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S3 Graphics Chrome 400 ULP series brings power to UMPC’s

S3 Graphics today announced its Chrome 400 Ultra Low Power (ULP) graphics processor series, based on the most power-efficient GPU architecture on the market. Today’s users will now be able to enjoy the latest HD media playback and DirectX™ 10.1 gaming experience on mini-notes as well as notebook PCs Read more

Microsoft’s I’m a PC Ads Made on Apple Mac

Microsoft’s latest Ads titled “I’m a PC” has certainly won a few more points in Microsoft’s favor, but what if these ads were made on a Mac.

According to PC World, Microsoft posted some digital images on its Web site that look like frames from the television ads, and when you look at the originating-software stamp in the images you find something interesting Read more

Packard Bell dot 160GB Netbook: Launches November

Packard Bell has recently announced its new netbook, say hello to the “dot”, the netbook market seems to be going from strength to strength and now with PB’s new 8.9-inch dot netbook can we see something really special when it release in November.

It does look a little like the Aspire One, the main features on the Packard Bell “dot” includes 160GB hard drive disk, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP operating system, 1024 x 600 resolution display and Intel Atom processor.

It also has built-in Wi-Fi which means you can stay in touch with the world plus, three USB ports, integrated webcam, and a 5-in-1 card reader. This is truly a netbook that should be highly considered when it goes on sale in November, it will retail for approx 399 Euros, UK price has not been released yet.

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Toshiba NB100 netbook: Ready for UK in October

Toshiba have entered the growing netbook market with the Toshiba NB100 netbook which will be available in the UK from October.

The Toshiba NB100 netbook weighs in at less than a kilo and is compact and stylish, it measure 8.9 inch and has advanced multimedia and communication capabilities. You can get two versions of the NB100 both that are powered by the 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, one with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and the other with Linux Ubuntu 8.04 with OpenOffice 2.4.

The Toshiba netbook will allow you to have up to 1GB RAM and a hard disk drive of up to 120GB, the widescreen TruBrite display offers 1024 x 600 resolution with LED backlighting. To get connected you can use the WiFi, you also have three USB ports and a 10/100 Ethernet port and an integrated 0.3MP webcam. If that’s not enough this netbook allows you to charge your USB gadgets whilst it’s in sleep mode.

Connectivity includes Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and a 10/100 Ethernet port and there’s three USB ports that get Toshiba’s nifty Sleep-and-Charge tech that keeps charging USB gadgets when the NB100 netbook is in sleep mode while there’s also an integrated 0.3MP webcam. The Toshiba NB100 will set you back around £260 and available in three colours.

Source: pocket-lint

ATI Catalyst Drivers 8.9 Analysis on Windows XP and Vista

AMD have launched their Catalyst driver suite again with version 8.9 and Tweak Town have taken a close look at the performance on Windows XP and Vista.

They covered the results over 12 pages and in their final thoughts; they had this to say “On a whole there’s a little bit of movement across the board with the new driver set. We can see under Vantage the HD 4870 seems to have gotten a bit of a boost while in the real world the performance increase was only seen in Crysis Read more

The Skins Factory Features Pimped Out Themed Windows Media Players

The Skins Factory, the world’s premier service provider for innovative user interface design, has unleashed an array of hot, exciting technology giving Windows XP users the ability to pimp their media players with the hottest movie, gaming and sports skins on the market Read more

Cray CX1 Desktop Supercomputer with 64-Cores

This is the Cray CX1 desktop supercomputer with 64-Cores, its existence is thanks to a Cray and Microsoft partnership. If you have a spare $25,000 to $60,000 for a new computer then this could be yours Read more

Apple iTunes 8 Bug: Fix iPhone/iPod error 13213

You may already know about the bug with Apple iTunes 8, the web is alight with reports of iPhone syncing errors and the iPhone/iPod error 13213.

You may have plugged your iPhone 3G in for a power boost and received an error saying that the phone couldn’t be synced. This is followed by a message “Unknown error occurred (13213)” Read more

Spore on Macbook’s before late 2007

According to Kotaku they say that Spore needs a pretty big system and that it is not the most resource intensive game around, I would have to agree with them

Personally Spore looks utterly boring but I might be wrong, anyway back to Spore being on older notebooks. Basically if you own an Apple Macbook that was made before late 2007 you will be pretty disappointed because Spores requirements will not be found on these particular notebooks.

Spore will not work with the Intel GMA 950 graphics hardware which is a pain because this is what Macbooks had until the end of 2007. You will be happy to know that the MacBook Pro has NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT and this means Spore will work fine.

What do you use? Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer

So what do we think of the all new Google Chrome? Well to start of with it was made available on September 2 and many users have different opinions, some good and some bad of course, as they say where ever there is good the bad always follows.

Google say that Chrome is a brand new web browser with a difference and personally I agree with them as it is definitely different, I personally prefer Firefox and have been using it for a while now. Firefox is smoother and so much better for me. I cannot put my finger on it why I prefer Firefox but I just prefer it to Chrome.

Google say that Chrome is safer, faster and much easier to use but I beg to dither and many of you agree. Internet Explorer in my eyes will be dead in the water soon as more and more users have turned to Firefox, the question is “Will they turn to Google Chrome? This is what a few users of Google Chrome have said.

The Bad:

Well I too was unimpressed with the Google Chrome browser. There are a couple of sites that is go to that require Java to login and each site told me that I was not running the correct version. Now I know some businesses use these sites for payroll and accounting business services and such. Chrome will not be of any use unless the java platform is backward compatible. I really did not see any speed increases like the cartoon/comic said. I will continue to test the product and look for some major updates. I will not be advising anyone to use Chrome with out having a secondary available to go to the real websites.

The Good:

I am quite impressed. It is much, much faster than IE7, Firefox and Safari for Windows, smaller in file size, and appears to tie up fewer resources. There are some minor glitches to be expected with a beta version: no Java applet for my office homepage; Sirius media player doesn’t work, etc. I have no doubt these issues will be addressed in the days and weeks to come. So far, so good!

Personally I believe Firefox is much better and easier to use, yes Google Chrome may be faster but speed is no good if there is flaws, it has too much missing. What do you use? Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer

Patriot Memory Releases New Signature Series Heat Spreader

Patriot Memory, a global provider of premium quality memory module and flash memory solutions, today released an updated design for their Signature series heat spreaders. Once reserved only for their premium line Extreme Performance products, Signature line products will now include a diamond cut “P” on their heat spreaders Read more

AVG Free Anti-Virus 8.0 or Internet Security

It has been named as CNET’s most downloaded software, and AVG’s Free Anti-Virus 8.0 is as popular as ever with even more advancements in online protection.

Trudy Walsh from GCN has taken a detailed look at the new AVG Internet Security and even names it as “The web whisperer”. This is thanks to the way it listens to the Internet in ways you do not, and then reports back to you with what it finds Read more

HP TouchSmart IQ800 Series yet they Cut 24,600 Jobs

Kind of ironic that HP is cutting 24,600 Jobs but they still produce new products, we know that HP has to pull something out of the bag to produce more revenue to save the company, the question is “Will the HP TouchSmart IQ800 Series be a part of this?

Anyway enough about the bad news of people losing their jobs let’s talk about the new HP TouchSmart IQ800 Series shall we, we all know that in July they released the TouchSmart IQ500s and now they have the TouchSmart IQ804 and IQ816.

They feature 25.5-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreens plus various TouchSmart-specific apps, HP Pocket Media drive bay, Bluetooth, TV tuner with remote, ambient lighted keyboard. The IQ804 runs at 2.16GHz with the T5850 Core 2 Duo on a 667MHz bus with 2MB of cache and the IQ816 runs at 2.10GHz with the T8100 Core 2 Duo on an 800MHz bus with a 3MB cache. The IQ816 is bundled with Blu-ray drive - dual-layer burner and upgrades and the IQ804’s GeForce 9300M GS graphics to a GeForce 9600M GS chip. The IQ816 will cost over $2,099 and releases October 12 whereas the IQ804 will be $1,899 and comes September 21.

Check out the image gallery over on Engadget.

Microsoft Vista Dying, Windows 7 coming June 3rd 2009

Before we tell you about the latest news we have to say Microsoft Vista is pretty rubbish, maybe you have to get used to it who knows but there is something about it that just does not cut it.

Bill Gates mentioned not so long ago about Windows 7 and that it could be coming sometime next year, well the latest news has it that it will be available June 23rd 2009, finally at last this means that Microsoft Vista is dying.

This date is fantastic because many though that it was going to be released sometime in 2010, Vista as we all know only had a three-year lifespan so it was expected to see a successor.

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New Apple MacBooks on Sale September 23rd

The all new redesigned Apple MacBooks are already shipping and will be on sale September 23rd, yes this is the date when they will hit the stores and many like us are excited.

The main features are expected to include a very thin casing and an aluminum one at that and LED backlighting, the cheap entry-level new MacBook is expected to be at around £999.

Many believed that the new laptops would go on sale on October 14 but now it seems September 23 is the date. There is no hard evidence of this date other than sources.

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Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update now ready for download

The all new update: Mac OS X 10.5.5 is now ready for you to download ad we recommend you visiting and reading the full release notes before downloading.

Apple’s new software update will include many security updates, Spotlight, iPhone sync enhancements, Address Book, MobileMe, eMail, Time Machine performance tweaks, iCal and a few other things to get your sorted.

The Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update is a massive update and we mean massive, hopefully the software update will give you everything you are hoping for. Please do post your comments about this update as we are intrigued to know what you feel about it.

Abaco: Europes first Atom Dual-core desktop

For all you stylish Italian gadget mad readers, how would you like to get your hands on an Abaco Intel Atom dual-core PC? if your not impressed, what if I tell you it only measures 27 x 20 x 10 cm, that’s just less than 11 x 8 x 4 inches for those who haven’t made it over to centimeters yet.

This classic and stylish Abaco Computer is straight out of Milan and is actually Europe’s first Intel Atom dual-core PC, the “box” looks at first glance like a Betamax VCR is actually a reasonably stacked PC that boasts up to 2GB RAM, 1.6 GHz Atom CPU, its advertised as having a generous six USB ports but its looks like from the photo on the box that you only have 4, so we will try and get the correct information for you.

The Abaco comes with Ubuntu 8.04 fully loaded. It’s said that you can purchase this in thin client, Solid state and desktop depending on what you would prefer. Prices will go according to the configuration, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s not available in the USA.

Source: engadget

Western Digital Introduces 500GB My Passport Drives

Western Digital (WD) has just introduced the all new 500GB My Passport drives today, well what we really meant to say was, they are shipping the 500GB My Passport portable USB My Passport drives.

You can get your hands on the My Passport drives from WD right now as of today; you have two options which are the My Passport Elite or My Passport Essential, both in 500GB glory.

The My Passport Elite will cost $219.99 and the My Passport Elite will cost you $199.99, now if you ask me, what a bargain.

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Peek email device is now available

We previously reviewed the Peek email device and have posted the link below, but good news for those who have been waiting to purchase the Peek, it is now officially available from the Peeks online store.

The device is simply just an email device and has no phone or camera facilities, however, the Peek can send and receive unlimited emails via select services including, Yahoo mail, AOL and Gmail via the GPRS data network. You cannot expand the memory, and the onboard storage is 8MB, so probably not an ideal device if you want to store heavy attachments such as high res images.

For full spec click our review below, the Peek is currently available only in gray at $100, but will be available in cherry and aqua in a few weeks time, Peek does not come with a contract and T-Mobile provide the data coverage across America.

Read the Peek review

Source: electronista

iTunes 8 from Apple crashes Vista with critical error

iTunes 8 Apple Inc’s latest version that was released on Tuesday, seems to be causing havoc with Windows Vista, the lauch of iTunes 8 was to coincide with the iPod refresh.

It’s been reported by lots of users on the Apple support forum, that as soon as a iPhone or iPod is connected to a PC with Window Vista the PC crashes, and the user gets the “blue screen of death” (BSOD) appearing on the screen, this critical error appears on a blue background and the user then has to reboot to recover.

One user posted on the forum that they installed the iTunes 8 over the iTunes 7 on Vista and the Blue screen of death appeared, this happened three times, the post had been viewed almost 10,000 times and has collected nearly 300 messages, as other users discussed their problems with iTunes 8 and offering possible solutions. There were a lot of responses from users who said it could be that they need a approved Apple USB driver, but of cause this is user speculation, we will have to wait and see what the solution is from Apple.

Read the full article at computerworld