Honestly, my dad's got a Netbook coming out this Autumn. He's pitching it against my mum's, which is simply a lower-spec version of the one my sister put out last year.

The point is, everyone's releasing bloody mega-portable Eee PC-alikes these days - even companies we all thought had long since stopped existing. Like Commodore here, with its all-new UMMD 8010/F, a netbook featuring pretty much what we've come to expect from one of these new wave mini laptops. Brace yourselves, the technical specifications paragraph is coming up next...

Yes, it wasn't just one MP3 player that Samsung brought out at IFA. The second in the their "emotionally sensitive" range is the smaller Samsung YP-U4, aka. the Litmus.

It weighs in at just 27.5g, has a very reasonable battery life of 16 hours and comes in 2GB and 4GB versions. Unlike the Diamond, you won't have to wait until next month to get one. As for the price, though, that's still a mystery.

Samsung

For more IFA 2008 goodies, click right here.

The m-Qubic video messaging system is basically a post-it note on the fridge, but for the 21st century. You hit "record", relay a quick message, and in tens of millions of years a highly advanced civilization will discover a fossil recording of you getting really pissed off with your flatmates eating your cornflakes. They'll deduce that we were a warlike, aggressive race, and will blow up the rest of the planet in spite.

Check out ShinyShiny Zara's review in the video above. "the kind of thing you might get in your stocking and use once or twice". Harsh, Zara. Harsh.

For more IFA 2008 coverage, use your clicking finger here.

Related posts: IFA 2008: Logitech unveil Squeezebox Boom, Digital Video System and Z-500 wireless speakers | Get closer to the stars with William Shatner's new Video Autograph company

In the same vein as the Creative Zen Mosaic, the Nokia Prism, the and the Reading Hexagon, Samsung has decided to release another shape-based gadget in the quadratic form of the Samsung YP-Q1 MP3 player. It's all about the buttons apparently.

But enough of me. Let Zara talk you through the 2.4" TFT LCD screen, the fact that it comes in either 4GB, 8GB and 16GB versions and its offerings of DNSe 3.0, for better audio quality, and upscaling technology, which mercifully you can switch on or off just in case you're a purist. It's out next month.

Samsung

For more IFA 2008 coverage, click here.

In the video above, Dan checks out a company called Onlink who have a great idea for a product - solar panels built into your laptop case. Their cases have two pockets - one for your laptop and one for two big solar panels that then attach to your laptop and help you charge while on the go.

Great idea in theory, but I'm a little concerned about the efficiency of those panels. People don't often use their laptops in direct sunlight, so I would hope that the efficiency of the panel is good enough for it to be usable on cloudy days or through windows. That would move this gadget from "just showing off green credentials" to "whoppingly useful" on the Geere scale of gadget usefulness.

Onlink don't have distributors yet, so if you're a distributor and you'd like to bring the power of the sun to the people of the UK (or anywhere else, for that matter), then you should get in touch with them.

Onlink

For more IFA2008 goodness click here.

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This page will be updated over the coming days with all of our coverage from IFA 2008. IFA, along with CES, is one of the big consumer electronics trade shows in the calendar.

Dan's going down on behalf of Tech Digest, and Zara and Susi from Shiny Shiny - our sister site - will be going down, whereas I'll be staying home with my feet up and a cup of hot cocoa, getting all the coverage out onto the site. You should also keep an eye on our Twitter feed here.

Friday
Dan meets the 10" Medion Mini netbook here
Dan also meets the LG X110 netbook here
Gary sums up the Phillips 22OXW9 Lightframe monitor here
Duncan and Lucy warred over the prettiness or lack thereof of the Harman/Kardon GLA-55 speakers here and here
Gary takes a look at the Philips 42PFL9303 42" flat screen here
Gary was impressed by the tidiness inherent in the Philips Essence LCD here
Duncan liked the Harman/Kardon MS 100 all-in-one audio system here
Zara navigates three of the latest sat navs from TomTom here
Susi takes a look at a couple of gaming projectors from Epson here
Susi looked at a home projector from Epson here
Susi found EVEN MORE projectors to cover here
Susi showcased Cowan's new touchscreen media players here
Lucy summed up three new sets of Creative Gigaworks speakers here
Susi checked out Gear4's new iPod transmitters here
Susi admired the remarkably thin BDV-IT1000 speakers here
Andy gets stuck into four new high-def projectors from Epson here
Zara gets hands-on with the Samsung X360 here
Dan got really excited by the Fortune Sound Base G1 here
Zara shows off the new JVC Everio HD30 and HD40 here
James investigated the Epson EH-DM2 projector here
Duncan beat up Chuck Norris and his Rollei X-8 Sports camera here
Dan is dwarfed by a pair of massive speakers from Swan here
Dan is dazzled by a range of solar charging laptop cases here
Zara looks at the m-Qubic video messaging system here

Click over the jump for Thursday's coverage.

In the above video Dan is awed by a set of *massive* speakers from Swan. One is the size of a wardrobe. You can only buy them as a set, and each one its own costs in the region of £20k, but they make poor Dan look like a dwarf. Imagine the volume you'd get out of those... I'm off to have a cold shower.

Swan speaker

For more nutritious IFA2008 goodness, chow down here.

Related posts: Thin speakers | Ugly speakers