Portable TV Tuners are a useful way to watch and record digital channels on the move, and Compro is undoubtedly one of the biggest suppliers on the market with its VideoMate series. The Vista U2800F Hybrid offers both digital and analogue viewing/recording and is compatible with VideoMate’s new ComproDTV software, which along with visual and functional improvements is fully certified for use with Windows 7.

Compro offers an impressively comprehensive package featuring the USB tuner itself, a portable aerial, FM antenna, IR receiver and a Media Center compatible remote control. It’s also supplied with Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 to complement the main software, so right out of the box you’re getting quite a lot for your money.

Set-up is straightforward thanks to a wizard-based approach that helps you scan for channels in your area and configure any audio and video equipment you have. As is typical with these sorts of portable tuners, the biggest problem most users will have is achieving a strong enough signal to store a good complement of digital channels using a portable aerial. We’ve tested a fair few of these devices over the last couple of years and very few have been successful in this area, relying instead on the ability to plug into a rooftop aerial.

While this is still the case here, the U2800F did perform better than most at retrieving a signal, though we were still only left with a handful of channels and most of these consistently showed signs of interference. To a large extent this is down to the particular area in which you live, but those looking to use such a device on the move can expect their fair share of problems.

We had no problems retrieving a wide range of channels through a rooftop aerial however, and we were impressed by the snazzy new interface that displays them, which is a big improvement over Compro’s previous effort. A clean layout and typical playback and record controls makes it easy to begin saving a programme to your hard drive or time-shifting back and forth. As with all digital TV Tuners pay close attention to the recommended requirements on the website and consider them the absolute minimum for stable operation.

Demands on hardware increase significantly for those looking to benefit from features such as PIP (picture-in-picture) and multiple channel surfing. For this reason these will be a bit of a luxury for most users but in truth there’s nothing wrong with simply browsing the channels in list form or skipping back and forth as you would with a regular TV.

The software offers an online EPG relevant to your area, which allows you to automatically set-up recordings as an alternative to the manual scheduler. This works fairly well, though obviously requires an internet connection. Additional features are fairly typical of this sort of device and include Teletext, closed-captioned viewing and the ability to adjust the display for each channel, rounding off a comprehensive range of features. Media Center compatibility makes it an effective addition to a home media PC and the remote control, which is a rather token "credit-card" type affair, is nevertheless well laid out and easy to use. ?

Verdict:

The capabilities of the U2800F are largely reliant on having the necessary hardware to cope with the demands of DTV viewing and the ability to access or establish a strong signal - those who may want to rely on a portable antenna for viewing on the move should be aware of the inherent issues with this type of connection. This aside, we were impressed by the comprehensive nature of the package on offer and the improvements made to the software. The Vista U2800F represents good value for money and performs very well in the right environment.

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Tags: Hardware TV tuners Compro Compro VideoMate Vista U2800F

Compro VideoMate Vista U2800F TV tuner originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Kensington has released a new range of mices with the introduction of the plug and play Pro Fit family of input devices.

In the words of Kensington, the Pro Fit range is "designed to fulfil businesses demand for reliability, performance and comfort".

The Kensington Pro Fit USB/PS2 Wired Full-Size Mouse is a right-handed effort with an optical sensor for ?14.99.

The Kensington Pro Fit Retractable Mobile Mouse instantly retracts its cord that stores inside the body of the mouse and also offers an optical sensor for ?14.99.

The Kensington Pro Fit 2.4 GHz Wireless Full-Size Mouse is another right-hander on offer for ?19.99.

The Kensington Pro Fit 2.4 GHz Wireless Desktop Set is made up of a full-sized keyboard and mouse, said to be able to withstand drops and spills, for ?29.99.

Tags: Hardware Mice Keyboards Kensington

Kensington launches Pro Fit mouse family originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:43:58 +0000

Following the news we brought you earlier of the UK discounts Apple is offering, the company's American deals have now been revealed.

The discounts are part of the "Black Friday" tradition in the States, where retailers mark the start of the Christmas shopping season after Thanksgiving by offering sales.

Those shopping at the Apple store in the States today can get $101 off an iMac and $101 off a MacBook Pro while the Magic Mouse sees a $5 reduction.

Other price cuts in the one-day-only spectacular see $11 off an iPod nano, $41 off an iPod touch, $21 off Apple TV and $21 off a 1TB Time Capsule.

In the UK the discounts are roughly in line with the American offers - although we're only offered ?11 off an iPod touch.

Tags: Hardware Audio Phones Apple shopping

Apple's American Black Friday deals revealed originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:32:53 +0000

The Imation Pro WX is a wireless USB drive hard that allows you to backup your data to a 1.5TB drive wirelessly and therefore leave your desk a little less cluttered.?Big and noisy, the drive has a 25 foot range and connects to your laptop as a one-to-one connection rather than over your regular wireless network.

The drive itself is simple in its design. It's big, it's black and white, and comes with a chrome stand that pops-out when needed. The front sports a white panel, power switch that pulses like the Apple MacBook notebooks and an instant backup button to let you do just that. Beneath this there is a light that lets you see quickly how much space you've used via four bars (1 for 30%, 2 for 60%, 3 for 90% and 4 for 95%).?

The back is equally plain (it is a hard drive after all). It features a directional aerial to help you with that signal if you need it, a USB 2.0 cable socket for a hard line connection and a power socket. Just like virtually every other hard drive on the market the design is boxy and boring.

Connecting to your PC or Mac either involves you having Wireless USB already fitted or plugging in the dongle included in the box that is still fairly large. Think the largest USB thumb drive you've ever seen and then double it. It really is that big.

Connect it to your computer and that's it you are ready to start transferring your files from one to the other on the network it has created.

While Mac software is pretty thin on the ground, Windows users will get Memeo Instant Backup software that will instantly backup new or changed files every time your Imation Pro WX wireless USB hard drive is reconnected. The software is simple but effective.

While a hard line connection will get you a theoretical 60MBps transfer rates, the Imation Pro WX will quarter that and give you just 15MBps for the priviledge of ditching a hard drive on your desk or wherever in the home you happen to be.

Put that in to real terms and that means that you'll be able to transfer a 2GB file to the hard drive in just over 2 minutes. Compare this to a NAS drive over a wireless g connection and its considerably faster (it took us almost 5 minutes to transfer the same file to a Time Capsule connected to our Wireless router).

Where do I sign up then? Not so fast. While the drive is faster than saving it out to a NAS drive on your network, only you can see that information meaning you won't be able to share it with anyone else unless they've got the dongle plugged in. And before you think about the possibility of buying a dongle for each and every one of your computers, don't. While you can connect up to two dongles to the drive you can only connect one at a time.

Then there is the sheer fact that it's slower than having a physical drive connected to your notebook. While we can see that this could be a problem if you're a couch potato, it's not really going to make that much of a difference to your desk use. After all that, the "one press" button for backing up becomes irrelevant if it's hidden in a cupboard somewhere.

Verdict:

The Imation Pro WX is a one of those products where someone approved it not because there was a need, but because they could.

The only reason we could see this being of use is if you are in a one man office working on your own. The problem with that though is that if you are in this "one man" office you'll not really mind a 1.5TB hard drive sitting on or under your desk doing the same task for a fraction of the price.

Yes we believe in a clutter-free desk, but at $450 we expect better performance and more options.

Tags: Hardware Storage Imation Wireless USB

Imation Pro WX wireless USB hard drive originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Those hoping for hundreds of pounds off a new iMac or MacBook from Apple in its UK Thanksgiving Black Friday sale will probably be disappointed.

Although not seen as a big deal in the UK due to the fact that the British don't celebrate Thanksgiving weekend, that hasn't stopped Apple discounting its products, something that it rarely does.

Although the company has yet to confirm its US offerings, that hasn't stopped its UK store from announcing its deals for citizens of the realm.

And the moment you've all been waiting for?

A rather paltry ?71 off an iMac or MacBook Pro and just ?7 off an iPod and ?11 off an iPod touch or an Apple TV.

There are other deals in store and online from third party retailers, but it's a far cry from the initially rumoured 25% off.

Are you going to buy anything on Friday? Let us know in the comments.?

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Tags: Hardware Audio Apple Black Friday

Apple UK Black Friday deals likely to disappoint originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:04:38 +0000

Orange has announced two new "connected laptops", the Asus 1005HGO and the Compaq CQ61 and two new mobile broadband dongles.

The 10.1-inch Asus 1005HGO with embedded SIM card is an Orange exclusive. Offering Windows 7 starter and weighing 1.27kg, it's angled as the on-the-go option.

The 15.6-inch Compaq CQ61 is bundled with an Orange e1752 dongle and comes with Windows 7 Home Premium.

The Asus netbook will cost from ?25 to ?35 a month on 18-month and 24-month mobile broadband contracts with 1GB, 3GB and 5GB options available.

The Compaq laptop is offered on the same contracts but also requires an upfront pay-out of between ?65 and ?130 depending on which contract is taken, although it is free on a 5GB, ?35 per month, 24-month contract.

As far as dongles go, the new Orange e1752 dongle will be bundled with mobile broadband packages while the Option 515M, which will come with a free 8GB Micro SD memory card, will be charged at around ?20.

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Tags: Hardware Phones Orange Laptops Mobile broadband USB modems Tariffs Asus Compaq Netbooks Software Asus 1005HGO Compaq CQ61

Orange offers two new "connected laptops" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:34:14 +0000

Day 4 of our Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 nominees round-up gives us a chance to look at what many of us are using right now - laptops. So, before you head over to the voting page to mark your choices, here's a little run down of our pick of the crop for the year.

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Apple MacBook Pro

Type

13-inch portable/multimedia

Release date

08/06/09

Price

?899/?1149

PL review rating

9/10

It was more or less inevitable that one of the year's Macs would make it into the shortlist and it was the dubbing of the "Pro" title to the smaller end of the MacBook range that did it for us in 2009. What it means is a high performance spec set and typically beautiful Apple design on something nice and portable. At 13 inches it's an excellent size for both home or on your knees and the seamless aluminium deck and neat cut-outs for the various ports and connectors give a premium finish that other manufacturers just don't achieve.

Under the hood, you get the choice of the cheaper 2.26GHz/2GB RAM/160GB model or the 2.53GHz/4GB/250GB for a few pennies more. Both come with a bright and glossy 1280 x 800px? LED backlit screen and an Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU for high quality HD playback. The non-removable battery is a bit of a grind - particularly as that 7 hours of reported battery life is only with the screen at 50% but you can't have everything. The whole thing is topped off by the welcome addition of an SD card and backlit keyboard for easier use on flights etc. A very solid, attractive and usable contender for this year's award. Simply put, it oozes quality.

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Sony Vaio Z

Type

13.1-inch ultra-portable

Price

?2159

PL review rating

9/10

Fighting in a similar space as the 13-inch Pro is the same sized Sony Vaio Z. Strangely though it makes the Apple computer look cheap at around double the cost. What you're paying for though is a fantastically light 1.5kg carbon fibre and magnesium body built for mobile use. It has an isolated keyboard, much like the MacBook, but a superior 1600 x 900 pixels LED backlit screen that's simply one of the best around with its curious matte/gloss hybrid finish.

Lurking within is a powerful combo of an Intel 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, an Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS and 4096MB of high speed DDR3 memory all backed up with a luxury 128GB SSD. As with the Pro, there's also a DVD/CD drive plus an SD slot and also a direct HDMI port rather than the adaptor needed for the Apple machine. Yes, this thing is more expensive and actually doesn't even offer much in the way of battery life but it's sexy as hell and light as a feather. Very hard to walk past in the shops without an oooh and an ahhhh.

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Dell Adamo XPS

Type

13.4-inch ultra-portable

Release date

Any time now

Price

?1799

PL review rating

9/10

The real head turner for 2009 has to be the Dell Adamo XPS. Not content with throwing us one version of the new luxury sub-brand, Dell went and invented the thinnest computer known to man with this 9.9mm curiously folding PC. That's thinner than a CD case.

Frankly, the rest of the specs are a footnote but, if you're interested, what you get for whatever portion of the money is left is an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV (1.4GHz) processor, 4GB DDR3-800MHz and a Solid State 128GB. There's only integrated graphics to play with plus a non-Full HD 1366 x 768 LED screen and a thoroughly disappointing 2.5 hours battery life. But if you can cope with the last parts, you can still feel safe that you're buying an incredible work of design.

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Toshiba NB200

Type

10.1-inch netbook

Release date

23/4/09

Price

?250

PL review rating

8/10

At the other end of the price range and the only netbook to have made the grade for Pocket-lint in 2009 is the Toshiba NB200. Simply enough, it's an upgrade to the NB100 but what you get now is a larger, nearly full size and well-designed, isolated keyboard plus an LED backlit display with a reasonable resolution of 1024 x 600px. That lot aside, there's nothing wildly exciting about the machine apart from its robust build and excellent 8-hour life and that's before you've upgraded to the 9-cell battery.

For just ?250 you get all this plus 1GB RAM, an Intel Atom N280 processor and a 160GB HDD all running Windows XP. There's a 1.3-megapixel webcam and it handles all the normal connectivity you'd expect. Like we said, not astounding but definitely good value.

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HP Envy 15

Type

15.6-inch multimedia PC

Release date

22/10/09

Price

?1199

PL review rating

8/10

The Envy 15 is very much a Windows take on the MacBook Pro. It has similar levels of high design input minus that Apple touch, but what it's missing in class it more than makes up for in raw grunt. It's the only machine on our list to feature the new Intel Core i7 CPU and it comes with 4GB RAM that's expandable up to a whopping 16GB. It runs Windows 7 on a nice, bright, Full HD 1366 x 768px LED screen - as is the mode - with a whole 1GB ATI GPU helping you render just about anything you can think of.

The Envy measures 38 x 24.4 x 2.65cm and weighs 2.35kg putting it firmly in the multimedia category and, just in case you needed to be sure, it has all the HDMI ports, eSATAs and USBs that you'd need. Sorry to see a lack of Blu-ray though. The real drawback is the miniscule 1.5 hours battery life, but then this thing wasn't meant to be taken on the move. So, now you know what they are, how are you going to vote?

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Related links:

• Feature - The low down: Best Digital Camera 2009
• Feature - The low down: Best Car Gadget 2009

Tags: Hardware Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features HP Envy 15 Apple Sony Vaio Laptops Netbooks Dell Dell Adamo XPS Macbook pro Toshiba NB200-11H Toshiba

The low down: Best Laptop 2009 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:17:54 +0000

Asus has dropped us word of its latest Eee Box, the 1501. The Eee box series are nettops - tiny, cheap, relatively low-power machines that are designed as secondary computers (perhaps for use in a media centre setup) or for those who don't use their machine very much.

The 1501, Asus reckons, is one of the world's smallest computers that features both a dedicated Nvidia ION graphics chip (most nettops have less-powerful integrated graphics) and an optical drive for DVD playback. It can also output full 1080p from an HDMI-out port.

Elsewhere in the spec sheet, there's a dual core Intel Atom 330 processor, 2GB of memory (expandable to 4), a 250GB hard drive, 5.1 speaker support, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port. It comes with Windows 7, an upscaler and a built in IPTV player, and can be either mounted on the back of a monitor or on its stand.

The device claims to be 50% quieter than most desktop PCs, and has 70% less power consumption to boot. It measures 193 x 193 x 39mm, which is 1.5L of volume. It costs ?340 and is available now.

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Asus Asus Eee Box 1501 Eee HD Nettops Video

VIDEO: Asus reveals Eee Box 1501 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:54:17 +0000

PC World has added to is own-brand Advent range with the launch of a new gaming PC, the Centurion, a desktop space-saving PC, the Firefly, and a lightweight laptop, the Verona.

The 13-inch Advent Verona gets Windows 7, an Intel Celeron ULV 743 processor, 250GB hard drive, 3GB RAM, DVD rewriter, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Weighing in at 1.6kg, and available in three colours with a gloss finish, the Verona is priced at ?349.99.

The Centurion ("a stylish and affordable desktop for the budget-conscious gamer") gets a clear side to view the innards, boasts Windows 7 Premium, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 processor, 6GB memory, 1TB hard drive, DVD rewriter and Wi-Fi. Complete with a monitor, it will cost ?799.99.

The compact Firefly desktop PC measures in just 95 x 300 x 320mm and features Window 7 Home Premium, an Intel Pentium DC E5 300 processor, a 320GB hard drive, 2GB memory, DVD rewriter and Wi-Fi. It's priced at ?379.99.

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Laptops PC World Advent Currys Dixons Windows 7

PC World launches three new Advents originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:08:43 +0000

American customisation company ColorWare has turned its palette to Apple's new Magic Mouse, offering to transform the input device with a startling range of hues.

The service will see a different colour applied to the top and bottom of the mouse, with glossy or soft-touch finishes available.

If you want to order the whole shebang straight from ColorWare, it'll set you back $99, but those who already have a Magic Mouse to send in will pay just $30.

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Tags: Hardware Mice Apple Magic Mouse ColorWare

Apple Magic Mouse gets coloured in originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:03:34 +0000

The humble computer mouse, admittedly not the most exciting piece of tech out there, but pretty essential, unless your an absolute whiz at navigating with the keyboard.

The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse is one such device and is available at Play.com for a pretty reasonable ?24.99. Reviewed in October it was given a price tag of ?34.99 so seeing a third off in just a month seems non too shabby.

The specs include battery life of around 10 months along with a handy indicator so you know when it's time to swap them over, 4-way scrolling and 4 customisable buttons.

The transceiver, which enables the wireless functionality, slots into the mouse for easy transport and as the device comes with Microsoft's BlueTrack tech, it should work effectively on a variety of worktops such as granite, wood or carpet.

There is a full review which goes into a more detail regarding usability and there are a variety of colours to choose from at Play.com, so if you're interested click through on this link which will take you to the deal.

Tags: Hardware Mice And Keyboards Mice Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 Play Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Microsoft Wireless Mouse 4000 under £25 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Right, let's see how many 7s we can cram into this post. MSI currently offers 7 different series of laptop. The E, C, P, Wind, V, A and G series. The last one is for gaming, and has just been bolstered by the addition of the GT740 and the GT640.

Both are high-end machines, with Intel Core i7 processors, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M 3D?graphics cards, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 640GB hard disks, Blu-ray drives and Windows 7 Home Premium. The 740 comes with the addition of 5.1 surround sound, and a 17-inch display, whereas the 640 has a 15.4-inch display and just two speakers.

The GT740 weighs 3.2kg, which is relatively svelte for a 17-inch gaming laptop. The GT640, with its smaller screen, is a little lighter at 2.7kg. Both come in black and red with brushed metal texturing.

The GT740 costs ?1400 and will be available in November, whereas you'll have to wait until December for the slightly smaller ?1349 GT640. We count 13 7s in this post, including the one in this sentence and in the title. Not bad.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Gaming MSI MSI GT740 MSI GT640

MSI launches GT740 and GT640 gaming notebooks originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:34:58 +0000

Razer has announced the new "Imperator" gaming mouse with "contours and grooves specifically crafted to enhance aggressive mousing movements made by gamers".

A right-handed ergonomic mouse aimed at palm and fingertip gamers, Razer promises "your grip stays locked and planted no matter how often you lift and swipe your mouse while playing".

Boasting adjustable side buttons that slide and lock into the "ideal thumb position", the new mouse also gets a 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor.

Available online now, the Imperator will see a December retail debut for around $80 or 70 euros.

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Tags: Hardware Mice Razer Video Gaming

VIDEO: The Razer Imperator gaming mouse announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:46:54 +0000

Gigabyte caused a bit of a stir with its Booktop M1022 netbook as it was the first and so far the only netbook available with a docking station.

The company has now followed this up with the CULV-based Booktop M1305 and added yet another twist, a desktop graphics card in the dock. This makes the Booktop M1305 a good alternative for those that want a thin and light notebook, yet crave some extra performance when using it at a desk.

The overall specifications of the M1305 places it in the middle of the CULV notebook market with a Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor at 1.3GHz, up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive and integrated Intel graphics.

The M1305 also features a 13.3-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, a built-in optical drive, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a finger print reader, an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port, an HDMI connector, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, a D-sub connector, a 1.3 Megapixel webcam, a memory card reader and a pair of audio jacks.

The battery isn't going to wildly impress anyone as the 6-cell 3800mAh unit will at best manage 5 to 6 hours of untethered usage, but Gigabyte is also offering a secondary battery that occupies the optical drive bay instead of the drive and this 4-cell unit should add another 3 to 4 hours of usage.

The real selling point of the M1305 is the docking station, and, as we've mentioned, what makes it special is the inclusion of a desktop Nvidia GeForce GT220 graphics card with 1GB of DDR3 graphics memory. This is the first time we've heard about such a solution in a consumer notebook, although AMD has offered an external graphics solution in co-operation with Fujitsu-Siemens, but that never really took off. The advantage here is that you get vastly increased graphics performance when you place the notebook in the dock, although currently you're limited to using an external display.

The dock offers DVI, HDMI and D-sub connectivity and it also sports six USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port and a pair of audio jacks. The dock must be powered to function, although it will also power the notebook, so only one power adapter is required. Gigabyte is
considering offering docks with various graphics configurations in the future if this proves to be a successful product.

The exact hardware configurations will differ from market to market, but the initial model with the specifications listed above, including the dock, will cost in the region of ?745 with Windows 7 Home Premium.

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Tags: Hardware Gigabyte Laptops Intel

Gigabyte unveils the Booktop M1305 with graphics card-equipped dock originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:44:50 +0000

BenQ has announced the launch of two new widescreen G series LED monitors with the introduction of the new 19-inch, 16:10 ratio, 1440 x 900 WXGA+ resolution G920WL and the 18.5-inch, 16:9 ratio, 1366 x 768 WXGA resolution G922HDL.

Boasting the lowest power consumption in their respective size categories (although the G922HDL is arguably the only 18.5-inch LED effort, so that doesn't mean much) the new monitors are angled as eco, although not quite got-a-plant-pot-built-in eco.

With a dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, the displays get BenQ's Senseye 3 Human Vision Technology with the claim of "one-touch optimisation" for a range of picture settings.
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The new models have D-Sub and DVI connects and will set you back ?99 for the 19-incher and ?95 for the 18.5-inch model.

Tags: Hardware BenQ Monitors Eco

BenQ offers new G series eco LED monitors for under £100 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:05:48 +0000

Apple has confirmed that it will be offering Black Friday deals around the world on the 27 November although, as yet, has failed to inform consumers keen to pick up a new iPod or Mac of what those deals actually are.?

Shoppers getting ready for the biggest day in the American shopping calendar are instead told to head online or in store on the 27th.?

Last week rumours started circulating that Apple would slash prices by up to 25%, however experts believe that is highly unlikely.?

The latest rumour, this is Apple don't forget, suggests a more mediocre $50 to $100 off a MacBook in the US with around $30 to $50 off an iPod or iPod touch.

We will keep you posted. ?

In the meantime why not read our?How to: Shop Black Friday?guide that gives you some great tips and tricks to get the best bargains around.?

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Tags: Hardware Phones Audio Software Apple Black Friday

Apple Black Friday deals confirmed... originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:25:25 +0000

As netbooks continue to grow in popularity, so do the lines that define them. The HP Mini 311 spec sheet reads more like a traditional notebook rather than something only costs ?349 in the UK and $399 in the US. But is it trying to punch above its weight??

HP has over the last 12-18 months started making a radical change to its design ethos and it's finally starting to show. Gloss plastic in its design, it's no HP Envy, however that isn't to say it's Ugly Betty either.?Aesthetics are swish and stylish with a patterned top, silver interior and gloss black framed 1366 x 768 resolution, 11.6-inch, screen that is crisp and the highlight of the netbook. It really is sharp.

That screen pretty much determines the 11.4 x 8.0 x 1.2in dimensions and the 1.45kg (3.2lbs) weight. Ports and sockets are displayed down both sides rather than the back or front. The left gives you a single USB and HDMI output, while the right gives you a SD/MSPro/MMC/xD Card reader, a further two USB sockets, headphones and line-in socket, VGA out and Ethernet. Those looking for an optical drive won't find one.?

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With a 92% keyboard typing is tight, but by no means impossible and the trackpad has been improved over previous netbooks from HP thanks to the extra space created by the bigger screen. What that means in practice is that the two click buttons are now found underneath the trackpad rather than to the side.

In use and the trackpad is considerably easier to use as the buttons sit ready to be clicked by your thumb. Larger than previous outings, it has a software-based vertical scroll element to it (on the right-hand side) making it easy to scroll up and down web pages for example. What doesn't help though is that it's made from the same material as the rest of the chassis and this can mean that you slide off it or go to click without realising that your thumb or finger has moved elsewhere.

Centre top there is a webcam for video calling and aside from the power on key the only other button is a Wi-Fi toggle switch. Clicking it off changes it from blue to orange. It will let you save power quickly without having to find a software tab (not hard) or help you prove to the air hostess that you really have gone into airplane mode.

Peer inside and the HP Mini 311 can come with a 1.6GHz or 1.66GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, integrated Nvida ION graphics chip, 1GB RAM upgradeable to 3GB, a 160GB, 250GB, 320GB hard drive or 80GB SSD, Wi-Fi connectivity g or n, Bluetooth, and the option of a mobile broadband module.

The netbook now comes with Windows 7 Home Premium as standard over the previous XP when it first launched in at the beginning of October 2009.

The ?349 / $399 is the base model and that will get you the 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, wireless g connectivity and no Bluetooth or mobile broadband. Those looking to save some cash can opt for Windows XP over Windows 7.?Maxing out on everything gets you to almost $1000.

In performance and the Mini 311 does well on day-to-day tasks with the Atom processor working hard to make your experience as best as it can be. Microsoft gives it a Windows Experience Index rating of 2.3 let down by the processor.

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We tested a model with Verizon's built-in SIM card allowing you to surf on the go. The software lets you manage your connection and once you've run through the initial set-up, a very quick process to getting online. The benefit as with all netbooks that have built-in connectivity is that you don't have to fuss with a 3G dongle that sticks out of the side.

Of course where this netbook appeals is that it packs the Nvidia ION graphics chip, which promises to deliver better video and graphics performance, with the graphics processor taking over on the tasks normally assigned to the main processor (in this case the Intel Atom chip) which isn't really up to the job.

The biggest and easiest test to see what can be achieved is playing back HD content. While a 11.6-inch screen is going to give you minimal benefit from going "HD", the built-in HDMI out socket means you can pump it out to an HD Ready TV screen in your home, office or shed.

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To be able to enjoy HD content via YouTube (i.e., Flash) you'll have to download the newly released Flash Player 10 so you can benefit from the GPU (the ION) doing some of the work rather than just leaving it all to the main processor. Failing to do so will get you nowhere.

You don't need Flash Player 10 to watch HD content you've got stored on the computer. We played 720p footage with no problem, something that isn't really possible on a regular netbook, however pushing the machine to the limit and playing 1080p does give it trouble.

In our tests 1080p DivX HD files weren't watchable by any stretch of the imagination, while a 1080p trailer viewed in iTunes lost lip sync very quickly. Footage stuttered violently. YouTube wasn't much better, and neither was VLC for 1080p footage.?Back to what it can do - this is a sub ?350/$400 netbook after all - and we could happily watch 720p footage without qualms.

But what about games? We fired up the recently released Left 4 Dead 2 to see how it would cope. We were able to enjoy a full online experience running graphics at 16:9 1280 x 768 without any drop in performance. While we weren't able to run it with all the settings on, the graphics performance was more than good enough for gaming on the move. 10 years ago this rig would have cost you over ?1000 for graphics performance like this: that's how far we've come.

While we wouldn't recommend this replacing a dedicated desktop rig or your more powerful laptop, if you are an occasional gamer, or one that isn't playing high-end first person shooters this will be more than enough juice to quench your thirst.

Verdict:

The HP Mini 311 looked impressive in our First Look and after using it for a couple of weeks now those first impressions were spot on. As a netbook that lets you surf the web, write the odd email it performs as you would expect and good enough to be one of the top performing netbooks out there. The fact that HP has gone with a standard version of Windows 7 (Home Premium) rather than Starter is also welcomed.

But where the HP eases out over the rest of the pack is the inclusion of the ION chip from Nvidia allowing you to push the limits of what has until now not been possible on a netbook.

There are limitations to the HD element and the 3D gaming. This isn't the answer to everything, however if you want to watch or play movies and games on occasion, as long as you aren't too demanding (1080p or full graphics settings), then the HP mini should serve you nicely.

Tags: Hardware Netbooks HP HP Mini 311 Nvidia Intel Verizon Mobile broadband

HP Mini 311 notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:02:37 +0000

Welcome to day 4 of the Pocket-lint Christmas gift guide bonanza. Today is a special one for perhaps the faniest of all fanboys out there - the Apple lovers. Because most things Mac don't come cheap, we've done our best to present a few options to fit all budgets but if none of this woks for you, then you can always seek inspiration on our 101 excellent online Christmas stores guide.

Mac earrings/cuff links

There's no greater way of representing the Jobs crew than by wearing your heart on your sleeve, or in this case, your apple. A very reasonable $17 will buy a set of old school rainbow logo earrings for the fan girl and for $32 you can pick up some bolder danglers. Guys get a slightly different look to the shirt with $20 Mac Daddy cuff links from the early 80s or the $40 Apple logos from the return of the Ive era.

Mac Badges

There are quite a few of these out there and it all rather depends on your sense of humour but the Mac badge is a good way to show your pride on all other less formal occasions. Two of the best available are the plain, simple and straight from the heart "I love Macs" and the rather witty, film-referencing "I can't force quit you" for the gay cowboy/Apple humour cross over. Excellent stocking fillers at just $1 a go.

Mac Mugs

No desktop is complete without some caffeine inspiration from the cup of Jobs. Although these Apple grails claim to be original, we wouldn't put too much stock in whether they actually are from the 80s or not. But, at just over ?7 including delivery and a nice bold rainbow logo on the front, they'll bring a nice warm glow to any fanboy's heart even if the cup of Joe doesn't.

Mac SE/30 print

One's home office simply isn't a home office without artwork adorning the walls and nothing says "I was there back in the day" quite like an 8 x10-inch print of a Macintosh SE/30 compact computer. Van Gogh it ain't, but at $20 it's a very pleasant stylised look at a time before the Apple revolution. Surely inspiration for anyone even in the toughest times of one's own business.

iCon Steve Jobs

Dubbed the greatest second act in the history of business, the story behind the revival of Apple is a modern day classic with all the drama, and fortunately slightly fewer pages, as War and Peace. Written in 2005, this biography is going to fall short of one of the most significant Apple moves in the company's life but seeing as there's very little material on Steve anyway, it's about as good as you can get.

If your giftee is a little more recent to the way of the Apple, then another good read is the My New Mac book which you can pick up from the Apple store for ?24.

Magic Mouse

On the hardware side, one you can almost guarantee your loved one won't have is the newly launched Apple Magic Mouse. The ?55 pointer ditches buttons and scroll wheels altogether in favour of ever-popular multitouch technology. You can scroll with it and click the surface and it's also connected by Bluetooth for that bit of added luxury. No cables, no adaptors and it can be configured to work any way you like.

Wireless keyboard/spare battery

This obviously depends on the kind of Mac fan you're buying for. The true hardcore will probably have both a desktop and a notebook in which case one or the other of these will be fine. A couple of things to remember is that not all MacBooks have removable batteries in the first place, so you'd better check which model your giftee has. You can pick up the 13-inch battery for just under ?100.

If you're going for the desktop option, then the Apple wireless keyboard is around half the cost at ?55, it's lovely and slim and works by Bluetooth. It also requires a couple of AA batteries to work, so there's another idea for a stocking filler for you.

Snow Leopard

Most hardcore fans will probably already have OS X Snow Leopard but it's worth checking for two reasons. Firstly, the latest Apple operating system actually is a lot more impressive than the marketing gave it credit for and, secondly, it only costs ?25. In Apple-land, that's what they call a bargain.

Elgato Eye TV tuner

With the quality of notebook and Apple display screens growing and growing, a TV watching experience may be even better on the Mac than your loved one's actual television. In many cases it also avoids having to get out of bed. The Elgato Eye range covers a few different functionalities and costs from ?49 up to the deluxe ?120 hybrid model. Either way, you're going to need an analogue aerial connection but it means you can watch any free digital channels from the convenience of your desk/lap.

Desktop Speakers

There are two ways you can really go here. For pure Mac styles, it has to be the Harman Kardon Soundstick II glass bell jar type 2.1 set up. They'll cost you ?128 but you'll be rewarded with some very wide eyes and a hearty thank you. On the other hand, the Bose Companion 2 Series II looks boxy and dull but the sound is absolute class and amazing for a two-speaker system. They're even a little cheaper at ?100.

Or...

...of course, if you feel really flush and actually want to buy someone a Mac - lucky old them - then take a look our Top Products section which will help guide you through to a suitable model and offer you only the best of the ones Pocket-lint's reviewed. And, as always, if you have any red hot tips for gift ideas of your own, then do let us know in the comments below. Good luck.

Related links:

• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...laptop addicts
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...photographers
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...PC gamers

Tags: Hardware Christmas Features Mac mini Apple iMac Apple MacBooks Mac software Steve Jobs

10 perfect Christmas presents for...Apple Mac fans originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:46:36 +0000

The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards are back, letting you know what the best products of 2009 really are.

Now in its sixth year, the Pocket-lint Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year from around the world.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Nominations for the award categories are being taken now and the final list of nominations (five per category)?will be announced on Monday 16 November with the winners being announced at the awards party on 7 December 2009.?

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TICKET DETAILS

You are welcome to buy as many tickets as you like, and can bring journalists and others from your company.

We will be providing drink and nibbles on the night.

Tickets will be on a first come first served basis.

So just to recap:

What:?The 6th Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards?
Where:?The Light Bar, E1?
When:?7pm Monday 7th December?
Dress:?Smart casual (not black tie)?
Price:??25 a ticket
Drinks/nibbles:?Included?

Any queries etc give me a shout on email or phone.

Stuart

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards date confirmed and tickets on sale originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:13:14 +0000

We know that publishing giant Conde Nast is taking the idea of an Apple iTablet so seriously it's already prepping content for the as-yet-unofficial platform, and here Conde Nast title Wired shows off a preview of what the mag might look like on the rumoured iPad.

The concept video shows Wired's iTablet app complete with animated, interactive graphics as well as the scrolling text, flippable pages and landscape or portrait options you'd expect from an ebook reader.

Is Conde Nast showing its desperation over the dying print industry and grasping at straws by taking the time and trouble to mock-up content for an arguably imaginary device, or is it a forward thinking trail blazer with an eye to the future?

Hit play on the video above now (watch out for the eye-wateringly bad electronic music if you're in a public place) then have your say in the comments box below...

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Tags: Hardware Apple iTablet Conde Nast Wired Concepts Video iPad

VIDEO: Wired for the Apple iTablet revealed originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:22:48 +0000

Sony's latest generation of digital voice recorders is angled firmly at the consumer and student market with colourful finishes and MP3-playing abilities.

The slimline ICD-UX200, ICD-UX300 and ICD-UX300F are lightweight 3-in-1 devices that offer voice recording, file storage and music playback via the built-in speakers or the supplied in-ear headphones.

Voice recordings are captured in stereo as MP3 files with a background noise filter helping to keep them clear while 21-step digital playback speed control claims to help when listening back.

Compatible with PCs and Macs, and boasting drag-and-drop file support, the new devices get a slide-out USB connector, folder options and a LCD screen with easy-to-read 5-line display.

Battery life comes in at up to 15 hours in LP mode, while playback extends to 83 hours, presumably less if via the speakers.

The 2GB ICD-UX200 will be available in black, silver, pink and red finishes. The 4GB ICD-UX300 will see black or red finishes while the 4GB ICD-UX300F, complete with an FM tuner, will just be available in black.

The ICD-UX200, UX300 and UX300F digital voice recorders will be available from December 2009 - pricing to be confirmed.

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Tags: Gadgets Sony Hardware Storage Audio MP3 players Sony ICD-UX300 Voice recorders

Sony launches colourful 3-in-1 digital voice recorders originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:28:53 +0000

With a very compact design, small screen, cheap price and no optical drive, it’s easy to think of the Samsung X120 as a netbook. Look at the specs though, and it’s a no-brainer - the Samsung beats most netbooks hands down - but does it deliver in other areas?

The 11.6-inch screen is a stunner, for a start, offering incredibly crisp images and excellent colour reproduction. With a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, there’s enough space to work with a couple of windows open simultaneously - unlike on the vast majority of netbooks - and it’s also great for movie playback. This is also an area in which it copes fine - the integrated Intel GMA 4500M chipset running films without dropped frames.

The X120’s distinctive design features a lip that runs around the edge of the chassis - with the interface sitting slightly lower. It looks great, and with the lip fitting snugly against the screen lid, there’s no chance of anything falling between the display and keyboard when you’re on the move.

The unusual design stretches to the keyboard location, which sits smack in the centre of the chassis with a lot of vacant space above it. As a result, the palm rest is very small, leading to your hands sitting on the desk or hovering as you type. There are no touchpad buttons below the touchpad - they’re located on each side instead, which takes some getting accustomed to.

The keyboard is excellent, with a design reminiscent of Sony’s previous-generation VAIO laptops. The centres are raised, with a slight dip around the edges that makes it a bit easier to type. The keys are well attached and very comfortable to type on, providing a good travel, although it’s not the quietest board during use.

Instead of an Intel Atom processor, you’ll find a CULV Intel Pentium chip running at 1.3GHz. A dual-core chip, and backed by 3072MB of memory, it offers far better performance than you’ll find in similarly priced netbooks, with the ability to multi-task without too much lag. A battery life of around 3 and a half hours is reasonable, although those looking for all-day use will be disappointed.

All three USB ports are located on the right-hand side of the chassis, although with a large amount of space between each one you’ll be able to connect bulky peripherals without fear of blocking the other ports. On the left side, Samsung has fitted both VGA and HDMI ports. There’s a memory card reader on the front, where the power button is also hidden.

Verdict:

We like the Samsung X120. With netbooks all offering the same specifications, and prices rising rather than falling, this product is a refreshing change. There’s enough performance to use for regular home and office tasks, and although it’s still not the fastest machine it features a great specification for the price.

It also provides excellent quality, the screen is top-drawer, and it offers a high-end ultra-portable experience that’s out of sorts with the budget price tag. If you’re on the lookout for a compact machine, then the Samsung X120 is highly recommended.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Samsung Samsung X120

Samsung X120 notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:06:23 +0000

Smoking is not only bad for you, but it's bad for your Apple Macbook according to Apple.

Consumerist, a blog that tries to look out for consumers in the US, is reporting that Apple has refused to repair two unrelated broken Apple laptops because their owners smoke.

"Two readers in different parts of the country claim that their Applecare warranties were voided due to secondhand smoke. Both lost", reports the site.

According to letters of reply from the owners of the laptops, Apple claims the smoke from the smokers "voided the warranty" before saying that it wouldn't work on the machine due to "health risks of second hand smoke".

However, according to experts, cigarette smoke could easily kill a laptop by covering the insides with a sticky tar like goo.

"Electronics are hot, and naturally create an environment for dust to collect around its circuitry. What makes cigarette smoke the worse kind of "dust" is that it isn't dry. The smoke carries moisture with it", Ryan's Computer Consulting Services says."So in time, the smoke and all of its by-products attach themselves to the computers fans, heatsinks, capacitors, and anything else that has heat".

The company recommends "using compressed air, cotton swabs, and rubbing alcohol 70% or 90% (90% is better)", if you are going to attempt to clean the computer out yourself.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Apple

Smoking kills your Mac too originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:49:57 +0000

Asus has announced the launch of the world's first Nvidia 3D Vision notebook, the G51J, that offers a 3D experience on the small screen with the help of special glasses.

A niche offering to say the least, it's notable for offering a 120Hz 3D Vision-capable display for on-the-go 3D, although how much the bragging rights to owning that tech will cost when it goes on sale in December is still TBC.

The Nvidia 3D Vision set-up comprises of wireless glasses, a wide-range IR emitter, and what's said to be "advanced software that transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D experiences".

Owners of the laptop can get boggle-eyed with more than 400 PC games that work out of the box with Nvidia system including such titles as Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Star Trek D-A-C.

Other features of the G51J, aside from its obvious USP, include an Intel Core i7 processor, 64-bit Windows 7 and Altec Lansing speakers.

Nvidia says it's also working with the likes of LG ad Samsung on 3D displays with both companies promising products coming soon, while in the wider 3D laptop market, Acer has gone down a different route with its Aspire 5738DG 3D notebook.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Asus Nvidia 3D Nvidia 3D Vision Gaming

Asus G51J Nvidia 3D Vision notebook announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:18 +0000

Qualcomm has been showing off a bevy of devices called Smartbooks that the company thinks could be poised to swallow up the netbook market by outmanoeuvring them in their core strengths - the small-and-light and always-on-connectivity arenas.

The model pictured above and below is an Android-equipped device from Taiwanese manufacturers Quanta. It's packing a 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm which means that it has smartphone-esque features and connectivity, but the power of a low-end notebook.

Qualcomm is betting on 3G connectivity within netbooks becoming as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi. The resulting smartbooks will be more portable, more connected and cheaper than the traditional netbook, and elbow them out of the market.

The company also demonstrated a wireless charging pad for gadgets, and a C-motech Mangrove tablet computer running Windows Mobile 6.5 on a Snapdragon processor. Pics of those can be found on the images tab above.

Tags: Hardware Smartbooks Qualcomm Quanta Lenovo Snapdragon Android

Qualcomm planning smartbook assault originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:13:38 +0000

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Welcome to day 3 of the Pocket-lint Christmas gift guide bonanza. So we've got photographers covered and laptop addicts, but today is the turn of the gift guide for the PC gamer in your life. If you can coax these people down and away from COD or their meaty World of Warcraft habit, then you might want to give them one of our suggestions for the perfect gifts for PC gamers. Do go easy on them though. They probably won't actually realise it's Christmas Day.

Novint Falcon & Pistol Grip

How do you make Left 4 Dead even better than it already is? The answer: play it with the Novint Falcon pistol grip mouse controller complete with authentic recoil action. There's a school of purists that don't believe these items can compete with a trusty mouse but then there's a whole load of added fun they're missing out on. The tricky part is that these things are really quite difficult to get hold of. You can get the standard Novint Falcon shipped over from the States for $190 but the $20 pistol grips are very often out of stock. Keep your eyes on eBay and one might just come up.

Logitech G9X/Razor Naga mouse

Failing the Falcon, or if indeed your gamer is not a first person shooter fan, then a high quality mouse can also be worth its weight in gold. The Logitech G9X is a solid classic but, if you really want to impress, buy the 80 euro Razor Naga which has been specially designed for MMORPGs. It's got a whopping 17 buttons - left and right click, scroll wheel, the regular forward and back buttons on the sides, and also a pad consisting of another twelve buttons on the left hand side.

Naga, in case you're wondering, is Sanskrit for "snake", and is also the name of a prominent group of baddies in World of Warcraft. Best of all, it comes with an add-on for WoW that shows a grid and allows you to dynamically pick which spells correspond to the side buttons.

Logitech G110 Keyboard

If they've already got the perfect mouse covered, then the next port of call is the keyboard. Again, the Logitech is a good way to go with the Logitech G110 gaming keyboard. It has media controls, illuminated keys and 12 macro buttons but it adds a number of features of its own, too.

There's an integrated USB audio device in the unit, which will allow you to use a headset that has 3.5mm jacks as a USB audio device, providing clearer sound. Many gamers find that the plugs in their cases will "buzz" due to electrical interference, but this should solve that issue. There's also an extra USB port on the rear of the keyboard, and a "gaming mode" toggle switch that will disable the windows and menu keys so that you don't accidentally press them while mid-match. Very useful. You can pick one up for ?70 and make any gamer's day.

Logitech G13 Advanced Gamepad

Without trying to sound too Logitech sponsored all of a sudden, the US peripherals expert does offer a combi solution in the shape of the Logitech G13 gamepad. It's got three game modes, 25 programmable keys and a programmable analogue stick with 87 ways for you to control your game. You can even set up custom button-profiles and create macros without having to pause the game. There's also a 160 x 43 pixel GamePanel LCD for live game stats and system info, and backlit keys, with hundreds of colours to choose from. Finally, they've also crammed in some onboard memory, which enables you to program up to five ready-to-play profiles, and pre-configured settings for all the PC gaming faves. Days of over-complicated fun for just ?51.

Acer V193WBb Monitor

Monitors are one of the major keys to the whole experience and as much as we might recommend the likes of the stunning LG W2353, it is rather on the expensive side at ?170. Instead, at around the ?90 mark you can still get something very decent indeed like the Acer V193WBb 19-inch TFT-LCD display. It's got a 5ms response time to cut down on ghosting, a 1440 x 900 resolution and a nice vibrant contrast of 10,000:1. If that's going to break the budget still, you can get smaller version for more like ?60, just remember to check resolution, contrast and response times and the rest should follow.

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Creative Inspire T6160 speakers

Soundwise, there's two options for excellence and this is one of them. The Creative Inspire T6160 speaker system is particularly aimed at gamers and movie fans, and offers vivid 5.1 cinematic surround sound. Creative has a very good name of late in the PC speaker department and, best of all, for such an impressive audio array, you only have to fork out ?55. Plenty of bang for your buck.

Sennheiser PC151 headset

Of course, if you happen to live with said PC gamer, you can actually spend around the same amount of money for your own personal peace and quiet. Sennheiser provides two, high quality level, on-ear, closed-cup headphones designed for gamers. Both sets are wired, for better and more reliable sound quality, and come with built-in booms for easy team talk. The PC151 you can pick up for as little as ?26 while the PC161, although definitely better, probably don't quite represent the same level of value at ?67. It all depends how much you love your gamer.

4GB DDR3 RAM

More memory. You can never have enough of the stuff. The good thing here is that you're already buying something that you know the other person has got and they'll still welcome it with open arms. The tricky part is getting the right stuff. If you buy any old RAM module for them, it simply isn't going to work. So, sneak into your friend/loved one's place in the dead of night and note down the make and model of their PC. Then head over to sites like this one and it'll tell you exactly what you need to go and get. DDR3 is the preferable choice at the moment.

Corsair H50-1 CPU Watercooler

Overheating is a serious issue for gamers, especially if they've started over stuffing their machines full of memory that they just got for Christmas. One excellent solution that's recently got a lot cheaper to get hold of is watercooler systems to keep your CPU temperature down. The added bonus is that they're a darn site quieter than the less efficient air cool fan systems too. Probably the best budget option is the Corsair H50-1 which delivers great performance at just under ?70.

Games!

Obvious one really but there have been so many good releases recently that there's a very good chance that your gamer isn't going to have them all. Ones we recommend include Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, Batman Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins or even a few months subscription for WoW. While we're on the subject. A year's worth of a good gaming magazine might be nice as well.

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Or...

...of course, if you feel really flush and actually want to buy someone a computer - lucky old them - then take a look our Top Products section which will help guide you through to a suitable model and offer you only the best of the ones Pocket-lint's reviewed. And, as always, if you have any red hot tips for gift ideas of your own, then do let us know in the comments below. Good luck.

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Related links:

• Features - 101 life-saving Christmas shopping websites
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...photographers
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...laptop addicts

Tags: Gaming Christmas Features PC gaming PC games PC accessories Hardware

10 perfect Christmas presents for...PC gamers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:09:41 +0000

Dell has sneakily rolled out a new notebook in the States. The Studio 17 Touch, as it's called, has appeared on the company's US website and features a whopping great big 17-inch multitouch touchscreen.

It ships with a suite of touch-enabled applications, including a Dell photo browser, but other than that the design is pretty much the same as the regular Studio 17. It has a 2.1 speaker setup, along with a HDMI-out, and starts with a 2.1GHz dual-core Intel processor, 3GB of RAM, 250GB of hard disk space and integrated graphics.

That can be pumped up to a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, 1TB of disk storage, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD graphics card and a Blu-ray optical drive. That'll push the price up considerably from the basic $900 starting point, but if you want the best then it'll cost you.

Dell reckons that orders placed now should ship in early December. Just in time for Christmas.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Touchscreen Dell Studio 17 Touch

Dell quietly introduces Studio 17 Touch originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:09:02 +0000

OCZ has unveiled an unnamed external SSD that it'll be showcasing at CES next year. It'll be the first to feature USB 3.0 connectivity, meaning that it should be able to theoretically reach 4.8Gb/s, though that'll sink to more like 1.6Gb/s in real-world situations.

The company appears to be crowdsourcing a name for the device before its launch. That launch will likely take place at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January, which Pocket-lint will be reporting live from.

There's no specs for the device yet, but the renders show a microUSB connector, as well as 8 memory modules. USB 3.0 should allow the SSD to fly at the speeds that it's capable of, unlike SSD drives that choke up on the elderly USB 2.0 connectivity.

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Tags: Hardware Storage SSD OCZ USB 3 Hard drives CES2010

OCZ introduces external USB 3.0 SSD originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:05:36 +0000

Thanks to its Intel Atom 330 dual core processor and Nvidia ION dedicated graphics with full HD media support, Asus is claiming unprecedented netbook performance for its new Eee PC 1201N multimedia netbook.

Said to be "breaking the boundaries of what is possible on the netbook platform", other features for the new Windows 7, 12.1-inch device include a LED-backlit, 1366 x768 WXGA display, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, webcam, HDMI port and a memory card reader.

Asus is claiming up to 5 hours battery life for the 120IN and it offers a 250GB hard drive plus 500GB online Eee storage, 2GB RAM, measures in at 296 x 208 x 27.3-33.3mm and weighs 1.46kg.

The Eee PC 1201N will be available in black or silver in the UK around mid January for ?399.

Tags: Hardware Netbooks Laptops Asus Eee Nvidia Intel Windows 7

Asus Eee PC 1201N multimedia netbook announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:21:39 +0000

Welcome to the second of our Pocket-lint guides on the perfect presents to buy this year. Yesterday we started the ball rolling with our perfect presents for photographers, but today we're talking laptops. Whether the person you're looking for has a notebook or a netbook that they simply won't put down, here are 10 excellent ideas of what you can buy to help feed their habit and bring a rosy-cheeked smile to their face on Christmas morning - at least until they bury it in their LCD and keyboard for the rest of the day.?

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picoStick TV tuner

Who said size doesn't matter? No one told PCTV Systems, part of Hauppauge Digital, who sell this tiny picoStick Freeview tuner. The minuscule USB DVB-T receiver simply has a USB connection on one end and a connection either for an aerial or a screw-in mini antenna at the other. Accompanying software will handle Teletext and EPG functions, as well as allowing pause or time shift functions and recording in MPEG1, 2, or DivX formats. Come and take a look to appreciate how small these things are and then fork out the ?37 while your jaw's still hung open.

Huawei E225 USB modem

The gift of mobile broadband is a wonderful thing and entirely necessary these days if you're? hooked on laptops. There are all sorts of contract deals out there but you can skip all the hassle by picking up an unlocked dongle, which you can put any SIM card into you like. One of the easier to find is the likes of the Huawei E225 which you can currently get for around ?30. Chances are that your giftee already has a decent data package on their mobile phone SIM which they can slot in at will or if not, you can often find good PAYG SIM only packages from the likes of 3 which offer free chunks of data for a nominal top up.

Laptop Sleeves

Come on, who doesn't want to out-sleeve the next man? These aren't new items but, like clothes, you can simply never have enough of the them. One amuser of late has been the Undercover Sleeve which you can pick up for ?20 but other beauties include the 9 to 5 from last year and the My Documents folder for ultimate geek chic. If you really want to get the perfect one, then head over to Etsy and knock yourself out and you might even find a crafter who'll make one to order.

Speck CorePack Fly

Take the sleeve one step on you've got yourself a bag with cushioning for the portable number cruncher as well as space for all your other bits and pieces. Right now, the CorePack Fly from Speck is the pick of the crop for the frequent flier as it features a separate and removable section for the laptop so it can be scanned by those airport machines with minimal fuss. If the $89.95 price tag and trans-Atlantic postage are a sticking point them you can always go with something simple like the ?29 Canvas PC messenger bag from Muji.

Portable HDDs

The more portable the laptop, the less memory it's likely to have. Combine that with the computing equivalent of Parkinson's law such that states that your file library will expand to fill the memory allotted and you can see pretty quickly that just anyone with a notebook is going to need an external HDD. An SSD would be preferable but, frankly, who's going to spend the bucks on those right now? Fortunately, 2.5" travel friendly ones are remarkably reasonable. Some couple of goodies to suggest would be the Western Digital Passport Essential 250GB for ?48 and the HP SimpleSave 320GB HDD for ?69.

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Spare/Better laptop battery

What do you mean "that doesn't sound very exciting"? It is. It's one of the best presents money can buy. The person you give it to will bless your name every time their machine powers down en route to an important meeting/half way through the latest downloaded episode of Mad Men on a long haul flight. They'll promise great gifts back onto you when they reach inside their CorePack Fly and pull out a vastly superior, pre-charged 6/8/12-cell battery.

You'll need to sneak a look a at the make an model of the one they already have and then get yourself onto one of the usual online electrical e-tailers for the appropriate unit. Do not buy one second hand and cheaper non-brand options are not always as efficient as those from the original manufacture.

Logitech Comfort Lapdesk

There's a lot of things like these available for those who wish to compute on the sofa while giving both the notebook and their rapidly heating thighs enough air to breathe. Plenty have USB powered fans and some can get quite expensive but the only one we'd really recommend at the moment is the cheap, simple and, best of all, most comfortable, Logitech Comfort Lapdesk. The clue was in the name. You can pick them up for ?20. Very reasonable.

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Samsung SE-S084 Super WriteMaster

So you're friend or loved one has a netbook or very small notebook and, guess what, it doesn't come with a CD or DVD drive does it. What's the solution? Well, there's plenty out there to choose from but the Samsung SE-S084 Super WriteMaster Slim External DVD drive is certainly a strong contender. It's not "oh my god" small, but around the same size and thickness of a double CD case. More to the point, though, it performs all the necessary buring and reading tasks at an affordable price of ?39 and it looks pretty good too.

Kensington Flylight 2.0

Yes it's silly but only marginally so. Every now and then as a laptop user, you'll find yourself in dark place - usually a plane - and you're trying to type without a backlit keyboard. Worse still, your nice bright LCD screen is rendering any dark vision you might develop utterly useless. Along comes the Kensington Flylight 2.0 for its annual rescue and your USB power supplies all the illumination required. Fortunately, it's an LED lamp and so uses very little juice - less than 90 seconds of power per hour of normal use. Very tidy for ?8.69.

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iRock Foldable Speakers

The rest of the world might curse you for it but you giftee will enjoy these rather basic portable, foldable speakers from iRock. Yes, you do. For ?16.99 they come with a 3.5mm plug and can charge their Li-ion batter via USB at the same time. They also happen to have a little magnetic base which is great if you want to pretend they're police sirens and try to stick them to the roof of your car.

Or...

...of course, if you feel really flush and actually want to buy someone a laptop - lucky old them - then take a look our Top Products section which will help guide you through to a suitable model and offer you only the best of the ones Pocket-lint's reviewed. And, as always, if you get have any red hot tips for gift ideas of your own, then do let us know in the comments below. Good luck.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Christmas Features Laptop accessories Storage

10 perfect Christmas presents for...laptop addicts originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:47:30 +0000

Want to know what's been hot in the world of technology and gadgets today? Of course you do. The news roundup always aims to bring you a nice mix of the stories from the last 24 hours and today is no exception as we have a myriad of news as well as a cheeky review creeping in there.

First up is the story that Sony Ericsson's Nexus Android skin - designed to give a? more graphical user interface - might be available on devices other than the Xperia X10. Keeping with the Xperia X10 theme, if you're keen to find out some initial thoughts on the new handset you'll want to check out our First-Look review.

There's also news that the Apple tablet has been delayed due to the introduction of an OLED screen, the Nokia N900 goes on sale in the US minus a carrier for $649 and the Sony Reader Daily Edition is now available for pre-order.? Here are the top stories from the last 24 hours:

• NEWS:Sony Ericsson's Nexus Android skin promised for more devices
• NEWS:Apple tablet delayed by late decision to add OLED display
• NEWS:Nokia N900 goes on sale in US
• NEWS:PS3 Remote Play for Android "makes sense"
• NEWS:MS Office 2010 beta now available
• REVIEW:Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone - First Look
• NEWS:TomTom for iPhone updated
• NEWS:Sony Reader Daily Edition available for pre-order
• NEWS:Want a big TV? Don't move to California
• NEWS:WEBSITE OF THE DAY - Fingertips

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Daily news roundup: Xperia X10, Apple tablet, Nokia N900 and more originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:29:22 +0000

In a paradoxical twist, the as-yet-unconfirmed Apple tablet has apparently suffered a major delay.

A recent report suggests the launch of the multimedia tablet - dubbed the iPad or iTablet - has been pushed back from early 2010 to the second half of the year.

The reason for the delay is said to be the late decision from Apple to add a 9.7-inch OLED display to the device.

There's also now said to be a 10.6-inch model in the iTablet range, although this is said to offer a more bog-standard LCD panel.

The OLED display is said to come from LG, DigiTimes quotes sources from component makers as stating, with Foxconn, Quanta and Pegatron pegged as manufacturers.

OLED is an expensive technology, with current prices for a 9.7-inch panel said to come in at around the $500 mark.

This has led to fresh estimates that suggest the OLED iTablet could cost as much as $2000 to the consumer, with the larger LCD model tipped to be priced between $800 and $1000.

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Read

Tags: Hardware Apple iPad iTablet Rumours OLED

Apple tablet delayed by late decision to add OLED display originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:09:47 +0000

HP have finally bitten the bullet and made what many have been waiting an age for: a MacBook clone. It's been in the back of consumer's minds for a while. Why can't PC manufacturers follow through with the design leads laid down by Apple? Why redesign the wheel? We've seen many models that pick up some Mac-alike elements, but the Envy perhaps goes further than most. In fact, the Envy adds detailing that brings some interest where the Mac is just a little too minimalist for some.

The Envy 15, as the name suggests features a 15.6-inch widescreen display. The resolution stands at?1366 x 768 so it qualifies for the HD tag, but not the Full HD variety, unlike the US versions, which do get a higher quality screen (as well as more RAM in their models). However, the LED backlit HD display looks glorious as it is, with nice bright colours. It doesn't have the same wow factor as the Mac's edge-to-edge panel and the black plastic bezel around the screen is perhaps the only part of the notebook design that we'd criticise. It has a gloss finish which is great for movies at home, but suffers reflections if you sit near a window or are out and about.

It is a compact notebook for its size, measuring 38 x 24.4 x 2.65cm and weighing in at only 2.35kg.

The substantial hinge on the screen lets it drop over the back of the body of the notebook, so it will fit into cramped spaces, although unlike the Envy 13 little brother, it is probably a little too large for Economy Class tray tables on planes or trains. There is a small amount of flex in the screen, but the solid construction means it is well protected from the rear. A light sensor to adjust the brightness of the monitor, the webcam and mic sit in the bezel of the screen too.

The Envy gets a great premium look thanks to liberal use of aluminium in its construction, with the keyboard keys neatly poking through their holes, the same, ahem, as a MacBook. The etching on the back of the screen and on the palm rests might not be for some, but we liked this little addition, giving something of a tactile feel whilst you sit and drum your fingers. The trackpad is larger than you'd normally find on a PC, with HP offering some multi-touch functions -? the pinch zooming works well enough, but the scrolling is a little hit and miss. This is one area where they can't quite match the MacBook Pro. At the bottom of the trackpad are two built-in button sections in lieu of real hard buttons. We like this move as they are still perfectly functional, but give a smoother, cleaner finish, and allow you to move the cursor on-screen across the entire area of the trackpad.

The keyboard is a definite strong point of the Envy. There is no sign of flex at any point, and the travel and response of the keys was very good - we were soon typing up to full speed. There is a full complement of keys however, including shortcut keys down the left and function keys across the top which offer various media controls. We're pleased to see that HP has not resorted to dubious touch controls for these media functions. Unfortunately there is no backlit keyboard option.

Ominously missing from the Envy is a optical drive, although an external USB 8x DVD rewriter is supplied in the box. Opinion is divided on whether this is an acceptable omission on a notebook of this size, but by bundling a drive in the box, you can at least install software or play movies at your desk, but it's an extra lump to carry around on your travels. The drive worked perfectly well for use, but can be a little noisy when spinning. With a 320GB hard drive inside, you've a fair amount of space to store your content, perhaps even a few movies.

Around the body of the Envy you'll find all the connections are located on the right-hand side. You get Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 2x USB 2.0, a shared eSATA/USB port and a 3.5mm jack which is both an audio input and output. The leading edge features an SD card slot, with a little hinging door, giving a neat finish. When a card is inserted it slots in flush too, so you can stick in a card and leave it in there without worrying about it getting caught on things. The Envy 15 comes with a 2GB SD card containing the user guide.

Of course these are all merely external trimmings. Sitting at the heart of the Envy 15 is the Intel Core i7-720QM, running at 1.6GHz and backed by 4GB RAM (expandable up to 16GB), making this a veritable powerhouse indeed. Our review model came running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) which ran very smoothly. Dedicated graphics are handled by the ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4830, giving you 1GB of dedicated graphics memory.

The results are impressive. Switching between documents and everyday computing tasks are handled in a flash. Movie playback is fantastic too, with Full HD content playing smoothly both on the screen or output via HDMI onto a larger display. You also have the power on hand to play most modern games and we found that Crysis ran smoothly on medium settings. Sound quality from the onboard speakers is a little on the tinny side, but we've heard much worse. There is plenty of volume on offer to provide the sound FX for your gaming or movie watching needs, or merely to keep you in touch with colleagues via Skype or similar.

One thing that is noticeable is the cooling fan located on the left-hand side of the Envy. When going gets tough, it will spin up to life to cool things down. The Envy doesn't get too hot to be used on the lap, but you'll feel a noticable warmth throughout the notebook when in use. Ventilation holes are liberally spread around the edges, but this does seem to be an issue.?

Unfortunately the battery life isn't too impressive. If you plan on stepping away from the mains for any longer than about 1 hour 20 minutes, which we found to be the average battery performance for general office tasks, you might want to look at getting an extra battery, or the accessory "slice" battery, which claims to extend the life up to 7 hours. The limited battery life does push the Envy 15 towards the desktop replacement end of the notebook market, rather than being a truely portable powerhouse.

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Verdict:

The HP Envy 15 has some real strengths: the design is sensational, the keyboard is excellent and the power on offer makes this a really versatile machine. This has to be balanced against the lack of internal drive and poor battery life, which means that this is a PC that will complement your plush office or home better than it will accompany you on your travels. There is no doubting the style on offer however and it will look good wherever you put it and whatever competitor you sit it next to.

It is a bit of a gripe that the UK version of the Envy doesn't get the same specs as the US market, something to bear in mind when it comes to purchase.

We love what HP have done from a design perspective and the time and effort they have put into creating a great looking notebook will appeal to some users, who will be happy to pay the premium price this notebook commands. For some though, the asking price might just be too high.

Related links:

• Link - HP Envy homepage

Tags: Hardware Laptops HP HP Envy 15

HP Envy 15 1060ea notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:56:22 +0000

Conde Nast has revealed it is prepping a digital version of its tech mag Wired for Apple's rumoured tablet device, even though it says Apple is "not talking to anyone openly" about the rumoured hardware.

It seems the publisher is so certain of Apple's plans for a large touchscreen device it's getting the digi-tablet version of Wired ready for a mid-2010 launch and plans to make similar versions of its 18 titles available too.

Conde Nast says "it's confident that we'll soon see multiple versions of machines featuring large colour touchscreens and wireless connections", reports D: All Things Digital.

On the hardware front the publisher is working with HP and with Adobe on software, with the latter creating a new digital magazine publishing tool for the new format, that will be a Conde Nast exclusive at launch, although will be offered to other companies next year.

Recently the executive editor of the New York Times referred to the Apple tablet in a speech as the "impending Apple slate", adding fuel to the rumour fire.

Read

Tags: Hardware Apple iPad iTablet Conde Nast Rumours Wired

Conde Nast prepping magazine format for the Apple tablet originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:36:48 +0000

A new Apple job advert is leading to all kinds of speculation around the Web as to what the consumer electronics giant is up to.

The Cupertino-based company is currently recruiting for a "Game/Media Software Engineer", a full-time position based at its Californian headquarters.

Apple wants the new staff member to work on "interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod touch".

With being a "passionate gamer" a must, Apple is requesting that the candidate have experience of working on at least one "AAA title".

Is Apple about to branch wholesale into games development for its iPhone platform?

This seems unlikely considering the wealth of top quality games available from developers happy to do the hard work for a lucrative slot in the App Store.

Wilder speculation suggests the company needs an in-house bod to develop games for the much-rumoured iPad for its on-stage demo debut, as tasking a third party with such a job would leave the famously secretive company's future plans open to a leak.

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Read

Related links:

• Link - Apple

Tags: Gaming Apple iPhones Phones Hardware iPad iTablet Rumours Software

Apple advertises for mystery games engineer originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:40 +0000

The Vodafone Pocket-lint Awards 2009 public vote is now live, letting you - our valued readers - have your say in which gadgets you think should be crowned top for 2009.

As you will see over on the voting page, each of the nine categories has five products that have been nominated as the best of the year.

We need your help to narrow the five down to one overall winner for each category, the result of which will be announced at our Awards ceremony on 7 December.

The public vote will count towards 10% of the overall scores, with the other 90% weighting from the official Pocket-lint judges (a panel of industry professionals from around the globe) so your vote will make a real difference to the final winners.

Head over to the voting page now where there's simple instructions on how to cast your vote and stay tuned for the results on 7 December.

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Tags: Audio Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Vodafone Pocket-lint Awards 2009 public vote is now live originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:30:29 +0000

MSI has announced the UK launch of the "cutely compact, feature rich and ultra stylish" MSI Wind 12 U200 mini notebook.

Offering Windows 7 and a 12.1-inch, 16.9 ratio, LED backlit frameless screen, the 1.5kg U200 boasts 6.5-hours of battery life.

Measuring in at 297mm by 190mm the mini notebook offers MSI's "Ergonomics De-Stress" keyboard that claims to increase comfort by its 51% larger (than what we're not sure) surface area.

Specs include a 1.4GHz Intel CULV processor, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, webcam, card reader, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, HDMI port and built-in speakers.

Priced at ?399 the U200 is available in piano black and pearl white in shops this month.

Tags: Hardware Netbooks Laptops MSI Windows 7

MSI Wind 12 U200 mini notebook launches originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:58:39 +0000

Due to be unveiled at January's CES show, Innovative Converged Devices, or ICD, has announced the launch of a range of "kitchen-friendly" Android tablets.

The "Vega" line is described as "low priced, full featured high definition entertainment and information devices that feature 3G connectivity, a Tegra processor, full streaming media, and a touch interface".

The 7-inch, 11-inch and 15-inch devices are due to be available in the first half of 2010 and boast Android 2.0, a 1.3MP webcam, microSD slot, Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, a light sensor and magnetic docking.

It's likely that we'll see the Vega as badged goods from other manufacturers or even operators rather than sold direct - we will keep you posted.

Read

Tags: Hardware Tablet PCs ICD Android 2.0 Kitchen gadgets

"Kitchen-friendly" Android tablets due in 2010 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:08:59 +0000

The countdown to?CES 2010, the biggest electronics trade show on the planet, has begun, but what can we expect from the show, and what should we start to get excited about? Here are six areas that are going to dominate the news come January.

Don't forget, Pocket-lint will be bringing you all the news, reviews, comment, photos and video as it happens in the run up to CES and live from Las Vegas for the duration of the show.

You can bookmark our CES coverage at pocket-lint.com/CES2010

Digital Living

Technology has gone mainstream supposedly, so that means the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center will be filled with technology launches that embrace all of us rather than just a select few. In real terms that means everything from gadgets for kids, gadgets for mums and dads that look after kids, and gadgets for the silver surfer. Expect new toys for health, parenting and higher education.

Apple

Don't get too excited,?Apple isn't attending CES, regardless of how many rumours you hear, but that doesn't mean companies that work in the Apple eco-system aren't going to be in Vegas launching new gadgets. With a whole area dedicated to the iPod,?iPhone?and Macs, expect a fair share of iPod speakers, cables to connect to something else in your life and the usual array of cases to protect it all.

eBook readers

If you're planning on getting an ebook reader for Christmas you might want to think again. The ebook market has exploded in the US with Amazon,?Barnes & Noble?and?Sony?all fighting over each other to offer you the digital reader you supposedly need. Plastic Logic has already confirmed that it will be launching a new ebook at CES and there is bound to be other manufacturers like?Spring Design?and iRex offering new models.

3D

Riding on the wave of euphoria that Avatar will no doubt give the industry, consumer electronics manufacturers like?Sony, Toshiba, LG?and?Samsung?will be likely to be pushing?3D TV?hard at CES 2010. IFA 2009 already showed us the concepts, CES will show us the reality. Expect new televisions, announcements from the Blu-ray Disc Association, television makers, graphics card companies like Nvidia and movie companies all trying to get in on the action.

Netbooks

While most people have surely moved on from the popularity of netbooks, CES organisers CEA believe netbooks are going to still be big news at CES 2010. What that means is a barrage of computers that don't do much but let you surf the Web and write the odd document. Of course manufacturers will be trying to tell us otherwise with improved graphics courtesy of Nvidia and ATI. You should also probably expect a barrage of tablet devices with touchscreens allowing you to surf the Web around the home.

Green

With the economy making a comeback, manufacturers can once again turn their eyes to saving the planet. Although the idea of being green for green's sake is still very niche, generally manufacturers will be trying to tell you to ignore the thousands they are spending on lighting their booths and the sheer carbon emissions the show creates, by concentrating instead on how they've made advancements in the glass they use or the boxes your favourite gadgets go into. At least you can sleep at night knowing that we haven't had to chop down any trees to let you read this.

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness CES2010 ebooks Televisions Netbooks Sony LG Samsung Toshiba Apple iPod iPhone 3DTV Laptops Eco Amazon Barnes and Noble Spring Design

CES 2010: What new gadgets will be announced? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Dell's super model thin Adamo XPS has gone on pre-order in the States, with a super slim chance of delivery in time for Christmas.

Santa might struggle to get the machines distributed on time with the "preliminary" ship date of 23 December sounding like it's only one for under the tree if you're the type that likes to fly by the seat of your pants.

The $1799 price tag converts directly to around a grand, and for that you'll get 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD and Windows 7 Home Premium.

The Adamo XPS boasts a 13.4-inch HD display, 2MP webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, weighs in at 1.44kg and measures just 9.99mm at its skinniest point.

Read

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Dell Adamo XPS

Dell Adamo XPS up for pre-order in the States originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:39:05 +0000

Sony has announced the launch of a new Microvault flash drive series that will be available in capacities ranging from 4GB "all the way" to 32GB.

The new Microvaults are said to be "extremely robust" with a retractable connector - so no more lost caps. Boasting full compatibility with Windows 7, the drives offer drag and drop operation.

The Microvault range is due to be available from major retailers in January 2010, no pricing revealed.

Tags: Hardware Storage Flash drives Sony

Sony announces new Microvault flash drives originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:12:51 +0000

Somehow we don't think this clip with be showing up in any internet video greatest hits compilations, unlike similar, more successful dance-themed vids of late.

Maybe it gets better after the 54-second mark (there's 4 mins 45 in total to cringe through) but that's all we managed before our twitchy mouse finger made the awfulness stop.

Let us know how far through you get in the comments box below...

Read

Tags: Hardware Microsoft Video

VIDEO: Microsoft Store employees do a little dance originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:48:36 +0000

The latest episode of Pocket-lint's Tech Week In View has hit the small screen as a moustachioed Stuart Miles brings his unique take on the big tech stories of the last week or so.

Miles considers Rupert Murdoch's threat to build a pay-wall for News Corp's online content to stop everyone "stealing" it and there's the old faithful of the debate over violent video games as Modern Warfare 2 heads to the top of the charts.

Future tech also goes briefly under the microscope as Miles muses the technology he's seen of late and its implications for the near future.

Finally, has the Twitter bubble burst? An 8% dip in Twitter use in the States during October has seen nay-sayers suggesting that the micro-blogging site has peaked. Hit play on the video above to see Stuart's take on all this.

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Video Comment

VIDEO: Tech Week in View - Murdoch, violent games and the Twitter bubble bursting originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:18:15 +0000

This is Pocket-lint talking to you on behalf of the better part of yourself. Do your Christmas shopping now. Do it now and do it online. You know you/we are right. If you do it now, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home with not a single bit of car park stress, shopping centre hell and no festive argy-bargy whatsoever.

To help out, please find 101 of the best Christmas shopping sites on the Internet and, with 28 days still to get your deliveries in, you'll be laughing all the way to the Queen's Speech. Good luck, and remember that if the shop won't ship worldwide, there are plenty of mail forwarding services that will help you out.

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Home & Design

Art Lebedev - Russian deisgn studio store
gnr8 - Highly original cutting edge deisgns
Charles and Marie - "Quintessential lifestyle navigator"
Labour and Wait - Hyperchic kitchenware with Victorian inspiration
Jamie Oliver - Good quality kitchen and homewares from the TV chef
Present & Correct - Incredibly sylish modern stationary specialist
Conran Shop - Exclusive designer furniture and lighting
Scandinavian Design Centre - Swedish housewares emporium
Dutch by Design - Contemporary lighting and accessories
Where Did You Buy That - Vast repository of stylish, original housewares

Clothing & accessories

Fredflare - Retro-inspired, very stylish, very good value boutique clothing
Urban Outfitters - Well-known trendy high street store - check the US pages too
Etsy - Ludicrously good umbrella store for handmade and crafted items
Asos - Long standing online fashion store
Village Hats - Any kind of hat you could possibly be looking for
Saville Rogue - The only stylish football scarves on the planet
Threadless - Quirky printed t-shirts
Figleaves - Enormous hub of all things undergarment
Busted Tees - Even more t-shirts
Nordic Kids - Funky kids' clothes from 0-10

Cards & Printing

Moonpig - Irritating advert and personalised printing specialist
Kodak Gallery - Printing and gifts from household favourite
Oxfam - Card shopping with charitable heart
Save the Children - More cards, accessories and wrapping paper for charity
istockphoto - Stock prints and images and some equipment too
Photobox - Giant online printing, albums and photographic service
Cafe Press - T-shirt and gift printing specialist
Paperchase - Tasteful stationary and cards superstore
Photo-canvas - Straight to canvas photo printing
Snapfish - Excellent value worldwise photo printing service

Gifts

Spoonsister - Uncommon gifts and care packages US store
Firebox - Top internet emporium of assorted gifts and quirk
IWOOT - Other top internet emporium of assorted gifts and quirk
Prezzybox - As above but slightly fluffier
Cute Bitz - Slightly smaller and slightly quirkier
No More Sox - Online gift shop aggregator
Voucher Express - Haven of gift vouchers for DIY take on presents
Red Letter Days - Shop for gift experiences - motor racing, sky diving, etc
Framed Share - For a wall-hung sense of financial support and belonging
Lazybone - Weird, unusual and freaky gifts
Hammacher Schlemmer - US treasure trove of the unexpected

Food & Drink

The Causeway Deli - Gourmet shop of hard to get items; don't miss the Raspberry shortbread
First4Fruit - Next day fruit and assorted hamper deliveries
The Thrifty Shopper - Wine and beer home brewing kits
Cybercandy/Retro tuck shop - Sweets and chocolate of the word and time gone by
Beers of Europe - Terrible site, wonderful selection of beer and cider
English Cheesecake - Cheesecake of all sizes, flavours and for all ocassions
The Cheese Shed - Mail order, West Country, Artisan, homemade cheese
Leaf/TeaWorld/Rare Tea Company - three specialist tea shops for all your hot brew needs
Bean - As above but for gourmet coffee lovers
Fudge Kitchen - Simply the best tasting fudge ever

Bargains

Quidco - Cashback membership and shopping site
Cdiscount - Discount electronics, wine and furniture
MyVoucherCodes - Assorted discount code offers
Mad About Bargains - Community-based bargain news flashes
FindsYou.com - Post Office window style notice board online
Invisible hand - Silent running, always on Firefox plug-in works alongside all 100 of the others
Gumtree - Pot-based second hand online market
AbeBooks - Bargain books, second hand paperbacks, out of print editions
7dayshop - Low rent, low price tech store
eBay - Auctions, resale shops and lots of them

General

Amazon - Etailer giant
Ethical Superstore - Fair trade, eco-friendly and organic shopping
John Lewis - Dependable quality, good service, high street department store
M&S - This isn't just any online shopping site, etc
Tesco - Wide range, high value superstore online
Not on the high street - Unique online only products under one roof
Harrods - World's most famous department store with gifts to impress; hampers a must
Argos - Seriously good value but seriously check them when they arrive
Woolworths.co.uk - Still going but now under Littlewoods group; same ethos as ever
Debenhams - Mid-level UK department store

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Gadgets

Oregon Scientific - Action cams, weather gadgets and all sorts more
Gadget4all - Funny gifts and surprises for and from people all over the world
Think Geek - US hub of all gifts, gadgets and novelty
Gadget Shop - Alternative home of gizmos and assorted nonsense
Brando -? US site for USB stocking fillers, peripherals and accessories
USB Fever - As above plus easy worldwide shipping
Otherland - RC toys, gadgets, games and collectables
Science Museum - Robots, toys and science kits from a family favourite
Gizoo - UK site with gadgets for the desktop and home
Gadgets.co.uk - More gadgets and novelty with fast UK delivery

Electricals

Play.com - Big name online consumer tech retailer; plenty of stock and plenty of deals
Pixmania - Good value online electrical store good for imaging and AV
Maplin - Superb home for all your components, cables and electrical needs
MyMemory - SD cards, flash drives and all small storage devices
Battery Force - Batteries. Lots and lot of batteries.
YoYo Tech - Leading etailer in PC componenets and custom builds
Novatech - More components and budget PC systems too
Richer Sounds - Hi-Fi specialist store with bags of deals and cut price offers
Ebuyer - Cheap PCs, laptops and computing accessories
Mac Warehouse - Specialist online Mac retailer and Apple accessory store

Specialist

The Glow House/The Glow Company - If it glows, they sell it; something for the cheesy quaver
We are Fish - Home for biorb and fishkeeping
Hello Kitty World - Gifts, bags, clothing and more all from the House of Kitty
The Future Perfect Company - Gifts for the elderly
Cherly Cole Style - For the wannabe obssessive and the too young to know better
Gifts4Fishing - Ideas for the angler in your life
LEGO - Anything you like, so long as it's made of Lego
Wiggle - Hude discount cycle shop
BananaFingers - UK based rock climbing shop with gear, clothing and DVDs too
Store - Unique storage soultions from shoe boxes to cake tins and much, much more

That lot should be enough inspiration for you but if you've got any red hot tips of your own, then please let us know in the comments. Happy hunting.

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Tags: Gadgets Christmas Hardware Home And Kitchen Audio Gifts Online Websites shopping Features

101 life-saving Christmas shopping websites originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:38:55 +0000

Here is the full list of nominations for The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best of the best in the category, and ones that given the money we would recommend you buy or at least try. All have gone on sale in the last 12 months that are available in the UK.?

The nominations are:

?

Best Music Gadget 2009

Sonos S5 ZonePlayer

Monitor Audio Airstream 10

Etymotic/ACS hf2 custom fit headphones

Griffin myPhones headphones

Apple iPod touch 3G

?

Best Car Gadget 2009

TomTom XL Live

CoPilot for iPhone

Navigon 8410

Jabra SP700

TomTom One IQ

?

Best Digital Camera 2009

Olympus Pen E-P1

Canon PowerShot S90

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1?

Nikon D5000

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR

?

Best Laptop 2009

Apple MacBook Pro

Sony VAIO VGN-Z21ZN/X

Dell Adamo XPS

HP Envy

Toshiba NB200

?

Best Software, Service, or App 2009

Spotify

Windows 7

Tweetie 2

Dropbox

Sky Player for Xbox

?

Best Video Game 2009

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Guitar Hero 5

Battlefield 1943

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

?

Best Home Cinema Device 2009

Philips 56PFL9954H Cinema 21:9 television

Panasonic DMR-BS850 Freesat Blu-ray recorder

LG 37LH7000 television

Sony PlayStation 3 Slim console

Humax Freesat+ FOXSAT-HDR recorder

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Best Mobile Phone 2009

HTC Hero

iPhone 3GS

Palm Pre

BlackBerry Bold 9700

HTC HD2

?

Best Gadget 2009

Dyson Air Multiplier

Eye-Fi

Livescribe pen

Logitech Wireless Guitar

Sony Reader Pocket Edition

?

Product of the year 2009

HTC Hero mobile phone

Spotify

Apple Mac Book Pro

Eytmotics HF2 Custom Fit headphones

Canon PowerShot S90 digital camera

?

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Nominations in full originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Here are the nominations for the Product of the Year in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best of the best, and ones that given the money we would recommend you buy or at least try. All have gone on sale in the last 12 months and are available in the UK.

The nominations are:

HTC Hero mobile phone

Spotify

Apple Mac Book Pro

Etymotic/ACS hf2 custom fit headphones

Canon PowerShot S90 digital camera

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

?

Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Product of the Year 2009 nominations originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000

With the creeping dawn of a new year comes both a new media campaign and ethos for the "leaders in innovation" Toshiba. Today sees the launch of the Space Chair advertisement in the UK - and soon in France and Germany - which will span TV, online and in-store media. We talked to the Toshiba UK marketing manager, Matt McDowell, to find out what a floating piece of ?2500 furniture has to do with selling AV and computer hardware.

"We wanted to deliver new TVs and new laptops but not in a every day rational way, in a dry unique and innovative fashion instead", begins McDowell, addressing the initial mild online confusion over the footage the world has seen of an armchair seemingly floating with dramatic images of the Earth disappearing beneath it.

"We came up with the idea more than a year ago after the Time Sculpture campaign [video of a 360 matrix-type scene filmed with 200 cameras] and we were thinking how on Earth do we follow that?" The answer seems to be by not trying to follow it on Earth at all, and the footage of the balsa wood seat dragged up to the edge of space up and over the Black Rock Desert in Nevada by a Helium filled weather balloon is indeed absolutely staggering.

"We captured the footage at dawn because it's not just about the chair. We wanted it to look beautiful and amazing too. We wanted to capture the sunrise over the mountains and the hue of the colours. It also happened to be very hot during the day, so we wanted to get it done early. It was 100F by the the time the chair landed".

Like the Time Sculpture before it, the Space Chair breaks a record of its own, with eight HD cameras used to capture the film, it makes it the highest high-def advert ever shot. Starting at 8ft in diameter, the balloon lifted the armchair over 82 minutes to a height of 98,268ft (18.6 miles) by which time the low pressure meant the balloon had increased to 24ft before finally shattering like glass, which you see at the end of the ad, allowing the broken seat and cameras to fall back to Earth.

The biodegradable chair was only a model, as constructed by Artem at the hefty price. It meant that the entire apparatus could be kept below 4lbs in weight, after which the Toshiba team would have needed permission from the Federal Aviation Administration. The eight cameras were used to have as many different lens types as possible covering the one take action and were themselves apparently not chosen by Toshiba.

"The Cameras aren't consumer ones. They're not Camilieos or anything. You can't buy them. They're used for things like CCTV and they had to withstand -90C, survive the descent and impact back on Earth, but it was also really the quality they had as well.? It wasn't us that chose them. JP Aerospace specced and requested them and these were the ones they happened to ask for. They happened to be ours".

Although elements of the stunt were original, the Space Chair is in fact virtually identical to a work by UK artist Simon Faithfull, as commissioned by the Arts Catalyst in 2004, called Escape Vehicle No.6 - a film which was recently shown at the BFI Southbank. Thankfully, the original artist was involved in the project second time around.

"Simon was absolutely part of the team. We were obviously inspired by what he had done", answered McDowell when questioned about the 2004 recording, but how does a company which prides itself on innovation align its slogan with a project that is clearly a near copy of something done 5 years ago?

"We weren't saying that the innovation was sending the balloon up. No one had done it in HD before and not as an advert before. We didn't use a music sound track or any celebrity voices. That's the innovation. The fact that we created it as an advert".

Whatever the reasons and what it may stand for, the fact remains that it's some superb looking footage. The ad runs on TV from today during the ITN news for for 3 weeks this side of Christmas and then takes a break until February when it starts again as part of the whole campaign across TV, online and in-store. If you can't wait, and why should you, then you can see it below.

So then, exactly what does the Space Chair have to do with the serious business of selling consumer tech?

"The meaning is armchair viewing redesigned. Most people watch TV and consume content through their chairs. It's a visual metaphor taking something ordinary to the extraordinary", and it does. It also makes you wish you were watching the stunning scenery on a better TV - be that Toshiba's or anyone else's. And with two consecutive adverts and two consecutive records broken, how is Toshiba going to top it for next time?

"The next one will be a little different. We're going to build on what we've already done. What's important is that it reflects all the work we've done internally. We've harmonised our approach from two years ago when we were a company that was product led and sometimes externally we could look very different between say our TVs and our laptops. The most significant statements we want to make, though, are that we're investing in our brand and harmonising our approach".

Good signs for Toshiba, and with the Blu-ray nightmare finally put to rest this year, perhaps now truly, the only way is up.

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Tags: Hardware Toshiba Laptops TVs Toshiba REGZA SV Advertising Interviews Features

The making of the Toshiba Space Chair originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:59:58 +0000

Toshiba and the The Football Association have announced a new partnership that will see Toshiba become the official consumer electronics supplier to the England football team, to and through next year's 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals.

As part of the agreement, Toshiba will supply the England team and The FA with a range of the latest LCD TV, portable DVD and laptop products - apparently in an attempt to help keep the (almost certainly millionaire) players "entertained off the pitch and aiding their pursuit of peak performance".

"2010 is set to be the first time many UK viewers will get to watch the FIFA World Cup in HD and Toshiba will bring this superior experience to life for football fans, at home and for the England squad in South Africa. We are thrilled to get behind the England football team and offer fans a winning experience", said Matt McDowell, the marketing director over at Toshiba UK.??????

Tags: Hardware Toshiba Sports Fitness Football The FA Home Cinema

Toshiba becomes official tech supplier to England football team originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:37:49 +0000

Here are the nominations for Best Laptop or Netbook in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best laptop and netbooks on sale in the last 12 months that are available in the UK.

The nominations are:

Apple MacBook Pro

Sony VAIO VGN-Z21ZN/X

Dell Adamo XPS

HP Envy

Toshiba NB200

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

?

Related links:

• link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Hardware Laptops Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Apple Sony Dell HP Toshiba

Best Laptops 2009 nominations originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:59:54 +0000

Apple has won the first stage of its legal battle against Psystar, the company that offers PCs running Apple's Mac operating system, in a recent Californian court ruling.

Although there's still outstanding breach of contract, trademark infringement, and unfair competition issues to be sorted, as well as a related lawsuit to go through the Florida court system, the court has agreed with Apple's main argument of copyright infringement against Psystar, which does not bode well for Psystar's wider defence.

Engadget has a detailed look at the charges and how the court ruled on each point, but basically this round of legal fun sees Psystar guilty of illegally copying, modifying, and distributing Apple's Mac OS X.

The results of the related complaints, and just how much Psystar is going to be ordered to pay Apple in damages is yet to be seen, but we'll keep you posted.

Read

Tags: Hardware Apple Psystar Lawsuits Biz

Apple wins copyright infringement case against Psystar originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:20:44 +0000

Since we announced the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, nominations have been flying in to Pocket-lint headquarters at a rate of knots.

With a lot of lists, flow charts, pie graphs, copious amounts of coffee and a fair few, shall we say, heated discussions, we're almost ready to reveal the final lists for each category.

The numerous nominations have been narrowed down to five products in each of the categories, which will then see the sparks really start fly as our panel of judges whittle those down to the one winner from each.

Check back on Monday when we will reveal the five finalists for each of the nine categories, one from each which will ultimately be crowned best of 2009.

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards nominations to be revealed on Monday 16 November originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:49:33 +0000

Apple's newest retail store, due to open its shiny doors this weekend on Saturday 14 November boasts "more Macs, iPods and iPhones than any store in the world".

The store is located under a "breathtaking all-glass arched roof" on New York's Upper West Side on Broadway at 67th Street and is the company's 279th shop and fourth in Manhattan - 15th in the NYC area.

The lower level features the largest area ever created by Apple for personal training and technical support, including a 45-foot Genius Bar with 200 employees overall.

"We opened our first store in Manhattan seven years ago, and the response has been incredible", said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail.

"We hope our new store on the Upper West Side will become as much a part of the community as our stores in SoHo, the Meatpacking District and on Fifth Avenue".

Tags: Hardware Apple shopping Audio Phones Biz

Apple's newest store boasts more Macs, iPods and iPhones than any in the world originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:10:21 +0000

Qualcomm has unveiled a new device called the Lenovo Smartbook that it hopes will marry the smartphone with the netbook, very much like the HTC advantage attempted to do in 2007.

Qualcomm's CEO Paul Jacobs showed off the shiny, red smartbook during the company's annual analyst meeting in New York according to reports online.

The device, which is expected to be officially launched at CES 2010, sports a clamshell design to reveal a keyboard and screen.

It will be powered by a Qualcomm snapdragon chipset and be 3G enabled on AT&T's network in the US Qualcomm's CEO confirmed.

The Snapdragon chipset can already be found in the Acer Liquid, the HTC HD2, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and the Toshiba TG01.

Although no name has yet to be given, Qualcomm has said that it will run with the advertising slogan "The world organized around you" hoping the device would act like a sixth sense.

Tags: Hardware Phones Qualcomm Lenovo Smartbook Lenovo UMPC Snapdragon Netbooks CES2010

Qualcomm Lenovo Smartbook unveiled originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:46:01 +0000

The Apple tablet is looking more and more certain as the days pass, and this time we have a solid gold indicator that there's something tablet-y going on inside Apple. A patent filing.

The patent isn't for the tablet itself, it's for a way of making?digital ink recognition from a pen better. It's all about recognising full phrases, rather than separate ink strokes. When the full phrase has been entered, the phrase is passed over to the handwriting recognition bit, and not before.

But the word "Tablet" appears 58 times in the filing, which sounds promising and could mean that Apple wants to go with handwriting recognition and a stylus in the iPad after all, having shunned it in the iPhone.

Would you prefer to write on an Apple tablet, or use an onscreen keyboard like the iPhone? Let us know in the comments box below.

Read

Tags: Gadgets Internet tablets Apple Rumours Hardware Apple tablet

Apple tablet appears in patent filing originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:25:29 +0000

HP has announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase 3Com, said to be "a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions".

HP will pay $2.7 billion for the company with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2010.

In a press release, HP says the acquisition "will transform the networking industry and underscore HP's next-generation data center strategy built on the convergence of servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services".

3Com is big in China, giving HP an in to a rapidly growing IT market, while the buy-out as a whole will mean HP will threaten Cisco's dominance in the networking market.

Tags: Hardware HP 3Com Acquisitions Biz

HP to acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:23:20 +0000

Toshiba's latest ad for its Laptop division is hoping to baffle you enough that you can't but help talk about it.

Called "Space chair" the new ad will be shown on Monday 16 November in the UK.

To drum up some excitement, ToshibaUK is asking twitterers to guess how high the chair went in filming for a chance to win a new laptop.

Confused? Watch the video and you certainly will be.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Toshiba Video Advertising

Video: Toshiba Space Chair advert aims to confuse originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:08:53 +0000

Packard Bell has announced its oneTwo series of all-in-one touchscreen Windows 7 desktop PCs that offer a digital TV tuner built-in.

The all-in-one devices, with a "space-saving design and a single power-cord" combine a PC and a TV in a 20-inch 1600 x 900 resolution or 23-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution display.

Offering Windows 7 and boasting the new OS's multi-touch touchscreen experience, the PCs get Packard Bell's "TouchPortal" interface for all kinds of touchscreen fun and frolics.

The deskops offer up to six USB ports, a 5-in-1 card reader, an integrated webcam, jacks for audio in and out while graphics options comes in with either integrated graphics from Intel or discrete graphics, both supporting Microsoft DirectX10.

The oneTwo L boasts an Intel Core 2 Quad processor, an e-sata port, a slot in ODD, and 5.1-channel surround sound via the integrated 5 Watt stereo speaker system as well as an optional Blu-ray drive.

The oneTwo M is now available starting from ?599, while the oneTwo L - also available now - gets an estimated street price starting from ?899.

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Tags: Hardware Packard Bell Desktop PCs Freeview Windows 7 All-in-one PCs

Packard Bell announces oneTwo touchscreen all-in-one desktop PCs originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:05:34 +0000

Dell's teeny Inspiron Zino HD is about as much of a Mac Mini rival as a Windows-based machine could be - even offering customisable looks for some extra youth market appeal - and we grabbed some hands-on time with it at the Dell CES Unveiled event in New York.?

Measuring just 7.8 x 7.8 x 3.4 inches the diminutive desktop is a space saving solution for the bedroom, lounge or heck, even the kitchen, it's cute with journalists from the glossies clambering over each other to grab a look.

If you like what you see, the Zino can be ordered now. Prices range from ?299 for a bare bones model with no graphics, to a ?744 option that gets 1TB of storage and tons of RAM.

Why opt for this over the Mac Mini? It's got a Blu-ray option if that's your thing, and with the Windows 7 element, a not too shabby media centre interface built in too.?

Tags: Hardware Dell Photos Dell Zino HD Desktop PCs Nettops

PHOTOS: Hands-on with the tiny Dell Inspiron Zino HD originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Valerie Singleton's Discount-age website, which aims to help the elderly save money, has teamed up with Wessex Computers and Vegan Solutions to put together a computer designed for the elderly, called simplicITy.

The company's MD, Nigel Houghton, reckons that people aged 50+ find computers "complicated" and "frightening", claiming that there's a "digital divide" between that age group and younger portions of the population. "Without a simpler computer, the take-up of broadband among older people is likely to remain small", says the company.

simpliciITy, when turned on, will present users with a menu screen that offers email, a web browser, chat, "About Me" page, a documents folder and some video tutorials presented by Valerie Singleton on how to use the machine. The user clicks whichever button they fancy and then the application goes fullscreen.

It's not clear what browser is provided, but the company says it's large-text and supports bookmarks. The email option takes users to another menu, allowing them to read, write or view an addressbook. About Me allows the user to create a profile, chat lets users access a "community" chatroom, and documents lets users create and edit documents and view photographs.

The operating system is constructed from Linux, which should make it a little safer from virus attacks, and comes with a recommendation of Eclipse broadband services.

Barebones desktops are available at ?300 for single-core (the simplicITy Suite 100) and ?390 for dual-core (simplicITy Suite 200) options. If you want a screen, keyboard, mouse and pair of speakers too, that'll pump up the price to ?436 and ?526 respectively. Delivery takes 2 weeks, as each machine is built to order.

UPDATE: We found one of the videos online! Check out Valerie explaining how to use a mouse above.

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Read

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Discount-age Wessex Computers Vegan Solutions

simplicITy PC unveiled for the elderly originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:04:26 +0000

Asus has announced the launch of the SDRW-08D1S-U external slim DVD writer, angled as ideal for use with netbooks that have no optical drive of their own as well as for home users wanting to back data up to DVD.

With sleek, glossy black or white looks, the upright drive is USB-powered, portable and offers what's said to be an easy to use drag and drop interface.

Boasting low power consumption, write speeds are up to 8x and it offers disk encryption for added password security on files.

The drive is available now on the high street and online priced at ?49.99.

Tags: Hardware DVD Asus Optical drives

Asus SDRW-08D1S-U slim DVD drive launches originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:57:39 +0000

Logitech has announced that it has agreed to acquire privately held, Austin, Texas-based LifeSize Communications for $405 million in cash.

LifeSize specialises in "high definition video communication solutions", boasting more than 9000 video conferencing customers across 80 countries in the business sector.

"We expect this acquisition to enable Logitech to extend our leadership in video communication beyond the desktop", said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech president and chief executive officer.

"Together we can make life-like, HD-quality video communication as mainstream and seamless as a telephone, for meeting participants in the boardroom, at their office desk, in a remote-location meeting room, telecommuting from home or on the go with a laptop".

LifeSize will continue to operate as a separate division in Austin reporting to Logitech.

Tags: Hardware Logitech Lifesize Biz Acquisitions

Logitech to buy LifeSize Communications for $405 million originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:33:25 +0000

Star Wars fans will be able to get their "Force" fix while storing data thanks to a new range of USB thumb drives.

The standard USB drives are sculpted replicas of Darth Vader, Boba Fett, a Storm Trooper and Yoda, ranged in storage sizes from 4GB to 16GB and costing between $29.99 to $59.99.

The new drives come hot on the heels of an announcement in September from Toshiba who are launching Transformer USB drives in time for Christmas.?

Measuring 3 inches high expect Star Wars fans to get very giddy with excitement.

Read

Tags: Gadgets Hardware Storage USB drives Star Wars

Star Wars USB drives let you feel the force while saving stuff originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:59:12 +0000

Dell has announced a cute'n'colourful small form factor PC, or full-featured nettop, or mini desktop (whichever you'd rather) the Inspiron Zino HD.

A Mac Mini rival from the world of Windows, if you will, the Zino HD offers space-saving measurements of 7.8-inches by 7.8-inches by 3.4-inches.

It's personalisable with 10 optional interchangeable colours and designs and offers a range of AMD Athlon processors, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, up to 1TB hard disk and up to 8GB RAM.

Features include four USB ports, a headphone connector, a four-in-one-memory card reader, Wi-Fi, VGA, eSATA and HDMI connectors - the latter of which in conjunction with the optional Blu-ray drive will turn the little device into a teeny HD home cinema kit.

Offered with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Ubuntu Linux 9.04 Dell is offering three options from the get go - a basic ?299 model (the cheapest Mac Mini is ?499), a ?531 effort that comes with a monitor and a ?744 option with bells and whistles.

Read

Tags: Hardware Dell Desktop PCs Small form factor PCs Mac mini Dell Zino HD Nettops Blu-ray AMD

Dell Zino HD mini desktop PC launches in the UK originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:42:25 +0000

AQ Amigo has announced a new portable PC speaker that's designed to fit to the top of laptop screens for a stereo sound boost on the go.

Powered by NXT "Exciter" flat panel, bi-directional speaker technology it boasts USB plug and play functionality.

Compatible with both PCs and Macs, the speaker offers 2 x 1.2 Watt output, measures 260 x 60 x 25mm, weighs 170 grams and is on sale now for ?24.95.

Related links:

• Link - AQ Amigo

Tags: Audio Speakers Hardware PC speakers AQ Amigo

AQ Amigo offers screen-topping PC speaker originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:43:46 +0000

Fancy being a part of one of the leading global gadget news and reviews sites in the world? Thought you did.?Pocket-lint is looking to fill positions in?New York and?San Francisco, the roving reporters joining the team will replace Stuart, who is heading back to the UK.?

Ideally you will be well connected within the gadget scene and be available to chase down briefings, meetings and attend events when needed.

You will have to be able to get into either New York city or San Francisco for meetings, come with your own computer and digital camera and of course be able to access the Internet without excuses.

Work amount and schedule is based on your ability to generate original stories and we are looking for you to take the lead rather than be spoonfed ideas.

Salary, etc., will depend on work and experience.?

The ability to file quickly at events is also a must.

To apply, email us via the feedback form with links to two examples of your work and the answers to the following two questions:

1. Why should we hire you?

2. If you were a product on a supermarket shelf what would you be and why?

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Pocket-lint is hiring in US originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:18 +0000

During a roundtable discussion whilst on a visit to Dubai, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has pledged his love of all things Apple (an Nvidia customer) at the same time as toting a sizable, mysterious touchscreen tablet device.

As part of a wider industry discussion, Huang revealed "I'm all Apple!", opining that "Apple wants to differentiate. So inside your MacBook is a Nvidia chipset. Because Apple wants to build fundamentally different computers than just the Intel platform. They want to add value".

"Apple uses the best technology for their [computers]. Apple says to their customers: if you buy a computer from us you can be sure we have selected the best technology inside for you. That is their promise to consumers. Their promise to consumers isn't we've selected the best technology for you with the exception of what Intel allows us to use. That's not their promise. And that's why Apple uses the best technology where they want whenever they want. And that's why I'm all Apple! At home it's just Macs everywhere. It's Nvidia's technology in all of them but I use Macs. My son has two Macs, my daughter has a Mac, there's an extra Mac just in case and my wife has a Mac. It's just Mac, Mac, Mac! Because I know it's got the best stuff inside", ShuffleGazine quotes the Nvidia boss as saying.

Apple love-in aside, the mysterious tablet device shown on the table in front of Huang has not been identified, but it's perhaps too much of a stretch to assume it's the iPad...

UPDATE: The tablet has been identified.?It's a Tegra prototype from an ODM called ICD. Not Apple, but still rather tasty-looking, no?

Read

Tags: Hardware Nvidia Apple Tablet PCs

Nvidia CEO says "I'm all Apple" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:49:11 +0000

Acer's Ferrari One?laptop is expected to be hitting the US in January Pocket-lint has learnt, however it is unlikely to ship with the external graphics card designed by AMD that would give it the power of a desktop PC.

Already available in the UK, the new laptop features a PCI Express card slot that will allow users to connect an External Graphics Port to boost graphics performance over and above the power of the mini notebook.

According to AMD, the ATI XGP can run up to four displays when activated on the notebook PC and comes with HDMI with integrated audio, DVI and USB connections providing the ability to connect to a variety of devices.

However, while the technology is available (it features a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 graphics card), AMD has yet to find a manufacturer willing to launch the new product as a standalone accessory, even though Acer and Fujitsu-Siemens have added the port on some of their netbooks already.

According to an AMD spokesperson, the box of tricks will bring the power of a desktop computer to the netbook allowing gamers to play the latest games at home, while still having a portable, small and lightweight device on the road.

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Hardware Netbooks Laptops Acer AMD Acer Ferrari One

Acer Ferrari One gets US date, AMD XGP box no where to be seen... originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:16:47 +0000

A company called WarMouse has seen the problem of trying to remember a million shortcuts in applications like OpenOffice, Photoshop and some video games, and is attempting to solve it by building a slightly ridiculous 18-button mouse with analogue joystick and 512k of onboard memory.

The OOMouse comes with profiles designed specifically for use with the five primary OpenOffice.org applications, as well as a few other apps and games, but the keys are programmable for any app - meaning that you can set them up to do whatever you like. The company is also building up a catalogue of default profiles "for everything from major mainstream applications to obscure DOS abandonware", even offering to create profiles on request.

Warmouse is calling the OOMouse "the complete opposite of Apple's approach", adding "The Magic Mouse has one giant button that can do 10 things, we have 18 buttons that can each do two or more things. And a scroll wheel. And a joystick. And 512k of memory".

And if you're after something like this, but a bit more games-oriented, then you've got the option of the Razer Naga MMO Mouse, or a selection of mice that WarMouse promises it'll be releasing in 2010. We'll keep you posted of that.

In the meantime, the OOMouse works on Linux, Windows and Macs, and costs $75. It'll be available "soon".

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Tags: Hardware Mice And Keyboards Mice OpenOffice

WarMouse offers 18-button OOMouse originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:37:29 +0000

Sony’s VAIO CW1S1E sits smack in the middle of the company’s laptop range, offering impressive value for money without compromising on features or style. With a 14-inch screen and weighing 2.3kg, it’s slightly larger than Sony’s ultra-portable laptops, but it offers better usability as a result.

The screen has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which is average at this price point. Images are crisp, and LED backlighting offers bright and vivid colour reproduction. That said, it was possible to see the individual LEDs at the bottom of the display on our review sample – which affected colours and also proved distracting.

The design is attractive and cohesive, with a range of bright colours on offer. The palm rest stands higher than the rest of the chassis, giving this machine an individual appearance, and is the same colour as the lid – including deep red, blue, black and light pink. The area surrounding the keyboard is a slightly more subtle colour – from light pink on some models, to black.

Identical in style to most recent VAIO keyboards, the CW’s chicklet style board offers a decent and comfortable typing action. There’s plenty of space between each of the keys, and it’s a responsive and firmly attached interface. The touchpad is larger than many of those found on rival laptops, offering a precise way of navigation, and the mouse buttons are also large and comfortable. ?

The Nvidia GeForce GT 230M graphics card is a surprise inclusion in a machine of this size, giving the compact Sony serious 3D power. With the relatively low screen resolution, it means that even the latest games will run without issue, along with regular home and office applications. As a result, you’ll be able to use the VAIO CW as your sole PC.

Office performance is equally adept, with a mid-range 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor in place. It’s backed by 4096MB of DDR3 memory, and we found this an excellent machine to carry out office work or run a host of applications simultaneously. The 320GB hard drive offers more than enough space for most music and photo collections.

There are a trio of USB ports for adding peripherals, with two on the left-hand side of the chassis, and one on the right. Other ports include VGA and HDMI, offering connectivity for analogue and digital displays. As with most other VAIO models, there are two card readers on the front of the chassis, supporting Sony’s Memory Stick and SD formats. 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet provide decent networking options, but it’s a shame to see 3G/HSDPA omitted.

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Verdict:

The VAIO CW may not be Sony’s most desirable laptop, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great choice. The combination of size and power make it an ideal machine for all types of user, and that it’s just at home on the commute, in the living room or in the office is testament to just how good an all-rounder it is.

PHOTOS: Sony Vaio CW

Tags: Hardware Laptops Sony Sony Vaio CW1S1E Sony Vaio CW

Sony VAIO CW1S1E notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:39:08 +0000

First off congratulations to Paul Story who won last month's comments comp for his comment on the story "Amazon Kindle UK import orders begin". For those who didn't win, don't fret, because the kind folk at TomTom have sent a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe unit for us to dish out for our November comments competition.

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

The TomTom device measures 123 x 80 x 18mm and features 4.3-inch touch display, the screen being bright and a convenient size enabling ease of use whilst driving.

Along with Live HD Traffic, now with added support for Europe, the TomTom XL Live has excellent route guidance and with the added MapShare feature, it allows for easy updating of maps within the TomTom community.

To be in with a chance of winning this top-notch effort just comment on any story during the month of November. At the end of November the Pocket-lint team will take a look and choose what we believe is the best one.

Make sure you take a look at Pocket-lint's full review where it received a 9/10 score.

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Tags: Audio accessories Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness TomTom GPS Competitions

Win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:42:25 +0000

Apple's first retail store in France - and its 277th across ten countries - will open in the centre of Paris at the Carrousel du Louvre on Saturday 7 November.

The two-story shop features an entire floor "dedicated to services that have become the hallmark of Apple retail stores around the world", including the Genius Bar, and boasts 150 employees overall.

The new store offers an entire floor of Macs, iPods and iPhones for customers to experience hands-on. There's also an entire room devoted to the iPhone.

"We are thrilled to bring the unique Apple retail experience to France", said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail.

"This stunning new store sits just below the world famous Pyramid du Louvre in the Carrousel du Louvre and offers our customers in Paris a wonderful place to shop, learn and be inspired".

Tags: Hardware Audio Apple shopping Biz

Apple's first store in France opens this weekend originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:58:05 +0000

How thin is thin? That's the question Dell has asked itself with the launch of the Dell Adamo XPS. The answer it seems is 9.9mm, but has the journey to make a laptop thinner than a CD jewel case meant corners have been cut? We grabbed a gander at the new model ahead of the official announcement.

The first thing you'll be thinking is "where did it all go?" the Adamo XPS is thin, very thin. To get an idea of how thin it really is you need to stop reading for a second. Yep you heard that right. Now go find a CD jewel case you've probably got floating around the office or your house and awe that a computer can be thinner. At its thinnest point it's 9.7mm at its thickest its 10.3.

To give you the full dimensions they are 340 x 273.9 x 9.9mm with a weight of 1.44kg.?To achieve that thinness, Dell has done something drastic, it's taken the keyboard and made it fit into a recess the size of the 13.4-inch screen.

In real terms it means that the hinge isn't at the base of the screen, as it is in normal laptops, but slightly further up - say by about 100mm (see pictures). The payoff in placing the hinge higher up in the design is that the metal chicklet keyboard doesn't actually sit flat on your desk - a rather strange experience - but at a 30 degree angle. In use it's surprisingly comfortable and reminiscent of how keyboards used to be before they became super flat.

Back to that design and you'll find that when folded, the keyboard slots into a recessed screen area, allowing it to claim the overall thinness and enabling you to gloat at your friends. It's very clever.

To keep things to a minimum the Adamo XPS isn't loaded with ports, sockets, buttons or other paraphernalia. You get a DisplayPort socket, power socket, headphone, line out jack and two USB ports that are neatly placed down either side. Like the MacBook Air, it loses the Ethernet socket as well as an optical drive, both of which (Blu-ray included) are offered as external devices.

Aside from the ports, the laptop is fairly void of detail. The aluminium casing oozes MacBook Pro chic. Big brash logos are left to be etched into the underside of the device rather than blazoned on the back of the screen. There is branding of course, but it's small and discrete, just like the button to open it.

We say button, though that's not strictly the case as there isn't actually one. Instead you'll be expected to stroke your finger in a certain place to release a latch. What happens when the power runs out? You can't open the laptop, but then Dell's response is logical - why would you want it open, the battery is dead.

Back to the underside and you get a couple of fan holes, a webcam and a removable battery that Dell says will give you a rather disappointing 2 hours 36 minutes. Those looking to hit the road should go elsewhere.

So we've got past the design, but is that it? Luckily not. The specs read quite nicely too.

The glossy screen is a 13.4-inch HD WLED 720p (1366 x 768) offering, while Dell has turned to Intel bringing its Intel Core 2 Duo ULV (1.4GHz) processor to power this size-zero machine. Memory comes in the guise of 4GB DDR3-800MHz and the hard drive is a Solid State 128GB model as standard.

XPS might have been Dell's gaming line once, but no more. With an Intel GS45 integrated graphics card, this isn't going to be a gaming machine, but then gamers are not the target here. Dell has confirmed to Pocket-lint that XPS now means power over gaming and with the Alienware brand going strong they've got that market sector covered.

Connectivity is offered via Wi-Fi a/g/n standard and there is Bluetooth 2.1 in there too.?Power the machine up and you'll get Windows 7 Ultimate edition as standard. Windows 7 is leap years ahead of Windows Vista or XP and therefore by no means a negative.

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Verdict:

Our play was brief, which is why this First Look focuses on the hardware and design implementation rather than speed and performance of the laptop in a real-life situation.

As we move away from CDs and DVDs the need to have an optical drive isn't as vital as it once was. We can't actually remember the last time, apart from installing the OS, we actually used our laptop's optical drive anyway.

There is a concern that the battery life will be the Achilles heel here, but at least you can replace or swap it out if you are attempting a road warrior moment. Yes it should last longer, but that is clearly a payoff to the size and weight. There is a larger 40WHr battery that promises 5 hours 17 minutes.

So what's the bottom line? If you want to impress, this is clearly going to be the device to do it with. The decision to give it a powerful processor over the Intel Atom offering and the ability to swap out the battery, for us, makes this one to watch if you are after style and want substance.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Dell Adamo XPS Intel First look

Dell Adamo XPS notebook - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Thinner than a regular CD case (9.9mm)?Dell?has just announced the Dell Adamo XPS?after much tooing and throwing in a teaser campaign and Pocket-lint was hands on to snap some photos.?

Yes it is thin, yes the keyboard tucks into the casing and yes you really do have to slide your finger to open it up.

Of course the tech specs are equally impressive, if you don't mind dumping the need for an Ethernet socket, CD drive or small powerpack (we are told it might get smaller before launch).?

Specs include a 13.4-inch HD WLED screen, Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.4GHz processor, 4GB memory, 128GB SSD, wireless n and Bluetooth connectivity and DisplayPort, 2 USB ports and a headphone jack.

The payoff for that size? The battery will only last you 2 hours 36 minutes according to Dell.

As for the random "nine" on the back next to the name. It won't be there when it launches. We shot a production sample and Dell says it was testing something out, but watch as the rumour mill goes into overdrive suggesting a "nine" inch model is inbound.

The new model will cost $1799 and should be here in time for Christmas.

Check out our first look review of the Dell Adamo XPS laptop.?

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Intel Photos Dell Adamo XPS

PHOTOS: Dell Adamo XPS hands on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

After weeks of teaser campaigns, leaked photos and specs, Dell has gone official with its slimline laptop offering that it hopes will offer an alternative to the Sony X Series, Apple MacBook Air, and Samsung's X series as well.

The new model, which averages at 9.9mm thick will feature a new innovative hinge design that sees the keyboard fit into the screen area so save space.

Specs include a 13.4-inch HD WLED screen, Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.4GHz processor, 4GB memory, 128GB SSD, wireless n and Bluetooth connectivity and DisplayPort, 2 USB ports and a headphone jack. The laptop will not feature an Ethernet port, or optical disk drive.

The new model will cost $1799 and should be here in time for Christmas.

Check out our first look review of the Dell Adamo XPS laptop.?

Related links:

• Photos - Hands on gallery
• Reviewed - Dell Adamo XPS First look review

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Dell Adamo XPS Intel

Dell Adamo XPS is thin, CD case thin originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

At the Vision 2009 conference, in Stuttgart, Sony has shown off a multitouch surface display called the Atractable that's rather like the Microsoft Surface controller,which offers coffee table computing.

The system has been developed between Sony ISS and Atracsys, a Swiss optical tracking company. The interface can analyse body movements and act on any gesture or change in position, including your body, arm, hand or finger. More intriguingly, Sony reckons that it's sensitive enough to work out a user's age, sex and "emotion" - recognising?happiness, anger, surprise, sadness and neutrality.

The device comprises two Sony ISS XCD-V60 cameras that build a 3D image. Those cameras can then be used to control a cursor, avatar or robot. Atracsys' CEO, Gaetan Marti, says that the unit "can be used in virtually any scenario, be it gaming, industrial, medical or retail".

Sony ISS' marketing manager, Arnaud Destruels, told Pocket-lint: "Such interfaces were conceived many decades ago, with science fiction films using them to convey a futuristic feeling. The large time gap between conception and implementation highlights just how complex the task has been as well as the coding expertise at Atracsys".

And if the video above isn't enough for you, then there's another one, too. When we hear more about the Atractable's retail availability, we'll let you know.

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Tags: Hardware Sony Microsoft Surface Video Atracsys

VIDEO: Sony demonstrates Atractable surface controller originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:58:09 +0000

Toshiba has announced the launch of the highest capacity 1.8-inch hard disk drive to date, offering the 320GB dual platter MK3233GSG.

The upshot of the announcement means you'll soon see the "latest generation of high-end portable and extremely mobile personal computers, notebooks and external hard disk drives" offering such a hard disk drive capacity.

To put the size into content, Toshiba says 320GB is good for 160,000 MP3 files or 282 hours of DVD-quality video.

"The recent growth in mobile computer sales even in these trying times is testament to what the consumer really wants; maximum storage in a small and portable device", said Martin Larsson, VP, Toshiba Europe's storage device division.

"To support this demand, Toshiba is continuing to innovate storage technology so that the latest generations of hard disk drives, such as the MK3233GSG, are light and fast enough for even the most up to date notebooks".

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Tags: Hardware Toshiba Storage HDDs

Toshiba launches 320GB 1.8-inch HDD originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:38:32 +0000

The USB 3.0 standard has been agreed upon and approved by its Promoter Group, we got the first driver for the platform, and now we're starting to see devices finally roll out that can cope with the new technology that's ten times faster than USB 2.0.

The first is a USB 3.0 thumb drive called the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 RAIDDRive, which will come in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities. ?It's being produced by a company called Super Talent, which also makes USB 2.0 flash memory devices.

It's claimed that it can deliver speeds of up to 4.8Gbps (as opposed to 480Mbps theoretically possible with USB 2.0) but in the real world you're more likely to see speeds of more like 30MBps with 2.0, and around 200MBps in USB 3.0 mode. Still, that's a significant improvement.

The device measures 95 x 37 x 13.5mm and should be arriving at some point in December. Remember, though, that you'll need a driver for your OS, and a port that supports 3.0 to plug it into, before you'll get the blistering speeds you want. Intel chipsets won't be supporting USB 3.0 until 2011, so you'll need a discrete 3.0 controller to get things going.

In other words, we're still several years off 3.0 being as ubiquitous as 2.0 currently is.

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Tags: Hardware USB drives USB 3 Intel Super Talent Flash drives

First USB 3.0 thumb drive coming soon originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:21:28 +0000

Pocket-lint has teamed up with Dell Outlet to bring you the opportunity to win one of their high end XPS Laptops. A great pre-Christmas gift, whether you are into gaming, films, photography or general PC usage this Laptop is a fantastic prize for any PC Lover. To check out what Dell Outlet has to offer visit www.dell.co.uk/outlet/plxmascomp.

The laptop itself will sport 2GB RAM and 320GB hard drive, all wrapped up in a smart design. Connections wise you'll get 2 USB ports, HDMI and VGA-out, five in one memory card reader, ExpressCard slot and eSATA port.

To enter into this competition all you have to do is answer a simple question. In addition you have the opportunity to opt-in to receiving Dell Outlet's weekly enewsletter which is packed with updates on system availability and occasional special offers. Don’t worry, you can opt-out of this at any time.

So for a chance to win simply click through on the link below, which will take you through to the competition page, where you'll also find full terms and conditions.

Related links:

• Competition - Dell Studio 16 XPS laptop

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Dell XPS Competitions

Win a brand new Dell Studio 16 XPS laptop originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:01:19 +0000

With laptop innovation moving faster than just about any other area of consumer technology, it seems rather unfair to do a best laptop of the year category. Anything released back in January is comparatively obsolete next to anything from the last few months. The arrival of both Windows 7 and CULV technology in the latter half of the year has distorted matters even more. That said, 2009 started with some memorable moments at CES and a definite clutch of landmark releases that have managed to stay in contention for the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Award for Best Laptop. Here's a little reminder of some of the highlights for you, and don't forget to tell us just which would get your vote.

Multimedia & Games

The laptop industry has moved into three clear areas of machines over the last 2 years although more recently it's threatened to fragment even further. One of the sectors beginning to divide in 2009 is the multimedia notebooks which, since the rise of the netbook and the slimline PC, now consists of just about anything over 2kg in weight with a 15-inch or more screen size. The point is that whereas once they might have been considered portable, the only moving anyone would do with them now would be short distances within the home. And, as for them being lap-tops, well there's now a select few of them that would crush your thigh bones even if you thought about it.

As a consequence of being housebound, these have predominately become entertainment units fit with powerful graphics cards, Blu-ray players, quad core processors, HDMI ports and, of course, HD quality widescreens. Some of the better examples of the year include the Samsung R720, the Asus F70, the Acer Aspire 7540 & 5542, MSI GX723, HP Pavillion DV8, Packard Bell EasyNote DT85 and the Sony Vaio NW series. That's been pretty much the middle bench of this category.

However, beyond these entertainment machines are the slightly lower spec and more portable professional type traditional laptops in the same vein as the MacBook Pro range which was itself refreshed right from the beginning of the 2009. The addition of a 17-inch model and later the 15-inch and 13-inch upgrades helped to remind us that although their specs may be lower, these are still machines to be reckoned with. Toshiba very much has its own take on the market with the Satellite series as re-released throughout the year, Dell has its Studios with an impressive update to the Studio 15 seen in 2009 and the one that got most tongues wagging was the HP Envy laptops with their Core i7 processors and enormous wedges of RAM available up to a slightly insane 16GB.

At the very other extreme of this category is a growing number of monster machines for gamers. It's a tricky area given that most self-respecting VG-heads will build their own PCs, but there is an ever-growing PC gaming market once more and plenty of consumers who want to buy something tailor made. What 2009 has continued to show here is that even this end of computing is moving away from desktops, which were normally classed as the only machines to offer the necessary power and screen size.

The minimum you'd expect to pay for these mostly 17-inch beasts would be a cool ?1000 like we saw in the Packard Bell iPower GX at the beginning of the awards year and the budget but effective Advent 6555 which has arrived since. However, Dell's Alienware, the Demios X-10 and the Asus G60 were also there in case you really wanted to start splashing the cash on dual GPUs and more lights, bells, whistles and sub-woofered sound hot-rods. Hard to tell how big this niche will get in the future but it's certainly been a feature this year.

Finally, and just to be typically awkward Apple finally brought us a new version of their ?799 entry level machine - the 13-inch unibody white MacBook. 2006 was the last time the company refreshed that model and we were beginning to think they would leave it at that.

Ultra Slim

By far the biggest growth area in laptops has been the thin, slim, ultra-portable, ultra-stylish machines. Consumers have been crying out for something with the portability of a netbook but with the battery and processing capabilities nearer the multimedia muthas as well as larger screen sizes to match - typically between 13 and 15 inches. We'd already seen the beginnings of this with the MacBook Air and the Toshiba Porteges but it was at CES 2009 when the fashion really hit home as MSI released their X-Series of laptops with the X320, which has now matured through the X400 and X600 too. Dell managed to eke out the tease on the style-conscious Adamo for nearly 6 months before more recently blowing us all away with even thinner and more unique Adamo XPS and it's the launch of the Intel CULV platform that's really produced the gold rush we're seeing right now.

Asus were quick to move from the already good looking brushed aluminium UX series to the new low voltage, longer lasting system take on the same design with the near enough Asus UL series. There must have been a secret meeting in a darkened smoky room between the marketing chiefs a few months back because it seems X-series has become synonymous with this laptop form. Samsung's X-series arrived with typical gusto in October after the announcement at IFA and once Sony had decided that the trend was here to stay, they produced an Vaio X-series of the company's very own too. And, just to prove they're not all about stacking them high and selling them cheap, Dell produced a slightly less premium take on the trend with both the Inspiron and Lattitude Z-series. Presumably, there were no Xs left. Finally both Toshiba and Acer, with the Timeline range, went about more portable solutions although in a slightly more sedate and less thin-crazed way.

Interestingly, because of the focus on efficiency and form, what we haven't seen, and perhaps for the first time, is any significant increase in RAM and processor cores - typical signs of raw power. Instead 2009 has given the consumer laptops with a definite purpose. We have more battery power, a lighter load, more power-friendly LED screens, often with SSD internal storage solutions as well. Throw Windows 7 into the mix and there's never been a better time to buy a laptop.

Netbooks

If 2008 was the arrival of the netbook, then 2009 has most certainly represented its peak. According to Samsung, Q4 of 2009, now, is when we should expect to see the largest sale in netbooks worldwide. Simply everyone makes them including Orange, LG, Nokia, BlackBerry and even Hello Kitty. There is some suspicion that the wave will roll back once more with the ultra-slims taking a lot of that market share away, with a solution that most people were probably after in the first place, but it seems there will always be a place for devices like these that simply need to be carried in a smaller space.

That said, there have been one or two standout innovations in the netbook field starting at the very beginning of the year in Las Vegas with the arrival of three very important machines. The first was from the inventor of the netbook, as Asus held aloft the touch and swivel screen Eee PC tablet, the T91. The second was the HP Mini 2140 and its near full size keyboard and, perhaps most famously, was Sony's half admission that netbooks were here to stay with the release of the Vaio P not-netbook. The company has since gone the whole hog with the Vaio W.

It's almost seemed that the manufactures themselves have sensed that the traditional netbook might have been a fad. Most have ditched the early 8.9-inch models with 10-inch machines being the baseline these days, the best of the current crop are the Dell Mini 10v, the Toshiba NB200, the Medion E1312, HP Mini 5101, Asus Eee PC 1008HA, Samsung N510 and the Acer Aspire One D250, many of which now come with 2GB of RAM, near full QWERTYs and better graphics than ever before. There's been a recognition that it's hard to get much done on such small machines so we've seen the addition of the Nvidia ION platform to allow gaming and HD video playback to help bolster the trade too. The other way to go has been the blurring of the very definition of the category by creating a series of 11-inch not-netbooks, which straddle the gap in machine class, and often come with non-Atom processors like the HP Pavillion DM1 and the Packard Bell dot m/u.

Aside these small boosts and the touchscreen capabilities, perhaps the only real innovation has come from Acer who has brought out a version of the D250 that comes with both Android and Windows operating systems installed as well as, of course, the offering of a 3D laptop too. It'll be interesting to see how Google's desktop OS takes off and who'll choose to run netbooks on Windows 7. But, most of all, it'll be interesting to see what's come of the netbook in 2 year's time.

What do you think?

But these are just some of the fantastic choices our readers have had in 2009. What would you like to see held aloft as the winner of Pocket-lint Best Laptop 2009? Who have we missed out? Which are your unsung heroes and of those we've already mentioned, which would get your vote? Let us know in the comments below and you can help our panel decide which make the shortlist of nominees to be announced here on Pocket-lint on 16 November. We'll have all out coverage of the Vodafone Pocket-lint awards 2009 right here. Don't miss a minute of it.

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Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - digital cameras
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - car gadgets
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - music gadgets

Tags: Hardware Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features Asus Acer Samsung Laptops Netbooks Dell Dell Adamo XPS

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - laptops originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:10:45 +0000

Anyone familiar with the use of graphics pad or tablet will know the more precise and controlled advantages offered by working on photos or video, say, with the more natural “drawing” interface a tablet allows than the blunt instrument that is a mouse will be very happy indeed with this update of Wacom’s Intuos range.

Let’s get this clear at the outset; the new Intuos4 tablet is quite simply excellent (incidentally it has by the way, already been awarded TIPA’s best digital accessory in Europe award). We had the Medium sized model to play with (there are Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large variants) with an active area of 223.5 x 139.7mm and the first standout feature of note is the brilliantly simple ambidextrous design.

The new layout has all controls on one side of the tablet; the advantage here is it makes it easier to use all the features since the detachable USB cord and dual USB ports then allow you to turn the tablet 180 degrees and plug it back in for left and/or right-handed use.

Add to the mix new LED backlit labels for the programmable ExpressKeys, (though the bottom model in the range, the cheaper “Small” version, disappointingly lacks these LED labels) means the problem of forgetting what ExpressKey is programmed to do what is eliminated since the LEDs allow you to see what is programmed even automatically switching between applications, which is very neat indeed.

It is the customisability of the Intuos4 system that provides its real power as the new Touch Ring feature demonstrates. The Touch Ring allows you to use it like the ExpressKeys, but can be programmed to zoom and scroll or change brush size in a photo editing package such as Photoshop. Alternatively, it can be used as a scrubber if video editing is more your thing.

The new Grip Pen has also received significant enhancements with new Tip Sensor technology that provides for almost weightless sensitivity in terms of pressure. It has 2048-levels of pressure compared with the 1048-levels of the Intuos3 series tablets, making it much smoother and more precise for brush strokes and the like.

The weighted pen stand has been revised in that it is a storage compartment for replacement nibs and the nib removal tool too. But one of the other significant enhancements is the redesigned mouse. The mouse does not need a battery but is oh so much more precise to use than on previous versions and overall, while the Intuos4 is an evolution on the previous very good Intuos3, it provides a set of updates and new features that make it so much better.

One sticking point however must be mentioned, it may look a bit overpriced at a penny shy of ?330 but after using the Intuos4 Medium for a few days, it’s hard to argue against owning one, assuming you have the budget, of course.

Verdict:

It’s hard to improve on something that’s already brilliant, but Wacom have obviously had a good head scratching session and come up with just that. The brilliant just got, well, erm … brillianter? But at a price, because the Small is priced at ?199.99 with the price rising through the range to the Extra Large being priced at a rather startling ?699.99.

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Tags: Hardware Tablets Wacom Wacom Intuos4

Wacom Intuos4 Pen Tablet originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:38:24 +0000

Marvell and E-Ink have joined forces to create a system-on-a-chip that's designed for use in E-reader devices. It should mean that new devices are able to be rolled out increasingly quickly from any manufacturer that wants to hook it up to a screen, add a battery, design a nice casing and put their badge on it.

The chip offered includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G modem and power management, and should bring more choice to consumers dipping a toe into the fledgling, but fast-growing, E-reader market. E-readers are predicted to ship 18 million units in 2012, from 1 million in 2008.

The two companies have also formed a deal with FirstPaper LLC to supply a variety of screen sizes and resolutions, including large ones that more resemble periodicals and large-format books. "To enable great newspaper and magazine reading experiences, eReading devices need the right tools to make richer layouts and complex content come to life", said Gil Fuchsberg, FirstPaper's president.

The first E-readers to feature this chipset will likely arrive sometime in 2010, and will include the enTourage eDGe, which combines an e-Ink reader with a netbook, notepad, and AV player/recorder. We'll bring you more news of that when we hear about it. In the mean time, expect plenty of new E-readers in the pipeline next year.

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Tags: Hardware eBook readers Marvell E-ink

Marvell and E-Ink offer e-reader chip originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:03:06 +0000

The first thing that strikes you about the agent V5 is just how good looking it is. In a world where many webcams are black plastic, the V5 is lovingly wrapped in chrome, so it jumps out as a premium looking product.

Out of the box it has that Mac look and feel about it and in a design-conscious world it certainly attracts a few passing glances. You are also well catered for in terms of accessories, as out of the box you'll find a fixed stand, notebook clip and? larger flexible to attach to LCD displays, or your AIO computer. There is also a bag, cleaning cloth and cable donut to keep things tidy.

All the accessories screen into the underside of the webcam, where a flexible swivel mount provides and attachment point. This is the same size as a standard tripod, so you can attach the V5 webcam to other accessories, for example a Gorillapod.

The design is minimalist. The chrome barrel is free from buttons and lights, with the front ring bring used for focusing the camera and a small microphone hole in the underside. It looks nice and clean but it does mean that you don't get the customary LED indicator when it is active.

It works on both Mac and PC, with software bundled on the CD to cater for both. Applications supplied for the Mac, include Webcam Monitor, CamGrabber, CamTwist, Gawker, iVideo, PhotoStickies, QuartzCube, Simple Video Slicer and VLC video player. However, the chances are that you'll stick to native applications like PhotoBooth, QuickTime and iMovie and we did encounter some problems installing and testing the bundled software. Importantly though, on the Mac you don't need to install anything if you don’t want to.

On the PC you'll need to install the driver software and you are also offered CAMagic, Ulead Video Studio 7 SE and various others. Again, after the drivers, there's a strong chance you'll be using your webcam for video chats online, so your application for example Skype will probably take care of things.

On to performance itself and the first thing you'll have to contend with is the lack of autofocus or fixed focus. So it isn't a great cam if you want to record anything that changes distance to the camera, but for normal web chatting, that isn't a problem. What it does mean though, is that once you are sat and the camera set up, you can focus and you get a really crisp image.

Thanks to the 5-layer glass lens, the images are crisp and clear and when using the camera over Skype, people commented how sharp the image was. In standalone video capture, you also get a nice crisp result. Of course the video capture results depend very much on what software you use and the PC you are using too. It will give you Full HD video capture if you have the software and a computer that will handle it.

Low light performance is reasonable, retaining colours when some webcams will start to lose them, although the image does have a stippled noise pattern over it. There was also some black speckles that looked like dust on the lens, but after cleaning they stayed, so we can only assume it was dust on the sensor.

But before you get carried away with the Full HD aspects of the aGent V5 you have to deal with the sound quality, which isn't so good. With the microphone opening hidden on the underside of the camera barrel, we had to turn the input up all the way so that we could reasonably hear anything and then it was blighted by hissing and interference.

This came across both in Skype conversations we were having and in test captures we did. Mid conversation in Skype we had to switch back to the Mac's internal mic to save the ears of a colleague who complained about the quality. If you have a separate mic, or use a headset for voice communications this might not be a problem, but it is a problem with the package as a whole.

Verdict:

We like the look of the aGent V5 webcam: it looks like good quality and in our tests the video came out good too. The dust on the sensor may just be a problem with our test sample, but did detract from the otherwise good video performance.

You do get a lot in the box, with the various mounting options, but unfortunately the sound quality really let us down. If you are one of those sorts that doesn’t need the sound for whatever reason, you might still be tempted by its glorious looks alone.

Related links:

• Buy it! - Liquid Digital Solutions

Tags: Hardware Webcams Liquid Digital Solutions Liquid Digital Solutions aGent V5

Liquid Digital Solutions aGent V5 webcam originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:14:37 +0000

Toshiba has announced the launch of a new "Trade-In" programme describing it as "an initiative designed to help consumers offset the cost of buying a new laptop whilst ensuring that their old laptop is disposed of in an environmentally sustainable way".

When purchasing a new Toshiba Windows 7 laptop, consumers are offered up to ?150 cashback in return for their old laptop - dependent on its condition and specification.

Consumers can visit Tosh's site for an idea of valuation of their current model and then if they go ahead with the trade-in, will see their laptop collected by Toshiba's partner Tier 1 Asset Management who will pay out - assuming all is good with the device - within 10 days.

The Toshiba Trade-In programme is live now over at www.toshiba.co.uk/tradein and will run until 31 January 2010.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Toshiba Eco

Toshiba offers laptop "Trade-In" scheme originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:51:38 +0000

Toshiba’s Satellite U500-178 is a highly portable laptop that’s great for either home use or a life on the move. With a 13.3-inch screen, it’s small enough to slip into most laptop bags, yet also packs in a powerful Nvidia GeForce G 210M graphics card.

The screen offers impressive colour reproduction, and the 1280 x 800 pixel resolution also provides sharp images. Unlike most of the Toshiba’s rivals, it’s not a 16:9 widescreen panel, so isn’t quite so ideally suited to movie playback, but those using spreadsheets will appreciate the extra height. The glossy finish won’t suit all users, but reflections aren’t too problematic unless you’re working in direct sunlight.

The U500 features a compact and attractive design, using textured plastics to good effect. Our review sample featured a distinctive dark brown finish, and quality throughout was very impressive. All of the plastics are tough enough for daily use and, although the weight of just over 2kg isn’t the lightest we’ve seen on a machine of this size, it’s easily light enough for the commute.

The keyboard offers excellent levels of comfort, with large and responsive keys. It’s let down by a spongy typing action, however, with the board flexing under pressure. Backlighting on our range-topping sample makes up for this slightly, making it easy to work in any lighting conditions.

Despite the compact footprint, this is a machine you’ll be able to use for any task – from video editing to playing the latest games. The powerful Nvidia GeForce graphics card can draw upon 512MB of dedicated video memory, with everyday performance further boosted by the inclusion of 4GB of system memory. Helping to offer value for money, a speedy 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor provides quick responses, and helps the system to run smoothly at all times.

Networking features are comprehensive, including 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, 3G/HSDPA isn’t an option, which may be an issue for those wanting to work on the move. On the left-hand side of the chassis, there are two USB ports and an ExpressCard slot.

There’s a further USB/eSATA port on the right-hand side, supporting Toshiba’s USB Sleep-and-Charge technology. Letting you charge other devices – such as your iPod or mobile phone, even when the laptop isn’t turned on, it’s a feature we’re quite fond of. Most popular memory card formats are supported, via a 5-in-1 card reader. An HDMI port rounds off the specification.

Verdict:

Although the quality of the keyboard lets it down, the Toshiba Satellite U500-178 is a great machine for those wanting to combine their desktop PC and laptop. It’s easily small enough to take to work with you each day, yet provides outstanding office and multimedia performance. A great all-rounder, and well worth a look.

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Related links:

• Photos - Toshiba Satellite U500

Tags: Hardware Laptops Toshiba Toshiba Satellite U500

Toshiba Satellite U500-178 notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:41:32 +0000

Movember is upon us once more and that means plenty of talk about moustaches, moustache gadgets and of course not forgetting the main reason for the facial hair growth - helping raise awareness for?prostate Cancer.

Over the next 30 days the Pocket-lint team and others will be growing a moustache for charity. It's a tough job that from experience means we will be ridiculed, stared at, and worse still not get many kisses.

But fear not my hairless friends (that's you), it is not too late to join our hairy(ish) team.

We will be keeping a mo diary on the site so you can see our progress and expect plenty of related features exploring everything "Mo".

Men of tech! (that's you) join our brethren.

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Tags: Gadgets Bathroom gadgets Movember Comment Audio Car And GPS Dad Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Gentlemen start your Mo originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:35:49 +0000

If your laptop has just given up the ghost and you're looking for a budget replacement, then Pocket-lint might have the perfect tech deal for you today.

Tesco Direct are currently selling the Acer AS5332 T3000 for ?328, the cheapest in their range of laptops now coming with Windows 7 installed. Other models in the range come from Toshiba, HP and Sony, so you can have a browse when you click through on the link below.

As for the bargain Acer, specs aren't too shabby for the money with Windows 7 Home Premium installed out of the box and a dual core processor. You'll also get 3GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive and? a decent 15.6-inch display with 16:9 aspect ratio.

The supermarket is also pushing its Click and Collect service which means that specific items bought online can then be picked up the following day from a participating store.

You can check out the full details of the service from the Tesco Direct website as well as the other Windows 7 laptops.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Windows 7 Tesco direct Acer 5332 T3000 Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Windows 7 laptops available at Tesco Direct originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:48:15 +0000

If I asked you to describe a mouse you would either tell me it's a small rodent or you would tell me it's an input device for a computer that has two click buttons and a scroll wheel.

The creation of the scroll wheel re-invented the way we interacted with computers. The wheel allows us to move quickly through long pages at the spin of a wheel. But its time in this world could be over if Apple has anything to do with it.

In steps the Magic Mouse (they lost the Mighty Mouse name in a trademark issue) professing to be the end all to your mousing issues, not that you realised you had any.

Rather than buttons or a scroll wheel to mess up the smooth lines, the Magic Mouse looks more like a pebble or one of those Philips "personal" massagers than your average mouse. A gloss white plastic moulded piece of plastic sits on a aluminium base: there are no buttons, no indents, no wires.

In reality there are two buttons - left and right click - while the scroll is done by touch.?That's right - the technology found in the trackpads for the MacBook and MacBook Pro line has found its way into the mouse so you can flick your way down pages.

The concept is simple and the execution for downward scrolling incredibly simplistic. Strangely your finger knows exactly what to do.

Not so easy is left to right scrolling. Here you have to use two fingers while somehow managing to hold the mouse underneath still. As the mouse isn't that heavy - the main weight comes from the two AA batteries - it's an awkward affair. Still if you can master it, you can scroll forward and backward through internet pages in Safari for example, which can be quite handy. ?

The mouse doesn't support rotating, or other features at the moment, but that might change with later software updates, who knows?

What do you get though, is plenty of control options within the mouse management software. Not only can you adjust the tracking, but the scrolling and double click speed, you also get to determine whether the scroll comes with momentum or not.

Back to the hardware, and rather than opt for a wired option that would take away from the "magic" Apple has opted for Bluetooth to connect the mouse to your Mac. With all Macs now shipping with the wireless technology you shouldn't have any issues to connecting to your computer. Apple say you'll get around 4 months battery life from the two AA batteries hidden inside, we aren't going to wait 4 months to test it out, but that's comparable with other mice on the market.

Verdict:

So what's it like to use? Well so far so good, although it's by no means perfect. The lower than expected profile means that it won't sit comfortably in the palm of your hand like those made by Microsoft or Logitech and that for some will either be a good thing or a bad thing. We can see why Apple has done it - sweat. Anyone that gets hot hands knows that pressing it against a bit of plastic isn't that nice. Here you don't get that sweaty palm feeling which is nice. It also means that you feel like you are controlling something rather than the mouse becoming an extension of your arm - borg style.

While the laser sensor is very accurate and fast, the black strips on the underside seemed to grate on a desk or mousepad. It's not a massive complaint, but considering the smoothness of the flicking action from the touch controls we aren't 100% happy with it - maybe only 90% happy. We also suspect that it could pick up dirt quite quickly.

Worth the $77 or ?55? In short, no.

This is a nice idea and one we were very tempted by when we heard the news. While touch certainly is the future of the mouse, the Magic Mouse isn't that future just yet, well not unless all you are interested in is scrolling up and down with your finger.

Tags: Hardware Mice And Keyboards Mice Apple Magic Mouse

Apple Magic Mouse originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:38:45 +0000

Sony has issued a product safety recall for Sony VGP-AC19V17 AC adapters for certain Vaio desktops and docking stations.

In conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the voluntary recall concerns adapters supplied with the VGC-LT series and VGC-JS2 series all-in-one Vaio desktop PCs and the? VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 Vaio docking stations.

"Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately", says the recall notice, that's thought to cover about 69,000 units.

The issue with the adapters is that the "insulation inside the AC adapter can fail over time, posing an electrical shock hazard to consumers" and there's been four reports of adapters short circuiting.

For more information, customers in the States can contact Sony toll-free at (877) 361-4481 anytime, or visit esupport.sony.com/ac19adapter.

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Tags: Hardware Sony Recalls Chargers Vaio

Sony recalls 69,000 Vaio AC adapters in the US originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:19:03 +0000

Apple has released a software update for its new?Magic Mouse, allowing all Mac users running Leopard and Snow Leopard to use the new mouse even though stock of the new product can't be found in retail stores.

Apple has so far only offered the new touch sensitive mouse to customers who buy its new iMac computer following its announcement over a week ago.

While the company is famous for announcing a product and having it in stores the next, if not same, day Apple stores across the US are still without stock citing that it is "expected soon".

"You can expect once the software hits, the mouse will be available soon after", a store clerk told Pocket-lint in Apple's 5th Avenue store in New York before the software became available for download.

The update, which weighs in at 63.9MB, and 101MB when installed, will allow users of the mouse to scroll vertically and horizontally with a swipe of their finger rather than having to rely on a scroll wheel.

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Tags: Hardware Mice And Keyboards Mice Apple Software updates Magic Mouse

Apple Magic Mouse software released to all originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:20:59 +0000

We got invited to look into the future by Ericsson at the Taiwan Broadband show, as the company has done some studies on what the connected world will look like in 2020.

Ericsson was showing off a few concepts of what they expect to see in terms of consumer interactivity with various devices and how people would use these devices in 2020.

One of the concepts which Ericsson has created something of a working prototype of is the Spider Computer. This was initially meant as a computer for third world countries, but was changed to become something more of a portable computer during the study.

The current prototype has a built-in pico projector, a laser keyboard and a memory card reader. Ericsson is working on a clever way to integrate a long lasting battery and of course internet connectivity.

The Spider Computer mock-up looks like something out of a sci-fi movie as it stands on three legs that are meant to fold into the device itself. It’s all black and it almost looks as if it’ll come alive at any moment and start to attack you.

It’s always interesting to see a company’s vision of the future, but the biggest hurdle in this case seems to be how to power the separate devices rather than how to integrate all the technology Ericsson wants to fit into its futuristic concept.

You can read more about Ericsson’s vision of the year 2020 over at http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/2020/

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Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs Concepts Ericsson

Ericsson reveals futuristic Spider Computer concept originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:46:59 +0000

Intel is to launch its Moorestown Atom platform for MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) sometime early next year and we got a sneak peak at an upcoming device from Taiwanese OEM Wistron.

The un-named device was on display at the Ericsson booth at the Taiwan Broadband show and the reason for this is simple, Intel is co-operating with Ericsson to bring HSDPA data modules to Moorestown based MIDs.

Although the device on display was only a mock-up, it filled us with a lot more confidence in Atom-based MIDs as a whole, as so far most of them have been anything but impressive. It offers a very large widescreen display and the overall design is very similar to the recently launched BL40 Chocolate from LG.

With the beefed up hardware comparable to most smartphones, the Wistron MID should appeal to those that want a pocketable computer, as it’s slim enough to fit in most jacket pockets at least. It offers a USB port, a microSD card slot and interestingly a micro HDMI port which allows it to be connected to external displays.

It also has a 5-megapixel camera, a top mounted headset jack, Bluetooth, presumably Wi-Fi and of course HSDPA data connectivity. Judging by the design, Wistron has added phone functionality, as there’s what appears to be an earpiece at the top of the device and at the bottom are a pair of buttons for initiating and ending calls.

It’s too early to draw any conclusions, but it looks like next year might very well bring some very interesting MIDs for those that are looking for something a bit more powerful than a smartphone, but don’t want the bulk of carrying around a netbook.

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Tags: Hardware MIDs Wistron Intel Moorestown Phones Ericsson

Moorestown-based MID from Wistron shown off originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:21:45 +0000

It’s easy to imagine that Sony has been hit harder than most by the current netbook explosion, with little point in paying a premium for high-end ultraportable machines when a netbook will suffice. The Sony VAIO VPC11Z1E/X-series aims to change this, proving far more portable than any laptop or netbook we’ve seen so far.

It’s even thinner and lighter than the company’s own miniscule VAIO P-series, although a lot more conventional in design. It measures just 16mm in depth, and weighs comfortably under 800g, and genuinely is a laptop you can put in your bag, take with you everywhere you go and forget it's there.

The 11.1-inch led-backlit screen is excellent, and every bit the equal of other similarly priced ultraportable laptops. The resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels results in sharp image quality, and colours are also vivid and true. With a screen coating that sits somewhere between matt and glossy, brightness levels are good, and reflections are also well suppressed when working outdoors.

The keyboard is tiny, but is surprisingly usable, even for those with larger hands and fingers. The keys themselves are also small, but it’s not problematic due to decent spacing between each one. The main issue is the amount of travel – or lack of – caused by the thin size of the laptop itself. It means the keys only move a fraction when typing – it’s not an issue once you get used to it – but it’s unlikely to suit all users.

The square touchpad is smaller than the one found on Sony’s VAIO W-series netbook, but it’s precise and responsive. Like the keys, the touchpad buttons are large enough for comfortable use, but are also restricted in movement.

Sony has used carbon fibre to help keep the weight as low as possible, distinguishing this machine from the netbooks it will inevitably be compared to. Quality is excellent, with a perfect fit and finish to all of the panels, with an attractive glossy carbon lid. It’s not a machine you’ll be able to throw in your bag without any protection, however, with the skinny chassis flexing more than most laptops or netbooks.

Those of you expecting to find a CULV processor at the heart of this machine will be disappointed as, like the VAIO P-series, Sony has stuck to an Intel Atom Z550 chip. That said, at 2GHz, it’s quicker than the current crop of netbooks – further helped by 2GB of memory and a 256GB solid state drive. Battery life is also decent – lasting for over 6 hours with the standard four-cell battery.

Unsurprisingly, you won’t find that many ports on the chassis. The two USB ports are located annoyingly close together on the left-hand side of the machine, there’s a VGA port but no HDMI, and a couple of card readers on the front supporting both Sony’s Memory card format and the more popular SD format.?

You’ll also find a half-sized Ethernet port, with the lower half dropping down when you want to connect an Ethernet cable. Because this lowers one side of the X-series slightly, there are a couple of little legs on the bottom of the machine, helping to keep it stable. Wireless connectivity on the range topping model is top-notch, with 802.11n Wi-Fi and a 3G/HSDPA adapter both built-in.

Verdict:

There’s no doubt about the amazing portability on offer from the Sony VAIO VPC11Z1E/X, but whether it’s worth the money will depend entirely how much you value that portability. Think of it as a Sony VAIO TT replacement – a high-end ultraportable for executives – and it’s an excellent little device. It’s difficult to escape the fact that it does the same job as many netbooks however, and although none can match it for wow-factor or quality, several can better it for battery life or performance.

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Related links:

• Photos - Sony Vaio X netbook

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Sony Sony VAIO VPC-X11Z1E/X

Sony VAIO VPC-X11Z1E/X notebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:22:57 +0000

Earlier in the week it was the?New York Times?supposedly spilling the beans, now it's the Sydney Morning Herald.

According to the paper in Australia, Apple is uncharacteristically talking to a number of media companies in preparation for the launch of an?Apple tablet?or Slate.

While rumours have been kicking around for some time with plenty of mock-ups created by devoted fans, the paper claims that:

"Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet. None would speak about the device on the record".

The news comes just a day after the executive editor of the New York Times has referred to the mythical Apple tablet in a speech as the "impending Apple slate", reigniting the smouldering rumours of the device.

Bill Keller's off-the-record speech, not supposed to be recorded and leaked to the Internet, is a business-based monologue about the future of the NYT, including a look at new digital delivery platforms.

"I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate...", Keller states, as reported by eager-eared Gawker.

The quote from Keller apparently follows reports from earlier this year that a "stealth team" from the paper met with Apple executives - as well as other content publishers - on a top-secret matter.

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Gadgets Internet tablets Apple Rumours Hardware Apple tablet

New Apple tablet rumours surface down under originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:21:53 +0000

This Dell infomercial would make a great drinking game if you had to down a shandy every time voice-over man says "XT2 XFR", but for those of you of a more sober frame of mind, it gives you a quick overview of Dell's new rugged tablet PC.

The Dell Latitude XT2 XFR (hic!) is the industry's smallest 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC and is the first with a multi-touch display.

Aimed at those that work In The Field, it's independently tested to all kinds of official standards so users know they can drop it, dunk it, freeze it, coat it in dust and just know it's still gonna work.

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Tags: Hardware Dell Tablet PCs Laptops Waterproof Video Biz

VIDEO: Dell Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet PC launches originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:40:37 +0000

Touchscreen displays have been given a boost by Windows 7 and its native support for such displays, but there are some drawbacks of having a touchscreen display on your computer, such as a darker picture and a slightly fuzzy image depending on the technology used. However, it seems like those days are numbered, at least if what we've seen from Albatron becomes a widespread technology.

Albatron might not be the most well known company out of Taiwan, but they've been making both televisions and computer components for many years. The company has now developed what they call an Optical Touch Monitor or OTM.

Albatron's OTM uses two CMOS cameras, one located in each of the top corners of the display and the sides, whhilst the bottom of the display is outfitted with reflectors. The OTM interfaces with a computer with a standard USB interface and no special drivers are needed in Windows 7.

The cameras and reflectors are mounted on a tempered glass sheet in front of the actual LCD display. The cameras then pinpoint where your finger is located to an accuracy of about 2mm and the tech means you don't even have to touch the display to be able to move the mouse cursor.

The OTM supports multi-touch and gestures, although how well this works depends on the software implementation. We were shown demos of various applications running in Windows 7 and had a chance to play with both Google Earth and a simple drawing application that has been designed to take advantage of multi-touch and we were very impressed by how well it worked and how sensitive it was.

The unit we got to have a play with was a 42-inch panel, and Albatron informed us that there's no real cost difference between a small or a large panel using this technology, unlike other types of touch screen display technology which gets exponentially more expensive as the screen size increases.

The 42-inch model is likely to end up in shopping centres and museum information systems but Albatron is offering a 21.5-inch consumer model available with either a standard monitor stand, or what Albatron calls a book stand, allowing for the display to be angled towards the user for easier access to the touchscreen interface. The consumer displays are expected to retail for about $450 and offer 1920 x 1080 resolution and DVI input.

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Tags: Hardware Monitors Albatron

Albatron offers 42-inch touchscreen display originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:06:31 +0000

Stuart Miles brings us his customary comment from NYC with a look at the talking points from this week in tech.

Under the spotlight in this instalment is Apple's Magic Mouse and whether this is the beginning of the end for the button and the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

Miles also muses the rise of real-time search with the news that Google and Bing are due to integrate Twitter content into their search results as well as offering thoughts on Google's Social Search.

The fact that Nokia is suing Apple for patent infringement is the final topic under consideration - is the Finnish giant protecting its patents or looking for a quick cash injection? Hit play for more...

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Comment Video

VIDEO: Tech Week in View: Magic Mouse, Social Search and Nokia sues Apple originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:05:00 +0000

Monitors are pretty boring things, but that can't be said about the W2230S from LG. Looking to appeal to those who don't want something that looks like a piece of office furniture. The W30 monitor comes in two sizes, 19- and 22-inches, and five different colours: "jelly pink", "applemint", "Hawaiian", "blueberry" and "Oreo". We tested the 22-inch variant in a delightful blue.

The first thing to note is the design. It draws heavily from the Apple Mac school of design, with a white plastic back, which curves pleasingly, giving it a nice clean look from behind, rather like the last generation of iMac. The front colour frame isn't as clean, with a line running across the bottom along the top of four control buttons and the backlit on/off button. But as a monitor it is attractive, something that can't always be said about displays, showing the consideration that LG have put into design recently.

The colours won't appeal to all, but it does give you some option to have it fit into the design of your apartment, or simply to add some colour to your room or student accommodation. We hooked up the W2230S to a Mac mini, an partnership which gives you a compact and tidy solution.

It doesn't have a conventional elevated stand, instead deploying a kickstand. This will allow you adjust the tilt of the monitor, but you don't get any sort of swivel. For those in a workplace who need to re-angle their display to share with colleagues this makes it a little impractical, but for domestic users, the likelihood is that it will be permanently sited on a desk and not moved, so this isn't a problem.

Without a stand, it does mean that the monitor is lower, so the conventional approach of making the top of the screen level with your eye-line as Mr Health and Safety would recommend might not be possible. Again, this might be a concern for business users, but for those who spend less time in front of a monitor it shouldn't be too much of a problem.?Thanks to not having a stand, it has a relatively small footprint on your desk, but doesn't have an option for wall mounting.

Connectivity is one place where the W2230S is lacking. Around the back you only have a D-SUB/VGA connection and the DC power input. You don't get HDMI, you don't get speakers, or a USB loop through which other monitors will offer.

The control buttons across the bottom give you access to the menu - offering picture, colour, tracking and setup options. The action feels a little cheap, but on the whole, you don't spend much time playing with these controls once you have it set-up, another good reason why we'd have preferred to have them out of sight on the side.

Brightness is rated at 250 nits and you also get a a direct control button to jump in and change the brightness, perhaps to turn it down at night or up during a sunny day. You also get a button to change the aspect to 4:3 from the default 16:9. An auto adjustment rounds out the controls offered.

In terms of the tech specs, the W2230S offers dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and a response time of 5ms. Hardcore gamers might be looking for something with a faster response rate on paper, but they probably aren't seeking this sort of colour option monitor anyway.

The 22-inch monitor, however, gives you plenty of space on-screen. It's a widescreen 16:9 format and packs in a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel native resolution. You might initially question the value of HD resolution on a monitor lacking HDMI, but 1920 x 1080 gives a nice crisp look to your PC or Mac. You'll be able to playback your high-def video content filling the screen without resizing, or work with a browser window side-by-side with a word processing document and still see both clearly.

There is plenty of colour and detail available on offer here, although the matte finish to the display means it lacks that ultra crisp look you'll get from some glossy TVs or monitors. It does mean that it is well-suited to its primary task of computing however. We found that our high-definition content played back well, taking advantage of the native resolution on offer. We found a small amount of bleed around the bottom and top edges of the display where is meets the bezel, but not that it really detracts from the overall experience. Colour levels of the box were good too.

Verdict:

The LG W2230S is a great monitor for those looking for something a little different and wanting to avoid the boring off-white or black approach. The clean lines around the back of the W2230S, means it will look good from whichever angle you approach it from. There is plenty of space available, meaning you can get on with whatever work you need to be doing. But it does lack connectivity compared to some rivals so it only really will suit those who are looking for a PC display and only that.

Considering the spec, you can get more fully featured monitors for less, but?we like the size and simplicity and the inoffensive footprint makes the LG W2230S a great partner for a netbook or nettop PC where space is limited.

Tags: Hardware Monitors LG LG W2230S

LG W2230S monitor originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000

We've said it a thousand times, but we'll say it again: backing up your hard drive is boring, it is dull, and chances are you don't or can't be bothered to do it. Luckily for us there are dozens of companies that make a living out of making sure your photos, documents, videos and data aren’t lost when your computer crashes and dies a slow and painful death. One of those companies happens to be HP.

Its premise is that it believes, probably rightly so, you can't be bothered to work out how to back-up your files. Its answer is that once you plug the SimpleSave in, it will scour your hard drive for relevant data and then back that up on a drive so you don't have to do remember anything.

Click yes to the licence agreement and that's about it. Software comes on the drive so there are no accompanying CDs and the quick start manual consists of two drawings - plug it in and away you go. For the control freak in you there are options to control everything, but as the name suggests everything is kept simple.

You can select which types of files are included in your backup process and which aren't and these include music, video and photos as well as emails and web page files. Basically you can drill down to a file type or location if you want to be specific or probably more likely the case, opt for blanket backup coverage.

Once selected the drive gets to work doing its job. The ability to isolate certain file types is really handy for photographers for example as you can select or deselect as appropriate and transfer speeds are via USB2.0 meaning it should be fast enough for most of your backup requirements.

Recalling back the files is equally straightforward. The software allows you to search through the drive and find that missing file with minimal of fuss.

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Verdict:

The HP SimpleSave is, as the name suggests, a simple way to save your data away from your computer in case it kicks the bucket. The simple to use software is unlikely to give you any hassles and the restoring process is equally simple.

If you leave it plugged in, you can set it up to automatically check for when files have changed and back those up without thinking about it. Coming in ?320GB and 500GB sizes should give you plenty of storage.

Backup might be boring, but this just works.?

Tags: Hardware Storage HP HP SimpleSave HP SimpleSave 320GB

HP SimpleSave 320GB hard drive originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

While here in the UK, Dell's not-a-netbook the Inspiron 11z has gone on sale direct recently, in the States the company launched the 14z and 15z in September.

For reasons best known to Dell's execs, in the UK it's just been announced that the range is to be expanded with the 15.6-inch 15z, and instead of the 14z, the 13.3-inch 13z.

Measuring in at 26.4mm thin for the 13z and 29.2mm for the 15z, both laptops feature the new Intel CULV ultra-low-voltage processor and come with Windows 7 pre-loaded.

With an HD display as standard both offer Wi-Fi, HDMI, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, hard drive of up to 320GB, up to 6GB RAM and the boast of battery life of over 10 hours. ?

The Inspiron 13z and 15z are available in "Obisidan Black" and "Cherry Red" with the Inspiron 13z priced from ?479 and the 15z available from ?499.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Dell Dell Inspiron 13z Dell Inspiron 15z Intel Windows 7

Dell Inspiron 13z and 15z announced for UK originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:33:31 +0000

Some enterprising sleuths on the Applesana message boards have spotted that in the latest build of OS X there's a reference to a version 6 of the Macbook Pro. Current Pros are version 5.5. It's being suggested that these machines will feature the same Core i5 and Core i7 processors that are in the current generation of iMacs.

9to5Mac points out that in the past, "Apple has traditionally used the same processors in iMacs and high end MacBook/Powerbooks". The site claims that it's heard that there will be deliveries of new Macbook Pros to Apple stores that'll coincide with the deliveries of the new iMacs.

There's also a whole set of new dual core Intel chips that are due soon and support hyper-threading (making each core act like two). They'll also have the ability to power down one core while overclocking the other - if you're running a single, particularly intense, application for example. It's entirely possible that Apple may get early access to these chips. When we have something firmer and can report on the subject, we'll let you know.

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Tags: Hardware Macbook pro Intel Rumours Apple

Macbook Pros going quad-core? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:58:51 +0000