HP/Palm Pre3 Coming Soon

Palm's models have traditionally been targeted mainly at corporate and professional users because of the large full keyboards. Now dubbed HP's Pre3 it is the first model to take after Palm after the acquisition by HP, and the target audience is no different from before.

Among other things, the phone has a huge keyboard, is equipped with a 3.6-inch screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, so yes it's pretty big. The display is a refular LCD screen that provides decent color reproduction, although not quite as good as Samsung's Super AMOLED variants.

The CPU is a Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm with a singlt processor core. This one is clocked to an entire 1.4 GHz, so this should mean a very rapid interface. Moreover, the smartphone gets 512 MB of flash memory for operating system and applications. For the user's data, 8GB or 16 GB of storage is available depending on version.

Multi-tasking is also one of the areas where the WebOS operating system has received a lot of praise. most praise for the former. Each application is a card in a flip-box menu, and these are easy to toggle between.On each of the application cards, you'll see a preview of its content.

Just like in Apple's iOS and Google's Android, the applications in the background essentially go to sleep while not in use. The Pre3 also has a few things in common with BlackBerry's Playbook. For example, most of the menu navigation is done by pulling your fingers across the screen, instead of pressing buttons.

The phone is perceived as very fast and responsive in all situations, and the menu system looks stable. The keyboard is also very good, even for larger fingers. Again, it's a large phone, with both a big keyboard and a relatively large screen, but it's not that heavy at 156 grams.
HP's smartphone is characterized by matte plastic on the back, in addition to an aluminum panel that sits behind the screen when the phone is open.

On the technical side, the phone offers up a couple of new items; if you have a so-called dual-band home router the Pre3 supports connectivity with the latest standard wireless network standard in the frequency ranges 2.4 and 5 GHz. The latter will provide less interference from neighboring networks and household appliances.

Pre3 is also compatible with the Palm Touchstone - a wireless charger that uses induction to charge the phone.

Sonos Controller for Android

Sonos has introduced the Sonos Controller for Android, a free app that converts your Android phone to a wireless music controller for the Sonos Multi-Room Music System.

With the award-winning Sonos S5 in any room and an Android phone in hand, music lovers can enjoy a wireless music experience like no other in their home, according to Sonos.

You can access and play music from the Internet, your own personal music collection, all of it wirelessly. In addition, the Sonos Controller for Android comes with music voice search, which allows users to search for artist, album or song, simply by speaking directly into the phone.

- Sonos's mission is to fill every home with music. We think it is very exciting that we have created the conditions for all Android fans around the world to enjoy music at home, says John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos.

The Sonos Controller for Android is developed to work with any Android device using version 2.1 or later, as long as it has at least 320 x 480 display resolution.

The Sonos Controller for Android is now part of a full range of Sonos Controllers that include free apps  for the iPhone and iPad, a dedicated controller with touch screen, the Sonos Controller 200, as well as free software for Mac or PC (included with every ZonePlayer). All controller devices should work together seamlessly.

Apple Rumor: New MacBook Pro gets OS-Dedicated SSD?

 Apple rumors - real or imaginary - is an actual industry in itself that occupies lots of full-time bloggers and probably private detectives who comb through Steve Jobs' garbage with a toothbrush and patience like a mule. Anyway, the web designers now have a new piece to drool over. Their holy grail, the MacBook Pro, is about to be updated and here are some of the key upates (maybe):

* A fast 8GB or 16GB SSD (Solid State Drive) for use by the O
* The already oversized touchpad becomes even larger
* The laptop will also be a couple hundred grams lighter than current models, which are already the lightest 15-inch laptops on the market)

The most interesting part from the rumor mill is the small SSD, which would make the boot procedure and OS-related functions considerably faster than with any hard drive, and without cutting back on storage space (provided that it comes with a reasonably roomy hard drive, too). I myself use SSD, but unfortunately it is a bit too small. Large SSDs cost an arm and a leg. Another rumor says that they will be equipped with Light Peak, but that sounds a bit too optimistic to be true.

PSP Go Also Hacked

You have to give Sony some credit for the copy-protection measures on the PS3. It took several years before a hack to play pirated games was even thought up. With the PSP, things have been going less well. By flashing the device with a custom firmware, it has been open season for pirates.

The new variant PSP was supposed to fill the security hole by dropping the UMD player and go for downloadable games, but now it seems that this one, too, has lost its innocence.

A PSP hacker who calls himself  "Liquidzigong" has successfully put an ISO loader in PSP go. Video Evidence provided on YouTube, as the user starts Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which was just released on UMD (and otherwise unplayable on the PSP go, which lacks a UMD player).

New Intel CPUs Announced - Better IGP Included

As expected, Intel has announced its latest generation processors at CES in Las Vegas. Rougly one billion transistors are now squeezed onto 216 square millimeters of silicon in the company's latest CPU series "Sandy Bridge"--the second-generation Core i7, i5 and i3.

This represents a fairly big leap forward, especially for laptops with integrated graphics, because the graphics part is now integrated on the same chip as the processor. In the real world, this means significantly better performance for high-definition video and casual games.

For example, you should have no problem playing World of Warcraft with decent detail settings on a small laptop without a dedicated video card, which is bad news for current entry-level GPUs from AMD / (ATI) and Nvidia.

Otherwise, the new processors support faster memory, better "Turbo Boost" (overclocking feature), HDMI 1.4 with 3D support, and a lot of other interesting stuff.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Let's say your computer or smartphone behaves strangely. You have been there before. Every now and then between our gadgets start to behave so annoyingly that you get the urge to throw them out the window.

Then why don't you just turn it off and back on again and see what happens - it's an old tip and it's no doubt the most simple, but every so often it really works. The question is why?

Part of the answer is the more you use it, the more small chunks of a program (or the operating system) remains in the memory of your computer. When left alone for long enough, there's a good chance that it starts to behave unpredictably. It may begin to slow down, or it might suddenly not bother to go online anymore.

A simple reboot is often the good and proper solution. If your laptop suddenly starts to behave strangely, then solve in nine out of ten cases rebooting fixes the issue. The same is true for smartphones, media players and other advanced gadgets, because they are actually small computers.

Just turn them off and on again!

T12 Wireless: New Wireless Speakers from Creative

Creative Technology Ltd. today announced the speaker system Creative T12 Wireless, the latest addition to Creative's Pure Wireless family. Slim, sleek and stylish in classic black makes it a natural solution for wireless 2.0 speakers. Creative T12 Wireless presents another solution for wireless speakers in Creative's Pure Wireless family.

The present series consists of wireless speakers that include ZiiSound ™ D5 - the flagship of the individual speaker, Creative Inspire S2 Wireless - a 2.1 speaker system, Creative D200 - best in class for each speaker and Creative D100 - a portable wireless ghetto blasters. Each speaker is equipped with the award-winning Bluetooth technology to deliver the cleanest, wireless sound in its class. With Creative T12 Wireless as the increase is now a wireless 2.0 speaker system with the family.

Creative T12 Wireless has all the qualities that made Pure Wireless series to such a great success:

* Works with all compatible stereo Bluetooth devices
* Quick and easy connection
* High quality wireless audio transmission

Creative T12 Wireless has inherited all the fine qualities of its predecessors but also add their own qualities and takes the user to new experiences with Pure Wireless and adds even more features:
* BassFlexTM technology that extends the low frequency range without the need for separate subwoofer
*Apt-X audio codec for superior sound quality
*Convenient trigger switch on the front, volume, and headphone output

"We are facing an important juncture in the development of how customers experience the music with the speakers from their mobile devices. Everywhere there is a greater range of wireless Bluetooth-enabled, portable devices as smart phones, e-books, netbooks and notebooks - not just iPhone, iPod, and now also iPad. These devices offer new flexibility and have changed the way we listen to our music. We at Creative track a rapidly growing trend towards even greater wireless freedom when we listen to music, and thats why we are in forefront of new design with this all-new Pure Wi-series and offer our customers a choice of wireless speakers in almost every price range and speaker configurations. "

"Since its launch earlier this year, this comprehensive Pure Wi-series been very well received. We know that wireless speakers are applicable and our wireless speaker solutions will replace conventional docking speakers in the very near future," said Joseph Liow, Vice-President for Personal Digital Entertainment Products for Creative.

With Creative T12 Wireless is easy to listen to quality music wirelessly through three ways to pair the devices:

* Connect an iPhone, iPod or iPad † with iPod Transmitter (available separately)
* Connecting via a USB Bluetooth transmitter connected to a PC / laptop or netbook
* Connect via a built-in Bluetooth function on a mobile device or PC