Dell Offers Studio Desktops With Optional Blu-Ray

Dell has announced the global launch of the Studio Desktop and Studio Slim Desktop - the newest additions to Dell’s Studio line designed to be the heart of home entertainment command centers and multimedia activities.

Featuring a sophisticated, glossy black design finish, Studio desktops provide great multimedia performance that is scalable to meet users’ specific needs and preferences

With a starting price of $549, these stylishly designed PCs are packed full of entertainment enhancers including standard graphic support for DirectX 10 and optional Blu-ray DiscTM players and built-in HDMI for easy connections to HDTVs.

The systems feature six USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 back), a built-in 1394a port, integrated graphics that support DirectX 10, HDMI output for connecting to an HDTV or high-definition display, Gigabit Ethernet and a built-in 16-in-1 media card reader on Studio Desktop.

Optional features include video card upgrades from ATI, Blu-ray Disc drives, Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, Built-in TV tuner with remote control and a Wireless keyboard and mouse.

Users can choose from the Dell Studio Desktop, with a traditional mini-tower chassis, or the Dell Studio Slim Tower, that's good for space-constrained environments.

Samsung Unveils Haptic 2 Mobile Phone

Samsung has recently introduced the Haptic 2 mobile phone. The second generation phone, launched in South Korea, has a large touch-screen display that also provides haptic feedback, information transmitted via the sense of touch, when using certain functions on the device.

The phone offers 3.2-inch screen, mobile banking as well as an internal DMB tuner to pick up over-the-air digital TV in Korea. It also brings a much sharper five-megapixel camera with flash and image stabilization as well as built-in storage of either 4GB or 16GB depending on the model.

The users can also personalize the vibrate mode and have access to more than three times the number of widgets on the home screen for quick access to weather and other info.

It will cost between 700,000 won and 800,000 won (US$700 to $800) in South Korea. There's no word from Samsung on when it might be available elsewhere.

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Right-side Labels and Chat

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Right-side Labels and Chat

With Right-side Labels enabled, you can see both the Labels and the Chat buddies at the same time, with one on the left and one on the right. (This is where that widescreen comes in handy.) If you prefer to move Chat instead of Labels, there is an option as well.

Panasonic Updates Toughbook Series With F8, T8, W8 Notebooks

Panasonic has announced major updates to its business-rugged notebook computer line with the introduction of the thin-and-light F8 and upgrades to the T8 and W8.

The F8, T8 and W8 all come with a Gobi 3G mobile broadband system that allows connection to high-speed mobile Internet services offered by leading network operators virtually anywhere in the world.

F8 is being called the world’s lightest 3G-ready notebook with a 14.1 inch wide display and an internal optical drive. Weighing 3.7 pounds, the Toughbook F8 has an integrated handle for maximum portability. With the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of RAM, bright widescreen LCD and a 160GB shock-mounted hard drive, the new F8 is the ideal tool for the road warrior who needs both an extremely portable and high performance PC.

The W8 is an Ultraportable Notebook with 12.1 inch screen and 7 hours battery life. The T8 is similar and is billed as a lightweight Tablet PC Alternative.

The 8 Series business-rugged products offer a range of embedded wireless options, including 802.11a/b/g/draft-n and Bluetooth 2.0.

The 8 Series Panasonic Toughbook notebooks will be available beginning in November 2008 with a price tag of $2,099 for the W8 and T8 and $2,499 for the F8.

MySpace Offers Free Streaming Music

MySpace is launching a new music service that blends free online radio, community and ways to interact with bands and discover new tunes.

In what is billed as an initial phase of a MySpace Music evolution, the website features unlimited ad-supported streaming of songs along with tools for creating personalized playlists and buying tunes online from Amazon MP3 store.

MySpace Music users can collect as much music as they like and store it "in the cloud" on the News Corp-owned website's computer servers, meaning they can access the tunes from where ever they wish via the Internet. People can opt to share playlists with friends on social networking website or to cloak their musical selections from others. Along with being able to listen to music free of charge, digitized songs sold at MP3 can be freely copied or moved between iPods or any other players because they aren't shackled by digital rights management software.

MySpace Music also has software tools to help bands and studios make money from their songs, tours, memorabilia, corporate sponsorships and other "e-commerce offerings."

Moving beyond Internet radio, MySpace aims to create a place online where people can interact with bands and share discoveries with friends while getting "all you can eat streaming" of music. MySpace said its partners in the "landmark joint venture" include EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and The Orchard.

After its US launch Thursday, MySpace Music is to expand internationally. The website is to be available in Spanish as well as English.

New in Gmail Labs: Right-side Labels and Chat

Gmail labs has introduced a new feature. Now, with Right-side Labels enabled, you can see both the Labels and your Chat buddies at the same time, with one on the left and one on the right. (This is where that widescreen comes in handy.)

If you want to move Chat instead of Labels, you can do that as well.

T-Mobile Launches Google’s Android Powered G1 Mobile Phone

T-Mobile has launched the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone in partnership with Google. The T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes the popular Google products that millions have enjoyed on the desktop, including Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube and others.

The T-Mobile G1 with Google delivers a premium, easy-to-use mobile Web and communications experience in one device, supporting 3G, EDGE, and Wi-Fi network.

Featuring a rich HTML e-mail client, T-Mobile G1 seamlessly syncs your e-mail, calendar and contacts from Gmail as well as most other POP3 or IMAP e-mail services. It also has a Global Positioning System (GPS), a 3.0-megapixel camera with photo-sharing capability and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

It comes pre-loaded with Amazon MP3 mobile application that allows customers to search, sample, purchase and download music from Amazon MP3 directly to their device.

“T-Mobile, Google and HTC share a similar vision for making the mobile Internet practical, relevant and fun,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp.

The T-Mobile G1 will be available in stores in the U.S. on Oct. 22, for a price of $179 with a two-year voice and data agreement. It will be available in the U.K. beginning in November, and across Europe in the first quarter of 2009.

Age Estimation Software To Tell Your Age

People who hope to keep their age a secret won’t want to go near a computer running this software.

Computer software being developed at the University of Illinois can fairly accurately estimate a person’s age by examining only the person’s face.

“Age-estimation software is useful in applications where you don’t need to specifically identify someone, such as a government employee, but would like to know their age,” said Thomas S. Huang, the William L. Everitt Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois

For example, age-recognition algorithms could stop underage drinkers from entering bars, prevent minors from purchasing tobacco products from vending machines, and deny children access to adult Web sites.

Estimating someone’s age is not an easy task, even for a computer. That’s partly because the aging process is determined not only by a person’s genetic makeup, but by many other factors as well, including health, location and living conditions.

The software can estimate ages from 1 year to 93 years. The software’s accuracy ranges from about 50 percent when estimating ages to within 5 years, to more than 80 percent when estimating ages to within 10 years.

Combined with algorithms that identify a person’s sex, age-estimation software could help target specific audiences for specific advertisements. For example, a store display might advertise a new automobile or boat as a man walks by, or new clothing or cosmetics as a woman walks by.

“All of this can be done without violating anyone’s privacy,” Huang said. “Our software does not identify specific individuals. It just estimates their ages.”

LucasArts Unleashes Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Thirty-one years ago, the first Star Wars movie galvanized audiences around the word, sparking a phenomenon that has spanned generations. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, one of the most highly anticipated video games of the year, marks the latest chapter in the epic story line.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force and casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice,” unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy seen through the eyes of this mysterious new character, who is armed with unprecedented powers.

“The development teams here at LucasArts, at Krome Studios, and at n-Space, Inc., have put a tremendous amount of effort into creating this all-new Star Wars story and innovative technology,” said LucasArts’ President Darrell Rodriguez. “I am extremely proud of what Executive Producer Haden Blackman and his team have been able to accomplish in The Force Unleashed, and can’t wait to hear what fans think of it when they’ve played through the game.”

LucasArts has released it for every available platform, Microsoft Xbox360, Nintendo Wii and DS, PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2 and PSP (PlayStationPortable) system.

According to LucasArts, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the company’s first internally developed title for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems. It also represents the first in-game collaboration between LucasArts and sister company Industrial Light & Magic. The end result is a game authentic to the world in which it is set, unique in its presentation and unforgettable as a Star Wars experience.

Link: LucasArts

Toshiba Announces 400GB Portable External Hard Drive

Toshiba has announced its latest offering, a 400GB external drive. The overall dimensions are 0.65 inch by 3.2 inches by 5 inches with a weight of just 6oz.

Compatible with both Macs and PCs, it's USB powered and ready to go wherever you need your data. Internal shock sensor and ramp loading technology helps to protect your drive.

The included NTI Shadow backup software eliminates the need to push a button or click an icon to activate a backup. Plug in the drive, load the software and you'll have peace of mind in knowing that all of your important digital photos, music, movies and documents are backed up, protected and portable. The software runs in the background capturing updates to files and automatically saving them to the external drive.

The Toshiba 400GB external HDD will be available in Electric Blue, Gecko Green, Hot Rod Red and Carbon Grey colors.

Link: Toshiba

Apple To Replace faulty iPhone USB Power Adapters

Apple has announced that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating the risk of electric shock.

Apple had received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold. Although no injuries have been reported, Apple has urged users to exchange them. Replacement adapters will be available from October 10.

The company said the ultra-compact USB adapters in question have metal prongs that can break off. They were supplied with 3G iPhones sold in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and several Latin American countries, and would be exchanged.

In the meantime, the users have been urged to charge their iPhone 3G by connecting it to their computer with the USB cable that came with their iPhone or by using a standard-sized Apple USB Power Adapter (with fold up prongs) or with a third party adapter designed to work with the iPhone, such as a car charger.

Details on the exchange program are available on www.apple.com/support/usbadapter/exchangeprogram.

Eltrinex Introduces MobilePC 10.2-Inch Netbook With 320GB HDD

European electronics manufacturer Eltrinex has releases a 10.2-inch netbook, sporting a 320GB hard drive, which is not only larger than the hard drives you find in most netbooks, its larger than the hard drives you’ll find in most full sized laptops.

The Eltrinex MobilePC is equipped with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M processor and 1GB of RAM, while Windows XP is the user interface. An external DVD-RW drive that connects via a USB is also part of the package. The notebook is equipped for a quick connection to the Internet thanks to a built in 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi module, an Ethernet jack and Bluetooth connectivity.

For expansion, buyers get just two USB ports, one of which will be occupied by the DVD-RW drive. A multi-format card reader is built into the chassis and a VGA output allows an external screen to be added. No battery life specifications are printed for the 2200mAh battery.

The 2.6lb Eltrinex MobilePC starts at an equivalent of about $700 in Europe, topping out at about $760.

Helium Leak Shuts LHC For Two Months

The giant Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most expensive scientific experiment, will be shut down for at least two months, scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in Geneva said Saturday.

According to a press statement, "the most likely cause of the problem was a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, which probably melted at high current leading to mechanical failure."

The mishap resulted in "a large helium leak" into the collider's tunnel.

The leak means that the LHC will be down for at least two months, because workers must now warm up the faulty sector of the tunnel in order to repair it. The liquid helium is used to cool the LHC's magnets, which guide protons and accelerate them so they can be smashed together, down to within 1.9 kelvins (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of absolute zero.

CERN researchers must warm the damaged section so they can fix the problem and this will take a while. The operating temperature of the LHC is of minus 271.3 degrees Celsius (minus 456.3 degrees Fahrenheit).

CERN officials said a full investigation is currently under way.

FATE 3D Fantasy Action RPG Game Released

Macgamestore and WildTangent on Friday announced the release of FATE, a 3D fantasy action role playing game for the Macintosh. It costs $19.95 and is available for download as a demo version now.

In FATE, you play as a boy or a girl accompanied by a dog or a cat as you travel through caverns, dungeons, mines and tunnels on a quest for adventure. Each level is randomly generated and populated with magical items and weapons to discover. The game features more than 100 different monster types with 400 item types.

You can cast spells, buy and sell treasure to improve capabilities, transform your pet into powerful creatures and gain fame by completing quests and defeating legendary creatures.

System requirements call for a G4 or better (including Intel) and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.

Microsoft Offers New Entertainment Features To Zune With Software Release

Software giant Microsoft has now made available the Zune 3.0 software update for the owners of their Zune digital media players. This latest software update brings a lot of new functionalities on the Zune.

Users equipped with the Zune 3.0 software update can download music directly to their players, either over a home wireless network or through Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 9,800 McDonald's restaurants in the U.S., courtesy of Internet access provider Wayport.

“Wayport is pleased to be working with Microsoft to make it easier for Zune users to access music on the go,” said Dan Lowden, vice president of business development and marketing for Wayport.

Zune users would also be able tag and purchase songs directly from the built-in FM radio and tap into new, personalized music recommendations and programming.

Zune customers have a choice in how they acquire music - they can pay per track or choose a Zune Pass subscription. Zune Pass subscribers can download or stream music from their Zune or computer interchangeably, all for a flat rate of $14.99 (U.S.) per month.

Microsoft also released pricing for new Zune players. Pricing starts at $130 for the 4-GB model, $150 for 8 GB, $199 for 16 GB, $230 for 80 GB, and $250 for 120 GB.

iPhone 3G Named Gadget Of The Year

Apple's iPhone 3G has won a public vote to find the year's best gadget, beating strong competition from three games consoles, a budget laptop and a balloon-shaped iPod speaker system.

The latest version of the mobile that combines a phone with a music and video player was chosen by readers of Stuff magazine in its annual Gadget of the Year awards.

The magazine described the iPhone 3G as "a faster, cleverer version of an already remarkable phone". The phone's first incarnation, launched in Britain last year, won the coolest gadget prize at last year's ceremony.

Other nominees included Sony's PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii Fit and the B&W Zeppelin iPod speakers.

Stuff's Editor Fraser Macdonald said the nominated products were judged on their performance, design and value, as well as "that elusive cool factor".

"Having our readers vote for a number of the awards has been fascinating," he said. "They are the ones out there on the street buying gadgets and so they are a great barometer."

ASUS Launches Skype Certified AiGuru SV1 Standalone Videophone

ASUS has unveiled the AiGuru SV1, the world's first Skype Certified videophone dedicated to unlimited video calling over the Internet. Boasting a large 7" display and a built-in webcam, speaker and microphone, the WiFi-capable videophone lets users make unlimited video calls for free to other Skype users without the need for a computer.

"The AiGuru SV1 is Skype's first foray with a partner into the videophone category," said Jonathan Cristensen, Skype's general manager, mobile and hardware devices. "The videophone offers the benefits of video calling to a much wider audience, allowing friends and families to share their worlds face-to-face without being tied to a computer."

The ASUS AiGuru SV1 features a large, high-resolution 7" TFT LCD and an integrated webcam, for the best video calling quality. The ASUS AiGuru SV1 also features a built-in microphone and speaker supporting exceptional sound quality. Users who wish to have privacy during their calls can use a standard mini-jack headset and microphone.

With its WiFi capability, small footprint and rechargeable battery power system, the ASUS AiGuru SV1 also offers convenience in its portability.

The ASUS AiGuru SV1 will initially be available for pre-order on September 18, 2008 in Europe and North America. It will be on sale at the beginning of October 2008 priced $299.95. The videophone will be available in retail outlets in the Asia Pacific region later this year.

View The Internet In 3D

An Australian company on Thursday launched a free tool it says offers web browsers a world-first opportunity to view the Internet in three dimensions.

Melbourne-based ExitReality said its application allows users to turn any regular website into a 3D virtual environment, where an avatar representing them can walk around and meet other browsers viewing the same website.

Founder Danny Stefanic said ExitReality allows you to view not just one website but the entire World Wide Web in 3D."

Compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome Internet browsers, ExitReality includes a 3D search engine, which gives the user access to the biggest repository of 3D objects and worlds on the Internet. It's free and easy to get started. After a quick 3.7MB download, the ExitReality Internet browser plug-in is installed and a button with the ExitReality logo appears on the browser. Visit any web page and click on this button to convert the 2D webpage instantly into a 3D place.

Browsers can use the tool to turn their social networking pages on sites such as Facebook and MySpace into a virtual apartment, where photographs are displayed on the wall and links to friends are "doors" leading to other apartments.

One of the most exciting features of ExitReality is that it allows users to decorate or customise their own 3D webspace with 3D objects.

Similarly, using ExitReality on video-sharing website YouTube creates a virtual cinema, where the browser's avatar sits next to other users also logged on to watch the clip they have selected.

Stefanic said such effects made the web more interesting for users, meaning they were more likely to spend more time browsing the page

It's an opportunity for any Internet user to connect with friends, meet new people with the same interests, and create a virtual home.

Gmail Labs offer Forgotten attachment detector

Gmail Labs now offer a Forgotten Attachment Detector. Many of us have experienced the embarrassment of having sent a message without attaching the file we said we were going to attach. Turn on the Forgotten Attachment Detector in Labs, and you'll get an alert if you mention attaching a file but forget to do so.

It also offers the Mark as Read button. If you're tired of digging into the "More actions" menu every time you want to mark unread messages as read, just turn on this Labs feature to add a "Mark as read" button to the top of your inbox.

Read the complete post at Gmail Blog

Gmail Labs adds new Reply add-ons

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Reply add-ons

Gmail Labs has added three new reply features.

Quote selected text
When you just want to reply to one small part of a conversation, deleting lots of irrelevant text is rather annoying. This Labs feature should make your life easier. Just highlight the text you want to include in your reply, hit the keyboard shortcut "r" to reply, and the compose template will be just what you selected!

Note: This doesn't quite work in Chrome or Safari yet, but it will in a few weeks.

Default 'Reply to all'
This Labs feature, which makes reply all your default selection.

Vacation time
This function lets you compose and schedule your vacation autoresponse while you're planning your vacation, rather than while you're on vacation. And scheduling is as easy as it is in Google Calendar.

Read the complete post at Gmail Blog.

Gmail Labs adds 3 new features for labels

Gmail labs has released 3 new experimental features, all of which are deal with Labels.


Custom label colors, by Mark K


If the 24 standard color choices aren't your thing, enable this feature to create your own custom color combinations. Instead of choosing one of the standard colors from the label drop-down menu, click "Add custom colors," pick your palette, hit "Apply," and enjoy.





Go to label keyboard shortcut, by Bruce D

Never have to click on a label again. Instead, enable keyboard shortcuts and press "g" then "l" to display the "Go to label" pop-up. Start typing, and your labels will be filtered as you go. You can use the arrow keys to select a label and hit "Enter" to select one.


Powertip: The pop-up searches each word in your labels for a match, so if you have multiple labels with the same prefix, simply add a space, dash or slash after the prefix and search for the second word. For example, typing "labs" will display labels named "gmail labs," "gmail-labs," or "gmail/labs" but won't display "gmaillabs."


Navbar drag and drop, by Anatol P

If Labels are more important to you than your Contacts, you can switch them around with this Labs feature, which allows you to reorder the items in Gmail's lefthand navigation bar using drag and drop.



To enable any features offered by Gmail Labs,

1. Click on Settings link.
2. From Settings page, click on Labs.
3. Enable whichever features you fancy.

New Gmail now available for IE6 too

The new Gmail code base includes major performance improvements and offers new features such as colored labels, group chat and rich emoticons, invisible mode, AIM integration, Gmail Labs, an updated contact manager, and remote sign out.

The newest version of Gmail pushes modern browser technology to the limit, so initially it was not available to those of you who use IE6. Over the last few months, Gmail team worked with the IE engineers at Microsoft to address these issues: they released a critical update to their JavaScript implementation that fixed a performance problem with how the script engine allocates and frees memory.

If you use IE6 and have the latest IE6 updates from Microsoft installed (or the specific patch that's required), you'll start seeing the features listed above.

Better Gmail experience with Google Chrome

Google has launched Google Chrome, a new approach to the web browser that comes with a few features that can give you a better Gmail experience:

• A browser built for speed: Google Chrome features a new JavaScript engine, V8, that has been designed for performance from the ground up, so web applications like Gmail that use the browser to its fullest run lightning fast.


• More room for your stuff, less browser window: We've removed all the unnecessary clutter from the browser window to give you more room for your favorite applications and websites. If you use an application shortcut (below), you can launch Gmail in its own streamlined window that gives you as much working room as possible, without the URL box or browser toolbar.
  
  


• Application shortcuts: You can create an application shortcut to access Gmail straight from your desktop. Simply go to Gmail while you're using Google Chrome, click the page menu and select 'create application shortcuts.' When you double-click a shortcut icon, it opens in a streamlined window.


• Crash control: Every tab you use is run independently in Google Chrome, so if one tab crashes, it won't take the tab with your inbox down with it.

Ready to try it out? Download Google Chrome here.

(Chrome is currently available for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later and Windows Vista. Mac and Linux versions are being developed, so stay tuned.)

Google releases Picasa 3.0 with new features

Today, Google released Picasa version 3.0, the next generation of Google's photo management software and introduced a new "name tags" feature to help you automatically organize your photos based on who's in each picture. .

As per their post, 'name tags feature to help you automatically organize your photos based on who's in each picture. Gmail's contact list plays a key role in making name tags work: not only does it help you quickly auto-complete names as you tag the people in your photos, but any new contacts you create in Picasa Web Albums automatically become accessible in Gmail.'

Sending a picture to a web album is now as easy as specifying the album name in the subject, giving you an ideal way to upload photos from your mobile phone. (It's also great for forwarding pictures sent to your Gmail account directly into a web album.)

Check out the Google Photos blog for more information.