Isaiah's Tech

This is a scary chart of what our economy has become. Job losses galore. I can't even get a job, so this doesn't affect me too much. Maybe the economy will make its turn like the other 2 years did. Then again, maybe not.

Skype's users are continually growing. Apparently, Skype is growing at a 330,000 user per day pace. Skype is owned by Ebay currently, but there were rumours of Google acquiring them over a month ago. I remember the days when i used to hate Skype. It would be unreliable when making calls and that's why i ended up choosing Ventrilo over Skype. A couple of years pass and my girlfriend ends up being on residence for university, so she tells me to try Skype out so that we'd be able to keep-in-touch. I was hesitant at first, since i remembered my first experiences. Skype came through for me and i thank them for such a good service. Without Skype, me and my girlfriend would hardly see each other. I also congratulate them on their success. Skype raked in $550 million USD last year in revenue, which was a 44% increase over the previous year.

My friend uses his Asus laptop for gaming, so i thought i'd talk about the new Asus N81Vg. This 14-inch laptop will be the first to have NVIDIA's GeForce GT 120M graphics card. This laptop will let you choose from numerous Core 2 Duo processors, will have: "up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, upwards of 500GB of hard drive space, an optional Blu-ray burner, 1.3 megapixel webcam and a battery good for three to four hours." Asus hasn't released a specific price for this laptop, so i'll tell you that information when i find out. This looks like an amazing gaming laptop, from my point of view.

Today, more news has surfaced about the LG Arena KM900. We all know about its 3D UI and its iPhone or Linux-like interface. The LG Arena looks like it will have multi-touch functionalities (Is Apple going to sue them?) and "web page zooming." LG will be spilling all of the Arena KM900's secrets on Monday in Barcelona for MWC. Personally, i think this phone will be decent. I think it has a chance against Samsung's flagship S8300 phone, since it has the multi-touch going for them. Although, i do still think the Samsung S8300 is a better phone overall. I guess i'm contradicting myself, but whatever.

Behold the gScreen TITAN M-1. This 15-inch dual screen behemoth may have been inspired by the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds. The TITAN M-1 will have the Intel QX9300 CPU, which is also found in Lenovo's W700-series systems. It also has 4GB of memory and 500GB of storage. Apparently, there will also be a 13.3 and 17-inch model, which will be released later this year. No word on price or availability of this system yet.

Economy picture: http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/joblosses26091.gif
Skype's Users Growing: http://www.pcworld.com/article/159279/skype_growing.html?tk=rss_news
Skype picture: http://netsecurity.about.com/b/2007/09/12/worm-spreading-through-skype-im.htm
Asus N81Vg (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/10/asus-n81vg-first-laptop-with-nvidias-geforce-gt-120m/
LG Arena KM900 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/10/lg-arena-km900-hangs-onto-limelight-reveals-multitouch-capabili/
gScreen's Dual-Screen Laptop (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/10/gscreen-creating-rugged-dual-screen-laptop-for-animated-frogs-an/

I've talked about the HTC Touch Cruise before, but under the codename 'HTC Iolite.' (here). The HTC Touch Cruise will have a geotagging application pre-installed, called Footprints. Aside from the geotagging, the article has a full spec sheet of the phone. The HTC Touch Cruise, which runs on the choppy WinMo 6.1, is packed with: a 2.8 inch TFT (TouchFLO technology) LCD touchscreen, a 3.2MP camera, Bluetooth and will weigh 103 grams. It's your usual HTC phone, since you don't get anything too overwhelming with it. It's a pretty nice looking phone, but the HTC Touch HD is just godly compared to this. All HTC needs to do is drop the (also godly) price of the HTC Touch HD and then i'll be happy.

The fairly disappointing Blackberry Storm is looking to pick up the slack of their OS. There is "a new beta OS for the Storm [that] has make its way into the wild." The OS contains an on-screen QWERTY keyboard, even in portrait mode. This is an upgrade compared to the old OS, which makes you flip the phone to type in QWERTY keyboard mode. There were a lot of complaints on the stability of the Storm's OS, but they appear to be fixing that. Users using the new beta OS are reporting that there is an increase in overall stability and some visual enhancements. If only they had this OS at launch date, the phone may have had more shock value. Maybe next time RIM (Research in Motion). I also found out something new about RIM (the company that makes the Blackberry) today. They are a Canadian company! How cool is that? Anyways, moving along.

Palm is going to be announcing something secret at this year's MWC, which is under a month away. Engadget is guessing that it will be the "official unveiling of the 3G GSM version of the Pre." Well, whatever it is, i will have that for you as soon as it is announced. Just like CES, i will try to look for live streaming on MWC. I'm crossing my fingers for that.

Do you remember Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds? The giant laptop with 2-screens. Well, just incase you don't remember, the picture on the left should refresh your memory. There is a new ad that has surfaced recently about the W700ds. No one is sure where the [fairly funny] ad came from, but it 'probably' didn't come from Lenovo. Anyways, here's the video, via Youtube.



Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds ad on Youtube: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGkxkzmPbQ
HTC Touch Cruise Specs (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5137018/refreshed-gps+centric-htc-touch-cruise-tracks-your-every-move
Blackberry Storm Beta OS (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/22/new-storm-os-4-7-0-90-includes-keyboard-in-portrait-mode/
Palm Pre Announcing Something at MWC (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/21/palm-announcing-something-at-mwc-next-month-gsm-pre-likely/
Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds picture: http://ijcopon925.blogspot.com/search/label/lenovo
Lenovo Article on Ad: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/22/lenovo-teases-you-with-their-oversexed-it-workers/

Big Lenovo news has surfaced, let's do it.

So, let's do a quick recap of one my previous blog post's talking about the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds (link here). This laptop has a 17 inch primary screen and a secondary screen which is measuring in at 10.6 inches. It has the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M graphics card, up to 8GB of RAM, giving off the signal that this laptop should be primarily used by a hardcore photo / video editor. "The secondary screen features a resolution of 768 x 1280" and adds about 2 pounds of weight. This laptop is pretty heavy, weighing in at around 11 pounds. But, what we all needed to know was the price tag. You want of these don't you? Okay, well, please fork over $3,663 USD. Damn. That is quite a bit of money. I'd get one of these just for show... if i had the money, that is.

Lenovo is ready to push out the thinnest all-in-one computer, the IdeaCentre 600. This will sport a 21.5 inch screen, but gizmodo.com states that the Vaio LV may be better specification-wise. Since this all-in-one computer doesn't come with HDMI and stuff like Blu-Ray are add-ons, they say that it will get "pricey pretty fast." The IdeaPad has a starting price at $999 USD, but as i just finished saying, with all the add-ons you might need to get, the price-tag may skyrocket. What you do get with this is a nice 1920 x 1080 resolution, a dual-core processor, 1-4 GB of RAM (DDR3) and up to 1 TB (Yes, terabyte) of hard-drive space. There's, of course, a bunch of other stuff included, but i just mentioned what stood out for me. I think it looks really good though, looks like the sexiest all-in-one PC's i've ever seen. Maybe we'll see this at the upcoming CES, maybe not. I think we will.

Last, but not least, enter the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650. What's so special about this laptop though? Well, it may not have 2-screens, like the ThinkPad W700ds and it's not an all-in-one PC, like the IdeaCentre. But, the IdeaPad Y650 does win in the weight category. The IdeaPad Y-series is going to have a 16:9 widescreen and is going to be the thinnest and the lightest in their category. Why? Carbon fibre. I know about carbon fibre because i used to play Need for Speed: Underground and it was used to make your car extremely lighter, which would, in the end, make your car move faster. Well, now Lenovo is putting carbon fibre on their laptops. Smart idea? Yeah, why not. Unless it starts screwing around with it's parts, that is. At this point, i don't know where the carbon fibre is located, but maybe it will be announced soon, or maybe i just skimmed through the article too fast. Anyways, accompanying the Y650 is the Y550 and the Y450, "which are the 15 and 14 inch versions of the same notebook," respectively. The starting price of the laptops are "$1200 [USD] for the Y650, $830 [USD] for the other two when they roll out in March." Some of the specs of the Y650 are: up to 4 GB of DDR3 memory and up to 500 GB of storage. They weigh in at 5.62 pounds with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Pretty sweet. Looks like Lenovo is getting themselves ready for this year. Big year for Lenovo? I'd think so. We'll just have to wait and see, as usual. It's all about how the consumers react.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds (and picture): http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/04/dual.screen.17.thinkpad/
Lenovo IdeaCentre 600 (and picture): http://gizmodo.com/5123151/lenovo-ideacentre-600-thinnest-hottest-all+in+one-pc-on-the-block
Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 (and picture): http://gizmodo.com/5123157/lenovo-ideapad-y650-is-thinnest-lightest-16+inch-notebook-thanks-to-carbon-fiber

So, today i woke up at around 1 p.m. After just lying down and trying to wake up my girlfriend twice while watching TV for an hour, i decided to leave my bed. I went to go eat my breakfast and after about half an hour of digestion i even ate my Swiss Chalet, that i should have ate last night. Omg, i took a bubble bath today. Since my shower-head isn't properly functioning, i had no other choice. So, anyways, i took my first bubble bath in about 7 years. It was so relaxing. I was just lying there and falling asleep, but still waiting for my girlfriend to wake up. Anyways, i got out of the tub after about 25 minutes of relaxation. After that, i watched some TV and my girlfriend finally woke up. Soon after that, i had to go to church. When we got to church i spotted my cousins, Aldric and Cathleen, not too far away from us. So we decided to move over from our location, to theirs. After mass, it was snowing. Okay, well, it really wasn't, but there was a lot of blowing snow that made that effect of falling snow. I fell asleep in the car on the way home, but made it home safely. And that's where i currently am now.

So, Sony Vaio is going to be releasing a new netbook on, what looks to be, January 9. This netbook is going to be "revolutionary" and will "change the way you look at laptops." There are some pictures on what it may look like. It may be longer in width than the usual netbook or notebook (laptop) that are currently being showcased. But we'll just really have to see what sets this netbook apart from other netbooks.


Speaking of "revolutionary," i have some good news and bad news here and i'll start off with the bad news. What i'm about to talk about will cost around $3,600 USD and weighs a hefty 11 pounds. The good news, dual monitors. Lenovo, as you can see on the left side, will be releasing a new notebook. It will feature 2 screens: one being the 17-inch (supposedly being the brightest on the market) primary screen, and also an integrated WACOM digitizer (whatever that means). This laptop is loaded. It comes with "Intel Core 2 Quad processors and combined with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M GPU. Ram maxes out at 8GB and you can stuff a total of 960GB of SSD / HDD storage into this bad boy." This thing is a beast, weighing 11 pounds, as stated above. Luckily, the video card tells you that this laptop is not for the normal everyday user. Sporting the NVIDIA Quadro video card points out that it is for the user dedicated to (and probably has a career in) hardcore photo / video editing. Looks nice though, i'm waiting to hear more information about it because it certainly sparks my interest. I'm not going to get it though, it's just interesting to talk about.

Cold day, very cold day. But, i am not looking forward to waking up at 7:30 tomorrow morning for the damn plumber =(.

Sony Vaio Teaser Site: http://www.sony.co.nz/vaio/thewaitisover/
Sony Vaio (and picture): http://gizmodo.com/5115242/rumored-sony-vaio-netbook-could-arrive-in-january
Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/21/lenovo-thinkpad-w700ds-dual-screen-laptop-details-and-pics-unear/