9-inch Asus Eee PC

My only gripe about the original Asus Eee PC is the ugly black bezel surrounding its LCD screen. The laptop is already so small, adding a black bezel around the LCD screen makes it even smaller and very hard to read from.

Thankfuly, they have announced an updated version of the tiny laptop which gets rid of the offensive bezel. It's got a 9 inch screen and a 1024 x 600 resolution according to Asus. Not too bad at all, if you ask me.

Engadget has a snapshot gallery of the glorious 9 inch Asus Eee PC screen. It looks so pretty, I'm almost tempted to get one even though I wouldn't have any use for it.

Here's another gallery of pics comparing the 7 incher to the 9 incher Eee. I really think the 9 inch Eee looks a whole lot better than it's 7 inch counterpart. It's a wee bit bigger but who cares? It's still a tiny laptop anyway.

CES 2008 Covered!

CES 2008 is here at last! Fortunately for the unlucky people like me who can't be there, the bloggers over at Gizmodo.com are keeping themselves really busy with covering the numerous new products being featured at CES.

Although nothing so far is extremely mindblowing, there are a number of interesting products to I'm definitely going to look forward to. Among those are the Slingcatcher, SPINN PMP and the MOTO ROKR E8.

BUG Labs

These are probably the most interesting things ever invented. They modular electronic devices, otherwise known as BUGs. In a nutshell, they're like lego pieces for engineers and techies. And since it's hardware and software are open source (yay!!!), the things you can build (if you are technically inclined) are virtually unlimited. I like this idea so much that I can't wait to get myself one of these. I just hope they're not too expensive.

Anyway, for more info about BUGs, check out these links:

• Bug Labs Website - lots of info about BUGs here
• Video 1
• Video 2
• Video 3 - In these three videos, Robert Scoble interviews the folks from Bug Labs. A lot of interesting stuff were discussed here, including what BUGs are and the future of BUGs.

All About the Asus Eee PC

The Asus Eee PC is finally here. For those who have been living under a rock, the Asus Eee PC is a mini-laptop of sorts which runs Windows XP or Linux. It's got a barebones system with only a 900Mhz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4 GB of flash disk space. But what makes the Eee so appealing is it's price. At barely $400, you get a light and ultraportable laptop with almost decent specs. For those looking for a backup laptop, this one just might fit your requirements.

Of course, there's more to it that meets the eye. For those who want to know more about the Eee PC, look no further. I've done the homework and gathered a bevy of info about it. Presenting: The Eee PC!

• Official Eee PC Site - Not too much on here, just some specs, a flash "quick guide" and wallpaper for your pc.
• Cnet Review (7.5 out of 10) - I've always relied on Cnet to give great reviews aimed at the non-technical consumer. I wasn't disappointed since their review of the Eee was comprehensive yet easy to understand.
• PC Mag Review (4 out of 5) - This one's a bit long. Still, it gives us essential information, and goes more in-depth into the technical hardware and software specs of the system.
• Trusted Reviews (9 out of 10) - They gave the Eee a very high rating. Still, their review wasn't written in a biased way, since they also considered the limitations of the system. It was very easy to digest, since it was divided into 4 parts and featured a lot of pics.
• Notebook Review - Another great review of the Eee PC. It really goes into the details so if you want all the nitty gritty about the Eee, make sure to read this review. They also have a lot of pics here, including several screencaps and a shot of it's hardware insides.
• Notebook Review's Eee PC Tweak Guide - They see great potential in the Eee and show you how to make it your own. Install software, upgrade the hardware, and basically hack it to bits. You'll find out how right here.
• Asus Eee PC Unboxed - Here's Engadet's unboxing of the Eee PC. The pics are a bit dark, but you get the idea.
• Tweaktowns Exclusive Inside Look - This isn't your run-of-the-mill unboxing. When they say inside look, they mean it. In this 8-part article, the Eee's hardware gets disected. Nothing is left to the imagination. If you've got a technical background, you just might appreciate seeing the components that make up this machine.

citizenM High-tech Hotels Rock!

While lazily surfing the net, I came across a great concept for hotel construction and management... modular high-tech hotels, called citizenM. An RFID card lets you control your entertainment center, wireless, and ambient mood lighting. You can even set your preferences remotely, so your room will be perfect upon your arrival. The best thing of all? Free wifi! I've been to so many hotels that charge an arm and a leg for internet access, that this is such a breath of fresh air for me.

This hotel project, called OneStarIsBorn, is all about cheaper hotel bills without the grimy bathrooms and generally unappealing accommodations. I've stayed in my fair share of budget hotels and I can't wait to try it out. Check out this interview with Michael Levie, CEO of OneStarIsBorn.

The first citizenM hotel, will be located near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. More are planned in major European cities such as London, Barcelona, Glasgow, Berlin, Stockholm, Brussels, Milan, Copenhagen, Moscow, Paris, Istanbul, Warsaw, and Budapest to name a few. But I'm guessing pretty soon we'll be seeing several of these sprout in the world's busiest cities.

I love their wacky publicity video, also shown below.

Links: [YouTube] [citizenM] [OneStarIsBorn]

Apple's New Mac OS X Leopart Looks Great!

Apple just released a video tour of the new Mac OS X Leopard. It's a pretty long and detailed video but as it played, I found myself just staring in amazement. I'm not a Mac user but I've always wanted to buy a Mac. However, this new OS X release just makes me drool even more! This certainly makes Window's Vista look ugly and clunky. Apple also released a documentation of Leopard's 300 new features. Whew, way to go Apple!

The Zune 2... Finally!!!

I've been waiting for Microsoft to announce the Zune 2 since May of this year. Finally they're almost here. I don't know about you but I personally think they look great. If you're hating Apple right now due to their recent antics, the Zune is a nice alternative to the iPod. I think the 80gig Zune model trumps the iPod Classic because of it's FM radio, huge screen and great-looking interface. Here are some more info about the new offering from Microsoft (via Engadget and BoingBoing):

• A slimmer new case design in both hard-drive- and flash-based models.
  
• Automatic syncing over Wi-Fi.


• The new "Zune Pad" is both a click button and a touchpad.


• "Zune Social," a Last.FM-like music tracking platform.


• Integration with Windows Media Center platform, for watching your recorded content.


• The Zune-to-Zune "squirting" will still be wrapped in three-plays-only DRM, even for content you ripped yourself, although the self-destruct timer has been jettisoned.


• All new features will be added to the original zoom via a firmware update.


• The new players will support lossless audio of the Windows Media variety (don't go screaming FLAC just yet).


• The WiFi is just b/g, so no n, a or x (the sexiest form of WiFi).


• Microsoft is still in the testing phase for battery life and will have numbers "later."


• All your old accessories are said to work with the new models.


• The screens are glass, not plastic.


• Green is the new brown... but brown is sticking around on the 30GB models.


• You can connect the Zune to an Xbox 360 to create "your own soundtrack."


• Podcast support! (Sorry, no over the air downloads -- sync only.) Podcasts can also be shared via WiFi.


• The Zune music store is going DRM-free, with over 1m MP3 tracks being made available for download. Other details (like which labels, whether there is a DRM-free upgrade path is for users who've bought music with DRM, price differences, etc.) are not yet revealed.

As of now, all I can say is whoohoo!!!

Reviews on the iPod Nano (3G)

The moment the new iPod Nano was announced Apple lovers rushed to their nearest Apple stores and bought themselves their very own "nano fatty". And despite the uncertainty over it's new look when it was first leaked (read the replies), based on the numerous reviews just released, people are now loving it's squat look. I'm starting to think that everything Steve Jobs touches turnes to gold. I'd have to admit that even though I have no intentions to buy one myself (I've got my heart set on the iPod Touch), it looks pretty good to me.

But the Nano Fatty isn't just great in the looks department. The reviews are in and the new iPod Nano is officially a hit. Reviewers are raving about it's long battery life, relatively cheap price, and it's sharp screen. Here's a round-up of reviews from only the most trusted sources, brought to us by Engadget.

Read - PC Mag
Read - CNET
Read - ZDNet Australia
Read - iLounge

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The New iPod Touch

Ever since the iPhone was introduced to the public, I've secretly hoped for something exactly like it minus the phone part. The iPhone just wasn't practical for me. I don't want to have my music and video player in my phone, I'd much rather have a separate phone with less bells and whistles.

My hopes were answered by none other than Steve Jobs yesterday, with the introduction of the new iPod Touch. And let me just say, I have never wanted a gadget as much as I want this right now. I have the 5th gen iPod and I could say with confidence that I've used it to watch videos (mostly podcasts) more than I've used it to listen to songs. With the iPod Touch, I could watch my videos in widescreen glory. Here's a rundown of it's other features...

• Music, Video and Photos - Duh!

• Comes with 8 GB or 16 GB flash memory - 16 GB here I come!

• Built-in Wi-fi - Finally, a Wi-fi iPod!

• Built-in Safari and YouTube - This definitely adds plus points for me since I've been looking for a better way to read my RSS feeds than on my phone's puny screen.

• Built-in rechargeable, non-removable battery with up to 5 hours of video playback, and up to 22 hours of audio playback - The iPhone ran into a lot of problems with it's battery; I just hope the iPod Touch will be different.

So all in all, I can't wait to get my hands on one! I just can't!

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Steve Jobs Keynote

Whew, Steve Jobs latest keynote address surely gave me a lot of material to write about! But before anything else, I think it's best if you watch the actual address first. He talks about really exciting stuff like iTunes upgrades and of course new iPods! Go ahead, watch it from start to finish. If you're an Apple lover like me you'll probably end up drooling. No wonder he looks so smug in the picture. Here's the link to the stream, enjoy!

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Thoughts on the Palm Centro

This isn't the first time the Palm Centro was leaked. But I held off blogging about it before today because the first few leaks weren't really blog-worthy in my opinion. They were grainy pics that didn't really interest me.

However, the latest Palm Centro leak looks great. Finally, an official-looking photo of the not-so-much-awaited Palm smartphone. In contrast to the first photo, this one certainly looks like something halfway interesting. Here's some more info about the Centro care of our trusty rumor mill...

• Smallest Palm OS smartphone to date
• Targeting a younger demographic... people who are new to smartphones
• Runs on EVDO network
• Features a full keyboard and touch screen

• It'll go for $99, and Sprint will have 90 days exclusivity

A bit disappointing... these are all nothing I haven't heard of before. Is it just me or is Palm losing it's touch? I mean I totally agree with Engadget's open letter to Palm (Dear Palm: It's time for an intervention) --> except for the Foleo bit. Palm needs to shape it up or the company might die a natural (or painfully unnatural) death. I especially agree with these statements...

• "Get thin - Three words: FIGURE IT OUT. If HTC, Apple, and Motorola can offer thin (and we mean friggin' thin) smartphones, you can too. We know you think the Treo is perfectly proportioned, but it's not. It's chubby. No excuses any more, ok? It doesn't have to be as thin as the iPhone, but you've gotta trim some of the fat."
• "Speaking of the keyboard, don't mess too much with it - Apple may or not add a physical keyboard to the iPhone (our money says it won't happen), but the one the Treo has now is pretty good and it's pretty much the one thing that's keeping a lot of Treo owners from jumping ship."
• "Add WiFi - Is it really almost 2008 and the Treo STILL doesn't have WiFi? No excuses any more, sort it out."

• Oh, and I have a request of my own. If you can't put a decent camera on a smartphone, don't put one at all.

These aren't difficult requests. They should be pretty obvious actually. Let's see how Palm fares in the future... I do hope they release some great gadgets pretty soon.

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Tafiti Brings New Light To Searching

If you love pretty graphics and shiny interfaces you'll probably love Tafiti. It's an experimental search engine tool that was built on Silverlight, Microsoft's version of Flash. It works on any browser that supports Silverlight and provides the user a somewhat cosmetic solution to generic, boring search engine results and gives it a more stylish interface. Ironically, I would compare the experience of navigating Tafiti's interface to doing so on a Mac GUI. I got the same clean, shiny experience.

However, despite how nice it looks, I still think that it lacks the practicality and efficiency of a Google search. Keep in mind that Tafiti is backed up by Microsoft Live Search which I think is the crappiest search engine of the whole lot. It does have some potential though, as long as Microsoft keeps the interface quick to navigate and the seaches relevant.

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The Palm Foleo Makes Sense

The Palm Foleo was announced a few months ago and is due to be released anytime soon. When I first heard about this device, I was seriously doubting the saleability of a device that was not quite a laptop and not quite a PDA. It seemed so in-between to me.

However, the more I hear about this device and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. I mean a lot of people nowadays use their laptop just for email and web browsing, why not have a device that does this alone and does a good job on this? Think about this, it turns on instantly (no long startups), it's lightweight, it has 5 hours battery life, it has wifi, come to think of it, it is starting to sound like a very good idea.

All we have in the name of portable email and web browsing before the Palm Foleo were puny devices with tiny keyboards and/or equally tiny and clunky touchscreen pads. It's either that or laptop computers that cost and arm and a leg and with lousy battery life to boot. The only problem I have with this is the lack of support for video and multimedia. Come-on, even PDA's and cellphones can play multimedia. I'm not asking for dvd playback after all, just online embedded video or videos from email attachments. Surely they can add this feature later?

Anyway, you can check out these links for more info on this device.

• Brighthand's first thoughts on the Palm Foleo
• PCMag's Hands-on with the Palm Foleo
• Palm Infocenter's Hands-on Gallery
• Palm Infocenter's Foleo Webcast
• Palm's official site
• Palm Foleo Wiki
• ProFoleo - A Foleo centric website

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The New iMac

The new iMac is extra thin and extra yummy. I am a Windows user but I think this just might make me switch. I mean look at it. Ok, I can't think of anything else to say right now I'm just in awe. Here's some links for you...

• Official Apple site - get a load of all the iMac info here... I can't help but drool
• First iMac Unboxing - Engadget takes us through their first iMac unboxing. Read about their first impresions here.

Of course I'll post more info about the iMac when it becomes available to me. As for now, I still can't wait to get one. When my budget permits of course.

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Wii Multimedia Center

Every gadget from the iPhone to the Xbox 360 "Elite" to even our smart fridge wants to be a "media center". Let's admit it, we've gone media crazy. We can't live without our music, video and information... it has to be right there, ready for us whenever we might find the need for it.

If you've got a Wii, you can now also use it as an interface to your media library. The Wii Media Center X is developed by Red Kawa. According to their website,

"It allows you to stream certain types of pictures, music, videos and files from your computer (where the server running) to your Nintendo Wii. It runs on most major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux."

Sounds great, right? However, their software is still currently in the alpha stage. If you want to download it and try it out, do it at your own risk. I'm going to wait for at least a beta version.

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New PSP Colors… Boring

I don’t get Sony’s new color choices. Since when did they decide to market their new PSP to little girls? These colors remind me of Barbie dolls and nail polish. I hate these pastel colors… and I’m a girl. I would have loved colors like blood red or hot pink, even bright apple green. For some reason, Sony decided to go all DS Lite on us. Not good… not good at all.

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WiiFit... Play Your Way to Fitness

I hate exercise. I'd much rather do something more entertaining like watch tv or read blogs than exercise. But the Wii is starting to change all that. I mean, playing WiiSports is just so fun that I forget that my muscles are starting to ache and I'm sweating like a monkey (how appealing, no?). That's why I can't wait for WiiFit, a recently announced Wii game that will not only help you exercise but monitor your health as well.

The WiiFit's activities and games revolves around a new controller they're calling the Wii Balance Board. Amazingly, aside from detecting pressure from you hands or feet, this board has the ability to measure your weight, balance, even your body mass index. (Well well well, this could be embarassing if you're playing with friends.) However, it does sound like a great idea since I'd much rather exercise in the privacy of my home that at a gym packed with strangers.

Among the various in-game activities are step aerobics, dance, yoga, and goalie defense. I'm excited to play the dance game. I was a huge Dance Dance Revolution addict years ago in the Playstation. I'm hoping the Wii version is just as fun.

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PSP Slim & Lite

After months of speculation over a certain PSP 2, instead, we get the PSP Slim and Lite! Hmmm, is it just me or does this updated PSP sound more like fat free milk than a portable gaming console?

Anyway, here's the lowdown...

• 5mm thinner and 3mm shorter than the original

• same 4.3-inch screen

• no more infrared port

• UMD door now flaps open instead of springing out (you'll understand this better when you see the video)

• same game command keys

• TV-out socket

• now charges via USB

• battery run at 4-6 hours depending on useage

• increased memory at 64mb

• will be in stores by September

Ok, so this wasn't the new PSP2 almost everyone in the tech/gaming world was hoping for. But as the saying says, if it ain't broken, don't fix it. I think the current PSP isn't broken yet. The current technology has not been maximized yet and rather than creating a whole new console, I like that they just chose to make the old one better.

My advice though, is if you already have a PSP, don't buy this one. It's not really worth it I think. But if you're really rich and can buy whatever you like, go right ahead and buy it. And in that case, can I have your old PSP? 'Cause mine is broken. Please?

Anyway, here's some eye candy in the form of the PSP Slim and Lite brought to us by T3.

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