ARCHOS RELEASES ITS FIRST EVER NOTEBOOK

Archos, a French company known for its electronic devices, has introduced its first ever notebook, the 13.3 inch Archos 13. The machine is very compact and has extremely attractive looks. The Archos 13 has a 13.3 inch LED backlit display with 1280x800 resolutions. It is powered by a low voltage Intel Celeron processor clocking at 1.2GHz. Other specifications include 120GB hard drive and 1GB RAM.

COOLER MASTER RELEASES THE WORLD'S SMALLEST 95W LAPTOP ADAPTER

The just launched Cooler Master SNA 95 is the world�s smallest and lightest 95W laptop adapter. Manufacturers have long been working on making laptop adapters smaller and lighter so that they can be carried around easily. Despite having a small size and weighing very light, the new SNA 95 offers a high output of 95 W. It also comes with useful features like a USB charging port and cable

JAPANESE SCIENTISTS CRACK WPA ENCRYPTION SYSTEM

Japanese computer scientists have discovered a way to crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access WPA) encryption system. This new attack makes it possible for hackers to break into wireless router systems and read encrypted traffic sent between computers and WPA encryption systems. The new attack works only on WPA systems using the old Temporal Key Integrity Protocol algorithm. It cannot break the newer

MSI TO RELEASE NETBOOK BASED ON THE PINE TRAIL ATOM

MSI will release a touchscreen netbook based on Intel�s next generation Pine Trail Atom platform. Intel has not yet launched the Pine Trail but is expected to do so before the end of this year. MSI hopes to be the first to release products based on this platform and the first MSI product based on this will be the proposed 10 inch convertible U150. This netbook will run on the Windows 7 platform.

NEC INTRODUCES IT'S FIRST NETBOOK

NEC has finally entered the netbook market with the introduction of a small mobile netbook � the LaVie Light Lui Mobile. In specifications and looks this netbook isn�t very different from other netbooks available in the market. It, nevertheless, has some distinct features in the form of a VNC Client option and optional WiMax. SpecificationsProcessor: Intel Atom N280 1.66 GHz Memory: 1 GB DDR2

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PORTABLE ONE SX-N7350 REVIEW

The Portable One SX-N7350 is a compact notebook with a 13.3 inch display. It is built on the Clevo M735T platform. Configuration:Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB)Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Business (w/ SP2)Display: 13.3-inch glossy LED-backlit 16:10 display (1280x800)Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHDMemory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz

NEW EXPRESSCARD STANDARD RELEASED

The PCMCIA organization has finalized the ExpressCard 2.0 standard. The new 2.0 standard is 10 times faster than the previous 1.2 standard and will offer transfer rates of up to 5Gbps. The PCMCIA�s ExpressCard and PC Card slots are used in almost every notebook. Several manufactures including AMD, Fujitsu Siemens, LG Electronics, Intel, Lenovo, Lexar Media, Microsoft, Qualcomm, SanDisk, Sony,

HP MINI 110 NOTEBOOKS AVAILABLE NOW

HP has launched two new netbooks in the Mini 110 series which will replace the Mini 1000 series of netbooks. The new netbooks dubbed Mini 110 Mi and Mini 110 XP are available now.The Mini 110 Mi runs on the Linux OS. Prices start at $279.99. The Mini 110 XP comes pre-installed with Windows XP. Prices start from $329.99. Customization options are also available for both models.Both netbooks have

MSI RELEASES WIND TOP AE2010 ALL-IN-ONE DESKTOP

MSI releases Wind Top AE2010 All-in-One DesktopThe newly released MSI Wind Top AE2010 All-in-One desktop PC has a 20-inch touchscreen. It is powered by an AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 3250e 1.50GHz processor with ATI Radeon HD 3200 onboard graphics chip with 128 MB DDR3 memory. Other specifications include up to 4GB of RAM and 320GB HDD. The 20 inch touch screen display has energy star 5.0 rating. It

Acer G24

Acer G24 24 inch monitor has a bright, glossy, reflective screen, and a smooth, bright orange bezel. The bottom of the bezel is 2.5 inches above the desktop and measures 1.1 inches on the left and right sides, bringing the full panel width to 22.5 inches that's slightly wider than the Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP's 22 inches. The base panel depth measures 1.8 inches about the same as the Dell's but it extends back another 1.3 inches to house the ventilation system, bringing its full panel depth to 3.1 inches, a hair longer than the Dell's 3 inch panel plus vent.

The display has a 25 degree backward tilt as its sole ergonomic perk. Screen height adjustment, panel swiveling, and pivoting aren't included. Connection options include DVI, HDMI, and VGA, all supporting a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1.920x1.200 pixel native resolution and located on the back right hand side of the panel, next to the neck. All are easy to access however, the HDMI slot is too close to the neck for comfort and our fingers rubbed against it often. The footstand has a sleek space age look with two 7 inch long "toes" that extent out from the neck each at a 45 degree angle.

The full width of the span is 14.2 inches. Knocking the display from the sides yielded minimal wobbling as its wide stand and its 16 pound weight keep it fairly grounded. The footstand is removable and the back of the panel includes four screw holes for VESA wall mounting. The blue LED light in the bottom right hand corner represents the power button located directly underneath it. The five buttons to the left comprise the on screen display array.

The buttons include left and right arrows, a menu button, auto, and an "e" button. Pressing the "e" button displays the available presets including User (custom), Text, Standard, Graphics, and Movie. Selecting different presets altered the brightness and sometimes color temperature of the display. For example, the Text preset lowers the brightness and adds a cool color temperature, making reading text on a white background more comfortable.

The rest of the OSD includes controls for color temperature user control included brightness and contrast control. Unfortunately, navigating the OSD is often an exercise in frustration. Different categories are represented by symbols. Each symbol aligned horizontally along two rows, can be navigated to using the arrow keys. For brightness and contrast control, you navigate to the "sun" symbol.

Pressing the menu button selects the symbol and brings up another menu. Here, you have to choose one of two options, aligned vertically. Use the arrow key to select the bottom option and press menu. Then use the arrow keys again to select brightness or contrast, which are aligned vertically. Press the menu key when your selection is highlighted and adjust your attribute using the arrow key. Not surprisingly, we found this interface archaic, unintuitive, illogical, and ultimately frustrating, especially considering how well designed other OSDs like the latest from Dell are.

Acer H235H

The 23 inch Acer H235H has a flat, glossy, black bezel that contrasts nicely with its glossy blue back. The panel measures 3.2 inches in full depth that's considerably thicker than the 23 inch Samsung SyncMaster P2370, which measured just over an inch deep. The bezel measures 1.1 inches on its left and right sides, and 0.75 inch on its bottom, where a silver Acer logo resides. Under the bezel, the panel slopes back about 3 inches to house the built in speakers.

The bottom of the panel where the speakers are sits about 1.8 inches from the desktop, but, unfortunately, the screen height isn't adjustable and there isn't a screen rotation or pivot option for portrait mode. The capability to tilt the screen back 25 degrees is the only included ergonomic feature. The circular foot stand measures a small 7 inches in diameter, and when knocked from the sides, the display wobbles a considerable amount, given that it has such a narrow base to stand on.

Connection options include DVI, HDMI, and VGA all three ports are fairly easy to access once the removable back panel is taken off. There are also two grooves on the back where you can place the cords to keep them organized. Designated by a single blue light emitting diode, the on screen display button array sits in the lower right hand corner of the bezel, right above the blue LED power button. Pressing the blue LED brings up the OSD in addition to five blue LED buttons that now align the bottom right of the bezel.

The OSD pops up parallel to the button array, and each option corresponds to one of the five buttons. Once a new menu is selected, the function of the buttons changes dynamically, as the middle buttons become the up and down arrow buttons used to navigate through the newly seen menu. Since any button labels for the OSD are actually on the screen (and which would be on the bezel of other displays), calibrating the display in a dark room proved painless. OSD options include the standard brightness, contrast, and various color options. The presets are Standard, Text, Picture, Movie, and, of course, User. The presets don't change anything other than the display's brightness and contrast.

There is an option for setting the OSD to stay on screen for up to 2 minutes (useful for anyone who will spend a good amount of time calibrating), etc. Navigating the menu is mostly painless however, when in the preset menu, there is no option to return to the previous menu without exiting the OSD completely. Acer H235H's 16:9 aspect ratio supports a "Full HD" native resolution of 1.920x1.080 pixels. This continues the trend of more and more monitor vendors moving toward 16:9 from 16:10 because high definition content in particular 1080p movies can fit onto a 1.920x1.080 pixel screen without distorting the image.

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TOP 5 ALL-PURPOSE NOTEBOOKS

All purpose laptops are capable of handling almost every task. Here is a list of the top 5 all-purpose notebooks. 1. Lenovo Thinkpad T400SProcessor: 2.53-GHz Core 2 Duo SP9600Display: 14.1" Wide screen displayStorage: 128GB Hard DriveMinimum Weight: 4Lbs.Bottom Line: A lean, mean machine with cutting edge features. 2. Samsung X460-44PProcessor: 2.26-GHz Core 2 Duo P8400Display: 14.1" Wide screen

FIRST LOOK AT 13" MACBOOK PRO

The 13 inch MacBook Pro is the latest addition to the famed MacBook Pro family of notebooks. With its unibody aluminum casing this machine is lighter and sturdier than the older plastic versions. The new MacBook Pro has regained the FireWire port which was missing in the previous version. Apple has also added an SD card to the notebook. There are still a few things that could have been added, and

DOSPARA RELEASES THEIR 12 INCH LAPTOP

Japanese electronics maker DosPara has released their 12 inch laptop � the Dospara Prime Note Cresion NA. With a non-netbook processor like the Atom 330 and Nvidia�s Ion based chipset, this machine can�t really claim to be a netbook. FeaturesThe Prime Note Cresion NA is thin and lightweight. It has a relatively powerful processor and a large enough display, making it ideal for general use around

A-DATA NH92 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

The super slim A-DATA NH92 claims to be the world�s slimmest portable hard drive. The tiny device can hold up to 500GB of data.The A-DATA NH92 has a USB interface and with is shock protected design this drive will have good durability. It is available in three colors. A-DATA NH92 Specifications:Device Interface: USB 2.0Hard disk interface: 2.5� SATAOperating systems supported: Windows 2000, XP,

DELL STUDIO XPS NOTEBOOKS NOW AVAILABLE IN ARCTIC WHITE

The Dell Studio XPS 13 and XPS 16 notebooks are now available in Arctic White. Dell already sells the notebooks in red and black.The Arctic White model will have a slightly different design with a stylish leather accent at the bottom of the lid. The addition of leather will provide better grips as well as making the laptop look sharp. Other design elements will be the same. The White XPS will

Acer B273HU

A plain, matte black cabinet houses the 27 inch panel, which has a maximum resolution of 2.048 by 1.152 dpi, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a 5 millisecond (black to white) pixel response rate. The 14.5 pound enclosure is supported by a square base with a swiveling, telescoping arm that provides up to 4.3 inches of height adjustability and 70 degrees of swivel. A hinge at the top of the stand gives you 5 degrees of forward tilt and 15 degrees of backward tilt. Unlike the NEC EA261WM, this monitor does not support pivot rotation, but the NEC model will cost you around $200 more and you'd have to settle for a slightly smaller (26 inch) panel.

Around back you'll find VGA, DVI, and HDMI inputs, one upstream and two downstream USB ports, and an audio jack for the integrated 1.5 watt speakers. The speakers are adequate for low volume listening but could use a subwoofer component to help pump up the bass tones. Two additional USB ports are located on the left-hand side of the cabinet. Embedded in the lower right hand bezel are five thin function buttons and a power switch, all of which use black lettering. Not surprisingly, the buttons are very difficult to identify against the black cabinet color.

The "e" button brings you to Acer's "Empowering Technology" setting, which offers a choice of five luminance presets, including Text, Movie, Graphics, Standard, and User modes. The Auto button automatically adjusts clock and phase settings (analog only) the Menu button brings you into the main settings screen, where you can tweak color temperature settings, adjust contrast and brightness levels, select an input source, and activate Acer's Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM) feature. This bumps the contrast ratio up to 40.000 : 1, a setting that found to be way too bright for normal desktop use.

The default contrast ratio of 1.000 : 1 is much more comfortable for close up viewing. Two arrow buttons (left and right) are used to select and change the highlighted settings and also act as hot keys for raising and lowering the speaker volume. On the Scaled Fonts portion of the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) test suite, Acer B273HU did an outstanding job of displaying Arial fonts set to 5.3 points, the smallest setting available. Each character was clear, sharp, and evenly spaced. Color quality was equally impressive swatches on the Color Scales test ramped evenly from black to the lightest shade, and there were no signs of tinting or color tracking errors.

Dark grayscale performance was also quite good. However, there was considerable compression at the high end of the grayscale, resulting in washed out light grays and a lack of highlight detail in my test photo. Viewing angles maxed out at around 160 degrees, as advertised, on both the horizontal and vertical planes. Although it is touted as a business class monitor, Acer B273HU is more than capable of handling your gaming and entertainment needs. Acer B273HU comes with a three year warranty covering parts, labor, and backlighting and ships with DVI, USB, and D-sub (VGA) cables. Unfortunately, an HDMI cable is not included in the box.

NEC EA261WM

Mounted on the lower right hand bezel are four well marked function buttons and a power switch that glows blue when the monitor is in normal operating mode and turns amber when it's in standby mode. The Menu button launches and closes the on screen display (OSD) program, while the Select button activates the highlighted selection and acts as a hot key for selecting an input source. The Reset or DV Mode button restores the highlighted selection back to its factory default setting and lets you choose one of the five preset luminance modes (Standard, Text, Movie, Gaming, and Photo).

There's also a handy four way toggle switch, which makes it easy to navigate the OSD by allowing you to move up, down, left, and right within the menus as if you were using a joystick. Once inside the OSD, you can tweak a variety of settings, including color temperature, brightness and contrast, sharpness, and speaker volume. There's also an Off Timer option that will power down the monitor after a predetermined period of inactivity. If you prefer to change these settings using a keyboard and mouse, you can do so using NEC's NaViSet utility, but it is not included in the box. Instead, you'll have to go to NEC's Web site and fill out an electronic form before you can download it.

NEC EA261WM features an ECO mode setting that, when activated, reduces the panel's brightness to 50 percent from the factory default of 100 percent this in turn reduces power consumption from 85W to 48W, as measured using a P3 International Kill A Watt meter. When ECO mode is enabled, a "carbon footprint meter," which indicates the reduction in carbon emissions while operating in ECO mode, appears in the brightness adjustment screen. For example, according to the meter, switching to ECO mode results in a 15 percent carbon footprint reduction.

The meter begins tracking total carbon savings (in kilograms) from the moment the monitor is powered up. NEC offers a Total Trade recycling service that provides credit toward new NEC products when you trade in your old equipment. Additionally, NEC EA261WM is EPEAT Gold, Energy Star, and RoHS qualified. All of this earns it our GreenTech Approved seal. If you work with multipage documents or desktop publishing applications, you'll appreciate this monitor's ability to reproduce the smallest fonts. Using images from the DisplayMate testing suite (www.displaymate.com), NEC EA261WM did an excellent job of displaying fonts set to 5.3 points (the smallest setting on the Scaled Fonts test).

Text quality was crystal clear, and every character was well defined and perfectly legible. Color quality was also very good the wide gamut panel produced rich colors without any trace of tinting or over saturation. The panel's 5 millisecond (black to white) pixel response rate offered good motion handling performance as well. When played a round of Far Cry 2 without experiencing any artifacts or ghosting, and Pixar's Madagascar 2 on DVD played smoothly and looked spectacular on the big screen. However, the monitor did not fare so well when it came to rendering grayscale swatches.

It was unable to display the lightest and darkest shades of gray on the DisplayMate 64 Step Grayscale Test, showing them as pure white or black instead. The panel's horizontal viewing angle performance pretty much bore out NEC's claim of 170 degrees, but the vertical angle was much narrower, especially from the bottom, where colors began shifting at around 150 degrees. The flaw may not be an issue when you are operating the display in landscape mode, but when you rotate the panel to view it in portrait mode the weak viewing angles offer a faded, subpar picture from either side. NEC EA261WM comes with a three year warranty covering parts, labor, and backlighting. DVI and VGA cables are included in the box, along with an audio cable, an upstream USB cable, and a setup guide.

ASUS K50IJ REVIEW

The Asus K50IJ is a good desktop replacement laptop delivering competent performance at a budget price. It can be bought for $699. ASUS K50IJ-C1 Specifications:Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit)Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6500 Processor (2.1GHz)Display: 15.6" 16:9 Wide Format (1366 x 768) HD LCD DisplayMemory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM, 1 slot, 4GB MaxGraphics: Intel

MSI TO RELEASE 5 C-SERIES NOTEBOOKS

MSI has announced five C-series notebooks � the CX600, CR600-013, CR600-017, CR700 and CX700. These budget notebooks will have 16 and 17.3 inch WXGA++ displays.The new laptops will feature entry level Intel Pentium Dual Core processors. All except the CR600-017 will have the Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 2.0GHz processor. The CR600-017 will be powered by a slightly faster Dual Core T4300 2.1 GHz.

MSI TO RELEASE CORE I7 BASED NOTEBOOKS

MSI will release new notebooks based on Intel�s Calpella platform by the end of this year. These notebooks will be powered by Intel�s soon-to-be-launched Mobile Core i7 (7200M, 8200M and 920XM) processors. The default operating system will be Windows 7. The Core i7 platform is expected to provide better performance than the Centrino 2 based platforms currently used. Intel claims that the i7

ASUS G51VX-A1 REVIEW

The Asus G51VX-A1 notebook is built for the ultimate multimedia experience. It comes with dual hard drive bays and Nvidia GTX 260M GPU. Now if you think this specification isn�t high enough you can opt for the quad-core processor. Asus has equipped this series of notebooks with a 1080p 16:9 display and Altec Lansing speakers to further enhance the multimedia experience. A high-end configuration

FIX FOR BLUETOOTH AND HARD DRIVE NOISE ISSUE IN MACBOOK PRO

Apple has released two firmware updates which will fix the Bluetooth and hard drive noise issue in MacBook Pro. The Bluetooth Firmware Update 2.0.1 is meant to improve overall compatibility with Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard. It also includes some bug fixes. This update is available for all Apple computers with Broadcom Bluetooth chipsets, which includes MacBook Pros and

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The Jail Quotes Gadget provides hundreds of amusing, well-known and not-so-well-known quotations from historically significant individuals such as Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as from modern day celebrities such as Paris Hilton. Each day, the Jail Quotes Widget will display a different quote involving Jails, Prisons, Bail, Freedom, and other related concepts. Edit the settings for the Jail Quotes gadget to select a light or dark background to match most page themes. Provided by http://www.888bailbond.com

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AMD BECOMES THE NO 1GPU MAKER

More than 50% notebooks with a dedicated graphics card use the ATI Mobility Radeon chips, AMD has announced. AMD now claims an overall 53% share of the notebook dedicated GPU market.The AMD Mobility Radeon series of GPUs are known for delivering advanced performance, leading features and innovative technology. They also support the Microsoft DirectX 10.1 standard which enables high quality

CORSAIR RELEASES NEW X256 SSD

Corsair, the well known maker of SSD drives, has released its latest in the Extreme Series � the X256. This new SSD has 64MB of cache memory. It offers better speeds and higher capacity. Price is in the range of $695. Corsair has already released several SSDs � the X32, X64 and X128. The latest X256 is a 2.5 inch SSD featuring Indilinx�s Barefoot controller and Samsung�s MLC NAND flash memory.

NOKIA UNVEILS ITS FIRST LAPTOP

Nokia has unveiled its first netbook, the Booklet 3G. Unlike conventional Nokia devices which run on Symbian or Maemo, this device uses the Windows XP OS.The Booklet 3G has a 10.1 inch HD display with 1366 x 768 pixels. There is also an HDMI port for transferring video to an external monitor. It is based on an Intel Atom processor. Nokia claims that it will give up to 12 hours of up time. Some

Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50

Physically, Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 (which comes with a standard one year warranty) is typical for document scanners in its price range. It measures 8.4 by 11.9 by 8.0 inches (HWD) with the input and output trays closed, or 15.9 by 11.9 by 15 inches with the trays extended. Setup is typical as well. Set the scanner in place, open the top cover (which turns into the input tray), extend the output tray at the bottom front, install the software, and plug in a USB cable and power cord.

I installed the scanner under Windows Vista, but according to Epson Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 also comes with drivers and a full set of software for Windows 2000 and XP. Epson says it comes with drivers and a nearly full set of software for Mac OS X, as well, supporting versions 10.3.9 through 10.5x. (The document management software, however, is for Windows only.) For Windows, the trio of Twain, WIA, and ISIS drivers ensures that you can scan directly from virtually any Windows program with a scan command.

In addition to the drivers and the Epson scan utility, Epson includes an assortment of programs appropriate for a document scanner Abbyy FineReader 6.0 Sprint Plus for optical character recognition, Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort Special Edition for document management, and NewSoft Presto! BizCard 5 SE for business cards. All three are among the most common programs bundled with scanners, and all do their jobs reasonably well. Unfortunately, PaperPort SE lacks the full version's ability to index the text in files on your disk, which lets you find files by searching for words in those files.

This is a particularly important feature if you plan to scan documents to searchable PDF format and need to find the right document quickly at some later time. If you want that ability, you'll need a separate indexing program. This isn't a major issue, however, since you can download Google Desktop, with its search feature, free. The scanner itself is far more impressive than the software. Epson rates it at 25 pages per minute (ppm) for simplex scans (one side of the page) and 50 images per minute (ipm) for duplex scans (scanning both sides simultaneously) at 200 pixels per inch (ppi). I timed it scanning to PDF image files at 22.7 ppm and 45.5 ipm. That's a little slower than I expected based on the ratings which are usually pretty accurate for document scanners but still fast enough to earn lots of praise.

SONY UNVEILS THIRD E-READER

Sony has unveiled its third e-reader. The new device provides wireless Internet access through AT&T�s 3G mobile broadband network. The new Reader Daily Edition will be retailed for about US$399. It provides connectivity to several online stores including Sony�s ebook store from where users can purchase and download books, newspapers and magazines. No monthly fee is charged for basic wireless

GIGABYTE RELEASES AMD 785G BASED MOTHERBOARDS

Gigabyte has released eight new motherboards with ATI Radeon 4200 onboard graphics. The new motherboards are based on the AMD 785G chipset. They support DirectX 10.1 and Unified Video Decoder 2.0 standard. Of the eight new motherboards, four support the DDR2 memory module; the rest support the DDR3 memory modules. The new motherboards are made of 2oz copper and are expected to enhance the

Canon CanoScan 5600F

Setting up Canon CanoScan 5600F is absolutely typical for a flatbed scanner. Install the software, unlock the scanner, and then plug in the power cord and USB cable. I tested the scanner primarily under Windows XP, but also installed it under Vista just to confirm that it worked. Canon says it also provides drivers and a full set of programs for Windows 2000 and Mac OS 10.3.9 through 10.5.x.

The bundled software is limited to Canon's scan utility plus ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 for editing photos, but the utility includes optical character recognition, so you can scan a document and turn it into editable text or a searchable PDF file. In addition to letting you start a scan using the scan utility, Canon CanoScan 5600F offers buttons on the top front of the scanner. The choices include Copy, E-Mail (to launch an e-mail message on your PC and add the scanned document as an attachment), and Scan (to bring up the Canon utility and let you choose where to send the scan).

There are also three PDF buttons one for scanning in color, one for scanning in black and white, and one custom button. To scan multipage documents to a single PDF file, you can repeatedly press the same PDF button for each new page, and then press the Finish button after the last page. Like most scanners, the 5600F comes with both Twain and WIA drivers, so you can scan from almost any Windows program with a scan command. (Of course, you'll have to buy any additional programs you want to use.)

That's something to keep in mind when you're comparing Canon CanoScan 5600F with other scanners. A more expensive scanner that already has the software you need may be less expensive than Canon CanoScan 5600F and the added software combined. The Twain driver gives you the choice between exceptional ease of use and control over the scan. The AutoScan mode literally handles everything automatically, letting you scan with a single mouse click.

If you prefer having some control over the results, the Basic mode gives you a few options to set and the Advanced mode adds far more, including such sophisticated choices as adjusting color saturation and balance. All three modes let you scan multiple photos on the flatbed at once, with each photo going to a separate file.

Plustek BookReader V100

Plustek BookReader V100, which comes with a one year parts and labor warranty, is a niche product. Plustek BookReader V100 says it's aimed primarily at libraries and other institutional users that may find it helpful to convert printed books into audiobooks, particularly for the benefit of the visually impaired. It could also see it being of great interest to someone with, say, macular degeneration, which leaves sufferers with peripheral vision only and makes reading difficult or impossible.

But what Plustek BookReader V100 doesn't do is convert printed books to audio so easily that it's worth doing yourself just so you can, say, listen to books while driving. In reality, Plustek BookReader V100 is a conventional book scanner (more on that in a moment) paired with optical character recognition (OCR) software to turn scanned images into text and text to speech (TTS) software to turn the text into audio. None of these technologies are new or even unusual. OCR software comes with most scanners, and TTS software has been around longer than Windows.

As it happens, Plustek BookReader V100 software uses the Nuance speech engine, which has been part of Nuance's OmniPage Pro 16 since the program was released in July 2007. That means the same feats you can perform using the V100 you also can perform using OmniPage Pro 16 with any scanner or using whatever OCR program came with the scanner plus a TTS program, which you can find for about $50. As for Plustek BookReader V100's implied ease of use that you can go from a book to an audiobook with the press of a button or two the description is right as far as it goes, but it leaves out the part where you have to laboriously scan the book, one page at a time.

The one advantage Plustek BookReader V100 gives you is that it's designed for books. Book pages won't lie flat on most scanners. They tend to lift up from the platen near the bound edge, and the scanned image shows the lines of text as curved. The best OCR software today can digitally straighten the lines to improve OCR accuracy, but book scanners avoid the problem altogether. With book scanners, the platen comes out to the edge of the scanner so you can lay the book down with one page flat and the facing side of the book hanging down along the side of the scanner.

This essentially eliminates the curved line issue, but it doesn't make scanning all those pages any less of a chore. Plustek BookReader V100 says that except for some changes in firmware, Plustek BookReader V100 is identical to the Plustek OpticBook 3600, which drives home the fact that it's simply a 1.200 by 1.200 pixel per inch (ppi) conventional book scanner. Plustek BookReader V100 measures 3.7 by 17.6 by 11 inches (HWD), with the front along the width, and the scanner cover lifting from front to back. To scan a book, you position the scanner at the edge of a desk or table, so that the book can hang down from the scanner unimpeded by the table. The platen itself is a bit larger than letter size. An eight button control panel resides on top of the scanner, just to the right of the scanner cover.

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HP MINI 2140 REVIEW

The HP Mini 2140 is a 10 inch netbook running on the Windows XP home operating system. It is faster and cheaper than its predecessor the 2133.Design and BuildThe HP Mini 2140 has an all-aluminum casing. Build quality is good. Thanks to the metal casing, it is a bit heavier than the average netbooks. Keyboard and trackpadThe keyboard is nearly full-sized. This is a definite plus on a netbook. The

BEST NETBOOKS

A netbook is a small laptop with a 9 or 10 inch display. Netbooks are usually powered by low-end components like Intel Atom processors, integrated GMA950 graphics and up to 1 GB of RAM. They run on either Linux or Windows XP Home.Best NetbooksAsus Eee PC 1000HEAsus continues to be the leader in the netbook market. The Asus Eee PC 1000HE has an impressive battery life and good build quality. It

LENOVO AND SAMSUNG UNLIKELY TO RELEASE NEW NETBOOKS UNTIL THE ARRIVAL OF WINDOWS 7

It is rumored that Samsung and Lenovo won�t launch new netbook models based on Nvidia�s Ion platform until the release of Windows 7 in October. As the launch date of the newest Windows OS is nearing PC makers are busy building netbooks optimized for running on the new OS.Lenovo will release its Ion based Ideapad S12 model by the end of October. This will be the first netbook capable of handling

MSI X600 RELEASED IN THE US

MSI has officially released its ultraslim X600 notebook in the US. The notebook comes with some decent specifications and is being retailed for a decent price. The best thing about this machine is indeed its tiny frame. Under the slim chassis it packs a 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo processor and 4GB RAM. The graphics is handled by ATI HD 4330 graphics. Other specifications include a 320GB HDD and an

DELL LATITUDE Z600 PHOTOS RELEASED IN THE WILD

Dell has not yet officially announced the release of its notebook, the Latitude Z600. Specifications too are largely unknown, but some pictures have emerged and they show an interesting design. The new laptop seems to have adopted some features of the hideously pricey Dell Adamo line-up. It can also be guessed from the pictures that it uses the Santa Rosa Platform. Dell has already shifted its

15 INCH MACBOOK PRO REVIEW

The 15 inch MacBook Pro is a decent notebook delivering competent performance. At $2,299, it is a bit pricey. Let�s see if it is worth the money.Specifications of the laptop under reviewProcessor: Intel T9600 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo (6MB cache, 1066MHz FSB)Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM (1066MHz)Graphics: nVidia Geforce 9600M GT with 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM (dedicated) AND nVidia Geforce 9400M with

SEAGATE RELEASES 640GB USB HARD DRIVE

Seagate has released portable USB hard drives having a storage capacity of 640GB. These new drives are intended to be an extension of the FreeAgent Go series by Seagate. The new drives come preloaded with the �Seagate Manager Software� that automatically backups your important files. You can set daily/weekly/monthly backup schedules for your files. The new drives are expected to be retailed for

Chess Social Gadget

Challenge your friends to play, or jump into a game with other opponents.

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You can play in real-time or just make your move and then finish your game another day. Play the game at your own speed! What are you waiting for? Invite your friends to a game of chess now!

HP ANNOUNCES CUSTOMIZABLE PAVILION DV2 NOTEBOOKS

HP has started taking customized offers for its thin and light dv2 notebook series. The customizable dv2 notebooks will be available in Espresso black and Moonlight white colors. They can be upgraded to AMD Athlon Neo / Turion Neo X2 dual-core processor configuration. The Pavilion dv2z notebook is just 1 inch in thickness and weighs 3.81 pounds. It has a 12.1 inch LED display, near full-size

HP REINTRODUCES ARTIST EDITION NOTEBOOKS

HP has released its Pavilion dv6z Artist Edition 2. This notebook PC has a refreshing design which is inspired by the sea and sky. Its design won the HP/MTV Engine Room Notebook Design Contest recently.The 16 inch Artist Edition 2 has specifications similar to Pavilion dv6z. It also has full versions of software like Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Magix Music Maker 14, Corel Painter Sketch Pad

Tile Game Social Gadget

Recompose your and your friends' photos by moving tiles to the empty slot.

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Recompose your and your friends' photos by moving tiles to the empty slot. Try to push more tiles together to solve the puzzle in fewer steps. Don't forget to configure your favorite Picasa web galleries, and try out different levels too.

DISNEY RELEASES NETBOOK IN ASSOCIATION WITH ASUS

Disney has released a netbook for kids in association with Asus. Dubbed Netpal, it is aimed at children aged 6-12 years. The Netpal comes with plenty of parental controls. It allows parents to white list applications, websites and email addresses that kids can access. It also has a kid-friendly interface and will be retailed for $350. Netpal is available in two colors � pink and blue. The machine

MSI ANNOUNCES EUROPEAN LAUNCH OF AMD POWERED WIND U210

MSI has announced the European launch of its Wind U210 notebook. This is an AMD variant of its Wind U200 notebook which runs on the Intel platform. The Wind U210 will be available in two versions � the U210-002 and U210-010.The Wind U210-002 will have an Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6GHz CPU with 1 GB RAM and 160GB storage. It will run on the Windows XP platform. The starting price of this version is �399.

SAMSUNG R470 REVIEW

The Samsung R470 is a complete entertainment notebook with an extremely attractive design. It is a bit pricey, but it is worth the money.R470 specificationsProcessor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (T6500, 2.10GHz, 800MHz, 2MB)Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumDisplay: 14 inch full HD Screen with 16:9 aspect ratioGraphics: Nvidia GeForce G105M Graphics cardDesign and DisplayR470 has

KOHJINSHA RELEASES ITS CONVERTIBLE NETBOOK/TABLET

More and more companies are producing touchscreen capable netbooks. The latest to enter the fray is Kohjinsha. The company has released its EX6 touchscreen convertible netbook/tablet. The EX6 tablet has an 11.6 inch resistive touchscreen with 1366x768 resolution. It is powered by the Intel Atom N270 1.60 GHz processor with Intel 945GSE chipset. Up to 2GB of RAM can be installed. The hard disk

NVIDIA RELEASES FIVE NEW MOBILE GPUS

Nvidia has released five new 40nm Mobile Graphics cards for notebooks. They are said to fill the gap between the existing GTX280M, GTX260M, and GTS160M series of GPUs.The five new GPUs for gaming laptops are dubbed G210M, GT 230M, GT 240M, GTS 250M and the GTS 260M. All of these GPUs are based on the 40nm manufacturing process. They come with 512 MB to 1GB of GDDR3 onboard memory. They are

HANNSPREE ENTERS THE NETBOOK MARKET WITH HANNSNOTE

Hannspree has entered the netbook market with its HannsNote netbook. This 10 inch machine has an attractive design and is very lightweight. The HannsNote netbook has more or less the same specifications as other netbooks in the market. It is powered by an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU with 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD. Other features include 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, card reader and integrated webcam.

NY Times Crossword Social Gadget

Classic Puzzle from The New York Times Archive



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Classic Puzzle from The New York Times Archive, Enjoy this free weekly puzzle from the New York Times archive, updated every Monday.

MSI ANNOUNCES EX628 NOTEBOOK WITH BLU-RAY SUPPORT

MSI has announced their Bravo EX628 laptop which is ideal for watching HD movies. Bravo EX628 has a 16 inch screen having a 1366x768 resolution. It is equipped with ATI Mobility Radeon HD4670 1GB discrete graphics card which can fluently decode HD video. To make the viewing experience perfect, there is a 2.1 channel Dolby Home Theatre certified audio system. The laptop is powered by an Intel

LENOVO'S THINKPAD T400S GOES ON SALE

Lenovo has officially released its 14-inch ThinkPad T400s. This notebook combines the features of Lenovo�s best selling T400 with the portability of X300. The ThinkPad T400s is the thinnest and lightest T-series notebook ever. It measures just 0.83 inches in thickness and weighs less than four pounds. SpecificationProcessor: 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo SP9400 or 2.53GHz SP9600 Processor (25W, 6MB Cache)

Photos Social Gadget

The Social Photos gadget collects photos from you and your friends


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The Social Photos gadget collects photos from you and your friends that are scattered across popular photo sites, and displays them in one easy-to-access location.

MSI X-SLIM X600 SPECIFICATIONS RELEASED

MSI has released the specifications of its 15.6 inch X-Slim X600 notebook. One of the thinnest and lightest notebook for its size, the MSI X600 is based on the Intel CULV platform.The notebook supports up to 500GB of hard drive and ATI Radeon HD 4330 discrete graphics card with 512MB DDR2 VRAM. With these specifications, it will have no difficulty decoding 1080p HD video. The machine weighs just

DELL RELEASES 12-INCH VOSTRO 1220 NOTEBOOK

The Dell Vostro 1220 is the smallest Dell notebook ever. This 12.1 inch notebook is aimed at small and medium businesses. Prices start at $799. The new Vostro 1220 is available in Obsidian Black or Deep Cherry Red. It supports up to 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB DDR2 RAM and integrated Intel X4500MHD graphics.The base configuration has the following specifications:Processor: 2.2GHz Celeron

SCRABBLE Social Gadget

SCRABBLE spells F-U-N for all!



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SCRABBLE spells F-U-N for all! This new version of the original board game includes built-in chat and dictionary, multiple word lists, dynamic animations, and multiple speed settings for public games. An easy-to-use interface lets you play with anyone who loves the game! Great fun for all skill levels. PLEASE NOTE: Scrabble Beta is only available in the United States and Canada.

GATEWAY RELEASES NEW NV SERIES LAPTOPS

The Gateway NV series has got bigger with the addition of 9 new laptops. The new laptops feature a 15.6 inch display. The notebooks are available in two configurations with either AMD Athlon 64X2 QL-64 Dual-Core Processor or Intel Core 2 Duo Dual-Core T6500 processor. Up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM can be installed. Hard disk capacity is 320GB. NV5214uThe least expensive notebook in the series - the

LENOVO ANNOUNCES VIA BASED IDEAPAD S12

Lenovo has announced new customization options for its IdeaPad S12 series of netbooks. The S12 series originally feature an Intel Atom based processor with Nvidia�s Ion based motherboard and powerful onboard graphics. New customization options feature a VIA based processor, motherboard and onboard graphics. The new configuration is expected to deliver better graphical and video playback

Stamps on Colnect Gadget

See a new random collectible item.


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Stamps on Colnect (http://colnect.com).A cool gadget for collectors! See a new random collectible item. Click the picture to see complete information about the item: which memebers of Colnect Collectors Community have it on their collection, swap or wish list. You can easily manage your personal collection on Colnect and find swap buddies from all around the world. The huge catalogs on Colnect are created by collectors for collectors. Join Colnect now. It's fun, it's quick and it's free!Happy Collecting :)

Sentiment by Newssift Gadget

Newssift is a unique search tool for business professionals from the Financial Times Group.

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The Newssift sentiment widget displays positive, negative, and neutral sentiment over the last 60 days of your entry based from the thousands of business news sources and millions of articles within Newssift. Newssift is a unique search tool for business professionals from the Financial Times Group.

Ultimate Waterfall Gadget

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This is the best virtual flash waterfall ever! Enjoy this wonderful place of natural peace and relaxation! Listen to the twitter of birds; watch the flying birds, wading cranes, singing larks, and the amazingly beautiful waterfall..

Fish Aquarium Deluxe 3D Gadget

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Ultimate customizable RSS reader Gadget

a RSS reader that shows headlines and summaries, and images of your favorite feeds.

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Are you looking for a RSS reader that shows not only headlines and summaries, but also images of your favorite feeds ? Then this convenient, customizable, and simplified rss reader is exactly what you need. It's simple, optional, easy to use, faster...

Weather 3D Gadget

Display weather near real time conditions for over 200 cities in a 3D earth environment.

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With Weather 3D Gadget you can display weather near real time conditions for over 200 cities in a 3D earth environment. You can customize the gadget with the gadget options (width, height, maps, earth rotation, etc.) The gadget currently support the following languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish.

Contact EMailer Gadget

Contact form, Avoid spams by not providing your email address in your site or blog.

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Use this widget in your web site's contact page. Avoid spams by not providing your email address in your site or blog. This gadget is highly customizable. Features: *)Email comes directly to your inbox from the senders email address *)Customizable Field Labels *)Customizable Size *)Customizable Background, Border, Title, Subtitle, Field Caption,Textbox and Button colors *)Option to display Image Captcha (verification code) feature *)Configurable in Multiple languages *)Right to left language support

Animated Nature Gadget

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Do you like pictures of amazing natural scenes but get a little bored with static flat images? This gadget lets you go beyond the physical restrictions. Enjoy the awesome realistic animated images and bring the original spirit and excitement of nature back to life!

Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease

Beyond these few basics, the driver adjusts all settings automatically, like a point and shoot camera. As soon as you position the film holder, you'll see a preview of the image, and you can watch the brightness, contrast, and other settings change until the driver is satisfied it's found the best settings. When the auto adjust finishes, all that's left is for you to give the Capture command. If you've turned on the option to adjust images after each capture, you may then choose from among nine variations, including lighter, darker, and various color adjustments.

As already mentioned, the camera like sensor gives the Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease impressive speed. On my tests, the automatic adjustments typically took 6 to 8 seconds. The capture itself took just 1.9 to 2.6 seconds. As a point of reference, the Canon CanoScan 8800F is one of the faster scanners it have tested for 35mm film, prescanning and scanning one slide at 2.400 ppi in about 1 minute 30 seconds. Unfortunately, Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease doesn't score as well on image quality as on speed.

The 1.800 ppi resolution is theoretically adequate for printing scanned photos at up to 8 by 10 inches, with a roughly 200 ppi image resolution at that size. But the actual ability to resolve detail is much less than with, for example, a 600 ppi scan of the same slides with the Canon 8800F. In one landscape scene, for instance, when it enlarged the picture enough, the scan from the Canon 8800F showed a hint of individual leaves where the scan from Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease showed a solid smudge of color.

The relatively low resolution doesn't hurt the image much for printing at 4 by 6 inches, but it will make a noticeable difference at larger sizes. The automatic setting adjustment also compares poorly with the fully automatic modes in most scanner drivers. PIE is aware of the problem and is updating the driver to address it. PIE says the new driver will be available for downloading from the company's Web site, possibly by the time you read this.

The shortcomings in image quality make it impossible to give Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease Digital Film Converter an unqualified recommendation. Still, if you're the sort of casual photographer Pacific Image Electronics Memor-ease is aimed at happy with snapshot quality (for lack of a better term) and not likely to print photos at sizes larger than 4 by 6 you might find the image quality acceptable, if less than ideal. Otherwise, wait for a later generation version that offers the same ease of use and fast image capture, but with better results.

HP RELEASES PROBOOK 4310S

Hp has released a new ProBook notebook aimed at small and medium businesses. It has magnesium and aluminum alloy casing and sports an elegant design. The HP ProBook 4310s is a full-sized notebook with a 13.3 inch screen. Its specifications are similar to those found on other ProBooks. There are, nevertheless, a few additions: the new ProBook has a faster DDR3 memory. It also features an optional

ACER ANNOUNCES NEW ASPIRE NOTEBOOK

Acer has announced the release of its new Aspire notebook � The Acer Aspire AS5739G. This is the newest addition to the Gemstone family of Acer laptops.The AS5739G has a 15.6 inch display with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Its specifications are as follows.Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 2.1GHz processorMemory: 4GB DDR3 RAMGraphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT130M 1GB discrete graphics cardHDD: 250GBDisplay:

Samsung SC-HMX20C

With its attractive, well rounded, capsule shaped body, Samsung SC-HMX20C looks pretty slick, but its design makes it a bit awkward to hold. The curve of the camera makes one handed operation tricky, it's difficult to keep a steady grip, since you have to slightly unwrap your fingers to reach key recording controls like start and stop and zoom. Alternatively, you can swivel the right handed grip backward to a 45 degree angle but that just makes tapping the main controls on top of the camcorder even more awkward.

There's no optical viewfinder, but the 2.7 inch LCD touch screen offers a wide viewing angle and a responsive user interface. Samsung SC-HMX20C duplicates its zoom and recording controls to the left of the display. If you use these controls instead of the ones up top, you may be able to keep a steadier grip with your right hand. Samsung earns points for compactness; the 1.01 pound camcorder measures only 2.60 by 2.65 by 5.47 inches (HWD). Like Sony's HDR-SR11, Samsung SC-HMX20C features face detection technology while you're shooting, a green box tracks faces within the frame.

In my test shots, the camera had no trouble quickly identifying and autofocusing on faces. You get a 10X zoom lens, which is standard for the majority of models in this price range, though the aforementioned Sony gives you 12X. Like most camcorders in this price range, this Samsung uses a CMOS sensor with a focal length of 6.3mm to 63mm, with f-stops at f/1.8 and f/2.8. It captures still images of up to 4 megapixels. According to Samsung, Samsung SC-HMX20C can store 3 hours 10 minutes of video at highest quality (1.920 by 1.080 interlaced at 60 frames per second).

For additional storage, there's a slot for MMC+ or SD Memory cards (card not included). Like any tapeless camcorder, playback on the Samsung is a dream. You can quickly jump between segments of video with hours between them (like skipping through chapters on a DVD). A tape based camcorder like the Canon Vixia HV30, on the other hand, forces you to rewind and fast forward, the same way you'd cue up a VHS tape.

Video recorded by Samsung SC-HMX20C doesn't look bad not, that is, until you compare it with the Canon and Sony models with the same resolution (1.920 by 1.080i). The overall color tone of video is quite dark and underexposed. Footage shot heading down a subway staircase, for example, was extremely dark and showed no detail at all. In the same shot, the Canon and Sony footage picked up shadows and small cracks in the walls.

The Canon and Sony models record in AVCHD format, which creates larger files with more video information, while Samsung SC-HMX20C records in the smaller MPEG 4 format. Samsung SC-HMX20C also has issues with purple fringing in high contrast areas a problem it shares with the Canon HV30 and the JVC Everio GZ-HD10. Purple halos outlined buildings against white clouds, and indoors, ceiling lights were outlined in purple. The Sony HDR-SR11 is the only camcorder of this bunch that showed absolutely no fringing.

Pure Digital Flip UltraHD

Pure Digital Flip UltraHD looks like the first Flip Ultra. The original's white casing has been replaced with a slicker matte black, and its gray sides have been swapped out for reflective silver. The retractable USB arm mechanism on the camera's right side is the same, but below it, a mini HDMI jack has supplanted the TV out port (although, unlike the Creative's $230 Vado Pocket Video Cam HD, there's no mini HDMI cable included). On the left side, the sliding power switch has been replaced by a button.

The rear controls remain in roughly the same configuration Record in the middle of a navigation wheel with buttons for Play and Trash on either side but have been enlarged so they're easier to press. The most significant aesthetic change here is the larger screen 2 inches up from the original's 1.5. The display is also much sharper than that of any previous Flip. The built in speaker, which runs along the top of the screen, has also been improved for noticeably clearer playback sound.

Another improvement can be found by sliding the front of the device Pure Digital has replaced Pure Digital Flip UltraHD's formerly disposable batteries with a pair of rechargeable AAs, which charge when the camera is plugged into a USB port. With the batteries in place, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD weighs slightly more than its predecessor (5.9 ounces instead of 5). The batteries take a lengthy seven hours to fully charge. The 8GB storage capacity of Pure Digital Flip UltraHD is twice that of the Mino HD, and thus yields roughly 120 minutes of HD recording.

This will likely be more than enough to get you by until the next time you're in front of a computer (especially given YouTube's 10 minute video length maximum). If not, you're out of luck Pure Digital Flip UltraHD doesn't include an SD slot for expansion. Unlike other most other HD pocket camcorders, such as the Kodak Zi6, for example, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD shoots only in high definition. (Similarly, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD only records in SD.) At 720p (1280 by 720 pixels, 30fps, H.264 compressed, MPEG encoded) the quality of video files is quite good for a pocket camcorder roughly on par with the Vado HD and the Mino HD.

But not all situations require HD, and it's nice to have the option of shooting in a lower resolution, particularly if upload times are a concern. The microphone is better than the one on the original Ultra, although it still has trouble picking up sounds more than a few feet away from the camera. Like the MinoHD, Pure Digital Flip UltraHD packs Pure Digital's basic FlipShare software, which works with Macs and PCs and offers very basic editing and direct uploading to sites like YouTube. Pure Digital Flip UltraHD doesn't offer much in the way of a built in menu system beyond its "Get Started" setting, which lets you adjust basic items like the date and camera tones.

Sony Webbie HD

The pocket sized Sony Webbie HD camera is your perfect companion, ready to record antics at a moment's notice. Not only does it record HD MP4 video that plays nicely with sites like YouTube, it also snaps off sharp, 5 megapixel still shots with ease. Cram up to 8.5 hours of HD video footage or thousands of photos on ultra small Memory Stick PRO Duo media. Sony Webbie HD comes in orange, silver and eggplant.

Canon Vixia HV30

Canon Vixia HV30's user interface is similar to that of Canon point and shoot cameras like the PowerShot SD790 IS. It's flat, uses big block text, and has only four colors. The menus are drab compared with those of the Sony and Samsung camcorders, which are projected over images on colorful touch screens in a way that gives them a 3D feeling. What's worse, Canon Vixia HV30, unlike the hard drive based Sony or JVC Everio GZ-HD10, can bog you down with its in video navigation.

You can't jump through recorded video via DVD style chapter menus, but instead need to fast forward and rewind manually to get to the spot you're looking for on the miniDV tape. For some people, though, tape based recording is preferable. If you're the kind of person who will rarely have your camcorder cross paths with your computer, then the miniDV format of Canon Vixia HV30 isn't a major drawback. MiniDV requires much less maintenance than drive based camcorders do.

When you run out of room on a tape (each one holds 60 to 120 minutes of video, depending on quality), you just slap in a new one in and you're good to go. Once the memory on, say, the Sony HD-SR11 is full, you have transfer the video to your computer before you can shoot more. Image quality in video produced by Canon Vixia HV30 was terrific. The only flaw was that, like the Samsung SC-HMZ20C and JVC Everio GZ-HD10, Canon Vixia HV30 produced images that showed a trace amount of purple fringing in high contrast areas (where ceiling lights meet dark ceilings, for example), but the fringing was not as pronounced as with the other two models.

(Sony's HDR-SR11, on the other hand, showed no fringing whatsoever.) When moving from indoor to outdoor lighting, Canon Vixia HV30 had no trouble auto adjusting white balance, so colors always looked accurate. Even though it doesn't feature face detection, as the Samsung and the Sony do, the camcorder was still quick to autofocus on faces. Images were sharp, too 0.75 inch text was legible on screen in footage that was shot from more than 10 feet away. Canon Vixia HV30 has some interesting recording options. It can capture 1.920 by 1.080 high def video in three different modes 60 fps interlaced, 30 fps progressive, and 24 fps progressive.

Thirty fps, the speed at which many TV shows are shot, is great for extracting frames from the video to use as still images. The 24 fps option simulates motion captured on film a very cool effect. In test video shot at 24 fps, the on camera motion did look noticeably different than in comparable 60 fps video. Video editing software isn't included. Canon's bundled "Digital Video Solutions Disc" is misleadingly titled at best. The software doesn't capture video, only still images. The camcorder's HDV video format, though, is compatible with many third party video editing programs.

Mac users can rely on Apple's iMovie '08 (included on newer Macs running Leopard), and PC users should turn to Microsoft's Movie Maker 6 (part of Windows Vista). The top of the camcorder houses a slot Canon calls the "Accessory Shoe." Canon branded accessories, such as lights and shotgun stereo microphones, can snap onto this slot to add more functionality to Canon Vixia HV30. You may not need an extra mic, though. Sound produced by the built in stereo recording on the HV30 was superb not as outstanding as the Sony HD-SR11's built in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround recording, but remarkable nonetheless.

HP RELEASES NEW NETBOOK

HP has released a new Mini netbook � the HP Mini 5101.The HP Mini 5101 has an elegant design coupled with good build quality. It has better specifications than its previous version � the HP Mini 2140. The Mini 1501 has a 10.1 inch LCD display. Its specifications are as follows:Processor: Intel Atom N280 1.66 GHz ProcessorMemory: Up to 2 GB DDR2 RAMStorage: Up to 320 HDD/ 80GB SSDDisplay: 10.1

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ACER ASPIRE GEMSTONE SERIES

The Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue series has two new additions � the 15.6 inch Acer Aspire AS5536 and 17.3 inch Acer Aspire AS7735Z.Both models are aimed at entry level to mainstream laptop market. They offer DDR3 memory and enough power to handle HD media fluently. The new notebooks are available in an attractive sapphire design called Gemstone Blue. They have HD displays with 16:9 aspect ratio and

GATEWAY TO RELEASE AMD-BASED NETBOOK

Gateway has announced the release of its new netbook � the LT3100. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz AMD Single-core Athlon 64 L110 processor and Radeon X1270 graphics card. The LT3100 has an 11.6 inch LED backlit LCD screen having a 1366 x 768 resolution. It weighs just 3.14 pounds and measures 1-inch in thickness. Up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM can be installed on this machine. Hard Disk capacity is 250GB

DELL INSPIRON 11Z GOES ON SALE

Dell�s Inspiron 11z is slightly larger than an average netbook. This thin-and-light notebook has an 11.6 inch screen. It weighs just 3lbs with the 3-cell battery. Inspiron 11z uses a low-end Intel Celeron 1.2GHz 723CPU with GS45 integrated graphics. Other specifications include 2GB DDR2 RAM and a 250GB 5400RPM HDD. The notebook is available for $399. Needless to say, it lacks features like an

MSI OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES X-SLIM X400 NOTEBOOKS

MSI has officially announced the release of its X-Slim X400 notebooks. At just 1.5 kg, the X400 will be one of the slimmest and lightest laptops around. It will have white interiors, personalized color bezels and a glossy finish. SpecificationsProcessor: Intel CULV processorGraphics: GMA 4500MHD integrated graphicsDisplay: 14-inch 16: 9 aspect ratio, 1366x768 resolutionMemory: 2GB DDR2 800MHz

PORTABLE DVD PLAYER FOR NETBOOKS

Logitec has announced a portable DVD player for netbooks. It can read single layer as well as dual layer DVDs. The player can also be used as �boot disk� in the event of a hard disk crash. As netbooks are getting smaller and smaller many manufacturers have started removing extra components like the DVD drive. While mobile professionals are much less likely to use the DVD drive while traveling,

LENOVO G550 REVIEW

The Lenovo G550 is an updated version of the Value Line G530. Unlike the G530 which had a 16:10 screen, the G550 has a 16:9 screen. Lenovo Value line G550 SpecificationsProcessor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2.00GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)Operating System: Microsoft Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (w/ SP1)Display: 15.6-inch glossy 16:9 display (1366x768)Graphics: Intel Graphics Media

ULTRASLIM ADVENT ALTRO TO BE RELEASED SOON

MacBook Air fans who couldn�t buy the notebook because of its price may find a cheaper alternative in Dixon�s Advent Altro and Advent Altro Elite. That said, these notebooks are similar in design to MacBook Air, but their specs are different. The Advent Altro is a CULV model running on the Intel Celeron processor with 3GB of RAM and 120GB HDD. It has a 13.3 inch display and comes with a metal

GB RELEASES BUDGET NETBOOK

GB has released its new netbook � the X1200. It is currently sold in the OEM market for $332. X1200 is ultraportable and can easily claim to be the first netbook that is truly affordable. It is not yet available in the retail market. The netbook weighs just 1.35kg. It has the following specifications.Specs:Processor: Intel Atom N270 running at 1.6GHzHDD: 160GBMemory: 1GBDisplay: 12.1" (1280 x 800

HP MINI 110 XP NETBOOKS NOW AVAILABLE IN PINK AND WHITE

The HP Mini 110 XP Netbooks are now available in Pink Chic and White Swirl designs. If you decide to buy the netbook in one of these colors, you will have to shell out an extra $20. The new colored Mini 110XPs will have the same internal components as the original � Atom N270/N280 processor, 10.1" LED WSVGA LCD, 1GB DDR2 RAM and up to 32GB SSD or 160GB spinning hard drive. The new colored models

GOOGLE ANNOUNCES CHROME OS FOR NETBOOKS

Google plans to release its Linux-based Chrome Operating System by the second half of 2010. Google is still developing its Chrome operating system which is actually an extension of its web browser which goes by the same name. Google Chrome will be light on your resources and is basically aimed at netbooks. Reports indicate that the Chrome OS will be available for both x86 and ARM processors.

ASUS EeePC 1101HA

It's basically a larger version of the EeePC 1005HA and a lot thinner than the EeePC 1000HE, measuring just 11.3 by 7.7 by 1 inches (HWD). ASUS also did a tremendous job hiding the bulk of the 6 cell battery it's practically flush with the base. The Acer Aspire One (A0751h) and Toshiba mini NB205, on the other hand, have their battery protruding awkwardly from the back. At 3 pounds flat, the 1101HA is as light as the Acer A0751h (3.0 lbs) and a half a pound lighter than the Lenovo S12 (3.5 lbs).

The 11.6 inch widescreen is what separates the 1101HA from the rest of the field. It's the same screen found in the A0751h and the Gateway LT3100 (review coming shortly), making this trio the only ones to ship with this rarity in the United States. The vast majority of netbooks and even popular ones like the ASUS 1000HE and the Toshiba NB205 use 10 inch widescreens and the drab 1.024 by 600 resolution ASUS EeePC 1101HA's 1.366 by 768 one is more desirable from a multimedia perspective. An 11.6 inch widescreen is not the biggest on a netbook, though.

Both the Samsung NC20 (21GBK) and the S12 have 12 inch widescreens and 1.280 by 800 resolutions. And it's only a matter of time before you see netbooks with 13 inch screens. Like the Acer A0751h and the Gateway LT3100, ASUS EeePC 1101HA uses a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, and this is not a coincidence. Intel is basically telling vendors that if they were to stray from the tech restrictions being imposed on the netbook market, there will be repercussions. In this case, the Z520 isn't as fast as the N280 (1.67GHz) processors found in the ASUS 1000HE, Toshiba NB205, and HP 5101.

ASUS, however, did find a solution to counter this setback. Like its previous netbooks, it includes software that allows you to over clock the processor. Using its SuperHybridEngine and if you activate the Super Performance mode, the 1101HA is essentially over clocked to 1.83GHz. It also has a battery mode that lets you conserve energy (it essentially sets the processor back to its normal clock speed. Of course, a processor can only get you so far ASUS EeePC 1101HA, unfortunately, is restricted to 1GB of memory and Intel integrated graphics.

In the Super Performance mode, the 1101HA surpassed the Acer A0751h by a mere 5 seconds in video encoding tests. Against the ASUS 1000HE and Toshiba NB205, ASUS EeePC 1101HA couldn't keep up with their faster cores, trailing them by a wide margin. A lower clocked Atom processor has its advantages, though. The 1101HA's 63Wh battery delivered a MobileMark 2007 score of 6 hours 50 minutes, placing it right up there with the Samsung N120, HP 5101, and the ASUS 1000HE.

Toshiba Mini NB205-N210

Toshiba Mini NB205-N210's footprint (10.4 by 8.4 0.8 inches, HWD) would have been roughly the size of the Samsung N120 (12GBK) (10.7 by 7.4 by 1.2 inches, HWD) and Asus EeePC 1000HE (10.3 by 7.3 by 1.1 inches) had it not been for the extended battery that sticks out by about an inch (The other two have extended batteries that protrude downward from the base). It's as thin as the Acer D250-1165 (10.3 by 7.4 by 0.8 inches) and exactly the same size as the more expensive NB205.

The glossy black plastics aren't breaking any molds, design wise, and the design even has a name Fusion Edition which Toshiba uses to exaggerate a basic In mold process (plastics infused with patterns) used in netbooks like the HP Mini 110 (1030us) and Lenovo IdeaPad S12. The money you save buying Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 instead of Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 won't get you the choice of colors (Brown, Pink, and Blue) and textures that are available with the latter. The common 10 inch widescreen is another reason why Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 is more affordable than most netbooks (It's rumored that Intel charges extra for straying from this size).

Case in point
There's a price premium for 12 inch netbooks like the Lenovo Ideapad S12 and Samsung NC20 (21GBK). This size also means that the screen is limited to 1.024 by 600 resolution, like you'd find on other netbooks with 10 inch screens such as Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Asus EeePC 1000HE, and HP Mini 110. There areexceptions, though the HP Mini 5101 has an option for a 1.366 by 768 resolution ($25), and the Sony VAIO VPC-W11XX comes standard with it, but at a cost ($500 for the entire netbook).

Paying slightly less for Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 than the NB205 also means a smaller keyboard. The 93% keyboard isn't terrible and brings back the classic look when every other netbook is trending to those that have isolated keys. My only gripes are that the Control, Alt, and Fn keys (I'm a big Windows shortcut guy) are half the size of the main ones (adding the tilda key to the same row caused this aberration), and it pales in comparison to full size typing experiences found on Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Samsung N120 (12GBK), and Lenovo IdeaPad S12.

Both it and Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 have the best navigating experiences on a netbook. The 1.67GHz Intel Atom N280 processor is the natural progression for netbook makers that used Atom processors in earlier products, and 1GB of memory, 160GB, 5400rpm hard drive, and Intel GMA 950 graphics are nothing out of the ordinary. That said, performance scores video encoding and SYSMark 2007 Preview ones, specifically were in line with those of Toshiba Mini NB205-N210, Samsung N120, and Asus 1000HE. There's really no performance advantages here until netbook makers make 2GB of memory standard, or include Nvidia's Ion graphics platform (for better 3D graphics).