ASUS EEE NOTE EA800 PREVIEW

The Asus Eee Note EA800 is one of the most interesting devices to hit the market in 2010. the tablet / note-taking device is not yet available for purchase in the US, but it has started shipping in Taiwan.The Eee Note EA800 has an 8-inch 64-shade grayscale display. It is designed for note-taking. While popular tablets like iPad and Galaxy Tab have colorful multi-touch displays, the Eee Note uses

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ASUS TO LAUNCH G73SW AND G53SW GAMING LAPTOPS WITH SANDY BRIDGE PROCESSORS

Asus will soon launch two new gaming laptops with Intel's upcoming 2nd generation Core series processors, codenamed Sandy Bridge. Intel is expected to officially launch the Sandy Bridge platform at CES in January. The Asus G73SW and the G53SW have 17.3 inch and 15.6 inch displays respectively. They will both have Intel Core i7-2630QM quad-core processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M discrete graphics

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DELL TO LAUNCH LATITUDE 2120 WITH DUAL CORE ATOM PROCESSOR

The Dell Latitude netbooks are aimed at the education market. What makes them suitable for use in the classroom are their rubberized case and anti-microbial treatment.Dell has been giving minor updates to these netbooks for a while, and now sources report that the company will launch a new model called the Latitude 2120 at CES next week.The Dell Latitude 2120 will be available with an Intel Atom

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ASUS TO LAUNCH EP121, EP101, EP102 AND EP71 TABLETS AT CES

Like every other PC maker on the planet, Asus is also set to unveil a new line of tablet computers at CES next week. Asus released a teaser video of its 12.1 inch EP121 last week. A couple of days ago, the company also released some close-up shots of its tablets. We already knew that the EP121 will have a large display and a keyboard docking station although it is not clear whether that keyboard

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MSI TO LAUNCH WINDPAD 100A AND 100W ANDROID AND WINDOWS TABLETS AT CES

MSI has announced that it will launch two new tablets at CES next week. Both machines will have 10.1 inch displays. While one of the tablets has an ARM-based processor and runs Google Android, the other tablet runs Windows 7 on an x86 based processor.The Android tablet will be called MSI WindPad 100A. It will have a 10.1 inch multitouch display, GPS, G-Sensor, a digital compass and ALS light

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TOSHIBA ANNOUNCES NB550D WITH AMD ONTARIO PROCESSOR

AMD is all set to launch its Fusion line of processors which include the low power Ontario and Zacate chips. The Fusion processors are AMD's answer to Intel's Atom. They are quite power efficient and deliver significantly better performance than the Atom processors. Needless to say we will see lots of laptops sporting the brand new AMD chips at CES. But Toshiba it looks like is in no mood to wait

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GIGABYTE UNVEILS Q2005 NETBOOK WITH DUAL CORE ATOM PROCESSOR

Gigabyte has launched a new netbook called the Gigabyte Q2005. The device has a dual core Atom N550 processor. Unlike the Gigabyte T1005 convertible, the Q2005 doesn't have a touchscreen or swiveling display. The Gigabyte Q2005 also lacks the high resolution display found in the T1005. This model has a regular 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Other specifications include

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SAMSUNG COULD LAUNCH GALAXY TAB2 NEXT WEEK

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is one of the best-selling tablets on the market. Samsung has already sold 1.2 million Galaxy Tabs and is keen on expanding its share in the worldwide tablet market. Word is that Samsung is already working on the next version of the Galaxy Tab. What's more, the Galaxy Tab2 could be introduced as early as next week. It is not clear whether the new Galaxy Tab will have a

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MSI TO LAUNCH U270 LAPTOP WITH AMD ZACATE PROCESSOR

MSI hasn't had any major product release in 2010. The company did launch a few minor revisions of its existing netbook and laptop lineup, but that's all we heard from them in the last 12 months or so. But things are going to get exciting again. MSI is preparing to launch an 11.6 inch laptop called U270 with AMD's new Zacate processor in 2011. The AMD Zacate processor has a low power processor

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ASUS Primed to Release Sandy Bridge Laptops

ASUS is good and ready with Sandy Bridge being on desktops but it comes as no great surprise that the company would be trying to integrate Intel's latest technology into their mobile computing platforms as well. According to Notebook Italia, there seems to be some concrete evidence of four separate models of ASUS laptops getting the Sandy Bridge treatment, including a hefty gaming rig known as the G73SW.

According to information out now, the G73SW will be based on the Intel Quad Core processor with Huron River Sandy Bridge. The device will also have Intel Core i7-2630QM, 8GB of DDR3 RAM at 133MHz, a 17.3-inch LCD screen with 1920x1080 pixel resolution Full HD, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and USB 3.0 dual storage bays. Data storage can also be carried out by up to 2 hard drives. ASUS has decided to use two SATA 500GB 7200rpm signed Seagate Momentus XT series hybrid drives with a 4GB SSD.

Adding more to this already great device, ASUS is adding a Blu-ray drive and a dedicated graphics card in the form of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460m 1.5GB GDDR5 graphics card. The G73SW is available online for a price somewhere between $2,500 and $2,700. In addition to the G73SW news has also trickled out about the more compact G53SW.

This device is already available in some online shops and will come with an Intel Core i7-2630QM, 8GB of RAM, 1TB of data storage space on the hard disk, the GeForce GTX 460m graphics card, Blu-ray, webcam, microphone, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth and a 15.6-inch HD screen. Both of these devices run Windows 7 OS Home Premium 64bit and come with a carrying case, gaming mouse and guaranteed two year warranty. Alternately, you can get a lesser version of the G53SW which comes with 6GB of DDR3 RAM, 640GB of hard drive space and a DVD burner for around $1,700. Expect to see more details about these products at CES 2011.

Source: Engadget, Notebook Italia

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ONKYO TO LAUNCH 10 INCH ANDROID TABLET

Onkyo, the Japanese PC Maker,launched a whole line of Windows 7 tablets recently. And now the company has set its sight on the ubiquitous Android tablet space as well. PC Watch reports that Onkyo will soon launch a 10 inch tablet PC with a second generation NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. The device will run Android 2.2 operating system. The Onkyo tablet will have a 10.1 inch capacitive multitouch

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DELL STREAK 7 PASSES THROUGH FCC

The Dell Streak 7 has passed through the FCC. Although Dell has confirmed that it is building 7- and 10 inch tablets, it hasn't yet officially announced the Streak 7. Nevertheless, the little machine has been very much in news recently. Last week we saw it featuring in a leaked commercial treatment, then it earned its WiFi certification and yesterday some more photos of the tablet leaked out. And

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HP PAVILION DV6 SPOTED WITH INTEL SANDY BRIDGE PROCESSOR IN SINGAPORE

Intel will officially launch its Sandy Bridge processors at CES in January. And it looks like HP will be the first company to sell a laptop equipped with the new Sandy Bridge Core series processors. An HP Pavilion dv6 sporting the new processor has been spotted in an electronics store in Singapore. The new Pavilion dv6 has the same case design as the previous line of dv6 laptops. The only major

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ARCHOS 70 AND ARCHOS 101 TABLETS REVIEWED

Long before Apple and other PC Makers threw their hat into the tablet ring, Archos had been building tablet computers that were primarily designed for surfing the web on an all screen device. Archos still builds internet tablets and they are way cheaper than those tablets built by companies based in the US and Europe. Better still, Archos tablets also possess capacitive touchscreen displays,

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REFURBISHED 11.6 INCH MACBOOK AIR NOW SELLING FOR $849

Apple recently released an 11.6 inch version of their iconic MacBook Air. While the machine has a smaller display it isn't quite a netbook because netbooks are cheap computers. while the MacBook Air, at $999, is cheap for an Apple laptop, it isn't cheap by netbook standards. In fact, you can pick up two or three Atom powered Windows netbooks for that price. On the other hand, the MacBook Air has

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BENQ TO LAUNCH A 10 INCH ANDROID TABLET

BenQ is the latest PC maker to announce a tablet. The company doesn't usually sell its computers in the US or Europe, but they are available in Taiwan and China and some other parts of Asia. Now PC World reports that BenQ will launch an Android tablet in China and Taiwan in the first quarter of 2011. The BenQ R100 tablet will have a 10.1 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 600

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DELL STREAK 7 ANDROID TABLET COMING SOON

Dell has already announced that it is building 7- and 10 inch Android tablets. The company already has a 5 inch tablet PC called Dell Streak. While there is still no official launch date, it looks like the 7 inch model is getting close to its launch. Earlier this week the name Dell Streak 7 showed up on a website that makes cases for tablets. Shortly afterwards, the device earned its WiFi

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ACER ASPIRE ONE 522 SPOTTED WITH DUAL CORE AMD ONTARIO PROCESSOR

Acer has officially launched its Aspire One 522 netbook. The Aspire One 522 has a 1GHz AMD C-50 Ontario dual core APU which is a member of the AMD Fusion platform. Other specifications include integrated Radeon 6250 graphics with full DirectX 11 support and UVD3 for better hardware accelerated video. Acer claims that the laptop will get around 6 hours of battery life and that may be true because

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LENOVO LEPAD TABLET COMING SOON

Lenovo, it looks like, is all set to launch its upcoming LePad tablet in China. According to sources, Lenovo has started an official microblog in China which has a few shots of the tablet PC. At first glance, the LePad doesn't look all that different from a small notebook. But if you look closely, you will find that the machine has a detachable display. The display has its own processor and

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IN MEDIA LAUNCHES 'THE TABLET PC' WINDOWS TABLET

In Media has launched a new tablet PC which is simply called The Tablet PC. It runs the full version of Windows 7 so you can run most of the apps you are used to running on your PC. The In Media Tablet is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. It also has a large 160GB hard drive.The In Media Tablet has a 10 inch display with full touchscreen functionality. It has an HDMI output port for

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ASUS PROMISES 'EEE FOR EVERYONE' AT CES

Asus has promised an 'Eee for everyone' at CES 2011. The company will reportedly showcase 7-, 9-, 10- and 12- inch Android and Windows tablets at the trade show. Back in May Asus had announced a 12 inch tablet PC called EP121. It looks like this machine has been renamed Eee Slate. Back then it was called Eee Tablet.The Asus Eee Slate isn't your typical tablet PC.It runs Windows 7 and has a Core

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MICROSOFT TO ANNOUNCE WINDOWS FOR ARM CHIPS AT CES

Microsoft is expected to announce a version of the Windows operating system for ARM processors at CES in January. Of course, Microsoft hasn't commented on this rumor, but both Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal report that Windows for ARM chips is indeed coming. The proposed OS will support both ARM and x86 (Intel and AMD) based chips. Today's best smartphones and some hugely popular tablets (ipad

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HP / PALM TO LAUNCH THREE WEBOS TABLETS AT CES?

Fox News reports that HP/Palm will be showing off three new tablet computers at CES. The PalmPads, as these machines will be called, will run the webOS 2.5.1 operating system. They will look exactly like the HP Slate the company introduced a few weeks ago and that is quite intriguing.The tablets will also feature front and rear-facing (at 1.3 and 3 megapixels) cameras, USB 3.0 port, a mini HDMI

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VILIV TO LAUNCH X7,X10 AND X70 TABLETS AT CES

The closer we get to the CES, the more product announcements we hear. The latest company to announce that they will be launching new products at CES is Viliv. Viliv will showcase three new tablets - two Android tablets (X7 and X10) and one Windows tablet (X70) - at CES.As you can probably imagine from their names the Viliv X7 and X10 will have 7 and 10 inch displays respectively. The X10 will

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Digital Storm's New xm15 Gaming Laptop

Digital Storm has just announced their newest product, the xm15, a powerful new lightweight laptop based on NVIDIA's Optimus Hybrid Technology. The xm15 is a different kind of laptop that delivers targeted, extreme performance when you need it so you will always enjoy longer operation without losing the ability to enjoy the visual intensity of HD movies, multimedia applications, web surfing and gaming.

This laptop delivers high graphics for a variety of multimedia content due to NVIDIA's powerful GT 425M 1GB video card. By utilizing NVIDIA's Optimus Hybrid technology, this laptop can defer operation to a second separate integrated Intel graphics processor for less intensive applications. This switch happens automatically and seamlessly meaning that there is no interruption in operation.

By increasing and decreasing performance whenever necessary, the xm15 is able to extend battery life exponentially. The powerful video card in this device makes it not surprising at all that the xm15 has a 1080p HD LED screen that is capable of producing some truly incredible images.

The xm15 puts your benchmark tests to shame as well. It routinely scores above 7200 on 3DMark06 which puts it in the upper levels of laptop performance. Thanks to a built-in light speed eSATA and USB 3.0 transfer ports, you will never have to be tethered to stagnant bulk data. In addition to that, the xm15 comes with a built-in HDMI and VGA outputs, which means it can be taken anywhere and displayed everywhere.

According to Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development, "The power demands of high performance laptops have always put a strain on battery life. With the development of NVIDIA's Optimus Hybrid Technology, we're finally able to design an affordable laptop that can handle graphics intensive applications. Our xm15 is the ideal solution for customers who want to consume graphically rich multimedia content, game or just browse the internet...it's truly a hybrid in every definition of the word."

Full specs of the xm15 consist of a 2.4GHz Core i5-520M, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320GB HDD and NVIDIA's 425M 1GB graphics card for a base rate of $999. You can also increase your build to have a 2.53GHz Core i5-540M for $1,086 or a 2.8GHz Core i7-640M for $1,367.

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NEC TO LAUNCH DUAL SCREEN TABLET AT CES

NEC has announced that it will launch a dual screen Android tablet at CES in January. The device will have two 7 inch touchscreen displays, Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G capabilities and a stylus. It will be part of NEC's Cloud Communicator tablet lineup.Perhaps the most interesting thing about the tablet is its ability to run different apps on each display at the same time. NEC claims that this is an

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MOTOROLA TO SHOW OFF ITS ANDROID TABLET AT CES

Motorola has started building buzz about its upcoming Android tablet. The company released a teaser video yesterday which showcased a bee - maybe a metaphor for the Motorola tablet - and some existing tablets. Still there is little information that we already didn't know.We have already heard that the Motorola tablet will be one of the first devices to run Google's Android version called

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ASUS EEE PC 1008P GETS UPGRADED TO DUAL CORE ATOM N550 IN GERMANY

Asus, like most other PC makers, is expected to unveil new lines of netbooks and notebooks at CES. But right now, the company is busy upgrading some of its existing models. One of the machines the Eee PC 1008P has now been updated to a dual core Atom processor. For the time being, this model is only available in Germany.In the US the Eee PC 1008P Karim Rashid Edition which has a designer lid is

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EXOPC WINDOWS TABLET UP FOR PRE-ORDER IN THE US

The ExoPC tablet computer is now up for pre-order in the US. Microsoft Store has started taking pre-orders for the tablet for $699.For that price you will get an 11.6 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, an Intel Atom N450 processor, 64GB SSD, 2GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium. The biggest USP of the tablet, however, is its custom user interface which is designed

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NOTION INK RELEASES DEMO VIDEO FOR ADAM TABLET

Notion Ink has released a demo video for its upcoming Adam tablet computer. This is the first time the tablet has been captured in action. The Notion Ink Adam tablet has a NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, optional Pixel Qi display, reasonable price tag and a rotating camera. In the video, the Adam is shown running multiple applications simultaneously. The tablet has a custom user interface which allows

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E FUN NEXT3 ANDROID TABLET NOW UP FOR ORDER FOR $200

Yet another Android tablet has been announced in time for CES. The E FUN Next3 runs Android 2.1. Its specs are nothing remarkable to write home about. The tablet has an 8.4 inch resistive display with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. It is powered by a 600MHz Rockchip processor. Other specifications include WiFi 802.11b/g, 2GB of internal storage and an SD card slot. Of course, it is more of an

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ELOCITY A7 ANDROID TABLET DOESN'T HAVE TRUE MULTITOUCH

The eLocity A7 is an Android tablet PC with impressive hardware and an irresistible price tag. It is actually one of the first Android tablets available in the US to sport a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor and Android 2.2 operating system. What's more it is priced at $299. So far so good. Unfortunately there are a few downsides too. eLocity claims that the tablet has a capacitive display that

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GAMMATECH LAUNCHES D12C RUGGED CONVERTIBLE LAPTOP

The GammaTech D12C is a rugged convertible tablet style notebook. It doesn't look all that pretty, but is quite capable of getting the job done in unfavourable conditions. The D12C has a 12.1 inch LED backlit WXGA touchscreen display. It is powered by a Core i5-540UM processor. Other specifications include up to 8GB of memory, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, optional Bluetooth, optional smart card reader

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CTL 2GO CLASSMATE PC E11 UP FOR ORDER

The CTL 2Go Classmate PC E11 is now up for order. Like other netbooks from CTL, the Classmate PC E11 is also based on Intel's Classmate PC reference design. It is aimed at the education market.The Classmate E11 isn't all that cheap. The base model is priced at $445. For that price you will get an Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and Windows 7 Starter Edition. Other

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HANNSPREE ANDROID TABLET HITS THE FCC

A 10 inch Android tablet PC from Hannspree has hit the FCC which means that it is closer to its launch in the US. Hannspree has been talking about the device for a while. The machine has impressive specs including a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 16GB of storage, HDMI output port and a 3500mAh battery. It runs Android 2.2.The FCC has published documents related to the Hannspree HDG1164 tablet, as

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VELOCITY MICRO CRUZ T301 AND T103 TABLETS OVERVIEW

Velocity Micro has added another tablet to its lineup. The new Cruz T301 has a 7 inch display with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels which makes it ideal for reading webpages and ebooks. Incidentally the company also has another 7 inch tablet called Cruz T103. This model has an 800 x 480 pixels display which makes it good for watching widescreen movies.Both T103 and T301 run about $250. The Crux

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Color E-Books at the iBookstore

The New York Times has said that Apple is now making a huge push for the illustrated e-books that they have available in their iBookstore.

The newest version of Apple’s iPad e-reader software, iBook 1.2, was released on Wednesday, December 15, and it introduced more than 100 new color e-books to the store. The Times reported that these new color books include children’s books, cookbooks, and photo books.

A few of the titles that have made the list include: chef Thomas Keller's cookbook, "Ad Hoc at Home," several books from the "Olivia" children's book series, and photographer Ansel Adams' collection of images called "In the National Parks."

With the announcement Apple seems to be focusing a lot on the addition of illustrated children’s books. The Times said that the company seemed very excited about it as well as many different publishers.

Jon Anderson, publisher from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, said that his publishing company has been "itching to do it since e-books became possible." Unfortunately, for a while there was a lack of color options for e-books, but now there are endless possibilities. "It finally gives us the opportunity to have our picture books join the e-book revolution," said Anderson in an interview. "It gives us great opportunity to monetize our content in a way that we previously haven't been able to."

Simon & Schuster are releasing some great titles that will be included with the new color e-books released at the iBookstore. Some of these titles include: Candace Fleming's "Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Hide!", Elise Broach's "When Dinosaurs Came With Everything," and Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's "And Tango Makes Three."

The Times said that, according to Anderson, at the start of 2011 color e-books will begin to be released at the same exact time as the print edition of the book. Right now, this is already what has been going on for text-only e-books and their print versions, but soon it will apply to all e-books.

Apple told the Times that there will be many other publishers producing color e-books for the iBookstore in the near future. Just a few of these include: Disney Publishing, HarperCollins, the Hachette Book Group, and MacMillan and Workman Publishing.

This newest development for the iPad may cause some more issues for Amazon’s Kindle. The Kindle is equipped with an E-ink screen, which means that it cannot handle color. Apple’s iPad has been the preferred e-book reader by the majority of customers up to this point anyway, but this latest color development could cause even more distance between the sales numbers of the iPad and Kindle.

Apple’s new developments will most likely put some pressure on Amazon, and it could possibly result in a new color e-reader from the company.

Amazon has sold millions of Kindles, probably due to the E-ink screen featured on the device. The E-ink, backlit LCD screen featured on the Kindle makes it easy to read things on the tablet even in the bright sunlight, unlike the iPad and the Nook Color e-readers. Despite this great feature on the Kindle, they will definitely need to quickly look into developing a color e-book reader if they want to keep up with the other e-book readers available.

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CREATIVE ZIIO 10 ANDROID TABLET HITS FCC

The Creative ZiiO 10 Android tablet has hit the FCC. As the name itself suggests the ZiiO 10 has a 10 inch touchscreen display. The company's 7 inch tablet called Creative ZiiO 7 had hit the FCC a few weeks ago.Both tablets have more or less the same specifications. They are both powered by a ZMS-08 HD application processor. Other specifications include Creative X-Fi sound, WiFi 802.11b/g and

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OLIVETTI OLIPAD TABLET TO HAVE 10-INCH DISPLAY, ANDROID OS

Olivetti, the Italian company known for making typewriters and programmable calculators, has announced its plans to lauch a tablet. The machine will be called OliPad. Although, not a well known PC maker, Olivetti has also released some computers.The Olivetti Olipad is aimed at the enterprise market. It also has features that would attract the general public. The biggest USP of the tablet will be

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Safety Versus Security: We Want to Talk with You!

We invite you to participate in a wonderful learning conversation with our ninth grade honors classes on February 3, 2011. After studying the world of dystopian fiction through classics such as Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell’s 1984 and the modern response, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, our students will engage in an intense discussion as their final project. We are inviting you to participate to help our students examine how these works play an enormous part in their world today through such relevant issues as Homeland Security, government censorship, information leaks, and safety versus security, to name just a few.

Our students will participate in a fishbowl discussion with live blogging and we will Ustream out the fishbowl discussion live so that you can hear the in-class discussion while participating in the live blogging.

This is what we need from you:

•Sign up on the wiki. You’ll notice that we’re asking you to indicate which side of the security versus privacy fence you lean toward. We know this is not a black-and-white issue, but in the attempt to get diverse voices with differing opinions into our discussion, we’re going to try to get folks on both “sides” of that fence. So please do your best to put yourself on one “side” or the other for this discussion to help us do that.

We are looking for at least 3-4 participants per class period. The classes meet for 59 minutes. You can certainly sign up for more than one class if you are interested.

Period 2: 8:25-9:24 am MST

Period 3: 9:29-10:30 am MST

Period 4: 10:35- 11:34 am MST

Period 5: 12:14-1:12 pm MST

•You do not have to have read all the texts to be a participant, but a quick review of the texts and a familiarization of the issues would be helpful to keep up with our kids.

Our goal is not necessarily a debate, but a learning conversation for all parties involved. We don't want a winning group and a losing group, but a healthy discussion where we all walk away having learned something new. Thanks for your interest! If this is not your cup of tea, please consider passing this along to someone who might be interested.

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Google Cr-48 Chrome Netbook

Just because the official release of the cloud-based Chrome OS is still months away, it hasn't stopped Google from launching a massive pilot program. This program offers specially-chosen end users, Google employees and journalists, their own prototype Chrome netbook known as the Cr-48. The sad thing is that these 12.1-inch laptops will never be sold commercially, but they do offer an extremely detailed preview of what can be expected from the very first Chrome systems that will be launched mid-2011.

The Cr-48's are not nor will they ever be available to consumers, so it is safe to say that the current design and hardware will more than likely not be exactly the same. On the other hand, there are several interesting things about these test products that may inspire things in the final product.

The Cr-48 is very similar in design to the MacBook. The chassis is rounded and shaped like one of the plastic MacBooks from the last generation and both devices have roughly the same keyboard size, shape and layout. Heck, even the hinges are similar. The chassis is made of a soft, black rubberized material which makes it comfortable to lay your wrists on it. The size is also very convenient coming in at 11.8 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches which makes it easy to fit in a carrying case or on your lap. However, the weight seems a bit heavy for the size ration as this device comes in weighing around 3.8 pounds.

The isolated layout of the keyboard offers you good feedback and key placement which makes typing extremely simple, but users will notice that the keyboard is void of any function keys. Instead, the Cr-48 has dedicated keys for forward, back, refresh, full screen mode, change windows, increase brightness, decrease brightness, mute, increase audio, decrease audio and power on/off. The caps lock key has also been replaced by a search button due to the fact that Google says they wish to "discourage all-caps typing."

The keyboard also has a bunch of shortcuts that you would typically see on the Windows version of Chrome. These shortcuts include things like CTRL + H for your browser history, CTRL + W to close a tab and CTRL +/- for zoom in and out. If you want to see a full list of these commands, all you have to do is hit CTRL + ALT + ?. You won't find any buttons on the touch pad. However, like a majority of netbooks on today's market, the touch pad itself is, in fact, a button. Many people do not like clicky touch pads, especially if they like to scroll with one finger and click with another.

The Cr-48 has a 12.1-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800. This, as many of you probably already know, is extremely rare on netbooks but is a more than welcome addition. It allows plenty of vertical screen space for easy viewing of web pages and the matte surface of the screen allows the Cr-48 to provide very strong viewing angles to the left and the right.

The Cr-48 doesn't have a lot of ports on it unlike other devices. The right side of the netbook has an SD card reader as well as an audio jack and USB port. The left side includes a VGA port. Storage devices and memory cards work for uploading files to the cloud but do little else. The USB port also supports wired and wireless mouses.

If Google isn't trustworthy, then I don't know who is because, true to their word, the initial setup of the Cr-48 takes only a minute. After powering on the device for the very first time, you are prompted to configure your internet connection by selecting a Wi-Fi network. After this, you are asked to agree to the Google EULA and then to login with a Google account. Then you are given the option to take a personal picture with the integrated webcam which will, if you desire, accompany your login.

The one problem many people are reporting with the login is that the device does not recognize any login that is not followed by @gmail.com. Even if you use any number of accounts that are registered with Google, the Cr-48 will not recognize them. So, if you do not have a valid Gmail account, then you have hit a dead end in the login prompt because creating one during setup is impossible. If this happens, then you may need to log on to another computer that is not a Chrome-OS device and create a Gmail account ending in @gmail.com.

Google is definitely trying to shake things up in the netbook market with this device. A netbook designed completely around Chrome is a bold attempt, but if any company can do it, I'd put my money on Google. I mean, it is only a matter of time before they take over the world.

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VIEWSONIC G-TABLET NOW UP FOR PURCHASE

The ViewSonic G-Tablet is a 10.1 inch tablet PC running Android 2.2 operating system.It is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform with a dual core ARM Cortex A9 1GHz processor and GeForce graphics. There is also a dedicated 1080p HD video playback processor. Other specifications include 512MB DDR2 RAM, 16GB of internal Flash-based storage, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n, and a front facing 1.3 mega

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ACER ASPIRE ONE 721 UPGRADED WITH AMD K145 NILE PROCESSOR

AMD unveiled its Nile line of processors this summer. The AMD Nile processors are power efficient; they will not consume too much more power than the Intel Atom processor. What's more they deliver significantly better performance than Intel's Atom processors. And because these processors come bundled with the ATI Radeon 4225 graphics, they are also capable of handling HD video playback.The Nile

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BEST BUY NOW OFFERS THE DELL STREAK FOR $99.99; SAMSUNG LAUNCHES LUXURY EDITION OF GALAXY TAB

Best Buy is now offering the Dell Streak 5 inch Android tablet for $99.99 provided that you sign up for a 2 year service contract with AT&T. Interestingly, Best Buy had been charging $299.99 for the same tablet until now. So are Android tablets getting cheaper? Not really. While most Android tablets on the market are cheap, there are also a few that command premium price tags and these include

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MSI TO UNVEIL ITS WINDPAD TABLETS AT CES IN JANUARY

MSI will reportedly show off a 'new generation' of MSI WindPad tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. MSI has been working on Android and Windows tablets for a while.The company did show off a few tablets at CES in 2010, but they didn't make it to the market. MSI hasn't revealed a lot of details about the new models, but sources claim that there will be at least two

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DELL PRECISION M4600 AND M6600 LEAK

Dell is reportedly working on two mobile workstations - the Precision M4600 and the Precision M6600. The Dell Precision M4600 has a 15.6 inch LED backlit display with optional touch screen functionality. It is expected to replace the M4500. The graphics options available with this laptop include the AMD FirePro M5950 (1GB GDDR5), NVIDIA Quadro 1000M (2GB GDDR5) and Quadro 2000M (2GB GDDR5).The

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MOTOROLA ANDROID 3.0 TABLET SPECS LEAK

Last week, Google's Android boss Andy Rubin demoed the Motorola tablet running Android 3.0. He didn't reveal a lot of details regarding the tablet's hardware. Motorola hasn't revealed anything either, but a certain member of the Mobile01 forum has posted detailed specs and some pictures of the tablet. Of course, we need to take these details with a grain of salt. According to him, the Motorola

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SHARP GALAPAGOS TABLETS NOW AVAILABLE IN JAPAN

Sharp has started shipping its Galapagos tablets in Japan. The tablets are now available for purchase at computer and electronics stores. There are two models - one sporting a 5.5 inch touchscreen display and the other sporting a 10.8 inch touchscreen display.Although both models run Android operating system, Sharp is positioning the devices as ebook readers. The company also offers ebooks,

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Chrome OS and Android

Some people may wonder what the difference is between Google’s Chrome OS devices and their Android devices. For the longest time, I really wasn’t exactly sure myself, but for right now, it seems that the biggest difference is simply a keyboard.

Google’s Chrome OS seems to definitely be much more directed at netbooks and notebooks, while Android seems to be much more useful for the company’s vision of tablets. Linus Upson, the engineer director of both Chrome OS and Android, said in an interview that the company views the Chrome OS as “very focused on laptops.” This statement basically means that devices with a keyboard will be receiving the new OS.

"From a Chrome OS perspective, we're open source, you can look at everything," continued Upson in the interview. "We've done a whole range of mockups across a wide range of form factors.

Continued here: What's the Difference Between Chrome OS and Android?

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LENOVO IDEAPAD Y560P AND Y460P LAPTOPS COMING NEXT MONTH

Lenovo has announced two new entertainment laptops - the IdeaPad Y560p and Y460p. Both models have Intel's next generation Sandy Bridge Core series processors and new storage features. The Press release states that the 15.6 inch IdeaPad Y560p and the 14 inch Y460p will be available with up to second generation Core i7 processors, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 750GB hard drive space. Other

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COMPAQ PRESARIO CQ62-209WM LAPTOP OVERVIEW

The HP Compaq Presario CQ62-209wm is one of the cheapest dual core 15.6-inch notebooks available in the U.S at the moment.It has a 2.1GHz AMD Athlon II dual core P320 processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 integrated graphics. Other specifications include 3GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, DVD burner and a 6-cell battery.The Compaq Presario CQ62-209wm runs Windows 7 Home Premium operating

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GOOGLE'S CR-48 NOTEBOOK NOW SHIPPING TO BETA TESTERS

Google has started sending out demo units of its Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook to a select group of beta testers. The company unveiled the laptop a couple of days ago. Some of the beta testers who have received their units have already posted their first impressions and unboxing videos. Apparently the notebook has good build quality, but its battery doesn't sit flush with the bottom of the laptop.

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NOTION INK ADAM UP FOR PRE-ORDER; STARTS AT $375

If you have been waiting to pre-order Notion Ink Adam tablet we have some good news for you. The Indian startup has started taking pre-orders for its highly anticipated tablet. What's more, the tablet starts at just $375.33. Here is a quick run-down of the prices: * WiFi-only Adam tablet with standard LCD for $375.33 * 3G Adam tablet with standard LCD for $425.33 * WiFi-only Adam tablet

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SAMSUNG GLORIA 10 INCH WINDOWS TABLET WITH SLIDE-OUT KEYBOARD COMING?

Word is that Samsung is planning to launch a 10 inch tablet PC in March or April. Samsung has already sold over a million units of its 7 inch Android tablet called Galaxy Tab. Now that they have proved that they can indeed build and sell a tablet, they are keen on expanding their tablet lineup. The new model will reportedly run Windows 7. But that is not the most interesting thing about it.Plenty

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TOSHIBA TO LAUNCH TABLETS RUNNING WINDOWS 7, ANDROID AND GOOGLE CHROME

Toshiba isn't a new entrant to the tablet space. The company already sells an Android running 10 inch tablet called Toshiba Folio 100 in many countries. The Folio 100 may not have been just as successful as the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the legendary Apple iPad, but Toshiba is undeterred. Word is that the company is planning to expand its tablet line up. There will be three new models in all. Two of

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MEET CR-48: THE FIRST CHROME OS NETBOOK

Google has officially introduced the first netbook designed to run the upcoming Google Chrome operating system. The new Cr-48 is a 12 inch laptop with an Intel Atom processor. It isn't quite meant for the masses at the moment. Actually Google is planning to distribute a limited number of units to interested customers and businesses that will give feedback. To get a unit you need to apply to join

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TAIJI SHOWS OFF DUAL SCREEN WINDOWS TABLET WITH VIA PROCESSOR

Chinese computer maker Taiji Electronics has unveiled two new tablet-style computers. One of these machines called the Taiji T10A has a 10 inch touchscreen display, a 32GB SSD and a front-facing camera. It runs Windows 7 and is powered by a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor and VX700 graphics processor.The second computer has a more interesting design. Actually it has dual 8 inch touchscreen displays. It

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ANDROID 3.0 DEMOED ON UPCOMING MOTOROLA TABLET

Google won't release Honeycomb aka Android 3.0 until next year, but the company's Android boss Andy Rubin demoed the OS on the upcoming Motorola tablet at an event yesterday.Although most tablets on the market run Android, Google has always maintained that Android in its present form is not quite suitable for tablets. The Android 3.0, on the other hand, is specially optimized for tablets which

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Mac App Store Opening December 13th?

One of the biggest things people love about the iPhone, iPad and even the iPad Touch is the fact that they can go online and add hundreds of thousands of apps to their device if they want to. By opening up the App store, they can add games, wallpapers, tools or just about anything you could imagine to their device with a touch of the screen.

Well, news has been cuirculating recently that Apple is going to open up its very own, personalized app store, and thanks to recent news from Appletell, we may be getting the store sooner than we expected, a lot sooner.

According to Appletell, an inside source has claimed that Apple is targeting a Monday, December 13th launch of their Mac App Store. Apple supposedly told developers for apps featured on the Mac App Store to have their products ready to go as soon as December 6th, but that doesn't seem likely.

As for Apple, the company has yet to make any official announcement about this early release of the Mac App Store, and there is always the threat of delays. However, there has seemed to be a push to get the app store out before Christmas, which is well ahead of the previously stated January release date.

According to Appletell, the push is coming from none other than Steve Jobs himself. It was reported that Jobs wanted to go sooner than December 6th, but that obviously didn't happen. Nevertheless, Apple does seem to be way ahead of schedule on the Mac App Store.

Trying to hit the rush is a good idea, but many people are wondering how a digital software system will work as a Christmas present. Gift cards for the Mac App store are said to be coming out with the launch, which will make an excellent last second gift.

It is still very unclear if Apple will hit their target of a December 13th release date, or if this is actually true at all. If it is, and the company does meet their deadline, then there are going to be a lot of happy Mac fans come this holiday season.

A Copier Rental is a quick way to mass produce important documents for potential customers at an event or conference. Renting a Copier is simple and easy and it can also save you loads of time and money. Rentacomputer.com has been offering copier rentals to more than 1000 cities worldwide for over 20 years.

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RIM SHOWS OFF BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK UI

RIM's PlayBook tablet is not yet ready to ship, but the company has been showing off early prototypes for a while. Last week, Canadian wireless carrier Rogers announced its plans to offer the tablet and now some videos showing the tablet in action have emerged. We have already seen that the PlayBook can multitask like a champ. It can, for instance, run HD video in the background while you are

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GOOGLE LAUNCHES GOOGLE EBOOKS ONLINE BOOKSTORE

Google has launched a new online bookstore called Google eBooks and a series of apps designed to let you read eBooks on Android devices,iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or almost any computer with a web browser. You can download eBooks from Google eBooks as ePUB files with Adobe DRM which means that you can read them on a number of devices such as Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony Readers.Google has been

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DELL INSPIRON DUO KNOCKOFF SPOTTED IN CHINA

The Dell Inspiron Duo isn't the first convertible tablet style netbook, but it is the first convertible with a flipping bezel. The Duo hasn't started shipping yet, but ever since Dell introduced the concept, it has been getting a lot of attention. And now the tiny netbook has inspired a knockoff.A Chinese computer that looks somewhat like the Inspiron Duo has been spotted in the wild. This

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NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 540M LAPTOP GRAPHICS RELEASED

Nvidia has launched the GeForce GT 540M, which is the company’s first GeForce 500M series graphics for laptops.According to Nvidia, the mid-range GeForce GT 540M “delivers a significant increase in fill-rate and memory bandwidth”, while staying as power efficient as previous generation chips. The GPU is based on 40nm production process and has 96 processor cores and a 128-bit memory interface

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ASUS LAMBORGHINI EEE PC VX6 ULTRAPORTABLE GOES ON SALE IN THE US

The Asus Lamborghini VX6 has gone of sale in the US. Co-designed by Asus and car maker Lamborghini, the VX6 is a stylish laptop with a 12.1 inch display. It is powered by a 1.83GHz dual core Atom D525 processor which is usually found in nettops. Needless to say, it is faster than the dual core Atom N550 netbook processor. Other specifications include NVIDIA ION 2 graphics with Optimus automatic

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MEET EMACHINES EME528-2012 SUB-$400 15.6 INCH LAPTOP

Black Friday is over but that doesn't mean that you can't find good deals on laptops now. Plenty of budget laptops are still available. The eMachines eME528-2012 is one of them. It is actually one of the best selling laptops at Walmart. It has a sub-$400 price tag, a 15.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron 900 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. Other specifications include Intel GMA 4500M

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ASUS U36JC-A1 ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP UP FOR PRE-ORDER

Excaliber PC has started taking pre-orders for the Asus U36 ultraportable notebook in the US. This machine was introduced a couple of days ago.The model - U36JC-A1 - that is currently up for order has a 2.53GHz dual core standard voltage Core i5-460M processor and NVIDIA Optimus enabled GeForce G310M (1GB video RAM) discrete graphics. Other specifications include 4GB of RAM, a 500GB, 7200rpm hard

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SONY LAUNCHES BEST BUY EXCLUSIVE BLUE LABEL VAIO VPCS131FM/S

Sony has made another addition to the Best Buy exclusive Blue Label VAIO S 13.3 inch laptop series. The new model called VAIO VPCS131FM/S has a faster processor and a larger hard drive than its predecessor called VAIO VPCS111FM/S. It also has WiMAX and a longer battery life. The Sony VAIO VPCS131FM/S is powered by an Intel Core i5-460M processor clocking at 2.53GHz. It has a 640GB hard drive and

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GOOLE TO UNVEIL THE CHROME OS NETBOOK THIS WEEK?

Google could unveil its Chrome OS netbook on December 7th. The company is holding a press event in San Francisco on December 7 and is expected to reveal more details regarding the upcoming Chrome operating system and the rumored Chrome netbook.Google has been working on the Chrome OS for almost one year. It is a light weight operating system built around a web browser. Because it is lightweight,

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MOTOROLA WORKING ON 7 INCH AND 10 INCH TABLETS

Just about everybody is building a tablet these days and Motorola is no different. The company is working on a tablet, actually two tablets. These machines could run Google Android or Chrome operating system.While we still don't know detailed specs of the Motorola tablet, word is that there will be two models - one with a 7 inch display and the other with a 10 inch display.Much like the HP Slate

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FIRST LOOK AT THE EXOPC WINDOWS TABLET

The ExoPC is a Windows 7 tablet PC featuring a unique user interface designed to make Windows easier to use with your fingertips.The computer has an 11.6 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. Other specifications include 2GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. The tablet seems to have excellet build quality. The

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TOSHIBA LAUNCHES THE NB500 NETBOOK

It looks like the NB520 isn't the only 10 inch netbook Toshiba introduced yesterday. This model has a lesser cousin called NB500. The Toshiba NB500 has the same case design as the NB520. Both models are also available with colorful lid options. But while the NB520 is pricey and has some premium features including a dual core Atom processor and Harman Kardon speakers, the NB500 has pretty regular

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CTL INTRODUCES 2GOPAD SL10 PRO WINDOWS 7 TABLET PC

The CTL 2GoPad SL10 is a 10 inch Windows tablet that was well received by both users and reviewers. The machine is powered by an Intel Atom N450 processor. It has a capacitive touchscreen display and nice build quality. The 2GoPad SL10 is currently shipping, but the truth is that the company is having a tough time keeping it in stock.Now CTL has introduced yet another tablet. This machine called

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HP SLATE 500 WINDOWS TABLET NOW SHIPPING

The HP Slate 500 Windows 7 tablet PC has reportedly started shipping. HP isn't positioning its tablet as an iPad competitor. Rather, the company is targeting business users. The HP Slate 500 runs Windows 7 Professional and is capable of handling a variety of Windows apps. The tablet has a capacitive touchscreen and an active digitizer for pen input. While detailed reviews of the tablet are not

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ADOBE FLASH PLAYER 10.2 BETA VERSION LAUNCHED

A public beta version of Adobe Flash Player 10.2 is now available for download. The new version supports Adobe's new Stage Video API which provides better support for hardware video acceleration. What this means is that if your GPU supports the new version of Flash player, you will be able to watch HD videos without straining your CPU.Of course, netbooks with integrated graphics will not be able

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TOSHIBA RELEASES AUDIO-CENTRIC NB520 NETBOOK

Toshiba has unveiled a new netbook called the NB520. This machine features a dual core processor and a pair of Harman Kardon speakers built into the palm rest. The Toshiba NB520 is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 processor. Other specifications include 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and Windows 7 Starter operating system. The netbook is available in brown, lime green, sunlight copper and

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ASUS ANNOUNCES U36 ULTRAPORTABLE

Asus has announced a new ultraportable notebook called U36. The Asus U36 has a 13.3 inch LED backlit display. It is powered by an Intel Core i5-460M processor and NVIDIA GeForce 310M discrete grahics with 1GB of dedicated video memory. Other specifications include 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB, 7200 rpm hard drive, an HDMI port and one USB 3.0 port.The Asus U36 runs Windows 7 Home Premium. It supports

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ARCHOS GEN8 TABLETS GET ANDROID 2.2 UPDATE

Archos has released the Android 2.2 updates for its Gen8 tablets which include the Archos 28, Archos 32, Archos 43, Archos 70, and Archos 101. Some of those tablets are not yet available in the US.The update from Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 is expected to improve the performance of third party apps, thanks to the faster JIT compiler. It will also let you install apps that require Android 2.2 to

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GIGABYTE T1005 CONVERTIBLE LAPTOP REVIEW

In terms of looks, the Gigabyte T1005 isn't all that different from the T1028X convertible laptop, but under the hood it houses more powerful components. Like its predecessor, the T1028X, the T1005 also has a 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The display can be folded down over the keyboard for using the laptop in the tablet mode. But while the T1028X has a resistive

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Dell Vostro V130: A Fancier Vostro

Dell unleashed a brand new Vostro today in the form of the Vostro V130, the latest and most stunning addition to Dell's Vostro lineup of laptops. The V130 is designed with the wants and needs of on-the-go entrepreneurs in its cross-hairs. This new device combines great style with reliable durability as well as top notch security as an added bonus. What is better about the V130 is that it is one of the thinnest laptops in the series, measuring 0.65", and also one of the lightest, weighing in at only 3.5 pounds.

There is a lot to boast about with the V130. The laptop is a 13-inch model constructed from sturdy aluminum which is reinforced with zinc hinges and a magnesium alloy palm rest. The V130 is also the very first ultra-thin laptop to offer Hyperbaric Cooling, allowing it to stay quieter and cooler than most other laptops.

To increase the productivity of the V130, the laptop is able to run Windows 7 with ease while at the same time performing everyday tasks effortlessly due to the new Intel Core ULV processor. The V130 also comes equipped with a full keyboard and a 13.3-inch HD WLED display as well as a host of other features. Users are able to choose their own level of 24/7 coverage with optional Dell ProSupport services and even Accidental Damage Services2. In addition to that, users can also get help with DellConnect 3. This allows tech-support agents to troubleshoot your system and even repair it remotely.

According to Vice President of Small and Medium Business Research at IDC, Ray Boggs, "Small and mid-sized firms are re-examining their IT needs and are ready to implement technology that gives them comprehensive access to all the capabilities they need, even while on the road. Notebook PCs are on SMB shopping lists in a big way as firms shift from desktops and implement product refreshes that have long been delayed. Dell continues to keep SMB needs in focus with effective design, connectivity options and more processing muscle."

The V130 is not only being hailed as an all around great laptop but also as the perfect laptop for small businesses around the country. The Vostro V130 laptop from Dell, being praised as the best in the entire Vostro series, cleans up a lot of issues people had with the first version, the Dell Vostro V13. Small business owners should definitely take a look at this device if an ultra portable on the go laptop is something they have been looking for. The Vostro V130 from Dell is available now for a starting price of $429.

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ASUS EEE NOTE EA-800 TO GO FOR $230 IN TAIWAN

Asus has announced that its Eee Note EA-800 note taking device will retail for $230 in Taiwan starting this week. It was only last week that the device got a proper name. The Eee Note is the same machine as the Eee Tablet. But since the name Eee Tablet didn't quite suit a device that isn't quite a tablet Asus decided to rename the device. At $230, the Eee Note is quite attractively priced. It has

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DELL LAUNCHES VOSTRO V130 ULTRAPORTABLE WITH CORE SERIES ULV PROCESSORS

Dell has made a new addition to its Vostro laptop line. The new Dell Vostro V130 is a refresh to the original Vostro V13. Like its predecessor, the new model also has a magnesium alloy chassis. Incidentally, the Vostro V130 is the lightest 13 inch ultraportable laptop available at the moment. It is available in Lucerne Red and Aberdeen Silver. What's more, the new Vostro V130 is also the first

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SHARP GALAPAGOS TABLETS TO DEBUT IN JAPAN ON DECEMBER 10

Sharp has announced the launch date and pricing for its upcoming Galapagos tablets in Japan. There are two machines - one sporting a 5.5 inch display and the other sporting a 10.8 inch display. Both models run Android. They will go on sale in Japan on December 10th for the local equivalent of about $480 and $650 respectively. Prices may drop when the tablets make their debut in the US.The 10.8

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HP G62M CYBER MONDAY LAPTOP OVERVIEW

The HP G62M notebook computer has arrived just in time for the holiday shopping season. Great deals are currently available on the laptop. If you purchase the machine from HP Home now you will get it for just $349.99. The laptop usually retails for $449.99.The HP G62M has a 15.6 inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It is powered by an Intel Celeron 900 processor. The laptop also

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LAPTOPS SPORTING INTEL'S NEXT GEN CORE SERIES PROCESSORS SPOTTED

A couple of laptops sporting Intel's upcoming 2nd generation Core series processors have been spotted in the wild.These machines are scheduled for release on January 5th, 2011 during the CES show.The laptops in question include the Acer Aspire 17.3 inch model and the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560P. Both notebooks have Intel Core i7-2630QM (quad-core) processor and AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6550M discrete

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New Social Media-Focused Netbook Released

A new social media-focused netbook was released in the UK on Wednesday, November 24th. The developers of Jolicloud, a popular version of Linux that was first introduced in 2008, have just released their own netbook. The Jolibook by Vye was specifically designed to cater to users who mostly utilize their PC for their many different social media needs ranging from social networking to watching movies or YouTube videos.

Fortunate for individuals in the U.S. who are interested in such a social media netbook, Jolicloud’s Web site advertises that the netbook, which is £279.99, (roughly $380 in the United States) is available in the “UK only for now.” This insinuates that there will most likely be a global push of the netbook sometime soon.

What really makes the Jolibook stand out from the crowd of 10.1-inch netbooks available right now is not just its social media focus, but also its Jolicloud OS. If you currently have Google Chrome, you can sign up for a sample browser version of the OS. The browser version is what some would describe as a “glorified bookmark.” You can easily add different shortcuts to things like Twitter, Facebook, Farmville, New York Times Skimmer, etc., and you can also download apps that will open up new tabs to multiple other pages at once. Basically, you can have all of your favorite Web services in an easily-accessible layout that even gives you the ability to explore and find new apps that you are unfamiliar with.

Another interesting app with Jolicloud allows you to add other Jolicloud users to your streaming feed. When you do this, you will then be able to see the different apps that they have used and enjoyed that you might be interested in. On top of that, there is also local and Web-based storage with Jolicloud. It links you to various services that you can store your data with like Box.net, Dropbox, and ZumoDrive.

The Jolibook has a very chic, stylish, eye-catching design that is sure to appeal to a younger audience, possibly ranging somewhere from 15 to 25 years old. Despite the flashy lid of the netbook, the inside is a pretty standard design. The keyboard keys are spaced out at a very comfortable distance, but unfortunately, at times the touchpad on the device can be a little jumpy.

On the inside the Jolibook features 1024 x 600 resolution, an Intel GMA 3150 graphics card, 1 GB of DDR3 memory, a 1.5-GHz Intel Atom N550 processor, and a 250GB hard drive. The battery is supposed to last up to seven hours (which most likely is a slightly inflated number), and the netbook features a variety of ports including: 3 USB 2.0 ports, an 8-in-1 card reader, VGA port, Eathernet port, Bluetooth v2.1, built-in 300k pixel web cam, and microphone and headphone jack.

Performance-wise, the Jolibook is incredibly quick, much faster than any available Windows system, and can boot up from being cold within 20 seconds.

Although as of right now the Jolibook is only available in the UK, it seems as though it will be available in the U.S. and other countries sometime in the near future. It is definitely a great portable device for teens and younger adults. It has great features, decent battery life, a web cam, and the oh so very intriguing Jolicloud OS. If you’re looking for a snazzy, artsy-looking netbook that is jam-packed with all the features you could possible need to handle all of your social media cravings and needs, then the Jolibook is the netbook for you. For more information you should check out Jolicloud’s official website.

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DELL INSPIRON MINI 1018-iM1018-2628OBK NOW FREE AT MICROSOFT STORE

Microsoft Store has started offering the Dell Inspiron Mini 1018-iM1018-2628OBK netbook for free. Now here is the catch. To get the laptop free of cost, you have to purchase the Office Home and Business 2010 suite which is priced at $279.99. The offer is valid through Cyber Monday which falls on November 29th.The Inspiron Mini 1018-iM1018-2628OBK has a 10.1 inch LED backlit display with a

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CYBER MONDAY LAPTOP DEALS 2010

Black Friday may have ended, but you can still get great deals on notebooks and netbooks, thanks to Cyber Monday. Some of these deals are already available, others will kick in on Monday, November 29th. Here is a quick roundup.HP Compaq Presario CQ62Z - 15.6 inch, AMD V-Series V140 processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 4250, Windows 7 Home Premium - Price: $349.99 - HP HomeHP G62m Series

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JOLICLOUD JOLIBOOK REVIEWED

Now that the Jolicloud Jolibook has gone on sale in the UK, we are starting to see reviews pop up. The Jolicloud Jolibook is the first netbook to ship with the Jolicloud operating system. The Jolibook is not yet available for purchase in the US, but Engadget's Joanna Stern has published a detailed review of the netbook. Long story short, the hardware is pretty standard. It is neither better nor

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BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK PRICING TO START AT $399?

RIM is yet to announce the official pricing for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, but we have been hearing that it will be very competitively priced. In fact, at least some of the models are expected to sell for under $500 and that makes sense. The WiFi only iPad is priced at $499. While there is still no official word on pricing, the 8GB model of the tablet will reportedly sell for $399.

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DELL INSPIRON DUO THE INNOVATIVE CONVERTIBLE

Dell Inspiron Duo Convertible NetbookHave you ever seen your laptop screen turning upside down and flip from touch to type within seconds? So now is the time when your imagination will get to real. Still in labs for the release, the new Dell Inspiron Duo is a technology at its best with new innovational features and specifications bestowed in it. It happens many times that you don’t feel like

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BLACK FRIDAY DEALS ON NETBOOKS AND LAPTOPS

It is Black Friday in the US today. The busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday marks the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. Needless to say, you get great discounts on a lot of goodies on this day. Here is a quick roundup of the best Black Friday deals we have come across. Note that most of these deals are only available in stores. Many of them are valid only today and

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ACER WINDOWS 7 TABLET TO HAVE AMD ONTARIO PROCESSOR

According to Digitimes, the upcoming Acer Windows 7 tablet will be powered by an AMD Ontario processor. Acer has already announced that its tablet would use a next generation AMD processor but the company hasn’t named the processor yet.The AMD Ontario processor is based on the Bobcat core. It will come bundled with the Radeon HD 6250 integrated graphics. It is one of the first Fusion processors

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RADIO SHACK TO SELL THE ACER ASPIRE ONE AO255-2331 BLACK FRIDAY NETBOOK FOR $180

Radio Shack will be selling the Acer Aspire One AOD255-2331 netbook in its stores on Black Friday for $180. The retailer usually sells the netbook for $279.99. The Aspire One AOD255-2331 is a 10.1 inch netbook. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 single core processor. The netbook also has 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB hard drive, a built-in webcam and Intel GMA 3150 integrated graphics.The Aspire One

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$298 WALMART EXCLUSIVE HP G56-129WM BLACK FRIDAY LAPTOP OVERVIEW

Walmart has announced that it will sell the 15.6 inch HP G56-129WM for just $298 on Black Friday. The budget friendly HP G56-129WM has a 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900 single-core processor, Intel GMA 4500M integrated graphics, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a 6-cell battery and DVD burner. The 15.6 inch display has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The laptop runs Windows 7 Home Premium

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ASUS N53JF-XE1 ENTERTAINMENT LAPTOP NOW AVAILABLE IN THE US

The Asus N53JF 15.6 inch entertainment laptop has started shipping in the US. Newegg has started selling the N53JF-XE1 model with a 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 460M processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M discrete graphics with 1GB of dedicated video card. Other specifications include 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive, a Blu-ray combo drive and Windows 7 Home Premium OS.While the product page of the

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TOSHIBA SATELLITE A660-BT2G23 LAPTOP OVERVIEW

The Toshiba Satellite A660-BT2G23 is one of the best selling Toshiba laptops ever. It is a high-performance 16 inch multimedia laptop powered by an Intel Core i7-740QM quad-core processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M discrete graphics with 1GB of dedicated video RAM. The Satellite A660-BT2G23 also has up to 8GB of RAM, up to 640GB of storage space and a DVD burner / Blu-ray combo or a Blu-ray

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ACER TO LAUNCH 10 INCH AMD-POWERED WINDOWS TABLET IN FEBRUARY

Acer introduced five new laptops and tablet computers yesterday. One of them is a 10 inch Windows tablet due out early next year. Complete specs of the device are not yet available, but it will have 10.1 inch HD display. The tablet will measure about 0.6 inches in thickness and weigh less than 2.2 pounds. The tablet will also have WiFi, 3G and a pair of 1.3 megapixel cameras - one on the front

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ASUS EEE NOTE EA800 GETS OFFICIAL

Asus has officially renamed its Eee Tablet note taking device. And the new name - Eee Note - sounds more sensible than the old one.The Asus Eee Note EA800 has an 8 inch grayscale display with a resolution of 768 x 1024 pixels. The Wacom touchscreen works well with a stylus. What's more, it can recognize 256 levels of pressure which should make writing and drawing more precise. The Eee Note EA800

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Apple Mac Book Air 2010 Gets the Colorware Treatment

Do you smell that? It smells like fresh baked cookies and crazy packed shopping malls. That's right, it's the holidays again and many people will be scouring the stores for the best holiday gifts they can find for that special someone in their life. One of the most popular gifts many people will be asking for is none other than the Mac Book Air from Apple.

Now what many of you may already know is that the Mac Book Air is a great laptop, but it doesn't look that exciting. There isn't anything about it that makes it look any better than any other laptop out there.......until now. Thanks to Colorware, Mac Book aficionados can feel even more like an individual.

If you are looking to acquire a Mac Book Air 2010, it can be custom tailored to your specific color specifications. The only thing Colorware asks in return is a measly $1,850. Sure, many of you out there can make fun of the price and say how "expensive" it is but let's be honest, that isn't that much for a completely customized Mac Book Air 2010.

There is one, big resounding problem with this option from Colorware. Should you be one of the fortunate fancy pants out there who already owns a Mac Book Air 2010 you can not send it into Colorware to be refinished. You have to buy a completely brand new device from Colorware themselves. Customers have the option of buying the 11.6-inch model or the 13-inch model, whichever floats their boat. (Update - You can now send in your Macbook Air Design Studio for colorization.)

The devices that Colorware already has on display for their customizations are really cool-looking and to me it seems like they are really worth it. But then again the choice is up to you. However, they may make a great Christmas present.

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VELOCITY MICRO CRUZ TABLET NOW SHIPPING FOR $300

The Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet is a 7 inch Android tablet with some really impressive features. There are a few drawbacks too. The Cruz Tablet was introduced a couple of months ago and has now started shipping. Its 7 inch capacitive touchscreen display has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The tablet runs Google Android 2.1. Other specifications include 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, an 8GB SD

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DELL INSPIRON DUO UP FOR PRE-ORDER AT MICROSOFT STORE

The Dell Inspiron Duo convertible tablet / netbook hybrid is now up for pre-order from Microsoft Store. The laptop is going for $549, but you will need to pay an extra $99 if you want Microsoft's 'Signature Premium' service which will provide priority tech support and a theft recovery system.The Inspiron Duo is a 10.1 inch convertible tablet with a 1366 x 768 pixel capacitive touchscreen display.

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LG LAUNCHES E-NOTE H1000B WINDOWS 7 TABLET IN KOREA

The LG E-Note H1000B is a tablet computer with a 10.1 inch resistive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It runs Windows 7 Starter Edition. The tablet is powered by a 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z510 or a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor. Other specifications include 1GB of RAM and a 16GB solid state disk.The LG E-Note hit the FCC website a few weeks ago, but LG hasn't made any

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MEET HALERON H97: THE IPAD CLONE THAT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE IPAD

Over the last few months we have seen plenty of iPad clones. The latest to join the band is the Haleron H97. What is interesting about this machine is that it looks exactly like the iPad. The tablet, for instance, has the same home button at the bottom of the display. It also features a curved design on the back just like the iPad.The hardware is different. Haleron says that its tablet has VGA,

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NOTION INK ADAM DUE OUT IN JANUARY; TO FEATURE A SCRATCH RESISTANT DISPLAY

Haven't we been hearing about the Notion Ink Adam tablet for ages? Well, the product is not yet ready to ship, but it is on its way. Notion Ink's Rohan Shravan says that the tablet is due out in January. In a weekend blog series he also revealed several interesting details about the tablet. The Adam tablet will have a matte, scratch-resistant display. To prevent color distortions the company has

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HP LAUNCHES BUDGET FRIENDLY G62X AND G62T NOTEBOOKS

HP has released a new line of budget friendly notebooks. The new HP G62x series laptops feature 15.6 inch displays. Two models are available - the G62x and the G62t.According to the HP website, the G62x is designed for business users. It is powered by a Core i3 processor. The consumer-oriented G62t, on the other hand, is available with your choice of an Intel Pentium or Core i5 processors. The

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HP MINI 1103 VS HP MINI 210

The HP Mini 1103 is the newest business netbook from HP. Starting at $299, it is also the cheapest among HP's business netbooks. The HP Mini 1103 has the same basic case design as the Mini 210. There are a handful of minor differences, though.The HP Mini 1103 is only available in solid black. The Mini 210 is available with more color options. The Mini 1103 has a glossy lid, whereas the Mini 210

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$399 IPAD COMING TO TJ MAXX AND MARSHALLS FOR BLACK FRIDAY

In what could probably be the most interesting Black Friday offer we have come across this year, the clothing stores TJ Maxx and Marshalls have announced that they will be offering the WiFi only Apple iPad for just $399 on Black Friday at select locations.The WiFi only iPad usually starts at $499. Even refurbished models sell for more than $400 making this the best price for iPad.TJ Maxx and

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DELL INSPIRON DUO CONVERTIBLE TABLET TO START AT $549

Contrary to what we heard a couple of days ago, the Dell Inspiron Duo isn't coming next week. You will have to wait a little longer to get your hands on this convertible tablet style netbook.Dell has announced that the Duo will start shipping in the first week of December. It will have a starting price of $549.The Dell Inspiron Duo has a 10.1 inch display. It is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Atom

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ACER ASPIRE 1430 THIN AND LIGHT LAPTOP MAKES QUIET DEBUT

Acer has quietly unveiled its Aspire 1430 thin and light laptop. The Aspire 1430 has an 11.6 inch display. It is already up on the Acer website, but surprisingly Acer hasn't made any official announcement so far.The Acer Aspire 1430 has impressive specs. It is powered by a 1GHz Intel Core i5-520UM processor. The 11.6 inch display has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Other specifications include

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Parent classroom communication

One of the goals I set for myself this year was to be a better communicator with the parents of my all boys’ class. I picked this class since they are my biggest strugglers and tend to need the most support from me and from home.

With my own kids, as they progress through school, I hear less and less out of their mouths about what happened during the school day. The primary focus of our conversations is usually what they did during recess not what learning took place in the classrooms. Their teachers however provide me a connection to the learning in the classroom through parent letters. I really enjoy hearing about activities in the classroom, upcoming work that we need to support at home, and interesting ways I too can help in the classroom.

Thinking that my boys in my 9th grade classroom are similar to my own children with the lack of revealing truths about what is occurring each day in C-11, I decided to employ my own version of the parent letter home to my 9th grade parents. At the beginning of the year, it was more of an introduction to me, and to our class expectations especially the No D policy. As the year has progressed, it has proven valuable to communicate about writing:

Assignments:
Also, we are still working through vocabulary with each week focusing on a new word. The list is available on our class webpage. We review the word on Monday and Wednesday completing our note cards. On Friday, the young men are expected to turn in their vocab card, and apply the word to a piece of writing. (http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=YzfP5Kwh3HQ%3d&tabid=1923 )

Big projects:
As for the final project for our class, the young men will be writing, publishing and delivering a speech based on National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” (http://thisibelieve.org/ ) segment. If that is not scary enough, I have also told all the young men, that I am going to be broadcasting out their final to you via U-Stream (http://www.ustream.tv/) so that you can watch them present their final-LIVE! I will have more details on this as the time gets closer; for now, I would make sure they are writing, revising, revising some more, and then practicing.

Grades:
Next week marks the end of the second six weeks, and that means all work from the second six weeks is due by next Friday. There are a few major projects we have completed during this time. The young gentlemen in my class have been reminded that they can redo their short story essay (http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=-AVgKJNxB7g%3d&tabid=1923 )and Into the Wild essay (http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Qtx_Q_isIaw%3d&tabid=1923) by either coming in to see me, or going into writing lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once they have met those expectations, they can rewrite their essay submitting their original, edited and finalized drafts.

And methods of support:
With the end of the six weeks behind us, we are starting fresh in class with a new six weeks to be successful. Some of the young men are already falling behind, and so I wanted to keep you up-to-date on what we are doing. Right now, we are reading Into the Wild. Accompanying our novel, we have read a short story from Jack London called "To Build a Fire"(http://www.enotes.com/classic-american-short-stories-text/build-fire-1) and a short excerpt from Thoreau's Walden (http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden11.html - paragraph one only). I am attaching both of those so that you can read them as well. While we are reading, we are working on annotating our texts- actually writing down our thoughts, connections from this text to ourselves, to other texts, to the world, and asking good questions (i.e. "What is Krakauer's purpose intelling us about the death of Chris so early in the story?, why does Chris choose to abandon his family? What matters to Chris?).

Annotations are incredibly important for the young men in order to develop their critical thinking and cognitive abilities. I would encourage the young men to work on their annotations at home. We stop and annotate frequently in class so it would be important for them to continue this skill at home. We want them to be active readers, not passive readers.

With Google Earth (http://www.google.com/earth/index.html), your child should have four posts by Monday. The posts are about what we are reading and thinking. We are still working on writing good, effective paragraphs so three of their entries are in paragraph format (complete topic sentencesincluding title, author, restate question, answer question and why, background on story, clear examples with explanations, and concluding sentences).

I have received such positive praise from my 9th grade parents about this additional source of information and insight into our classroom. Now, I would love to do this with all my classes, but I don’t have anymore than the little time that I allow for myself to write these bi-monthly letters. As much as I relish the insight into my children’s classrooms, I know that the parents of my own students feel the same way. Through an easy letter, explanations, and links, I have opened up the door for further conversation and participation in my classroom.

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PEEWEE PC LAUNCHES PIVOT 2.0 CONVERTIBLE FOR STUDENTS

PeeWee PC has launched a new convertible tablet style netbook for students. The PeeWee Pivot 2.0 convertible seems to be based on Intel's Classmate PC reference design and that probably explains why it looks like the CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC. The PeeWee Pivot has a 10.1 inch resistive touchscreen display which can be folded down over the keyboard for use in the tablet mode. The standard

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JOLICLOUD JOLIBOOK MAY LAUNCH IN THE UK ON FRIDAY

Jolicloud will soon start selling a netbook called Jolibook... perhaps real soon.The Wall Street Journal reports that the netbook will start shipping in the UK on Friday. Jolicloud will release the netbook in other countries afterwards. The Jolicloud Jolibook is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor. It runs the Linux-based Jolicloud operating system which is designed to run on

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GIGABYTE T1125 CONVERTIBLE TABLET TO COST $1100 AND UP

The Gigabyte T1125 convertible tablet PC passed through the FCC this week. While the mini-laptop has been available in some parts of the world since early this year, it is hasn't started shipping in the US yet. That is going to change. Word is that the T1125 will hit the US market before the end of this year. Now here is a piece of bad news. The machine isn't going to be cheap. The Gigabyte T1125

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PeeWee Pivot 2.0

Children are naturally curious. Most of the time when they see an adult, whether it be a parent or whatever, they generally want to copy or mimic what they see. I can't tell you how many times I have witnessed my younger cousins pretending to talk on the phone or play with an iPod. While their general curiosity is cute, I can't say that it doesn't get me a little on edge when I see the little buggers looking at my laptop or phone with eager anticipation.

Most people are very reserved about handing over expensive pieces of technology to younger individuals. The tendency of young children to find a way to break something expensive or valuable is something that makes people think twice before letting their kid play on their laptop. That is why the company PeeWee exists. PeeWee is one of the leading manufacturers of computer products and accessories, and they have just announced the availability of the all new Pivot 2.0 laptop.

The Pivot 2.0 is rugged, durable and lightweight and it is also fully loaded and features a 180° rotating touchscreen tablet and camera, 15 educational games, Microsoft XP Home, Intel Atom N450 processor, retractable carrying handle and a water resistant keyboard. The Pivot 2.0 features a durable exterior case as well as incredible security protection. The sturdy plastic shell, rubber slip-resistant grips and water resistant keyboard are all perfect features for a child's laptop.

The Pivot 2.0 is able to withstand the everyday hustle and bustle of a kid including traveling to and from school, playing in the car or just relaxing at home. To ensure maximum safety and protection, the Pivot 2.0 comes standard with two security software suites. PeeWee Patrol and Privacy has the ability to limit how much time the children spend on the computer browsing and playing games. This feature also blocks inappropriate sites and prevents children from changing any system settings. Parents can even take screen shots, view browsing history and control the laptop remotely.

Parents can get the Pivot 2.0 from PeeWee now for a reasonable $500. This looks like it would make an excellent Christmas present for any child who is very into technology. With the fact that the Pivot 2.0 is damn near indestructible, this is the perfect children's laptop.

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BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK CAN MULTITASK LIKE A CHAMP

Research In Motion (RIM) has started showing off its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. This morning the company posted a video comparing the web browsing experience on its PlayBook with iPad. The folks at Engadget also got a chance to spend some time with a prototype of the tablet. And here is what they have found.The PlayBook handles mutltitasking like a champ. In fact, it is so fast that it makes

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DELL INSPIRON DUO CONVERTIBLE TABLET COMING NEXT WEEK?

The Dell Inspiron Duo is an interesting netbook / tablet hybrid. No, it doesn't feature any new software or technology. What makes this machine unique is its design. While typical convertible tablet style netbooks feature a swivel that will let you rotate and fold the display down over the keyboard, the Inspiron Duo lets you flip the screen backward and then spin it until it is facing outward.

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AMD ZACATE PROCESSOR BENCHMARKED: FASTER THAN INTEL'S ATOM

The 1.6GHz Zacate E350 is the first low power processor based on AMD's Bobcat core. The Zacate and the upcoming Ontario processors are part of AMD's Fusion Line of processors which put the CPU and graphics core on a single chip. We have already heard that the Zacate chips deliver better graphics and processing power than Intel's Atom processors. Now we have a better idea of how fast the new

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ASUS TO RENAME ITS EEE TABLET; PREPARING FOR A LAUNCH EARLY NEXT YEAR

Asus is planning to change the name of its Eee Tablet note-taking device. The Asus Eee Tablet isn't a tablet computer. It is basically an ebook reader with note-taking capabilities. Actually Asus is also working on a line of tablets called Eee Pads. Now that the name Eee Tablet is causing a lot of confusion, Asus is planning to rename the device before bringing it to the market. Right now the

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AT&T TO SELL THE SAUMSUNG GALAXY TAB FOR $699 WITHOUT A CONTRACT

AT&T has announced that it will start shipping the Samsung Galaxy Tab on November 21st. The company will offer Pay-As-You-Go data plans with the tablet. For $14.99 you will get 250MB of data per month. The $25 per month plan has a data cap of 2GB. Since there is no service contract, AT&T doesn't offer any subsidy which means that the tablet will cost a whooping $649.99.Meanwhile US Cellular has

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HP LAUNCHES MINI 1103 BUSINESS NETBOOK

HP has made yet another addition to its business lineup. The HP Mini 1103 is basically a business oriented version of the HP Mini 110 /210 consumer netbook. It lacks some of the premium features found in the HP Mini 5103 business netbook such as the optional dual core processor, optional HD display and touchscreen. On the bright side, the HP Mini 1103 has a much lower starting price of $299. The

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GIGABYTE T1125 CONVERTIBLE TABLET HITS FCC

The Gigabyte T1125 is an 11.6 inch convertible tablet style netbook. Its display can be folded down over the keyboard for use in the tablet mode.Gigabyte introduced the T1125 earlier this year but it is not yet available in the US. Now the convertible has showed up at the FCC website which is a good indication that the company is thinking about bringing the mini-laptop to the US. According to

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ACER ASPIRE TIMELINEX AS1830T-68U118 NOW AVAILABLE WITH CORE I7-680UM PROCESSOR

The Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T is now available with Intel's Core i7-680UM processor. The Aspire TimelineX AS1830T is an 11.6 inch ultraportable notebook. It weighs 3.1 pounds. Currently the Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 is only the notebook available in the US with an Intel Core i7-680UM processor which has a regular clock speed of 1.46GHz. This processor can be overclocked to up to 2.53GHz

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FIRST LOOK INSIDE THE NOTION INK ADAM TABLET

India-based Notion Ink is getting ready to ship its Adam tablet soon. The Notion Ink Adam will be one of the first Android tablets with a NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and optional Pixel Qi display to hit the market. The Pixel Qi transflective display is designed to be readable both indoors and outdoors. And when you turn the backlight off, it consumes much less power than a regular LCD display.

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SYSTEM76 STARLING NETBOOK NOW AVAILABLE WITH DUAL CORE PROCESSOR

Linux system builder System76 has made some updates to its Starling NetBook. The $385 mini-laptop is now available with a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor. It runs Ubuntu 10.04. The laptop has a 10 inch display and a 3-cell battery. Since the Starling netbook doesn't run Windows 7 Starter Edition it isn't restricted by Microsoft's hardware specifications. In other words the netbook is

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FUJITSU LIFEBOOK T580 WITH CORE I5 PROCESSOR COMING SOON

The Fujitsu LifeBook T580 doesn't look all that different from a typical convertible netbook at first glance. It has a 10 inch display which can be folded down over the keyboard for use in the tablet mode. But in terms of price and performance the LifeBook T580 has no match on the market.The LifeBook T580 isn't cheap by any definition. It will reportedly sell for up to 1599 Euros or about $2200

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JOLICLOUD JOLIBOOK PREVIEW

Immediately after announcing the Jolibook, the folks at Jolicloud have released the official press shots of the upcoming Jolibook netbook.The Jolibook features a bright colorful lid with a custom design although it is not clear whether all units will ship with the same design on the lid. It has a 10 inch display, 3 USB ports, Ethernet and VGA jacks. The touchpad has a single button and the

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ENTOURAGE POCKET EDGE OFFICIALLY INTRODUCED

enTourage has officially introduced its Pocket eDGe education tablet. The dual screen device has been available for purchase since the beginning of this month, but now the company has made it official.The Pocket eDGe is essentially a miniature version of the original eDGe the company introduced earlier this year. Like the bigger model the Pocket Edge also has an E Ink display and a full color LCD

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ASUS EEE PC 1215T UNBOXED BY ASUS

Asus has uploaded its own unboxing video of the Eee PC 1215T thin and light laptop and that is kind of surprising because this unboxing thing is usually done by bloggers and users. It looks like someone at Asus is of the impatient kind.The Eee PC 1215T is a 12.1 inch laptop powered by a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon Neo K25 single core processor which delivers significantly better performance than Intel's

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AMD RELEASES CHIP PLANS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS

AMD has released detailed roadmaps showing its plans for Server, desktop and notebook chips for the next two years. In the thin and light laptop category, the upcoming Bobcat core will continue to be the most important player. The first Bobcat chips to ship will be the Ontario and Zacate processors. These processors will be significantly more powerful than the current Nile processors. In 2012 AMD

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JOLICLOUD'S JOLIBOOK NETBOOK COMING THIS MONTH?

It is now almost clear that Jolicloud is indeed building a netbook. Last month the company founder Tariq Krim even showed off some photos of the mini-laptop and shared a tiny bit of information about the project. Now more details have emerged courtesy of Techcrunch. The netbook will reportedly be called Jolibook. It is due out by the end of November and will run the Jolicloud 1.1 operating system

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Substantial Increase in Sales for Lenovo

Lenovo notebooks are just flying off the shelves this quarter. Lenovo’s report for their second fiscal quarter states that there has been substantial growth in the sales of their PCs, allowing them to have a small profit increase and a large revenue increase.

The company reported $5.8 billion in consolidated sales, a 41 percent year-over-year increase, and a profit of $77 million, which is a 45 percent increase from the same period in 2009. On a worldwide basis, Lenvo said that their PC sales have increased by 33 percent.

Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi said, “Lenovo continued to deliver excellent results, highlighting the balance in our business. In line with our 'Protect-Attack' strategy, the China, mature markets and emerging markets have all been growing steadily.”

He also added, “There are three aspects that the Board is particularly satisfied with, first: management's visionary decision to increase investment in R&D and brand building, second: the leadership team, which is working effectively and efficiently, with good rapport, third: Lenovo's culture of meeting commitments and taking ownership is being embraced and fully adopted by our employees worldwide. When a company has a solid leadership team, the right strategy, and a strong corporate culture, this company will be sustainable and enduring. Lenovo continues moving in this direction."

The company has said that their notebook sales comprise more than 60 percent of their overall sales revenues. Compared to last year, this is an increase of 40 percent. Notebook sales themselves have increased 38 percent this year, which is fantastic compared to the average 13 percent industry growth rate. Lenovo also said that 33 percent of their sales were made up of desktop computers, which increased by 26 percent and is 5 percent ahead of the average industry growth. On a side note, Lenovo sold its 60-millionth ThinkPad notebook in October. Its popularity has definitely added to their sales numbers.

Lenovo has just been doing well in all aspects of their products. Obviously, their PC industry has been booming, but also in their first quarter, their new smartphones brought in over $217 million in revenues.

Unfortunately, Lenovo has not yet announced a date to ship their Android-based LePad tablet outside of the U.S. Many people are speculating that the company is waiting for the next revision of the Android platform before they ship their product globally.

"TBR believes Lenovo has delayed the release of the LePad tablet into the markets outside of China until Android's new OS arrives in late 2011," Emily Searles wrote in a research note. "The company said that it views the mobile device market as a marathon, not a sprint, and does not wish to rush into the market with a device that will not fully meet customers' expectations. TBR believes even in the mobile device marathon, Lenovo will face consequences from providing its competition with a head start. By 2011 Samsung, Dell, and HP will have established tablet market share, and Apple's iPad will have released its second version. Lenovo's hesitation to release the LePad may reduce its opportunity, even if the wait means an upgraded OS. TBR believes the loss in revenue from late market emergence will be greater than consumer dissatisfaction from Android's current OS."

It’s great to see companies flourishing despite some of the economic difficulties. Lenovo is doing great, and hopefully the company will continue going in this direction. Once they release their LePad, I feel that their sales will just increase even more. The question is when this will really happen. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, Lenovo should continue to flourish and grow, and their PC sales should do the same.

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COBY LAUNCHES KYROS ANDROID TABLET

Consumer Electronic maker Coby has launched an Android tablet called Kyros. The Coby Kyros has a 7 inch resistive touchscreen display. It is powered by an 800MHz ARM-based processor and runs Android 2.1. The tablet can reportedly handle 1080p HD video playback. It also has an HDMI port. The Coby Kyros comes with 4GB of storage. It also has a microSD card slot for expansion. The Kyros doesn't have

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SONY INTRODUCES 11.6 INCH VAIO Y SERIES NOTEBOOK

Sony has launched a new line of 11.6 inch VAIO Y series thin and light laptops. Keeping in line with existing Sony laptops, this machine too has an exorbitant price tag. It costs well over $1000. In Japan, at least. Sony isn't a new player in the thin and light space. The company has already launched some netbooks. These machines does have some premium features. They also command premium price

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BLACKBERRY TABLET TO SELL FOR UNDER $500

Research in Motion has been showing off a prototype of its PlayBook tablet for a while. The company has revealed most of the details including technical specs of the tablet and how it can be paired with a BlackBerry smartphone to share data. The one thing nobody knew about the tablet was its price. But now it looks like that mystery has been solved too. Bloomberg reports that the BlackBerry

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KMART EXPANDING ITS CHEAP ANDROID TABLET LINEUP

The Augen GenTouch78 Android tablet was the first cheap tablet to show up at retailer KMart. And now it looks like the retailer is keen on expanding its cheap Android tablet lineup. To start with, KMart is now selling the Sylvania 7″ MID Tablet Wireless Mobile Internet Device.The device has the following specifications:Operating system: Google Android 2.1Display: 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel

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AMD STARTS SHOWING OFF NEXT-GEN LOW POWER PROCESSORS

AMD has finally started showing off its low power processors based on the Bobcat core. A few bloggers got to check out a test system with the new Zacate processor which consumes 18W or less power. The AMD Bobcat core also covers the upcoming Ontario processors for netbooks and thin and light laptops. The Ontario processors are even more power efficient. They will reportedly consume just 9W of

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LENOVO TO LAUNCH IDEAPAD U260 ULTRAPORTABLE WITH CORE i SERIES PROCESSORS?

Lenovo it seems is all set to launch a new 12.5 inch notebook with an Intel Core i series processor. The folks at ThinkPads.com recently came across a listing for a new Lenovo laptop called IdeaPad U260. The listing is no longer alive, but you can find a list of user manuals in many languages. According to ThinkPads, the Lenovo IdeaPad U260 will be available with a choice of an Intel Core i3 or

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CLOSER LOOK AT THE GIGABYTE T1005M CONVERTIBLE TABLET STYLE NETBOOK

The Gigabyte T1005M is a covertible tablet style netbook with a capacitive touchscreen display that can be folded down over the keyboard. At first glance it isn't all that different from a typical 10 inch netbook. But unlike most 10 inch netbooks on the market, it has a dual core Atom N550 processor and an HD display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The T1005M also has a 6 cell battery

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Lenovo's New IdeaPad U260

Lenovo has this quirky way about them in the sense that they like to sneak laptops out to the market without them receiving any fanfare whatsoever. And just as the saying goes, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks", Lenovo has done it again with their newest device, the IdeaPad U260, an interesting device with a brand new chassis, 12.5-inch screen, 3.04lb weight and 0.71 inches of thickness.

From what we have gathered about the IdeaPad U260, the device seems to be aimed directly at portability. The device has no optical drive, contains ULV Core i3/i5 processors and only a single 4-cell battery. The device also only contains two USB 2.0 ports and does not have an ExpressCard slot. Details on the battery are scarce, however, Lenovo says that the battery contains four hours of "runtime". A single SO-DIMM slot is all you get for memory, but some RAM could be soldered directly to the motherboard which would give you 4GB of RAM.

Full specifications include Bluetooth, b/g/n WiFi, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD. Considering the fact that the device is an IdeaPad, you do get some pretty nifty color options. Consumers will be able to decide if Mocha Brown or Clementine Orange suits their tastes better.

The 12.5-inch HD-resolution display is only available in an anti-glare finish, which is a welcome change from the typical glossy-only consumer laptop displays. Video output is achieved via VGA outputs as well as HDMI outputs which is nice to see because it lets the consumer know that Lenovo isn't trying to cheap out on them.

Pricing is still to be determined though considering that the chassis is thin, light and composed entirely of magnesium-alloy, you can almost guarantee that this isn't your bottom bin laptop. Keep checking back here periodically for updates on pricing as well as an official release date as soon as Lenovo gives us one.

Servers and storage devices available for rent. Great for data migration, server upgrades, network training, you can even rent media servers for audio visual management. Servers from Dell, HP, Sun and IBM are available. More Info: Network Server Rental

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KNO DUAL SCREEN TABLET PRICED; TO SHIP BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR

Kno, the Silicon Valley start-up, has announced the pricing details of its upcoming dual screen tablet for students. There will be two models - one with a single 14 inch touchscreen display and another with two 14 inch touchscreen displays. The company will reportedly have a limited number of tablets available by the end of the year. Prices will range between $599 and $899. The $599 model only

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LG UNVEILS X170 NETBOOK WITH DUAL CORE PROCESSOR AND HD DISPLAY

LG has unveiled its X170 mini-laptop with a dual core processor and an HD display.The LG X170 is available with either a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 single core or a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor. The 10.1 inch display is available with a choice of a 1366 x 768 pixels or 1024 x 600 pixels resolution. Other specifications are pretty regular. The netbook has 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive

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