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ASUS have officially launched the Eee PC T91 convertible touchscreen netbook, and already the first reviews are surfacing. Based around an 8.9-inch display which can rotate flat onto the keyboard for slate use, the T91 runs Intel’s Atom Z520 CPU with 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. According to Pocket-lint, it’s a useful compromise between traditional Tablet PC functionality and netbook scale.

They praise the sturdy hinge, which apparently resisted their best efforts to twist it into submission, and the three user-modes on offer. As well as standard Windows XP Home, the T91 offers a quick-boot Eee Mode which allows for internet and Skype access within seconds, and a custom touchscreen-only GUI intended for finger use.

You can see the T91’s GUI in action in the video below [via AsusTablet]. Overall, they’re impressed, describing the T91 as a “welcomed diversion in design”. No word on performance from the Z520 CPU - which has proved disappointing in the Acer Aspire One 751 - but perhaps the touch focus of the T91 eclipses any interest in the 720p playback which so stresses the Atom chip.

The ASUS Eee PC T91 is apparently available in select markets now, priced at around £449 ($684).

We have something of a soft-spot for HP’s Pavilion dv2 ultraportable, the 12.1-inch AMD-powered notebook we played with back in April. Managing to find space for a capacious 500GB hard-drive, 4GB of RAM and a 512MB ATI discrete graphics card, the only potential downside is the ULV processor.

Now HP are preparing at least two new versions of the notebook, together with a new color option. Of interest to anybody who found the Yukon CPU of the original dv2 underpowered, AMD’s dual-core Congo and full Athlon X2 processors are set to hit the notebook; there’s also a white version planned.

The white model keeps the black screen surround - seemingly to prevent eye-strain - but swaps the lower half of the notebook for a glossy white plastic. It looks to work quite well with the silver trim strips, but we find ourselves wondering how it might look after a few months of finger grease and scratches.

No word on pricing or specific availability for any of the new dv2 versions

Sony have announced two new products in its GIGA Juke range of streaming home audio equipment, which also add docks for the company’s Walkman range such as the OLED-touchscreen Walkman-X we reviewed. The NAS-SC500PK (shown here) gets increased amplification - up to 100W - and a chunkier 160GB hard-drive, while the NAS-E300HD (shown after the cut) sticks with 60W and half the storage.

The GIGA Juke NAS-SC500PK has a full color display and can feed music to up to five satellite systems; each can play separate tracks, or - by pressing the PARTY button - be synchronized to play the same thing. It comes with a new speaker design and can connect directly to your WiFi router to update its media database. There’s also the same SenseMe autoplaylist feature as on the new Sony PSP Go!

As for the Sony GIGA Juke NAS-E300HD, that has a monochrome display and 80GB of storage, together with 60W of amplification. It, too, can connect to the internet to update its database. Both it, and the NAS-SC500PK, will land in Europe midway through June 2009, prices to be confirmed.

Sharp have been wowing with their display technology at the SID conference; their five-color LCD stands to revolutionize accuracy-dependent industries like graphic design, and now they’re hoping to do similar things with mobile displays. The Sharp Memory LCD is intended to drastically cut power requirements of a traditional LCD display by reducing the energy each individual pixel requires to remain in its current state.

The 1.4mm thick display pairs pixel-memory with a new reflective display technology which reduces the need for backlighting. Thanks to that, power consumption is down to just 15 µW, compared to standard 1mW STN displays.

Right now the prototype is only 1.35-inches square, and displays a monochrome image. However smooth-moving graphics are apparently possible, which is more than you can say about e-ink based displays; Sharp are offering them as samples for $25. Color displays, plus different shapes and sizes, are in the works, with Sharp suggesting possible uses as including cellphones, watches, remote controls and wrist-top computers.

ASUS have announced the O!Play HDP-R1 HD Media Player, a compact wired-only media streamer intended to funnel local and network content into your HDTV. Supporting HDMI and composite A/V connections for the display and a choice of USB 2.0, eSATA or wired ethernet, there’s also an optical digital audio output for use with a surround sound amp.


Supported codecs include MPEG 1/2/4, H.264, VC-1 and RM/RMVB, with a list of file formats as long as your arm; check out the spec sheet below for full details. The O!Play HDP-R1 will also play back music and images, including FLAC and OGG files.

The absence of WiFi draft-n support will likely be a deal-breaker for many, though those who have eSATA hard-drives and would like to play content from them might find something to appeal here. No word on pricing or availability as yet.

Wistron’s most endearing Smartbook machine may be the compact VAIO P-lookalike that has been floating around tradeshows for a few months now, but it’s not their only offering with ARM under the hood. Freescale Semiconductors are showing the Wistron N900z at their Computex 2009 stand, a more traditionally designed 10-inch netbook, and LaptopMag shot some hands-on video.



The design is relatively basic, with a rubberized keyboard (that LaptopMag compare to that of the OLPC XO-1, but we can’t avoid thinking about the Spectrum ZX) and “almost unusable” touchpad. Inside, though, is the real draw: Freescale’s i.MX515 platform, with an 800MHz processor and 4GB SSD.

The N900z runs Ubuntu, and loaded OpenOffice Writer in around fifteen seconds; Firefox, even when opened simultaneously, didn’t present any performance issues, though attempting to then play a video clip resulted in sluggishness. When the video was played on its own, though, it ran fine; Wistron expect the N900z to manage in excess of 10hrs runtime from a single charge, and be priced at under $200 when it eventually launches.

Intel have been talking about their upcoming Moorestown platform, and demonstrating it with this Inventec MediaPhone. The device - a voice-enabled MID with touchscreen interface - runs a customized version of Moblin v.2; the bad news is this won’t be appearing on shelves any time soon.



Full specifications of the device are unclear, but according to Intel’s launch (which you can see in the video below) there’ll be pinch-zoom functionality, which suggests a capacitive rather than resistive touchscreen. There’s also a camera on the back, which looks to have a flash.

Much of Moorestown’s hardware will be the same as is used in netbooks; what will differentiate the two will be the UI, and Intel are working on a “ground up” new design. Moorestown is expected in 2010, so don’t expect to see a MID-phone like this until well into next year.

Acer have brought their F1 Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone to Computex, and there’s finally a spec sheet to go with the prototype. We now know that the F1 is based on Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor - the same as Toshiba’s TG01 - paired with a spacious 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and 5-megapixel autofocus camera.


There’s also an always-welcome 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone, and the camera has a flash to accompany it. The front controls are touch-sensitive, plus there’s a front-facing camera for video calls, GPS, WiFi and support for up to 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

Acer are talking about potentially putting their own shell on top of Windows Mobile 6.5, but nothing has been decided. Apparently the F1 will be reaching shelves by Christmas, but there’s no word on what this flagship Acer smartphone might cost.

Sony Ericsson handsets are still relatively rare in the US market, and so Sony Electronics are stepping in as the official unlocked handset reseller for their cellular cousins. One of the first offerings is the W995a, a SIM-unlocked multimedia phone featuring an 8.1-megapixel camera and Walkman mediaplayer; it’s available for pre-order starting today at SonyStyle.com and will be available in stores on July 6 for around $600. Sony sent one over for SlashGear to check out.


The W995a is a 3G-enabled phone (850/1900/2100MHz UMTS/HSPA) that’s geared towards folks seeking a premium multimedia experience. Primary functionality includes snapping photos and video, playing music and videos, or accessing the internet, and our first-impressions of the W995a is that it’s a high-quality, compact way of doing all that.

The W995a is also equipped for WiFi access, and includes stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) support for use with wireless headphones. Bundled with the W995a there’s a set of “premium” 3.5mm headphones, an 8GB Memory Stick Micro card (which wasn’t provided in our review unit) and a USB connector cable.

The 2.6-inch QVGA display is gorgeous, even though it’s LCD and not AMOLED like Sony’s recent Walkman PMP, and there’s plenty of sturdy and tactile metal used in building the casing and the buttons.

Sony Ericsson created the W995a for those who are up on the latest in mobile phone design, technology and feature sets and typically purchase unlocked phones for their added features and flexibility to switch phones whenever the latest and greatest is available. Doing so through Sony themselves mean you’re also getting a warranty and access to their Sony Ericsson partner network, just in case something goes wrong with the handset.

The GameOn Game Console Organizer is designed to organize your games console, controllers, games and all the leads that come with it.
It is designed to also keep you console cool as it is vented, which is great for Xbox owners who want to keep everything tidy but cant put it inside a closed media unit as it may get to hot.

The GameOn Game Console Organizer can be wall mounted, and it comes in a variety of funky colors including, red, yellow, blue, green, black and white.If you want one the GameOn Game Console Organizer is available for $59.99 .

The KGB Disappearing Ink Pen uses a special gel ink that disappears completely, and because the pen uses gel ink, you don’t need to press hard on the paper when you are writing so there will be no paper indenting which could reveal your secret message.

The special ink inside the pen is really hard to detect on paper, even UV scanners can’t pick it up, although we are not sure how you reveal your message once it has disappeared., check out this video of it in action.

If you want one of these fin KGB Disappearing Ink Pen’s they are available for $14.99 from Think Geek.