Best headphone brands to have on your system

We will be looking at all the headphone in all the categories as well as price range.

1. Bose
2. Logitech
3. Shure
4. V-Moda
5. Sony
6. Audio-Technica

Aviator Headphones

Skullcandy, known for their rocker and punk-type gadgets, partnered with Roc Nation to produce this Aviator headphones that will surely appeal to teenagers and even to young adults.

Although it feels bulkier then other headphone of its kind, you will see in person that they are actually more portable than they look. You can fold them up to make them appear a bit smaller and easier to carry around anywhere.

Features

• 20-20kHz frequency response.
• 650Ohms impedance.
• 40mW of input power.
• 100mW of output.
• 3.5mm gold-plated plug :)

You can expect these headphones to be available in june but the prices are not disclosed as yet.

Freestyle: The 100 Flavors of Coca-Cola

In its effort to promote itself as the softdrink vendor of the future, the Coca-Cola company is now providing its customers with one hundred new ways to get early diabetes, using its new soda fountain, the Freestyle, offering more than 100 flavors from flavored water to carbonated and noncarbonated sodas and energy drinks.


Designed by the BSquare coroporation, the Coke Freestyle's touch interface allows you to select any drink of your choice, or even live it up a little by combining several drinks to make for one very potent sugar rush. The Freestyle works on PurePour technology, which was originally invented to monitor and measure cancer drugs and dialysis. But of course, choosing or mixing and matching your favorite softdrinks is now the more important function.


The Freestyle can also send business data back to Coke headquarters to determine product demand and peak times of beverage consumption, to help them learn how to ruin your health more effectively and at little cost as possible!

Dell Comes Up With Phenom II X6 Studio XPS, AMD Notebooks

The Dell Studio XPS with AMD's Phenom II X6

Whew! And we thought it wouldn't land here. AMD's Vision that hit the Americas a few weeks back is hitting us here as well. Those caught between an Intel Core i5 and an AMD Phenom X4, an addiction to more multicore processors, will now have an easier time discerning which will satisfy their desires with the announcement of Dell's Studio XPS 7100. These workstations come with either AMD's Phenom II X6 six-core CPU, or quad core Athlon IIs. Walt Mayo, Vice President and General Manager for Dell Consumer Asia says, “The Studio XPS 7100 desktop, in particular, delivers a seamless experience for multitasking entertainment activities and multimedia creation.”
Here are some of the specs you can expect this to come with:

• Oversized 460-watt power supply to support future expansion and hardware upgrades including AMD 125W class CPUs and 225W class graphics.
• Up to 16GB of fast DDR3 dual-channel memory.
• Up to 4TB (terabytes)of hard drive storage.
• Premium integrated ports include, eSATA, Optical SPDIF and HDMI for more digital connections.
• Integrated 19-in-one media card reader and SATA 6GB for higher speed disk transfer of HD media.

Dell Studio XPS 7100 Specs
Processor and Chipset	AMD Six-Core and Quad-Core processors up to 125W TDP AMD RS785/SB710
Operating System	Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
Memory	2GB up to 16GB memory configurations with DDR3 1333 MHz Dual Channel SDRAM (Support for 1GB, 2GB, 4GB DIMMs)
Graphics	Integrated ATI Radeon HD4200 Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 or ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB DDR5
Audio and Speakers	Integrated 7.1 with THX TruStudio up to Creative PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Hard Drives	SATA HDD options from 320GB up to optional 1.5TB (2TB post RTS) single, 7,200 RPM (2) 3.5" HDD Bays
Optical Drives	16x DVD+/-RW, Blu-ray Disc Combo Drive, Blu-ray Disc Burner Dual Configurations: Blu-ray DiscTM burner + 16x DVD+/-RW, Blu-ray Disc Combo Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW
Communications	Integrated 10/100/1000 Optional 802.11n WiFi Optional Bluetooth
Port	Top Ports USB 2.0 (2) Headphone port Microphone / Line-in port Front Ports USB 2.0 (2) 19-in-1 Media Card Reader Rear Ports USB 2.0 (4) eSATA (1) HDMI (1) Gigabit Ethernet Connection SPIDIF Standard 7.1 Audio Jacks DVI
Expansion Slots	PCIe x16 (1) PCIe x1 (2) PCI (1) SATA (4)
Chassis and Case	Micro-ATX (Mini-Tower) Dimensions & Weight Height: 16.02" (407.75 mm) Width: 7.31" (185.81 mm) Depth:17.9" (454.67mm) Weight: 22.4 lbs (10.18 kg)
Power	460 Watts
Security	Cable lock chassis security slot
Drive Bays	Two 5.25" One 3.5" FlexBay Two 3.5" hard drive bays (Internally accessible)

Pricing of the Phenom X6 II model at the Dell Studio XPS website starts at US $1,428.99, which is about PhP 65,000 at 45:1 exchange rate.

The Dell Inspiron M301z

They've also got the ultra-light 13.3-inch Inspiron M301z and comes with an AMD Turion II Neo K625 II low-voltage processor, an ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4200 GPU, up to 640GB hard drive space, and a maximum of 8GB of memory capacity. Those looking for a quad core on a notebook will find it in the Dell Inspiron M501R, a 15.6-inch model featuring an AMD Phenom II Quad-Core CPU, a choice of ATI Mobility Radeon integrated or discreet GPU, and up to 640GB of hard disk space and 8GB of memory.

The Dell Inspiron M501z

The Arrival of the Warmouse

A mouse is a fairly simple technological animal. It's got a left and right button, allows you to point at specific parts of your screen and click to achieve certain desired effects. But with the advent of the Warmouse, you're going to have more than just two buttons - in fact, try about eighteen.

The Warmouse was designed by an avid game designer fed up with the limited options of the two button mouse, which is best served with first person shooting (FPS) games rather than massively multiplayer online role playing (MMORPG) games or real time strategy games (RTS). Possibly named in part for the popular World of Warcraft series, the Warmouse seeks to address not only gamers' need, but also many other non-gaming applications that would benefit from it.

With the Warmouse, you can assign any application function to any of the mouse buttons and execute them in either clicks or double-clicks, using the Meta Modware. The joystick function allows you to transform 20 commands of a keyboard to one swipe of the mouse, offering better functionality without the need to even take your hand off the mouse.

Here's a list of games and applications now compatible with the Warmouse.

Features of warmouse

• 18 programmable mouse buttons with double-click functionality.

• High-resolution laser sensoraround 100 to 5,600 DPI/CPI. 

• 6 assignable button modes

• Analog X-box 360-style joystick.

• Click able and command-assignable scroll wheel.

• 512k of flash memory holding up to 3,072 application commands in 64 modes.

• Three on-the-fly CPI settings per mode. Maximum 192 different on-the-fly CPI settings.

• 1.85 meter USB cable and coated rubber top.

• Meta Modeware for the creation, management, and customization of game and application modes.

• Import and export of custom modes.

• PDF export of application modes.

• Graphical pop-up map of current button assignments.

• Statistical tracking of all mouse button clicks and application command clicks by application.

• 64 default modes for popular games and applications, including Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel, OpenOffice.org Writer, Calc etc.

Logitech's Newest Gimmick: 360 Degree Sounds

These are available in the country by the way. Two new speakers have been revealed to us by Logitech: the Logitech Z523 and the Z323 multimedia speakers priced at PhP 4,750 and PhP 2,650 respectively. Both are 2.1 systems and feature downward firing woofers and are made to be used for any system, PC or home theatre, or even with digital audio and video players. Logitech promises to give you a 360 degree experience.

The speakers are set up in such a way that they deliver omnidirectional acoustics to create a substantially wider sweet spot, which they say is helpful if you constantly move computer around but your audio system just sticks to one place. Technically speaking, you should be able to get the same sound quality even if you face these speakers away from you since Logitech says that there's an additional speaker driver facing backwards for each of the sattelites.

The Logitech Z323 Speaker System

The Z323 offers 30 watts of RMS power while the Z523 offers a little more oomph at 50 watts. No remotes here by the way, the speaker volume control's located at one of the speaker itself. There's RCA and a stereo 3.5mm jack input to choose from. Great if you're running on two sources, but don't turn both of them on unless you're just out to make some noise.

Genius' LuxeMate T810 Keyboard Lets You Channel Surf

Impressive looking keyboard we've got here. The LuxeMate T810 from Genius is a 3-in-1 device, hosting the mouse and a media center remote control in one wireless gizmo. The mouse is in the form of Genius'

OptoTouch, which is essentially a digital trackpad - this also supports four way scrolling, too. It works well with the Media Center Edition of Windows XP along with Vista (...and Windows 7?). Wireless is trasmitted in the 2.4GHz range and can go up to 10 meters without any interferences. It's also got shortcuts to frequently accessed media activities like live TV, tv recording, photos, videos, and music enjoyment.

The left media controls.

To be honest, we like the idea, and the transparent body and the rubberized coating is pretty cool. We think you can fly an X-Wing or Tie Fighter with this one. It's priced at PhP 3,370 by the way, up there with Microsoft's own keyboards.

Panasonic GF1 Gets 1080p Video Recording via Hacked Firmware

Now this is news that sends chills down our spine - in a good way of course. Samsung's desire into getting their NX D-SLR kits into the hands of avid tweak-loving consumers by providing a new dimension in camera controls via firmware and software customizations is a swing at their more traditional rivals who'd prefer keeping those minimally touched. Now we've got more reason - particularly those who either or is planning to own a GF1 - to keep smiling about.

Thanks to coders who can't keep their naughty hands off openly available compiled code, has tweaked the GH1 firmware made by Tester 13 to work with the GF1 and open a slew of options: namely 1080p video recording with higher bit rates, and 4.2.2 color sampling, and there are further improvements that could be made available in the (near?) future like 24/25p modes and full manual controls. It's not ready for prime time yet though, but if you're open to the risk of testing it out, it could be worth your while. Full HD video samples ahead!

Check out ADAM MADA's videos below for some 1080p action in 32, 53 and 80 Megabit rates.

GF1 MJpeg 1920x1080p 32Mbit from ADAM MADA on Vimeo.

GF1 Firmewarehack 1920x1080p 53MBit (Mbps) from ADAM MADA on Vimeo.

GF1 Firmewarehack 75 - 80 MBit from ADAM MADA on Vimeo.

Check here if you've got a GH1 ripe for a hacked firmware, or here if you've got an EOS 5D Mk II for some Ali Baba magic.

Nokia Connection 2010: X5, X6 and N8 Make Their Appearance

Some more action in the high side of Nokia at their Nokia Connection 2010 event held recently at Singapore and we've got our sights on their X5, X6 and N8 set of mobile phones. The N8 is currently Nokia's only handset that runs on the Symbian^3 platform that Jo Harlow, SVP for Smartphones promises to "deliver a very robust feature set and consumer experience." Let's head on to who these trio of phones are for following the break!

Nokia X5-01: The Social Jukebox On The Move

Let's start with Mr. Stubby here: Nokia unveiled the new Nokia X5, its latest full QWERTY music device which makes messaging, social networking and listening to your favourite music fun and easy when on the move. The unique, square slider design makes it a perfect device for teens who enjoy Facebook, chatting, games, music and staying in touch with their peers in unlimited ways. Favorite contacts, emails and social networking sites can be accessed directly from the home screen which makes sending messages and status updates a breeze. Thousands of games and other social networking, entertainment and personalization apps can be downloaded from Ovi Store. On top of that, the Nokia X5 has a great music player with excellent sound quality and loud speakers, offering easy access to the device’s music collection with space for up to 1000 tracks with a 2GB in-box memory card, expandable up to 32GB. In select markets, the Nokia X5 will include Nokia’s Comes With Music, the unlimited music download service with access to millions of tracks. With the fun “Surprise Me” feature, you can spin the phone when playing music to jump to a random track. Available in a variety of cool colors, the Nokia X5 is expected to begin shipping during the third quarter of 2010 with an estimated retail price of EUR 165 before taxes and subsidies. That's about PhP 9,300.

Base Specs

• Quad Band / 3G / HSDPA Ready
• 2.36-inch 320 x 240 LCD
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1
• 5MP camera with LED flash
• Accelerometer
• QWERTY Keyboard
• Stereo FM radio
• ARM11 600MHz CPU
• Symbian OS 9.3, Series 60 v3.2 UI
• 200MB storage, Up to 32GB MicroSD card expansion
• 74.3 x 66.4 x 16.8 mm / 129g

Nokia X6 8GB: The Social Entertainment Experience

A full blown entertainment experience complementing the original X6: Nokia also announced today the Nokia X6 8GB which complements the popular Nokia X6 family. The Nokia X6 8GB offers a full-blown entertainment experience for people who enjoy music, social networking, chat and games while on the go. The device provides easy access to thousands of games and apps in Ovi Store, as well as Ovi Maps with free lifetime navigation and location sharing. In select markets, the Nokia X6 8GB will include Nokia’s Comes With Music service, the unlimited music download service with access to millions of tracks. The Nokia X6 8GB also allows the capturing of great pictures and videos with its 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. It is expected to start shipping during the third quarter of 2010 with an estimated retail price of EUR 225 before taxes and subsidies. That's about PhP 12,700.

Base Specs

• Quad Band / 3G / HSDPA Ready
• 3.2-inch 360 x 640 Capacitive Touchscreen LCD
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1
• 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, dual LED flash and video light
• GPS with A-GPS, Geo-tagging
• Accelerometer
• Stereo FM radio
• ARM 11 434MHz CPU
• Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5
• 8 GB storage, 128 MB RAM, no MicroSD expansion slot
• 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm / 122g

Nokia N8: For A Compelling Home Entertainment Experience

Showcased for the first time to media, trade and analysts in this region, Nokia’s latest smartphone, Nokia N8, offers the ability to create compelling content, connect to social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps, intuitively connecting users to the people, places and services that matter most.

With a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to record HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. People can enjoy HD quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging the device into their home theatre system. People can also update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single application directly on the home screen.

The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programmes, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. In addition to these international content, Nokia has collaborated with local content providers to bring Web TV content to consumers in Singapore and Malaysia when the Nokia N8 hits the stores. The local Web TV content programmes include Channel NewsAsia, Makansutra, 8TV and TV3 as well as Virtual Malaysia.

Powered by Symbian^3, the Nokia N8 supports gestures such as flick scrolling and pinch-zoom and offers multiple, personalizable home screens which can be loaded with apps from Ovi Store. It is also Nokia’s first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development, making it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. Enabled with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, the Nokia N8 is expected to be available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010 with an estimated retail price of EUR 370 before taxes and subsidies. That's about PhP 21,000.

Base Specs

• Quad Band / 3G / HSDPA Ready
• 3.5-inch 360 x 640 Capacitive Multi-Touchscreen AMOLED
• Wi-Fi n, Bluetooth 3.0
• 12MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, AF, face and smile detection and Xenon Flash
• GPS with A-GPS, Geo-tagging
• Accelerometer
• Stereo FM radio
• ARM 11 680MHz CPU with 3D graphics acceleration
• Symbian^3
• 16 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512 MB ROM, up to 32GB MicroSD expansion card
• 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm / 135g

The new devices bring out a refreshed Nokia in this scene, but can these really compete against the smartphones thrown out by the likes of Apple, HTC, and Samsung? We've yet to count in on the Japanese brands who are just about to rise from their domestic market and who are facing pressure to grow into international markets, most especially in the smartphone arena. The latter isn't going to be making their move in just a few months time, that's for sure - not until they've figured out their perfect products to combat against the iPhone, and until then, we'll have to sit back and see how the market reacts to these new phone lines when they finally make their retail debut.

Mac Mini Gets Mid 2010 Make Over

Finally, the spotlight goes back to the adorable Apple Mac Mini, and this time, it gets no less than red carpet treatment. Apple endows it with a full aluminum unibody which we all come to know and love from the first Mac Book Pros that came with this. They've also taken out that annoying power brick and stuffed inside the box, leaving only the power cable that needs to be plugged into the rear and into the wall socket. And they've added a pluggable hole underneath to finally make its innards easier to access - at least when it comes to the memory.

The list of updates don't stop there. There's a pair of HDMI and Mini DisplayPorts at the rear along with quad USB ports, a Firewier 800 port, and a built-in SD card, too. It comes with a choice of Intel's Core 2 Duo CPU running at 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz, 2GB 1066MHz SODIMM DDR3 memory (yep, and it doesn't come with a Core i3 or i5 either), NVIDIA's 320M sharing 256MB of video memory along with the main memory banks - which Apple says is twice as fast compared to the GeForce 9400M that the previous Mac Mini had, and the usual built-in Airport Extreme 802.11N, Bluetooth 2.1, and Gigabit ethernet. There are 2 SODIMM slots for a maximum of 8GB inside. Hard disk space comes at a choice between 320GB and 500GB.

Price starts at US $699, and there's also a special version that comes with the OSX Snow Leopard Server software that costs US $999. Not bad for a server box that supposedly consumes only 10 watts when left idle.

Dangerous Working Lightsabers on Sale!

Finally - an actual working blue 'light saber' that resembles those both the Jedi and the Sith have used throughout the Star Wars franchise. This new weapon can also cause instant blindness and burns the skin, but when have safety hazards ever stopped people before?

This is the Spyder III Pro Arctic. If it looks like a lightsaber, and acts like a lightsaber, and sizzles through human flesh like meat on a barbecue grill like a lightsaber, then it should be a lightsaber, right?

Not exactly, says Wicked Lasers, the Hong Kong manufacturer of the world's most powerful portable laser. This impressive-looking not-t-toy is actually 1000 times stronger than sunlight acts on human skin. Eye goggles are provided with the purchase of the product, though the manufacturer warns potential customers that even this may not be enough of a safety precaution.

Despite all these warnings, there doesn't seem to be any stringent measures involved when ordering one, which costs around 135 British pounds, though customers are required to agree to a Class IV Laser Hazard acknowledgment form before ordering and may be served jail time or other sanctions if misused.

In other words - no Luke, you may NOT use the Force.

Japanese Innovation At Work Again: Dual Screen Hits Toshiba Libretto W100

And here we thought the ideals and funky ideas of Japanese vision was already dampened by Chinese generics and the standardization of technology. The recent Onkyo dual screen LCD netbook proved that the Japs still had something great to infuse in these computers, and now just when we've seen the last Libretto back in 2005 shoved out of the game with the official debut of netbooks, Toshiba has decided to resuscitate the line again and introduced the dual screen W100. So Microsoft's Courier was thrown into the back burner... so what? Toshiba went along with a similar if not the same idea and went ahead with the mass production.

This computer comes with two 7-inch multi-touch LCDs with a resolution of 1024 x 600, an Intel Pentium U5400 CPU running at 1.2GHz, 62GB of SSD, 2GB memory, 4G / Wi-Max, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1, 1x USB port, 1.02 megapixel camera, and Windows 7 Home Premium. It only weighs in at 699g (or 899g with the enhanced battery).

There's also six different keyboard overlays to choose from and can be used as if you were holding a book, or in a more traditional notebook form - there's an accelerometer to take the hassles away from that rotation job.

As for price, we're looking at a thousand bucks in United States dollars.

New Pair Of Intel Atoms For Desktops On The Loose

It looks like we will be seeing Atom chips being sold as a CPU-only package for the first time. First announced at Computex, the new Atoms for entry-level desktop PCs are now out and will invade our computers in the coming months. There's a single and a dual core model: the D525 and D425 respectively running on the newer DDR3 memory. The chips run at 1.8GHz and is paired up with the NM10 chipset.

This processor is interesting in that the D525 has 2 cores and 4 threads (from Intel's HyperThreading), has 1MB of L2 cache, a 64-bit instruction set, full support for SSE3, support for up to 4GB of DDR3 (or DDR2) memory, and a TDP of 13W. It's based on the 45nm process, too. It maintains an Integrated on-CPU Intel graphics processor. The D425 on the other hand is very similar to the D525 but has a single core and 2 threads (and again has Intel's HyperThreading technology), has 512MB of L2 cache, and has a max TDP of 10W.

As the fabrication process shrinks, the Celeron and Pentium lines will finally get their promotion when their Arrandale models roll out of the factory and will be delisted Intel's absolute entry-level offerings in the DIY desktop market.

Entry-level desktop PCs based on the Intel Atom processors D525 and D425 with support for DDR3 memory technology are now available. Announced at Computex, the D525 dual-core processor and D425 single-core processor run at 1.80Ghz and are paired with the Intel NM10 Express Chipset. The Intel Atom processor enables low-power, affordable entry-level desktop PCs, allowing system builders the flexibility to design a variety of form factors including all-in-ones, small form factor and standard desktop PCs.

AMOLED vs. AMOLED vs. LCD vs. Helios

Samsung Galaxy S vs. HTC Desire vs. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

OLEDs are supposed to be the super displays that will drive LCDs into the abyss of obscurity... once perfected that is. But as it is, AMOLED makers have been struggling in getting their products to withstand the harsh sunlight and retain whatever vivid image they can display without having to sacrifice power savings. Greek-based Techblog TV ran Samsung Galaxy S on a 4-inch 480 x 800 Super AMOLED display, against an HTC Desire on a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 AMOLED display, against a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 on a 4-inch 480 x 854 TFT LCD and checked out how they fared against Helios' blinding rays. Vids after the break!

Samsung Galaxy S vs. HTC Desire vs. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 in Direct Sunlight

Samsung Galaxy S vs. HTC Desire vs. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Screen Comparison

Adobe Announces Availability Of Flash Player 10.1 For Mobile Devices

Hell's gates are now open, and we're talking about pretty hot stuff entering the world of mobile devices as Adobe's Flash Player 10.1 is now out and official for a myriad of devices and ready to consumed by millions of users. What exactly comprises of mobile devices here? We're looking devices that include smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices with operating systems such as Google's Android 2.2 aka Froyo, BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone OS, LiMo, MeeGo, and Symbian OS. These are expected to be made available via over-the-air downloads and to be preinstalled "in the coming months".

Adobe has said that the new Flash Player 10.1 for mobile devices have been completely redesigned optimized and now has "mobile-specific input models" like support for the accelerometer, smart zooming function (now the iPad's not the only hot rod that can do this now, can it?), multi-touch and gesture support. "Performance optimization work with virtually all major mobile silicon and platform vendors makes efficient use of CPU and battery performance." Some of these include Smart Rendering, which means Flash only works on what's visible on the screen, saving up precious CPU cycles; Sleep Mode, which makes Flash slow down when the phone powers down into screen saver mode; Advanced Out-of-Memory Management to handle non-optimized Flash apps so they don't chew up so much dang phone memory; and auto pausing of the Flash player when there's a phone event, like an incoming call. Oh, and it supports hardware acceleration from the GPU (hello, Tegra!), and hardware acceleration for audio and video playback.

They've got some major backing from the industry too, and we can expect some big guns on the content side of things on top of the 3 million Flash devs out there: AgencyNet, AKQA, Armor Games, Blitz, CNET.com, HBO, JustinTV, Kongregate, Mochi Media, Msnbc Digital Network, Turner, Nickelodeon, Odopod, Photobucket, RAIN, Roundarch, Sony Pictures, South Park Studios, USA Network, Viacom, Warner Brothers and more.

So where's the Flash Player? Adobe says: Flash Player 10.1 is expected to be available as a final production release for devices once users are able to upgrade to Android 2.2 “Froyo.” Once upgraded, smart phones, tablets and other devices can be updated with Flash Player 10.1 over-the-air via numerous ways including content triggered downloads, system software updates and on-device app catalogs such as Android Market, Adobe Labs and other venues. The upgrade mechanism will vary by device and device manufacturer.

Armed with the new Flash Player on your phone? Check out m.flash.com for a showcase websites to try out. Designers, refer to Adobe's Optimize web content for mobile delivery article to fully tap this new dimension.

What In Blazes Is Windows Embedded Compact 7?

The ASUS Eeepad EP101TC with NVIDIA's Tegra

God that jargon can truly get to anyone. The term “Embedded” seems to scare a lot of people - conjuring up confusing ideas like industrial machinery, robotics, the T-800's arm in the Terminator, and Data's emotion chip in Star Trek. And what we'd like to know is, what's it doing inside an ASUS EeePad? Oh we're talking about the ARM-based NVIDIA Tegra 10-inch model. Long answer short, it's like Windows Phone 7, only it's a platform more suitable for devices like Pad computers. We can think of it Microsoft taking out the essential guts of its Windows 7 operating system, re-packaging it for ARM based computers, and transforming it into a viable competitor against the likes of the iPhone OS, the Google Android and the MeeGo.

Microsoft promises it to be a rich, connected experience and a reliable platform. The online demonstration shows devices using this operating system to be seamlessly connected to other devices, including Windows 7 computers. Documents, emails, and videos can be synchronized between the two computers. There's also Silverlight and Flash support out of the box and more importantly, programs can be attractively skinned with Microsoft's Expression Blend (this is for devs out there eyeing this platform), and multi touch support is now a native, not an optional feature.

So for devs and consumers - is it worth a shot at? The operating system, while seemingly crippled if we compare it to a full size operating system that we're used to with everything non-Mac and relate to the PC, it looks dang promising. We'll never know how it'll fair against the fast moving Android, not until we've seen these devices starting to rain down on us. Assuming this is on a non-x86 processor, we suppose this means we can't running our favorite x86 apps on this one until someone makes an emulator or virtual machine for it.

There's a Public Community Technology Preview (Public CTP) trial download available if your'e curious about this little bugger. Check out the source link below for the full vids and the link to the trial. You'll need a Windows Live ID by the way.

MSI-ECS: Trade In Your Mouse For A 30% Discount On The Arc Mouse

How Mac fans wish this was the Apple Magic Mouse instead... we can't win them all. The Arc laser mouse is a pretty good deal in itself being a novel wireless mouse with its own key selling points, namely, the lighter weight and foldable design and a longer battery life. In fact, it's made more appealing now that you can trade in any working or non-working mouse for one with a 30% discount on the SRP price which is around PhP 3,000, so that runs to about PhP 2,100 that you'll shell out for this mouse. Full details after the break!

Now that MSI-ECS's promo got your attention, they're only available to one per customer, and it's exclusive to Silicon Valley branches in Megamall and SM North Edsa only. The promotion runs from June 23, 2010 up until July 31, 2010. You've got a little over a month to make room in your budget.

---

Press Release

MSI-ECS, the exclusive distributor of Microsoft Hardware in the Philippines, is rolling out a promo on one of Microsoft's most revolutionary products---the Arc Mouse.

Tired of your old mouse? Trade it in, and get a new Microsoft Arc Mouse at 30% OFF! All we need is your old mouse of any brand (including Microsoft) in exchange of a whopping 30% discount. All old mice will be accepted for trade-in, working or non-working.

Trade-in will be on a one-to-one basis. This promo is exclusive to Silicon Valley store branches in SM Megamall and SM North Edsa only. This promo will run from June 23 to July 31, 2010.

Why should you trade in your old mouse for a new Arc Mouse?

Because the Arc Mouse is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Aptly called "Arc", the device has the sleek and sexy contours of an arc. The Arc Mouse is a full sized mouse but with a folding feature. Folding it reduces its size by more than a third, making this mouse portable and very travel-friendly.

Microsoft Arc mouse features 2.4 GHz with 30 feet wireless range capability. The wireless USB micro-transceiver connects wirelessly right out of the box with virtually no interference.

Microsoft Arc Mouse features 4 customizable buttons which allow quick access to the media, programs, and files you use most often, as well as a Windows Flip function which enables you to easily switch between open windows with the click of a button.

In addition, the Arc Mouse also has longer battery life compared to others, lasting up to 6 months. A battery status LED Indicator glows red when the battery is running low.

Microsoft hardware is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by MSI-ECS. For more product information and other inquiries, email marketing@msi-ecs.com.ph, visit www.msi-ecs.com.ph, or call 688-3180/688-3181.

Zotac's GTX 480 AMP! Edition Comes With Death Adders

The Zotac GTX 480 AMP! Limited Edition with The Bundled Razer DeathAdder Mouse

Sounds like some cheesy boss name the Japs thought of - the SEGA and PC classic Golden Axe came into mind actually - but we're talking of a mice from its name alone, suggests in helping its wielder claim more heads, frags and gibs to add to his leaderboard score. We're talking of the just arrived 5-button, 3500 DPI, left-hander friendly, 3.5G Razer Precision infrared sensor-equipped Razer DeathAdder mouse. Makes perfect sense to bundle with Zotac's GTX 480 AMP! - overclocked - Limited Edition graphics card.

I think we're already quite familiar with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480, so let's take it from what Zotac's version brings to the table: 756MHz vs. 700MHz core clock speeds, 1512MHz vs. 1401MHz processor clock speeds, 3800MHz vs. 3696MHz memory clock speeds, 480 CUDA cores, 1536MB GDDR5 memory, dual 92mm silent high performance fans with one intimidating heatsink. Interfaces are standard coming with dual dual-link DVIs and one mini HDMI 1.3a-capable port.

We suppose we missed out a little more on the subtle yet important details of the DeathAdder mouse that could mean the difference between your headshot or someone else's. The mouse has a 1000Hz ultrapolling with a 1ms response time, so that makes mouse-lag, a not valid excuse for missing your target. There's on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment, negating mouse speed issues. There are 5 independently programmable Hyper Response buttons along with the non-slip texture on the mouse, zero-accoustic Ultrastick Teflon feet pads, gold plated USB connectors, 16-bit ultra-wide data path, 60-120 inches per second and 15g of acceleration, and 7-foot lightweight, braided fiber cable. Everything works for you if you're one kick arse player, or against you if you're a sore loser, so make sure you don't belong to the latter.

With a little luck you may not really need such a mouse, but heck, whoever said these things were a need? They're definitely a want, and perfect if you're looking at getting both the DeathAdder and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 GPU.

A-DATA's Ultra Slim USB Drive Looks Chewy

7.5mm. That's how thin the C003 flash drive from A-DATA is. This stick's available from 2GB to 32GB in capacity and is available in strawberry red and lavender blue. The USB interface port is a slide-on mechanism and what makes this product catchy is really its cute, edgeless design. Simply put, it doesn't look crappy. The large cellphone strap holder's also cool and I wouldn't mind having one of these on my phone, unless it's a 32GB stick, then that might be one reason kleptos might want to get their hands on your USB drive.

Press Release

ADATA Launched Ultra-Slim USB Flash Drive C003

Shaping your taste in simplicity

Taipei, Taiwan June 14th --, 2010 - ADATA Technology, the world leader in DRAM modules and flash memory products, today unveiled its latest skinny frame C003 USB flash drive with merely 7.5 mm in thickness. With the advanced technology facilitates C003 in a super miniaturized size and only 10 grams in weight.

Storing in extremely slim with portable design

With the ultra-compact size and light weight, users can easily enjoy transfer experience anytime, anywhere at their precious moment. Apart from its ultra-slim size, C003 generates all practical functions from classic USB flash drives as its three hallmarks: Compact size, easy operation and price- wise. Meanwhile, the C003 is conveniently designed with a strap hole so that users could make it as a decoration or accessory hooking on to a keychain or a mobile phone. Featuring cute strawberry red and sparkling lavender blue in C003 conveys an animate impression and lasting brand value to customers through these two highly saturated colors. Hot plug-and-play ready and available in 2GB~32 GB, the C003 serves more than just a storage device but also a unique taste for fashion. C003 is born to blend a functional device into a trendy accessory with its simplicity.

About ADATA

ADATA Technology, the world’s 2nd largest vendor of DRAM Modules (iSuppli, May 2009), 4th largest of USB Flash Drives (Gartner, May 2009), and the Top 20 global brand in Taiwan, provides complete memory solutions, including DRAM Modules, USB Flash Drives, Memory Cards, Solid State Drives and Portable Hard Drives. Committed to constant innovation, A-DATA delivers first-rate quality and industry-leading product performance to worldwide customers. Widely known for its distinctive design, A-DATA products are internationally recognized by Germany’s iF Design Award, Reddot Award, CES Best of Innovations Award, Japan’s Good Design Award, Best Choice of Computex Award, and Taiwan Excellence Gold Award. For more information, please visit our website at www.adata-group.com.

Charge your Batteries by Skipping Rope

In line with random people coming up with different ways to get fat lards out there to exercise once they've ran out of all those marathons that claim to either be environmental (since all marathons are done on foot instead of cars, aren't all marathons therefore environmental?) or benefits the environment in some way (if 'environment' also means the marathon's product sponsors) - the E-Rope helps you work out for at least twenty minutes, but with an added twist - it can also charge your batteries while you're at it.

Exasperated by the countless reports and studies that show obesity in every place that has either a fast food restaurant or a useable couch, E-Rope has decided to lure exercise-challenged people everywhere with batteries. 2 AA batteries are stored on each side of the jumprope handles, and with every successful loop you overcome the batteries charge. It takes roughly twenty minutes of continuous jumping for all 4 batteries to fully charge, after which you can sit back on the couch, watch Two and a Half Men, place the batteries back into your remote control and order fries with that burger meal.

iPhone destroyed by 'Death Ray'

What do you do when you have an outdated / older edition iPhone, a 65" Fresnel lens, and apparently nothing else better to do in your free time? Why, toast your iPhone, of course.

There are some people out there who take their iPhones seriously. They get EVERY EDITION of the iPhone that comes out, in the same way your local comic book guy might avail of every single cover design X-Men #1. Every purchase of a new iPhone makes the previous one obsolete, ensuring that their owners dispose of them in a variety of ways.

One way apparently, is by death ray. Using a 65 inch Fresnel lens, some batteries, and a large backyard, one consumer proves that old iPhones can still sizzle - literally.

Microsoft Offers Free PC Use In iCafe Program Outlets

To celebrate the National Information and Communications Technology Month, Microsoft's "ICT Hour", offering PC use and Internet access tomorrow on June 30 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm at several participating Microsoft iCafe Program outlets. Matches up with the year's ICT theme of "Get Online Philippines", too. Internet Cafes that will offer this will have Microsoft ICT Hour posters. The whole point of this exercise, the way we see it is simply to get people to experience the latest Microsoft's latest wares, including Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Office 2007. But of course, there's always that community service involved, and that's to get people to experience the Internet, especially for those who don't have any sort of experience at all. So if you have the time, consider taking your old fashioned mother over for a bit of surf, or let your neighbors know about the free computing experience. Think of it as karma points for you. Full details after the break!

Press Release

Microsoft gets Filipinos online for free

Wrapping up a month-long celebration in support of the National Information and Communications Technology Month, Microsoft Philippines is offering free PC-use and Internet access in outlets of participating members of the Microsoft iCafe Program, during “ICT Hour” on June 30, from 4:00PM to 5:00PM.

According to the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the theme of this year’s celebration, “Get Online Philippines,” highlights the country’s achievements in establishing a reliable ICT infrastructure and harnessing it to improve communications, education, business and government services.

Customers can identify participating iCafes through Microsoft ICT Hour posters displayed in the outlets. “With the ICT Hour, we’re not only getting Filipinos online without cost; we are also giving them an opportunity to access Microsoft technology which ensures a secure and dependable computing experience for them,” said Fortune Magsadia, Licensing Compliance Manager, Microsoft Philippines.

Magsadia added that all participating Microsoft iCafe members are equipped with genuine Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Office 2007.

“Computer users go to iCafes that are able to offer them the best service. By offering the latest versions of Microsoft software, we are able to attract more customers, address their needs and enhance their experience. This boosts our business and gives us a competitive edge,” said Stephannie Co of the CyBr One Internet Cafe franchise.

Through the Microsoft iCafe Program, Microsoft empowers iCafe owners looking to offer improved services and customers requiring dependable and secure PC and Internet access. Microsoft provides Filipino iCafes secure software, affordable licensing packages and reliable services that help drive business and improve customer experience.

“We are committed to empowering Filipinos through technology and one of the ways that we’re bridging the digital divide is by collaborating with iCafes. Today, many Filipinos are accessing technology through Internet cafes and with the iCafe Program we are creating an enhanced computing experience for more Filipinos,” said Magsadia.

Participating Microsoft iCafe Program members are located in various parts of the country including Cebu, Davao and South Cotabato. Among them are Josh 101 Internet Café, Game City (Internet Cafe), Edago G-camp Gaming Station, Live and Wired Internet Café, Nethub09 Inc., Unstoppable Computer Rental, Massive Attack Zone Internet Café, Glesh Internet Café (Branch B), Webtour Internet Café – Loyola, Paterno, and Real Branches, Edago Dexter Cyber Force, Virtual Space Computer Rental, Al V Cyberzone, Acsan Webcam City Internet Café, P & F Internet Café, Gecube Internet Café, Babylon Internet Café, Soon Computers Internet and Multime, GOLS Internet Café, UNSTOPPABLE COMPUTER RENTAL, INGEN TRADING, YUI Digital Link Intenet Shop and General Merchandise, KATROPA INTERNET CAFÉ, Edago Dexter Cyber Lab, Eddys Joint Cyber Café, Edago Gcamp Gaming Station, Edago Dexter Cyber Ground, Edds Cyber Network, Eddys Joint Cyber Pod, Edago Dexter Cyber Force, Edago Dexter Cyber Zone, Rebel Computer Solutions.Internet, Bolosan Cyberville, CyBr Network & Internet Café – (New Farmers Plaza -Araneta Center, Ali Mall, SM Makati, SM Marikina, SM Taytay, SM Rosario, SM San Fernando Pampanga, SM Valenzuela, SM Sta. Rosa Laguna, SM Southmall, SM Bicutan, SM Center Las Pinas, Pamplona), I Quick Access Internet (SM Clark, SM Marilao, North Edsa, SM Manila, SM Molino, SM Muntinlupa, SM Sta Mesa), One Barangay Internet (Bustamante St. Monumento Caloocan, 6th Ave. Grace Park Caloocan), AK Computer Center, Sgt. Pepper Online, Mai Mai Computer Rentals, Voyager Internet Café (Dreamfield Bldg, Te Laus Food Court, Consolascion, Banilad), Bits N Bytes Internet Café (M. Zosa, Sambag Uno), Logic Box Computers - Shopping Mall, and the Logic Box Computers - Public Market.

For a full list of participating Microsoft iCafe Program members, please visit: www.icafeprogram.com.

ASUS EeePC Touch T101MT Tablet Netbook

Last week, we covered the ASUS EeePC Touch T101MT in one of our unboxing jobs and found it to be an intriguing contender to Lenovo's IdeaPad S10 3T and to a certain extent, the emerging Pad computers that are set to appear in the following months. It may sound like an apples vs. oranges comparison, but if it's going against the iPad, it's going by a long shot in some aspects. But that comparison's not our primary concern here. We'll examine the EeePC Touch to see how it fares as a tablet computer – if its tablet functionality is merely just another frill, or if it offers enhanced usability as a whole.

The ASUS EeePC Touch T101MT tablet netbook

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Design: Classy Masculine Appeal

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The design of the ASUS EeePC Touch T101MT actually reminds us of previous subnotebook molds that appeared at least a decade ago. These were squarish, rectangular computers that in themselves, were appealing, considering their small form factor. This EeePC Touch is made classy by the touch of brushed chrome-like accent on the hinge edge while the softened corners and matte black finish rounds up the final effect of the EeePC. That's what the T101MT is all about – playing with an all black design with varying finishes and chrome-like accents.

Opening the netbook, we're greeted by a chiclet keyboard similarly found in other recent EeePC models, a 10.1-inch touchscreen LCD, chrome accents on various parts of the EeePC like the stylus, the power pull switch, the Touch Gate hotkey, the webcam outline, and the trackpad keys. If you look closely, there's almost if not any hard corners to be found on any of the notebook's main parts. We like the added effect of the status lights on the chrome material on the top cover of the EeePC, which makes us say these are faux yet convincing classy finishing touches.

Like other EeePC models, there's no clip for the lid, and the top lid's only held in place by the snapping hinge neck and the two rubber nubs on the keyboard side that fit with their female partners on the lid side. The lid's only designed to twist clockwise and counterclockwise to transform to tablet mode and back. And since it uses a single hinge, the screen can actually lean back just a bit more than 180 degrees.

We like how the interface ports are laid out on the T101MT, having most of them at the rear and leaving only the most useful ones, namely the audio jacks, the card reader, and a single USB port on the left and right sides.

The battery's also located at the front side by the palm rest underneath, which is a tad unconventional to the typical rear slot-in design.

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Highlights: A Netbook With A Twist

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The EeePC Touch T101MT isn't too different compared to other netbooks around. In fact, if we take out the touch screen, it's but a typical netbook of the 2010 era, using defacto standard netbook components like the Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz processor and the integrated Intel HD Graphics on-chip graphics processor, the NM10 chipset. It comes with only 1GB of memory (which is still expandable as we'll see later), 160GB of hard disk space, Atheros AR9285 Wi-Fi b/g/n wireless networking, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, and no built-in Bluetooth module. A built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and microphone's also installed.

As we've mentioned earlier, the set up of the ports is different, in that only the most useful ones are kept on the left and right profiles while the rest of the ports are on the rear. There's a total of 3 USB ports, a VGA output port, an Ethernet port, a power port, a kensington lock port, two standard I/O audio ports, and a multi card reader on the unit. The card reader can read SDXC capable by the way, supporting up to 2TB cards. Stereo speakers are situated on the front profile, and only the audio ports and a card reader are set on the left profile, while a single USB port is present on the right.

The T101MT is multi touch ready, coming with a multitouch trackpad and a multitouch ready touchscreen. We say multitouch ready for the latter because this can only be used with Windows 7 Home Premium and above. Only Windows 7 Starter Edition comes pre-installed.

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Usability: Touch Panel Ease

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The T101MT is still technically a netbook no matter how we look at it, so you can expect it to perform and work like one. Likewise, the chiclet keyboard and touchpad feels like those of seashell EeePC designs. The keyboard's comfortable enough to work with despite the cramped dimensions of the form factor. The touchpad's generously sized, enough to be comfortable enough to use. The choice of setting up the interfaces also enhance the user friendliness of the netbook, especially in tablet mode. The multi touch features of the screen and the trackpad are among the key selling points of this unit, and while the multitouch trackpad works as expected, the touchscreen, as earlier mentioned, is handicapped by Windows 7 Starter Edition. Again, an upgrade is necessary for the multitouch features to be enabled. Even with a single touch functionality, it's still responsive to use. To fully appreciate the touch functionality offered, you may want to resort to using applications or add ons that supports hand grabbing, like the hand tool for Internet Explorer 8 and Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.

We like how easy it is to just twist and snap the screen from netbook to tablet mode and vice versa, and we like how the metallicstylus is designed to be easily accessible. The Touch Gate shortcut's a good way to access some of the most useful features of the computer in tablet mode, but it's limited in that you can't put your own shortcuts into the application. The time to hold the button to toggle screen rotation's also a tad too long for us as we see it as a useful function that will be frequently used. We also like the added function shortcuts added to access the Task Manager and cycle through the Eee Super Hybrid Engine modes.

If 1GB isn't enough, there's an empty SODIMM slot for easily upgrading this netbook's memory to 3GB using a 2GB stick.

It's also slightly heavier by a few hundred grams compared to a seashell EeePC by the way, weighing at about 1.3 kilos. It does feel heftier, and in a good way, you feel assured that it's not a cheap lightweight plastic product. On the other hand, it's added weight may affect the way you use it as a tablet.

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Performance: A Typical 2010 Netbook

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As expected, performance of this notebook closely follows other Atom N450-based netbook designs. PCMark Vantage gave it an overall rating of 1165 marks, while it obtained 290 3DMarks for 2005, and 153 3DMarks for 2006. Nothing too surprising these figures. Practically speaking, we didn't sense anything sluggish about the T101MT with regular use. When playing videos, expect it to be able to play 720p HD content without problems unless your bitrate's set to very high. As for 1080p full HD videos, it was able to play them, but we noticed the video playback stuttered for a couple of seconds, skipping every 15 to 25 second of smooth playback.

Windows Experience Index

PCMark Vantage scores

3DMark 2005 scores

3DMark 2006 scores

Battery life performance was pretty good, though not the longest lasting of the EeePC family. On idle and power saving mode with the display set with the lowest brightness and to not to turn off automatically, it lasted us 6 hours and 25 minutes before the critical battery alarm set off. If you're reading eBooks with such settings, you can reasonably expect it to last this long. When we set the notebook to high performance and playback 720p HD videos off the hard drive, it lasted us 3 hours and 14 minutes, again, before the alarm set off and the netbook had to hibernate. This should be enough for sitting through the God Father or two relatively short movies while on a plane ride.

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Costs: Competitive Offering

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This netbook's priced at about PhP 26,900, which is a few thousand bucks cheaper than the Lenovo S10 3T tablet netbook. It's a netbook at the mid range level, slightly leaning towards the higher end of the scale. Looking down at the price chain, we've got PhP 20,000 to PhP 25,000 netbooks with very similar specs and performance from the likes of Acer, HP, and Samsung, with perhaps the only serious competitor in terms speed is MSI's Wind12 U230. Looking up the price ladder, there's the likes of the Lenovo, Sony, and maybe even a grey market iPad. How does it fare? It's priced just about right, and we don't expect touchscreen netbooks to come cheaper in products of known brands like ASUS anyway.

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Specifications

ASUS Eee PC Touch T101MT tablet netbook
CPU	Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz
Graphics	Intel GMA 3150
Display	10.1″ LED Backlight WSVGA (1024×600) LCD
Memory	1GB (2GB with Home Premium version) DDR2 SO-DIMM
Storage	2.5″ 160GB SATA2 HDD 5400rpm (320GB with Home Premium version) + 500GB ASUS WebStorage
Wireless Connectivity	WLAN 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Optional)
Battery	Slim and eco-friendly Li-polymer battery, up to 6 hours
Webcam	Yes, 0.3 megapixels
Audio Codec	Hi-Definition Audio CODEC
Audio Output	Headphone-out, Stereo Speakers
Microphone	Mic-in, Built-in Digital Array Mic
Interface	1 x VGA Connector, 3 x USB 2.0, 1 x LAN RJ-45, 2 x Audio Jack (Headphone / Mic-in), MMC/SD/SDHC/SDXC Card Reader
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition (Home Premium comes as another version)
Dimensions / Weight	264 x 181 x 31mm / 1.3kg
Colors	Black and White

KINGMAX KE-91 2.5-inch Portable Hard Disk Drive

In our recent unboxing of the KE-91 external pocketable hard drive, we've again learned how fast things move in the industry of electronics and computers. Survival, growth and success means innovating, moving, or changing one's product lines here, and in pursuit of that, we have the first external hard drive product from Kingmax. Will this mean a new era of success for the brand? Their product will tell us how serious they are about these new directions they are undertaking.

The Kingmax KE-91 Portable External HDD

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Design & Highlights: An Exec's Taste

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We're not too crazy about boxy designs when it comes to our USB hard drives, but if done right, the effect would still be appealing to the eye. The Kingmax KE-91 is just that. It looks simply like any other portable USB hard drive, but makes use of design and good materials to attract one's attention. It uses minimal softened curves for its corners and edges, save for the edges where the metallic body encases the KE-91. The metallic jacket, so to speak, is one of the things we find to be quite attractive with this product. The texture and appearance seems to be that of quality Teflon kitchenware material. It's lustrous yet not glossy, and smudges don't stick to it. The sides are of black glossy plastic, and in our experience, while getting fingerprints on this part may not be entirely avoidable, the material is at least easy to clean, and hint scratches are only made. The USB 2.0 interface is located on the edge of one side of the KE-91, which is another interesting design choice, and we'll see why later.

There is a blue status light indicator on the unit, and it's situated on the top profile close to the USB 2.0 port. We found the USB port to be a very tight fit as if locking the cable's end once connected, so one will have to be careful with disconnecting the two. There is a fairly large warranty sticker on side of the product. This may be a put off for some who like seeing and feeling more of their product than warranty stickers. At least it's been well and cleanly installed.

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Usability: Extended Features via Software

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The KE-91 follows the form factor of numerous 2.5-inch external hard drives out there – it's small enough to be carried around with ease and fashionable enough to be touted around. The bundled leatherette case is also a nice touch, and a tight fit for the KE-91. It's also designed to add a little flair to the product, and also allow the user to access the USB port of the drive without having to remove it from the case. The tight USB interface on the drive isn't exactly our preference, but it could work for some users. Pulling the connector head out may require some care.

Aside from the obvious noted above, there are a couple of tools pre-installed that makes this drive more useful: PC CloneEX Lite, SecureDriveEX2, and TurboHDD USB, all from Taiwanese software R&D developer Fnet. The KE-91 includes registered versions of the TurboHDD USB and SecureDriveEX2. PC CloneEX Lite is a software that takes care of backing up your personal data for you. It can backup selectively or the entire drive, including the Windows and Program Files directories. What's special about this program is that it allows you to restore your system by booting directly from the USB storage drive that PC CloneEX Lite works with and can immediately perform recovery – especially useful when your PC's Windows installation somehow screws up.

TurboHDD USB is yet another very useful application that quite literally boosts your file transfers between other devices and the Kingmax KE-91 USB hard drive. It looks like it's designed to only work with the KE-91 and the program needs to run in the background, set to Turbo mode before users can see immediate effect in transfer speeds. We'll touch on the performance of this drive with and without this in the next section.

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Performance: Boosted by TurboHDD USB

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In terms of speed, expect typical performance similar to other branded USB 2.0 devices. The KE-91 we have here uses a 2.5-inch hard drive by TOSHIBA with the model MK3265GSX, which according to Toshiba, is a 5400RPM drive with SATA 3.0Gbps interface and 8MB cache. Transferring extremely files nets us about an average of 28MB/s actual transfer rate according to Windows 7, excluding the USB overhead. However, we got huge gains when we used the specially bundled TurboHDD USB software. Transfer burst speed went up to 50MB/s and averaged out between 40 to 44MB/s, and that's excluding the minimized USB overhead. The added performance is impressive and quite useful while we wait out USB 3.0 to become the new de facto standard. We've subjected the KE-91 to several hard drive tests with and without the TurboHDD software to see how it fares:

HyperGear Bench
CPU	Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Cooler	Standard
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3P
Memory	G.Skill Trident 2x 2GB 2000MHz @ 1333MHz
Graphics	Zotac GeForce 8800GTS
Hard Drive	Samsung Spinpoint 1TB (32MB Cache)
Optical Drive	LG GH20LS10 Super Multi Drive
Power Supply	Cougar CM Power 700W

ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46

ATTO gave us expected results, though a little slower than what Windows 7 has reported. Hard drive performance is obviously bottlenecked by the USB 2.0 interface. Without TurboHDD USB, the drive performs up to about 24MB/s read and write operations, and up to 35MB/s with it enabled.

CrystalDiskMark 2.2

CrystalDiskMark shows us read and write results consistent with what ATTO benchmark tells us. The drive can do up to about 24 to 25MB/s in read and write performance without TurboHDD USB, and about 35MB/s with the utility enabled.

PCMark Vantage 1.0.2 x64

PCMark Vantage's HDD Suite gave the the KE-91 a score a little over 2000 points. If you notice the difference between the two tests – one with and without TurboHDD USB, you'd notice that the drive was able to perform better without the software acceleration utility, but only marginally so. The benefits of TurboHDD USB outweigh the very minimal performance hit that this suite shows, but if you're concerned about it, TurboHDD can be set to normal speed while you're not doing large file transfers with the KE-91.

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Cost: Up to Par Pricing

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With a price of about US $80 for a 320GB Kingmax KE-91 in the Internet and PhP 3,180 (or PhP 4,180 for the 500GB model) at CD-R King, this drive looks competitively priced against its competitors. In this already mature market, there's only so much manufacturers and marketers can do to make their product stand out. We can say however, that Kingmax's first attempt into external storage products is a step forward and in the right direction. We've pointed out the pros and cons about this product, and given that, we believe they've managed to get the KE-91 up to par with its competitors, including its price and value added softwares bundles.

Kingmax KE-91 Specifications
Capacity	320GB / 500GB
Interface	SATA (HDD) / USB 2.0 via mini USB
Compatibility	Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Mac OS 9.x and 10.x or higher(FAT32 format only) / Linux 2.4 or higher (FAT32 format only)
Bundled Software	SecureDrive EX2 / PCClone Ex lite / TurboHDD USB
Colors	Red / Gray / Black
Dimensions / Weight	114 x 75 x 12 mm / 170g

Overall: 9.0

For a first hard drive product, the KE-91 shows us that Kingmax is serious in making its mark and succeeding in this industry. It's priced, designed, and bundled well enough to become an attractive option for buyers looking for a portable external hard drive. It's competitive against the competition if we compare it by the spec sheet and what we get out of it, but it may take some time for the brand to become mature and accepted in this market in the face of already established brands. It's a product deserving of attention and worthwhile to check out.

Design: 8.5

It's a very clean drive and we love the metallic texture Kingmax has chosen for the KE-91.

Highlights: 9.0

The bundled software and the leatherette casing does give the product a slight edge over the competition.

Usability: 8.5

Again, the bundled software is definitely a plus. The design of the product and the complementing leatherette casing makes this drive quite attractive to carry around and use without having to take off the casing.

Performance: 9.0

Performance is up to par with other drives with the USB 2.0 understandably being the only bottleneck here. The bundled TurboHDD USB software does make an interesting case for this product, being able to boost the performance as advertised.

Cost: 8.5

Competitive pricing that brings good value to the table.