ApnaDesi

We can still remember the days when you needed a whole bunch of wires, strung up along the wall or hidden beneath the carpet, and speakers placed methodically throughout a living room or bedroom, to recreate that beautiful surround sound experience we all love so much in theaters. Over years that’s changed in one way or another, and even more recently these sound bars, a single bar with set speakers within them, seem to be taking up all the attention. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they usually look like something from the future.

In this case, we’ve got the Asus Cine5, which is a smaller take on the more familiar sound bars out there. This model, which isn’t designed for the big TVs on the market, should fit pretty nicely right on your desk, if you like enjoying your music in a more robust kind of way. The Cine5 measures in at about 15-inches, but it’s got the typical five speaker set up under the hood. It’s also managed to squeeze a 28W max amp. There’s even a 3.5mm audio jack, if you feel inclined to plug your headphones in.

As we said, we love the looks of the majority of these surround sound bars, and the Asus Cine5 is no exception. It’s got a sleekness that captivates us. We’d even go as far as to say that it’s shiny, and that’s one of the best things about gadgets. Unfortunately, we don’t have any word on pricing or availability date, but we’re crossing our fingers that it’s sooner than later. We’re thinking a few people out there are going to want to take this thing home.

There’s a pretty distinct set of reasons why, for the most part, it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be an early adopter of any piece of tech that comes out. On the one hand, you’ve got the latest and greatest gadget on the planet, and you can happily show it off to all your friends. On the other side of the coin, you’re usually faced with software/hardware glitches of some kind, and then there’s that impending feeling that sooner than later, your device will be obsolete. We’re not saying that’s happening here with the Zune HD, but if these rumors are true, we may have to strike our words.

According to the rumors floating around, the Zune HD2 would be more like an iPod Touch, whatever that means. Size, perhaps. Considering the HD2 has arguably (or not) better hardware than the iPod Touch, that’s really the only thing we can say that insinuates. If the sources speaking with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley are to be believed, than the Zune HD2 is certainly on the way, and has a real shot at being released later this year. And, we all know what other thing is launching at the end of this year, and, whoa, look at that! They’re made by the same company!

We don’t think that would be a bad thing. Yes, the Zune HD came out last year, and yes, it’s a great Personal Media Player. But what Microsoft needs is more than just a few phones coming out at the end of this year rocking their Windows Phone 7 Series mobile Operating System. Just like Apple has done with their iPhone Operating System, Microsoft can capitalize on the fact that WP7S looks and works great on a bunch of devices. And sometimes, even across those platform. There’s also the glaring fact that the current Zune HD won’t be playing those nifty XNA Game Studio 4.0 titles, so it’s time to update anyway. Right, Microsoft?

And with it, will come 3D. That’s right, we bet you didn’t see that coming, right? LG is expanding their current 3D TV portfolio, and hoping that the competition doesn’t bog down the selection too much. There are plenty to choose from, but we do have to say that this model from LG looks sleek as all get out, and we wish we could muster the courage (for our wallets) to pick one of these bad boys up.

LG has been pushing out some models of their 3D TV line-up over the last few months to some locations in the UK, mostly pubs, but all of that is about to change. The company is pushing for home use now, so that its customers can enjoy 3D TV in May on the comfort of their couch. The TV (LX9900), coupled with LG’s Blu-Ray Disc player (BX580) would make your home movie night just about the best one on the block. Unless, you know, someone down the street has the better surround sound.

The TV will come into variants: 47-inch and 55-inch, and utilize active shutter glasses for the 3D technology. There’s also TruMotion 400Khz, 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, Bluetooth, DLNA, wireless AV link. And luckily enough for you, LG wants to make sure that you see their Blu-Ray player right next to the new TV, so they’re releasing the player at the same time as the TV. Price wise, while still officially unconfirmed, have been murmured to be about £2500 – £3000 for the 47-inch variation, and £3600 – £4000 for the 55-incher. The Blu-Ray player is said to go for about £350. So, start saving now, or you might miss out on one of the sleekest 3D TVs out there.

Streaming videos isn’t the new thing. Although, we would say that it’s becoming ever more popular as the weeks progress into the 2010 year, and we’re wondering if all those cable and satellite providers out there are shaking in their boots yet. Watching TV on your computer, or even from your computer to your TV is becoming something of a regular in most houses, and MSN is looking to jump on the bandwagon with a free alternative. And, despite the fact it’s free, there’s some juicy goodness in here.

When you get a free thing, sometimes your first thought is that it won’t be everything you want it to be. Or, more likely, that it doesn’t have all the features you might want it to have. That’s why they make premium content, right? Apparently MSN didn’t get that memo (thankfully), because they’re all set to launch the first serious BBC iPlayer rival tomorrow: MSN Video Player. MSN is going to have it launch with somewhere in the ballpark of 1,000 hours of video, which is fantastic. The player is apparently aimed at the youth, young families, and professional market, so we’re likely to see a broad swath of videos therein. And, unlike the BBC iPlayer, MSN isn’t going to have a time delay or limit on their collected episodes. With the Video Player, you’ll be able to enjoy full seasons of your shows, front to back, like Skins, Wife Swap, and Peep Show.

The service itself, as we mentioned above, is free, but customers will have to watch 30-second advertisements before, during, and after their program. Other services, like Hulu and Crackle, both take this method, so we imagine that it won’t be that big of a deal to a lot of customers in the UK. And, unfortunately, that’s where this service is solely situated: No word on any availability of this streaming platform here in the States. And while Microsoft has managed to work together with some of the biggest TV studios and broadcasters, they aren’t stopping there. They are currently in talks with movie publishers to bring a broad movie selection to the service as well. The service is set to launch tomorrow, so if you’re in the UK, let us know how it goes. We’d love to hear your feedback.

I have been running across a bunch of strange and cool watches recently. The coolest, and most expensive, has to be the 4N watch that I ran across this week with mechanical operation and limited to only 16 pieces. A new watch today isn’t expensive and isn’t handmade. The thing is called the Happy Hour Watch.

If you like to drink adult beverages that need a bottle opener this is the watch for you. The face of the watch has a digital display for time, the day, and an analog display that has normal hands and operation with red markings for 5p.m., also known as happy hour.

The buckle on the band of the watch is the unique bit here. It is designed to allow you to open a bottle without hunting for a bottle opener or using your teeth. The watch is available now for $49.95 on sale with the normal price being $69.95.

Active Media Products has all sorts of SSDs and storage devices, but most of them are aimed at use in laptops and desktops using SATA connectivity. The company has announced a new SSD product called the SaberTooth ZT Turbo ZIF SSD.

The SSD fits into devices that use a 1.8-inch IDE/PATA drive. The little SSD is 5mm thick and uses the 40-pin ZIF interface. It can be had in 32GB or 64GB capacities and promises 100MB/sec read speed and up to 85MB/sec write speeds.

The SSD uses MLC NAND and supports SMART and ECC. The drive uses bad block management to map bad bits to prevent data errors. The drive ships with a small screwdriver and install instructions and supports Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.

Powerline networking is the only way for some users to get connectivity to their devices inside the home. WiFi doesn’t always reach each room of your house and running Ethernet cable is expensive and time consuming. Brite-view has announced its new powerline networking solution called the LinkE.

The kit a 200Mbps single port bridge and a four port switch. The system is specifically designed to allow you to stream AV content around your home and supports single and cross-zone home wiring. Security is provided with 128-bit AES encryption.

The LinkE system can transmit data up to 65 feet in LOS wired homes and up to 32 feet in NLOS wired homes. The LinkE kit can be ordered now for $89.99 direct from the brite-View website.

There are so many options for technology products on the market today that you can find gear just about anywhere. More options is not a bad thing though and Office Max has announced that it will be offering its own line of tech gear under the Engage brand. Here’s hoping Captain Piccard is featured on the packaging.

The first products in the Engage line will be a wired optical mouse and a wireless optical mouse. The wired version of the mouse will sell for $16.99 and will be offered in black or blue colors. The mouse has five buttons and a scroll wheel.

The wireless mouse is offered in purple, red, black, and bronze colors for $19.99. The mouse also has five buttons and a scroll wheel. Both Engage mice support Mac and PCs and are available right now.

Tablet computers are big on the market right now for consumers, and the machines have been on the market for commercial users in specific industries for a while. A company called Xplore has unveiled a new tablet PC that is rugged and aimed at use in clean rooms and other environment that have demanding no contamination needs.

The tablet computer is called the Clean room and features an optional AllVue Xtreme display that is 10.4-inches and has a 1024 x 768 resolution. The screen can also be fitted with an optional resistive touch digitizer. Graphics for the machine are Intel integrated.

The CPU is a dual core Intel U2500 at 1.2GHz. Other features include Bluetooth, WiFi, optional HSPA mobile broadband and more. The battery in the tablet is an 8-cell li-ion unit with up to 4.5 hours of run time. The rig can be ordered with up to 2GB of RAM and stores data to a 32GB SSD.

I mentioned the Samsung R1 PMP last summer when it landed in Europe. We expected the player to come to the US soon, but that never happened. Samsung has finally announced availability and pricing information for the R1 and its sibling the R0 PMPs.

The R1 will come in 16GB and 8GB versions that will both ship in April for $149.99 and $179.99 respectively. The R0 PMP will also be offered in 8GB and 16GB versions shipping in April for $99.99 and $129.99 respectively.

The R1 features a 2.4-inch TFT LCD touchscreen with drag and drop media loading. The R1’s battery is good for up to 50 hours of audio playback and four hours of video per charge. It also features a FM tuner and recorder along with support for Bluetooth headsets. The R0 has a 2.6-inch LCD and has enough juice for six hours of video and 30 hours of audio along with a microSD card slot for storage expansion.

Samsung is into home theater in a big way with all sorts of products including some of the most popular HDTVs around. Samsung is set to start selling its 3D TVs and will offer product demos in Sears stores this summer. Samsung has unveiled the pricing and availability on some of its new home theater systems that were on display at CES to go along with its new TVs.

Among the new home theater systems is the HT-C6930W shipping in April for $899 supporting 3D surround sound. The system also has wireless rear speakers. The HT-C7530W is a 5.1 surround sound system with wireless rear speakers, WiFi, 1GB of embedded storage and more for $999 with shipping starting in May.

The HT-C5500 and HT-C6500 home theater systems are for small spaces with 5.1 surround sound, advanced calibration options, and iPod docks. The C5500 will ship in March for $499 and the C6500 will ship in March for $649. The difference is that the C6500 will have 1GB of storage and dual HDMI inputs along with upgraded speakers.

I once won some tickets to an event from a radio station and when I went to to pick them up the number of knobs and buttons in the studio was impressive. I could never be a DJ, I have a tendency to push buttons to figure out what they do rather than read instructions. Pioneer has a new pro DJ controller it is unveiling today for those that know what all the buttons and knobs are for called the DJM-2000.

The device has the industry’s first 5.8-inch multitouch screen effects, Evolved Beat Effects, Pro DJ Link, and MIDI controls. The color LCD also lets the DJ set up seven different dynamic audio effects with touches and movements on the screen.

Other features include Pro DJ Link to link the Pioneer CDJ-2000 or CDJ-900 turntables to the mixer and a Live Sampler for taking sounds from as mic or master output to use in the mix. A 3-band EQ is built-in and the Cross fader function can be assigned and adjusted. The DJM-2000 will ship in June for $2,999.

OWC has a big range of external storage solutions and other gear that is typically aimed at Mac users, but often work with Windows machines as well. The latest OWC offering is a new external storage solution called the Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini. The storage solution is hailed as the industry’s first quad interface 2.5-inch 1TB HDD.

The mini is available to order now with ten different models ranging in storage capacity from 250GB to 1TB. All of the models have FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA interfaces with data speeds up to 300MB/s depending on the interface used.

The drives are all housed in an aluminum enclosure. Some versions of the external device have 5400 rpm drive; some have 7200 rpm drives, and SSD versions are offered as well. Prices range from $119.99 to $299.99 for the 5200/5400 rpm drives, 7200 rpm versions are $144 for 320GB and $189 for 500GB. SSD versions are $299 to $849 depending on capacity. All versions are powered by the USB bus.

I think many of the products Quirky produces are cool and I like the fact the company lets visitors to its website help design the product. The latest product for sale at Quirky is a cool case for the iPad called the Cloak Undercover.

Quirky is taking pre-orders on the Cloak Undercover now for $36 each and only 620 will be made. The Cloak is a case with a lid that flips back to protect the screen of the iPad. The iPad is held inside the case with a friction grip after it is slid into the case.

The Cloak has a stand that will hold the iPad up in portrait mode and the lid can be used to hold the tablet up in landscape mode. The case is cool and you can pre-order yours right now.

MSI pulled the cover off its Wind12 line of AMD powered ultraportables a few months ago. We saw the original U230 on video back in November of 2009. MSI has unveiled a couple new models for the Wind12 line called the U230-033 and the U230-040.

The new models for the line weigh 3.3 pounds each and have 2GB of RAM along with a 6-cell battery. The operating system for both models is Windows 7 Home Premium and both have 12.1-inch 1366 x 768 HD resolution screens. Graphics on both models are via Radeon HD 3200 GPUs.

The keyboards use keys 51% larger than those on standard keyboards do for typing comfort and pack in a 1.3MP webcam, HDMI out, USB 2.0 ports, and a memory card reader. The difference in the two models comes in storage and CPU. The U230-033 has an Athlon Neo MV-40 processor and 250GB of storage with the U230-040 getting an Athlon X2 L335 processor and 320GB of storage. The 033 sells for $429 and the 040 sells for $479 with both at Newegg now.

I have two kids and both are years outside the baby bed today. I can remember putting the beds for them both together only to toss them out in a few years when they learned to scale the side of the bed. Andensen Furniture has a new design concept that is perfect for the new parents looking to get some mileage out of their furniture.

The Smart Kid furniture starts out as your average crib with drawers under and beside the crib. You need lots of storage for diapers and maybe extra clothes for you until you learn to dodge the urine stream if you have a boy. My son always held a bit back to use the instant the wiener hit air.

Once the baby is too old for a crib, the whole thing can be transformed into a variety of other useful devices for an older kid’s room. The setup can turn into a toddler bed with a desk and a green thingy that appears to be Velcro. It can also turn into one of those baby jail cells for when you need some time without chasing a toddler. Kid Smart has to be the coolest baby furniture ever.

If Bender and his shiny metal butt ever decided to buy a new HDTV, this full chrome set from Sceptre would be what he would get. The frame, stand, and surfaces of the TV are all clad in shiny chrome. The upside is that you can always see who is walking up behind you. The downside is any sunlight hitting the thing might set your eyebrows on fire like a magnifying glass to an ant.

Underneath that shiny chrome surface sits a pretty darn good HDTV/PC display. The set has a 16:9 aspect ratio and supports full 1080p video. When used as a PC display the screen supports a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 and measures 24-inches. It can show 16.7 million colors and has a 4000:1 contrast ratio.

Brightness for the screen is 300 cd/m2 and it has 3W speakers built-in and sports S/PDIF output along with USB 2.0 input. Connectivity includes a pair of HDMI ports, composite, component, DVI, and VGA. HDCP is supported for Blu-ray playback as well. The chrome TV is available on Newegg and at retail locations like Target and Sears for $399. If you don’t like the product, you can bite my shiny metal butt.

I have never broken a bone despite the fact that I frequently jumped off the roof of my house as a kid and ran wild on a three-wheeler with no parental supervision at an early age. My cousin on the other hand could break a bone if he farted too hard. We are sort of like Mr. Glass and David Dunn from Unbreakable.

If you or someone you know has broken a bone recently we have the coolest cast covers ever from a company called Casttoo. The things are available in several styles including several different pre-designed styles that go on casts of all sorts and sizes with drawn bones with breaks for decoration.

The coolest cover is certainly the custom one where you send the company a digital version of your actual x-ray and they print your break on a cover. Just think of all the time you could save by not having to explain what’s broken, you could just point to the cast picture. The custom cast covers cost as much as $40 depending on the size needed.

HP has been offering its interesting line of MediaSmart Home servers for a while now. The line of servers runs Microsoft Windows Home Server software and allows the user to store all sorts of digital content from their network in one place for management and streaming to other machines on the network.

HP has announced a new and cool feature for the MediaSmart line that adds the capability to manage TiVo HD DVRs directly from the MediaSmart server with HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVo. Users that have a TiVo HD DVR can transfer recorded programs from the DVR directly to the MediaSmart server and then send them back to the TiVo if needed.

The recordings can be managed directly from the HP server and recordings stored on the server can be sent to any PC on the home network for viewing. The service can be accessed from the Windows Home Server Console on EX90, EX495, and Data Vault servers at no additional cost.

After a momentous announcement yesterday that it would unveil something today that would “forever change the internet”, Cisco has introduced its internet changer, the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. Let’s just say that it won’t quite change your world, but it’ll deliver your slice of the internet quite a bit faster.

“The Cisco CRS-3 triples the capacity of its predecessor, the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System, with up to 322 Terabits per second, which enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.”

So it’s faster, but only by three times the speed. That’s not enough to be labeled life-changing in my book, but it certainly will be appreciated.

Notebooks are dime a dozen, and much like the mobile phone marekt, it’s the features that really matter. In the case of Pioneer’s latest laptop, the 12.1″ DreamBook Lite, it’s got a few features in here that may make someone shopping around take a second look. That is, if you’re looking for your next great gaming notebook.

If we told you that you’ve got a few options at your disposal here, that’d be a bold-faced understatement. For processors, you’ve got the Intel N450 1.66GHz variation, or the N470 1.83GHz if that suits you a bit more. From the title you can discern on your own that the notebook is rocking a 12.1-inch display, but what you may not know, is that it’s not just your normal LCD. Nope, this one’s packing an LED monitor, so basically it’s just a feast for your eyes while you’re playing your favorite games. It’s got the normal slew of inputs, including three USB ports, the LAN port, and an option for an HDMI port. It comes standard with a 4-cell battery, but you will more than likely push out the 10 hour battery life from the optional 6-cell battery.

It’s also got WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, a standard 1.3MP camera, and 3G is also optional. The Operating System is apparently up to you: it supports Windows XP/Vista/7, as well as Ubuntu 9.10 and Linux. So, while some things are just more run-of-the-mill options, we’re pleasantly surprised to see an LED display on this gaming notebook, and if that 10 hour battery life actually holds true, that’s beyond fantastic news. Look below for the full specifications list.

3D is making a huge push, hoping that the technology will be widely adopted by everyone sooner than later. Sure, there are still some people out there that refer to 3D as an old, recycled gimmick, but that’s not stopping all the major companies from doing everything they can to try and get it not only into movie theaters around the world, but also into your home. Enter Sony, who have just made available their BDV-E570 Blu-Ray home theater system, which comes with a nice little surprise this summer.

Sony wants to capitalize on this new love for an old (but vastly improved (and still improving)) technology, so they’ve made sure the Blu-Ray Disc player is able to handle the 3D technology, and they’ve got it perfectly planned to gain that capability in tandem with Sony’s release of their BRAVIA 3D TVs. That’s right. If you go with Sony, eventually everything will be in 3D.

Sony is touting that the industry’s first Blu-Ray Disc home theater system is getting “upgraded” to 3D capabilities by the Summer, and we honestly can’t blame them. That’s a great big next step, and we’re glad that Sony isn’t making people pay for a whole new system if they don’t want to. The system itself is able to offer full 1080p playback; along with offer some great Internet streaming sites, such as Netflix, Amazon On-Demand, Slacker Inernet Radio (Pandora is coming in the Spring), Sony Pictures, and Sony Music. There’s also the exclusive iPhone/iPod Touch Blu-Ray Disc remote, which we told you about before. If this is sounding like something you want, head on over to Best Buy right now and get ready to drop about $550. But hey, at least you get 3D in a few months, right? Now, just start saving up for that BRAVIA TV.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Samsung’s eReader. It’s one of those pieces of technology that looks just as good as it’s supposed to perform, and it certainly catches our eye. The sliding function might be a bit too much for some people, but we can’t help but be attracted to it. It’s different, is what it is. Samsung wants you to know that their eReader is coming, and it’s changed in one major way.

When we brought you news of the E6 (which is pictured above, on the right) in January, we noted that the eReader would be using Google Books to bring you your daily reading fix. That has since changed, and Samsung Electronics have gone ahead and partnered with Barnes and Noble (don’t they have an eReader, too?) to bring you, the reader, over one million ways to satisfy your needs. And while the sliding function may be eye-catching to some, Samsung is banking on their electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. Basically, this means you can use their stylus to write on your eBook display, just as you might on a physical book. That’s right, the Samsung eReader handles handwriting, and they’ve got a stylus that works perfectly well with their E-ink display. The company has also included a journal, memo pad, and a scheduler, just in case you needed something to write in. (On?) And with the company’s EmoLink technology, users of the Samsung eReader will be able to share all the information they want between devices. And your Outlook can be synced to the eReader as well, with a built-in dedicated program.

Specifications go like this: 6-inch E-Ink (600×800) display with 8-Gray scale; support for ePub, PDF/a, TXT, and bmp/jpg image formats. The unit itself has two front-facing speakers, and also a headphone jack, so that you can enjoy Samsung’s text-to-speech (TTS) capability. There’s also a built-in MP3 player, so podcasts, eBooks, and music can be enjoyed as well. It’s got Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for wireless headsets, and WiFi (802.11 b/g). And finally, the eReader offers up 2GB of on board memory. But just in case that’s not enough memory for you, the MicroSD card slot can expand the memory an additional 16GB. The price? $399. The availability is imminent, so if you’re in the market for a new eReader and this one rings true to you, keep your eyes open for it.

Intel’s Atom chips are well known for being the low-cost alternative to “better” processors on the market, and up until now, it’s been a general rule of thumb that their presence in the mobile industry has been stymied to a single-core layout. Their dual-core processors are well known in the desktop realm, where tradition speaks that more power is needed (even if dual-core Atom chips don’t offer that much power). But it looks like the times are changing, because a rumor has begun to sprout that something in the dual-core vein of things is on the way to a netbook near you.

According to a report from PC Inpact, Intel is currently in the works to create a dual-core Atom chip the smaller laptops of the world. Why is this a big deal? Simply because up until now, if a manufacturer wanted to put a dual-core layout in their netbook, they had to use architecture from a desktop chip. Which means resources may run great, but the bottom of your netbook may get a bit hot, and your battery may drain a lot faster. Chips created for netbooks specifically don’t generally have this power, as they are essentially optimized for the form factor.

The report goes on to say that the chip itself could be called the N500. Intel’s latest chip is the D510, so the number designation makes perfect sense. As does the letter, considering the majority of Intel’s netbook-oriented chips have begun with N. We haven’t heard word about a price or availability date, but considering that this considered still an unconfirmed rumor, there’s no surprise there. PC Inpact claims that the report came from companies working directly with Intel, so maybe there is some truth to this tale. Only time will tell.

The laptop has become something of a ubiquitous product, to say the least. For some people out there, it holds the contents to their entire lives: music, school, work, pictures, and movies. But some people out there would rather watch their movies on a bigger screen than their laptop. Or listen to music on better speakers than the ones their laptop offers. Or, maybe you have a netbook with a smaller keyboard, and you want nothing more than to feel a full-sized board under your fingers again. Then the R&D Warpia Easy Dock is exactly what you need.



Based off wireless technology from Wisair, the Easy Dock is basically a dongle that connects to your laptop via a USB port, and a receiver that you connect to your home-based desktop PC. It connects to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. The receiver will instantly recognize the dongle, and the wireless transmission will begin. It will then begin transmitting the image from your laptop at a max resolution of 1400×1050 to your desktop screen.

“Perfect for professionals working from home, students on-the-go, or families with both MacBook and PC laptops, the Easy Dock gives customers ultimate portability and comfort,” says Marc Levaggi, VP of Marketing for Source R&D. “They can take their compact notebook to business meetings, while still having the option to do more intensive work at home with a full-size keyboard and monitor. It’s also a great solution for those who want to play media on high quality speakers.”

Yes, there are other options for wirelessly syncing your laptop to your PC, but Source R&D is ahead of the game with their level of wireless technology. Above all, you’re able to wirelessly sync between a Mac-based platform to a Windows-based one without any trouble or extra cables. It just works. And for $149.99, it’s priced to not be a strain on your wallet. The Easy Dock works with Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X Leopard, and Snow Leopard. If you’ve been looking for a way to easily access everything on your laptop from your desktop, here’s your answer.

Most suitcases are pretty much the same with square designs and not much in the way of style. If you want to be different and travel a lot, you might like the GasCase that appears to be sized for carry-on use on commercial flights.

I’m not sure I would want to be the person trying to make it through airport security pulling what appears to be a 20 gallon can of gasoline through the airport. I am betting you will be sure to get one of those fancy new full body scans while the security officers go through your bag with interest.

The case can be had in versions with a top that flips up or in a side opening traditional design. Apparently, the things are made of out steel so they are bound to be too heavy to get on a plane without paying extra. The bags are available for about $137 in Europe.

"I've always known that he had the talent," said Sourav Ganguly after the game. "Players like [Manoj] Tiwary, [Cheteshwar] Pujara and [Wriddhiman] Saha. It's just a question of giving them the opportunities. In this format, the best time to score runs is when opening. He batted very freely and played some big shots as well. Hopefully, he'll keep going like this the rest of the tournament."

Sunday at the Eden Gardens did for Tiwary what Saturday at the Brabourne had done for Ambati Rayudu. The way the IPL has gone so far, both for young talent that briefly lost its way and for Kolkata, the theme tune could well be Redemption Song. After two frustrating years in Delhi, unsure of his moorings in a team full of strokemakers, Tiwary has come home, and the pumped-fist celebration on reaching his 50 said more than a thousand words could.

After hurting his ankle while turning for a run, Tiwary appeared to find even keener focus. The more Jacques Kallis glared, the harder he hit the ball. Even Anil Kumble wasn't spared, with a deft cut through point and a fine paddle sweep off a googly catching the eye. It helped that opposite him was one of Twenty20's most adept practitioners, Brad Hodge.

By the time the partnership was broken, Kolkata needed just 35 from 50 balls. And though Bangalore bowled better in the second half of the innings, there was never any apprehension in the stands about the fate of the match. This was just one big party from start to finish, with Angelo Mathews and Murali Kartik lighting the first firecrackers.

"Everyone deserves credit," said Ganguly, when asked about the reversal of fortune for a team that managed just three wins all of last season. He was too tactful to mention John Buchanan's name, but with no Art of War and no multiple-captaincy theories, Kolkata have been transformed into a formidable unit. And they still await the arrival of Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond and David Hussey. "The support staff, the mindset, the atmosphere within the team, everything has changed," continued Ganguly. "In Twenty20, it's all about playing freely."

Bangalore won't lose sleep over this. Had they lost a close game, there might have been inquests. Here, they were bullied out of contention from the opening Powerplay itself. "The first six overs cost us the game," said Anil Kumble. "There were too many shots too early. The wicket was a little on the slower side and the ball wasn't really coming on. But the Knight Riders also bowled very well."

Kartik's spell, which included Eoin Morgan's embarrassing reverse-sweep dismissal, illustrated just why so many are bemused that he hasn't even been a fringe player in the Indian ranks following Kumble's retirement. When it comes to nous and an understanding of the limited-overs format, he can certainly teach the younger pretenders a thing or two.

As for Mathews, he has the old Steve Waugh-Gavin Larsen gift. Seemingly innocuous, he's ceaselessly accurate and against batsmen looking to force the pace, he will always have some joy. Add in the free-stroking batsmanship that won them the first game, and you can see why Ganguly will have a selection problem of plenty when the other expats return.

Just three days in, and you realise why the IPL matters for young men like Tiwary. Yusuf Pathan had an outstanding domestic season, with twin centuries in the Duleep Trophy final, a 39-ball 80 in the Deodhar Trophy final and strong performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. While those events got coverage, not one innings in that array made the front pages and news-bulletin headlines like Saturday's 37-ball blast.

Three years ago, before the knee injury that ruined his chances of an ODI debut in Bangladesh, Tiwary was Indian cricket's man-in-waiting. But apart from the true cricket tragics, few will be able to tell you how his career has progressed since. In the space of 29 balls in front of his home crowd though, he reminded people that he too is a contender. Like Rayudu, he's just 24. The recent past can be written off as a bad dream. The future is no longer touched with grey.

Pakistan will announce a captain for the World Twenty20 in the next couple of days, as speculation grows over the identity of the man in the wake of meetings the board chairman Ijaz Butt is said to have had with a number of players.

On Friday, the selection committee had taken the unusual step of naming a 15-man squad for the defense of the world title without appointing a captain, and over the weekend Butt is reported to have met four candidates: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Salman Butt.

The vacancy has arisen out of circumstance: Afridi was meant to be Pakistan's captain in the format but the ball-biting incident in Perth has seen question marks appear over his role. He was banned by the ICC for two games and has also recently been fined heavily by the board. Though some in the hierarchy are keen to have him resume the role, there is said to be opposition after the Perth incident.

Shoaib Malik, who took over for two Twenty internationals in Afridi's absence and has led the side in all three formats, including a run to the World Twenty20 final in 2007, would've been in the running but he is now out of international cricket for at least a year following a PCB-imposed ban.

That leaves few options in the current squad, increasing the chances of, in particular, Misbah and Razzaq, whose experience will help them. Butt is said to have held one-on-one meetings with the candidates, though he refused to comment on them.

"In the next few days we will name a captain for the World Twenty20 but beyond that I will not say anything," Butt told Cricinfo.

There has been speculation over the board wanting to unify the leadership for all formats. Butt, however, seemed to play that down for now. "We are only naming a captain for this format and tournament right now and nothing else," he said.

Pakistan's next Test and ODI assignment isn't until this summer when they head to England to play six Tests against Australia and the hosts, as well as a series of ODIs. Though they will be in no rush to name a captain for the other formats, it will be a tricky decision given that their previous two Test and ODI captains, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, are both banned for indefinite periods.

Troubles with the leadership began last year when Malik was removed after a series loss to Sri Lanka amid mounting unrest over his leadership. Since then, Younis has stepped down twice as captain, to be replaced by Yousuf, whose own place is now in doubt. Afridi took over as Twenty20 captain when Younis - having led the side to the title in June 2009 - retired from the format.

Each apparently content in their post-international careers, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas still have the ability and sheer presence to turn a team's mood upside down in one evening, proving that the IPL is as much about youthful exuberance as it is about cool heads and years of experience. Gilchrist began by winning the toss and larruping 38 from 17 balls, becoming the first batsman in the IPL to reach 1000 runs, Symonds overcame a sluggish start to slam the game's only half-century, and Vaas snuffed out Chennai Super Kings' chase with three wickets in his opening burst. The result was that the defending champions Deccan Chargers smoothed over their opening-day loss to Kolkata Knight Riders with a professional win.

This win was set up by Deccan's batsmen, namely their three big overseas imports. A frenetic burst at the start, powered by Gilchrist, was followed by a sedate period when Deccan were tied down by Chennai's assortment of spinners and medium-pacers, but the decisive spell that followed went the visitors' way. Herschelle Gibbs' innings was nowhere near as manic as his captain's but it proved far more valuable, because he saw out a tough period on a surface with variable bounce and then accelerated at the end.

Symonds proved a good ally, initially playing second fiddle to Gibbs - at one stage he was 3 off 17 balls and then soared to 50. Gibbs and Symonds fell in succession, after getting Deccan past 150, and a 22-run final over, bowled by two men due to Sudeep Tyagi's full-toss barrage, left Chennai needing 191 to win. Chennai conceded 63 in the last five overs and that proved to be the decisive period of the match.

Gilchrist, who at the toss said matter-of-factly that he wasn't too concerned at his team's first loss, set the tone by smashing Sudeep Tyagi's first over for 18 runs. Albie Morkel was also tonked for fun runs and after three overs the score was 41 for 0. A double-wicket over from R Ashwin, called on to bowl the fifth over, changed the mood in the stadium and forced Deccan to consolidate. Ashwin was taken off after that big over and from 55 for 2 Deccan added just 12 runs in the next four overs.

Upon resumption after the strategic time-out, Gibbs created a few risk-free shots to keep the runs flowing. Justin Kemp, on his IPL debut, was taken for two calculated fours, wrists rolled on both occasions, and Muttiah Muralitharan was reverse-paddled to third man. Murali didn't offer the batsmen any room and that meant they had to try different scoring options to make runs. Symonds had been especially bogged down after failing to score off Murali, Ashwin and Kemp, who in 16 balls allowed him just three singles, but in L Balaji's second over he carved a six and four off consecutive deliveries to rocket to 14 from 20 balls.

A 95-run stand off 74 balls was ended when Morkel fielded and hit the stumps off his own bowling to send back Gibbs at the start of the 18th over, and five balls later Symonds was caught a frame short of his crease for 50 off 43 balls. Chennai had a good chance to keep Deccan down, but Tyagi's horror evening culminated with Rohit Sharma and T Suman flogging three fours and a six before a second beamer ruled him out after five deliveries. Kemp bowled the final ball and allowed just one, but Deccan went into the interval all charged up.

That drive was clearly channeled into their effort in the field. Before this tournament few outside the Deccan camp would have figured Vaas to feature heavily for the defending champions, given that he had played just seven games in the past two seasons for a rather indifferent return. But for the second game running, he jolted the opposition top order with a double-wicket over, and by the time Vaas took his third wicket Chennai, that of the bulwark Matthew Hayden, Chennai were hemorrhaging at 31 for 3. It was simple stuff; pitch straight, get some cut, let the batsmen cope with the rest. As he had in Mumbai, Vaas even snuck in a maiden over. It was top stuff.

Vaas began his second over by cleaning up M Vijay with an inside edge, had Suresh Raina pull him for six, but when he pitched fuller Raina was lured into a fatal prod to Gilchrist. Much was made of Hayden's expected use of the Mongoose bat, but he came out with a normal piece of willow and fell for just 17, paddling Vaas to RP Singh at short fine leg. Pragyan Ojha struck with his third ball to get S Badrinath miscuing an attempted inside-out drive to long-off and at the end of the Powerplay, Chennai were 37 for 4.

Even a 16-run Jaskaran Singh over, during which Dhoni and Kemp plundered boundaries, didn't deter Deccan. Symonds came on to bowl some seam-up stuff and cleaned up Dhoni (42 from 29), and in the next over Rohit struck to leave Chennai at 115 for 7. Symonds capped a good evening with a second wicket and Chennai finished on 159, a total that owed much to Morkel's belligerent 42.

On a beautiful sunny day at Arnos Vale, on a pitch that offered good bounce, the Zimbabwe batsmen found the going too tough, took scoring out of their system for long durations, and managed another below-par total. But for a fighting fifty from Charles Coventry, who was inexplicably left out of the XIs so far, Zimbabwe would have struggled to cross even 100.

What will hurt Zimbabwe, who are aiming for a Test return, more is that the capitulation came on a day that Kemar Roach was rested. There was no disconcerting seam movement either, just good carry. In home side's fast bowler's absence, Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul produced the wicket-taking deliveries to leave Zimbabwe in tatters at 25 for 5. The fifth wicket fell in the 16th over, by which time Zimbabwe had hit just one boundary, and had failed to score off 87 deliveries - 25 of them at a stretch. None of the top five reached double figures, and Zimbabwe were flirting with their own record for the lowest total in ODIs - 35.

Elton Chigumbura, easily Zimbabwe's most confident batsman on the tour, started to loosen the shackles with a 23-ball 19, and Coventry carried on, accelerating from 21 off 42 to end up with 57 off 88.

As soon as Zimbabwe's other confident batsman, Hamilton Masakadza, fell without troubling the scorers, they were looking at a long struggle. Even before Masakadza top-edged Rampaul while pulling a delivery slightly too full, another important blow had been struck by Dave Bernard. Bowling a free-hit in the first over of the innings, Bernard hit Vusi Sibanda in the right glove, and after that Sibanda's 49-ball stay for eight runs was painful in more ways than one.

Sibanda and Timycen Maruma shut shop like it was a national holiday, and went more than four overs without scoring a run. When they did get a run, though, there was no time for celebrations. Four balls later, Rampaul got Maruma to edge one that bounced at him. At 11 for 1 after eight overs, Brendan Taylor brought some intent to the middle, even managing a boundary in the 13th over, off-driving a Dwayne Bravo half-volley, but Sammy pushed them back further in the next few overs.

In the next over, he removed the two keepers, Taylor and Tatenda Taibu. Taylor with a full delivery that moved in ever so slightly, and Taibu with the rising delivery. Sibanda followed the exodus, pulling Sammy to deep square leg.

Chigumbura's outlook was completely different, and so were the results. The third ball he faced he cut powerfully. Even though he got an edge, the edge flew over the slips because he had hit hard at it. Two important milestones were crossed in the 18th and 19th overs: when Sammy bowled a wide down the leg side, Zimbabwe reached 36, and with a push for a single Chigumbura became the first man to cross single figures.

Slightly more free-flowing batting followed. Chigumbura smashed Sammy past cover for four, Coventry lofted Bravo over mid-off. But with Coventry still struggling, Chigumbura cut Keiron Pollard's first delivery into point's lap.

Along with Greg Lamb, Coventry added 57 for the seventh wicket. The fast bowlers were taken off, scoring became easier, and both batted sensibly. It took a freakish bit of work from Bravo to get rid of Coventry: off his own bowling he kicked the ball from almost short cover to hit the stumps direct.

Inexplicably, too, Zimbabwe hadn't made use of the batting Powerplay by then. In fact they took it in the last five overs with the last two wickets left, and only Graeme Cremer's 25-ball 19 carried them past 150.

It wasn't as resounding a thrashing as that delivered by Brendon McCullum's ruthless innings against the same opponents in the tournament opener two years ago but it was still a massive win for Kolkata Knight Riders in front of a heaving Eden Gardens crowd. Angelo Mathews followed up his fire-fighting with the bat on Friday by starring with the ball to pin down Royal Challengers Bangalore, before fireworks from Kolkata's openers ensured their team began their campaign with victories over both of last year's finalists.

Kolkata were in control right from the start when Bangalore's young batting talent failed, and the visitors were left to thank the experienced Jacques Kallis, who made a mad dash from South Africa after playing the Pro20 final on Friday evening, for holding the innings together. However, even his battling, an unbeaten 65 on a slowish track, couldn't spare Bangalore the eventual hammering.

Their troubles began when the surprise move to open with Sreevats Goswami didn't work out. The pint-sized Goswami was hemmed in by a series of Charl Langeveldt bouncers, and his ploy of backing away to heave the ball to the leg side didn't come off. Nor could Manish Pandey replicate the wonderful form of his domestic season, looking tentative in his short stay before his attempt to flat-bat Mathews down the ground ended in a bottom-edge on to the stumps.

Next in Bangalore's youth brigade was Virat Kolhi, talked up by coach Ray Jennings as a future Indian captain, who lasted four deliveries before striking a dipping delivery from Murali Kartik to deep midwicket. With two deliveries left in the Powerplay, Bangalore were down to 20 for 3.

Kolkata's new-ball bowlers had done their job, and they were backed up by some intelligent bowling from Mathews and Kartik to put Bangalore on the mat. Mathews sent down several slower bouncers which the batsmen struggled to pick, and Kartik varied his pace and effectively used the assistance provided by the track.

It was Kartik who provided the fervent crowd their next chance to scream. Bangalore's new signing, Eoin Morgan, had started his IPL career confidently with a sensationally-timed off-drive for six off the second delivery he faced, but he was bowled by a short, slow ball, through with his reverse-sweep before the ball arrived.

Match Meter

*
KKR
*
Top-order folds: Kolkata were in charge after Bangalore's talented youngsters, Manish Pandey and Virat Kohli, fell cheaply, followed by new recruit Eoin Morgan. Bangalore were 35 for 4 after 7.2 overs.

* KKR RCB
*
Old hands re-build: As they have done countless times for their national sides, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis set about repairing the innings after a slew of cheap wickets. They raised 38 runs to lift Bangalore to 73 for 4 after 12 overs

*
KKR
*
Mathews double-strike: After getting his eye in, Robin Uthappa was looking to open up in the 18th over, but was dismissed by Mathews just after hitting his first boundary. Three balls later, Mathews removed van der Merwe as well, reducing Bangalore to 112 for 7 after 18 overs

*
KKR
*
The Tiwary and Hodge show: In a three-over period, Tiwary and Hodge dismantled each of Bangalore's three senior bowlers - Kallis, Steyn and Kumble. That spell brought in 42 runs, and Kolkata had sprinted to 61 for 0 after six overs

Advantage Honours even

All the while Kallis was starved of the strike, though he had shown glimpses of form, including a ferocious lofted cover drive. He set about rebuilding with the help of another veteran, Rahul Dravid, putting on 38 with some old-school textbook batting. Dravid was looking in fine touch before he contrived to drag a full, wide ball from Mathews on to the stumps.

There was more sedate run-gathering with Robin Uthappa after that, and it wasn't until the 15th over that Kallis opened up, clouting Rohan Gavaskar to the extra-cover boundary. Uthappa got his first boundary in the same region, before Mathews struck twice in four balls. Kallis then started to get innovative, walking across the stumps to paddle-sweep a ball for four to bring up his fifty, and repeating the stroke in the final over. There was a sweet, straight hit for six as well, and the 14 runs in the 20th over lifted Bangalore to 135.

It was an underwhelming total on a benign track, but not as tiny a target as the Kolkata batsmen made it seem. Manoj Tiwary may not have much of a reputation as a Twenty20 player, but it was his early onslaught that made the match such a one-sided encounter.

After three steady overs, Tiwary blasted Kallis for 14 in the space of four balls in the fourth, including a powerful swipe over midwicket for six. Much of Bangalore's chances now depended on how effective their spearhead Dale Steyn was, but Tiwary crashed his second delivery over long-off for six more, before a couple of driven boundaries from Brad Hodge made it 17 off the over.

The last major threat was Anil Kumble, who also failed to make an impact, with Tiwary picking him for two fours in his first three balls to take Kolkata 60 for 0 after 5.3 overs, effectively ending the contest.

Things were less frenetic after that, and though both openers fell the delivery after they reached their half-centuries, Kolkata eased to a victory that will reinforce the belief in the side and among their fans after the abysmal shows of last season.

A life-changing week for Steven Smith has ended with him winning the Steve Waugh Medal as New South Wales' player of the year. Smith will leave for New Zealand to join the Test squad on Monday and since his selection the 20-year-old has raised a century in the Sheffield Shield and taken a career-best 7 for 64 with his developing legspin.

Smith polled 362 votes throughout the three forms of the game this season and finished 159 ahead of Phillip Hughes, who will be with him on the plane to Wellington. Smith, who also collected the Sheffield Shield player of the year prize, scored 772 runs at 77.20 and backed it up with 21 wickets at 44.38. It was enough to impress the national selectors and he will push to become the side's No.6 batsman and second spinner during the two-Test tour.

"Steven's performances were outstanding and winning the Steve Waugh Medal is a just reward for his ability to score runs and take wickets in all forms of the game and at vital times," Dave Gilbert, the New South Wales Cricket chief executive, said. Smith also took home the FR Cup honour, finishing on 138 votes, 63 more than Josh Hazlewood, the young fast bowler. David Warner was handed the Twenty20 prize and Smith was the runner-up.

Alex Blackwell, Australia's captain, picked up the Belinda Clark Medal as the state's women's player of the year. Blackwell, the opener, scored 489 runs at 61.13, including two centuries, in the Women's National Cricket League and in the Twenty20 competition managed 191 at 47.75, with a strike-rate of 121.17. "Alex has also had an impressive summer and her form with the bat has been a tribute to both her talent and effort," Gilbert said.

Stan McCabe, who took on England during the Bodyline series, Mark Waugh and Lyn Larsen, Australia's captain between 1986 and 1993, were inducted into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame. The Rising Star awards went to Nic Maddinson, the Australia Under-19 batsman, and Alyssa Healy, who performed strongly for New South Wales and was elevated to the national one-day team.

I received a guitar for Christmas when I was from my parents and then they sent me to lessons to learn to play the thing. That was all fine and good until I realized you had to practice a lot and I lost interest, plus I kept breaking the strings and losing picks. The one thing that most guitars have in common is strings. A concept guitar at Yanko Design has no strings and isn’t intended for playing Rock Band.

The concept is a MIDI instrument for digital musicians that can replicate the sound of any guitar setup. The pickups and frets on the guitar are digital inputs and the neck is touch sensitive. One thing that you lose with a guitar lacking strings is the feel of the strings vibrating.

The designer says that the concept uses piezo-electric actuators to emulate vibrations corresponding to the played note. That means in a nutshell that the guitar offers faux sting vibrations so you feel like you are playing with strings.

TiVo is looking to choke one of the more important features from other DVRs on the market and has recently unveiled new Premiere DVRs that are interesting. However, the company is not doing well financially and posted a large loss for Q4 reports the Wall Street Journal. TiVo shares grew after it won an appeal on a patent for some of its software last week, but that wasn’t enough to help its Q4 earnings.

TiVo attributes the loss for its Q4 ending January 31 of $10.2 million to cancellations of existing subscriptions for its monthly service required with all TiVo DVRs and to slowing new subscriber additions. The $10.2 million figure works out to a loss of 9 cents per share. The same quarter of the previous year TiVo posted a loss of $3.6 million.

While TiVo posted a large loss, its revenue grew by 16% to $68.5 million for the quarter. The $10.2 million loss for the quarter is better than the loss of $13 to $15 million TiVo had projected in November.

Dell has been peddling its Vostro line of business notebooks for a long time now and one of the coolest of the Vostro lot is the Vostro V13 with its Adamo looks and cheaper price tag. Dell has now added a complete new series to the Vostro line called the 3000 series.

The new 3000 line has machines sporting 13, 14, 15, and 17-inch screens and will be offered with Core i3, i5, and i7 processors. The 13-inch 3300 machine will sell for $788, the 3400 is a 14-inch machine starting at $768, the 3500 is a 15-inch machine for $768, and the 17-inch 3700 machine in $798.

You can opt for discrete graphics with prices jumping up significantly. The 13 and 15-inch machines can get discrete graphics with 512MB of VRAM and the 17-inch offering gets a discrete GPU with 1GB of VRAM. Pricing when adding discrete graphics jumps up considerably. The machines will also all feature backlit keyboards, encrypted HDDs will be optional, and fingerprint readers. The 3500 will reportedly come in a touchscreen version by April. The line is available in the US right now and will hit Europe later this month.

Last month I mentioned that Sony was set to start showing demos of its 3D TVs like the BRAVIA XBR-52LX900 at Sony Style stores and was going to be taking pre-orders on the sets. What we didn’t know at the time was exactly when the sets would ship.

Reuters reports that Sony will start whipping its 3D TVs in June. The electronics giant is hoping that it can make 3D TVs count for 10% of the 25 million LCD sets it hopes to sell in its next financial year. Sony and many other TV makers are hoping that 3D TVs will help them to increase sales during the down economy that has seen TV sales decline.

We already know that Sony plans to offer a new firmware for the PS3 that will enable 3D gaming and movies and it would be safe to assume that the update will land for the PS3 in June alongside the availability of its TVs. Rival Samsung plans to launch its 3D TVs in the US this month.

Yesterday I talked about the cool Maze of Time concept watch that used different colors to show the time in digital numbers. The watch was cool, but it looks like a cheap hunk of junk next to the awesome N4 watch from French watch designer Francois Quentin.

The watch displays time with orange numbers on black rotating discs that look like a digital readout. The cool watch is officially known as the 4N-MVT01/D01 and is limited to only 16 pieces. The display and movement of the watch are mechanical with exposed gears and sprockets. The movement of the watch is powered by manual winding and displays time in with a 12-hour clock.

Each of the three discs that are used to display the time are made from aluminum or titanium and held inside a carbon cage structure. 4N will offer the watch in 18K white gold and platinum versions. The dial is covered by a sapphire glass crystal and the band will be offered in a variety of materials. Pricing is unknown, but with the materials and design, this is definitely one of the “if you have to ask” types of products.