MSI Introduces the Wind12 U230

MSI has officially released this year's showpiece, the 12.1" Wind12 U230, which features AMD's 2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform, a dual-core processor, and Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, all driven by the most progressive mobile operating software available. MSI Notebook Marketing Director Sam Chern stated that the U230 maintains the distinguishing features of the Wind12 U Series, with superior ultra-thin mobility and a 12.1" display for an expansive viewing experience. The ultra thin, power-saving dual core processor architecture further provides consumers with a performance experience on par with standard notebook computers.

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Are you ready for Cyber Monday?

So you survived the retail madness that is Black Friday. Are you ready for Cyber Monday? PCWorld has an article that details a brief history behind the event and some common-sense tips for you first-timers. Good luck!

U.S. consumers last year spent $846 million dollars on Cyber Monday, a 15 percent increase over 2007, according to comScore. That explains why retailers continue to hype CM, despite the fact that Black Friday has usurped much of CM's online thunder.

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Gaming [H]eadlines

Game releases for 11/29-12/5 @ ShackNews

Interview with BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk @ GameSpy

Dust 514 preview @ CVG

Serious Sam HD for PC review @ bit-tech

Next Legend of Zelda game will use MotionPlus @ Destructoid

UK Royal Navy Issues PSPs to Sailors for Training

While the US builds PS3-based grids for cracking passwords, the UK is buying Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) units and issuing them to Royal Navy sailors for use in training. The units come preloaded with study packages of slides and commentary and are about 8-12 minutes per session.

The first to receive the devices are marine warfare engineering technicians, who maintain the fleet’s radar, sonar, VHF radio and communications systems. If the PSPs are a success, their distribution could be widened throughout the Navy, starting with air and marine engineers but potentially to many other disciplines.

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[H]ardware Roundup

Cases

NZXT Beta Evo @ Legit Reviews

Silverstone Raven RV02 @ TechnewsHW

Cooling

Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme CPU cooler @ Xbit Labs

Zalman CNPS9900 NT CPU cooler @ Hardware Secrets

ETC.

Cooler Master Storm Sentinel gaming mouse @ bit-tech

AVIVO PureVideo DXVA HD Acceleration guide @ BmR

Memory & Storage

Buffalo DriveStation HD-HXU3 USB 3.0 external HDD @ TweakTown

Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 Dual-channel 4GB kit @ ThinkComputers

Video

Sapphire Vapor X H Radeon HD 5750 @ DriverHeaven

HIS Radeon HD 5750 iCooler IV @ TechPowerUp

iPhone Launches in South Korea, Pre-Orders hit 65K

Apple launched its iPhone 3GS in South Korea this weekend and the response has been strong. Lines formed at the stores of the iPhone’s carrier, KT for a chance to purchase one of the first batches of the new (to them) smartphone. In a market dominated by Samsung and LG and where smartphones are just starting to take off, KT received 65,000 preorders.

"We're hoping that this iPhone will be a trigger point for the smartphone market in Korea," said Yang Hyun-mi, chief strategy officer at KT Corp., Apple's local partner. Smartphones make up just 1 percent of all cell phones in South Korea, she said. Yang declined to offer a sales forecast for the iPhone, but said KT was optimistic given higher-than-expected advance orders.

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Intel Desktop Roadmap Leaked

Intel’s desktop roadmap for the next couple of quarters has been leaked and Electronista has the scoop, courtesy of Google-translated Japanese site Impress. Say hello to the value-market Core i3 CPU, which dumps the Turbo Boost OC feature in the i5 and i7 models. Core i9 (aka Gulftown) isn’t in this roadmap and it’s expected that Intel will issue a revision to work in the new performance king in Spring 2010.

The lineup is now believed to be headlined by low-powered S versions of the Core i5-750 and i7-860 that will run all four cores at 2.4GHz and 2.53GHz respectively; they should use just 82W of power versus 95W or more and fit into tighter spaces. Each will have 8MB of Level 2 cache, though the Core i7 chips will scale up to 3.46GHz where the Core i5 will stop at 3.2GHz.

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Pub Owner Fined £8k for Copyright Infringement via Wi-Fi

Someone downloaded some copyrighted material over the Wi-Fi connection at a pub and the pub’s owner is on the hook for £8k in infringement fines. The law firm representing the unnamed pub says that the laws around Wi-Fi and liability are "a grey area."

According to internet law professor Lilian Edwards, of Sheffield Law School, where a business operates an open Wi-Fi spot to give customers or visitors internet access, they would be "not be responsible in theory" for users' unlawful downloads, under "existing substantive copyright law".

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Robots on Parade in Japan

Well, they’re not marching around in formation but there are a bunch of robots hanging out in one location: Tokyo, Japan. The International Robot Exhibition (IREX) is this weekend and this blog has a bunch of pictures of some of the bots at the show. Some of these remind me of Ice Pirates for some reason.

Hundreds of robots have gathered at the International Robot Exhibition (IREX) now underway at Tokyo Big Sight. Here are a few photos from the event, which runs until November 28.

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Top 50 Inventions of 2009

Time has posted a list of their top 50 inventions from 2009. Each item is a link to the relevant blurb. Are any of them relevant to your interests? That YikeBike is pretty cool to me.

It's like getting your first Big Wheel all over again — and you don't even have to pedal. An innovative bicycle-design concept derived from the old-fashioned penny-farthing, the YikeBike is a folding electric bicycle out of New Zealand. The rider sits on the seat, holds on at the sides and zooms around at a top speed of 12 m.p.h. (20 km/h).

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Standalone GPS Product Manufacturers Facing Stiff Competition

Standalone GPS product manufacturers like TomTom and Garmin have to redefine their product line to compete against mobile phones that are incorporating GPS technology and offering navigation apps. Google’s Navigation app that runs on Android 2.0 is just one example of how convergence is threatening yet another product.

Garmin, TomTom and other makers of satellite navigational devices could take a lesson from camera makers, which have convinced consumers that they still need standalone devices because there is a significant drop in quality with cameras built into cell phones.

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Survey Results on Google Wave Released

Google’s official Wave blog has the results from a survey they sent out to a random sampling of users. It details what they like and dislike about the service so far. If you’re riding the Wave, what do you think about it?

With these responses and other data, we're organizing our team around the core issues that are important to making waving better. We're working hard to scale our systems so you can invite your friends and colleagues to wave with you. We're also thinking about how to integrate with existing communication and collaboration tools. And since we all know that fast is better than slow, a large portion of the team is working to make Google Wave faster.

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