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Top 3 Netbooks for Home, School and Work

Dean Sherwin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:53:34 +0000

Netbooks are becoming more popular because they’re more portable than the very portable laptop and have all the working power into the bargain. Plus they pack more punch than even the best of smart phones. Here we have what I think are the best three netbooks for their tasks.

Home

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook

This is a great little curvy computer running the most popular of OS among netbooks – Windows XP. It has 1GB of RAM which is into laptop territory and is great for surfing the internet and taking care of all those tasks. The reason why this is the best netbook for the home is because of the price. At just $299 it’s a fine purchase to make to fill the gap when someone else is using the family PC or you just want to relax in bed and check you e-mail or RSS. It also doesn’t look and feel cheap like other netbooks for the same price. It can run for over five hours playing video and using software so it’s ideal for entertainment and heavy usage.

School

Asus Eee PC

This one is slightly more bulky than the one mentioned above but it packs more of a punch and it has an extended battery life for those long cramming sessions. The keyboard is also much better for typing on than the DELL.

It has 1GB of RAM but a 1.66GHz processor while running XP.

It weighs 3.4 pounds which isn’t too bad when you compare it to the laptop you could have been lugging around between classes. It looks good and ticks all the right boxes for students. The price tag of $400 isn’t to bad either.

Work

HP Mini 5101

This small netbook is definitely the way to go for work and business. It stylish and discreet with a minimalistic design and has sharper angles than the other too. Again, it has 1GB of RAM and a 1.66GHx processor doing all the work for you. It’s really sturdy and solidly built however I don’t like how it lost its Express Card slot which was on the previous model.

Nonetheless, the 160Gb hard drive is more than enough to hold any projects (no matter how big) until you make it back to the office and the 10” display is the perfect screen for working on them along with the comfortable keyboard and track pad.

For ultimate gaming laptops, click here.

Dual Monitors: Why You Should Set Them Up

Dean Sherwin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:10:32 +0000

The vast majority of people have a single monitor. Even suggesting adding a second would baffle them.

‘Eh, why?’ they might ask while staring at you as though you just landed in a spinning saucer.

Here’s my answer.

‘Because productivity is increased, desktop size doubled and it looks AWSOME’.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter you’ll have noticed that I spent an hour last night hooking up a second 19” monitor in my office. As I write this post I currently have Microsoft Outlook and Trillian Astra running on the spare screen with my whole laptop screen available for work. If I want to check my e-mails I just move my cursor to the second screen and use it as though it was a different computer. Then just move it back to the left until it reappears on my laptop – then back to work!

Seriously, for anyone who is even a semi-hardcore computer user I would definitely suggest this quick tip. It’s as easy as plugging in the new monitor, going to display settings and setting the resolution of monitor number 2. Easy.

Twitter Peek Offers Lackluster Appeal

Luis Sandoval — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:43:29 +0000

Back in the early 90’s there was this song, “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…”. It’s this song that I sadly have to reference when mentioning the Twitter Peek. Unlike the song that had some redeeming qualities this doorstopper is the clunkiest piece of technology I’ve seen yet (a disclaimer, I do not own one).

This product is made by Peek. The same company brought you the horrors that were the Pronto Peek and the Meet Peek. I’m not sure why I would want any of these devices since my smartphone does it all, and when I’m not at my mobile, I’m at my desk.

Perhaps therein lies the truth. It’s not geared towards me, the tech savvy geek, but rather the Twitter uninitiated.Despite the millions of users, there are still many demographics who have not embraced it. What a simple bridge to get them to join.

Clever plan or failure upward? Too early to tell, but one thing is for sure, based on their past successes, the Twitter Peek might make a small splash.

The Twitter Peek can be purchased on their website or via Amazon.

PS3 Coffee Table Makes Gaming The Focalpoint Of Your Living Room

Steven Finch — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:15:15 +0000

I must admit that Im not much of a Playstation 3 person, more of a Wii person. However, this product is really making me want to buy a Playstation 3 and deck out my living room.

Stephane Perruchon is the designer of this glass topped table, with the base made up of two gigantic PS3 controllers. It’ll make your place look like the classiest dorm room ever! Which would be awesome if you actually still live in a dorm room, but otherwise, I’m not so sure.

Recyclable Paper Laptop That Can Actually Be Thrown Away

Steven Finch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:12:27 +0000

Laptops these days never seem to last that long. I tend to go through a new laptop every couple of years and when I get new laptop I always have the issue of doing something with the old one. Over the year this adds up to a lost of waste for me and im sure millions of people around the world have exactly same issue.

This big issue is something computer companies are always trying to rectify. Designer Je Sung Park has now taken the idea of a recyclable computer to new heights. His Recyclable Paper Laptop is made from pulp and reprocessed materials, and would be broken down into the same when all is said and done.

Wall of Sound! Is This The Best Speaker You Have Ever Seen

Steven Finch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:25:58 +0000

Who said size doesnt matter. The Wall of Sound weighing in at a sumo-esque 120 kilos (that’s 265 pounds) the WoS has a tube amplifier and 28 elements, each with its own handcrafted box, meaning it can pump 125W of sound out of its 3 x 4 foot frame.

Price = $4,495

The Wall comes from Brothers, but to me it doesnt seem like the best quality website and I was wondering if this is actually a real product.

IDG Tech Network Leave Adify and Move To DoubleClick

JVC About to Launch VHS, DVD, Blu-R and HDD Recorder

Augusto Alvarez — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:41:33 +0000

Yes, what you probably thought that you will never combine is arriving: A device for playing and recording VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray and HDD. And who is in charge of this invention? JVC, they are releasing the JVC DR-BH2550 in Japan in a few weeks more (December).

But wait, that’s not all, it also has a 250 GB hard drive, neat isn’t?

The idea actually, if you think about it, it is not all that strange. Recording from DVD to Blu-R it is not all that common yet, using a DVD recorder to replace a VHS it is not working either (maybe because there is none with an acceptable quality); so what do you may need? A device that combines all of them.

Some of other features that will include:

Supporting photograms of 1080, 60 and 24 pixels.
BD-Live for Blu-Ray interactive applications.
Bonusview, for Blu-Ray extras materials.
Support for Sony’s AVCHD.
USB ports and one slot for SD/SDHC memory cards.
HDMI.

Estimated cost? US1400

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Best Laptops for Gaming

Steven Finch — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:27:32 +0000

Online gaming is gaining very high popularity across the globe nowadays. So if u want to compete with the beat gamers of the planet u need to have the best gaming laptop in ur hands. Laptops with high graphics quality, high speed with sufficiently high RAM is mostly preferable by most gamers. Points to remember when choosing laptops for gaming are given below.

Graphics & Graphics

More gamers give prime importance to graphics. So u should be equipped with the fast and the latest graphics available in the market. Some of the well rated graphics chipsets rated by majority of gamers across the world includes ATi mobility Raedon 9700, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX. Also ATi Mobility FireGL V3200 is a high quality graphic card giving u high performance at lower power levels, saving battery. Some of more available chipsets are STMicro, 3D Labs, Matrox and many more…

Huge RAM

The higher RAM u can have the better it is because it is the RAM which determines how much graphics ur notebook computer can handle. Specially prefer Video RAM because this RAM is exclusively dedicated for handling graphics and visuals on your laptop. For even better visual performance there is a special Video RAM known as Windows RAM(WRAM) available.

High Speed

Once again the higher the speed ,the better it is. So instead of going for 4200rpm Hard drives go for 7200rpm hard drive which is 33% farter. Select Serial ATA Harddrives because it uses less power and is ideal for laptop specially if it is exclusively used for gaming. Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300; 8GB RAM; two 500GB drives; 17-inch display (1,920×1,200); dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M (2GB); 12.7 pounds

Some of the best Gaming Laptops in the market

Till now the fastest gaming laptop available is Alienware M17x having Intel 2.53GHz core 2 extreme quad QX9300 processor, 8GB of RAM, two exclusive 500GB harddisks, 17” display with NVIDIA GeForce GTX280M(2GB).

Some other best laptops are Alienware Area51M-15x ,Sony Vaio NW180J/S, iBuypower M865TU, Asus G51Vx-Rx05 having a minimum of 2GB Intel core 2 duo processor ,4GB of RAM which is very much high, minimum of 400GB hard drive with 15.5” display, minimum 512 MB above mentioned Graphics card installed which make them among top 5 gaming laptops preferred across the world.

This guest article was written by Amit Bhawani who writes different Laptops Guides at Laptops Next

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Roku Releases Two New Netflix and Amazon Video HD Streaming Media Players

Steven Finch — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:41:49 +0000

Roku is a new startup in the USA who has been making a lot of waves with their HD streaming media players. Roku lets Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand users stream HD videos on the cheap, with millions of titles.

Roku has now released two new models, the $130 Roku HD-XR that adds faster 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the cheap Roku SD, playing standard definition video at a rock-bottom price of $80.

That lower-end Roku SD is an excellent value, especially because most of Netflix’s and Amazon’s current offerings only stream in standard definition. You’ll also sacrifice an HDMI connector and optical audio in that Roku SD player, which might not make much difference, given that there’s no HD playback involved.

On the higher end, the Roku HD-XR offers another tantalizing feature in addition to its faster wireless-N Wi-Fi capability: there’s a USB port on the back, but currently it does nothing. Roku says as soon as the unit’s firmware is updated, that port will allow you to play video files from an external hard disk. This we gotta see. Let’s hope Roku includes support for lots of video types.

Movie Watch List: Watch and Download Free Movies Online with No Downloads

Presenting the First Windows 7 Tablet

Augusto Alvarez — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:11:39 +0000

Archos is presenting the first Tablet PC with Windows 7 incorporated, natively: Archos 9 PCTablet. Taking advantage of the touch-screen technology included within the new operating system. Now, with Windows 7 out in the market, you should expect to see a lot of these products in the next few months.

Want to know some of the features included in Archos 9 PCTablet?

VGA-out port.
USB and audio jack ports.
60 GB hard disk space available with an extra 25 GB for online use.
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and BlueTooth 2.1
9-inch screen.
FullHD support!
Intel Atom processor included.
1.7cms thick and 800g of weight.

And how much does it costs? £449.99 in the UK. That’s where it will only be available for now, or you can buy it from their website.

Here’s also a quick review made by TechRadar.

The netbooks seems that they are going to take the market (Windows 7 was already built thinking in netbooks), but having this devices available already, including a great OS like Windows 7, sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Microsoft Start To Sell Computers and Third Party Software on Their Online Store

Steven Finch — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:39:01 +0000

In a very surprising move, Microsoft has started selling computers and even third-party software via its online store.

This is a small part of a much broader push for Microsoft as they think that stores like Apple’s might bring in much higher margins for them and their products. Microsoft had said it would sell PCs at its brick-and-mortar stores, but it plans to open just two of those this year, including a Scottsdale, Ariz., location that opens later Thursday.

Early on Thursday, though, Microsoft revamped its online store, which had been an outlet only for Microsoft products. The remake of the online store comes just as Microsoft is launching Windows 7.

Clicking on laptops brings up a list of 10 models, organized by price, including two models below $750. The site also offers three Netbooks and a single desktop model, Lenovo’s $999 A600 all-in-one.

On the software front, Microsoft is selling Norton 360 and Adobe Photoshop, along with Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. Accessories include a lot of Microsoft keyboards, mice, and Webcams, along with flash drives and blank DVDs from other companies.

Apple Release New Magic Mouse, iMacs, MacBooks and Mac Mini’s

Steven Finch — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:00:49 +0000

As im sure most people are aware, Apple released new products yesterday and here at Crenk I wanted to just quickly run through them. RAck. r

Magic Mouse

Here it is: the new Magic Mouse, a single button mouse (with a software-controlled right click option) and a touch sensitive top surface that allows you to touch the mouse to pinch, scroll, and drag, just like a trackpad. The mouse uses two AA batteries and lasts 4 months on one change.

It costs $69 and is available at the end of October.

iMac

Fastest iMac yet. Big LEDC-backlit displays in 21,5 and 27 Inch 16:9 aspect ration. Wireless keyboard and mouse standard (check that mouse!). Fastest iMac yet. No surprise there.

The New Macbook

The new MacBook has a durable unibody enclosure (aluminum or plastic?), 1,08 inch thin, light at just 4.7 pounds, 7 hour battery. 13 inch LED backlit display and glass multi-touch display.

The New Mac Mini

up to 2,66Ghz with up to 4GB memory. Faster than ever. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor for graphics and Wi-Fi built in. Optional 500GB hardisk.

Black Nintendo Wii Limited Edition Is Coming To Europe Very Soon

Steven Finch — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:13:02 +0000

It has been announced that the Black Nintendo Wii tat is currently only available in Japan will be heading to Europe on November 6th.

The unit will feature the black console and matching WiiMote, Nunchuk and MotioPlus peripherals. Nintendo is also throwing in Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, some nice additions, although we still don’t have a price for the whole bundle.

Nintendo also plans to eventually offer the black colored Classic Controller Pro, although that peripheral won’t be available as part of the package.

While the bundle will go on sale starting November 6th the “general release” date won’t begin until November 20th.

Unfortunately Nintendo is still sitting behind their plans to only sell the white version of their system in the U.S

Apple To Launch iPhone in China End of October

Steven Finch — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:02:16 +0000

Apple (AAPL) will begin selling iPhones in China at the end of this month, company executives said during today’s Q3 earnings call. Apple will be launching with China Unicom and this is going to obviously be a great opportunity for Apple to gain even more market share in the smartphone market.

New details:

Apple will have 1,000 points of sale.
Plans will range in price from $18/month to $100/month.
With higher-priced plans, users will get their iPhones “free.”

Google Provides Virgin Airline Customers Free On-board Wifi Until 2010

Steven Finch — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:59:40 +0000

Google has long wanted to make the internet faster and provide internet to everyone in the world. Google has now taken this to the next level as they are going to sponsor free wifi from November 15th to January 2010 for all Virgin Airline customers.

This wifi service normally costs $13 for computers over long haul flights and $8 for smartphones and handheld devices. Google has tried to state that they are just aiming to ease passenger stress during the busy holiday season, but im sure they will be focusing their sponsorship to get customers to use Google products while in flight.

Unfortunately Virgin Airlines only services major airport hubs in the U.S. although that service still means tens of thousands of passengers will have free access during that promotional period.

Wii Cyberbike: Stay In, Save The World

Steven Finch — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:13:02 +0000

After the hydraulically controlled Afterburner cockpit, this is the biggest game controller I’ve ever seen. The new Cyberbike is a static cycle such as you might find in your local gym, but instead of zoning out to BBC news or MTV, you get to control a little Eco crusader, cleaning up pollution or some such by collecting packets from around a 3-d map on your cycle powered helicopter, or racing around cartoony looking tracks on a more conventional bike. It sounds a bit like a sweaty version of Pilotwings to me… You can also hook the cycle up to MarioKart on the Wii, although it’s not yet clear whether your pedal speed will reflect how fast your Kart will go.

If you’re one of the millions who bought a Wii fit, then this is probably right up your alley; I know I’d much rather use my own exercise bike at home than deal with the butt-sweat of a hundred unknown strangers on the bike seat down at the gym, but then I don’t like going to the public pool because I know the water I invariably swallow has most likely washed past some pensioner’s genitals before it gets to me. Another bonus is that you don’t have to freeze your butt off outside or dodge traffic on city streets. If only they had rigged the bike to have an electrical output so you could heat your house or power the Wii while you cycled then you could really save the world while you played the saving the world game.

I’m hoping that the Cyberbike will inspire other manufacturers of exercise equipment to produce Wii compatible machines – there was a rowing machine called the super GyRo back in the 90’s that had a stab at doing this (you could play a game where you tried to escape from a shark, a bit like the bleep test where you ran across the gym at school), but it would surely be easy to build a game to plug into your concept II computer – hell, there’s probably an app for it already.

WaterCar Python: World’s Fastest Amphibious Vehicle Goes 60mph on Water

Steven Finch — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:32:08 +0000

WaterCar Python is the fastest and highest performing amphibious vehicle in the world. The Python runs a Corvette engine with a dominator jet pump impeller drive.

The Python has been clocked at over 60mph and can go from 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds. Im sure that if they really worked on the design and made it look less like a Ford Mustang and more like a Porsche, then it could go a lot faster through the air.

Oh, and there’s one more thing: You’d better be really into water sports, because this quick and versatile machine will set you back a cool $200,000.

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Giorgio Armani Mobile Phone with Windows Mobile

Steven Finch — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:30:37 +0000

I dont know why but obviously some people think that their iPhone looks tacky with their Giorgio Armani suit. Thus, you can now purchase your own Giorgio Armani branded mobile phone.

The phone itself is branded in bronze and currently costs 700 Euros, plus it comes running Windows Mobile 6.5 which im not too sure is a good thing.

Giorgio Armani have partnered with Samsung to produce the phone and it features a 3.5 inch AMOLED screen, 8 GB of storage, a 5 megapixel camera and built-in GPS. Still, if you’re a business-minded millionaire (think “new money” vs. “old money”), WinMo’s built-in productivity tools, such as Word and Excel, will keep you connected to work even when you’re hobnobbing at high-class social events. Armani, in a statement, said the phone is “perfect for today’s managers.”

Monopoly City Streets: A Real World Game of Monopoly

Dean Sherwin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:10:24 +0000

So remember all those times when you ‘accidentally’ tipped the Monopoly board over on Christmas Eve because you sister was winning? Well, you cant do that in the version of Monopoly I’m about to talk about because it would involve tipping over planet Earth which is impossible.

Basically, MonopolyCityStreets.com incorporates a real-world map in which you can buy any street and develop it as you would in the normal game by building houses and hotels. You’re given $3,000,000 to start off with and you’re competing against loads of different players from all over the world.

You can invade their territory by developing around them and eventually demolishing their buildings to force them into bankruptcy. But watch your back because as Shakespeare’s Macbeth said; “there are daggers in men’s smiles”.

Overall, it’s a great game that you can log in and enjoy from anywhere at any time. Well worth a go if you want to sharpen your business acumen. Play here.

HP Pushing the mark with the Mini 311

Dean Sherwin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:16:51 +0000

Netbooks are becoming cooler by the day. I you’re going on holidays, on a journey or just need something light that can get the job done then a netbook is your best bet. However, they have their drawbacks – namely that they run an outdated OS, have bad graphics and are slow.

However, HP is looking to change all of that with their Mini 311 seen here in the picture. Basically, they have amped up the graphics and all of the other innards so that they’re approaching laptop specs (see list below). What’s more, it will soon begin to ship with Windows 7 instead of the current OS on the system – XP.

One bad bit is that you have to pay extra for a white lid and for a netbook, the price is already steep enough at the $400 mark.

Specs:

RAM: 1GB

OS: XP (soon to be Win7)

Hard Drive: 160GB

Processor: Intel 1.6GHz

********************

What do you think about the HP Mini 311?

Keep Track of Expirey Dates With Expire Track

Dean Sherwin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:16:50 +0000

Ever been surfing the net and you get a reminder telling you that your anti-virus software has just expired? Or how about work in/own a company and discover that a chunk of the stock has passed its sell-by-date? This is a common problem for everyone leading to useless products and lost cash.

Expire Track is a new web app that is specifically designed to track the expiry dates on products in the inventories of both companies and individuals. Accounts are free and it’s very easy to use. All you have to do is upload the product along with its expiry date and then set up reminders. When the date is approaching you’ll be sent a reminder by e-mail about the situation so you don’t find out too late.

This product can also be applied to individuals. Nowadays we have so many subscriptions, bills, taxes and the likes to pay that it’s so easy to forget. Using this product you can keep track of your car insurance, council tax, magazine subscriptions etc…

All of the tools there are extremely easy to use and managing a large list is simple given the great search function. Expire Track is available here.

Yamaha Clock Radio With a Wireless iPhone Cradle

Steven Finch — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:00:26 +0000

Yamaha has made a great looking clock radio that I might actually even think about purchasing. The Yamaha TSX-W80 has a great retro design with a wireless iPod/iPhone cradle. Charge your iPhone or iPod with the dock on top, or attach it to that “AirWired” wireless cradle for convenient remote operation.

There’s no pricing announced yet; it’s expected to ship in Japan in December, but that might take longer to reach these shores.

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Sony Launch Their First Touchscreen PC: VAIO L which has Windows 7 Multi-Touch Elements

Steven Finch — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:15:21 +0000

Sony launched a trio of new systems, which includes its first touchscreen PC. The new VAIO L supports Window 7’s own multi-touch elements for scrolling and zooming through content without needing special software.

VAIO L features include:

$1,300 price tag
24 inches 1080p display
2.7 GHz Pentium dual core processor
4GB of RAM
320 GB hard drive
DVD writer and more.

Higher-end models scale up to a 2.66GHz Core 2 Quad, 6GB of RAM, 1TB of disk space, a Blu-ray drive and a GeForce GT 240M to better decode HD video.

Pre-orders start today and will ship sometime in November.

Dell Adamo XPS To Be The Thinnest Laptop in The World

Steven Finch — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:01:30 +0000

Dell has revealed their new Dell Adamo XPS notebook which looks like it will overtake the MacBook Air as being the thinnest laptop in the market.

Unfortunately the device was only shown for a moment before it was tucked away with no other details provided at this time. It does however look like the unit uses a new way of flipping open which in turn allows Dell to thin out the overall design.

Once the specs on the Dell Adamo XPS are released we will have them all here on Crenk.

iPhone Pong Case That Reduces Radiation

Dean Sherwin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:34:42 +0000

Radiation from cell phones is known to cause cancer and other ailments. After the Millennium when the average person walking down the street had a mobile phone the tabloids carried reports of how radiation from mobile phones will be seriously damaging people’s health. As of now, the problem has existed for such a short period of time that it is difficult to precisely say how dangerous it is – one thing’s for sure; new cell phones are producing as much radiation as ever with GPRS and 3G thrown into the mix.

Now, there is a new silicon case for the iPhone that will eliminate much of the radiation coming from the device without diminishing the signal strength. Scott Estro from Dig Communications, the company who make the ‘Pong iPhone Case’ talked to Crenk.

“The Pong iPhone Case is a sleek silicone skin containing a proprietary technology module that redirects cell phone radiation away from the user’s head. The case reduces the specific absorption rate (SAR, a mobile industry standard of measurement) by 60% and reduces intense ‘hotspot’ cell phone radiation (Electric Field Intensity) by 85%.”

As you can see from the screenshot, it doesn’t look bad at all but at almost $60, it may be priced a little high. But then I suppose you cant put a price on your well-being.

See www.pongresearch.com to get a Pong iPhone Case.