IBLOG SPACE

Comind soon....

HP has quietly outed a new netbook, the HP Mini 5103 , complete with a choice of Atom N455 or N475 processors and an optional touchscreen display. The 10.1-inch netbook has up to 2GB of RAM, a choice of up to 320GB HDD or 128GB SSD, and Intel GMA 3150 graphics as standard; buyers can specify the Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator, with an HD screen option. Ports include gigabit ethernet, three USB 2.0, VGA, audio in/out and an SD card reader; plus there’s WiFi b/g/n (or a/b/g/n as an option) and optional Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. If you don’t go for the Broadcom card that leaves space for Qualcomm Gobi mobile broadband, complete with GPS. Two batteries are on offer, 4- or 6-cell, and a 2-megapixel webcam and multitouch-capable trackpad are standard. Pricing kicks off at €429 ($565) in Italy, where the Mini 5103 has been initially listed, though that’s for the basic model with the N455 CPU, no touchscreen, 160GB HDD and 1GB of RAM. No sign of pricing for the touchscreen or any of the SS

MSI has outed a pair of new 15.6-inch notebooks, the P600 and S6000, each packing 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-450M processors, Intel GMA HD graphics and 4GB of DDR3 memory. The main difference between the two is the battery: MSI give the P600 an 8-cell pack as standard, while the S6000 gets a smaller 4-cell battery. The company reckons the P600 can last for up to 8hrs. Connectivity includes HDMI, VGA, three USB ports – one of which doubles as an eSATA – and audio in/out, together with ethernet, WiFi b/g/n and a 3-in-1 memory card reader. Storage is via a 500GB HDD, and there’s a 1.3-megapixel webcam and stereo speakers. A copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, a multitouch trackpad and fashionable chiclet keyboard with separate numeric keypad round things out. Both machines are on sale now, priced at $799.99 for the MSI S6000 and $829.99 for the MSI P600; frankly that seems a tiny premium for the slightly heavier model’s boosted battery life.

Last year, Google pulled the curtain off one of their most widespread projects to date: Wave. It was a means to allow users, people, a way to instantly communicate with not just one person, but a multitude of them, in real-time. And that was just the beginning. In classic Google fashion, they continued to add features to their new beta baby, giving it more reason to exist within its market. But, all good things must come to an end, and Google today has announced that they have stopped development of Google Wave as a standalone project. First, Google still plans to utilize the technology they have built with Google Wave . In essence, they may be abandoning what we know as Wave right now, but they won’t give up on the key components that make it work. Indeed, they plan on utilizing those resources in other Google projects, but obviously they aren’t telling anyone what those may be. Google goes on to say that Wave has taught them a lot, and that they will improve from those lessons. Wave

China’s a busy place. With millions of people already filling their giant cities, and with the population to explode in the next 30 years, those in charge are forced with a dilemma. How to make it so people can get to one place, to another, without running into one another every six steps. While they may not have every solution nailed down, at least one ingenious designer out there has an idea: the mega-straddle bus . And yes, it does pretty much what it sounds like. As you can see from the image, the mega-straddle bus is designed to straddle the road, and therefore go over the cars that are travelling on the road as well. It would stand 13.5 feet tall, and be 18 feet wide, which would mean that it would take up two lanes of traffic. Not that that matters, mind you, considering that it would be travelling on some rails embedded into the sides of the road, and therefore be suspended over those lanes. However, the designer makes it so that the giant bus can still traverse below the count

We need printers — after all, we’re not in a completely paperless world, quite yet. But, seeing a concept such as this, from designers Chia-Chen Hsiao and Yuexun Chen, shows us exactly why printers themselves aren’t all that necessary, and work more like a middleman and nothing more. These instant cartridge printers are designed to be ready on the fly, when you need them, and easily disposable, as soon as the ink runs out. As with any other concept, especially a good one such as this, all we can do is hope that it comes to reality sooner than later. And, while printers in today’s market may not be obsolete by any means, this concept does show that we don’t need them. With the ability of phones, and other devices to connect to printers without having the need of a computer at all, plugging this instant cartridge into a digital camera, or mobile phone, to get the pictures you want right then and there seems to good to be true. The concept works, because the cartridge itself is the printe

Two years ago, mobile broadband was levied out on a per-device basis: one connection per gadget. Novatel Wireless changed that with their MiFi , a portable 3G router that shared a single wireless connection with up to five WiFi devices. Now, Virgin Mobile USA are hoping to change the way we pay for our shareable mobile data, with the first prepaid MiFi on the US market. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. As far as hardware goes, Virgin have only made aesthetic changes to the original MiFi 2200, not physical. That means you still get a relatively compact, palm-sized device – discretely finished in brushed silver and black – with a single button for power and a microUSB port for charging or using the MiFi as a tethered modem. Inside the battery compartment is a 1,150mAh rechargeable pack; unlike the GSM version of the MiFi, there’s no microSD card slot for using the 2200 as a mobile NAS. Setup is straightforward, basically amounting to turning the MiFi on and then choosin

In Salt Lake City, Utah, there is a trade show called the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market happening right now. And there, a company that makes GPS receives and other personal navigation hardware called DeLorme have just unveiled two new receivers. They’re called the PN-60 and the PN-60w, and while they have plenty of features, they’ve also got a price tag that will probably make you take a double-take. The Earthmate PN-60 , first and foremost, features the support for GPX, which should make it easier and more flexible to set and save waypoints while you’re out and about. It also has profile and power management options, elevation profiles, and it comes with a total of 3.5GB of storage on the inside. As for the price, you should expect to pay something along the lines of $399.95 to get your hands on this guy. As for the Earthmate PN-60w, this is a handheld unit, and it’s sable to send and receive messages via satellite. It also features the majority of other features that the PN-60 does,

Apple has quietly put into play a streaming music service, freeing iPhone users from the limited internal storage of their smartphones and instead allowing them to play content stored remotely in their iDisk cloud backup. Spotted by Michael Robertson of MP3.com, the new service currently requires users to actively manage the transfer of files to the iDisk store – there’s no automatic sync with iTunes, nor playlist support – and then select the files through the iPhone iDisk interface . There’s also no cover art support, nor file caching. However, it’s expected that Apple will tighten up the user experience before too long, presuming this is the direction the Cupertino company plans to take their media service. What also remains to be seen is how the music labels themselves respond to Apple’s quiet step into streaming, given users’ MP3 and AAC files will likely only have been licensed for local playback rather than for streamed distribution. UMG, for instance, specifically requires d

Nokia continue to insist that they have no plans to ditch Symbian or MeeGo in favor of Android, and so we’ll have to get our Google/Finn crossover kicks in unofficial ways. Chinese firm iZiNN has cloned Nokia N8 and slapped a copy of Android 2.1 on their copy, the CJ-3; it lacks the original’s 12-megapixel camera (making do with just 5-megapixels) but does keep the HDMI output and 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen. The iZiNN CJ-3 actually packs more pixels than the original on that display, though – at WVGA resolution – though it lacks a Xenon flash and uses dual-LEDs instead. Inside is Rockchip’s RK2808 chipset; it’s unclear how much RAM and storage it’s been paired with. While normally these cloned devices are pretty laughable, we can imagine quite a few people might find the idea of a Nokia N8 shell with Android inside more appealing than the Symbian^3 OS the real thing is going to launch with. Sadly the likelihood of it reaching US or European shores seems low.

It’s obviously the season for digital cameras with integrated USB plugs, since Samsung has just outed a new point-and-shoot of their own. The Samsung PL90 is a 12.2-megapixel digicam with a 4x optical zoom and VGA-quality 30fps video recording mode, and has a pop-out USB plug for offloading shots together with recharging the camera. Otherwise the features are pretty standard for a point-and-shoot, with the PL90 getting Samsung’s Smart Auto mode that takes care of shooting modes itself. There’s also a portrait mode; rather than a front-facing LCD display, like on some of Samsung’s more expensive models, the PL90 uses face-tracking to monitor where the subject is in terms of the overall frame, beeping when they’re perfectly positioned. That, smile and blink detection, and automatic red-eye fix round out the main functionality, and there’s a 2.7-inchh 230k pixel LCD preview display on the back. Expect the Samsung PL90 to drop in September 2010, priced at $149.99.

Facebook for Android always felt like the ugly-sister app in comparison to its slick iPhone counterpart, and happily the social networking site is finally doing something about it. A fresh update brings far more in-app functionality, including the ability to view videos and respond to friend requests without being thrown out to the Android browser; there’s also a new media reel which showcases new photos and video from friends. Event viewing and RSVPs can also be sent from within the app, and there’s a new homepage with a draggable notifications drawer. Finally the update system has been streamlined, so it’s easier to post new status messages with fewer taps or clicks. Still not perfect, then, but far better than the last version; you can download Facebook for Android in the Android Market.

 

Last week I cringed at some reports that might have led people to believe the average age of a channel’s viewers mattered more than the absolute ratings. Those reports noted that the advertising recovery was faster among channels targeting older viewers. I then probably spent too much time trying to debunk those notions.

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Rating s for August 11, 2010 P2+ Total Day FNC – 1,266,000 viewers CNN – 384,000 viewers MSNBC – 375,000 viewers CNBC – 191,000 viewers HLN – 306,000 viewers

Tuesday night’s Rangers 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees produced the team’s all-time highest local television rating ever on FOX Sports Southwest, according to Nielsen Media Research. The game averaged an 8.0 household rating in Dallas-Fort Worth, shattering the team’s previous record of 6.9 set on Sept. 16, 1998 vs. Anaheim. It also was the No. 1 rated program in the market on Tuesday.

Posting Strong Week-to-Week Growth, ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live ” Draws Its Biggest Audience in 5 Weeks and Top Adult 18-34 Number in 7 Week “JKL” Builds its Overall Audience Year to Year for the 3rd Week in a Row and for the 8th Time in 10 Weeks this Summer “JKL” Outperforms “Ferguson” for the Week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Topping the CBS Program for the 3rd Time in 4 Weeks in the Key Sales Demo “Kimmel” Tops “Letterman” on Monday and Friday in Adults 18-34 and Men 18-34

Scoreboard Adults 18-49: Rating/Share 2.1/7 2.1/7 1.7/6 1.6/5 1.1/3 0.5/2 Adults 18-34: Rating/Share 2.1/8 1.5/5 1.3/5 1.8/6 0.7/2 0.5/2 Total Viewers (million) 6.060 7.552 6.462 3.951 3.811 1.268

THE LIGHTS SHINE ON THE FIFTH SEASON OF FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS ON DIRECTV’S THE 101 NETWORK The Final Season of the Critically Acclaimed, Emmy-Winning Drama Will Air Commercial-free Every Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Summer Finale of ABC Family Smash Hit “Pretty Little Liars” Ranks as the Series’ Most-Watched Ever in Total Viewers “Pretty Little Liars” Wraps its Summer Season as TV’s No. 1 Series During its 10-Week Run in Female Teens and No. 1 Scripted Series in Females 12-34 and Teens “ Pretty Little Liars ” Closes Out its Summer Season with Series Highs , Delivering Impressive Gains Week to Week in Key Demos

BRAVO MARKS BEST TUESDAY OF THE YEAR WITH RECORD RATINGS FOR SEASON PREMIERE OF “FLIPPING OUT” AND NEW EPISODE OF “THE RACHEL ZOE PROJECT” “Flipping Out” Earns Its Highest Season Premiere Ever Across All Key Demos “The Rachel Zoe Project” Earns Over 1 Million Viewers And Marks Series High For Second Consecutive Week