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.

My Gadget Wishlist

Realistically speaking, I don't have enough money to buy all the gadgets I want. But if ever I did, I'll go ahead and buy these things. These are very simple and mainstream gadgets, nothing too fancy in here. And if I probably starved myself for a year I could buy these, but I just love food too much.

• Apple Macbook Pro - This one's a no-brainer. This laptop's simply unbeatable.



• iPod Touch 32 gb - I have the 16gb model but I want the newly released 32 gb! I'm frustrated.



• Bose iPod Dock - This is the prettiest iPod dock around.



• PS3 - Now that BluRay's the clear winner, I'd love to get the PS3 not only for games but for watching awesome movies as well.



• PSP - I used to have a PSP but it got sat on and the screen cracked. Now I'm thinking that I want one again.
  

Macworld 2008 Keynote

Check out Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld 2008 here. I'm personally not blown away by any of the things he announced. However, I'm sure a number of people are or will be psyched about a certain practically-paper-thin laptop.

Anyway, I think it's better to watch any keynote without any knowledge about the content whatsoever. It makes everything sound better I guess. So I'll stop blabbing now.

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.

My Top 4 Video Podcasts

Aside from reading blogs, video podcasts are my favorite way of keeping up with tech news. You can download podcasts through Apple iTunes, RSS feeds, or through their websites. However, I understand that picking a podcast to subscribe to can be pretty daunting, since there are practically hundreds to choose from.

Being the techie that I am, I have tried watching every other tech podcast available in the internet, but I have found out that I stick to a few that I really like. I'd gladly recommend my favorites to those who are new to podcasts, and here they are:

• Mobuzz.tv - Keeping up with tech news is a breeze with Mobuzz TV. However, this isn't just any other tech news podcast. The way it's written makes it really quirky and entertaining, while still managing to keep it's credibility and intelligence. Mobuzz is based in Spain so they have a more European approach to tech news, but they pretty much cover the whole tech world.
  
  Length: around 5 minutes
  Published: 5 days a week
  Host: Olivia
  Based in: Spain
  
  

• Geekbrief.tv - This podcast aims to keep us updated on all the latest gadget news and reviews. The host Cali is a true blue techie and it shows in this podcast; she really knows her stuff. The podcast covers the whole gamut of gadgetry, from cameras to phones to iPods to computers. I love the DearCali episodes, where she answers questions sent in by viewers.
  
  Length: around 5 minutes
  Published: depends, mostly every two days
  Host: Cali Lewis
  Based in: USA
  
  


• WebbAlert - This is another great tech news podcast, based in the United States. It is hosted by Morgan Webb, another real-life techie, particularly a hardcore gamer. The podcast is published almost daily and covers the latest developments in tech, gaming, gadgetry and digital culture.
  
  Length: around 5 minutes
  Published: 4 days a week
  Host: Morgan Webb
  Based in: USA
  
  


• Tekzilla - This is a great podcast to watch on your Apple TV or on you computer, since it's practically a full-length tv show. Their target audience is someone who's not too much on the techie side since they keep everything "idiot-proof." However, it's still a nice show to watch even if you're already a geek.
  
  Length: around 30 minutes
  Published: around once a week
  Host: Jessica Corbin and Patrick Norton
  Based in: USA
  
  

Do you know any great podcasts that are not included here? Let us know!

Make Your Own Noise Eliminating Headphones

Have you ever tried using the stock iPod earbuds in an airplane? It's torture. Even with the volume up to maximum, I had to cover my ears with my hands just to understand what I'm watching. Not a great experience.

In this situation, I would have killed for a pair of noise eliminating headphones. But the cheapskate in me just can't spend more than a hundred of dollars just for a pair of headphones. This Kipkay hack blew me away. It makes me think, why didn't I think of this before? Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Headphone Hack! Make You Own Noise Eliminating Headset! - Watch a funny movie here

Leaked Torrents from Warner Bros.

Looks like some media execs. are starting to realize the value of torrents as a means of publicity for their shows. Torrentfreaks reveal that a number of pre-air tv shows appearing on Bittorrent might have been inside jobs done for publicity. Apparently, these torrents are doing a good job creating buzz for these new shows that people would otherwise ignore. Hmmm, so is this a case of hipocracy on the media side? It looks like they want the best of both worlds. They use torrents when it benefits them and call it piracy and stop it when it threatens them. Hypocracy, indeed.

U U U

YouTube Launches Antipiracy Tool in September

All the lawsuits are probably getting to YouTube. Being such a popular site is not necessarily a good thing in their case since they're always under the radar of the huge media companies. That's probably why they're now preparing to launch an anti-piracy tool "hopefully" by September. According to YouTube lawery Philip Beck,

“We hope to have the testing completed and technology available
by sometime in the fall, but this is one of the most technologically complicated
tasks that we have ever undertaken, and as always with cutting-edge
technologies, it’s difficult to forecast specific launch dates,” a YouTube
spokesman said.

According to Techspot, they will launch a video recognition tool that will allow copyright holders to provide them a "digital fingerprint" of their videos, which will then be used to scan all clips being uploaded. Hmmm, won't this make their upload process really slow? As copyrighted videos pile up, they'll have more and more "digital fingerprints" to check the upladed videos with. Then again, if they really have the "cutting-edge technology" they're talking about then they probably have solved this problem already.

I think this is a great step for YouTube. It will certainly free up a lot of disk space, with all the copyrighted videos off the site. If they do it properly, it'll be a good thing. But if it causes problems for people who upload legit videos, hmmm.

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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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