Dell today are launching their brand new Inspiron Zino HD mini PC range.

The Zino HD can pack quite a punch for its diminutive size. Measuring up at just 197mm square and 89mm tall, the Zino HD can manage to fit in a Blu-ray player, up to 1TB of storage space and an AMD X2 6850E 1.8GHz 512k processor and ATI Radeon™ HD 4330 512MB graphics card on the high-end models. Its small size and customisable faceplates make it a nifty addition to any home cinema solution.

If you're looking for just a little PC to sit on your desktop without any HD bells and whistles, the Zino HD also ships with Windows 7 Home Premium to handle any word processing, emailing or internet browsing you may need to do.

"The Inspiron Zino HD proves again that great things can really come in small packages," said David Clifton, Director of Consumer Marketing, Dell Europe. "It is a fashionable and functional computer that is small enough to fit almost anywhere in the home and can be personalised for the style-minded."

Prices start from £299 for the most basic model. Click here to browse the Dell shop.

Here's a quick spec sheet:

• Ultra-small form factor designed to fit almost anywhere.
• Easy personalisation with 6 colour choices and 3 pattern choices for Inspiron Zino HD.
• Choice of AMD Athlon processors.
• Up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory.
• Up to 1TB internal hard disk storage.
• Combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo.
• Integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option.
• Optional wireless keyboard and mouse.
• Built in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-1 media card reader.
• Integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics card.
• Four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear).
• Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

IBM have announced plans for a new cloud computing service called the Smart Analytics Cloud, offering online storage and tools to its users.

It hopes to use the service to bolster its market share, but will face stiff competition from Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, Azure from Microsoft and Google's continued forays into cloud computing.

IBM are also set to launch an internal cloud computing model called Blue Insight. It will offer a petabyte of storage (1,000TB) to IBM's staff around the globe.

Cloud computing is already proving to be a big boon to businesses, with the industry purportedly worth $3.4 billion this year.

Acer are set to launch two new notebooks to coincide with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Official sponsors of the games, Acer are readying a limited edition of their Aspire 1410 CULV Notebook.

The 1410 notebook will be packing Windows 7 Home Edition with an 11.6-inch LCD LED back lighted screen displaying a 16:9 ratio. The Aspire 1410 will also feature an Intel GMA 4500MHD GPU, an Intel GS45 Express Chipset, up to 4GB of RAM and will come with a 250GB HDD.

While there are fewer details available for the Aspire 4810T Olympic special, the notebook is said to be a special edition release within the Acer Timeline series.

No word yet on whether the notebooks will ship with a chilly-weather battling thermos though.

Via: Akihabara News

ASUS and Toshiba's PC division are in partnership talks, according to ASUS chairman Jonney Shih.

ASUS have seen steady growth in the netbook market, and are looking to have completely overtaken rival manufacturer Dell by 2011, a move which would make them the third largest PC vendor.

Toshiba have an estimated 5% global share of the PC market, a sizeable portion which would certainly bolster the ASUS plans for expansion.

While Shih has admitted that talks with Toshiba have begun, no deals have yet been finalised.

First announced back in July, reports from Tech Crunch and Reuters are suggesting that the source-code to Google's Chrome OS could be released later this week.

Chrome OS is set to be stripped back affair. Its emphasis will be on speed and ease of use, and will initially be pitched towards the netbook market. There will also be a focus on cloud applications and internet use.

Google hopes that success in the portable market will build up a following loyal enough to take on the might of Microsoft's own Windows OS

While it will be interesting to get an early insight into what Google's Chrome OS will offer it's users, especially in relation to the fledgling cloud computing platform, we will have to wait until 2010 for a full retail release of the product.

Older readers probably remember her as the legendary Blue Peter presenter, alongside Peter Purves and John Noakes, but now she's moved from sticky back plastic and old bottle tops to market her own range of computers for the over 50s.

Available from her money-saving website, Discount Age, which she founded a year ago, the SimplicITy computers (get it) have been produced to help mature and technophobic computer users in the UK.

With no start up screen or log in requirements SimplicITy takes the user to a menu screen with just six options to choose from: email, browse the web, chat, about me, documents and video tutorials, presented by Val herself. Options are laid out clearly with big, onscreen buttons with large text.

Two models are available: a desktop with a single core processor for £299 including VAT and a mini desktop with a dual core processor costing £389. A complete package with screen, keyboard, mouse and stereo speakers costs £435 and £525 respectively. Each computer includes simple set-up instructions and a manual reproducing the video tutorials for those who prefer to read. Additionally, buyers will receive a free membership of Val's website, Discount Age , which offers a wide range of discounts off various products.

http://www.discount-age.co.uk/simplicity_computers/

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Canon are set to launch the imageFORMULA P-150 portable duplex scanner on Monday 9th November, and Tech Digest were on hand at Canon HQ today to have a test.

Weighing less than a bag of sugar, the P-150 is incredibly compact. It measures up at 280 x 95 x 40 mm when closed, folding out to 280 x 222.7 x 202.2 mm to reveal the loading tray. It'd easily fit in a hand-bag or "man-bag", and is light enough to not be too much of a hassle when travelling.

Despite its size, the imageFORMULA P-150 packs a lot of punch for a scanner so small. Capable of 15 pages per minute/30 image per minute duplex scanning in black and white and 10 ppm/10 ipm in full colour, it churns through paper work at a pretty pace.

In a nice touch, the P-150 is fully powered by USB, and thanks to built in software can be plugged into any PC and used instantly, without the need to install any extra programs. Mac users can breathe a sigh of relief, as the scanner will be compatible with their systems also.

For the high-volume user, the P-150 will be compatible with Therefore software, offering remote management and streamlined indexing of scanned items. An Office-style UI will make the management system instantly familiar to most users.

According to Canon, 23% of office space is filled with filing cabinets. With the imageFormula P-150 not much bigger than a handheld gaming console, it could be a great solution for the space-conscious.

Look for a full Tech Digest review on the imageFORMULA P-150 early next week.