Rivals to the iPad

Ever thought of buying an iPad but can't because it's too costly. Well, here's some Pad's and Slate's that work very much like the iPad but are sold at a much cheaper price.

ICD Vega: Another potential competitor to the iPad is the Vega, which was announced in November 2009 and is expected to hit the market in the first half of this year. Produced by Innovative Converged Devices, the Vega is expected to run the Android 2.0 operating system and features a large, 15.6" touch screen, although two smaller sizes will be available. The device will have 32 GB of internal SD storage, a removable charging dock/stand and the ability to play on-demand Web TV, according to the company.

Plastic Logic QUE pro Reader: Developed by Plastic Logic, the QUE proReader caters to business professionals and is presented mostly as an eReader. The QUE comes in two models, priced from $649 to $799, featuring full color on its 8 1/2" x 11" display and Wifi connectivity, the device is 1/3" thick and is operated using a touch screen interface.
The QUE is expected to launch in April 2010 and plans to use the Barnes & Noble bookstore for its eBook sales.

Notion Ink Adam: Expected to be released mid-summer 2010, the Ink Adam will start at $327, with the more robust models priced up to $800. The device can support 1080p high definition video on its 10" screen and also features a 3 megapixel camera, according to the company.
It promises 3G connectivity, as well as a multitasking interface that utilizes the Android operating system, which allows the user to run applications concurrently.

HP SlateExhibited as a prototype in the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, HP's iPad competitor is scheduled to come out later this year.
A model was exhibited during the CES keynote by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who demonstrated how the "Slate PC" can utilize the Windows 7 operating system, a webcam and USB ports, as well as "Kindle for PC" applications and various other video functions. The touch screen device is expected to cost about $550, although there has been no official announcement on price.

New Nintendo DS in 3-D!

Nowadays, everythings coming out in 3-D; whether its a new movie, a TV or a camcorder. But it was quite interesting to learn that video-game consoles, like the Nintendo DS, will be coming out in 3-D as well. And whats even more surprising is that you don't require 3-D glasses!

Nintendo made it official on Tuesday that it will soon be releasing a new version of its handheld video game console, in 3-D. This new version, which has been nicknamed the 3-DS, is not only going to change the gaming industry, but would also boost the 3-D feature (without glasses) in other technology fields. Nintendo said that the sales for the DS were slowing, even though they were more than its rival, Sony's PSP. But having the first 3-D feature in a portable device would really help in boosting DS's sales.

To me its quite interesting how this technique (3-D without the glasses) works. Its never been done before and honestly I wasn't expecting it to be done by Nintendo. I thought a TV company would probably come out with a 3-D TV that wouldn't require the glasses. And its not just the name of the company thats shocking, but the fact that its being done on a small portable handheld gaming console. Also, I'm expecting the new DS's price to rise up a lot. But, it is obviousy worth the money since you would be experiencing something that never been done before; playing games in 3-D without the 3-D glasses.

Nintendo would not say how it employs this 3-D technology in a handheld console, or how much it would cost. But Nintendo did announce that the 3-DS would support old and new DS games. They also said that the 3-DS would be on exhibition at E3, and would start selling them by March or April, 2011.

Google moves its China search to Hong Kong

Just this Monday, Google announced that its going to shut down it's google.cn site (in China) and will redirect its users to the google.hk (in Hong Kong). Until now, Google has been censoring search results in China because the Chinese government, as always, wanted to keep the people isolated and wanted the search results censored.

It is said that Google had two conferences with officials from the Chinese government about this censorship issue, and that the second one was a "disaster". Google announced in January that it no longer intended to censor its users search results and will soon be doing something about it. Google also disclosed that there was a cyberattack, and which they believe was caused by hackers working for the Chinese government. Googles database and at least 30 other U.S. companies had been targeted by them. So now, Google has decided to redirect its users in China to its uncensored Hong Kong site. This way, its wouldn't be illegal and its user's searches wouldn't have to be censored.

This decision of Google was supported by the U.S. government wholeheartedly. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a policy speech in January praising Google for its actions and urging Internet companies to do their part in upholding freedom on the Internet.

I believe that Google has made the right decision. The people in China should be given that same freedom of the Internet that everyone else receives. This allows the people in China freedom of expression and information that they deserve. Also, its an important decision to challenge the censorship of the Chinese government and shows that they have no right to keep their citizens isolated from the rest of the world.

Russian cows watch LED TV's!!

Some lucky cows in a Russian barn get to watch TV all day; something that we long for. And these are no small, old TVs, but brand new Samsung 7000 LED TVs.

All this started when a Russian farmer learnt from somewhere that cows that watch videos and movies and are happy, are more productive than others. So, he got them a non-stop loop of Swiss Alps, showing green pastures and trees, and played them on brand new Samsung TVs. But only half the cows has this golden opportunity while the other half had to live the same boring life. The farmer did this to compare the cows and see whether this technique actually works on them, and whether they become more productive.

So what was the result of this? Though a person would love a life where he/she could watch TV all day, the cows have no effect of television on them and don't show any change. They weren't amused by these beautiful pictures and weren't any more productive than the other cows.

But even though these cows didn't show any change, I don't think this 'experiment' was a waste. It benefited the farmer because he got all the media attention that he probably wanted. And the cows obviously benefited because they got to watch unlimited TV. And even though these cows might eventually end up in someones burger, at least they can say that they lived the good life.

Samsung's new 3-D TV

Samsung's C9000 series LED HDTV, measuring nearly 0.3 inches, is the worlds most thinnest tv. And sleekness is only the beginning. These C9000's come in 3D!! What can you watch on 3D? Well, the Samsung 9000's have the ability to convert 2D to 3D, so you can watch your home videos, your DVD collection or absolutely anything you put up on the TV.
Besides the sleekness and the 3d feature, another cool thing is the Internet on TV. You can stream videos straight from the Internet. Also, just like every things got an app store nowadays, so does Samsung. You can access the app store and make purchases directly from your C9000 TV.

Another exiting feature is its remote; a 3 inch touchscreen full color remote. Why would you need a touchscreen full color remote? Well because on this remote you can preview a channel before switching to it, watch blu-ray on the TV and cable on the remote; basically this remote helps you not miss a single second of your favorite show. But what if you have to run to the kitchen, won't you miss the programming then (like always)? Not at all, because now you could take the remote with you, and watch the programming on it, without having to miss a single second. Also, through this remote, you could stream up music, videos and photos wirelessly into the TV.

This TV is available in numerous sizes and prices listed below. So is it worth it? Well, absolutely. If you are looking for a new TV with the latest features this is what you might want. Even though the prices might look a little too high, you should also see the amount of features that this TV offers; the sleekness, the 3D feature, internet compatibility, touchscreen remote and many more.

A Dog-Washing Machine!

Have you ever had a hard time washing your dog, because they smell, are dirty and don't want to be washed. Well, the Japanese are here with their solution (like always).

In Japan, where buzy Japenese are always inventing something to save time and effort, the dog washing machine is nothing new. Well, but for us it is. This machine doesn't just look like an industrial washing machine but works like one too. The pets are put inside a small cabin in which water is sprayed form 37 nozzles for about 4 minutes, which is followed by a 20 minute drying cycle. The water is set to a temprature that is comfortable to most pets, and the shampoo doesn't hurt their eyes.

But imagine yourself as that dog for a moment. Would you like being forced to sit inside a small cabin where water is sprayed on you (you can't even set the temprature yourself), and where you are treated like a piece of garment?? I don't think so. Even though this machince looks really time saving and helpful, they only help the pet owners and not the pets; the pet owners are saved from the dirty and smelly task of washing their pets.

In my opinion, this machine is really harsh on the pets and, even though it might be attractive in buzy Japan, I don't think the Americans or even the Europeans are going to accept it.

What is my blog about?

My blog is mainly about the latest updates on the electronics and technology. You can find news and reviews about the latest gadgets; whether its about an apple iphone, a panasonic 3-D TV or a new HP laptop. And right now, when new gadgets are made every second, I will keep you informed and updated on tech news. I will tell you the pros and cons of these new gadgets and whether they are worth buying or not. Also, you could ask me questions, if you want to know more about a gadget, or if you have problems with it. (for example you can ask me how to jailbreak you itouch or iphone, etc). I will keep you informed and updated on whats new in this gadget filled world.

Blogs you should visit

There are many amazing blogs out there that talk about many interesting things. But according to me, there are 3 blogs that you should definitely visit. So, visit these blogs if you want to know more about:

Sports (Football) and latest events in school: http://nightdreamz04.blogspot.com/ by Jenie James. Her blog talks about the latest happenings in national sports, mainly football. In one post, Jenie gave us a detailed review of the Saints vs. Vikings and the Jets vs. Colts game. She also explained why the Jets and the Vikings lost and gave her own opinion as to who should win the Superbowl. Jenie not only talks about sports, but also the latest events in school. In another post of hers, she talked about her experience as a teacher when she did Junior Achievement. So, if you are a football fan or if you want to know whats new in school, visit Jenie's blog.

Everything: http://mohammadsayz.blogspot.com/ by Mohammad Rahman. As the name tells us, this blog is about everything, from latest technology and gadgets to celebrity gossips to national news. He also gives his own opinions about what gadgets are worth buying or about what celebrity gossip is only a rumour, etc. In one recent post, Mohammad tells us about a rumour that Trey Songz is bisexual. He tells us that along with dating women, Trey was also in a relationship with industry professional Brandon Hines for 6 to 7 months! He also tells us that many of Treys fans would start hating him for this and would not accept his music like they did before. In a more recent post, Mohammad blogged about the Archos 5 Internet tablet. He told us why the Archos 5 is an amazing new gadget and reviewed some of its features (HDMI port, Internet library for downloading apps, external keyboard, etc). So, if you want to know the latest gossips in the celebrity world, or if you want to know more about latest gadgets in the market and whether they are worth buying or not, take a look at Mohammad's blog.

Sports (Basketball): http://rockstar-100.blogspot.com/ by Tauhidul Ovik. Tom's blog focuses on news about basketball teams, mostly the Lakers. He also has his own opinions on the outcome of basketball games and blogs a lot about the famous Laker player, Kobe Bryant. In one of his recent posts, Tom talks about the game between the Lakers and the Toronto Raptors. He gave us a detailed review of the game and its players; Kobe particularly. He told us that Kobe scored 32 points in the game and the Lakers won the game by just 2 points. He also gave us his own opinion as to which teams he would like to see in the finals; the Lakers and Cavs. So, if you are a big basketball fan (and who isn't), make sure you visit Tom's blog.

HTC Legend Android phone reviewed

With a sparkling 3.2-inch AMOLED, five megapixel camera with flash, running on a 600 MHz CPU and Android 2.1 and of course all possible connectivities you can imagine, the HTC Legend has the potential to be an outstanding smartphone.

It sports a touchscreen rather than a full QWERTY and has pretty much the characteristics of its predecessor, the HTC Hero. However, compared to the Hero, almost every feature and hardware specification has received an upgrade, supposedly making it much less buggy than first generation HTC Android phones.

America's obsession with celebrities

"Tiger Woods had an affair with a cocktail waitress... so his wife beat him up!! Naomi Campbell slaps her driver!! Who was wearing what at the Oscars?? Which celeb is dating who?? Read and find out all about it"

When we usually see these headlines in magazines such as Star and People, we are tempted to read about them. But why do we even care about whats going on in celebrity's lives? Why do we take their problems more seriously than our own? Its because we are obsessed with them and their fame. In my opinion, Americans love the "celebrity life" where you could be famous and have absolutely anything that money can buy. They want to be celebrities, and if not, something very much like celebrities. We think that celebrities are just perfect; they look perfect and live a perfect life. And its this "perfectness" that we want to achieve too.

One thing I don't understand is why celebrities receive so much attention when they are people just like us. They are just more richer, famous and better looking than us. But they are normal people, and they have normal lives too. So why do people go crazy about what's going on in their personal lives; who they are dating, where they go to have dinner, etc. And if they are just normal people like us, why do they influence our lives so much. Yes, even though we might not admit it, we know that celebrities influence our lives more than anything. For example, teens nowadays want to be like modern rappers; they want to dress like them, look like them and even talk like them. Girls, on the other hand, wonder how they could be as beautiful or as skinny as Paris Hilton.

I think that this obsession with celebrities is, in part, because of the technology and the media. The media knows what the people want to hear and try to gossip about celebrities as much as they can. They know that more people would read or watch their news if it was about celebrities than if it was about something else like politics. And they do their job so well that we cannot wait for our issues of People or US Weekly, so that we could read all the gossips and rumours. Its this media that made a big deal out of Micheal Jackson's incident, and called him a "pedophile". The Internet is another reason for this obsession. There are millions of websites that keep you updated on all the latest celebrity news; even if the news were as small as who is Miley Cyrus's new crush. Even celebrity fan pages on Facebook gossip about celebrities personal lives.

In my opinion, its okay to keep ourselves informed about whats going on in the celebrity world, but we shouldn't let ourselves become so obsessed with them that we want to know every small detail about their personal lives. Also, the celebrities that really deserve this obsession and fame are the ones that have made efforts to make a difference and are not just fame and money seeking celebrities. For example Oprah Winfrey, Green Day, Angelina Jolie, etc. These are the people that have stepped out out of their celebrity lives, and become "normal" people like us. They know the pain that "normal" people go through in our everyday and show it to us through the charities they make. (For example, Angelina Jolie visited Haiti and donated money after the disastrous earthquake there.) These are the influential celebrities that really connect with us, and they are the ones that we should aim on becoming like. Also, we don't necessarily have to be rich and famous to become celebrities. We could do something good and help someone out to become celebrities in our own society.

Brizzly: the new best (free) twitter app

It's not that Brizzly's perfect, or that it does justice to its source material (the unassailably pretty, wonderfully lean Birdfeed)—it's that it comes close enough, and it's free.
First, a quick lesson in the history of iPhone Twitter apps! Once, there was an app called Birdfeed. It was clever, fast, and visually distinctive. In fact, it was (up until just now) quite possibly one of the best Twitter apps available. It was also expensive, at $5. The developer, who was tired or something, sold the app to a little startup called Brizzly, which aggregates Twitter and Facebook feeds into a single interface (it's actually kinda neat, as an online service.) And so here we are.

Brizzly's rerelease (not an update; Birdfeed is no longer in the store) of Birdfeed changes the name, tweaks the UI, and slashes the price down to zero. The interface isn't as dazzling as it was before, and Birdfeed's trademark lack of a menu bar has given way to a standard row of icons. Brizzly actually adds a few new features, including a trending topics-esque News tab, for explaining what's going on in your feeds, and the same lovely pull-down feed refreshing as the other best iPhone Twitter app, Tweetie.

Even its apparent shortfallings aren't so bad: Yes, you have to sign up for a Brizzly account in order to use the app, but one you have, it's completely transparent. It's like Meebo in that sense. And no, the app doesn't have push notifications of its own, like Echofon does, but premium Twitter apps have long offloaded that responsibility to dedicated push apps like Boxcar. (Which is great beyond Twitter, by the way.)

In short, if you need a Twitter app but don't want to pay, Brizzly's the one.

Naomi Campbell's misbehavior

Supermodel, Naomi Campbell, was claimed to have assaulted her driver. Miodrag Mejdina, 27, claimed that Naomi slapped and sluggard him while he drove in Manhattan on March 2nd, 2010. He said that Naomi was upset about how her boyfriend, Russian Vladimir Doronin. And she slapped him on the back of his head and neck causing him to hit his head on the steering wheel. Then, Naomi fled when her driver stopped her Cadillac Escalade, and police have not yet found her. This isn’t the first time that Naomi Campbell has been in trouble for assaulting. In 2008, she pleaded guilty to assaulting a pair of police officers during a foulmouthed fit at Heathrow Airport. She was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and fined $4,500. The previous year, she pleaded guilty to tossing her crystal-studded Blackberry at housekeeper Ana Scolavino at her Manhattan pad. She was ordered to attend anger management classes and serve five days of community service at the city Sanitation Department garage in lower Manhattan.

The main point to see here is the amount of attention that celebrities receive. And this attention is not always good. For example, Tiger Woods incident with his car crash put him in the limelight for a long time and affected his career. He was taken out from all the commercials that he was doing and was in a lot of trouble. So as you can see, even though everyone wants to be a celebrity, and even though celebrities are very successful, they receive unwanted media attention.

Cool Leaf flat input devices

Cool Leaf is an input system that's perfectly flat, and wonderfully mirrored. A Japanese company called Minebea pioneered it, and they're demonstrating it with a keyboard, calculator, and remote control that are complete key top-free.
The immediately apparent benefit—other than the crazy-futuristic look— is that the devices would be easy to clean: no keys for dust or crumbs to get stuck behind or under. The reflective surface also looks great, although I'd be worried about smudging.

Technologically, what Minebea has done is pretty fancy: they've combined backlights, force sensors, and a new film from a company called Toray Industries to create the world's first "electrostatic capacity type touch panel and a load sensor." Which to me reads "ooo, shiny!" No word yet on when products like this will be commercially available, but when they do I'll be ready with my wallet and a chamois cloth.

5 google secrets

Google, as we all know, is one of the best search engines on the internet. Its always finding new ways to make your searching easier. Heres 5 search techniques or secrets that might help you with you day to day searches.

Expanding or shortening search: Adding symbols before words: add a '+' sign before a word to make google search for more common word or phrases that it would normally exclude. Add a '-' sign to exclude certain words form your search. Add a '~' sign in front of a word to search for that word and its synonyms.

Calculator: just type in any equation and google will show you the answer right in the suggestions box.

Dictionary lookup: type in define and a word in google and it will show you accurate definitions.

Weather: If you want to know the weather, just type in the word "weather" in google and it will show you your local weather in the search suggestions. You could also type in your zip code or name of city after wether.

Why Haiti recieved more attention than Chile did

A massive earthquake that struck Chile on February 27th, is the fifth strongest earthquake in around 100 years. The earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th was much weaker, yet it received more attention than Chile's earthquake. Why??

Firstly, Haiti's earthquake was a major one in a quiet some time and therefore received much more sympathy and media attention. The Chile earthquake, on the other hand happened later and was nothing new for the public. Also, Chile has had a history of earthquakes and was well prepared for it, whereas the last one to hit Port-au-Prince in Haiti was 250 years ago. The Haitian government was not expecting an earthquake and was not prepared while Chile is used to getting hit by major earthquakes.

Another reason is that even though the earthquake in Haiti was not as strong as in Chile, Haiti suffered much more destruction and loss of lives. The earthquake in Haiti was of 7.0 magnitude and killed around 200,000 people while the one in Chile was 8.8 magnitude that killed only around 1000 people. Since Haiti suffered more loss, it recieved much more attention from, not just media, but also other donors and international agencies.

The richness of the two nations is another reason. It is believed that richer nations suffer fewer deaths from the "same quality" shock. When Haiti, the most poorest nation in the Americas, was hit by an earthquake, everyone ruched to help it and it therefore recieved a lot of attention. Whereas Chile on the other hand is relatively rich and can support itself and doesnt really need all that help and media attention. Also, Chile has strict building codes unlike Haiti. In Haiti, the buildings are made out of poor building materials and are not able to withstand earthquakes. Chile is used to getting hit by earthquakes and has its buildings and offices built to withstand earthquakes.

Therefore the earthquake in Haiti received much more attention from the media and the people, than the earthquake in Chile. For more information:
CNN http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/28/stark.chile.quake.haiti/index.html?hpt=C2
The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/27/chile-haiti-earthquake-co_n_479705.html
MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35623502/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/