I first saw the LG X120 netbook back in January of this year during CES, and although it looked to be a decent offering design wise there were a few points that kept me from really being interested. First, it was nothing out of the ordinary in terms of specs, and second it was not available here in the US.

That said, things change with time, and although the specs have remained the same as when I first saw the X120, it is now going to be available here in the US.

So moving on, the fortunate or unfortunate part here, depending on who you ask is that the LG X120 will be tied to AT&T. In other words, it is coming 3G-equipped, and that means it will require an AT&T DataConnect plan.

Anyway, the X120 will be found exclusively at Radio Shack and will set you back $179.99. And as I mentioned, the DataConnect plan is required, which means you will sign a two-year agreement at $60 a month.

Feature wise, the X120 has a 10.1-inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and is running Windows XP. The one nice part here is that the X120 also features the SmartOn interface which means you can boot up and connect quickly.

Basically, if you are looking for a subsidized netbook then this appears to be a nice option, but at the same time I have to offer just three words of advise; “Get a MiFi.”

Keep reading to check out the full press release…

LG Netbook Debuts Revolutionary SmartOn Interface That Takes a Shortcut to the Fun Stuff and Puts Users at the Center of Their Social Universe

AT&T’s 3G Mobile Broadband Service to Help People Stay Connected

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/—LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) announced today the newest addition to their innovative product line-up with the launch of the LG X120 netbook. The first of its kind from LG, the LG X120 delivers the benefits of netbook functionality and gives users a shortcut to the fun stuff with a unique SmartOn(TM) interface that makes staying connected faster, easier and just seconds away. Available at RadioShack, the LG X120 is the perfect computing companion for social networkers, college students and young professionals on the go.

Weighing only 2.8lbs, the slim and stylish LG X120 provides the computing power of a laptop with the freedom of a mobile device. Equipped with an innovative SmartOn interface that loads in seconds, the LG netbook connects to web and photos, instant messaging and MP3 player with just the touch of a button. Designed with a sleek white matte exterior and fashionable blue trim, the LG X120 delivers 7 hours of battery life and built-in AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. Users can explore the internet, update blogs and download music from just about anywhere, anytime on the nation’s fastest 3G network.

The LG netbook also features 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive that offers users ultimate storage space for music, photos and gaming while a generous 10.1” screen with crystal clear LED backlighting creates a viewing experience perfect for watching videos and reading e-mails while on the run. A built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and HD stereo speakers provide clear, more precise video chatting and conferencing with friends and colleagues.

“We created the LG X120 to allow consumers to stay connected on their own terms,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy and marketing for LG Mobile Phones. “The SmartOn button puts consumers seconds away from the fun stuff such as showing off your vacation photos or picking your fantasy football line-up.”

LG X120 also includes a traditional start up feature booting the complete Windows XP Operating system that allows users to plan a budget or build a basic presentation on professionally based applications. No longer limited to Wi-Fi hotspots, 3G HSDPA provides on-the-go connectivity giving users instant access to all the tools that keep them connected and make them unique.

The LG netbook will be available at select Radio Shack stores nationwide and online at www.RadioShack.com for $179.99 with a 2-year AT&T DataConnect service agreement, a $60 monthly 5GB plan. AT&T DataConnect subscribers also receive access to AT&T Wi-Fi service, which includes more than 20,000 Hot Spots nationwide.

Limited-time offer. Other conditions & restrictions apply. See contract, rate plan brochure and rebate form at store for details. Subscriber must live & have a mailing address within AT&T’s owned wireless network coverage area. Up to $36 activation fee applies. Equipment price & availability may vary by market & may not be available from independent retailers. Early Termination Fee: None if cancelled in the first 30 days, but a restocking fee may apply; thereafter up to $175.

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Anyone looking for a deal on a netbook may want to check out one of the latest offerings coming courtesy of Dell. The netbook that is on sale is the Dell Vostro A90 and can be purchased for just $184.

Of course, there are a few points that may cause people to think twice—this particular model is running Ubuntu 8.04 and has a smaller (8.9-inch) display. Otherwise, the features are pretty much the netbook standard. The Vostro A90 sports an 8.9-inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 8GB SSD drive, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and a 4-cell battery.

All things considered, this is certainly not the best, fastest or most powerful netbook available, but for $184 it seems like it would make a nice addition to someones living room. Its always nice to have that extra PC laying around for the kids or guests.

Of course, getting back to that one point—Ubuntu 8.04—personally I would suggest switching this over to the latest version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix or Jolicloud, both of which are available for free and also supported on the A90.

Product [Dell] Via [Liliputing]

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There’s not a lot of people who have, or have use for an entire second monitor for their computers.  However, there are some of us who wouldn’t mind having a second, much smaller monitor to put certain applications in.  Mimo Monitors has realized this with their line of 7-inch secondary monitors, and today they release a new version, and knock down the prices of the rest of the line.

The new model comes in the form of the iMo Pivot Touch.  The Pivot Touch is a 7-inch touchscreen with the pivoting of the iMo Pivot.  The functionality is essentially the same, with the added benefit of a touchscreen, and Mac OS X drivers finally included in the box (previous models require a download for the drivers).  In addition to the new model, Mimo Monitors is dropping prices on all other models in celebration of Black Friday, with the sale lasting from now until November 30.  The sale also includes a free “MIMO care package” which includes a carrying case, iProtector Screen Films, and a stylus for touchscreen models (iMo Pivot Touch, and the 720-S).

Mimo’s 7-inch monitors do seem to have a certain appeal to them, and with the lower prices and the new iMo Pivot Touch, that appeal increases a bit.  Having a secondary screen for an email app, Twitter app, video or whatever you want is a nice idea.  However, the questions remains whether that idea is worth the $130 for the lowest models (710-S and Pivot) or $200 and $210 for the Pivot Touch and 720-S, respectively.  For the same price you could get an LCD screen with a resolution much higher than 800x480, and much larger than 7-inches.  Those monitors require a graphics card and their own power rather than being powered only by USB.  However, larger doesn’t always mean more desirable for everyone.

Read [PR Newswire] Read [Mimo Monitors]

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Though it is still not yet ready to ship, potential customers can at least take some pleasure in knowing that Amazon has lowered the price of the Nokia N900 down to $479.99. Granted I would still say this is a little on the pricey side, but its hard to argue that $480 sounds much better than the regular retail price of $649. Sadly though, this lower price does come with a little catch in the form of a mail-in-rebate.

Basically the final price is $479.99 but in order to see that you will have to pay $529.99 and then fill out and send in to get your rebate back, which happens to be $50.

Still, all things considered this is not all that bad looking of a device, especially if paired with a T-Mobile SIM for connectivity.

Product [Amazon] Via [Engadget]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

With everyone busy speculating about Apple’s rumored tablet, it might make sense that every other company would try to get their tablets out before Apple will allegedly swoop in and take the market.  With no Apple Tablet in sight, this holiday season is a great chance to get a tablet out there before consumers forget anything else exists.  Camangi looks to be doing that with their new WebStation.

The Camangi WebStation is a 7-inch tablet running Android 1.6 (Donut).  The glass touchscreen has a resolution of 800x480, and the device is also equipped with a 2MP camera, .3MP webcam, GPS, Wi-Fi, microSD and a USB port.  With the exception of the webcam, nothing all that surprising for an Android tablet.  Although it runs Android, like the Archos Internet Tablet the WebStation will require special apps to work on the 7-inch screen.  It does look to have some built in apps for media playback, which makes it a decent device for watching video with the 7-inch screen.

Android tablets like the WebStation aren’t anything new, though the increase in them is promising for where that market is going.  Though these tablets do use Android, the fact that apps need to be specially coded to fit their screens is a bit off-putting.  Its just another example of the segmenting of the Android market, which has some developers getting very frustrated.  The Android OS isn’t bad by any means, but without support from developers it won’t hold up very well against other OSes.  At the very least, these products that require specially written apps might die not soon after release for the most part without any developer support.

Read [Gizmodo]

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This has got to stop. Holidays have got to stop creeping further and further toward summer.  The nutjobs that scheme, “well, if we get our sale out first we’ll be the richest in the tri-state area” are morons.  Seriously, the ABC Family channel is doing a countdown to the 25 days of Christmas.  A frickin’ countdown to a countdown?  Could it get more ridiculous?  Here are 4 entries that attempt it:

Ah crap, the rumors been delayed.
Prepare for Black Friday
FLO TV for straight to TV movies and straight to sale bin hardware
Palm eats its young

An unannounced product gets an set back from an unannounced launch window.

This is just getting crazy.  I blame everyone in media for this: from the big hitters like CNN Money to countless magazines who are reporting on Apple’s coming tablet.  Apple hasn’t announced anything yet we are chomping at the bit to talk about.  Even if launched yesterday, there is no way this tablet could ever live up to the hype.  Not that we as consumer are even sure we want such a thing.  I propose a month moratorium on not mentioning Apple’s iTablet.  Who is with me? 

Yeah, I didn’t think it would work.

Black Friday sales in the toilet

Anyone want to bet on something with me?  The economic data that will come from Black Friday will be dark and gloomy.  They’ll report consumer spending will skip this Christmas much like Kris Kringle wanted to do in the old TV movie.  It is an all but sure bet.  Why?

The monkeys are messing with the date.  These Pre-Black Friday sales are very tempting and are going to lower how much we spend on that one day we use as an indicator.  By stretching the buying season out, we’ll be so frickin fed up with the holidays we’ll throw in the towel before the season even starts.  My inbox won’t stop the deluge of sale announcements, each one, killing a little bit of Santa.

FLO TV for the masses

Qualcomm’s little TV player sure is cute.  The device plays TV, costs $250 and has a $9 monthly fee with 3-year commitment. That’s a total cost of $574 to watch, you know, free TV.  The device is roughly the size of a cell phone, a cell phone that you can probably play some TV on for a fee.  The cell phone in your pocket is free (at this point) and you know, in your pocket.  So watch TV on that.

Even our ever positive editor, Robert Nelson can’t hold back, ” but thinking positive, 9 bucks a month could be worth it for the simple reason that this little device could serve as a nice entertainment device for the child in your back seat. As long as you do not mind handing them a $250 gadget to play with.”  Nice try Robert.

This brings me right back the awesome gadget that just delivers RSS feeds.  I love gadgets as much as the next idiot but come on, quit repeating stuff that is already out there in a better form factor.  Now get to work on flying cars.

Palm eats its young

How are customers supposed to respect a phone that tumbles in price more than $70 its first 5 days on the market???  The 2nd entry in the webOS world from Palm, the Pixi, is so cute and cuddly, we thought it a smash at $79.  But then anarchy reigned and Wal-Mart upset the apple cart at $29.99, then Amazon one-upped even Wal-Mart with $24.99. 

Why devalue the phone so quickly?  Too much Pre inventory seems to be the root cause. The Pre’s price has fallen down like a drunk senior citizen in the early morning.  The Pre began at a reasonable $149 but now lives at the $79 price on Amazon.  The welcome the sibling Pixi got is move over in the sale bin.  Odd reception, even for a sibling.

At the very least, Palm commercials for the Pixi didn’t give anyone the willies as did the Pre versions.  Bonus points to Palm.

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

ViewSonic has recently introduced the VPC101, and it appears to be a nicely priced all-in-one desktop style PC. Of course, that nicely priced statement will most likely depend on your needs, but I am thinking extra house computer—something that will be able to stream some Pandora, play photo slideshows and maybe do some light surfing.

With that, the VPC101 is similar in specs to a netbook. And I say that because it has an all-to-familiar set of specs which include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230 processor, integrated GMA 950 graphics, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. And being an all-in-one PC it also has an 18.5-inch display that offers a 1366 x 768 resolution. Additionally, this particular model is running Windows 7 Home Premium and that means it comes with the touchscreen features.

Price wise, the list is $650 and it is expected to be available sometime next month.

Read [ViewSonic] Via [Liliputing]

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In the still of the night, Dell quietly gave the nod to the Studio 17 laptop addition to the touchscreen lineup.  The laptop features multi-touch gestures for manipulating the screen as well as its own set of touch-enabled applications.  The laptop is expected to ship next month for $899.

The base Studio 17 received high marks for design and user experience.  The touch version adds only the touchscreen and apps.  Unlike other touchscreen laptops of late, the Dell Studio does not turn into a tablet (by swiveling the screen). 

All this is great right?  Ready to head over and buy it?  Hold up, the product page is gone from Dell’s site.  We are unsure why Dell has removed the page from their site.  The link to the non-existent Dell page is here. Perhaps an early test?

Either way this looks like an interesting laptop that might usher in an era where all screens will be touch-enabled.  Are consumers willing to pay for this?

Read: [Electronista]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

We at Gadgetell first found the Pogoplug last year during CES and since then it has remained a favorite gadget. But with that, the good news is that Cloud Engines Inc have just announced the follow up to the original, and with that comes a new look and some new features.

Just to backtrack a little, for those unfamiliar with what the Pogoplug is or does;

“Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world.”

With that, the second generation comes complete with a new design which not only looks nicer but also allows the user to connect up to four external USB drives. New features include;

• Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
• Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
• Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
• Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
• Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
• Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone

In terms of pricing, the second generation Pogoplug is selling for $129. As of now it is available for pre-order and expected to be shipping before the end of the year.

Product [Pogoplug]

Keep reading to check out the full press release…

Second Generation Pogoplug™ Unveiled Today
Next-generation Hardware Design and Software Provide Enhanced Storage, Multimedia and Social Media Capabilities
San Francisco, Calif. – November 19, 2009 – Cloud Engines, Inc. unveiled the second generation of the award winning Pogoplug multimedia sharing device today giving consumers more flexibility to store personal content safely in the home and access, manage, and share it from anywhere on the Internet. The new Pogoplug hardware sports an new design boasting multiple USB ports supporting up to 4 external drives for expanded data capacity. The new Pogoplug also gives users improved sharing capabilities, an easy drag-and-drop interface to create engaging multi-media slide shows, seamless media playback, and enhanced sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world. Your content always remains physically in your home or office, making it secure, convenient and available on your terms. Pogoplug is perfect for those individuals with increasingly mobile lifestyles and small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.
“The reaction to the Pogoplug has been incredible. By listening to user feedback and following our own product roadmap, we are bringing a great second-generation product that gives our customers access to a host of new features that both improve the function of the Pogoplug, and add to the fun of using it as well.” said Daniel Putterman, CEO of Cloud Engines, Inc.  “We are committed to giving our customers the best way to access their data from anywhere in the world, pushing the envelope with both product quality and design aesthetic. The result is what you see here today.”
NEW HARDWARE
The new Pogoplug design retains the simplicity and ease of use of the original while listening to consumer feedback and adding the ability to directly connect up to 4 external hard drives at once. The resulting product boasts an improved design with greatly improved functionality for users with multiple drives and an increasing need for easy synching and sharing of their digital libraries. This upgrade turns the Pogoplug into an even more prominent feature in the modern digital home or small business.
NEW FEATURES
Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
Users can synchronize their Pogoplug with their PC or Mac to automatically import new content from popular applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. This feature allows Pogoplug owners to “set it and forget it” and always have access to new photos, videos and music from anywhere on the Internet.
Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
Users can easily create and share fun and engaging slideshows using their stored photos, videos and music.  Creating a slideshow with Pogoplug is as simple as drag and drop, and sharing these slideshows is just as easy as ever. Once a user’s link is shared and viewed, their slideshow will immediately begin with the photos, videos and music they selected, playing seamlessly in the viewer’s browser.
Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
Pogoplug Address Book greatly improves the speed and ease of use of sharing with a user’s friends and family. Pogoplug automatically remembers all email addresses entered in a user’s previous shares - even if that share no longer exists – and makes them available in an easy to use address book to make sharing truly one click away.
Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
With support for multiple drives on a single Pogoplug (and multiple Pogoplugs on the same account) Pogoplug has added “global” search support across all of a user’s Pogoplugs and drives.  Search filters are now a distinct feature, allowing users to view all of their photos, videos and music in a single organized view, or to search for a specific file across all Pogoplugs and drives.
Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
Pogoplug automatically displays music by Album, Artist and Genre, and shows cover art for quick access to a user’s favorite music. Photos are now displayed by photo timeline and videos are only a click away, including the ability to watch a preview in the thumbnail itself.
Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone
Pogoplug now supports the playback of videos directly from a Pogoplug, with support for the most popular cameras, video cameras and mobile phones.  Movies can be shared and viewed directly from the Pogoplug website – or even from an iPhone!
Pricing and Availability
We are currently taking Pre-Orders for Pogoplug at www.pogoplug.com Units will ship before the end of the year – just in time for the Holiday Season. The Pogoplug has a suggested retail price of $129, with no additional service fees.

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

After a few months of speculation, Google today finally decided to show us just what Chrome OS is going to be.  Contrary to what some were hoping, there is no real beta to be had as of now, and Google doesn’t expect to have one for another year.  What we do get today, is an outline of what Google is trying to do with the new OS, and what it would do.

First thing you need to know about Chrome OS, as Google stated before, is that as of now it is mainly focused at secondary computers like netbooks and laptops.  The idea behind Chrome OS is that it will launch in seconds, bringing you straight to the Internet before most computers even boot.  The entire OS is based around the Internet, including all of the apps.  There will be no apps actually stored on Chrome OS, instead all of your apps will be web apps.  There’s no need, according to Google to store anything on the netbook, the main focus is to use Chrome OS as a secondary computer to access web apps and the Internet.

While there is no beta as of now, it is possible to compile your own version of Chromium OS, as the source code was put up today just prior to the Chrome OS event (Chromium is the open-source, developer-focused section of Chrome).  There are instructions on how to compile the OS from source.  It might be a bit long and confusing for some, and it does require a Linux OS to compile it, but it looks to be a worthwhile weekend project if you happen to have a netbook with an SSD to wipe.  While there are certainly arguments for and against having an OS that is only a browser if anyone can pull it off, it might be Google.  Either way, I know I’ll be spending part of my weekend compiling code to try it out.

Read [Official Google Blog]

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MSI has just announced that their latest all-in-one style desktop computer is now shipping. That model is the 21.5-inch multi-touch capable Wind Top AE2220.

Feature wise the AE2220 offers a choice between a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 or 2.1GHz Pentium Dual Core processor and comes with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Other features include a built-in card reader, 1.3-megapixel webcam, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and remote control. This model is also compatible with VESA wall mounts and offers an optional Blu-ray optical drive. Finally, the Wind Top AE2220 will be running Windows 7 Home Premium.

As for pricing and availability, the AE2200 is priced from $749.99 and up depending on configuration and is just beginning to show up with online retailers. Currently Amazon has it listed as a pre-order item, but at a slightly lower price of $699.

Read [PR Newswire]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

With Windows 7 now out in the wild for almost a month, Microsoft has time to unleash another beta product on us for testing.  This beta comes in the form of Microsoft Office 2010.  The Office 2010 beta will feature everything minus the online version, which is currently being tested within Microsoft.

Somewhat surprising for a public beta, the Office 2010 beta offers everything in the office suite.  So it has Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook and all those other programs most people don’t know how to use like OneNote, Access and Publisher.  Office 2010 apps still feature the “ribbon” UI found in Office 2007, but it has been changed somewhat.  In terms of entirely new features, Outlook will be able to be linked to social networking sites.  First offered is Windows Live (obviously), and LinkedIn will be added sometime early next year.  There is also the aforementioned online version, which will be paired with the new SkyDrive feature to give users 25 GB to store and sync their office documents.

Office 2010 is said to have improved interaction with Windows 7 and its taskbar, which makes sense.  That doesn’t mean other users can’t download the beta, it’s free for anyone using Windows XP SP3 and later.  With the forthcoming Starter edition which is said to be free for new computers, maybe Microsoft will be able to increase usage of the newest version of Office.  Outside of a work environment, or after buying a new PC, users seem to not upgrade their office suite very often.  For example, the .docx file format still hasn’t really achieved full support from users, with some just ending up confused.  The new features do seem interesting, hopefully Microsoft will add them to the Mac OS X releases soon as well.

Read [CNet News]
Read [Microsoft]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

We have seen a few good deals coming from Walmart including the $30 Pixi and the BlackBerry offers. Not to mention the sales on video games. But after digging through the leaked sales flyer for Black Friday, we now have a complete list of nice prices—including a Blu-ray player for $78. Of course this is a lower end model, its the Magnavox NB500 and it normally retails for $129, but still $78.

Anyway, in addition to the low-priced Blu-ray player, Walmart also has a good selection of HDTV’s, computers, digital cameras, GPS units. Here is a quick rundown of some of the deals that can be found, but the full list can be found by hitting the ‘read’ link below.

DVD Players

• Magnavox NB500 Blu-ray Disc Player - $78.00
• Samsung BD-P1590 Blu Ray Player (Saturday) - $148.00
• Sony BDP-S369 Blu Ray Player - $148.00

Televisions

• Emerson 32” LC320EMFX LCD 720P HDTV - $248.00
• Emerson 42” PL-P42W-10A Plasma 720P HDTV - $448.00
• Flat-Panel TV Stand - $89.00
• Philips Large Fixed TV Mount - $69.00
• RCA 46” LCD 1080p HDTV (Online Only) - $688.00
• Samsung 32” LN32B360 LCD 720P HDTV (Saturday) - $398.00
• Samsung 42” LN40B500 LCD 1080P HDTV (Saturday) - $598.00
• Samsung 42” PN42B400 Plasma 720P HDTV (Saturday) - $548.00
• Samsung 46” LN46B500 LCD 1080P HDTV (Saturday) - $848.00
• Samsung 50” PN50B400 Plasma 720P HDTV (Saturday) - $698.00
• Sansui 19” HDLCD1909 LCD HDTV - $128.00
• Sayno 50” DP50719 Plasma HDTV - $598.00
• Sony Bravia 32” KDL32L504 LCD 720P HDTV - $378.00
• Sony Bravia 40” KDL40S504 LCD 1080P HDTV - $598.00
• Sony Bravia 46” KDL465504 LCD 1080P HDTV - $798.00

Computers

• Acer 17.3” Blue Laptop w/4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Premium (Online Only) - $498.00
• eMachines 15.6” Notebook w/AMD Processor, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive (Model # EME627) - $198.00
• HP 15.6” Notebook w/Intel Processor, 3GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive (Model # G60-519WM) - $298.00
• HP 17” Notebook w/4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive (Model # G71-329WM) - $398.00
• HP Pavilion All-In-One 19” Desktop w/4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive, MS213 AMD - $598.00
• HP Pavilion Desktop w/AMD Processor, 3GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive, w/20” Monitor (Model # P6243w-b) - $398.00

Digital Cameras

• Kodak C182 12.0 Megapixel Digital Camera - $69.00
• Nikon CoolPix S230 10MP Digital Camera - $139.00
• Sony Cyber-Shot DSC S930 10.0 Megapixel Digital Camera - $79.00

GPS

• TomTom One 125-SE GPS - $59.00
• TomTom XL325-SE GPS - $89.00

Read [BlackFriday.info]  Via [Gizmodo]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

We heard the latest Chrome OS rumor last week, and it looks like it will at least be partially true. The news is official and comes courtesy of Google who have stated that they will be offering a “complete overview” of Chrome OS and giving some demos tomorrow November 19, 2009.

That said it also looks like we may also be getting a better idea of when we will be able to download and begin using Chrome OS. But unfortunately the “complete overview” comment is not really exact and a lot could be speculated from something as general as that.

Anyway, you can be sure that we here at Gadgetell will pass on whatever new information becomes available about Chrome OS. I for one am anxious to give it a run through, but it looks like I still have a while for that as it was also noted that it will be launching “next year.”

Read [TechCrunch]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

SquareTrade set off an ambitious study to compare netbooks and laptops failure rates of their customers.  SquareTrade provides warranties on electronics as an aftermarket sale, so when something fails, they should know, right?  Their study shows Asus and Toshiba tops the list in reliability but just how reliable are these devices?

The study performed by SquareTrade included laptops with sales over 1,000 units in an attempt to provide statistical significance.  Unfortunately, we don’t know if there were 1,001 Asus machines vs 11,000 HP (who scored worst in the study).  So there is some wriggle room.  Overall, the 3-year malfunction rate for Asus is 15.6% while HP was 25.6%. 

The study also shed light on some other interesting questions.  What is more reliable: netbooks or laptops?  The study’s answer is in the 3-year range, netbooks have a 25.1% malfunction rate while laptops score 20.6% and premium laptops rate 18.1%.  In short, the more you spend, the more reliable you gear is.

Overall, 1 in 5 laptops fail in the first three years.  The brand info is interesting but take it with a grain of salt.

Study page: [SquareTrade]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Flash, the ubiquitous plug-in that as of now is the go-to for Internet video or audio among other uses, looks to be improved greatly in the new 10.1 beta.  Adobe is pushing to bring Flash to every platform, both desktop and mobile (excluding the iPhone thanks to Apple), and is adding features to support that.  With the new Flash beta, Adobe is also pushing out an AIR 2 beta that will also add a batch of new features.

For Flash, possibly the biggest improvement lies in the new multitouch support.  The update will make it work well with mobile devices such as WebOS and Android, but for now, with the beta being limited to desktop OSes, it is only usable by those with Windows 7 touchscreen PCs.  Also important is GPU acceleration for H.264 video so video won’t tax the processor as much as it does now.  However, graphics acceleration is limited to the Windows release as of now, which is depressing for Mac and Linux users, especially those who use Linux or Hackintosh netbooks.

The updates for AIR will allow AIR apps to act more similar to regular applications.  AIR apps will be able to access OS-specific APIs, such as being able to deliver Mac OS X’s Spotlight results.  Apps will also be able to be distributed in OS-specific file types, rather than .air files which can be confusing to some users.  AIR apps will also be capable of accessing USB drives, drag-and-drop of files in addition to a faster WebKit browser.

Read [Webmonkey]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The European Union Consumer Commission has announced a crack down on sites pushing free ringtone scams and that often target kids and teens.  The crackdown covered all 27 EU countries plus Iceland and Norway and resulted 9 Italian companies being slammed with nearly $3 million in fines.  Of the 301 websites targeted, 54 were put out of business and more than 150 were made to change their advertising.  The commission said it instigated the crackdown after being flooded with complaints by consumers.

The sites often featured cartoon characters and urged visitors to provide their cell phone numbers to get a free ringtone.  What they failed to reveal, or buried in fine print, was that once they had the number the owner would be signed up for a subscription and charged a monthly fee for further ringtones.

These scams are often seen here in the US, both on the web and on TV.  The ads offer free ringtones (or wallpapers, horoscopes, games, etc).  All you have to do is type in your cell phone number or send a text message.  Then you get hit with all kinds of charges. Some services charge $5.99 a month and other a whopping $29.99 a month.  Getting the subscription dropped can be extremely difficult to impossible and your cell provider is often unable to do much.

Mobile phones are a way of life for most of us, and we seldom go anywhere without them.  Scammers know this.  SMS spam is a particular problem because those not on an unlimited plan must pay for each message.  While it has not yet become a huge problem here, giving up your cell number to websites and in response to TV ads can open you up to a flood of it.  It’s important to guard your cell phone number as you would any other piece of personal info.  Don’t give it out to just anyone, and stick to legit sites like iTunes for ringtones and wallpapers or download some software and make your own.  Free offers often come with a steep price!

Read [PC Magazine]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

While phone freaks are all up in arms about Dell’s decision to launch the Mini 3 touchscreen smartphone in China and Brazil before even mentioning when it will come home to the US, an Android-powered tablet, called Streak, looks to be headed to AT&T next year according to the Commercial Times.

Geek.com says not only will one tablet hit the US carrier next year but the company is hard at work on multiple screen sizes as well.  This news comes on the back of CNN Money discussing the rumored Apple tablet as if it were coming and we should hold back some cash for when it does come.

Unfortunately, Commercial Times doesn’t hold a good track record.  Earlier this year, the paper predicted an Apple tablet would be shown off in Q3.  That, of course, didn’t happen.

The Dell shown here raises some big questions.  Would an internet tablet of similar size to the iPod touch sell with an always-on connection?  If so, wouldn’t AT&T tap Apple to get the iPod on the network?  A knee-jerk response would say no, AT&T doesn’t want to detract from iPhone sales, right?  Well, if that is case, going with #2 Android tablet would circumvent cannibalized iPhone sales but then they are stuck pedaling products the compete with the market leader.

$30 a month for data sounds like a lot for the iPod touch crowd.  Especially if they are already paying for a cell phone and broadband at home.  What do you think?  Let us know in the comments.

Read:[Geek.com] and [DigiTimes]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Now preferred to be known as the Shack, Radio shack is offering the Acer Aspire One, A0751h-1279, for $100 less on Black Friday.  This netbook will sell for $249 instead of $349.  This model has some noteworthy upgrades over other notebooks.

Introduced back in May of this year, the Aspire One A0751h-1279 comes close to meeting the expectations of a typical laptop.  The screen on the A0751h-1279 is 11.1 inches vs. 10 inches for most netbooks.  Pre-loaded with Windows Vista, users will find 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

David Coursey of PCMag reviewed the Aspire One and had this to say on the form factor:
“The larger keyboard works for my large hands while the bigger screen may be easier on my post-age-40 eyes. The weight and battery life are important too, as I can carry this machine in my briefcase without a heavy power supply, in many cases, and not notice the added load. Again, what’s not to like?”

Coursey goes on to lament netbook makers place as they up-end the laptop market by providing machines for what people do most: web surf, easy word processing, one task at a time use.  Users who stick to these tasks might fall in love with the Aspire One.  For users demanding more power, look elsewhere.

The news breaks from notebooks.com but offers not sources for the info.

Read: [Notebooks.com]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

I cannot stress one device enough—a MiFi. They allow you to take a 3G connection with you and share it with up to 5 devices at any time and they can be found with Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

That said, there must be something to these 3G-enabled netbooks because the new offerings keep coming in.

The latest is the Samsung Go netbook, which is heading to AT&T on November 22.

As of now, neither Samsung or AT&T have announced the pricing, but feature wise the Samsung Go will offer users a 10.1-inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

Additionally, the Samsung Go netbook weighs in at 2.8-pounds and will come with a 4-cell battery that is said to offer up to 4 hours of battery life. Finally, the Samsung Go will be available with the midnight blue exterior.

Read [Samsung]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The last we heard, the CrunchPad seemed to have been killed off by higher than expected manufacturing costs, but as the Internet goes—things change and change quickly.

With that, the subject of the Crunchpad came up during a recent Gillmore Gang videocast and according to Michael Arrington, “the CrunchPad is steamrolling along.”

With that he also went on to mention that they have been working on the software for the past month trying to make it perfect to get it to market.” And in terms of price, as of now it is looking at making a debut between $300 and $400. But it was also mentioned that the Crunchpad could become sponsorship supported. In other words, there will be ads on the device, but according to Michael Arrington, they will have little impact on the user experience.

Unfortunately, there is still nothing in terms of a release date, well, aside from a mention that “big news” will be coming soon. That said, we are not sure if that big news is going to be a release date or just an official set of specs and price. Either way, I am looking forward to seeing what comes of the Crunchpad.

Watch [YouTube]  Via [UMPC Portal]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Shining a light on moves in the tech world so insane, Who’s on Crack is here to throw around accusation.  Accusations about who we suspect narcotics inspired their latest to-market ideas.  As companies vie for your attention and more importantly your dollars, it helps to back up a few steps to ask, “what the?”.  Here are the biggest blunders this week:

Microsoft admits to copying off Apple’s paper
Did Palm hire “Crazy Eddy”?
Blockbuster shows desperation
Web TV finally here?

Mac rules, so we copied it.

This week, Microsoft apparently copped to being inspired by Apple’s OS design.  From Bill Stiteler’s post quoting Microsoft’s Partner Group Manager Simon Aldus : “What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7—whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format—is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. [Emphasis added]”

Aldus went on to mention they built this on top of Vista.  At this point you’ve got to wonder why he stops there?  Why not take the cab all the way to Crazytown and spout off how Microsoft purposely crippled Vista or how every time someone buys Windows 7, Microsoft shoots a puppy.  Or perhaps that Redmond HQ is built on top of a secret underground lair where Ballmer has taken to dressing up as Darth Vader and babbles about dominating the galaxy.

Can you imagine sitting in MS PR department when this bit of news comes in?  Here is the play by play:
MS PR guy 1: “He said what???”
MS PR gal 1: “No f’n way?”
MS PR guy 2: “Somebody check the gosh-darn calendar, it isn’t April, right?”
MS PR gal 2: “We are so TP’ing this guys house tonight.”

Palm prices are so low, they are practically paying you to take it

Fact: I am smitten with webOS.  But $29 bucks to get your hands on a super-slim Palm Pixi model with the hot OS that is actually fun to use?  Come on, there is a catch right?  According to Robert Nelson, there isn’t:
“Now I am going to go out on a ledge here, but maybe the Pixi or future similar models will end up being the savior of Palm. Maybe Palm is going to take up the role of the low priced smartphone company. And if that is that case, I guess being available for a bargain price through Walmart makes sense.”

Crazy Eddy was a guy in the New York area that did lame commercials in the 80s and was eventually thrown in the pokey for tax evasion.  This price thanks to Wal-Mart and Palm is amazingly low.  Yes, a $99 is tempting.  A $49 refurbed iPhone is even more tempting but $29 for a great smartphone?  Either they are reading Gadgetell or come up with schemes in a smoke-filled room where “munchies” are served 15 minutes after the meeting starts.  Impressive or insane?

Blockbuster says SlotMusic was genius

Oh boy.  Remember when SlotMusic was pushed on us?  Back at CES we giggled for what seemed like hours about it.  Apparently, Blockbuster thought it was the bees knees and is looking to rent movies the same way.  Ugh.

Our Robert Nelson says, “Blockbuster has decided to begin testing a new pilot program that will allow in-store visitors to rent a movie on an SD card. The plan is simple, those entering a Blockbuster store will be able to bring in an SD card and rent a movie by way of a self-service kiosk. The movies will of course be filled with DRM and will expire after a pre-selected amount of time.”

There is some logic here fore netbooks that lack a DVD drives or those dying to watch something on a device that is actually too small to watch it on (judgment call).  But for everyone else, this is a go-nowhere idea.  Robert adds customer service isn’t the strong suit of Blockbuster and there just isn’t enough people that care.  Dead on arrival, back to the drawing board guys and gals.

Web TV could be here.

Did you hear the wall come down?  Not the Berlin Wall, I refer here to the wall around your TV.  It was just shattered.  Thanks to TVs with web widgets and home theater pcs, that wall is no more.

A big culprit may be the Dell Zino HD.  This cute little device is primed to sit in your a/v shelf and bring the goodness of the web to your HDTV.  Our Shawn Ingram explains, “The Zino HD looks like it could be the computer of choice for any home theater setup for easy access to all those videos on your computer.  Pair it with Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and iTunes, and you have almost everything you could want viewable on your HDTV.”

The key here to go mainstream is ease of use.  Here we may still have some issues as consumers switch between a remote and a keyboard but this unit looks good enough to get geeks and their kinda-geeky counterparts on board.  Starting at just $229 and so cute, what is not to love?  Dell must hate the cable companies.

So now it’s wait for Boxee, buy a new TV with web widgets or spring for this cute box.  My money is on this box.

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The official word on the Google’s Chrome OS mentioned that we would see “more updates in the fall” and that it would not be available for download until the “second half of 2010.” That said, things sometimes change, and sometimes they become the subject of rumor.

In this case, we have a rumor, of course its a rumor that the Google fanboy in me hopes to see come true.

Anyway, according to TechCrunch;

“Google’s Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we’ve heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.”

There you have it, a “reliable source” is letting us know that we will soon be able to play with Chrome OS. But with that, it was also pointed out that the driver and device support will likely be limited. At least in my case, I am hoping that limited support includes Eee PC’s.

Read [TechCrunch]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

It seems as if it has been a while since we last heard an MPAA horror story, but not to worry because we have a goodie for you on this fine Friday morning.

It would seem that those living in Coshocton, Ohio have at least temporarily lost their free Wi-Fi. And yes, they had city wide free Wi-Fi, or at least did until the MPAA came into town. The access was set up in the area surrounding the County Courthouse and was noted as serving anywhere from a dozen to one hundred users during a day. Of course it took just one user to prompt the shut down.

And that shutdown came after a notice from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Unfortunately it looks like the service may also remain offline because although the town has found a way to prevent this from happening in the future that system costs money. But the Commisioners are questioning whether the $2000 setup and $900 annual fee would be worth it for a free giveaway.

But with that comes the moral of the story. First you cannot truly depend on free Wi-Fi. But more importantly—do not be that guy (or girl) that causes this. In other words, use free Wi-Fi responsibly, and treat it like you would at home. And no that does not mean its a pipe for porn, instead use the golden rule. If you would not download said item from your home connection, then it is most likely not a good idea to download it from a publicly available connection.

Its a shame that the town could not identify the person who caused this, it seems that in a smaller town like this a little public shaming would do the trick.

Read [Coshocton Tribune]  Via [Consumerist]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

With the release of Windows 7 and programs such as Boxee, having a computer as part of a home-theater set-up is becoming more and more reasonable.  The issue has been that outside of nettops and the Mac mini, there haven’t been many options for what that computer should be.  Sure, anything would work, but it’s always much preferred if the device looks nice up there next to an HDTV.  Finally Dell has come through with a computer that can fit that need.

The new computer is called the Dell Zino HD.  The Zino HD actually looks a bit like a Mac mini, if only a bit bigger, measuring 8 inches on each side, all black aside from the top which comes in Dell’s typical myriad colors.  It can come with a variety of AMD Athlon processors (both Dual Core and single core), up to 8 GB of RAM, up to 1 TB of storage, and either a DVD or Blu-ray drive.  It runs on Windows Vista, 7 or Ubuntu for those who want the options, and can output to an HDTV via the HDMI port (something the Mac mini is sorely lacking).  The Zino HD starts at $229, much lower than the Mac mini’s $599, and tops out at $808, also cheaper than the top Mac mini with an HDD that’s half the size with no HDMI.

The Zino HD looks like it could be the computer of choice for any home theater setup for easy access to all those videos on your computer.  Pair it with Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and iTunes, and you have almost everything you could want viewable on your HDTV.  Sure, there is the upcoming Boxee box, but that doesn’t mean having an actual PC hooked up to your TV isn’t a good idea.  There are other uses, of course, like a cheap, easily portable PC for say a college student who doesn’t do a whole lot of PC gaming.  Or, it could be useful for using the Internet on your TV without having to use the clunky Wii or PS3 interfaces.

Read [Dell]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

I am not really sure how this one got by me yesterday, but given I tend to obsessively follow ebook reader news and still missed it, I figured someone else may benefit from the news. With that, Amazon has released the promised Kindle for PC app.

Which means that Kindle readers will now have one more option for reading, and the PC app will also include Whispersync. For those not familiar with the Kindle or Whispersync, that is the technology that allows you to read across multiple devices without having to worry about where you left off. Whispersync also keeps your notes and bookmarks in sync between devices.

Personally, and despite being an avid reader and Kindle user I am not sure how much use this will get from me. That said, it does seem to be a nice addition, and could serve readers in a way similar to that of the Kindle app on the iPhone—as a backup device that is used to read for a few minutes when the random opportunity pops up.

Anyway, users can go ahead and download the Kindle for PC app now. The app itself is free to download, but the books are not. Instead those will have to be purchased, however they are typically priced at around $9.99.

Read [Amazon]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Malware is absolutely everywhere these days.  Even if you do all the right things like not clicking on links or opening attachments in emails, avoiding bittorents, porn sites and illegal download sites like Limewire (which is full of malware!), not clicking on pop up or banner ads, and being careful about what apps and notifications you open on sites like Facebook, malware can still sneak in.  This is especially true if you are on a network.  Last night while I was online I was suddenly redirected to a rogue anti-virus site.  I was shocked as I am super careful.  I disconnected my wireless card and started running scans-they found 5 Trojans and a rootkit on my system!  Further digging revealed that my husband’s computer had the same infections plus a few more.  I did some more research and asked a few questions and it seems the Trojans are the kind that search out networks and infect every computer on the ones it finds.  In other words my husband’s computer was contagious!  This doesn’t mean he was careless.  Malware is getting so sophisticated these days that many kinds don’t require the user to click on, run or open them. They do it all themselves! This means if you accidentally make a typo and wind up on an unfamiliar site, or accidentally click on a pop up when you try to close it, that site could quietly download malware onto your computer.  Many businesses buy up the misspelled versions of their domain names because they know if they don’t, scammers and cybersquatters will.

How do you protect yourself?  First of all make sure whatever OS you use (and yes there is Mac malware out there!) is kept up to date and all security patches are installed.  Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool is quite good and should be downloaded and run once a month.  Keep your anti-virus software updated at all times as well.  If you’re on a network, keep your firewall up and running at all times (My husband had accidentally turned ours off, which I believe led to the infections) and make sure your router is protected.  WPA-PSK security is recommended as most hackers can easily crack the old WEP protocol.  Choose a passkey that is a mix of letters and numbers and change it regularly.

There are several good anti-malware programs out there and you should be using at least one. I highly recommend the following:

Malwarebytes:

This is simple, fast and powerful software that detects all kinds of malware, spyware and adware.  It scans files, registry keys, boot sectors, and memory for infections.  The free version is adequate but if you want real-time protection and the ability to schedule regular scans, you can upgrade to the premium version for $24.95.

Spybot Search & Destroy:

This is another great tool for finding malware, spyware and adware on your computer.  It allows you to back up your registry, run scans and has a useful immunization feature that tweaks your browser to block drive by malware, tracking cookies, malicious websites and other bad stuff.  The TeaTimer feature quietly monitors system processes and terminates malicious or suspicious ones and alerts you.  It also alerts when a program tries to change a critical registry key.

AVG:

This is a top notch anti-virus program.  Unlike Norton and McAfee, it’s not bloatware and won’t hog system resources.  There’s a free version and a premium “security suite” for $54.99.  I find the free version to be more than adequate. The one caution I have is that it sometimes flags legit programs as viruses, This kind of false positive crippled iTunes for a short time over the summer. It was quickly fixed however.

Watch where you surf, what you click on and what you download/install, keep your network secure and your anti-virus software up to date and running at all times, and do regular scans with one of the anti-malware programs discussed above and you will spoil the fun for millions of hackers and scammers!

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The Samsung X120 with Intel’s new ULV chip got a hands-on and the result: there is lots to love.  It is small, not much bigger than a netbook, packs lots of computing power (it can handle Windows 7) and a multi-touch trackpad.

The hands-on demo came up with a battery life of just 2.5 hours, troubling as the official spec is 4 hours but a six cell battery is available for a suggested 9 hours of run time.  The notebook also boasts a 3-in-1 card reader as well as a HDMI input/output so you can connect to your high-def TV with ease.

Mobile Computer Mag is smitten with the device.  In the UK, it sells for £470.  Word is Samsung has not decided to ship this unit to the US yet.

Read: [MobileComputer]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Despite not hearing much in terms of the OLPC project recently it seems that they are still seeing their fair share of success. According to Walter Bender they have topped one million downloads on Sugar Labs.

“I had been meaning to mention that already several weeks ago we exceeded one-million downloads from activities.sugarlabs.org. We are now over 1.1 million.”

Of course, it should be pointed out that the one million number does not really represent individual users, but total downloads. But still reaching, or in this case, topping one million downloads is still impressive.

With that, it does make you wonder just where the OLPC project is going, and thanks to a recent New York Times article we are being given a look at just that. It seems that we are going to see the release of the OLPC 1.5 sometime next month. Which, the OLPC 1.5 will be the follow up to the current XO1. According to the details, the OLPC 1.5 will offer “double the speed and four times more memory.”

It was also noted that a future model is currently in development that will come “with double screens to enable several kids to work on each one.”

And for those wondering, as of now nothing has been mentioned in regards to another round of the G1G1 program for 2009.

Read [New York Times] and [Walter Bender] Via [OLPC News]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The last we heard was that the Nokia N900 Internet tablet was being delayed until November. Well thankfully, at least for those waiting, November has arrived and with that the N900 has begun shipping. This news comes courtesy of Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, which means that those who pre-ordered should be expecting an update to their order status pretty shortly.

Or for those who have been holding out, the N900 is available with Amazon (among other places) and is selling for $559.99. That said, the N900 is still listed as not yet released, but I would imagine that will be changing shortly. After all, the news shipping news was just announced yesterday afternoon.

Finally just as a recap, the Nokia N900 Internet tablet features a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel camera and 32GB of internal storage. Additionally, the N900 is running Maemo 5 and can be used as an unlocked device (phone) here in the US with either T-Mobile or AT&T. Well, can be used with either of those carriers as long as you do not mind shelling out the $559 asking price, because this is not going to be offered as a subsidized price.

Read [Reuters]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

With the economy on the mend, Microsoft is upping the pressure on it’s sales team to sell Exchange 2010.  Microsoft’s new pitch?  Save money.  Save lots of freaking money.  In fact, if you upgrade now, you’ll be rolling in cash - enough to upgrade everything to Windows 7 (haha, small joke).

Microsoft is pitching Exchange 2010 as a way to save major money.  The company points out 3 main ways users can cut expenses by upgrading to the latest version of Exchange:

• Use less expensive storage with Exchange 2010: it can now be used with attached storage devices instead of SANs (storage area network)
Eliminate voicemail expenses: Exchange can convert voice to text
Save on email archiving: Exchange 2010 adds in this feature instead of needing separate software

According to PC Mag: “As part of its case to customers, Microsoft is citing a study it commissioned from research analyst Forrester. The study says that companies can expect to recoup their costs of deploying Exchange 2010 within six months through savings in other areas.”

Other benefits in upgrading to Exhange 2010 is conversation threading, the ability to ignore conversations users are CC’d on, and sensitive information blocking. 

Read: [PCMag]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

This holiday season, Google is stepping up and covering the WiFi fees in airports across the country as part of a marketing push.  Users will be greeted by Google offering classic marketing techniques such as an offer to change your homepage to Google, download Chrome browser or an offer to donate to three charities.

They advertise, we win

If you’ve traveled enough, you know free WiFi in airports is a rare occurrence.  It seems everywhere I’ve traveled as of late has been blockaded by Boingo or other scheme set to drain my pocket of loose change.  Recently, Google also cut a similar deal on Virgin Airlines where Google will cover the WiFi fees for its new in-flight WiFi service for the holidays.

But Google isn’t the only one jumping on the free WiFi train.  Recently Lexus covered the fees on American Airlines as a way to introduce their new 2010 LS line and eBay covered WiFi on Delta during the Thanksgiving holiday.  Yahoo is providing free WiFi in Times Square and Microsoft is covering the cost for WiFi at several different hotspots as way to get Bing out to more people.

This is a trend we’d like to see continue.

Read: [CNN] and [Search Engine Journal]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Windows 7 saw a pretty good amount of coverage coming from the tech blogs, after all I would say that a fair amount of tech bloggers were using it on a regular, if not daily basis since the public beta was released back in January of 2009. That said, I often wonder just how much of the tech crowd excitement makes it out into the world of the regular users.

Well in the case of Windows 7 it seems to have been well received. According to Microsoft, the first week sales of Windows 7 have topped the first week Windows Vista sales by 234%. And in addition to that, Windows 7 has also topped Windows Vista in terms of revenue, in this instance the revenue was up 83%.

Personally, I really like Windows 7, but at the same time also believe that Vista grew into its own with time. And with that I did make my contribution to those above stats by purchasing my own copy of Windows 7. But have also talked a few people, all Vista users out of upgrading for the simple fact that they have not had any trouble with Vista.

Read [HotHardware]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Courtesy of a Best Buy Reward Zone member advertisement, we now know that the Nokia Booklet 3G will be available as of November 15. Which is of course much nicer than the previous time frame of sometime during the holidays.

For those interested, the Booklet 3G will set you back $299.99, but that price does required a two year commitment. Otherwise, those looking to make the purchase contract free can expect to pay the full retail price of $599.99. And yes, for good or bad that contract is with AT&T.

Additionally, although we did know many of the details and features surrounding the Booklet 3G, except the actual release, I did at least get a nice little chuckle from the

“Windows 7 operating system is crazy fast”

comment in the ad. Crazy fast, really? That is the best they can do.

Anyway, for those waiting, well for those that are also a Reward Zone member, you can now head out to Best Buy and get your pre-order in.

Read [Nokia Mobile Blog]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

The Eee Keyboard, a device that was first unveiled during CES 2009 and one that was expected to see a release last month has been officially delayed. That bit of bad news does however come with a little bit of good news though.

First things first, the keyboard has been delayed, and so far not canceled. According to the details, courtesy of the delay the keyboard will now have a slightly better set of specs.

Asus has stated that the keyboard will include a faster processor, a new operating system and a touchscreen that is capacitive. Unfortunately, when Asus was spilling the details on the upgraded specs they failed to mention a new release date. Hey, maybe we can check out the updated model on the CES show floor in January 2010—because Gadgetell will be there offering live coverage.

Finally, in an effort to end this post on a positive note, Asus did also mention that the keyboard is still on track for a $500 price point.

Via [Maximum PC]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Finding a new way to store power in our mobile devices has been a problem for quite some time.  We’ve been stuck with Lithium-Ion batteries for a while now, and unless a device is using ULV or is a netbook, chances are the battery life could be a lot better.  There’s been promises of several types of new battery tech recently, but none has really taken off.  Now yet another new possibility has come as the replacement for the Lithium-Ion.

The new technology is called Metal-Air Ionic Liquid.  It works by conducting electricity through an ionic liquid salt.  Without getting into too much detail, it means that batteries can be made with metals heavier than the zinc used in zinc-air batteries.  To put it into perspective to Lithium-Ion batteries, one kilogram or MAIL can hold about 11 times more watt-hours than the same weight of Lithium-Ions.  The main idea of MAIL batteries will be for cars, but they could easily benefit our laptops can netbooks.

The promise of being able to hold up to about 11 times the charge of a Lithium-Ion battery could easily mean that our laptops and netbooks can last for close to a day, or even multiple days.  It will probably be a while before we start seeing anything with MAIL batteries, but it might be worth the wait.  With Intel pushing it’s ULV chipsets, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see standard laptops running for days at a time when combined with MAIL.  We can only hope that this, like so many other battery improvements, doesn’t end up falling away into obscurity or becomes to unfeasible.

Read [jkOnTheRun] Read [Electronista]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Verizon, Verizon, Verizon—it seems they are determined to get some attention lately. We have seen the endless, but exciting Droid coverage, then earlier today we saw the BlackBerry Curve 8530 get announced.

Now, it looks like Verizon is getting into the pre-paid data game. Which personally I have to say it a wonderful thing. Especially for those who like to have Internet access on the go, but do not need it often enough to necessitate a service plan with a contract.

Anyway, detail wise it looks like customers will be able to get a daily, weekly or monthly option. And as you would expect, each of those levels comes with a set amount of data transfer. Here is a breakdown of the available data transfer along with the pricing.

• Daily – $15 for 75 MB
• Weekly – $30 for 250 MB
• Monthly – $50 for 500 MB

Finally, I think they only thing that would have made this announcement better is if they would have offered the pre-paid service in a plan that worked with the MiFi. However instead users will be able to use the pre-paid mobile broadband plans with the Verizon Wireless USB760 modem which will be selling for $129.99.

In terms of what you can do with the above plans, here is a breakdown which comes courtesy of Verizon.

To assist customers in determining their service levels, the following chart provides examples of different applications based on approximate size assumptions. Actual file sizes may vary.
Data Type

E-mail (1 text page, no attachments)

• Daily: 25,600
• Weekly: 85,300
• Monthly: 170,000

Typical Web page lookup

• Daily: 500
• Weekly: 1,700
• Monthly: 3,400

Low-resolution digital photos

• Daily: 150
• Weekly: 500
• Monthly: 1,000

Read [Verizon Wireless]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Call it karma or something else, the interesting relationship between Microsoft and Gizmodo continues to yield exclusive looks at the leaked tablet.  Microsoft’s Courier was shown by the site in a video and now that video has been sliced to show how users interact with the Courier.

The user interface highlights different fingerswipes, tablet functionality such as geotagging and timestamping, camera focusing and cropping, handwriting recognition, ereader capabilities and more.  The main purpose of this device looks to be “life” as the product seems to touch on many aspects.  Clearly, this tablet is built for more than just surfing the web or playing some games.

Gizmodo shows off several images with user options and actions on each page.  It is interested, but if you saw the video then you might have expected much of this.  The pages look like little more than still images from the video, giving us no indication how far from reality this is.

Read: [Gizmodo]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Yesterday, fellow Gadgetell writer JG told us about Walmart’s pre-Black Friday sale and one of the items up for sale is a $298 laptop from HP. According to the initial ad listing we could see that laptop has a 15.6-inch display with a 250GB hard drive.

Of course, there are many more specs to that and it was hard not to wonder if a sub-$300 laptop would be worth the money. Anyway, the laptop in question is the G60-519WM from HP. Bottom line, everyones needs and use will require something different, but in this case it seems worthy.

Luckily, said laptop is now listed in its fully spec’d glory over at Walmart.com.

Feature wise, the G60-519WM will offer users a 15.6-inch WXGA display with a 1366 x 768 resolution, a 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200RPM hard drive, LightScribe SuperMulti DVD drive and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition.

Additionally, users can also expect Ethernet, Wi-Fi, three USB ports, one VGA out, a microphone in, headphone, Altec Lansing audio and a 6-cell battery.

Sure, it may not be a screamer in terms of performance with the Celeron processor, but for $298 this could make a nice addition to the house. Of course, actually getting one may be a different story.

Product [Walmart]  Via [I4U]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

We have been hearing stories of the CrunchPad for a while now, but for those of you who may be unfamiliar, the CrunchPad is a web tablet that is being developed by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.

Just to give a brief history, the CrunchPad news first hit with a promise of a tablet that was designed solely for web browsing, and on top of that it was a tablet that was expected, or at least hoped to be priced at $200.

That was back in the middle of 2008. Of course, moving forward that $200 price tag turned into $300 sometime around April of 2009. Still, not a bad price, that is assuming it was made with some quality. At that time, there were even some prototypes around. But still nothing firm in terms of when the CrunchPad would be released.

Flash forward to today, November 2009 and Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that the CrunchPad may be out of business due to higher than expected development costs.

One story we heard from a few people on a recent trip to California is that the CrunchPad is supposedly being delayed—perhaps indefinitely—by increasing expenses.

Of course, there was that one rumor that suggested the CrunchPad would be released in November for around $400, and hey, November is not yet over so maybe we will see it hit the market after all.

Bottom line, it does not seem to be looking good. That said, I still want one.

Read [Silicon Alley Insider]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »