERTY keyboard, media keys, Blackberry Maps, an integrated speaker and microphone, Bluetooth connectivity, GPS, support for a variety of video and audio formats, e911 capability, and a battery capable of generating four and a half hours of talk time.

So you can see there are some new features here–a slightly longer lived battery, e911 capability which can be a lifesaver in and of itself–among the plenty of standard features, like that horrible Blackberry trackball that’s more sensitive than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

If you liked the 8330, then there’s not too much doubt you’ll really like the Blackberry 8530.

The Good

A few improvements over the Blackberry 8330

All of the upshots of the 8330

The Bad

Most all the flaws of the 8330 are here too

Score: 7/10

Samsung announce 32GB microSD cards, 64GB moviNAND

Samsung have stuffed more memory in a tiny package than seemed possible a few years ago and announced their 32GB microSD cards. For integrated memory, they are readying chips with double that capacity - 64GB.

The previous best achievement in microSD cards capacity was 16GB but now that has been doubled. This feat of doubling the capacity of the previous generation seems to be the norm for flash memory.

These 32GB microSD from Samsung hits the 32GB limit of the microSDHC standard. The replacement standard is already in the works – the microSDXC standard. The microSDXC standard should allow microSD cards with a capacity of up to 2 TB to be released.

As for the chips meant for integrated memory, they’ll come in 64GB and will likely make their way to MP3 players and the new generation iPhone (3GS doubled the capacity of the 3G).

Mass production is expected to start next month and it won't be long until the cards reach the market. Compatibility of current devices with 32GB microSDHC cards and the future microSDXC cards is a completely different matter, of course.

ITG xpPhone gets priced, not more expensive than a netbook

The ITG xpPhone saga continues. I've covered the news extensively, with two major bits of information missing - pricing and release date. Well, now the pricing is known and it's just the release date that's left to be announced.

The ITG xpPhone is one of those emerging MID-slash-phone devices - an AMD CPU on the inside, running Windows XP or Windows 7 and all the wireless connectivity options you can think of.

The specs read more like a netbook - 512M/1/2GB RAM, 8-64GB SSD, 30-120GB HDD. The AMD CPU is clocked at either above or bellow 1GHz, though there are no exact numbers quoted. The screen of the ITG xpPhone is 4.3/4.8/7-inch touchscreen with 800x480/1024x600 resolution. For over-the-air connectivity, you get GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/CDMA/EVDO with optional upgrades for WiMAX and LTE. There's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS of course.

And of course you get the flexibility and familiar environment of Windows XP (or Windows 7). There are dedicated dialer, contact and other apps you'd expect from a phone. The custom UI looks quite polished actually.

So, with netbook specs, you'd expect a netbook price and you would be right - depending on configuration, the ITG xpPhone costs between 400 and 650 US dollars (280-450 euro). Sure, there are cheaper netbooks out there, but none of them are this small - 158 x 75 x 16 mm, 400 grams.

Pressure-sensitive touchscreens are the next step

As the popularity of full-touch devices continues to grow rapidly, manufacturers are working as hard as they can on delivering better user experience. This latest innovation in the area concerns the screen itself and the way its reacts to out touches.

Resistive and capacitive touchscreens - we all know the difference. The resistive screens are way more accurate, but needs pressure to be applied and are generally less responsive. On the other side the capacitive screens require only slight touch to register a click, allow multi-touch gestures by default, but lack accuracy and cannot be used with gloves, styluses or if you have long nails.

And now we have the next touchscreen technology that will have a go at conquering the mobile world. Pressure-sensitive touchscreens can tell the difference between a slight touch and a really hard poke. That would allow a whole new user experience, with gestures based on the amount of pressure applied, along with ones currently available..

The new technology is based on quantum tunneling and is developed by the Peratech researchers (stationed in UK). It uses an electrically conductive material named a quantum tunneling composite. But we won't go any deeper in the physics side of things.

The important thing to note is that Peratech make pressure sensors from this material, which are incredibly thin and can be slipped under any touchscreens. They don't draw any power when idle so you shouldn't worry about battery life either.



Some of the supposed new gestures will allow you to drag and zoom pictures simultaneously or determine the scroll speed based on your pressure force.

Peratech already signed a license contract with the Japanese display manufacturer Nissha, which makes screens for LG, Nintendo and more. The first tech gadgets to use the new pressure-enabled screens are expected to hit the shelves in April.

Another photo of HTC Bravo in the wild, this time from Poland

The Nexus One is already out in the open market, but its HTC cousin - the HTC Bravo - is still very much a rumor. Yet another photo popped up and this might be the best one yet - you can get another look at what has changed between the HTC Bravo and the Nexus One.

The HTC Bravo matches pretty much all of the specs of the Nexus One, but there are exceptions - the trackball has been replaced by an optical trackpad and the phone's Android OS 2.0 (or possibly 2.1) is dressed in the pretty, multi-touch enabled Sense UI clothes.

The HTC Bravo also sports a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7" AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with WVGA resolution (480 x 800), a 5MP camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA and HSUPA all crammed into a shell only 11.7mm thick. The RAM was originally listed as 256MB, then we heard 320MB, but in the end it might turn up to be even more - the Nexus One has 512MB RAM.

A week ago there was a rumor that the HTC Bravo will be available at T-Mobile UK by the end of January, free on a 35 pounds a month contract. But the end of January is approaching fast and there's still no official word from T-Mobile. A different rumor says that the HTC Bravo will be in Europe in March, but again there's no confirmation.

Nokia X6 and LG GD510 Pop go pink for Valentine's Day

Okay class, pick up your painting palettes and your coloring books - we're going to paint your favorite mobile phone in a new color. Let's start with the Nokia X6, then the LG GD510 Pop. Since Valentine’s Day is coming, let’s make both phones pink. Much better.

Ok, now serious. You might have heard rumors of a Nokia X6 without Comes With Music and that it will have 16GB internal storage instead of 32GB. More information has surfaced that supports that rumor and adds a few details.

It will be available in new colors - Pink on White as well as Black on Black - to go with the Red on Black and Blue on Black currently available for the 32GB version of the Nokia X6. According to Eldar Murtazin the 16GB version will be 100 euro cheaper than the 32GB version but you will be losing the WH-500 headphones in addition to the Comes With Music subscription.

The expected release date for the 16GB Nokia X6 is somewhere in the second half of February.

Update: The 16GB version of the Nokia X6 is official. It’s confirmed that it doesn’t have Comes With Music and it will be available in all black, all white, Pink on White and Yellow on White. The Nokia X6 16GB will come with the new Ovi Maps with free voice-guided drive and walk navigation and Michelin and Lonely Planet guides.




The Nokia X6 16GB will be available this quarter. Instead with the WH-500 headphones the X6 16GB will come with a pair of the much cheaper WH-701. There’s still no word on the price though.

The LG GD510 Pop is also going chameleon with a few new colors. Some of those colors we've seen before but there are a few new ones too. Here's the lineup of the five available color versions:



Yep, there's a pink LG GD510 Pop but LG didn't give a specific date for when the new colors will be available. There's still time to Valentine's Day but not much, allowing for delivery.