Fujitsu Siemens is producing a laptop computer they claim will be the "world's most desirable laptop." The $4,743 looks very slick, with black piano lacquer in a 2cm thick package, but the specs are kind of disappointing for such an expensive laptop. It is fully mobile, with Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11g Wi-Fi, along with 3G mobile and gigabit ethernet. There is 1GB of ram, but it's only 400MHz. The graphics card will also only have 128MB of shared memory, not dedicated. In contrast, I've seen $2400 laptops with 2GB of 533MHz ram and dedicated memory in a system only slightly larger than this one. Maybe I'm being a little too hard on a product that has not been released yet, but they were the ones that said it was the Most Desirable Laptop.
Fujitsu Siemens preps 'piano lacquer' laptop | Reg Hardware

The Mac Mini has abandoned the G5 processor in favor of their new relationship with Intel. The Mini now comes with either the Intel Core Solo or Intel Core Duo processor configurations. The package will continue to be small, 6.5" by 6.5" by 2" to be exact, and will be the most powerful computer in such a small box currently available.
Apple - Mac mini

VoodooPC, the company behind the first commercially available 1TB desktop system, hope to bring an 8TB desktop PC system to the market in the not-so-distant future. With the introduction of the Windows Vista operating system later this year and HD video recording already available for early adopters, the amount of space necessary to store all of our important stuff has gone up tremendously. I still remember when a 1GB hard drive was a thing of the future. Now the highest quality HD video can take up 1GB for every 10 seconds of video. Of course, that's very high-end, mostly for production purposes, and not the HD we'll be seeing in any future TV broadcasts or next-generation media formats.
Coming soon: The 8-terabyte desktop | CNET News.com

I told you there was some big news coming from Apple. They introduced a new Hi-Fi stereo for use with the iPod. Just plug in the iPod player at the top, and get Hi-Fi sound out of the dual speaker and subwoofer in-one-box setup. The system costs $349, which is up in the same price range as the top of the line iPods.
Apple - iPod Hi-Fi

Fifth Media Sdn. Bhd. introduced the AXIA A308 PDA phone today. It offers GSM, GPRS, and EDGE connectivity, along with WiFi. They are most proud of the fact that it is now the smallest phone to run on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 operating system. I don't care much for the PDA phones, but it sure would look cool to browse the internet on something so small I can barely see it. I guess we're quickly reaching the point where computers can be made so small that people are completely unable to interact with them. Hooray!
AXIA A308

Need a digital camera to fawn over? This is the one. The Hasselblad 503CW is designed around the classic Hasselblad 503, but this is not just a digital camera packed into an old design. This is one of the highest quality digital cameras on the market. It has a 16 megapixel 36.7mm x 36.7mm sensor and FireWire 800 output. It also has an amazing price tag: $14,000. This is for professionals only, or rich people who want to look really cool.
Linky

As I reported earlier, the Blu-Ray player will launch on May 23, with the first one being made by Samsung. That company will also bring us the first Blu-Ray burners (also called writers or recording devices by news stations and those not "in the know").

With 25Gb storage capacity on a single layer disc, and 50GB on a double layer disc, expect many more people to be buying this burners for backing up their precious data. Assuming they can bring the price of a disc to under $5, it will soon take about $15 and a couple hours to back up everything you've got on that monster hard drive. I also expect to see some type of software that will making backing up via Blu-Ray easier by scanning an entire hard drive and organizing it into seperate sections the size of a Blu-Ray disc, so you can just start backing up and put in a new blank disc each time it asks for one.
Akihabara News - SH-B022A, Samsungs DVD of the future (News by Nikko)

The Blu-Ray is coming, the Blu-Ray is coming! The Blu-Ray disc player will launch on May 23, with the Samsung BD-P1000 being the first player to the market. It will retail for around $1,000, and each movie will cost between $30 and $40. Wait a second. Stop the presses! A $1,000 movie player and $30+ per movie? I've been putting my money on Blu-Ray to win the next generation format battle, but these prices could spell doom for the format.

The movies being released for the Blu-Ray launch are also rather disappointing. They include the following:
50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse, XXX, Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, Robocop (MGM), Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT, Terminator (MGM), Crash, Lord of War, The Punisher, Saw, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The only three movies on that list that I'd care to watch are The Last Waltz, Crash, and The Terminator. What is The Last Waltz even doing on this list? It's a 30-year-old documentary/concert movie. I guess they could be trying to demonstrate the superior sound quality of Blu-Ray movies compared to DVD, but is that the movie that people are going to buy for their $1,000 Blu-Ray player?

Hopefully some decent movies will come out by summer, but I know I won't be watching them. I'm holding out for the PS3 release to get my Blu-Ray player, and maybe the prices will for movies will be down to a reasonable level by then.
PCWorld.com - Blu-ray Disc Player, Movies Coming in May

Remember seeing those ads for an ESPN cell phone during the Super Bowl? I had heard that they were crap (from a variety of cell phone review sites) long before the ads, but I didn't actually know anyone who owned one. Deadspin, a blog for sports fans, asked its readers if they had one. Only one person responded, and they said it didn't even work. Looks like this is a failed product introduction of epic proportions for ESPN and Sanyo.
One Guy Has An ESPN Phone (And It Doesn't Even Work) - Deadspin

Here's a neat graph showing the exponential growth of the Apple iTunes music store. The music download service is approaching its 150th week, and a few days ago it reached its 1,000,000,000th download. Although I am intrigued by the numbers, I have yet to purchase a single song through the store. Perhaps when I come down off my anti-DRM trip I'll think about it.
mad dog in the fog: iTunes Song Purchases plotted on a graph

Panasonic is showing off their new line of DSLR cameras. They have teamed up with Olympus and Leica to produce the 7.5 megapixel camera with Venus Engine II, Live MOS sensor, Supersonic Wave Filter for use in dust, and image stabilizer. Not much more to report, but will you check out the lens on this thing!
Panasonic, Olympus, Leica Join Forces, Captain Planet Style - Gizmodo

It turns out that full screen video iPod I showed you a picture of earlier this week was a fake. Big surprise. Here's a video of exactly how the fakery was done, and it's actually a good tutorial on using Photoshop as well. Although I'm disappointed, this was kind of expected. Apple is usually very careful about leaks, and they tend to get very threatening and litigious when any real information gets out.
YouTube - Video iPod Fake

Dell has begun showing off the new Inspiron E1505 by putting it up on their website, although it cannot be ordered yet. It will feature the Intel Core Duo processor and up to 2GB of memory, along with a TV tuner. The top hard drive option will be only 100GB. The notebook computer is made for use with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, which explains the TV tuner.
Dell Home Systems Inspiron E1505

Apple has been subtly adding magnetic features to its iBook line over the past few months, including a infrared remote that stores in the side of the computer using a magnet, and a power cord that attaches via a magnet and disconnects easily when yanked, which could save your $1,500 computer from falling on the floor. More news on the new iBook computers coming out this Spring later in the week, as we expect Apple to be making several big announcements.
AppleInsider | Magnet madness to hit Intel iBook line

Sony has launched a couple of new ultra zoom digital cameras, the H5 and the H2. They have Carl Zeiss 12x optical zoom lenses, so now you can really see what's going on in your neighbor's living room (just kidding, relax). The 7 megapixel H5 runs a very reasonable $499, while the 6 megapixel H2 sells for $399. They go on sale in May.
Sony Launches Cyber-shot H5 and Cyber-shot H2 - Compact Cameras

I had a hard drive go bad several weeks ago. It started with a clicking noise, then freezing, and eventually just not working. The heads were scraping against the platter, and the disk seemed to be damaged. I tried the old freezer trick, which prevents the scraping temporarily by making the metal colder. This did work, temporarily, but there were still problems with the drive. Then I found out about a neat piece of software that could help me. That's right, software to fix a hard disk problem.

The unique thing about SpinRite is the persistent way that it seeks out data on a broken drive. The standard method a drive would do this is access the header information for each file, and then access the file itself. If there is damage to a part of this, the seek will fail. SpinRite can actually trick the drive into reading a file by going to the next file on the disk and then going backwards. Think of it like a DVD split into chapters. Let's say you want to skip to a scene at the end of chapter 2. You can either go to chapter 2 and fast forward to the end, or you can go to chapter 3 and rewind just a little bit to the end of chapter 2. SpinRite was able to recover data on my hard disk that I thought was gone forever. The program also indicates that it has a bunch of other features, including checking to make sure a hard drive is running error free, before it starts clicking and dies (but who's into preventive maintenance these days).
SpinRite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a great list of the 100 most popular digital cameras, according to Flickr upload statistics. The thing I like about this list is that it's actually based on use, not just sales. Right now the Canon EOS 20D is the most used camera model on Flickr, following by the Nikon D70.
flagrantdisregard.com Top Cameras

Here are some great pictures from inside the amazing Computer History Museum in Mountain View California. They have some awesome antique computers, including a UNIVAC and the slightly more common Altair 8800 (I love brushed metal accents, so 70's!). These computers were so useful back then, but their computing power could be packed into a modern day Treo. Really makes you wonder why you're wasting it all on CollegeHumor, doesn't it?
Laughing Squid » Computer History Museum

Adding to news that the new iPod Video might include a huge touchscreen that takes up the entire front face of the device, Apple will likely start adding full movie downloads to their iTunes service. I think this is a great idea, as they can probably sell movies for $8 to $10 apiece, and it will actually look watchable on their new bigger screen. The movie industry should be all for this, as it adds to their revenue without taking a big cut of DVD sales, because I think people will want their favorite movies in both formats. Maybe they could even offer special deals so people who buy the DVD could download the movie on iTunes for $4 or $5 less. It would add value to the DVD purchase without costing the movie makers any extra $$$.
Apple to 'launch full movie downloads' next week | Reg Hardware

Here is a picture of what might be the next iPod Video. We've heard rumors for weeks that the next generation iPod Video will not have the standard click wheel navigation, and would instead use a touchscreen. If this picture is in fact the next iPod Video, then those rumors would appear to be true, as the screen takes up the entire front face of the device. That would make the total screen size around 5 to 7 inches, which would actually be big enough to watch movies on.
TechEBlog » Another iPod Video Picture

Lenovo released details today of its 3000 series notebooks. Lenovo's notebook line were formerly made by IBM. The Lenovo 3000 C100 starts at $599 with a base Intel Celeron M. The top processor available for that line is the 2.0GHz Pentium M from the Sonoma family of processors. Needless to say, a fully-optioned model is going to be quite expensive, as these are former IBM Thinkpads. Expect reliability to be much better than normal from this line, with customer service leaps and bounds ahead of Dell or HP.
Lenovo 3000 Series C100 Available, V100 Ultraportable and N100 Widescreen Coming Soon (pics)

Late last night an iTunes user in Michigan downloaded the 1 billionth song using the service. For his achievement, the man received a prize package that included a 20 inch iMac (latest trojan virus not included), 10 60GB iPods (scratches not included), and a $10,000 iTunes music card (crippling DRM... ummm, included). Sorry, I don't mean to sound so anti-Apple today. I just had a conversation with my former roommate, a bonafide fanboy. Congratulations, Apple, you truly dominate the legitimate music download business.
ABC News: One Billion Served

A US judge has ruled that Google infringed on another website's copyright by displaying a thumbnail size picture in its image search results. This could be bad news for image search, which relies on the Google bot to scour the web for pictures and return those related image results following a search.

Blocking the Google bot from indexing protected pictures is not hard, and it's no secret either. It involves putting about one line of code into a website's robots.txt file. That line of code can be found very easily... via a Google search. Isn't it great how they've managed to gain control of everything? I do not know at this time if Google Image Search is really in jeopardy, or if their lawyers will find a way to get them out of this. It would be a shame to see it go, as it has been very useful to me over the years.
BREITBART.COM - US Judge: Google infringed copyright by posting thumbnail porn photos

An American inventor has developed a new way for hard drives to store data, which could result in drives topping 1.2 petabytes of storage in just 5 years. A petabyte is 1,000 terabytes, which is 1,000 gigabytes. In case you haven't done the math, that means 1 petabyte could hold over 1 million divx movies (which are usually about 700mb), or about 250,000 full DVD movies.

This kind of technology will really open up the web to new possibilities. For just $750, people could store everything they do on their computer. They could setup a video camera that will record non-stop, 24 hours a day, and store every second of every day on their hard drive, and not run out of space for decades. Perhaps the super-rich will be able to purchase $100,000 versions of these hard drives, pre-loaded with every single film ever made by say, Universal Pictures. Apple would be able to save their entire iTunes collection on one drive. Of course, they'd back it up on about 10 other drives, but the point is they could fit it all on one. Now we'll just have to wait and see if broadband and processor technology can catch up to data storage.
357,913,941 songs in your pocket *

I reported last week that the Sony Playstation 3 would likely be released in the United States in September of this year. Now it looks like there is a chance of a delay until 2007. Merril Lynch analysts expect the build cost of the PS3 to be around $800 by September, which would mean Sony would have to swallow a $400 loss on each system. It takes a lot of game sales to make up for that kind of loss.
PS3 to Be Delayed Until 2007? Depends Who You Ask @ Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech

Analysts say that the Playstation 3, to be released this fall in the United States, will cost Sony nearly $800 per unit to make. With an expected retail price of $400, Sony will have to sell a lot of video games to make up for their initial loss. Of course, the costs of the system will go down rapidly in the coming years, so their major losses will probably only come in the first few months.
PlayStation 3 costs $800, sez Merrill Lynch mob - Engadget

A trojan computer virus has been released that targets users of the Mac OS X operating system. The trojan is a unix executable disguised as a jpeg image icon. It was posted to the MacRumors forum on February 13. It does have the ability to self propogate through AIM and iChat. It does not appear to be very dangerous at this time.
Mac Rumors: The First Mac OS X Virus? (A New OS X Trojan)

The Nintendo DS may have been overshadowed by the Sony PSP, but they aren't done adding new features to it. By the end of the year, expect to see TV and web browsing features, along with foreign language guides for travelers. They will also release a thinner version called the DS Lite.
Technology News Article | Reuters.com

We finally have someone to blame for the XBox 360 shortage: memory maker Infineon. The company apparently did not make enough memory chips at the correct speed. They also sent Microsoft many chips that were much slower than the required speed, forcing the manufacturer to sort them out. The Xbox 360 runs on GDDR3 memory running at 700mhz.
Infineon blamed for Xbox shortage fiasco

We've finally got a tentative release date for the Playstation 3: September 21 in the United States, September 16 in Japan. We also got news of the Playstation HUB, which will be similar to the XBox Live online center.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: start saving your money.
Next Generation - Exclusive: PS3 HUB; September Launch

Want to run the upcoming Windows Vista operating system? Unless you have a new dedicated video card, chances are you can't. The new operating system requires some very serious 3D rendering for its interface, and most computers being sold today are not capable of that with their shared memory video cards. Looks like it's time to buy a new computer. You could just buy a new video card, but since it is usually the most expensive component of the computer, I would recommend just replacing the whole thing in most cases. Otherwise, you'll probably find your computer having problems handling the power of your video card. Would you drop a Corvette engine in a Cavalier? Even if you could fit it in, you'd want to replace just about every other mechanical compenent to compensate for the added horsepower. Computers aren't that much different.
One In Two PCs Won't Run Vista's 3D Interface

According to inside sources, the next iPod will feature a 3.5 inch LCD and touchscreen controls, doing away with the popular click wheel. It will also feature enhanced video playback capabilities. I think this was the logical stepping stone for the iPod, as it was only a matter of time before it became a rectangular block with a screen, blocked by nothing else.
Think Secret - True video iPod to sport 3.5-inch display, touch-screen click wheel

Here's a cool look at the latest phone in the Motorola RAZR lineup, the RAZR Z. This will be the first RAZR with a sliding keypad, a neat feature also found on the Sony Ericsson W31S and many other cell phones. I like the look more than the flip phone look, and my thumbs were not agile enough to work the flip phones anyway. I was one of those dorks that always had to use two hands to open the thing up. I blame it on playing catcher back in Little League. That position really did a number on my left thumb.

Aside from a 2.2 inch LCD display and 1.3 megapixel camera, the RAZR Z will also have built-in MP3 support. Expect it to retail for a price around $500.
TechEBlog » Motorola RAZR Z

I really need a health blog, because I realize this does not fit into my usual posts on the Technology blog, but it's too important to ignore. A scientist at BYU has developed a new compound that does more than just stall the spread of the virus, but actually attacks it. It seems to go after and kill all forms of the virus, which is a first among AIDS drugs. It is in testing stages right now, so it is not a done deal yet, but if it tests well you can be sure this will be going through the fast track at the FDA, hopefully making it to the market within a few years.
Salt Lake Tribune - Business

Google is rumored to be building a private internet, to be used exclusively by Google branded PCs which may be sold through Wal-Mart. It is unclear what content will be available on the private network, but with Google building it we can be sure that there will be plenty of it.

Google's goal in recent years has been to exband their business into more than just searches. By making their own network, they can go a long way towards making this happen.
Technology, Technology news, Times Online

The Nyxem-D computer worm, also known as Blackworm and Kama Sutra, will begin deleting files on infected computers when their system clocks strike 12:00 on February 3. It will attempt to delete doc, xls, mdb, mde, pps, ppt, zip, rar, pdf, dmp, and psd files on all drives mounted on a computer (including floppy and zip drives, and even usb thumb drives).

An estimated 600,000 machines are infected at this time, and they will find their anti-virus software deleted on February 3 when they try to fix the worm attacking their system. One unnamed U.S. firm is responsible for 75,000 of the infection hits. The infection spread through an email message that had to trick people into clicking on a link to download the worm. I am amazed that people still fall for that type of thing, especially people in the corporate world, where a worm like this can mean millions of dollars in losses. How am I not employed in the corporate world, and some idiot out there has just exposed his entire company to a worm that threatens their entire existence?
Kama Sutra: the final countdown | The Register