After almost a year of waiting, Windows XP is finally in OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). This child friendly device was originally developed with Linux as its OS. Although it doesn’t really matter to the kids who will be receiving them, users here have been clamoring for an XP version of the device that should be integrated to the market. It’s also a nice marketing strategy for Microsoft as they show their compassionate side to the kids. Microsoft, through Bill Gates already has a Classmate PC with an XP on it so XP in OLPC XO is a great addition to the device.

The reason why XP has been delayed for almost a year is that Microsoft has to build new sets of drivers that could fit to the very small storage capacity of the XO. With this version of XO, the mesh networking may not be available. Although XP has been squeezed to the bare essentials, it still wouldn’t fit to the 1GB storage capacity. Instead, expect that XO will be released with a preloaded 2GB SD card. The operating system along with the preloaded applications will take up 1.5GB. Since users will have a total of 3GB of storage capacity, they will still have 1.5GB for their personal documents. Besides, you still have USB ports so that you can have more storage capacity.

If you’re thinking that XP is way better than the regular Linux that was pre-installed, think again. The original Linux that was made on XO has a mesh networking capability and a programming application wherein you can play with it and build simple applications. The XP version however was built so that more options are available for possible users and for those who will be receiving the XO for free, would have a good idea XP will be if they ever have the chance to tinker with a commercial computer with this Operating System.

As for the availability for regular consumers; no word yet when the XP version of OLPC XO will be released. But we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a little bit expensive but highly tolerable.

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Every now and then, Dell likes to come out with a brand new laptop that doesn’t just sport better specs but better artwork as its cover. The project is called Dell Art House, these special laptops are designed by artists who has the innovation and funk that will attract the younger market. This time is no different as they sought the help of Mike Ming – a Brooklyn based artist to design their latest offering, the Dell 1525.

Honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea who Mike Ming is. So I Googled the artist and what came out are different artworks that are very impressive. I’m no artist but Mike Ming knows how to capture the imagination of his spectators.

On the design area, Dell 1525 comes in four designs with eight different colors. If you think the art work shows the artist’s creativity, check out some of their names: “Sea Sky” and “Bunch O Surfers”.

When it comes to specifications, Dell’s pretty generous with this laptop. It’s not an UMPC but its small enough to fit on anyone backpack. It has a 15.4″ screen and comes in Vista as their OS. The cheapest version has the Home Basic Version while the rest is run by the Home Premium Edition.

Depending on your budget, Dell 1525 should be able to give you a great experience for a laptop. For $499 you should be able to have Intel Celeron as a processor with 1GB of memory and 80GB of hard drive. Bump the price $100 up and you’ll have 120GB of hard drive with Pentium Dual Core. Bump it even higher by another $100 and you’ll have 160GB of HD with 3GB of Memory. But if you wanted to have the ultimate edition, your $799 should get you 320GB of HD, 3GB of Memory and Intel Core 2 Duo as a processor.

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The Internet is full of ways to make money and promising of a better tomorrow. Clicking on link after link, you find the same story repeated for each and every one. You pay me and I will give you the opportunity to offer this deal to other people. This pyramid-esque scheme is at the heart of ever so many sites. But, The Fat Rich Pig is far different. You are given the knowledge needed to make more money tomorrow than you did today and that is what making money online is all about.

The best part of The Fat Rich Pig for me was in the details provided in the information. This is not your run of the mill marketing ploy, it is a marketing plan that provides you with a step by step guide on how to make money, real money. There are no gimmicks and that is such a refreshing change. And, the cost of the program is pennies compared to other eBooks that are simply PLR articles rewritten and sold for profit. The creator of the Fat Rich Pig program tells you up front, making money online is hard work, there is no get rich quick scheme that is even worth the money you will spend on the package.

The only aspect of The Fat Rich Pig program that I found to be sad was the fact that I purchased thousands of dollars of other programs before finding this program. I am a novice to online money making and luckily, I finally found a program that is aimed at everyone and not just the technologically savvy. Less than $80.00 can change your life and that is just the simple fact behind the Fat Rich Pig. No schemes, no shams, just refined knowledge that was earned through hard work and dedication to making money online.

I am telling you my friend, if you want to become the most successful Internet marketer online or if you just want to improve your affiliate marketing skills, you need to have The Fat Rich Pig in your side. Click here to get it:The Fat Rich Pig and claim your Free Gift

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Apple’s iPhone got everyone thrilled with its touchscreen technology along with a very cool interface. Add to that is the Apple’s natural ability to dazzle techies and the massive success of the classic iPod, it got the whole mobile world on its knees to the iPhone and its non-phone predecessor, iPod Touch. For months, different companies have been coming out with their own touchscreen phones to challenge the iPhone. Among them is the Taiwan-based HTC which undeniably was able to grab some piece of the action through their own touchscreen phones such as the original HTC Touch. Using their own TouchFlo technology, they were able give a good looking phone with features that could rival the iPhone.

Lately, HTC even added more dazzle to their HTC Touch. They have just recently presented to the public the upgraded version of HTC Touch called the HTC Touch Diamond. Using the same TouchFlo technology, HTC Diamond presents features that will make you think twice about the iPhone.

HTC Diamond comes with a 2.8 inch screen that looks so much glossier than the iPhone. Using full VGA on their interface, it gives off better resolution to the 480×320 resolution of the iPhone. The sleek user interface of HTC Diamond is notable. At the product presentation you just have to tap an icon to activate the function which twirls on a 3D interface.

Inside the HTC is a robust Windows Mobile 6.1. It has a built it Wifi and HSDPA for 3.5G browsing – a significant different to the iPhone as 3G for iPhone are still under development. HTC Diamond uses Opera as its native browser. HTC Diamond offers the capability of zooming in to the specific parts of the website. It has its own YouTube application for easier browsing in the popular video sharing website.

This phone will be released in Europe and Asia before being sold to the US. Pricing hasn’t been outlined yet but if you go with the iPhone’s initial offering sometime ago, it could be within $400 - $500 range when HTC Diamond hits the stands.

[via engadgetmobile]

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SSD (Secured Storage Data) is thought to be the next best thing in hard drive technology for mobile computers. Even though it’s tougher, it doesn’t reach its market appeal yet. Highly expensive and relatively slow, SSD is still on its baby-phase: It might be years before we could see a 320GB SSD that will not cost us more than a thousand dollars.

For now Hitachi is banking on the good old hard drive. Called the Travelstar 7K320, this laptop hard drive will show you that the soon to be old is not that bad especially for your laptop. Aside from 320GB of storage capacity, the 7200 RPM should turn any laptop junkies head into considering this hard drive. According to their recent press release, the 7K320 promises 60% increase of storage capacity, 12% increase of performance. All of these are possible while driving down 22% of power consumption. With this speed, data transfer is also at its peak. Standard data transfer is 3GB/s while the encrypted transfer is up to 1GB/s. If that speed will never amaze you, nothing will.

The 7K320 also promises to be very silent: during operation it only provides 2.8Bels of sound while 2.5Bels of sound is expected when it is not on operation.

What’s even better with Hitachi’s Travelstar 7K320 is the security it offers. Most of the security that we offer today for our hard drives comes with the software. Hitachi however has developed a built-in security technology that is hardware based. Available during encrypted transfer, Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) scrambles the data while it is being written. After the transfer or writing on the hard drive is done, BDE again reassembles the data so that it could be read by application.

The Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 is expected to hit the market in a few weeks and the price is expected to be from US$200 to US$250.

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One of the big parts of the gadget market that is set to continue into the future is the combination of gadgets with other things. For example, the combination of technology with clothing is something that we might start seeing more of in the near future and that future is here right now with the Hood.e concept.

Quite simply, Hood.e was developed by a man that was interested in ensuring that his son had a safe trip to school. The son would listen to his ipod on the walk with the earphones stuck in his ears. At the same time, he was crossing busy terrain and intersections and for that reason the lack of hearing of the ambient noise around him was a big concern for this father.

Hood.e was the result of this conundrum. Hood.e is a hooded shirt that has speakers actually embedded into the sides of the hood, allowing the wearer to put the hood on and listen to the music through those speakers. They can still hear the music but because the speakers are not right in their ears, they can still hear other noises and for that reason they can respond to anything potentially dangerous that might happen to them along the path.

This idea, while brilliant, also has some major drawbacks to it. The primary drawback is the fact that the person wearing the Hood.e , especially if they happen to be a younger person, might get mugged and have the sweater stolen from them in short order. In any case, the Hood.e design is not even off the drawing board in realistic terms, but it promises to get to production at some point and when it does it will be one of the coolest gadgets around. The idea is certainly better than many of the other ones that you see in the present day gadget niche market.

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There are many rumours that can circulate across the internet in the world of online gadgetry and one of the chief jobs of a good blogger is to distinguish between rumours that might be true and rumors that are most definitely not true. Every now and then a rumour falls into a grey area between these two extremes and this is definitely one of those situations.

Palm, the company that achieved fame through the marketing and creation of handheld personal desktop assistant devices, is apparently planning to release two new phones into the market. In a report put into circulation by TamsPPC, two phones that have been given project development names of Zeppelin and Skywriter are going to be coming to the market within the next six months. These phones will include a combination of phone features and PDA features and for that reason will represent a high-end all-in-one solution from the Palm Company.

In particular, the rumour being circulated seems to have more to say about Skywriter than Zeppelin , as many sites are now claiming that TamsPPC reported that the Skywriter would be a device manufactured in the style of the famous Palm 500 design. It would have Windows Mobile 6.1 pre-loaded onto the actual device when you got it and the device itself would have keys for all letters of the alphabet in QWERTY style so that you could use it to communicate and type even when you were stuck in traffic and far away from any foreseeable help.

While this rumour is certainly interesting, at the same time the major problem with it that there are no facts to back up this rumour. Most rumours and conspiracies in the online world have at least a smattering of facts to interpret from, but this one contains none. Still, some websites have shown mock-ups of the device and for therefore there is still reason to believe that the Palm cell phones might be hitting the stores later on this year.

[via TamsPPC]

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PSP devices are some of the most popular devices in the world today, with sales still topping the charts when compared to handheld products that have been released more recently. Part of the reason for the overall success of the PSP is the fact that accessories continue to be released for it that allow you to augment the PSP and make it even better than it was when you first fell in love with it. One of these new accessories is close to being released and it has the ability to really blow you away.

Simply put, the accessory is a face plate. Specifically, it is the XCM Magic Night Glow face plate and it is being released for the PSP slim. When you first purchase the face plate, it looks rather normal like any other face plate that you might be using at the time. However, give it a little bit of time because when the lights go out, the face plate suddenly starts to glow an extremely bright colour! Take a red face plate and you’ll see that it starts to glow yellow at night, a sight that is truly wondrous to behold. This is definitely something that will sell well in the future, simply because it is one of the coolest new accessory gadgets to be released for the PSP in a significant amount of time.

What would you use your glow in the dark PSP for? You could use it as a flashlight when you get up in the middle of the night and don’t want to trip over anything or you could use it as a nightlight if you happen to be afraid of the dark (you’d be surprised how many PSP users this is true of). The possibilities are endless and while the price has not yet been released, you can still expect this accessory to knock one out of the park for the PSP.

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Few electronic gadgets have been as anticipated in recent memory as the Nokia E71. The pulse of the online gadget community was quite obvious in the case of the Nokia E71; it was a pulse of people that wanted to know as much information as possible. Rumours abounded and every new piece of news was treated and over-treated in an attempt to glean from it any possible information. Well, people that have been waiting with baited breath for the Nokia E71 to hit stores might be about to get exactly what they want, as the Nokia E71 could be announced to the public within the United States are early as the end of this week.

The main reason for this sudden shift in the rumour mill is because of the fact that Nokia E71 phones have been spotted on online retail websites run within the Netherlands and this has led many different people to speculate that this might be a herald for those same products making their way into the United States. This type of thinking is generally spot on in terms of accuracy and knowledge of this has led to a lot of excited people around.

Almost as hazy as the details regarding the release of the Nokia E71 are details regarding the actual product itself. For the most part, the Nokia E71 specifications that have been as close to confirmed as possible on rumours are connectivity in 3G, a camera attached to the phone worth 3.2 megapixels and GPS navigation built into the operation of the phone. There is also Wi-Fi available and a package that measures 11.2 cm x 5.7 cm x 1.0 cm. Total features for this product have not yet been confirmed, which has added to the excitement regarding the possible May 8th release date of the Nokia E71 in North America.

[Via bcellphones]

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Computers and portable electronics are not the only gadgets that get a makeover on a regular basis; quite often you’ll find that routers are released with a different look as well. When you consider the Linksys router, a router that can be found in many of the different homes and offices around the country, a new design is bound to attract attention.

Linksys has created a router with a design that almost makes it look like the windshield of an ultra-modern car. If you consider the cars that you see in futuristic movies and the windshield designs that those cars have, a miniature version of that represents the front of the Linksys router with a slope that starts at the top and extends downwards to the front of the router where all the displays are.

These new designs can sell for anywhere from $50 to $115 depending on the make and the particular features that you want with the router (i.e. wireless capability will cost you extra, even in the modern world), but at the same time the look is not all that has changed.

New Linksys units can potentially come with buttons that you can push to make setup a breeze, encryption that allows you to rest easier because of the extra power, MIMO technology that allows for an extremely surprising boosting of the system and similar technology that allows you to reach further into your house and reduce “dead zones” where the signal can not reach. While these features are not available on all of the new routers , at the same time the one that runs you $115 contains all of them in addition to the sleek new design.

All in all, Linksys has been able to effectively combine the beautification of their product with the increase in functionality that it brings to the table and that is something that should make their customers very happy indeed.

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