Author: Daniel Sung
Acer Aspire One – now in size you can actually type on
With the novelty of finger-cramping netbooks wearing off rapidly, Acer has updated their beautiful Aspire One with 11.6″ version complete with high-definition WXGA LED screen and 160GB HDD.
It’s powered by an Atom CPU and Mobile Intel US15W Express chipset but, despite the increase in screen size, is now just 1″ thick and will only weigh a little over 1kg leaving it nice and portable. The LED screen means there’ll be less of a power drain and now that Acer is offering a 6-cell as standard, they’re claiming up to 8 hours battery life. Nice work if you can get it.
No word on number of USBs etc but it does include LAN, VGA, an all-in-one card reader, multi-gesture touch pad and all your connections in the shape of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G. Dolby Pro Logic sound plus microphone and webcam rounds off what looks like an excellent contender for the next portable computer to own. The only choice remaining is whether you want it in white, dark blue, red or black.
Acer
eBay nutcase of the week: Turbonegro bass player's hair
I have two important pieces of news for fans of Norwegian punk band Turbonegro. First bassist Thomas Seltzer, aka Happy-Tom, has cut off his hair, and second, he’s put in on eBay.
It’s a pretty healthy, if grey mottled, looking mop and the description is that it’s fresh from the scalp. The bidding’s currently reached $190 but you’ll be pleased to hear that the item is protected against loss or damage up to $100 of that.
And, just in case you were wondering if it really does belong to Tom, there are a number of photos on the auction site featuring both Mr Seltzer and his former thatch. All Turbonegro fans still conscious have 4 days 3 hours to react.
(via CMUdaily)
SHINY VIDEO PREVIEW: HP Pavilion DV2 12.1" notebook
This week sees the launch of the hotly anticipated, 12.1″, entertainment notebook from HP, the latest in the Pavilion range. We had a glimpse of the DV2 at CES a few months back but nothing beats a closer inspection with Shiny Shiny’s Zara, so here she is for a tour of the £499 piece of computing kit.
It seems to have a good selection of ports and, although the screen isn’t up to HD content, I’m glad to see an HDMI port in case you’d like to strap the thing to your TV for all your downloaded high res programming, of which you’ll have space for up to 500GB. The other option is the external optical drive which can be upgraded to Blu-ray presumably at moderate cost.
Got to say that the whole package looks rather sexy and it’s always good to see trust in an AMD processor. Looking forward to having a play with this one first hand
Project PUMA: 35mph, two-seater vehicle from Segway and GM
GM motors and Segway have teamed up to create a two-seater version of the battery-powered travel device set to achieve top speeds of 35mph for around an hour at a time.
The PUMA – Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility – project started 18 months ago and is not expected to come to market “any time soon” but offers an interesting alternative to both bicycle and car transport with both a covered over body and front and rear stabilising wheels for use at traffic lights and junctions.
Should PUMA ever come to the consumer, it’s not a hell of a lot more likely that they’ll be legalised in the UK and part of me wonders how green an option they’d be anyway given they’d probably require the building of new, special lanes and that, when you taken into account the fuel used to charge up their Li-ion batteries, they only actually give you an equivalent to 70 miles per gallon. Still, they look like a lot of fun.
(via USAToday)
Calls for Iraq-based first person shooter to be banned
British Army officers are calling for a Konami video game to be banned because it’s set during the Second Battle of Fallujah which took place between 7th November and 23rd December 2004 in Iraq.
Six Days in Fallujah was developed using the photos, videos, memories and stories of the US Marines at the battle, known at the time as Operation Phantom Fury, and it’s intended for worldwide release on PS3 and Xbox next year.
Tim Collins OBE, a former army colonel told the Telegraph:
“It’s much too soon to start making video games about a war that’s still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history.”
“It’s particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game.”
With the war still going on it’s quite easy to see Mr Collin’s point but the president of the US firm developing the game, Atomic Games, said:
“For us, the challenge was how to present the horrors of war in a game that is entertaining, but also gives people insight into a historical situation in a way that only a video game can provide.”
“Our goal is to give people that insight, of what it’s like to be a Marine during that event, what it’s like to be a civilian in the city, and what it’s like to be an insurgent.”
It’s clearly a very delicate subject with the true test being exactly how well the game deals with the subject matter, how sensitively it shows the issues on both sides of the conflict and whether you’re able to play from the perspective of both the inhabitants of the city and the soldiers.
What I do know for sure is that until someone plays it, it seems a little early to go calling for a ban, particularly when it’s been effectively endorsed by people who were actually there. Doubtless more on this as the release draws near.
(via Telegraph)
WIN GADGET SHOW LIVE 2009 TICKETS!!!
Right you lucky people, listen up because I’ve got 10 pairs of tickets to give away to the sold out Gadget Show Live 2009 tech extravaganza taking place at the Birmingham NEC the weekend after next – that’s 17th-19th April for those without their calendars to hand.
There’ll be all sorts of interactive treats on display including a gaming zone, Segways test track, Super Theatre featuring the Channel 5 show’s stars and the amazing How To Theatre with us, the Shiny Tech Crew.
“So, how do I bag myself these tickets hotter than the sun on a paritcularly hot day,” you’re asking yourself. Well, the answer is simple. All you have to do is answer this very simple question:
On what date does the Vodafone HTC Magic (G2) go on sale in the UK? Is it:
a) 1st May 2009
b) 1st June 2009
c) 1st July 2009
A good place to have look would for the answer would either be the front page of Tech Digest or our mobile phone section.
Send your answer along with your name and address to our competitions e-mail account before 11:59pm on Monday 13th April. I’ll chose 10 lucky winners at random and get you your tickets in time for the show. Good luck.
Terms and Conditions
1. The prize is one pair out of 10 day tickets to the Gadget Show Live 2009 17th-19th April
2. Only open to UK residents, over 18 years old.
3. One entry per person.
4. Promoter reserves right to disqualify any entrant deemed to breach T&Cs.
5. Prize subject to availability and at the discretion of Promoter.
6. Promoter reserves right to cancel/amend prize draw at any time without prior notice, or substitute prize with that of equal/greater value.
7. Prize non transferable.
8. No cash/credit alternative will be offered.
9. Taxes, insurances, travel and other expenses unless stated by the Promoter, are winner’s sole responsibility.
10. By entering the winner agrees to take part in event publicity upon request, including use of name, address, image and audio/audio visual recordings.
11. If you don’t wish to be added to the Tech Digest mailout please write DON’T SUBSCRIBE in the subject header.
Home Office website in porn link shocker!!!
A page on the Home Office website has been linking to a porn site for an unknown length of time. The page was from the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism and the link involved was supposed to direct all clickers to a body called the Technical Advisory Board where you might normally be able to find information about new rules in regulations. In this case however, it redirected people to some Japanese pornography.
It’s unclear how long the link was there or the kind of sexual acts on display on the other side but, according to a spokesperson from the Home Office, the link had originally been to a perfectly safe healthy part of the internet until the business on the other end became defunct and was replaced by pornographers. Of course, it may have just been that this business found another more viable model of survival in the current economic quicksand and wanted some solid traffic.
The Home Office will be investigating the matter. I shall be applying for a position on the task force.
(via BBC)
Kangaroo could be hopping Channel over to France
So, it looks as if the poor developers behind the Competition Commission scuppered Project Kangaroo will not have all their good work go to waste. No matter that the BBC et al couldn’t get the multi-channel video platform up and running in UK because Orange’s parent company, France Telecom, is looking to take it across the Channel.
A spokesperson for France Telecom said: “We are examining this company and we see of course that it could be interesting. Nothing has been decided but we can confirm we are examining it.”
It’d be a bit of a shame for the consumer to see what should have been our service disappear off elsewhere but, with a suspected £20m invested in the project in the first place, you can hardly blame them.
(via Brands Republic)
Commodore 64 laptop from the House of Heck
The irrepressible Ben Heck has come up with another gem, this time in the incredibly old school shape of a Commodore 64, only now it’s a laptop. It’s got the best part of all the original innards, minus the odd bit shaved off to actually get it to fit into foldable form, and sits pretty, if clunky, with a 15″ LCD and original on/off rocker switch on the side.
Take a look at BH’s site for a better glimpse of how the magic happens but personally my favourite touch is the use of beige to really give it that 1980s computer effect. Good work once again, Mr Heck.
Dell Inspiron 545 – pretty, slim desktops with silly colour names
Having successfully sexed up their notebook image, Dell is now at it with desktops to prove to the world that the 5kg space hogs are actually worth it. The plan, once again, is plaster the thing with colour and encourage you to take it out from under the desk on put it on show for the world to see.
Ladies, gentlemen – meet the Dell Inspiron 545 with Intel Core 2 CPU which will come in a choice of slim and mini-tower starting at a very modest £279 and packing up to 8GB of RAM once you’ve most likely doubled that figure.
If Intel’s not your thing, Dell’s also bringing out the 546 desktops with either Athlon 64 X2 or Phenom X4 CPUs but sadly in just plain, old black.
No specifics time-wise other than “later this spring” but do bear in mind that if you go for the smaller case options you are limited in a few areas including an HDD of up to 750GB rather than the full horror of 1TB. Still, all a very good step forward in this market.
Dell (via Computer Shopper, pics T3)
Dell E4200 notebook review:
