JP's Rantings

Head over at Amazon , they've got a SanDisk 4GB microSDHC card for $5.48.

  It appears that the 10.1 inch Acer Asprie One netbooks are coming soon. A New York-based retailer has posted product pages for the soon-to-be-released Acer AOD150. It looks like J&R expects to sell the netbook for $350. The laptops will come in red, white, blue, and black and feature a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, a 6-cell battery, and Windows XP Home Edition with a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel displays and new and improved touchpads with the mouse buttons below the pad instead of on the left and right sides.

We’ve been waiting for some more Android-based phones and General Mobile is stepping up to the plate. The latest offering is a keyboard-less phone made by Sharp. The specs are as follows- Dual-SIM cards with dual-Standby mode 624MHz Marvell PXA 310 processor Tri-band GSM/EDGE support (900/1800/1900MHz) 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, 260k colors WiFi Bluetooh 135g (4.75oz), 112 x 54 x 16mm (4.4 x 2.1 x .6 inches) It is expected to be announced next month at the Mobile World Congress in Spain and is said to have dual SIM cards for you world travelers.

The WindBOX is now official, and with specs like a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Intel's GMA 950 graphics set, 802.11b/g WiFi, audio in / out, three USB 2.0 sockets, a VGA port and a 3-in-1 multicard reader who wouldnt want one. All you need is a LCD monitor with a VESA-compatible mount to totally hide this little gem from sight. There's no mention of a price, but it should start shipping later this quarter.

Im a big ATV and sports car fan so when i spotted this over at gizmodo.com i just had to post it. It was potted at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009, this mini Lamborghini Murcielago is a 4x4 ATV. This ATV/car will be available in April so dream on til then

According to the latest information from Best Buy, the VX9600 which has a removable QWERTY will land on February 22nd 2009. The VX9600 is a touchscreen device, with a large display and limited hardware buttons, but when you need need a physical keyboard to enter large amounts of text a snap-on QWERTY keyboard can be added. Other modules being developed are a stereo speaker attachment, a gamepad attachment, and an internet attachment that would add WiFI. No word on pricing yet.

Sprint just dropped  this press release  about how they're going  to lay off 8000 workers by March 31st.  The layoffs will come at all levels and in all areas, so nobody's job is safe. Sprint also fesses up  to the fact that of the top 4 carriers they're the only one to have lost subscribers quarter after quarter, but they do point out that they're hoping the Palm Pre will save their hides.

  Amazon is offering  price discounts and rebates   for Samsung’s  X360 and X460 notebooks. They have a retail price range around $1,599 to over $2,499 but Amazon is offering discounts between 6% to 8% off plus a Samsung rebate of either $300 or $500, depending on the model and specs you choose. For $1,199 after discounts and rebates, you can have a Samsung X460-44G equipped with a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a discrete NVIDIA GPU, 6-cell battery and Microsoft Windows Vista Business. [via jkontherun.com]

 Little information is known about this little bit of info  Electronic Pulp  has gotten their hands on.It looks like Acer has filed for a patent for a “portable electronic device” that resembles a netbook/MID. Not much is known although there appears to be a slide up QWERTY keyboard underneath the screen, it has 3 USB ports, Optical Disk Drive, ExpressCard slot, d-pad, 1 FireWire, Touchpad with left and right buttons, and possible infrared.    

James Kendrick from jkontherun.com has got his hands on a Lenovo W700ds and is loving it. With specs like this (except for the price) who would'nt. Head over to take a look. Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Core Extreme QX9300- 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz, 12 MB L2 OS: Windows Vista Business 64 Displays: 17-inch WUXGA (1900 x 1200) 400 NIT + 10.6-inch WXGA (768 x 1280) (slide-out) Graphics: NVidia Quadro FX 3700M (1 GB dedicated VRAM) Memory: 4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz (2 DIMM) Pointing device: trackpad (2 buttons), trackstick (3 buttons) HDD: Raid configured 2-250 GB (5400 rpm), 500 GB total Optical drive: DVD (Blu-Ray optional, not tested) Expansion slots: ExpressCard, Compact Flash, 7-in-1 memory card WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n (WiMAX optional, not tested) Web cam: 1.3 MP Ports: 5- USB 2.0, Ethernet, modem, Firewire, VGA-out, DisplayPort, Dual Link DVI Battery: 9-cell Dimensions: 16.1 x 12.2 x 1.6 inches; 8.3 lbs. Retail price of unit as evaluated- $4,989.

Is Hyundai the new kid on the block? It seems that the auto maker is going to step into the mobile world of consumer electronics. They look to be targeting all competing brands and models in the mobile market, including the iPod and the iPhone. Look for their new phones to have a 10 year 100,000 phone call warranty [via mobilewhack.com]

Sprint has posted up the long awaited Treo Pro on its webstore . This thing is being priced at $249.99 with a two-year contract ($549.99 sans contract), so if you cant wait for the pre head on over and pick one up

James Kendrick from jkontherun has posted a video review of the new HP mini 2140. His first impressions of the machine are very positive sighting an excellent build quality and snappy performance. Hit the link to check it out.

Gizmodo has got there hands on some spy photos of the second generation T-Mobile G2 made by HTC. It has no keyboard and it has a 3.2 megapixel camera. According to there source, it will come in mid-May. Head over and check it out [via gizmodo]

It looks like MSI has gone and launched another version of the MSI Wind u100. This one is called the Valentine Edition which has a pink case with a heart design.MSI is selling the Valentine Edition for $429.99, or you can enter to win one of 15 MSI is giving away in a Valentine’s Day promotion .It has the typical specs for a mini-laptop. It has a 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 160GB hard drive and a 6 cell battery.

We've all heard the rumor that Microsoft will announce Windows Mobile 6.5 during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain but it appears that handset makers wont get their hands on it till mid-2009, which means that smartphones running WM 6.5 should hit the market during the third quarter of this year.

It looks like some more information on the new Acer Aspire One has been released.The original Acer Aspire One measures 249mm x 195mm x 36mm and the new model is 260mm x 185mm x 34mm, it is a bit wider than the original AAO but it’s also a bit thinner and less deep. The 3 cell version will weigh 2.6 pounds, while the original 8.9 inch weighed 2.4 pounds. The 10 inch AAO with a 6 cell battery will weigh 2.9 pounds.

We all had an idea Samsung was going to develop a Android handsets this year but nobody quite knew what carrier was going to get them. Samsung confirmed their Android handsets and it looks like they are destined to arrive in the USA thru T-Mobile and Sprint. Maybe they will unveil them in february at the MWC 2009

The HP Mini 2140 netbook is now available to order from HP.com . Prices start at $499 to $779. The cheapest model is a pretty good deal. It packs a 10.1 inch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. It supports 802.11a/b/g/draft-n and Bluetooth 2.0.They also offers the Mini 2140 with Windows Vista Home Basic or WIndows Vista Business. All Vista models come standard with 2GB of RAM.

This might be old news to a few but Windows Live Search has been upgraded to version 4.0.12158.1 If you havent tried it yet, you should go to http://wls.live.com on your phone to get started.

Well it looks like even Asus is feeling the economy crunch. DigiTimes reports that the company plans to reorganize and will merge resources from different departments and reduce the number of models in the Eee PC lineup. Asus offers quite a few Eee PC's, the Eee PC 701, 900, 901, 904, 1000, 1002, and S101 just to name a few and each of those comes in a number of configurations. Im not sure which models Asus will be getting rid of when it “shrink its Eee PC lineup into only four series.” but as soon as i hear more i will pass it on. [via digitimes]

Aside from the 1-inch screen size difference, the system is the same as old Aspire Ones—1.6GHz Atom,1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, optional 3G, multitouch trackpad, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3 USB ports yada yada yada....

Check out this concept bike from Victory Motorcycles. The frame is made of an aluminum alloy that is made up of five main pieces that everything else is bolted to. This bike is powered by the same engine that powers the 2008 Hammer with 97 HP and 113 lb-ft of torque. They unveiled Victory Motorcycle’s CORE concept bike last week at Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in New York. The design team was led by Victory’s lead Designer, Michael Song.

A company called Hughie has developed a removable kitchen sink for those of you who like to pack everything including the ... well you know. The sink is basically a bucket with a drain and can be removed from its housing for things like washing your car, watering plants and bathing pets. That means you can conserve excess water. So in the words of Martha Stewart "its a good thing"and the $25 price tag isn't bad either.

Well i finally got around to downloading Windows 7 last night and i thought i would try to install it on an older machine so i dug out a DELL inspiron 5150 out of the closet. It is an old machine (by todays standards) but it still has a Intel Pentium 4 (3.06 GHz) but only 512mb ram. Im surprised to say that the install went smoothly taking about 45 mins. Once up and running i was able to tether my touch pro without a glitch. I am amazed by how well it is running on the 5150, it appears to be just as fast as xp ever was although I havent had time to get the wireless working yet, im hoping the xp drivers will work. I will keep you posted as i learn more.

If you’re on Sprint and use an HTC Touch Diamond, this news might interest you. A new ROM for the handset has leaked. The new Touch Diamond ROM includes a new build of Opera 9.5, a new audio manager, a new camera app, new fullscreen media player, as well as an improved YouTube client and Mobile Internet Explorer 6.This seems to be a pretty significant update, although it has yet to receive the Sprints approval. Hit this link to check it out. [via boy genius report]

If you have ever wanted to pick up a Peek but didnt want to pay the $19.95 per month data plan, your in luck. Today only you can pick up the email only device for a reasonable $299.95 with a lifetime of service. Thats right, no monthly chargers. Unfortunately, the deal is for one-day only. [via engadget] Read

Just wanted to say to everybody on U.S. Airways flight 1549, I hope you and your families are doing ok

MSI as launched a new nettop known as the D130. It comes with 2G of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a 4-in-1 card reader, 6 USB ports, a VGA output, 7.1 channel audio, and a DVD Super Multi Drive. 802.11b/g WiFi is also available as an option. It looks like an old vcr i had back in the 80's

Welcome PreCentral.net . A spot to keep you up to date on the upcoming palm pre/webOS. Give them a look and your support

The other day i wrote about my dell latitude x300 and it made me go home a pull out my girlfriends fujitsu lifebook b2630. Its a 10.4 inch touchscreen laptop that she uses primarily for surfing the web. In its time it was a innovative design but by todays standard its a underpowered netbook, but it goes to show you how technology goes in circles.

If you have ever wanted to try linux but didnt know where to begin, give Maximum PC a glance. Its a great place to start if you are considering installing Linux on your machine. Linux is a very simple OS and Ubuntu is a great choice for netbooks due to its flexibility and its power. The guys and gals at Maximum PC have put together a tutorial showing how easy it is to Become a Linux Netbook Power User . Their article shows everything youll need to know for installing Ubuntu.

Is AT&T going to finally allow iPhone owners to use their handsets as 3G modems? As stated by a post on Macblogz, AT&T is ready roll ot a tethering plan for an extra $10 a month. Im a huge fan of tethering so i think its about time AT&T finally came to terms, although im not quite sure how there 3G network is going to handle the extra traffic.

You know with all the hype about netbooks, it got me thinking about laptops of the past. I have a dell latitude x300 that is just as fast and last just as long as todays netbooks. With a 12 inch screen (which looks like the next trend in netbooks), less than an inch thick it is a very portable machine and the best part is you can still pick them up on ebay for a reasonable price. I got mine off of ebay for less than $100 minus a hdd and charger but i had those things laying around from older units. It seems like everything goes in big circles in the tech world, ultra portables used to be the next big thing then everybody decided they wanted that huge 17 inch display then the eee pc came out touting its tiny 7 inch screen and everybody went crazy for them, then it was 8.9 ,10.2 and now companys are launching 12 inch netbooks. It just came back in a full circle the only difference is, when new, my dell cost around two grand and now the same specd netbook with the same size screen is arou

In case you didnt know, sometimes the online and in-store prices at Best Buy can differ.But as one savy shopper found out you can save a bundle buy using the stores in store pick up if you order it online. I picked up this little tip from gizmodo "Instead of paying the $45 in-store price for each of the four seasons of Stargate Atlantis , Anastasia simply searched for the items on the best Buy website with her T-Mobile G1 and purchased them online at a $20 sale price. By selecting "in-store pickup" she only had to browse around for around 20 minutes while her order was being processed. Once she got the confirmation email, she picked the DVDs up right then and there at a substantial savings." [via gizmodo]

Best Buy is cutting the price on the Eee PC 900A. Its now priced at $230. The little laptop comes with an 8.9 inch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 4GB solid state disk and linux. [via liliputing]

The Iolite is the next phone coming from HTC . It has a slight resemblance to the Touch Cruise, but its a completely new phone. Heres the specs- Windows Mobile 6.1, TouchFlo 3D, 512MB ROM, 288MB RAM, HSDPA/HSUPA quad-band EDGE, Wifi, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 528Mhz Qualcomm CPU

Archos, best known for pmps, is juming into the netbook game with the announcement of their own 10 inch netbook, the Archos 10. Its going to have the usual specs, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, with a 3-cell battery, WiFi, and three USB ports. Run of the mil stuff.

Check out this Shen Di's "+shifter" faucet concept.Perfect for the gear heads in all of us

Asus is working on a low-cost "Eee Phone" to complement its mostly Asia-only Windows Mobile smartphones. But will it run Android?

Gateway is owned by Acer, so this is probably a rebranded Acer Aspire One with some cosmetic changes. It has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and an 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. The netbook weighs 2.2 pounds, has 3 USB ports, and a 5-in-1 card reader, and supports 802.11b/g WiFi. An Engadget reader took a few photos of this at an Office Depot, where it’s selling for about $380. [via liliputing]

According to mobilewhack, the Pre will cost between $399 to $499 unlocked and $149 or $199 with a contract. That’s alot cheaper than earlier expected. Unfortunately Palm will only produce about 200,000 of Pres the first go round. If the prices are confirmed those first handsets will sell like crazy. [via mobilewhack.com]

Intomobile has just posted another rumor that apple will indeed be releasing a iphone nano "A Taiwanese newspaper, the Economic Daily News has clamied that Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) is lining up chip suppliers for an iPhone Nano. The report notes that chip contracting firm ‘Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’ (catchy name) and ‘United Microelectronics Corporation’ (slightly catchier) are ‘likely’ to get contracts to manufacture chips for the new Nano… They would start production in March of this year." Im not sure what anybody else thinks but i think an iphone nano would be a huge succss. [via intomobile]

Someone has leaked HTC’s lineup for 2009. Hit the link to check out the entire lineup

Just wanted to give everyone a big thanks for the great coverage of the 2009 CES show!

Amex Digital releases its first Blu-ray Player, with a price tag of $199

James and Kevin from JKontheRun got the low down on a MID, or Netbook or whatever you want to call them, from Mio that is running Window Mobile 6.1 instead of XP. Check it out

Belive it or not, Motorola is struggling, I know its hard to belive, but Phonescoop is reporting that they are letting go of half of its handset division as soon as this week. According to there source, Motorola will also cut back the number of phones it launches. The only smartphones it will produce will run Android. No more Windows Mobile? The time it takes to develop phones leads me to belive thatwont happen for awhile. More likely, we'll see a few more Windows Mobile phones from Motorola before the switch to an all android lineup.

Worried you might have missed the opportunity to get your copy of Windows 7? Well your in luck. The higher up at Microsoft have decided to do away with the 2.5 million download limit and open the beta up to anyone who wants to get on board. The open beta download went live on Friday. Shortly after, Microsoft servers went down. They decided that a 2.5 million limit was "not ideal". It'll now be available to an unlimited number for two weeks until 24th January. Go get it!

Hi everybody- Just want to welcome everybody to the new J's rant page. Here we will be discussing technology, gadgets, phones and anything else we decide is of interest. With the ending of CES (a kind of disapointing one at that) The big news is palms new pre/webOS. Its been a long time in the making, and being a previous palm user, i have to applaude palms release. It looks to be a well designed and easy to use OS. The only question i have is who is building the phone? We'll have to wait to see the build quality when a final build is released The other big thing coming out of CES this year (no surprise) is netbooks. With an onslaught of new netbook companies coming out of the wood work with new products or rebranded netbooks, its going to be interesting to see what this year has in store for the little notebooks Also dont forget to hop over to the windows 7 download page and snag yourself a copy of the beta release