Technofile: The new V100 notebook from Lenovo (IBM's spun-off laptop maker) is billed as an "ultraportable", although we've seen laptops more mobile than the 1.8kg, 3.17cm thick V100 on the Technofile desk. That said, it comes with a disk drive, a 5-in-1 card reader and optional 1.3 megapixel camera and fingerprint reader.
As part of Lenovo's new consumer notebook 3000 range, it's also cheaper than their higher-end X60 models, in part by cutting the warranty from the industry standard of three years to one. Processors range from 1.66Ghz Intel Core Solo to the 2.0GHz Core Duo, the optical drive comes as a CD-RW/DVD combo unit or as a DVD burner, and hard drives range from 40GB to 100GB.
The screen is 12.1 inches wide. In all it's a neat little package, and despite being aimed at the consumer market, ticks a lot of the boxes for the average road warrior. Check you local Lenovo dealer for prices.
l Sony has launched its latest personal video recorder, the SVR-S500. It features an 80GB hard drive, two digital terrestrial TV tuners (watch one channel, record another), eight-day advanced recording and the ability to pause, rewind and replay live TV - nice.
However, before you reach for the wallet, remember that high-definition TV is getting closer, so it may be worth conserving your cash.
l You've seen the LG's Chocolate Phone and the Samsung e900 mobiles?
This design signature is invading with the world of MP3 players, with the Mcody M-20 appearing to be completely black on the front, with no visible buttons. The only way you'll know it's on is by the glowing touch sensitive red buttons in this ultra-thin player, which supports all major audio formats including MP3, WMA, WAV and OGG Vorbis files.
There's also an FM tuner with 20 presets, an FM recorder, voice recorder and direct line-in MP3 recording. It'll also work on PC, Mac and Linux based computers. Not bad for €100.
l Is Apple about to launch movie rentals via the iTunes Music Store? According to Apple rumour websites it is. The key date is August 7th, when chief executive Steve Jobs is thought to reveal how he has been talking to Walt Disney, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros about the project.
If true, the downloaded films would have to be coded to expire after a limited number of playbacks or a time limit. Even if the rumour is true, it's likely that the US will see the service first.
l SanDisk, makers of handy little flash memory cards that power everything from cameras to mobiles, have launched a 4GB card under the SDHC or SD 2.0 format. This means that your average flash card reader won't be supported yet, but they do have high 5MB/s transfer speeds. The card should cost around €200 when it's released here.
l Sanyo has introduced its new water-resistant (though not waterproof) Xacti CA6 still/video camera, packing a 5x optical zoom, 2-inch flip-out LCD, and taking 6 megapixel still pictures and 30 fps VGA MPEG-4 video. Look out for it later this year.
l Are you one of the few people who have bought a Windows Media Center PC? (For indeed, latest figures show hardly anyone buys these things). Then rejoice, for you too can now view the terrible but often hilarious videos on YouTube.com, direct from the comfort of your living room. A free plug-in from push-a-button.com.au allows you to browse and search for videos and view them full-screen, should you be so inclined.
