BLAST ALIENS ON YOU IPHONE WITH THE APP GUN

We’ve seen many different accessories for the iPhone from the normal bumpers and casings to the rather strange casings like the ping pong material, and now, here’s something way cooler than all those other non-functioning ones, an App Gun. Remember those games we see in arcades that allows you to hold a gun and start shooting at the bad guys or zombies? This is more or less the same but instead of having a big huge display in front of you, all you have to do is dock your iPhone onto it and you’re ready pull the trigger to start blasting aliens on the tiny screen.

The accessory, developed by AppToyz, comes with an accompanying augmented reality app that lets you shoot aliens in your actual environment. It’ll be available for a mere USD$30 because it doesn’t come with any state-of-the-art technology. Instead, all the App Gun do is tap the screen with a touch-friendly lever whenever you pull the trigger so it appears like you’re really shooting the little monsters. Unfortunately when it gets released in April, not in Malaysia I assume, it’ll only be accompanied with that one app but according to the creators, they said that they are hoping for other developers to take up the patented blaster and create other games and apps for it.

I know it’s a simple game that doesn’t take much skills or brains to play, but at least the creators of the App Gun is creating a different type of gameplay for users instead of the regular tap the screen with your finger method. More pictures after the jump.

REVIEW: IRIX 123 IP CCTV SYSTEM

Security cameras – especially the high quality dome type that records and streams live video in relatively good quality – aren’t the usual fare for regular offices like mine. We don’t stock millions of Ringgit worth of gadgetry, nor do we swim waist deep in cash money, so installing a CCTV system is far from one of the top office priorities.

With that said, a recent reshuffling in our seating positions has brought up a slight concern. Due to our new feng shui powered layout, only two people have vision of the main door from within the office. That means whenever anyone knocks on our unashamedly skinned door (anyone who’s been to our office will know what I’m talking about) or attempts to ring the bell (many have tried and failed), it takes actual physical effort to get up, walk around our desks and peer out to see who’s there.

In an attempt to conserve valuable physical energy, we decided to set up the IRIX 123 security camera fromgreenpacket. Network enabled, ready to stream and fully adjustable from the comfort of our very seats, it sounded like a brilliant idea.

Review continues after the jump.

AMD RADEON 6850 RECEIVES HIS ICEQ TREATMENT

With the word “ICE” in its name, you can pretty much guess what these graphic cards are made for. Featured in many of HIS previous graphic card offerings, the proprietary IceQ cooling solution is now available for their AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphic cards series and promises lower operating temperature which is usually associated with better performances together with more room for overclocking.

The company claims that the new HIS Radeon 6850 IceQ X series cards are more than 13-Celsius cooler and 7db more quieter than a reference 6850. HIS also stated that the cards are equipped with high quality components such as dynamic phase control PWM IC, solid stake choke and full solid state capacitors in order to make them more stable, efficient and last longer. Not bad indeed.

The HIS 6850 IceQ X series graphic cards is available in two version - the standard version with a stock 775MHz graphics core / 4000MHz memory clock and the Turbo version with a slightly overclocked 820MHZ graphic core / 4400MHz memory clock. Both are readily available in the market right now, so check them out at your favourite hardware retailers. Alternatively, you can also learn more about them at www.hisdigital.com.

RADEON HD 6990 POPS UP AT AMD’S REGIONAL EVENT IN SINGAPORE

“What a huge chunk of metal, plastic, computer chips and circuits…” – that was exactly my thought when I first saw the image above. The huge thing is actually the upcoming AMD Radeon HD 6990 and as indicated by the model number, it is soon-to-be the most powerful graphic card that AMD have ever released to the market. The card was teased to those who attended the company’s Asia Pacific Fusion Tech Day event in Singapore yesterday.

Spotting a single centre fan, the actual specification was not revealed; apart from that it is a dual GPU solution. The new AMD Radeon 6990 HD graphic card is expected to meet eager – and financially able – customers sometime at the end of Q1 2011. I don’t even want to guess the price; I’m already too scared by its physical looks.

NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 TI: THE LATEST ADDITION TO NVIDIA 500-SERIES GPU

For many, two months usually passes by in just a blink of an eye but I bet for graphic cards aficionados out there especially for those who belong to the NVIDIA camp, it most probably feel like forever. The wait is now finally over as NVIDIA have officially taken the cover off the latest NVIDIA GeForce 500-series GPU, the GTX 560 Ti.

Based on the well-known DirectX-11 ready Fermi architecture, the GTX 560 Ti is currently the most affordable GTX 500-series GPU with a base price of around RM 760 (USD 249). In terms of performance, a standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti is equipped with a graphic core that runs at 822MHz (graphic clock) / 1,644 MHz (processor clock) and contains 384 CUDA cores together with 8 tessellation engines. As for memory capabilities, the GPU is paired together with 1GB GDDR5 memory with a memory clock speed of 4,008MHz.

According to NVIDIA, all these numbers are equivalent to around 46-percent faster performance compared to their competitor’s offerings. Considering that the GTX 560 Ti is also available as overclocked version – some with graphic clock speed up to 1GHz – their claims seems pretty legit but of course, the best way to know this yourself is by checking it at your favourite retailers right now. Click on www.nvidia.com to learn more about the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

GOOGLE FINALLY OPENS ITS DOORS IN KUALA LUMPUR

Google SEA managing director Julian Persaud, Dato Mukhriz and Sajith (from left-right) at the opening of the new Google Malaysia office.

 

Riding on the back of Malaysia's 55.6% internet penetration and the fact that Malaysia also has one of the highest usage percentage for Google's Chrome web browser in Asia Pacific, Google Inc. have announced their deepening investment into Southeast Asia by opening a brand new office in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Headed by Sajith Sivanandan - Google's previous head of online advertising business for the travel sector in South East Asia -  the new office is a big step for Google to more efficiently bring its leading advertising platform, web services and search experience to users, advertisers and partners in Malaysia.

“We are delighted that Google has decided to set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. Their presence is a testament to their commitment to Malaysia as well as Malaysia's suitability as a regional multimedia hub. We hope that Google's entry will encourage more local businesses to go online and tap into international markets. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry looks forward to collaborating with Google more in the future,” says YB Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade & Industry.

“Malaysia is a very significant country in Southeast Asia in terms of its digital economy and tech-savvy population. We are excited to be investing in Malaysia and, through our search and display solutions, helping small and large businesses grow, reach new markets and contribute to the growth of the economy. We also have a very engaged set of local users with whom we look forward to interacting much more closely,” said Sajith Sivanandan. 

Google Malaysia is also currently hiring for its KL office and job openings can be viewed on their website, www.google.com.my/jobs in the near future. Welcome To Malaysia Google!

MALAYSIAN BUSINESSES GET A GLIMPSE INTO THE CLOUD FROM MICROSOFT

According to key decision makers in Asian businesses, virtualization and cloud computing are the top priorities for last and this year as opposed to business intelligence and enterprise applications  which were the buzz words of 2007 and 2008. Speaking at the inaugural Microsoft Cloud Summit in Kuala Lumpur today, both Gartner and Microsoft suggested that this has come about for Asian businesses because the economic situation in the next decade is expected to be more volatile and unpredictable than the last and with many companies and industries redesigning their business model in this post-recession economy, IT-enabled changes, such as cloud computing, will be a key strategic element if they are to react to sudden threats and opportunities.

“Now, is the opportune time to truly grasp this seismic shift that is happening around the world,” said Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia. He further said that this shift of focus towards cloud computing is taking place at almost all levels in the local market and in various verticals, and is especially apparent in local small and midsize businesses.

“The cloud means opportunity, and with opportunity comes change. It means new competitors, new focus, new innovation, and putting the right products and services in the hands of end users. We need to be mindful of our customers’ needs, balanced with their wants. Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver a wide range of cloud capabilities that address all of the dimensions and increase value to customers,” said Ananth, citing positive reception towards Microsoft’s multiple launches over the last 12-months covering Office, Exchange and SharePoint 2010. 

FACEBOOK IS RUINING MARRIAGES; MAYBE IT’S TIME TO GET A LIFE

It’s yet again another time where I need to emphasize on how people should get a life outside Facebook, it’s just a tool for you to connect with friends, share some pictures and some updates, and it’s definitely not something to be taken too seriously. There were cases of people killing their spouse because they changed their status to single and now, Facebook has been blamed for ruining marriages.

Why is that? Because the other half usually gets jealous that their husband/wife has recently gotten in touch with their exes. Of course if images of you and your ex having a rather intimate time together, hugging each other or having a romantic dinner together appears on Facebook, you will get into trouble, and if your other half has access to your account, don’t even think that you could ever get away with things like sending a sexy woman a message trying to get her number.

But just how serious is that matter? While we can’t be sure of statistics in Malaysia, it’s been found that 80% of U.S divorce lawyers report that social media evidence is now cited in divorce cases. According to a survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, one in every five marriages ends because of Facebook. What a sadistic statistic, maybe staying off Facebook once in a while isn’t such a bad idea after all.

FAN MADE TRANSPARENT IPHONE 4 CASING

Think the white iPhone 4 is cool? Well, it probably is, but it’s not like we can get our hands on an official one to check it out up-close and personal. But a white iPhone 4 is just so yesteryear, I think it’s better to just wait for the next generation of iPhone to see a white one however before that, here’s a transparent casing that just might be cooler than a white iPhone. It’s not official of course, some fan of apple decided to make his own see-through casing.

But of course it’s just a transparent casing, everything else underneath the phone are still original so what you’ll get is just the ability to look what’s under the hood and check out the battery in case you haven’t already seen so in websites like iFixit. Hit the break for more pictures. Alright, so it’s not as cool after all, but I must say, he did a pretty darn good job at modifying the casing himself, equipped with the Apple logo and text located behind the phone.

TM OFFERS FREE UNIFI INSTALLATION FOR THE NEXT ONE MONTH

Frankly speaking, the initial cost of having UniFi HSBB services at your home or office isn’t exactly low. While all the necessary equipments are given for free, customers have to fork out RM 200 as installation fee - sinceOctober 2010 - once TM has successfully deployed the service at their premise. If that is one of the reasons – apart from being outside of UniFi coverage area – that has been stopping you from subscribing the service, we have good news for you then.

TM has just announced that they are waiving the UniFi’s RM 200 installation fee for the next one month, starting from 15 January till 15 February 2011. This promotion applies to all UniFi VIP (residential) and BIZ (business) packages.

So if that sounds good to you, head on to UniFi official website at www.unifi.my or TM’s at www.tm.com.my to find out more about the service.

SONY PLAYSTATION FEST SETS TO TAKE OVER ONE UTAMA

Clear out your weekend plans, gamers; the Sony PlayStation Fest is in town! Scheduled to take place at One Utama, the good people at Sony Malaysia are really looking forward to make fellow button mashers and PlayStation fans alike busy with numerous activities throughout the 2-day event.

Among them is the showcase of PlayStation 3's latest title, the Little Big Planet 2. Not only that you will be able to check out the game there (and cop one home if you like it), the adorable Sackboy character from the game will be there as well for you to snap photo with. For Singstar Dance and PlayStation Move fans, Sony will also throw in competition for the game to spice things up a little.

The finale of Sony PlayStation 3 Gran Turismo 5 Asia Tournament Malaysia Qualifiers that was launched last month will also take place at the Sony PlayStation Fest this weekend. The finale will see twelve gamers from all over the country to race against each other to become the champion of the month-long tournament and the Malaysian representative to the Sony PlayStation 3 Gran Turismo Asia Tournament at Taipei Game Show next month. You don’t see these guys come together very often, so this is the best chance to learn a thing or two from some of the best Gran Turismo 5 players that Malaysia got to offer.

On top of all these, there will be plenty of Sony PlayStation 3 games to try out over there as well. So, if your fingers already started to feel itchy, do make your way to One Utama’s New Wing Entrance on 22nd and 23rd January 2011 for a cure. *evil laugh* For further information, head on to www.facebook.com/SonyMalaysia.

DISNEY MOBILE GOES ANDROID

Have you ever seen Disney themed phones for sale? So have I, behind glass shelves not deserving a second glance from me because they all share one thing in common, low end device with a pretty casing, but things are going to change. Disney Mobile has announced the arrival of an Android handset; finally, it’s not just about the pretty pink casing. This is the first ever smartphone device from Disney Mobile, which operates on the SoftBank network in Japan.

The phone will come with Android 2.2 and its looks will be based on the Sharp 003SH devicewhich bares a generous 3.8” display and that’s not all. The display will be a parallax, glasses-free 3D display with a whopping 9.6MP camera that can shoot 720p videos. There are 6 different casings to choose from for the phone and users will also get a @disney email address. Now, what’s a Disney phone without some pre-installed goodies inside? It will come with a collection of Disney apps, widgets, homescreens and icons as well.

Finally, a great Disney mobile device that doesn’t only revolves around pretty looks. And yes, it’s available in a non-pink color.

NVIDIA GEFORCE 500M GPUS ARRIVE TO LAPTOPS

After arriving to desktop back in November last year, NVIDIA have finally released the GeForce 500 GPU series for laptops. Designed to accompany the new 2011 Intel Core processors a.k.a Sandy Bridge, the GPU series is available in five different offerings as opposed to only two models for desktop computers.

The NVIDIA GeForce 500M GPU series are generally divided into two categories:

- Performance: GT 540M, GT 550M and GT 555M.

- Mainstream: GT 520M and GT 525M.

As per their desktop cousins, NVIDIA have packed tons of graphics technology into these GPUs for mobile users to enjoy and utilized with their applications such as support for DirectX 11, NVIDIA PhysX and 3DTV Play; together with NVIDIA 3D Vision for performance-oriented models of the GPU series. The NVIDIA Optimus automated power management technology also made a return to the new 500M series; definitely a big plus point for laptop users who are concerned about battery usage.

You can expect to see the new NVIDIA GeForce 500M series GPUs lurking into more than 200 laptop models from leading manufacturers out there throughout this year. For technical specification and further details on the new GPUs, head on to www.nvidia.com.

WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO? MEIZU M9 ROM PORTED TO HTC EVO 4G

Normally we see Shenzhen mobile phones strive to emulate more successful "western" handsets and some of them actually do an incredible job. You know what they say about imitation… In a strange parallel universe worthy move, someone has actually ported the Meizu M9 ROM to the HTC EVO 4G. The build is still in the developmental stages, but aside from some small changes and tweaks, it's pretty much functional. Question is, why would anyone want to do this to their phone? Answer: Because they can.

CISCO’S NEW LINKSYS E-SERIES WIRELESS HOME ROUTERS HIT THE MARKET

Recently, Cisco - through their Linksys brand - has introduced a new line of Wireless-N routers into our market called the E-Series. According to the company, the E-Series is designed to enable users to connect, manage and optimize their wireless connectivity more easily. This is made possible through the use of Cisco Connect, an easy-to-use network management software that comes together with any Cisco E-Series routers.

Recommended for wireless Internet sharing, printing, music streaming and home office productivity, the Linksys E1000 Wireless-N Router is the entry level model of the series and comes equipped with four Ethernet port for wired devices. For gamers and users that love to stream high quality contents, the Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless-N Router is more suitable for them as it is optimized for Fibre To The Home Internet services – the very architecture that TM generally use for its UniFi services. Not to forget, it is also equipped with four Gigabit network ports and furthermore, the E2000 also enables users to switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency to avoid clashing transmission and to improve network quality.

At the same time, Cisco has also announced the release of Linksys WAG120N Modem Router that combined an ADSL2+ modem, four-port Ethernet switch, wireless access point and router under one roof with an affordable price tag to boot. Just like the previous Linksys E-Series products, the WAG120N is also a Wireless-N device.

THE NEW KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS GREY RAM AND ULTIMATEXX SDHC CARD

While the new 2011 Intel Core processors might be using a new type of socket, it is a good thing that they are still running on the same market-wide memory module. Hence, the timing of Kingston’s new HyperX Genesis Special Edition Grey line of high-performance dual-channel DDR3 RAMs release into the market is just about right as more users are adopting the all new Intel P67-based motherboards for the 2011 line of Intel Core processors.

Available as 1600MHz and 2133MHz 2 x 2GB kits, it is not hard to differentiate between this special edition release and a normal HyperX RAM module as its heat spreader is draped in grey instead of blue in the normal release. Backed by a lifetime warranty, they also work fine with older Intel P55-based motherboards as well.

At the same time, Kingston has also announced the new super-fast UltmateXX SDHC card that meets the Secure Digital Association’s UHS-I standard. Runs at a maximum speed of 60MB/s for data reading and35MB/sec for data writing, the new flash memory card is designed for applications that require speedy flash memory such as sequential shots and HD videos recordings while at the same time offers the compatibility with slower Class 4, 6 and 10 devices. Available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities, it is scheduled to arrive at retailers later this month.

For further information about these new releases from Kingston, contact your favourite retailers or head on to Kingston’s official website at www.kingston.com.

GRAPHICS CARDS GO WIRELESS WITH KFA2'S GTX460 LEADING THE WAY

Cabling is the bane of every computer geek/gamer/HTPC enthusiast and nothing grinds my gears more than a flurry of ugly cabling in an otherwise pristine minimalist environment. Just about everything has gone wireless these days when it comes to computers; keyboards, mice, even networking has ditched its cabled heritage in favour of existing on the wireless spectrum. 

The latest in devices to go wireless in your beloved desktop PC is the graphics card. Yup you heard me right, KFA2 or Galaxy's GeForce GTX460 WHDI 1024MB PCIe 2.0 card features 5 aerials to stream uncompressed 1080p video from your PC to your WHDI enabled television. Before you get up in arms over having to make an indulgent purchase, the card also comes with a 5GHz WHDI receiver to use with your displays and will work to a range of about 100ft. 

I wonder what the gaming performance would be like for this, as it's just the same GTX460 that has already been released with 1024MB  of RAM. Hopefully there will be some use to this technology and it's still early days with the GTX460 WHDI being the pioneer. No word on availability or price just yet. Safe to say it's not going to be cheap and the people who buy it, will be doing so "just because they can".

日本‧最新3D電腦無須戴立體眼鏡

（日本‧東京）日本資訊科技業巨擘富士通週三公佈據稱是全球第一台裸眼桌面型3D電腦Esprimo FH99/C M，其液晶顯示器上安裝一塊轉換面板，用戶無須戴3D眼鏡便可看到立體效果，可以和家人朋友一同體驗刺激的視覺享受，預定於下月25日在日本發行，日後再於海外上市。

THE GT680: MSI GAMING LAPTOP MEETS INTEL SANDY BRIDGE

Now that Intel have finally made the second generation Intel Core a.k.a the “Sandy Bridge” family of processors official (more on that later today), it is time to brace the release of products based on them. One of them is the new MSI GT680 laptop which belongs to MSI’s long running gaming laptop series.

Powered by the new 2.0GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM quad-core processor, the Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 technology within it is able to kick its speed further; up to 2.9GHz. On the graphic side of the business, the 15.6-inch laptop is equipped with enthusiast-level and DirectX 11-ready NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M GPU with 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory. Combined them with the laptop’s four memory slot that are able to hold memories up to 16GB, what you have here is a gaming laptop that is able to excel the industry standard 3DMark test with a score of more than 18,000 according to MSI.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

SONY ERICSSON UNVEIL XPERIA ARC, COMES WITH ANDROID GINGERBREAD

There was no sign of the illusive PlayStation Phone at CES 2011 last week but still, Sony Ericsson didn’t come to the event just to troll around. No sir, they were not trolling around indeed as the London-based outfit arrived at the event with a new phone in hand – the 8.7mm-thin Sony Ericsson Xperia arc.

Unveiled during Sony’s CES 2011 Press Event, the latest device in Sony Ericsson’s Xperia series marked the debut of Android 2.3 a.k.a Gingerbread into the family. Judging from the feature highlights, Sony Ericsson has equipped the Xperia arc with a number of technologies found on Sony’s other family of devices such as theMobile Bravia Engine for its 4.2-inch multi-touch display and Exmor R sensor for its 8.1-megapixel camera.

The Xperia arc’s camera also comes with 720p HD video recording capability and were said to be able to perform in low-light conditions through its f/2.4 aperture lens. In terms of processing power, the device is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm CPU that is paired together with a 512MB RAM of memory. An 8GB microSD card is also bundled together with the device in which general users should be able to content with for at least quite some time.

The new Sony Ericsson Xperia arc will be available in Malaysian market in the second quarter of 2011. Find out more about it at www.sonyericsson.com but before you do that, make sure to check out a number of short video presentations for the device right after the jump.

KINGSTON ANNOUNCES THEIR USB 3.0 PRODUCT ROADMAP

As more systems – both laptops and desktops – are starting to receive the USB 3.0 treatment, so does the need to have more USB 3.0 product in the market. Since storage devices benefit tremendously from the fast speed that the port offered, storage manufacturer such as Kingston (www.kingston.com/asia) are rapidly coming out with devices for USB 3.0 port.

Leading Kingston’s range of USB 3.0 products for this year will be the new DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 which will be followed up by the second generation DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 that is equipped with single-chip chip controller rather than SATA bridge chip used in the first iteration of the device that was released in September 2010. The company have also planned to release entry-level Flash device for mainstream market that offerslower price point and capacity than the earlier performance-oriented DataTraveler offerings. This roadmap was announced during the CES 2011.

“We have already seen the successful adoption of our DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 and HyperX MAX 3.0 External drive amongst early adopters demanding faster data transfer rates in portable form factors. As USB 3.0 technology grows and more platforms and computers support the USB 3.0 standard, we recognize the need to develop different solutions to address various target markets and help drive adoption.” - Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston.

For the time being, the average price for USB 3.0 storage devices is still pretty high in general. So, it is indeed welcoming to see that Kingston already preparing to come out with a device with a lower entry-point which is something that I’m sure other storage manufacturer will follow suit. As for high-performance users, extra speed is always a good thing; so, the new DataTraveler devices should be an interest to them.

APPLE WELCOMES THE NEW YEAR WITH A SURPRISE SHOPPING EVENT

Fancy to get some great deals from Apple be it iPads, iPods or Mac gifts? Then wait till this Friday because fresh out of Apple’s oven is a surprise shopping event which will be held on this Friday, 14 January 2011. If you are already a subscriber of Apple newsletters, you should’ve already gotten your notification in your inbox but just in case you haven’t, mark your calendar for this Friday to see what Apple has to offer.

“A surprising New Year starts this Friday. The special one-day Apple Store shopping event. January 14 only.

Get back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only New Year shopping event. You’ll find dozens of iPad, iPod and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.

Mark your calendar now. And until then, get started by browsing the Apple Online Store for great ideas.”

WD RELEASES 750GB SCORPIO BLACK 2.5-INCH HARD DRIVE

For all you notebook users who are always deleting things to make space for more downloads, Western Digital just announced it's brand new high-performance Scorpio Black drive. The new drive is a refresh of the 7200 RPM 2.5inch SATA hard drive with a bump in capacity to a girthy 750GB. Using Advanced Format technology, the WD Scorpio Black 750GB hard drive also incorporates a variety of data-protection features to actively monitor and protect valuable data.

“Our most demanding customers have come to expect “no compromises” from all of our Black series products,” explains Margaret Koh, WD Sales Director, Asia South.  “The new WD Scorpio Black drive does not disappoint, providing users of portable devices the necessary speed, significant storage and efficient power management needed to enjoy their favorite HD content, high resolution images, powerful office applications or gaming at home, in the office or on the road.”

BLACKBERRY RELEASES PLAYBOOK DEMO VIDEO. DROOLING ENSUES.

The landscape for tablets over the past year has been to the tune of iPad this, Galaxy Tab that, with a sprinkle of Xoom and Honeycomb thrown into the mix. However, the boys over at RIM have a very impressive card up their sleeve in the form of the BlackBerry Playbook. We've all seen the pictures and have one friend who is absolutely pining for the release this year (in my case, more than one), but for now BlackBerry have released a walkthrough video which will blow your Apple & Android socks off.

According to the video, the BlackBerry Playbook will be getting some Dual-Core loving allowing it to have true multitasking compared to its competitors. Word on the street is that it can display full HD footage shot by a RED camera while running a demo of Quake 3 at the same time. Also, it looks like the PlayBook will be getting full webpages including inline flash support. The interface looks yummy and I really hope they fixed the supposed battery life problems because doing all of the above would drain a battery faster than a colander full of water. 

CES2011: THE MICROSOFT KEYNOTE - OF SURFACES, SOCS AND COPY & PASTE

Perhaps one of the most anticipated Keynotes of CES 2011 has to be the one from the Redmond giants Microsoft. They've had a great 2010, with the WP7, Kinect, Office 2010 as well as the popular tool to help you show what a fool you are to all your Xbox friends by taking pictures when you least expect it, the Kinect. So what was Microsoft going to announce for this year? Speculation of a preview of Windows 8 as well as talks of a tablet OS were making their way through the grapevine much to the anticipation of our man on the ground, Wernshen who was there to soak in the keynote delivered by Steve, Ballmer that is. 

Join us after the jump for a rundown on what Microsoft had to share in Las Vegas  

FAKE ATM KEYBOARD CAN STEAL YOUR PIN

Think that it’s safe to withdraw money over the ATM? Well, you’re never safe, as long as technology is around, there’ll always be someone there to try to steal your information and this time, it’s by using a fake keyboard. There may be security cameras to keep watch and guards to keep you safe, but they cannot make the machines a safe one to access; once placed over the original ATM keyboard, the fake one here will be impossible to detect. You can still interact normally with the ATM machine, but whatever you key in will be captured and a fake magnetic strip reader will be used. It looks like the information will then be stored into a cellphone connected to the back of the machine at a hidden location.

But of course, there are fake whole ATM machines lurking out there, but it takes much more effort to place one in a bank and not get noticed. A keyboard and fake magnetic strip reader on the other hand, is much easier to place. Don’t worry about it much though, for now at least, it might take some time for such technology to reach Malaysia and when they do, let’s pray our banks are already fully aware of them. Visit Gizmodo to see more pictures.

The world concept makes me very sad. Sure, it looks cool, but we'll probably never see it in real life.The Razer Switchblade is a concept Tablet which is part tablet, part Optimus Keyboard. Based on what game you are playing, the keyboard or excuse me, adaptive tactile keyboard changes to fit what keyset you need for said game. Kind of like a high tech, prettier Z-board; The difference here being that instead of having individual screens for each key, the bottom section is just 1 big LCD with keys on it.


No word on hardware other than it's powered by the Intel Atom processors (dual-core we hope), but if it is to deliver everything that it promises in the video, the rest of the hardware has to be some crazy stuff. No matter how silly this looks and how I think it's gonna need a few more keys that that for me to want to play WoW on it, I can't help want one. Oh wait. Concept. 

EYE-FI X2 CARDS, GET DIRECT MODE. WHO NEED'S WIFI?

The Eye-Fi SD cards have been quite a development in the photography world thus far. For those of you not in the know, Eye-Fi cards are SD cards which allow you to transfer your images to your computer directly when there is a WiFi access point nearby. This eliminates the need to lug around your card readers and cables and is great, if you have a wireless AP around that is.

Eye-Fi has announced a firmware upgrade for their SD cards which gives users the option of a "Direct Mode", doing away with the need for a wireless access point. With the Eye-Fi direct mode, you can immediately and automatically upload images  to your mobile or tablet in conjunction with a special Eye-Fi app. From there, the sky's the limit, allowing users to upload, share or even manipulate said pictures as fast as your data plan will allow for it. I can see this being useful for wire photographers IF Eye-Fi comes out with CF card equivalents as most wire photographers will not be using cameras which take SD cards.

Direct Mode will be available as a free upgrade to all Eye-Fi X2 cards later in 2011.

 

For more info, visit the Eye-Fi site here

Sifteo Cubes

you’re not looking at iPad Nanos in the picture above, instead, they’re the Sifteo Cubes that were debuted two years ago at TED. Just in case you missed it out, imagine having little individual small cubes that can interact with each other; something like the popular game Tamagotchi but better and does more than letting you keep a digital pet that can interact with another pet. Imagine having little cubes of computer in your hand. You can sync these cubes to your PC or Mac and when you’re done, you can purchase apps for these little babies. Each individual cube will be able to perform independently and sense when other cubes are near to work together so while one’s playing video on the tiny display, others can be used to display pictures, and even be used to play games. 

Watch the video for a more thorough explanation. Other applications the Sifteo can be used for includes word scrambling, solve mathematical problems and use as individual music controls. We’re not quite sure about the availability here, but it’ll be available in the U.S. for a slashed-down price of USD$99 instead of the normal price of $149. The package will come with 3 interactive cubes, a charging dock, USB wireless link and AC adapter. Do visit Newlaunches to catch the video of Sifteo Cubes in action at the TED.

UNIFI REACHES MORE AREA, NOW CONNECTING TO MORE THAN 750K PREMISES

Despite a number of issues that it might posses, it seems that TM still manages to keep their UniFi roll-out plan firmly on track. The service has now been expanded to 48 new areas including areas within Sentul, San Peng, Bintang and Taman Midah in the Federal Territory, together with Sg. Long, Keramat, Cheras, Petaling Jaya and Serdang in Selangor. In addition to those areas, the service is also now available at the industrial zone of Seberang Jaya in Penang.

“In conjunction with UniFi’s phased service expansion to more areas nationwide, TM is in the midst of a more aggressive go-to-market campaign to educate consumers and attract new subscribers. We have already passed the 30,000 service subscription mark recently and with the number of orders closed surging to an average of 2,500 per week towards the end of the year, it is a clear sign that more and more Malaysians are spending their time online and are hungry for more bandwidth.” - Datuk Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, Group Chief Executive Officer, TM.

As it stands, they shouldn’t have any problem reaching their target of 1.3 million premises by the end of 2012 which is also going to mark the end of the first phase of their High Speed Broadband project. While I applaud their achievement in keeping their schedule intact, I hope they don’t forget the fact that they need to improve the service from time to time as well. Not to say that their services are not up to par – I love my Unifi connection both at home and our office – but I really hope that Unifi’s level of service will not go down the drain when the amount of customers increases.

World's Smartest Toothpaste Changes Taste To Forecast The Weather

Fancy tasting the weather on your toothpaste? I wouldn’t, only fresh mint flavor for me and definitely nothing sweet and tasty. Fortunately for those who enjoy different toothpaste flavors, the folks at MIT have recently created the toothpaste that changes its flavor according to the weather. That’s right, if you think that weighing machines that comes with Wi-Fi connectivity or gadgets that can send Twitter updates on your kid’s or pet’s behalf is cool, this toothpaste is cooler. It will connect to the internet to check for the weather forecast and once that’s done, it will mix different flavors together to form not only different tasting toothpaste, the color will even change.

If the weather is going to be warmer than yesterday, it’ll taste like cinnamon (cinnamon toothpaste?!) and if it’s going to be cooler, it’ll be minty. Blue stripe on the toothpaste indicates that it’s going to rain. Still, no thanks for me but this is not just about having toothpaste that can change its flavor, the project was done to show how a simple object can communicate simple and relevant information when given dynamic properties. Still, cinnamon doesn’t sound like a very pleasant toothpaste flavor if you ask me.

iPhone-Connected Blood Pressure Monitor

Trust us -- no one on the Engadget staff wants to know what their blood pressure is right about now. For those trapped in the hurricane that is CES, there's probably no better product to have laying around than this... but only if you're looking to confirm your suspicions about being in a high-stress career. Withings, the company best known for its connected scales, has just revealed the planet's first iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor, with an aim to make measuring vitals as easy as pie for iOS users. The idea is fairly simple: just plug the arm band into your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone, dial up the gratis app and start the process. All of the data is logged on the user's secure online space, and there's even a secure sharing feature that'll beam your abnormally high rates right to your frightened physician. It'll go on sale tomorrow around the globe, with the asking price set at $129 / €129.

ChurpChurp | Social Share » Redeem your discount tokens at Celcom Great Sale today! (Preview)

Redeem your discount tokens at Celcom Great Sale today! (Preview)

ChurpChurp | Social Share » Be part of the Invent Your Own iPad Application Contest and Win! (Preview)

ChurpChurp | Social Share » Be part of the Invent Your Own iPad Application Contest and Win! (Preview)

IT Skill Discuss Zone 电脑技术谈论区

OCEAN BLUE IT SERVICES present "IT Skill Discuss Zone" Grand OPEN

We are computer system retail shop locate at Seri kembangan, Selangor! 

We provide all about computer services like PC Hardware Checking, 

PC Or Laptop Format, and Computer hardware and accessories. 

If you facing any computer related problem or trouble, can just leave a 

message here and we will reply as soon as possible, and it's FREE.

Feel free to meet us here. 

Thank All of you support.

OCEAN BLUE IT SERVICES 的 “电脑技术谈论区” 开张咯！

我们是位于 Seri Kembangan 电脑零件与服务的零售店！

我们提供电脑维修服务例如：电脑硬件检查服务，

桌面与手提电脑重灌服务以及电脑零件出售！

如你有任何电脑难题或疑问，你可以留言给我们，

我们会尽快的回复你的问题，这是免费的哦！

不用再犹豫了，立刻给我们留言吧！

谢谢你们的支持。