The Asus Eee series is sure going to face a tough competition. Lenovo’s about to jump into the netbook market with not one but two new devices: the IdeaPad S9, which packs an 8.9-inch screen, and the IdeaPad S10, which packs a 10.1-inch screen. The netbooks are approximately one inch thin and weigh just over two pounds. The keyboard size will be 85 percent the size of a full-function notebook PC’s keyboard, and longer battery life will be provided by using energy-efficient LED back-lit display.

The netbooks will use Intel’s Atom processor and will come with either 512MB or 1GB of RAM and either a 80 GB or a 160GB hard drive drive. They will come with Windows XP or Linux preloaded. It will also feature Wi-fi and optional Bluetooth connectivity and also have an Express Card slot so users can enable the netbook for optional high speed mobile broadband connectivity. They will have a built-in web camera, two USB ports and a 4-in-1 multicard reader for transferring of digital data like music and videos.. The heat emitted by areas such as bottom of PC, palm rest will also be reduced. It will have Lenovo’s OneKey Rescue System which claims to help users recover data should a system error or virus occur.

All these devices will be available in a variety of colors including red, white, black, blue and pink. It will be available in September for the price of Rs 15000 for S9 model and Rs 17,000 for S10 model. There is definitely going to be a great demand for netbook PCs in the future as they are cheap, have good functionality and can even serve as a backup PC.

A new XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card has been released by XFX having a killer configuration of 128 screaming fast cores reaching 1836 MHz frequency, with that much power under its hood it will definitely please the hardcore gamer in you. It has been specially developed and designed targetting the needs of higher visual effects in gaming, it uses the next generation NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology for high-definition movie picture quality.

The latest XFX graphics card also features PhysX technology which delivers realistic looking explosions, facial expression and other details involving physics.

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card also employs CUDA technology and a CUDA runtime for Vista which enables the use of GPU power to be used for intensive processing rather than CPU power. If you have got the money then a complete immersing and optimized gaming solution can be achived by adding three XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ in a three way NVIDIA SLI mode using any one of XFX’s nForce 780i SLI or 790i SLI motherboards( hell of a gaming rig).

It will be available in India through Rashi peripherals for an estimated price tag of Rs 16,000( includes three year warranty)

WordPress just released a new version. As expected it is having Turbo feature with lots of other useful improvements. Some of the very cool & useful improvements have been made like Turbo feature, Post Revisions, Theme Previews, Press This & much much more. If you are running a Wordpress blog, don’t dare to miss this upgrade. We tested all the new features and have pointed them below. WordPress guys poured a video too for this release. Check it below:

To make the changes very clear, I have written them in points:

• Go Gears, Go Turbo: WordPress has integrated Google Gears into WordPress but this change is just for the authors as visitors will not even have a taste of it yet. Also this time Gears has not been used for taking the WP panel offline but to increase its speed. But when I really tested it, the speed can’t be called turbo but yes it is faster than the previous. Still it needs a lot of improvement to match the “Turbo” word.
• Press This: Finally WordPress has finally got it making the tumblelogging easy. This was the much awaited one in WordPress from long time. It is very useful when you accidentally discover a thing while surfing the web. Browsing a video on Youtube or a picture on flickr, just press the bookmarked “Press This” button an it will automatically embed the video or picture you were viewing. Its speed is also quite good and this makes Wordpress perfect tumblelogging tool.
• Post Revisions: This is a surprise feature from WordPress. It shows more detailed information or rather you call it versions of your post when it was edited & saved. It also shows which author edited the post & when. You can compare and then restore changes made in two builds of the post.
• Theme Previews: When you are designing a new theme for your blog, most of you set up a trial blog and build & test themes there. WP 2.6 gets this load down as you can check how the new theme looks at your own blog before readers can watch it.
• Word Count: This plugin reminds the author about the words he/she has typed for a post.
• Image Captions.
• Drag & Drop re-ordering of galleries.
• Customizable default avatars.
• There are lots more. See here.
• Also this release fixes 194 bugs (huh! that is a huge number!).

Now this what we call a true blogging environment. Well really if this is WordPress 2.6 then I just can’t make out what will be in WordPress 3! Or just try imagining the 10th version. Superb isn’t it?

Sony has launched a new multimedia notebook, the Sony VAIO FW which will surely please the high definition movie fans. There will be a lot of configurations available to choose from, ranging from a standard to a premium model. The premium model will be able to play Blu-ray discs, letting you enjoy high definition content in full 1080 HD resolution when connected to a compatible HDTV.

One more advantage of it would be that you will be able to store your data on high definition disks. So you get enormous storage space on a single disc. It will be able to store, record and play back personal content on high-capacity BD media.One of its drawback is that the FW notebook weights at slightly over six pounds which makes it quite heavy. But so what, it has the world’s first 16.4-inch display which has been constructed with a view that many HD films are shot at 16:9 aspect ratio. So it is an ideal display to watch wide screen movies without any problem.

The extended workspace also lets you view two full websites at once or open two documents side-by-side without tabbing back and forth. It also has an HDMI output connector so you can connect to a high-definition TV set for a larger viewing experience. The notebook is powered by new Intel Centrino 2 technology, the chipset specially designed for sizzling performance, instant system responsiveness and energy efficiency. Some selected unites will have Windows Vista Ultimate pre installed. The notebook is equipped with plenty of slots, ports and jacks, including a Memory Stick media/SD card slot, three USB ports, an i.LINK IEEE-1394 port, microphone and headphone jack, and a 34mm Express Card slot making it easy to transfer files from external devices.

The notebook will also come with three entertainment software’s which will allow users to create there own HD videos, burn them as well as stream content over a wireless connection. The Standard FW models will start from $1,000 upwards, while the premium model will start from $1,750. It will be available later this month.

Gélule, French for capsule, is the name of this pill-shaped radio clock concept by Pascal Barde from the design company Sequoia Studio.

The smooth looking capsule radio features a backlit LCD display and an omni-directional speaker, which also functions as a huge volume knob.

Here’s a video demonstration of Pascal’s radio clock concept:

In the details released by Microsoft on its upcoming peripherals which are going to be released in the summer, two things are really worth looking out for. One is the new futuristic looking wireless Arc mouse, other is the revamping of the popular Sidewinder gaming mouse.

The new Arc mouse really seems to be the center of attention. It is a wireless mouse which has both style as well as portability and not to mention, a futuristic looking design. It has a got a crescent moon design, and you can even fold it to reduce the size in half. So here you are getting a full sized mouse as well as the portability of a notebook mouse. It is all about the fashion edge, with a stylish micro transceiver that you can leave right in your computer. It is available in two colors - red and black at a price of $59.95.

Microsoft has also announced that they are going to revamp the Sidewinder gaming mouse. The large size of the Sidewinder mouse was problem with the mouse as it was unfit for most hands. The scroll wheel was also stiff. These two defects made it almost unappealing towards gamers. Though the design looks almost similar to the predecessor, the new X5 sidewinder is significantly altered. The new Sidewinder gaming mouse no longer features the weighted box that was used for adjusting the heft of the mouse. The LCD screen that once displayed sensitivity information is also gone. The X5 features nine programmable buttons, hardware DPI switching, and a quick-launch shortcut, and is wired.

The price of the mouse has also been reduced to $59.95 . These are going to be soon available in the market and are a perfect choice for fashion trendy people and serious gamers.

If your 9 - 5 job requires you wear a shirt and tie all day then maybe it’s time to use a bit of USB power to keep your neck cool at all times. Geekstuff4U have created a cool little fan which fits inside your neck tie and blows cold air.

You need to be sat next to a USB powered port for this thing to work and once connected you will feel the cool breeze of cooled down air hitting your neck. The fan can be switched on and off by a switch, although I do recommend remembering to unplug it from the USB port when going to the drink fountain. If you are a business man on the move then do not worry as a battery pack is optional here to keep you cool on the move.

It is unclear at the moment if you are buying a USB fan, or a tie with a USB fan attached. If the latter then it would suck having to wear blue all day, but I personally don’t mind as shirts and ties are not required at Gadget Venue

What would be cool is putting the USB port to actual use rather then relying on it as a means to power the thing. Throw a bunch of sensors in there to measure temperature, humidity, sweat and heart rate and then the computer can monitor this information and control the fan accordingly. Maybe that’s just OTT though for a neck fan.

The Nokia N96 is the most anticipated phone since, well, the N95, but despite months of speculation and countless photoshopped mockups on the web, no official release date has been announced. The eagle eyes guys at Reg Hardware however have spotted the advert in the Carphone Warehouse ezine, The Insider, which reveals that the N96 is going to be released next month.

 Ignore everyone who says the Nokia N96 is simply a ‘sister’ phone to the Nokia N95.  Although the N96 doesn’t improve on certain key areas enough to make it a genuine replacement, there are plenty of new, exciting features added for it to be labeled an ‘evolution’ of the N95’s ‘multimedia computer’.  Well, if the N95 is a multimedia computer, then it’s looking its age and about to get sand kicked in its face by the new Nokia N96! 

The N96’s improvements are noticeable immediately thanks to the total redesign, which can be viewed as a resounding success.  The piano black casing looks sleek and modern, the keypad is larger and more attractively designed and the D-pad and soft keys have been tweaked.  Nokia have sensibly retained the dual slide function and have added a little stand on the rear which allows the N96 to sit on a desk with the screen angled towards you.  Why would you want to do this?  The N96 has a built-in DVB-H mobile TV tuner, that’s why!

The Nokia N96 is a smartphone and uses the Symbian S60 3.2 release with Feature Pack 2, which flattens some of the learning curve previously experienced by new Symbian users by adding more specific shortcuts, clearer menu systems while generally improving speed and responsiveness.  The navigation system has been re-worked too, with the edge of the D-pad becoming a ‘navi-wheel’ which works by running your finger around the touch sensitive chrome edge to move the onscreen cursor.  This type of format works so well on Apple iPod’s, it makes sense to include it on more complicated phones.

I have always been a fan of the NSeries range Nokia mobile phones due to their style and their easy to use features. The N96 is the newest addition to the Nseries collection and is set to be one of the best yet. The Nokia N96 can be viewed as the N95’s big brother - it has the features of the N95, but they have been beefed up to make a more powerful device. The biggest change of the N96 can be found with the video and camera capabilities which seem to completely replace the need of carrying a regular digital camera around. The camera runs at 5 mega pixels and has a Carl Zeiss lens. The screen is larger with a 2.8? diagonal running at 16 million colours with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. A new feature the N96 boasts is the phones ability to work as an advanced television. It acts as a television through its built in DVB-H mobile TV Tuner. DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) has been approved in the UK as the standard for mobile broadcasting. Over the next few years you are sure to see a new generation of mobile devices boasting this technology, making your mobile phone handset become more then an internet browser and phone. The great news for us is that the N96 is here to lead the way.

GPS is built into the N96 like it was in the N95 but it can now also be used to geo-tag your photos. This allows you to keep a log of exactly where all your pictures were taken. You need not worry about storage space either as the N96 has been built with double what the N95 black version had. 16Gb of data can be stored allowing plenty of space for music, video and photos - that’s approximately 40 hours of video / 12,000 music tracks! The microSD slot (offering further consumer flexibility) builds on the N96’s superiority above its little brother, the N95.

In addition to the built in GPS receiver, with support for assisted GPS (A-GPS), the N96 also offers free downloadable maps of over 150 countries through the Nokia maps application. Millions of locations can be found in minutes along with location details and satellite imagery. Upgrades to these features are available (at additional cost) and would provide the user with multimedia city guides and navigation services for driving (drive - voice guided) or walking (pedestrian optimized turn by turn guidance).

The N96 runs Symbian’s S60 3.2 software along with Feature Pack 2. In this release of the software, Symbian have worked on making things run a lot better. Clearer menu’s, smoother scrolling and more responsiveness is now available. A unique part of the D-pad is the ability to use the edge of it as a “navi-wheel” which is activated by brushing your finger over the chrome edge. Touch sensitive sensors are located in that edge which mean scrolling through menu’s and your media section is far better and definitely more user friendly.

The phone Weighs in at 125g.

Overall a very impressive phone packed full of features. For those of you needing a phone that does it all then the N96 could be a serious contender for you to consider! The phone will be available next month (August 2008). More information can be found at the nokia website. [http://europe.nokia.com/A4797549]

Kodak has entered the Pocket Video Camera with the launch of ZI6 pocket camera which may be the one of the best so far. It is affordable, small in size thus allowing users to take videos anywhere without the hassle of large camcorders. It can take videos in HD and can even upload it to sites such as Youtube with the provided software.

The camera captures video in 60fps 720p HD, the highest quality of any pocket cam so far. The Zi6 also shoots stills and lower quality VGA video which are appropriate for sites such as Youtube. Users can upload there videos to Youtube easily using built-in USB and the software. It can support SD/SDHC cards and can hold up to 32 GB of recorded video. With cables provided, users will also be able to watch the videos in high quality. Users will also be able to edit the videos, add pictures and music, and share there creation anywhere with the included video software.

It makes use of two AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, and also included with the packaging is the battery charger. Its accessories will include Kodak Tripods and Kodak Camera Bags. The Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera will be available from late September 2008, retailing for US $179.95. At a such a price, it will really be a hit in the market.