The iPhone as Designed By Leonardo da Vinci

This is one of the coolest iPhone t-shirts I've ever seen—apart from ours: The iPhone as designed by Leonardo da Vinci or some cuckoo Victorian scientist. They have a pretty-pretty hand screen-printed poster too:

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Apple set to launch 'iTablet'

Apple set to launch 'iTablet'

Reports suggest Apple has plans to release an internet-enabled portable computer capable of playing music and movies before Christmas.

According to the The Financial Times, the portable tablet, nicknamed the 'iTablet' by industry watchers, features a touch-sensitive screen that could measure up to 10 inches diagonally.

Like Apple's iPod Touch, the iTablet will be able to connect to the web and to the Apple store, where consumers will be able to purchase a range of media including music, movies and games.

Apple has remained characteristically tight-lipped about a possible launch, but last week Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook said the company is working on something "very innovative".

Many industry insiders expect the iTablet to have the ability to read documents and books, giving Apple a product to rival Amazon's Kindle.

It was reported earlier this month that the
Amazon Kindle would be coming to the UK by Christmas.

Despite big backing in the past, portable tablets have failed to become a hit with consumers.

Microsoft's Windows tablet flopped when it launched in 2004.

However, Apple, which has been massively successful in marketing portable devices to the public, will be hoping to turn this around.

The entertainment industry is pinning its hopes on new technology, such as the Kindle and iTablet, to revitalise sales of music and books.

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Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot: the mobile with 8 megapixels

Mobile phones are moving into digital cameras. Or vice versa. The Sony Ericsson is a splendid mobile phone. But as the name Cyber-shot suggest, it is also a splendid digital camera.

At one time some photographers went around saying four megapixels was enough. Perhaps that is true for someone who always frames the shot to within a small percent. But not true for most amateurs who shoot and then improve the shot in editing. For that you need all the resolution you can get and eight megapixels is very handy. If you crop a picture by half, what you have is the same resolution as a shot on a four megapixel camera.

The Sony Ericsson C905 has been around for a few months and although it is not inexpensive — something under, but not a lot under, $600 — you can look at it as a seriously good camera and a good mobile phone.

Yes, it is a little heavy at 136 grams but paste a mobile to a digital camera and you will probably come in something close to that.

The mobile — which we should get out of the way early for this is about digital cameras — is good for texting as it has a slide-out keyboard. It is a question of taste. There are those who are very comfortable with the iPhone on-screen keyboard. And there are those who prefer a keyboard, no matter how minute, with real keys.

Note that this Sony Ericsson also has GPS built in so it is possible, with the right geo-tag software, to have a place as well as a date and technical details stamp on any picture you take. Finally, on the phone side this is available not just in the United States but also in Australia and the UK — probably other places as well — and the price seems to be settled as something just under $600.

Now to the camera part.

This dual machine takes better pictures than any other mobile phone/digital camera combination currently on the market. Being number one in a sector is never easy and it is London to a brick that many others will be trying to knock the Sony Ericsson out of that spot. No sign of anyone doing so up until now.

The Sony-Ericsson has a built-in flash which is probably a must-have feature for some users. More importantly it has built-in features which will improve the shot even thought this requires some adjustment in thinking on the part of the user.

Take the feature that is called BestPic. It give you seven chances to capture the magic moment. It takes three images as you press the button, plus the image you think your are getting and there another three afterwards. Keep the pictures you want, bin the rest.

It has auto focus which homes in on the subject in the center of the screen which may not be approved by purists but works very well for most shots.

Instead of waiting until you are working with the picture in, say, PhotoShop on your computer you can use a built-in program called Photofix to improve pictures by adjusting brightness, light and contrast.

There is anti-blur software built in and Sony Ericsson claims you can leave your tripod at home. In fact, this is not the sort of device you would be using with a tripod so that addition will probably prove very useful.

It comes equipped with a 2GB memory stick which might, to advantage, be considerably larger capacity. Which is not a great problem.

There are probably other features which could not be accessed in the time it was available. But this is a very complete digital camera and will handle most situations.

In a sense this device shows us one of the ways of the future. Whereas the iPhone concentrates on the phone part and bungs in a fairly low resolution camera to round it out. The Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot concentrates on both.

It is truly a superior mobile phone in that it has a keyboard and handles every kind of connectivity. And it is a most wonderful digital camera working at a resolution that currently leaves its competition for dead.

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Airtel launches new BlackBerry

Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone in India. Priced at Rs.21990 the smartphone is now available at Airtel authorized channels nationally.

In addition to the power Blackberry platform offers, the new phone packs a wide range of features including spacious keyboard into a sleek flip design, a company press release said.


“The BlackBerry Pearl Flip is a powerful, compact smartphone equipped to deliver a wide range of applications,” said Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel. "This continues to reinforce our commitment to enhance and deliver the best communication experience to our users with the latest BlackBerry smartphones from Airtel.”

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AMD to Intro 45nm Desktop CPUs in Q3

Techtree News Staff, Jan 06, 2009 1259 hrs IST

The six new additions to AMD's business and consumer class lineup comprises dual-core, triple-core and quad-core processors

AMD will add six 45nm process desktop processors in Q3 this year, Digitimes reported, citing sources at motherboard manufacturers. These processors will join AMD's business and consumer class lineup.

The new 45nm business class processors will include dual-core, triple-core and quad-core processors. The dual-core processors have Athlon X2 B23 running at 2.9GHz clock-speed with 2MB cache and X2 B21 running at 2.7GHz with 2MB cache.

The triple-core processors will add Phenom II X3 B71 running at 2.6GHz clock-speed with 7.5MB cache and Phenom II X3 B73 running at 2.8GHz clock-speed with 7.5MB cache.

While the quad-core series will add Phenom II X4 B91 running at 2.6GHz clock-speed with 8MB cache and Phenom II X4 B93 running at 2.8GHz clock-speed with 8MB cache.

Last month we got AMD's 45nm desktop CPU compilation, which is expected to be launched at CES 2009.

No official word is available since AMD refuses to comment on unannounced products.

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