When you feel proud for the most modern gadget that you own do you ever think of its security?? The answer may vary depending upon the person. But one issue most of the people will admit that there is a lack of absolute security of the gadgets not only in terms of information stored in the gadget but the gadget itself may be stolen or lost. The production houses of these gadgets really work hard to ensure the data security and result is positive but as in modern age most gadgets are portable and small in size. So there are high chances that your gadget gets theft or lost. What would be your next action?? Is it really possible to recover your favorite machine?? Yes, it is possible with Intel and hopefully you can get rid of the worry of loosing your laptop or notebook.

As summer 2009 is approaching the level of expectation is arising because Intel plans to launch their Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology by that time. This technology will allow the users to recover their laptops or notebooks if it gets stolen, even this technology guarantees the protection and security of the data stored inside. The constraint that will guide this technology is a mobile broadband service. Presently, Ericsson is engaged in this issue in collaboration with Intel. Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules go fine with this Intel technology. In fact these two are tightly coupled.

Now the question is how this technology will work for you?? What all you need to do, when you lose your laptop, is you have to activate the service by sending a SMS to a particular number provided your laptop is embedded with the Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology. The computer then receives the SMS sent by you and with the help of protection center it blocks the computer so that it becomes unbootable. Also, it reports the location of the notebook through GPS service and your laptop gets recovered within a short time. The GPS has to play a major role in this regard. Meanwhile all your data in HDD gets unreadable by deleting the cryptographic keys to confirm that it is not misused.

We always strive for security, as it is a real mess to live in anywhere without a strong security. Well, this is also applicable to any object also. And when it is a precious one, like your car, you can surely realize how important this issue is as there might be so called car thieves monitoring your car. You need to ensure that your car has a very strong security system. Realizing the need of such a gadget, which provides a 24×7 monitoring on your car, BlackLine GPS Seeker is just on the go.

The device when installed and configured properly works fine. It let you know as soon as any unauthorized person enters into a predefined area surrounding your car. The perimeter can be set as you wish. You will get an instant SMS in your cell phone and also will be notified through e-mail whenever there is any unauthorized person within the predefined perimeter. Even it is so smart that it alerts the BlackLine Recovery Service, which in turn recovers the stolen car. All these major activities like recovery take place with the collaboration of local authority. But how all these things manage to run smoothly? Yes, the answer is GPS. Through Global Positioning System your car is always in the track of certain monitoring devices and while configuring it you just need to set the perimeter surrounding your car.

Even in a congested market place if you feel any sort of discomfort in locating your car’s parking lot the BlackLine GPS Seeker is the answer. You just need to check the website of Blackline or you can track it in your cell phone also. Future versions will also feature family member tracking in case of emergency. The suit contains a key fob with which the owner control the security measure of the device. With this Seeker you can share your location to others letting them know where you are and where have you been. The Seeker manages to run in 12VDC and 24VDC power supply and require a two-wire connection. Also, when the car battery gets down the owner gets notified through SMS. Even when power supply gets interrupted it continues to run and deliver information with its inter back-up power unit. With a full recharge it can supply power almost two days, which is more than enough.

Beginning of the 2009 can experience its launch and hopefully this automatic security guard for your car will be the unbreakable barricade for the car thieves.

The ATP Photofinder mini is an improved version of its predecessor ATP Photofinder. The older version has some issues with its less sensitive GPS receiver and the small screen though it was able to tag the photos with the location without any computer. The improved version, Photofinder mini, has resolved those issues but you need to pay $150 for it whereas the older version was priced at $99.

As its reviews, the Photofinder is a two piece device which is made of a docking station and GPS module. Measuring 2.3×1.4×1 inches, the GPS module weighs just 1.9 ounces and can be attached to the hand with the help of included belt clip. The older version had three AAA batteries but the mini features built-in rechargeable battery along with LED indicators for power, GPS and memory status. The device has a rated battery life of 16 hours and 128MB of built-in memory which can store 1000 hours of data.

The docking station receives power through the external power adapter and houses slots for SD/MS/MMC and CF memory cards. The GPS module is attached to the dock for recharging and data transfer. The GPS module can also be recharged by directly connecting it to the power supply. The docking station also features a small two line screen along with buttons for Mode, Synchronization, Yes and No.

The device is pretty easy to use like its older sibling. You first need to set the time in camera to Coordinated Universal Time then turn the PhotoFinder mini so that it receives satellite signals. Once the device receives the satellite signal, it will display time, latitude and longitude. Then you need to take the device with you while taking the shots. The photos can be tagged very easily. You just need to insert the GPS into the dock along with the memory card of your camera. When you press the Sync button on the dock, it will check the memory and prompt you with your current time zone. Then it asks for your confirmation of tagging the images. If you press Yes, it will start synchronizing the files and tag them with the location. The device is also capable of exporting the GPS log in KML format which is used by Google Earth.

With the advent of technology, life has become a lot faster and it is the urge of mankind for engaging himself in making life easier. Yes, now-a-days many a thing is possible with a single click, which was beyond imagination one or two decade ago. It is the mere habit of the human being not getting satisfied with any thing irrespective of its performance. And this is the driving force towards the invention of newer gadgets. Data transfer faced a new dimension with USB because of its simplicity but in near future wireless USB kit is going to make the older USB out of the fashion.

Japan has always been the powerhouse of electronic gadgets and this tradition continues as Japanese company Ratoc Systems comes in news headline with their all new Wireless USB Adapter Kit REX-WUSB1, which is going to be launched in the market by mid-December 2008 which is about now. It is the tyranny of wires that make our life a bit uncomfortable. Portability hits a new margin with this wireless USB kit. The package contains the required software that you need to install this unit. Much information is not available about this device but it is for sure that this wireless USB kit is compatible with Windows XP 32 bit and Windows Vista 32/64 bit.

The workstations equipped with CardBus PC’s card slots go fine with this unit. All you need to configure is very simple. Just install the WUSB driver and plug in the USB gadget in Wireless USB hub. The serial number of this hub is WD-HUB01. Now in the other end the computer’s or laptop’s USB hub has to be matched with Wireless USB CardBus PC Card WH-CBA01. Now there is nothing left for configuring the device except utilizing it with all its potentials. You can have wireless experience with this kit as after configuring this unit, any USB device is acknowledged by the PC – be it a cell phone or a digital camera data cable.

So don’t be afraid of wires as you have the solution in your kit. Now it is the turn to wait till we have the kit available in market…

As with the Fujifilm camera on the previous page, Olympus’ PEN range ploughs the retro vein. The Mini is the most stripped-down model in its PEN Micro Four Thirds line-up, offering simple pointandshoot photography on to which you can put your own stamp thanks to art filters and special effects. Dramatic contrast, fish eye lens and pop art options make even the most mundane scene stand out, A Live Guide on the preview screen aids composition.

Experiment with what the Mini can do using exposure bracketing, autofocus override and ESO light settings; when you’ve found a setup you like, you can save up to four custom settings as My Mode shortcuts. Scene modes and auto scenes election are provided; white this capable camera can also shoot 1920×1080 video at 30fps.

There is news for all the avid iPod touch users. Their MP3 player can now be transformed into a mobile phone with the help of a free application from Internet telephone company Truphone. Apple may now have a new mobile phone to compete with—iPod touch phone.

With the help of the Truphone application, users of iPod touch, with a Wi-Fi connection can make and receive phone calls via voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, with other iPod Touch users. They can also make and receive phone calls with users of the Google Talk’s messaging service, and customers of Truphone’s Internet telephone service. Truphone is expecting to add in its application, the ability to handle landline calls.

The Truphone application creates a virtual keyboard on the second-generation iPod Touch. The keyboard can then be used to dial calls. But all this requires the addition of a headset and microphone. The application can be downloaded free of cost at Apple’s Applications Store. This clearly hints toward the fact that Apple doesn’t appear to be too threatened by Truphone. The Truphone application could work with any device with Wi-Fi access. But the company makes clear that it has decided to focus on devices which have connections to an application store.

In an interview with BBC, Truphone CEO Geraldine Wilson said “We’ve decided to focus on devices that are Wi-Fi-enabled and have an applications store. For the consumer, there has to be an easy way of downloading an application.” The company is also looking forward to incorporating other planned features in the applications. The planned features include the ability to phone and instant-message Skype and MSN VoIP users, and to check and set Twitter and Facebook connections. It must be noted that Fring offers a similar service, allowing access to Skype users. But the news can be really overwhelming for iPod touch users who for some reason want to turn their iPods into the popular iPhone.

Witnessed as an important day for the computer savvy. On this day this year, the computer mouse com turned 40 years old. A team of researchers at the Stanford Research Institute in California invented the mouse the year 1968. The team, led by Doug Engelbart made a mouse that was nothing but a wooden block with wheels mounted on its base. There was a red button on its top and a cable at its back. The team found a resemblance between a mouse and the device invented by them and hence, the name of the most dynamic input device of the times.

If one goes through the pages of history, one can see that the mouse dates back even longer. The mouse can be believed to be an extension of the trackball invented by Kenyon Taylor, Tom Cranston, and Fred Longstaff while they were working on the Royal Canadian Navy’s DATAR project in 1952. In the early 1960s, Engelbart was studying the correlation between computers and humans and it was then that he proposed the idea of making a mouse like device. In 1964, the first working prototype of the device was developed. The full-fledged working mouse was demonstrated only in the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco in 1968.

It was in the year 1981 that Xerox launched the first commercial version of the mouse. Apple, in 1984, launched it with its Macintosh computer systems. It was only after this launch that the mouse gained popularity. Since then, the mouse has come a long way. From having wheels that sense the movement to the mechanical mouse that had a ball to track the movement of the mouse, the mouse indeed has come a long way. But this is just the beginning. With new developments in the wireless technology, the mouse has even been liberated of the wire that attaches it to the computer. The latest developments include the optical mouse that has photodiodes and LED’s sensing its movement.

Rumor has it that Intel’s MID (Mobile Internet Device) platform, codenamed Menlow, is about to make its way to yet one more latest product, likely to be rolled out by Averatec’s Trigem. Built-in with a 4.8-inch touchscreen handy computing device, the Lluon Mobbit is crafted to endow its users with a user-friendly Internet-based handy system. One of the features that keep the Mobbit alone from all the additional MIDs is the use of a Windows XP operating system over a Linux OS, utilized for most MIDs.

Trigem’s MID is likely to be based on an Intel Atom Z520 processor, sprinting at a core speed of 1.3GHz. It will be built-in with 1GB of RAM memory with an option of 16GB SSD or 30GB HDD to provide decent performance level and storage. Other specs of the Trigem’s MID are: Bluetooth and WiBro, integrated Wi-Fi, a 2MPweb camera, DMB-T TV tuner and the US15W chipset well-known for backing up hardware video decoding.

This MID’s tiny 4.8-inch screen is claimed to be capable of rendering 1024 by 600 pixel images, extremely satisfying for utilizing the Internet. Expected to weigh something like 375g and measuring166 x 88 x 21mm, the device provides nearly everything needed for a speedy and on the move Internet connection, in a tiny and light weight form factor. The Lluon Mobbit, given its support for a hard disk drive, could effortlessly be utilized as a portable media player.

Seagate offers its new range of stylish and dockable storage device – ‘Seagate FreeAgent Go’. This new breed of Hard Drive is comparatively larger than many of the internal desktop drives and can be easily docked to a PC or with an iPod. One of the important features of this storage device is that it offers you enough space to store multiple copies of each file and is featured with an additional dock and software. The Seagate’s FreeAgent Go series of Portable Hard Drive is available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities with a varied color choice including silver, black, red and blue. However, the additional dock is available with additional money of approximately $29.The main purpose of this dock is to help you to connect the drive to your PC via a long dual-head USB cable with ease. The dock kit includes a slipcase for the drive, so that it stays scratch free inside your travel bag. One of the biggest advantages with this dock system is that you are allowed to remove the hard drive without using the ‘Safely Remove Device’ command in Windows. In other words it is hot swappable.

The Seagate FreeAgent Go is packed with a dual-headed cable that provides the drive with additional power when used with a laptop. This new series of hard drive is much faster and you do not have to wait until the drive complete the backups, simply station it in the dock and it’s done. Unlike other hard drives such as the SimpleTech Signature Mini Black Cherry or the Western Digital My Passport Elite, the Seagate FreeAgent Go is much like business oriented in its design. Stands unbeatable among the other portable hard drives, the Seagate FreeAgent Go is really an outstanding release from Seagate. Featured with a stylish, yet business oriented design, the Seagate FreeAgent Go includes an innovative dock system and comes with a warranty of five years. The software included with the drive is just everything you need from a portable external hard drive.

So far there has been rumors all mover the globe regarding the finalization of USB 3.0 specification. The widely spread rumors came up with a false conception that Intel, which happens to be one of the prime promoters of USB 3.0 besides Microsoft, NEC, HP, Texas Instruments and ST-NXP is holding back the final specifications from releasing to other competitors in the market (such as NVIDIA and AMD). Now its time to put an end to all such rumors and beliefs as the actual specification of Super-Speed USB 3.0 with a Transfer Speed of 4.8Gbps has been finalized and submitted to USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum) for the upcoming publication to the developers – a great new indeed.

As compared to USB 2.0, which happens to be its predecessor, the USB 3.0 has been moved up in the scale with the introduction of its transfer rate of 4.8Gbps (theoretical). This new successor of USB 2.0 is claimed to be 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and more efficient. This advance feature proves to be a better choice for the developers, enabling them to integrate it within a new platform over IEEE 1394 Firewire or similar other Legacy Interfaces. Moreover, the new Super-Speed USB 3.0 is believed to have a fully new Internal Power management function that has the capability to support suspend, idle and sleep modes for the better saving of power. With the release of the final specification, the manufacturers can implement host ports that are in compliance with USB 3.0 on their next generation upcoming platforms.

As its review, USB 3.0 has a backward compatibility with the present USB 2.0 as far as Type A connector is into consideration. Compared to USB 2.0, which is based on the unidirectional data flow with bus transitions that are negotiable, USB 3.0 is based on bi-directional flow of data. Also, USB 3.0 uses a dual-simplex 4-wire differential signal wiring in comparison to USB 2.0 with half-duplex 2-wire differential wiring. The actual USB 3.0 controller is expected by the second half of 2009 and the first complete prototype by 2010.

You can be forgiven if you think you’ve seen this camera in these pages before. The Samsung NX11, successor to the one-year old NX 10, not only looks virtually identical to its predecessor, it’s almost the same.

As far as we can tell, the only changes have been the addition of Lens Priority, Sound Picture and Panorama modes, and a curvier, easier-to-hold grip. Samsung says that the auto-focus has been improved over the NX100′s, which was improved over the NX10′s. And it comes built-in with i-Function support – but the NX10′s firmware can also be upgraded to do the same, in short, the NX 11 isn’t so much an attractive upgrade as it is a slightly more refined version of the NX10.

It’s amazing how Samsung has managed to fit an APS-C sensor into so small a body. The NX11 is slim, even when compared to the smallest DSLR camera. It isn’t light though; the camera feels dense, and when coupled with a lens definitely begs for two-handed handling. And we mostly like the handling; there’s the menu which is overlaid on the AMOLED display. Simply press the Fn (Function) button and you get quick access to main controls.

You can do this even when using the evf, which means you can change settings without taking your eyes off the viewfinder, but the Fn button is really difficult to place without looking. Other vital controls can be changed using dedicated buttons found throughout the body, like flash, drive and ISO settings. The AMOLED screen, exactly like the one found on the NX 10, is still vivid and brilliant.

Unfortunately, manual shooting isn’t as smooth. There is only one control dial on the NX11, there is no secondary control wheel, and this spells trouble. To switch between aperture and shutter controls in full manual, you have to press – and hold – the exposure button while turning the control dial on top, besides the shutter release.

Following a design that’s reminiscent of its predecessors, the Sony DSC-HX7V sports a fairly attractive metallic body that’s unfortunately not the most pocketable of the lot, and likely won’t fit into yours unless you’re wearing baggy pants. Nevertheless, the HX7V had the best physical handling and grip thanks to a rubberized grip on the right, making shooting a very comfortable affair. The HX7V is also one of the few cameras tested that don’t come with a touchscreen, and is instead armed with a jog-dial and some physical buttons.

Tablets are the rage today, rapidly eating into the netbook market. While they are convenient, it is often annoying to have to type out long documents on the onscreen keyboard. Asus has cleverly added a keyboard dock to its 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet powered by a 1 GHz dual core processor that enhances its overall utility.

Named the EEE Transformer, the tablet has been designed in two parts. The 10.1-inch tab measures 12.9 mm thick with a textured panel at the back. Good enough for stand-alone use, it supports a capacitive touch display and has almost all controls on the side panel including the SIM slot, micro SD slot, volume controls, mini HDMI connector and 3.5mm jack. Only the charging port is covered when connected to the dock, though the dock itself has a charging port. In addition, the dock has two USB ports and a well-spaced QWERTY keypad with shortcuts for Wi-Fi, brightness, browser, search, etc. While it weighs 640 gm, the keyboard adds around 750 gm to the total weight, which would be about what a netbook weighs. The Transformer runs on Android and not the regular Windows, so users might take time getting used to it. It managed to give us 12 hours of battery backup when connected to the dock and seven hours otherwise.

Beetel has added a new feather in its tab-cap. With the launch of an upgraded tab, the Magiq Glide, the company is trying to compete against the likes of the Reliance Tab.

Where the new 7-incher looks exactly like its predecessor is the user interface. Running on Android 2.2, the custom Ul has application tabs at the bottom—home, web, entertainment, communication and favorite. There are some shortcuts on the top right with the last icon for task manager and notifications. The kick stand at the back makes it easy to type or watch videos.

The biggest drawback of the Magiq was its resistive touch display. Rectifying past mistakes, Beetel has given the Glide a capacitive screen which makes scrolling through the main menu and even typing simpler and smoother.

The Beetel Magiq Glide has a 1GHz processor with 512 MB RAM. The overall performance was decent, but the 2MP camera and battery were average.

Audio is another weak point, Even with the supplied Dolby Home Theater activated, stereo imaging was vague and seemed to wander from one side to the other, Bass was utterly Lacking, and volume Levels were so Low that I kept checking the controls to make sure they were maxed out,

On the rear are two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI connector. A lone audio jack is on the left, and an SD Card slot sits on the right. The unit has no USB 3.0 ports. Admittedly that array is only slightly worse than what you’d get with a MacBook Air, but the Air has a high-speed Thunderbolt port than can serve as both an I/O and a digital monitor connection. Like the Air, the S3-951 lacks an Ethernet jack; the only connectivity is through 802,11n Wi-Fi. Unlike the Air and most other Ultrabooks, though, Acer’s model omits Bluetooth support.

Acer says the S3-951 we tested ships with a 20GB solid-state drive and a 320GB Hitachi hard drive, The SSD is set as a “hibernation drive1՛ so the Laptop can restore rapidly after hibernating: consequently, hibernating is more battery-efficient than entering sleep mode, and faster than cold-booting. But using the SSD merely to cache hibernation data is a waste of about 15GB of space. It would have been better to use the SSD as a robust hard-drive cache, if possible.

Of late there wasn’t much to differentiate HTC’s Android smartphones. Most of them looked similar with the only difference being their different display sizes.

Surprisingly, there is something charming about the latest entrant, the Rhyme. A small accessory named ‘Charm’ included in the box is sure to become a hit with the girls. This cube-shaped white accessory is designed to notify incoming and missed call and even SMS. It plugs into the phone’s 3.5mm jack and lights up when any of these actions takes place. So when the phone is in the handbag, the Charm can hang out and alert it owner.

But it has its share of letdowns. With just one 3.5mm jack on the phone, you have to decide whether you want to listen to music or let Charm do its job.

Also, when the ‘Charm’ is connected, the loudspeaker turns off, assuming that the headphone is connected to a headphone. The Rhyme should have been clever enough to judge that, after all it’s a smartphone.

Complementing the 3.7 capacitive display is the unibody design. The front looked neat whereas the back was divided into three with plastic at the top and bottom and metal in the middle. Inside the robust casing is a 1 GHz processor with 7B8MB RAM and 1GB of storage capacity. Connectivity options included the regulars -3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS and FM radio. Starting the handset prompts for Google Account details and once configured it automatically linked us to Google Talk, Search, Gmail and Android Market for downloading apps. The HTC Sense Ul divided the main menu into apps, frequent and downloads.

What disappointed us was that the 5MP camera does not save images on the internal memory. It even fails to capture images in case the microSD card is missing. However, the camera results were impressive in daylight. Even the battery was good, giving us a whole day on heavy usage.

Released back in 2010, Aztech’s HW553 is considerably the oldest horse in our shootout, but not necessarily the weakest. Smartly dressed in a black and white shell, the HW553 caters to a wide range of 3G USB adapters, including those offered by the three major local telcos in Singapore. The HW553 does not feature multiple networking functions like the ASUS 330N3G, but does flaunt twice the number of transmit and receive antennas (2T2R) with a maximum theoretical throughput of 300Mbps. While it can also be used with ADSL and cable modems, Aztech’s broadband solution is reliant on a DC power adapter which makes it cumbersome to carry around. On the bright side, sharing of USB devices over the network is doable with the HW553.

While the mobile market is dominated by iPhones and the many Android-powered handsets out there, there is still a sizeable group of consumers sticking to QWERTY messenger phones. And while Nokia hasn’t seen very good luck recently, devices like the E6 serve to reinforce that the Finnish company can still make some pretty decent QWERTY-enabled devices.

Running on the latest Symbian operating system, dubbed Anna, the E6 is the successor to the hugely popular E72 business phone. Taking cues from the E72, the E6 comes in a sleek package designed with premium materials such as glass and stainless steel. Build quality is excellent, giving the E6 a solid feel in your hands. It is neither too heavy nor too light at a decent weight of 133g.

The E6 is equipped with a 2.46-inch screen, which is a tad bigger than the 2.36-inch screen on the E72. While there is nothing earth-shattering about the E6 being the first Nokia handset to come with VGA (640×480 pixel) resolution, the size of the screen means that it has a pixel density of 328ppi, which is slightly higher than the iPhone 4′s 326ppi Retina display. Therefore, you can expect to see vivid colors and sharp images on the E6. Similar to the other E-series models, you have a full four-row QWERTY keyboard that provides good tactile feedback and a comfortable typing experience.

The Symbian Anna user interface sees a facelift compared to previous iterations of Symbian, with icons redesigned to be more finger-friendly, as well as up to five home-screen panels where you can place widgets and app shortcuts. We like the addition of the notification popup when we tap on the top right hand corner of the screen, which let you access the Connectivity menu, battery information and other notifications such as missed calls. Generally, the user interface feels smoother and more fluid, though not as snappy as on the iPhone 4.

Hardware-wise, the 680 MHz processor and 256MB of RAM in the E6 aren’t exactly cutting-edge, but should be sufficient for most users although we would have preferred a faster processor and more RAM.

The built-in web browser has improved tab management where you can scroll, add or delete tabs easily, though ultimately is let down by the small screen of the E6. Pinch zooming and scrolling on the 2.46-inch screen will be tough for users with bigger fingers.

The E6 isn’t all about work, but has some multimedia features such as an 8.0-megapixel camera, 8GB of internal memory and 3.5mm audio jack. Image quality is passable as Nokia uses an Extended Depth of Field (EDoF), or Full Focus camera on the E6. The 8GB memory will come in handy for storing your music files, though if you need more space, there is a microSD slot that supports up to 32GB microSD cards.

Battery life has always been the strength of the E-series and the E6 is no different. Compared to the E72, the E6 are miles ahead, clocking an impressive eight hours and 23 minutes on our battery tests. It should be able to last more than a day of moderate usage on a single charge.

Despite the fact that Symbian Anna isn’t exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to mobile operating systems, the Nokia E6 is more than a competent QWERTY messenger phone that business users will appreciate. And at an asking price of S545, the E6 is certainly a device priced to appeal.

Like its predecessor (the IXUS 300 HS), the IXUS 310 HS boasts curves reminiscent of a sports car clothed in stainless steel. Like most touchscreen-enabled cameras, its huge 3.2-inch screen takes up most of the real estate at the back, though sharing space with a conveniently placed playback button. The camera’s few physical controls are lined at the top and make for smooth handling, and though we lament the lack of a dedicated video button, you do get a touchscreen alternative right after starting up the screen. Canon’s user interface on the IXUS 310 HS was clean-cut and fairly straightforward, though we would prefer a screen that was a little more responsive.