IBLOG SPACE

Acer is the second largest computer maker in the world and is more known for its notebooks and netbooks that desktop machines. Acer does make desktops for consumers and businesses though and the latest consumer offerings were unveiled yesterday including the Aspire M3 and X3 . The X3 machine is a desktop with mainstream tech inside a SFF chassis and the M3 is a multitasking machine with room for growth. The X3 machine will ship with 4GB of RAM and a variety of CPUs including the Athlon II, Phenom II, Core i3, and Pentium E6600 CPUs. The desktop can also be fitted with up to 1TB of storage space and GeForce 9200 graphics. The M3 can be ordered with Athlon II or Phenom II CPUs and HD 5450 or GeForce 9200 graphics. Storage is up to 640GB. Both machines are available now starting at $449.99.

Best Buy have thrown the Insignia Infocast internet media display up for sale, and before you dismiss the 8-inch touchscreen device as just another “smart” photo frame, take a second look. Powered by the same software as the hack-friendly Chumby, the Infocast has been described as “a $169, 800MHz ARM Linux computer with 128 MB of DDR2, 2 GB of mass storage and an 8-inch, 800 x 600 touchscreen display” by none other than Andrew “bunnie” Huang of Chumby itself. He’s revealed some of the Infocast’s hidden secrets, having had a hand in the design of the touchscreen machine itself. He used that insider access to make sure some hack-friendly features were included. For instance, there are clearly labelled serial port connections on the mainboard, a “mini hack port” – with GPIOs and power – together with places to solder in a 3-axis accelerometer or a digital camera module. He also describes how to take the unit apart, how to get into the OS via ssh, and how to install a native ARM compi

I haven’t owned a phone in years and years that shipped with headphones that I thought were decent enough to actually use. My iPhone headphones leave a ton to be desired and never get used. These were the first thing I upgraded on my iPhone after opening the box. I bet that a lot of folks out there do the same thing. Innpu Communications Technology Co has unveiled a new phone design that it calls the world’s first “wired phone” cell phone. The device will be released very soon according to the company. The big feature of the device is that it has a pair of retractable built-in headphones. When a call is received, the user will just pull out the headphones to answer and when the call is down the headphones can be retracted back into the handset. The big issue I see is if the headphones really suck, you are stuck carrying them around with the handset forever.

HP has tossed a new AIO machine into the ring to fight for the enterprise dollars starting to flow a little more freely in the states. The new machine is the Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One . The machine promises to add more functional space to cubicles and needs only one power cord for the entire machine. The 6000 Pro AIO has a range of Core 2 Duo processors available and runs Windows 7 Professional 32 and 64-bit operating systems. The rig can be fitted with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage space. The AIO machine can also be fitted with an 80GB SSD instead of the traditional HDD. The screen is 21.5-inches and has HD resolution with LED backlighting. Other features include a LightScribe CD/DVD burner, a memory card reader, and an optional TV tuner. The machine also ships with video conferencing software installed. The ship date for the new AIO is set for July 16 starting at $899.

Having disappointed hybrid smartbook fans with the apparent news that the U1 Hybrid and Skylight had been canned, Lenovo now seem to be hinting at a potentially different direction for their eye-catching hardware. TabletPCReview sat down with the company at a recent press event, and found the Lenovo team were talking about new Android builds for the U1 Hybrid and Skylight that implied the devices would, indeed, see an eventual release. In fact, the real casualty of recent months seems not to have been so much the hardware Lenovo demonstrated at CES back in January, but the Skylight OS they developed themselves. Instead, they’re jumping with both feet into Android – prompted by their success with Android-based smartphones in China – and are claiming that the practical experience they’ve had with the Google OS means a U1-specific build won’t need to be created from scratch and, therefore, will be quicker. Exactly how quick, however, is unknown. Still, we’re hoping it means that we ca

iOS4 is out for the iPhone 3GS, 3G and second-gen iPod touch, but what about your precious hacktivation or jailbreak? The iPhone Dev Team have been working like busy beavers to update their redsn0w tool to handleiOS4, and have just pushed out a new beta, redsn0w 0.9.5b5-3, that can hacktivate an iOS4-running iPhone 3G as well as jailbreak both that handset and the iPod touch 2G. That means that iPhone 3GS owners are still out of luck if they want to run iOS4 and also have a hacked device, so the advice from the Dev Team is to hold off and don’t update to the new OS version. An updated version that can deal with the 3GS is apparently coming “soon”, so hopefully you won’t have to deal with 3.1.3 for too much longer.