Gigabyte T1028 TouchNote

The Gigabyte T1028 is a one of the coolest little laptops I have seen recently. Announced back at CeBIT 2009, the T1028 is pretty neat. It has 10.1 inch 1042 x 600 LED backlit display which is standard on the device. It also has an Intel N280 1.66GHz processor or you can get it with the Atom N270 1.6GHz processor. It only comes with 1GB of RAM but is upgradeable to 2GB. The coolest features if this laptop has got to be the screen. Not only does the screen rotate for left and right and other directions, it is also a touch screen.

The feature list of this machine is also pretty good. It comes with the Windows XP Home operating system, Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset, 10.1 inch TFT-LCD WSVGA 1024x600 LED backlit display, 2.5 inch 9.5mm SATA HDD 5400, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 mic in port, one earphone out port, D-Sub, RJ45, Express Card, 4-in-1 card reader, and 1 DC in port.

The T1028 also has 2 1.5 watt speakers, built-in V2.1 bluetooth, a 1.3M pixel webcam, Ethernet 10/100BASE-T for LAN, 802.11 b/g/h/ wireless LAN or 802.16WiMAX wireless LAN which is optional, HSDPA support, and a Lithium-ion 4 cell battery which gives you around 4hrs of battery life or a Lithium-ion 6 cell battery for around 6hrs of battery life.

Also included by Gigabyte is their Smart Manager App. It provides the user with the ability to change between stylus or finger buttons which toggles screen rotation, the touch screen, adjusts brightness, turns the wireless on or off.

This little guy is definitely worth looking at. The rotating touch screen is definitley a high selling point but the other features are also really good.

BlackBerry Curve Rises Above Apple iPhone

Smartphones are the popular way to go right now for cell phone users. The possibilities with such a device are endless and people all over the world are finding new things to do with them.

Apple's iPhone has long been the reigning champion in the smartphone market but now a new device has dethroned the "king" and taken the spot as number one. According to the Q1 smartphone sales released by the NPD group, Blackberry phones took three out of the top five positions and took out the iPhone 3G from the top spot. This is mainly due to the fact that the Curve is available on the four biggest U.S. cell phone carries and the fact that Verizon is giving a special buy one get one free sale for the Curve. Aside from the Curve, the other top spots were grabbed by the Storm and the G1.

But how did the Curve topple the iPhone 3G? The availability of four major carriers helps, considering the iPhone is still restricted to AT&T. The price is also better than that of the iPhone coming in at $99 with a two-year contract. A trend for Apple which could have helped them get bumped is that RIM's share of the market in smartphones jumped from 15% to a nice 50% whereas Apple saw shares drop 10%.

But who knows? People could be delaying their iPhone buying for both models due to the thought that Apple's new iPhone model may be announced next month. But one shouldn't underestimate the BlackBerry products. Their smartphones are among some of the best on the market with an added boost from low prices and a wide availability of carriers. You can get the Curve on four different carriers for $99 whereas you can only get the iPhone 3G on AT&T for a higher $199. The iPhone is still a good product and it will be interesting to see how the Curve and iPhone do against each other in the upcoming months.

Hulu App Rumored For Iphone

Engadget has just reported that Hulu is in the process of making an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that would allow apple users to watch hulu videos on their phone. The app is reported allow users to watch videos over both the wi-fi and 3G network.

About Hulu
"Hulu is an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips at Hulu.com and other online destination sites — all for free, anytime in the U.S." Hulu is pretty much a youtube that has full length tv shows, movies, and clips for free, but at the cost of 30 second commercials every 15 minutes. Check it out yourself at Hulu.com

Hulu will not be the first company though to come out with an app like this. CBS’s TV.com, Joost, and i. TV all have similar apps, but none of these have near the fan base that Hulu has. The app is rumored to be scheduled to be released in the next few months on apple app store.

Google Android is Not Science Fiction

The iPhone is one of the most wide spread phenomina since the rubix cube, with thousands of aps and just as many options it has become a top contender in wireless communications. Have you ever looked at your iPhone and wonder what drives it? Android is the underlying foundation and operating system developed by Google and later enhanced by Open Handset Alliance for mobile devices. The system relies on the Linux kernel for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. Android allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries. Applications can be written in other languages such as C but the paths may not be supported by Google.

The Android Platform was released in November 5, 2007 along with the forming of the Alliance consisting of 48 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Android was released by Google under the free-software and open source license Apache. Open source makes it harder for the “search giant” to corner the market in wireless aps. The Android project just keeps growing, with giant companies coming on board; like Sony Ericson and Toshiba. However, Blackberry and Palm are notably in the game.

Many other companies are creating phones that will run Android like Moterolla, Acer, Sony Ericson, and Samsung all of whom are planning to release Android based phones in 2009.

Android is not without its criticisms, Wikipedia reports:

“Tethering (internet connectivity to a laptop or pc via the cell phone) is forbidden by T-Mobile USA and Google has banned such applications for their customers. However, tethering applications are still available for non T-Mobile USA users.[100] This also means that the apps can be carrier specific as chosen by Google.[101]

Android uses a Linux kernel, but does not contain a full Linux stack. Its specific nature makes it difficult to reuse existing Linux applications or libraries.[102]

Android does not use established Java standards, i.e. Java SE and ME. This prevents compatibility among Java applications written for those platforms and those for the Android platform. Android only reuses the Java language syntax, but does not provide the full-class libraries and APIs bundled with Java SE or ME.[103]”

At only a year and a half old Android has taken the country by storm and while it does have its limitations I am certain that this is only a foundation of bigger things to come, and I think it is safe to say we will all be looking forward to what comes next.

Apple iPhone OS 3.0

The iPhone. One of the amazing marvels of modern technology. There is already so much you can do with the iPhone and you may be wondering what else is there? Could there possibly be anything else? Well iPhone enthusiasts, I have great news, there is.

On March 17, Apple announced the schematics of the iPhone OS 3.0 , the latest version of the most advanced mobile platform in the world. But that isn't all Apple had in store for the audience. Apple, in addition to showing off the innovative features, gave members of the iPhone Developer Program instant access to the beta of the iPhone OS 3.0 software and SDK with over 1,000 entirely new API's.

Everything just keeps getting better and better for all of you iPhone users. The iPhone OS 3.0 will have 100 new features when it hits this summer. Among these new features is the ability to search your iPhone, cut, copy, and paste things, send photos, contacts, audio files, and location MMS, and even read and compose email and text messages in landscape. These combined with the big list of other features is sure to get any iPhone user all tingly in their stomach.

In addition to 100 new features is the 1,000 new API's for developers. Members of the iPhone Developer Program can build applications that do more with the new SDK(software developers kit). With this, developers will be equipped with the tools that allow them to enable in-app purchases, including subscriptions, additional game levels, and even new content. Developers can also create apps that connect peer to peer through Bluetooth as well as communicate with hardware accessories and use Apple Push Notification service to provide alerts.

Also with the SDK you get the ability to embed maps within your applications with the new Map Kit framework. The Map Kit works with Google Mobile Maps Service which features panning and zooming current location, geocoding, and custom annotations. You can also get iPod Library access. With this you can access music, podcasts, or audio books in from a user's iPod library directly from your application via the updated Media Player Framework. This allows you to play, repeat, and shuffle songs or entire playlists. You can even create sequences of songs using custom sequences. Also with the SDK you can use the new External Accessory framework. Now you can communicate with "Made for iPod" hardware accessories attached to iPhone or iPod Touch by wirelessly using Bluetooth or by using the 30-pin dock connector.

Needless to say iPhone users will be more than pleased with the new Apple iPhone OS 3.0 and SDK. iPhone enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to when this hits this summer.

Flip MinoHd

The Flip MinoHD is the latest product from Pure Digital Technologies which is an upstart company that has turned the camcorder market around with the digital camcorders. It is a simple concept with a tiny handheld video camera reduced in size. It is as compact as an iPod, has no tapes and needs no Fire Wire. There is a USB jack on the top that connects on a Mac desktop with standard MPEG-4 video files ready to use.

It is designed to be simple sleek and easy to use. The power button is on the side and the small, high resolution screen on the back lights up. The red record button is on the back. In only 4 seconds after getting it out you can be recording HD video. It is black with a chrome band across the front, circling the lens, and continuing along the rear edge.

The MinoHD holds 60 minutes of 720p video into its 4 GB of flash memory. It has a 2x digital zoom but digital zoom shows enlargement artifacts and loses detail. The microphone is omnidirectional and picks up speech from ambient noise very well. The audio is recorded in mono and encoded in 64 kb/sec AAC.

The battery is not removable and recharges via USB just like an iPod. With the screen only being 1.5 inches it is still very bright and clear. The MinoHD is used for convenience and are easy, fast, fun and you can easily record video without all the hassle of using a tape.

Spb Pocket Plus 4.0.2

Everybody has a pc these days and one of the most usefull features we have on our pc is the ability to put a shortcut to something on your desktop.Shortcuts make it easy to get to most of the programs we use with one easy click of the mouse. If you have a Windows smartphone and you've always wanted these same features than look no further because the Spb Pocket Plus is here.

You get a Today screen plug-in with the Spb Pocket Plus that displays shortcuts to programs in different tabbed categories like a Connect tab. The Connect tab has shortcuts to the Connection Manager, Internet Explorer, Messaging, and tons of others. An added bonus is the ability to customize your tabs just the way you like them like the location of an icon in the tab or the size of the tab.

What else comes with the Spb Pocket Plus you say? Well how about a battery monitor? With the Spb Pocket Plus you get a small battery monitor that rests at the top of the screen which provides you with a visual guide to the life of your battery. The best part is that the battery monitor does not interfere with your other applications meaning you will always have the information without having to give up priceless screen space. The Pocket Plus also gives you unlimited customization options that gives you the ability to turn features on and off or change your program's appearence to make it just the way you want it.

Probably the feature that users will appreciate the most is a close button that, believe it or not, does exactly what it is supposed to do, close things. If you have an older version of Windows Mobile then you know that when you hit the "x" button your app doesn't close it just minimizes causing you to minimize and back up multiple applications making your smartphone lag and work very slow. But with the Spb Pocket Plus your "x" button actually closes an application. and if you want to see a task manager with a list of running programs and a shortcut to close them then you simply need to tap and hold the close button.

You can get added ZIP support to your Windows Mobile Phone Explorer with the Pocket Plus which lets you view and edit file extensions and attributes and also allows you to check the size of the folder. One more niffty feature is an on-screen navigation button that assists you in navigating one folder up inthe File Explorer.

With the Spb Pocket Plus, Internet Explorer becomes a full-featured browser. Internet Explorer gets support for tabs similar to Internet Explorer 7 on your desktop. With the Pocket Plus you can also easily save web features and quickly view page source information and access the search feature.

And just when you thought I was done I got to tell you that the Pocket Plus comes with over 30 skins for a truley unique look and the newest version comes with quick scrolling for documents and lists. Overall this app looks pretty sweet and If you want take the Spb pocket out for a test drive then go to the Spb website for a free trial download.