SPARKLE Launches GeForce GT 240/GT220 Graphics Cards With Low Profile Design

SPARKLE introduced the SPARKLE GeForce GT240/GT220 Low Profile Graphics Card.

Consummately designed low profile, the PCB height of the SPARKLE GeForce GT240/GT220 Low Profile Graphics Cards are 6cm,only half the height of ordinary Graphic Cards with full profile design, allowing easier installation on HTPC.

Taking the performance increase into account, SPARKLE GeForce GT240/GT220 Low Profile Graphics Cards features 40nm chip process from TSMC. Compared with the previous generation of GeForce 9600GT/9500GT graphics cards, SPARKLE GeForce GT240/GT220 Low Profile graphics cards have more stream processors. The amount exaltation of the stream processors can bring higher floating point processing power for better gaming performance. According to tests done by SPARKLE, the average performance of the SPARKLE GeForce GT240 Low Profile Graphics Cards is 10% more than the GeForce 9600 GT reference boards, while the average performance of the SPARKLE GeForce GT220 Low Profile Graphics Cards is 74% more than the GeForce 9500 GT reference boards.

The new cards come with 1GB DDR3 high speed videomemory and are equipped with a low-speed active cooling system for quiet operation.

Other features include support for DX10.1, GPU-accelerated NVIDIA PhysX gaming effects, Stereoscopic, Shader Model 4.1 and an onboard HDMI 1.3a output.

TRIM Now Available for OCZ Summit Series SSDs

OCZ has released a firmware upgrade for its line of Summit Series SSDs, that supports TRIM command for Windows 7 users and idle garbage collection for Vista and XP users.

The new firmware helps restore performance on Summit drives back to "new" conditions by freeing space and consolidating blocks of data.

The Summit 19C1 Firmware Upgrade and Installation Guide can be downloaded HERE

HDMI Specs Ver.1.4 To Support 3D

HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification, has announced plans to add an additional 3D format to the HDMI specification.

In order to respond to recent input from the industry, the HDMI Consortium will meet in late January 2010 to add an additional 3D format (tentatively named "Top/Bottom") to the HDMI specification, supporting the use of this format over HDMI. The Consortium is expected to resolve this issue in January 2010 and publishing a document soon thereafter.

In order to meet the needs of the market, the HDMI Founders have decided to allow legacy set-top boxes to use formats contained in Appendix H without having to implement the HDMI specification?s mandatory 3D formats, provided that they fully comply with the signaling protocol defined in Appendix H. This will continue to be in effect and will be reevaluated once a mandatory 3D broadcast format is defined, the Consortium added.

However, legacy set-top boxes that do not support the mandatory 3D formats may not claim 3D functionality as defined by the updated HDMI Adopted Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines.

"As a leading global standard for HD connectivity, the HDMI Consortium takes the market?s needs very seriously," says Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. "3D is a nascent market and thus continues to evolve quickly. We have taken input from leading industry associations and this announcement reflects the HDMI Founders? commitment to continuously and proactively set the foundation for innovations that will deliver the next generation of content. The addition of the new format will secure the application of 3D for broadcasting, in addition to the existing applications for Blu-ray and gaming."

Build a Wireless Home Network without a Router

Let’s say you have one internet connection at home that you want to share across all your desktop and laptop computers, your Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, media players (like the iPod Touch), video game consoles (like the Xbox), digital photo frames and any other wireless devices that you may have at home.


How do you do this?

The easiest way to setup a wireless network, as we all know, is with the help of a router -- just attach a wireless router to your modem and any Wi-Fi enabled gear, that’s located inside the signal range of your router, will be able to connect to the web using that lone Internet connection.

Setup Wireless Network without a Wireless Router

Now consider a slightly different scenario -- you have all these Wi-Fi enabled devices at home but there’s no router. Well, there’s no reason to buy one because you can still easily setup a wireless network as long as your computers have a wireless network adapter*.


Most new desktops and laptop computers are already equipped with internal network adapters so you are ready to go without a router.

If your computer doesn’t have built-in wireless capabilities, you can either buy a USB network adapter that plugs into the USB port of your desktop or go for a wireless adapter that directly plugs into your notebook’s PC Card slot. Desktop users can also opt for an internal wireless PCI card but you’ll have to open the computer case in order to install this network adapter.

Create a Wi-Fi Network without a Router

Now that you have everything in place to create a Wi-Fi network, let’s actually build one.

For Windows XP and Vista users

If your main computer, that is already connected to the internet, is running Windows XP, Vista or even Mac OS X, you can set up an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network and the other wireless devices can then connect to the web via this ad-hoc network (also called a computer-to-computer network).
You can read the steps below or watch this excellent video that demonstrates how to turn your Windows Vista, Windows XP, or your Mac OS X laptops into a wireless hot spot via ad hoc networking.



Wired Connection In, Wireless Connection Out
It’s an easy process. To set up an ad-hoc network in Windows Vista, go to Network and Sharing Center from the control panel, select "Set up a connection or network" and choose "Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network".
Make sure you select "Save this network" option else the ad hoc network will be removed if no other computers / devices are connecting to the network.

Turn on Internet Sharing in the next screen and now your other home computers can connect to the ad hoc network just like they would connect to any regular wireless network. Setting up an ad hoc network in XP takes a couple of extra steps but also make sure the host computer is running at least XP SP2 or SP3.

For Windows 7 users

If you are on Windows 7, you can instantly turn your desktop or laptop computer into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot without having to configure anything. All you need is a free software called Virtual Router and the computer connected to the internet must be running Windows 7*.>

Virtual Router works will all editions of Windows 7 except the Starter edition because Microsoft has disabled the Virtual Wifi feature in that particular edition.

Using the virtual router is simple -- just run the program on any Windows 7 computer, assign a password and that’s it. In the above example, I used the Virtual Router to connect an iPod, an Ubuntu Linux laptop and a Windows desktop to the Internet via a Windows 7 notebook where that virtual router software was running.

As new devices join the Wireless network, their assigned IP and MAC addresses instantly appear in the Virtual Router window. And you can click the "Stop Router" button anytime to deactivate the hotspot and disable Internet sharing.

Virtual Wi-Fi vs Ad Hoc Wireless Networking

To set up Ad Hoc networking, your main computer needs to have an Ethernet based Internet connection as well as a Wireless (WLAN) network adapter. In the case of Virtual Wi-Fi, the Ethernet card is optional so you can turn a laptop into a hotspot even if your laptop itself is connected to a Wireless network and not to an Ethernet cable.

Computers and other wireless devices in ad hoc networks must be within 30 feet of each other but there’s no such restriction in the case of Virtual Wireless networks.

Ad-Hoc wireless networking is available on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while Virtual WiFi, which is much easier to setup, is only* available for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.

Intel’s Centrino 2 processors include a new technology called My Wifi that can also turn your wirelessly connected laptop into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot but the interesting part is that this supports Windows Vista as well in addition to Windows 7.

See video:

How to Connect Two Computers Without a Router

Let’s assume you have two computers at home and you want to connect them together so that you can easily share an internet connection between the two machines or transfer photos, music and other files from one computer to another. How do you do this?

Connect Two Computers Directly

There are two options – you can either buy a router or, if you are looking for something more simple and don’t want to spend money on new networking hardware, you can connect the two computers using a commonly-available cable. The latter method doesn’t involve any complicated network settings and you will still be able to share files, internet connection, and even printers between computers.

Things you need:

To set up this basic wired home network, all you need is an inexpensive Ethernet crossover cable and the other requirement is that network cards* (also known as LAN or Ethernet cards) should be installed on each of you computers.

This should not be an issue because network cards are available on most newer machines by default but if you are working with a very old computer, you can either attach an internal LAN card to your computer’s motherboard or go for a USB Network adapter that will turn a USB port into an Ethernet (RJ45) port.

An Ethernet crossover cable looks like a standard Ethernet cable but the internal wiring is a little different. You can purchase crossover cables from Rebel Gadgets. If you have trouble finding them, you can purchase an inexpensive crossover adaptor and that will let you use any standard Ethernet cable as a crossover cable.

Connect Computers with an Ethernet Crossover Cable

Before connecting the two computers with a physical cable, make sure that both machine are using the same workgroup*. Here is step-by-step guide that explains how you can change the workgroup of your computers.

Changing workgroup in Windows XP – From the Start menu, right-click “My Computer.” Select Properties in the drop-down menu, and then select the second tab that says “Computer Name” from the System Properties window. Now click the “Change…” button, enter a unique Workgroup name and reboot your computer.

Changing workgroup in Windows 7 or Vista – Open the Control Panel, type “Workgroup” in the search box, and select the entry that says “Change Workgroup Name.” Click the “Change…” button, enter a Workgroup name and restart the computer. Windows 7 users can skip one step; simply type “Workgroup” in the search box in the start menu, and select the first entry, then proceed as above.

Now that the workgroups are same for both computers, connect the two computers together using the Ethernet crossover cable. Simply plug-in one end of the crossover cable into the network adapter of Computer A and connect the other end of the cable to the network adapter of Computer B.

Windows will automatically recognize the new network, and you can now easily view files and folder that the other computer has shared. Simply open Networks from the Start Menu (or the Control Panel), and you should see the other computer by its name. You can then browse any shared files on the other computer, and can even utilize shared printers.

Troubleshooting – If you do not see the other computer under Networks, you probably have a prompt at the top of your Network window saying that Network discovery is turned off (screenshots below). Select “Turn on Network Discovery and File Sharing.” In the next prompt, select “No, make the network I am connected to a private network.” Now you should see the other computer on the home network.








While it is possible to share files between two computers connected with a crossover cable without making them part of the same workgroup, the method will only work if both computers have this network set as a private network, and may still cause problems. It is therefore advisable to have both computers on the same workgroup before sharing files and printers.


Share an Internet Connection Between Two Computers

There are scenarios where you may want to share the same internet connection between two computers. For instance:


Situation A - You have setup a Wi-Fi network at home but your old desktop computer doesn’t have a wireless network card. In that case, you can use the laptop to connect to the internet wirelessly and then share that same connection with the desktop over a crossover Ethernet cable.

Situation B – You have a netbook with a built-in cellular data connection. You can share that connection with any another computer at home through the crossover Ethernet cable.

Situation C – You use a (slow) Wireless USB modem with your laptop computer while your desktop is connected to an ADSL Broadband line and there’s no router at home. For any bandwidth intensive tasks, like when you want to backup photos from your laptop to an online service, you can connect the laptop to the desktop and things will happen much faster.

OK, let’s look at the steps required for sharing an Internet connection.

First, if you only wish to share internet connection and not files, both computers need not belong to the same workgroup. All you need to do is to connect the two computers with the Ethernet crossover cable, and then turn on Internet connection sharing in the computer that already has an Internet connection. The instructions vary for different versions of Windows:

For Windows XP – Select “Network and Internet Connections” from the Control Panel and click “Network Connections.”





Right-click on the network connection you wish to share (the one connected to the internet), select Properties, click on the “Advanced” tab, and then check the box that says “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.” Click OK, and the second computer that you have connected to this computer with the Crossover Cable should have internet access now.


For Windows 7 and Vista – Open Control Panel, enter “network connections” in the search box on the top right and select “View Network Connections.”

Right-click on the network connection you wish to share (this must be the one connected to the internet) and select Properties. Select the "Sharing" tab and then check the option that says “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.” Click OK, and the other computer you have connected to this Windows 7 or Vista computer should have internet access now.

How to Protect your Gmail & Google Accounts from getting Hacked.

1. Log-in to your Gmail / Google Account and associate a phone number. This is useful because you’ll then receive an SMS text message whenever someone tries to recover your Google password.

2. Create a new email address (on say Yahoo! Mail or Gmail itself) and set this as the secondary email address for your existing Gmail and Google Accounts. Check for emails on this new account manually or through a desktop client via POP3 / IMAP but do not enable auto-forward for the new email address as the original purpose will be defeated.

3. Take a paper and write down the following information about your Google Account. You will need this to verify your identify to Google in case someone else takes over your Google Account and the secondary email address associated with your account.

* The month and year when your created your Gmail / Google Account. You can look at the last page of your Gmail Inbox (or go to Sent Items) to get an approximate idea of the date when you created the account.
* If you created a Gmail account by invitation, write the email address of the person who first sent you that invite for Gmail. Use a search query like "in:all has invited you to open a free Gmail account" to find that invitation email.
* The email addresses of your most frequently emailed contacts (the top 5).
* The names of any custom labels that you may have created in your Gmail account.
* The day/month/year when you started using various other Google services (like AdSense, Orkut, Blogger, etc.) that are associated with the Google account that you are trying to recover. If you’re not certain about some of the dates, provide your closest estimate*.

[*] For Analytics, look at the first date when it started collecting stats for your website(s). For Orkut, look at the last page of your scrapbook. For AdSense, you may take the help of your AdSense account manager.

4. It goes without saying but do not use the same password for your main Google / Gmail account and your secondary email address.

5. If you access Gmail and other Google services over a Wi-Fi network, make sure that you always use the secure URLs like https://gmail.com. Go to Gmail settings and set ‘Browser Connection’ to ‘Always use https.’ This might make your Gmail access a bit slower but your account will be more secure.

6. Once in a while, do refer to that little line in the footer section of your Gmail Inbox that shows the different IP addresses from where your account is being accessed. If you find an unknown IP address, change your Google password immediately. The person who hacked my Gmail accounts configured them with his Hotmail account so he could effectively read all my email communication remotely from his Hotmail inbox without ever logging into my Google account again. I could figure that out only after I saw an IP address from a Microsoft server in my Gmail activity log.

7. You should also consider copying emails from Gmail to another service (like Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail – it is effortless) so when your Gmail account is compromised, you at least have access to all your previous emails. Or you can configure a desktop email client like Outlook or Thunderbird with your Gmail account (via POP3 or IMAP) and thus you’ll have an automatic offline backup of your Gmail Inbox.

8. Do a test run. Log-out of all your Gmail / Google Accounts and initiate the password recovery process for each one of them using this form. This will help you make sure that your SMS settings and secondary email addresses are configured correctly.

For Google Apps users

9. You should always have a public email address on your website that others can use to contact you directly. This public email address will also help people find and connect with your on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. However, you should make sure that you don’t provide administrative privileges to this email address in Google Apps because if someone hijacks this account, he will effectively take over your Google Apps domain. Create a new user in Google Apps as an administrator and never share this username with anyone else.

10. If you have lost access to your Google Apps dashboard, you’ll have to create a new CNAME record pointing to google.com to verify that you are actual owner of that web domain. To reset the password for the administrator of your Google Apps domain via your domain hosting company, the URL is:

https://google.com/a/cpanel/xyx.com/VerifyAdminAccountPasswordReset

Replace xyz.com with your own domain address.

The Best Twitter Apps for your Mobile Phone

If you try accessing Twitter from the browser of a mobile phone, Twitter will automatically serve you the mobile-optimized version of their site. However, if in case Twitter fails to recognize your smartphone, you can manually type m.twitter.com to directly access the mobile site of Twitter from your phone.

The Best Mobile Applications for Twitter

Now that’s one way to use Twitter from your mobile phone. You also have a wide variety of mobile apps for Twitter that not only offer a much better experience than Twitter’s mobile site but they also integrate with some of your phone functions like the built-in camera. Have a look!

1. Twitter Apps for BlackBerry

1a. OpenBreak – Originally known as TwitterBerry, OpenBreak is one of the most popular Twitter apps for BlackBerry. You can take a picture with your BlackBerry camera and directly post it to Twitter via TwitPic or yfrog using TwitterBerry.

The app will automatically recognize #hashtags in the tweets and a notification icon will show you the number of new messages in your Twitter timeline just like your BlackBerry displays notifications for unread emails or missed calls.

1b. UberTwitter – Another popular Twitter client for BlackBerry, UberTwitter is location-aware so it can automatically update your location based on the cell tower information even if your BlackBerry phone doesn’t support GPS (like Google Latitude ). The latest beta of UberTwitter also includes support for Twitter Lists.

1c. Seesmic – With Seesmic, you can track all your saved searches and Twitter lists inside your BlackBerry phone. Just like most other BlackBerry apps, Seesmic can run in the background and notify you of new direct messages and @replies via the famililar notification icons.

2. Twitter Apps for Nokia Phones

2a. Tweets60 – As the name suggests, Tweets60 is a native Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones that is available in both free and pro versions. This application is primarily for users who just want to quickly update their own status on Twitter as well as follow what their other friends are saying on Twitter.
The pro version supports additional features like the ability to post images to TwitPic and follow search terms on Twitter.

2b. Gravity – Gravity is a hugely popular and powerful Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones. With Gravity, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts, save links from tweets to your delicious account, post pictures to any of the Twitter-friendly photo sharing site like TwitPic of YFrog and it obviously supports all the other Twitter functions like retweets, direct messages, favorites, etc.
You can download a 10-day trial version of Gravity from the Ovi Store.

2c. Snaptu – Snaptu is an all-in-one application that lets you manage your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and even your Google Picasa account from the mobile phone. Snaptu’s Twitter application provides all the basic Twitter functionality – status updates, direct messages, @replies – while their Facebook component lets you update statuses and you can also read and write messages using Facebook email.
Snaptu works with any Java-enabled mobile phone including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola models.

3. Twitter Apps for Windows Mobile

3a. Tiny Twitter – This is a free Twitter application for Windows Mobile that provides all the basic Twitter functionality. One of the unique features in Tiny Twitter is that you can temporarily suspend a Twitter user so that his tweets won’t appear in your timeline though he would still remain in your follow list.

3b. PockeTwit – This is another popular Twitter client for Windows Mobile with support for multiple accounts. You can take a picture from your camera and post it directly to Twitter via PockeTwit. The application features a nice sliding interface so you can drag the tweets to the left to see all the actions that you can take on that tweet. PockeTwit is free and open-source.

3c. Twikini – The app integrates with Windows Media Player so you can tweet the name of the song that you are currently listening to. Twikini can shrink URLs using Bit.ly or TinyURL so you have more space for text and it also displays Twitpic images inline. If you have a GPS enabled mobile phone, you can also add your location to the tweet with Twikini. The app costs $4.95 though a 14-day trial is available for free.

4. Twitter Apps for Android Phones
4a. Twidroid – This is probably the most popular Twitter app for Android phones – the basic version is free but you’ll have to get the PRO version in case you want to manage multiple Twitter accounts from the same application.

Twidroid supports all features of Twitter including Twitter lists. You can shake your Android phone to fetch the latest tweets but this again requires the pro edition.

4b. Seesmic – With Seesmic for Android, you can capture photos or record videos and share them on directly Twitter via yFrog. The app will also let you share you current location on Twitter. You can configure Seemic to notify you with a custom ringtone (or a blinking light) when there’s a new @reply or direct message for you on Twitter.

5. Twitter Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch

5a. Tweetdeck – TweetDeck is a brilliant application that you may use to manage both Facebook and your multiple Twitter accounts from the iPhone or iPod Touch.

The app will automatically sync with TweetDeck Desktop so if you have created any custom search columns on the desktop, they’ll also become available inside the mobile app (and vice-versa). Just shake your iPhone to check if there are any new updates.

5b. Tweetie – This $3 app is one of the most popular Twitter client for iPhone with a very impressive UI. There’s an offline mode so you can do things like reading past tweets, following new people, replying to tweets, etc. even without a data connection. You also get a bookmarklet that lets you post links from Safari directly to Twitter via the Tweetie app.

5c. Twittelator – One of the unique features of Twittelator is that it lets you record and tweet both audio and video clips from your iPhone. You can even tweet the name of the song that’s currently playing on your iPhone. The basic version of Twittelator is available for free on the iTunes store.

5d. Echofon – This is light-weight Twitter client for the iPhone that is free and supports nearly all the basic function of Twitter. The $5 pro version of Echofon supports push notifications so you’ll get an alert when another Twitter user sends you a direct message or mentions you in his or her tweet.

Screenshots of Twitter Mobile Apps

More ways to use Twitter on mobile phones

If you can’t find a decent Twitter application for your mobile phone, you should check out Dabr. This is like an improved version of Twitter’s mobile site.
Dabr will display a more detailed profile of Twitter users so you can quickly decide whether or not to follow a particular user. It will auto-convert Twitpic and other picture URLs into thumbnails so you can view images directly in your Twitter timeline without having to click the click. And since Dabr is a mobile website, you can use it from just about any mobile phone, not just a smartphone.

Another option is email. Just associate your Twitter account with Posterous and then you’ll be able to post updates on Twitter by sending emails to twitter@posterous.com. Whatever you put in the email subject will be converted into your Twitter status.

ATI Stream SDK v2.0 Released

AMD has released the production version of the ATI Stream SDK 2.0.

ATI Stream technology is a set of hardware and software technologies that enable AMD graphics processors (GPU), working in concert with the system's central processor (CPU), to accelerate many applications beyond just graphics. This enables better balanced platforms capable of running demanding computing tasks faster.

The ATI Stream Software Development Kit (SDK) is a complete development platform created by AMD to allow developers to develop applications accelerated by ATI Stream technology. The SDK allows the development applications in a high-level language, OpenCL (Open Computing Language).

OpenCL is an open and royalty-free programming standard for general-purpose computations on heterogeneous systems. OpenCL allows programmers to preserve their source code investment and target both multi-core CPUs and the latest GPUs, such as those from AMD.

What's New in v2.0

- First production release of ATI Stream SDK with OpenCL 1.0 support.
- New: Support for OpenCL ICD (Installable Client Driver).
- New: Support for atomic functions for 32-bit integers.
- New: Microsoft Visual Studio
2008-integrated ATI Stream Profiler performance analysis tool.
- Preview: Support for OpenCL / OpenGL interoperability.
- Preview: Support for OpenCL / Microsoft DirectX 10 interoperability.
- Preview: Support for double-precision floating point basic arithmetic in OpenCL C kernels.
- Updated OpenCL runtime to conditionally load ATI CAL runtime libraries to allow execution on compatible CPUs without ATI Catalyst installed.
- Updated OpenCL runtime to allow simultaneous use of OpenCL and ATI CAL APIs in a single user application.
- Updated cl.hpp from the Khronos OpenCL working group release.
- Various OpenCL compiler and runtime fixes and enhancements

For additional information and downloads
visit http://developer.amd.com/gpu/ATIStreamSDK/Pages/default.aspx

Asustek, Dell, Fujitsu Ship Notebooks Based on Intel's Latest Atom Processor

ASUS last week announced that its Eee PC Seashell Series of netbooks is to feature Intel?s second generation Atom platform. Dell updated its Inspiron Mini 10 series of notebooks, while Fujitsu proposes its new LifeBook MH380 notebook as an energy-efficient mobile platform.

Asus announced that its Eee PC Seashell Series of netbooks - which include the Eee PC Seashell 1005P, 1005PE and 1001P - is to feature Intel's second generation Atom platform, which was officially announced yesterday by Intel. The new Intel Atom processor N450 ? when used in concert with ASUS' exclusive Super Hybrid Engine technology - will substantially extend the battery lives of every model in the Seashell range, Asus claims. This will enable the Eee PC Seashell to deliver up to 14 hours of battery life on a single charge.

The updated Eee PC Seashell will feature dual operating systems, enabling it to boot into Windows 7 or Express Gate. The latter boots up in just 8 seconds, allowing users to surf the web, browse their photos, as well as chat and play games online almost instantaneously.

The Eee PC Seashell user experience is taken further with the ASUS Access service. Services such as the ASUS AP Bank, Game Park, ASUS @Vibe, ASUS Wi-Fi service, ASUS WebStorage, and ASUS Safeguard are accessible through the Access services shortcut preinstalled on all Eee PC Seashell netbooks. The extra 500GB of free ASUS WebStorage offers users drag-and-drop convenience when sharing files. It can also be configured to perform automatic back-ups, making computing easier than ever before.

Dell's proposal for energy efficient computing on the go includes the updated Inspiron Mini 10 netbook. Updates to the Mini 10 include optional high definition entertainment in addition to Web surfing, email, listening to music and sharing user-generated content in real time. Dell expects the redesigned Inspiron Mini 10 to be available the first part of January 2010.

The new design with 10.1-inch display includes a textured, smudge-resistant palm rest, sculpted keys and, for the Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle, extended-life battery offering up to 9.5 hours of operation. The Mini 10 can be personalized with a range of optional colors or hundreds of optional custom artwork designs available in the Dell Design Studio.

The Inspiron Mini 10 will be offered in the coming weeks in a selection of bundles with distinct features like an HD display, Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator, surround sound capability, built in HDTV tuner for over-the-air local HD broadcasts, or built-in Wi-Fi location enabled GPS.

Highlights:

- New Intel Atom N450 processor at 1.66 GHz
- 10.1-inch display with standard (1024x600) or High Definition (1366x768) display available in coming weeks
- Built-in speakers with available SRS Surround sound
- HDTV tuner and location-aware GPS configurations available in coming weeks
- Bundles with Broadcom Crystal HD for smooth HD playback coming in Q1
- Built-in 802.11 b/g wireless with available Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband
- 1GB DDR2 memory at 800MHz
- 160GB or 250GB hard disk drive storage
- Choice of 3 or 6-cell integrated battery with up to 9.5 hours of battery life (Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle only).
- Choice of Windows 7 Starter or Windows XP Home, Ubuntu operating system option available in the coming weeks
- Lightweight: Starting at about 2.75 ? 3.1 pounds with a 3-cell battery

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is expected to be available in early January from Dell and select configurations will be available in retail outlets worldwide in the coming weeks. Prices start at $299. Fujitsu will also introduce the new LifeBook MH380 Mini-Notebook based on the Intel Atom Processor N450 (code-named Pine Trail). The glossy, ruby-red LifeBook MH380 mini-notebook has a starting weight of just 2.97 pounds and sports a 10.1-inch high definition HD display, webcam, Bluetooth, large hard drive and standard six-cell battery offering up to seven hours of battery life. With Microsoft Windows 7 Starter as the operating system, the LifeBook MH380 mini-notebook offers computing in a lightweight, highly mobile configuration.

Fujitsu LifeBook MH380 Mini-Notebook Highlights

- 2.97-pound starting configuration
- Up to seven hours of battery life with standard six-cell battery
- New Intel Atom Processor N450
- Glossy ruby-red finish with chrome accents
- 10.1-inch HD display with 1366 x 768 maximum resolution
- 250 GB hard drive and 1 GB of RAM memory
- Windows 7 Starter with Microsoft Works 9.0 and Microsoft Office Home and Student 60-day trial
- Atheros(R) 802.11 b/g/n wireless
- 0/100 LAN card
- Integrated webcam and Bluetooth wireless

Priced at $449 for a fixed configuration. Available next month through the Fujitsu website and select retailers/e-tailers.

Corsair Releases Firmware With TRIM Support For Its Solid-State Drives

Corsair last week released a firmware with TRIM support and a firmware update tool for its Performance
Series P64, P128 and P256 solid-state drives.

The firmware (revisionVBM19C1Q) and update tool were both developed by Samsung, and have been qualified by both Samsung and Corsair using a large number of test platforms, in conjunction with a controlled end-user BETA test of the new firmware.

"This new firmware release for Corsair's Performance Series SSDs adds support for the TRIM performance-maintenance command in Microsoft Windows 7, further enhancing what are already some of the fastest and most respected SSDs on the market," said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing for Corsair. "While other SSD manufacturers have rushed out bug-ridden firmware and update tools, sometimes with disastrous consequences for end-users, Corsair refused to jump on the bandwagon. We took the time to rigorously test and quality our tools, ensuring that our users will have the best experience possible."

The new firmware and firmware update tool are available immediately from Corsair's Product Forum. CLICK ME The new firmware has been specifically designed to add support for the TRIM command in Windows 7, which enables the operating system to progressively 'clean' previously deleted or 'invalid' data from the drive's memory cells, automatically maintaining optimal performance over time. In addition to the end-user firmware update tool for existing owners, all new Corsair Performance Series solid-state drives currently have firmware VBM19C1Q pre-loaded by default.

VAT rate will revert back to 17.5% on 1st Jan 2010

The standard rate of VAT, which fell temporarily to 15% from 1 December 2008, is due to go back up to 17.5% on 1 January 2010.


This only applies to customers within the European Union.

From 1st January 2010 the UK VAT rate increases from 15% to 17.5%. Therefore the VAT rate at Rebel Gadgets Online PC Store will be adjusted to reflect this at 00:01GMT on 1st January 2010.

Many Bargains Available At Our New Online PC Store www.rebelgadgets.com

We are dedicated to offering the best customer service, excellent prices and fast deliveries. We spend quality time perfecting our offerings. Thus our customers enjoy the benefits of our hard work.

Our prices are inc. VAT, so the price you see for each item is what you pay plus delivery charge which is lowest you will find around.

'' We are No.1 Because we do what we say ''

Almost 90% of our prices are cheaper than other Retail Shops,

So it is always sensible to come check out us first to avoid disappointment and time waisting in searching El's where,

And if their is anything in particular you are interested in purchasing which is not on display like for instant a certain motherboard, processor e.t.c, then all you need to do is email us or phone in with your request so we can send you the best quote ''Price'' and have it in stock the next day ready for shipment once payment is made.

Thank You.