Panasonic SDR-SW20

Panasonic has released its new camcorder SDR-SW20. This camcorder is waterproof up to 1.5m, that mean you have no worry taking picture in the rain or even underwater. You can take this camcorder with you while you are snorkeling and take underwater video, but with a depth safety of only 1.5m, you’ll have to stick to shallow waters. It is also shockproof from height of 1.2m with improved fortification inside and out. It's dustproof design will protect the camcorder even if handled with dirty hand or use in swirling dust.

The SDR-SW20 use SD/SDHC to record the movies in mpeg 2 format or pictures. With 16GB SD you can record for about 13 hours of movies. With the SD/SDHC you can easily transfer your movies to your PC or notebook by just put it into any SD card reader or you can use USB connection to transfer the files.

It has 10x optical zoom lens and has an aperture range of f/1.8-f/2.4. It also come with 2.7 inch LCD and with it's Power LCD you can turn the LCD brighter, make easier to see outdoor or in other bright places.

With the included software, MotionSD STUDIO you can add the musics and texts during editing or convert it onto DVD format.

The recommended retail price in Malaysia is about RM1599.



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Garmin Nuvifone

When we talk about Garmin, I think most people notice that this company is one of the main player in GPS devices. On January 30, 2008, Garmin has announced its entrance into mobile phone market with nüvifone. It is a truly sat-nav smart phone with iPhone size. Many said this could be iPhone killer as it has functions and design that similar to iphone except for GPS navigation. Most people don’t want to carry separate GPS device with them and any integration GPS and mobile phone/PDA will make life much easier.

This sleek and slim nüvifone comes with 3.5in touchscreen make it easy to navigate and view map. The menu screen has three main icons, Phone, Search and Navigation make it easy to switch between three main functions. The navigation button will automatically switches to GPS, activates navigation menu and enable hands-free calling when in its car cradle. It also has side panel which give you quick access to Browser, SMS, Email and Tools.

When it comes to connectivity nüvifone powered with HSDPA or 3.5G connection make it ideal for browsing internet. It web browser runs in landscape mode and uses the same simple menus. It also includes Google Local Search, will let you search for locations and then navigate via GPS straight to the location selected. It also have the usual functions of sms, instant messaging and email.

The Nüvifone includes preloaded maps of North America, Eastern and Western Europe. You can search via street address, place name or category using the nüvifone’s built-in database with millions of points of interest. Navication will be turn-by-turn and voice prompted and if you miss a turn along the route, nüvifone automatically recalculates a route and gets them back on track, speaking the names of the streets along the way. ‘Where Am I’ features gives your position and what’s around you.

The nüvifone also includes numerous mobile entertainment applications. The built-in 3MP camera allows individuals to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to a recipient who can navigate directly to the location. The nüvifone also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site. The Panoramio photo search feature enhances the enjoyment and adventure of sightseeing in an otherwise unfamiliar location. Other multimedia functions of the nüvifone include a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC.

The nüvifone will be available in 3Q 2008. Specific details about pricing and sales partners will be announced in the future. Additional information about nüvifone is available at www.garmin.com/nuvifone.

Burn DVD with Subtitles

You may have lot of movies downloaded from internet especially from torrent site. In spite of watching the movies on your PC you might want to convert it to DVD and watch it on TV. Most of DVD tools nowadays don’t have option to add subtitles to your DVD. There are few DVD tools come with the option of subtitles like Super DVD Creator and ConvertXtoDVD. I will teach you using ConvertXtoDVD software. You can download the trial version from http://www.vso-software.fr/download.php. It support .srt and .sub subtitle file.

After you downloaded the file, install it to your PC. Once everything has finished open your ConvertXtoDVD and you will see ConvertXtoDVD window like mine below.

Before you add any movie file, please make sure the subtitle file is in the same folder with movie file and the name is same, the only different thing is extension file. Lets go to the first step:

1. Add Movie/Video file. To do this either go to File/Add video file or click on the green button + on the right.

2. Now click on the + sign next to your favorite film, and you will see a sub-section titled Subtitles. This sub-section indicates the number of subtitles streams associated with the video file added. If there are any subtitles streams they will appear listed below.

3. If you had 0 subtitle streams added, you can manually add it by right click on subtitle sub-section and choose add subtitle.

4. If you have more than one subtitles and you would like to select the subtitle you would like to show up by default when you play your DVD, simply right click on the subtitle file you have added and select Set as default subtitle.

5. Before you click the Convert button, make sure you check everything is OK by click any of sub-menu under Setting. An Options menu will pop-up and you can set the format, target drive, working folder and many more. Once everything is set accordingly click OK to leave Options menu. Now you can click Convert button and it will do conversion for you. It will take some times to finish depending on your CPU power. Last thing is enjoy your movie on your big TV screen.

Muslim Social Media Site

Muxlim.com is an alternative social media site for muslim, which have a similarity with Facebook, Friendster, Myspace and Youtube. Muxlim Inc founded in Finland in 2006 by Mohamed El-Fatatry and Pietari Päivänen, aiming to provide cutting-edge online services to the Muslim-Lifestyle Market around the world.

Muxlim aims to use technology as a tool to improve people's daily lives, as well as help decrease unemployment, technology-illiteracy, poverty and discrimination around the world. Now it become the largest Muslim social media with million of user and visitor over 190 countries.

In side Muxlim.com, it has Muxlimspaces, Islamictorrents, Quran, Muxlim Pal and Muxlim TV. Muxlimspaces is similar to Friendster and Myspace. Islamictorrents is where you can share your files with other muxlim users. Muxlim quran offers you to listen or download the quran verses. Muslim Pal be the first Muslim alternative to the likes of Second Life and other virtual worlds. With Muxlim TV you can upload and share your videos, something similar with Youtube.

Final Release of XP Service Pack

Three and a half years after the service pack 2, Microsoft is about to release its final XP service pack, service pack 3. The anticipated release date is April 21 for manufacturers and April 29 for the public via Microsoft Update with the forced push coming on June 10.

The update to Windows XP is always a good thing, especially for those looking for a nice Windows XP upgrade without having to make the jump to Vista. SP3 reportedly includes 1000 different hot fixes which includes new and previous patches. It also updates the menu text in the security options control panel to describe the options more extensively.

With the final release of SP3, it could be the last update for XP as Microsoft will not support XP after June 30 this year.

Watch Free P2P Online TV Broadcasting: TVU Networks

TVU networks offers a free global live TV service that you can watch on your Windows PC over a broadband Internet connection. This service is dedicated to bringing you TV that you can't get from cable or satellite, such as news and sports from around the world.

The TVU service is accessed with a free downloadable Windows application, the TVUPlayer, which is available here. The TVU service, accessed via its free TVUPlayer application, has been downloaded 12 million times by viewers in over 200 countries.

TVU uses a new broadcast technology called Real-Time Packet Replication. With this technology, all the viewers who are watching a channel at the same time are cooperating to give everyone the best possible signal. TVU's application does not create any new files on your hard disk because you're watching live TV.

Unlike typical Internet video broadcasts that use the older streaming technology, TVU's broadcasters do not need to dedicate more bandwidth for each additional user. This allows broadcasters to reach very large numbers of viewers at low cost. Because TVU can have an unlimited number of channels, TVU offers broadcasters opportunities denied to them by cable and satellite systems. Local broadcasters become global broadcasters; new channels can find a broadcast slot; and bigger broadcasters can create new channels to showcase content that they own but don't have space to broadcast on their existing channels.

Most exciting of all, viewers can become broadcasters using TVU networks' free Broadcast application. This application, combined with a standard-grade PC and a typical broadband Internet connection, allows anybody to become a broadcaster. This basic set-up allows any number of viewers world-wide to watch your channel.

Real-time Defragmentation

Hard disk is moving mechanical component in your computer. File that suffer fragmentation will slow down the access and will effect your system speeds and some time could lead to crashes, hangs, data errors, file corruption and boot-time failures. Defragmentation your system will increase speed, stability and more reliable.

Normally you have to stop other jobs to do defragmentation otherwise you will be running at crawling speed. Now with Diskeeper 2008 comes with I-FAAST (Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology) will re-sequences your files. It will boost access of most frequently used files by as much 80%. Diskeeper 2008 will running invisible in the background doing auto-defragmentation. It will not interrupting your productivity and only using untapped resources system without any management or impact on system's usability. It can also run at limited free space even 1% of free space.

Now Diskeeper 2008 with FragShield 2.0 can automatically defends against fragmentation of critical system files. It will prevent crash-inducing fragmentation, fix the problem before it happen.

You can download 45 days free trial of Diskeeper 2008 at www.diskeeper.com/pcm9.

Hot Issue In Malaysia: Sufiah

Sufiah was math genius and gained entry into St. Hilda's College, Oxford University to read mathematics at the age of 13. Her father is Farooq Yusof, Pakistani and her mother is Halimahton from Malaysia.

In March 2008, she make everybody shock when a reporter from News of the World reported about her involvement with prostitute. It is a sad moment to see a math genius turn into prostitute world where she can use her knowledge to earn more money.

Since her mother is Malaysian, many Malaysian pay sympathy and try to save her. Malay Community Association of United Kingdom began funds to support 'Love Suffiah' Campaign. A delegation from Malaysia headed by Ustaz Trimizi Zainal will depart Malaysia on 19th April to treat Sufiah using Islamic Medical practice, as they believe she is under the influence of black magic.

Watch her interview video with News of the World..

The Ultra-Smart Cable: USB Charging+Data Strap+microSD Card Reader+Data Storage

This small wonder all-in-one usb cable. It has many functions like USB charging for your phone, data connection, MicroSD card reader and also data storage for MicroSD card.

It is plug-and-play device which is no driver or software required to use it. This USB cable is so stylish, small and easy to attach to keychain or phone. It support most of the brands & models for mobile phone, smart phone & mobile devices, like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Dopod, Blackberry, Digital Camera, MP3, MP4 and many more.

Available color is orange, gray, blue, green and black. The price is about US$14.00.

Turn Your Symbian Phone Into WiFi Hotspot

Now in Malaysia we have 3 mobile operators who provide broadband connection through mobile phone. Imagine you would be able to share this connection with your friends through WiFi. Now with JoikuSpot Light softwares you can turn Symbian S60 Nokia phone with WiFi capable into WiFi Hotspot.

You can download free software from www.joikuspot.com. Once you installed the software into your phone, with simple configuration you are now already have WiFi Hotspot with your mobile phone. Your can share your internet connection with other WiFi devices such as notebook, PSP or other smartphone. Multiple devices can be connected to your JoikuSpot.

Now with JoikuSpot you can have WiFi Hotspot anywhere you like to. Now with latest version, Beta 1.2, JoikuSpot comes with WEP Encryption to prevent any misuse. It also has new battery threshold settings, which allows the application to shut itself down when your battery gets down to a certain level, this can prevent your phone from completely draining out.

Champions League: Liverpool Advances To Semi-Final

It was a dramatic game when 6 goals has been scored in 90 minutes and Liverpool has won the game 4-2 with the aggregate 5-3. It was Arsenal's Diaby who scored the first goal in 13 minutes and gave Arsenal lead 1-0. On 30 minutes, Liverpool got a corner kick and Gerard delivered it to the middle of penalty box and Sami Hyypia headed to the net. On the first half the result was draw, 1-1.

On the seconds half Torres scored the second goal for Liverpool in 69 minutes. Liverpool now lead on aggregate but another Arsenal goal would send them through on away goals. In 72 minutes Arsenal bring in Theo Walcott and Van Persie to strengthen their attacking, while Liverpool bring in Ryan Babel in 78 minutes to keep pressure on Arsenal. In 84 minutes Adebayor scored a goal and now Arsenal lead by away goals. A minute later Babel was fouled in penalty area by Toure and Liverpool has been awarded with penalty. Gerrard scored the penalty and now Liverpool lead again.

It seem like the score will end up 3-2 but in 92 minutes Babel scored a goal for Liverpool. Liverpool won the game 4-2 with the aggregate 5-3. It was really good to watch my favorite football team won the match and progress to semi-final. Another result was Chelsea who also won the game 2-0 with aggregate 3-2.

Yahoo Calls Emergency Board Meeting, Rejects Microsoft Bid

Yahoo’s board of directors held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss the latest developments in Microsoft’s buyout offer. According to media sources, the board believes the bid, currently valued at $29.36 a share, undervalues Yahoo. The board is expected to reject the offer, something that will probably bring Microsoft into a full-scale battle for Yahoo.

According to the Financial Times, an inside source said the board was meeting late on Sunday. Currently, Yahoo execs believe Microsoft’s bid is too low. However, the seemingly low price is due in part to the slip in Microsoft’s share price in the past few months. Back on February 1st, Microsoft bid $31 cash or .95 shares of Microsoft stock for each Yahoo common stock. That offer had a total value of approximately $44.6 billion at the time. But Microsoft’s stock has since slipped to $29.36 a share.

According to the New York Times, Yahoo’s board is expected to reject Microsoft’s bid. Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer is refusing to raise the bid because there are currently no other companies vying for Yahoo. In fact, Ballmer has hinted at lowering the price and eventually going directly to the shareholders if the board refuses to act on the offer.

UPDATE - Yahoo’s Chairman Jerry Yang has formally rejected Microsoft’s bids and Ballmer’s threat. In a public statement, Yang says the board is open to alternatives that "maximize" shareholder value (meaning more money).

"To be clear, this includes a transaction with Microsoft if it represents a price that fully recognizes the value of Yahoo! on a standalone basis and to Microsoft, is superior to our other alternatives, and provides certainty of value and certainty of closing. Lastly, we are steadfast in our commitment to choosing a path that maximizes stockholder value and we will not allow you or anyone else to acquire the company for anything less than its full value," said Yang.

Sony HDR-TG1 - Smallest Full HD Camcorder

Sony has announced the world's smallest HD camcorder, DHR-TG1, measuring just 1.3-inches wide by 4.7-inches tall by 2.5-inches deep and weighs at only ten ounces. It also has a titanium body with premium hard coating that makes it highly resistant to scratches.

It can record at High Definition 1920 x 1080 HD video and 4-megapixel digital photos directly to Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo™ or PRO Duo Mark2 media cards. It also has face detection technology recognizes up to 8 faces anywhere in the frame and automatically controls focus, exposure, and color to help capture smiling faces brightly and clearly. Face Detection technology also helps make skin tones look natural without affecting other colors in the image.

It is equipped with a high-quality Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 10x optical zoom lens and 2.3-megapixel ClearVid™ CMOS sensor with Exmor™-derived technology and BIONZ™ image processor. Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® lenses use highly advanced optics to deliver vivid image brilliance, true-to-life color saturation, and perfect renditions of subtle tones. Exmor™ technology captures images with high resolution and high sensitivity and BIONZ™ image processor improves camera response time and screens out noise so the signal from each pixel is as pure as possible. It also eguipped with Super Steadyshot® Picture Stabilization from Sony controls an even higher range of shake and vibration frequencies, to achieve an even higher level of smoothness without degradation of video like some other image stabilization systems.

Audio is recorded in Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel surround sound and features a built-in zoom microphone, delivering clear recordings of your subjects along with the video.

Sony HDR-TG1 has one more interesting feature, Smooth Slow Recording. You can increase the frame rate from 60 to 240 fps. Your recorded fast motion 3 seconds video can be play back in 12 seconds.

At the moment, this camcorder is schedule to be release in May or June this year. Pre-order booking is now available at http://www.sonystyle.com and the price is US$899.00.

Mobile Phone: Sony Ericsson W760

This is the first GPS integrated phone offer by Sony Ericsson. This phone is expected to be released in second quarter this year and the price is yet to be confirm. This W series offer with high-end walkman function with stereo speaker, 3 megapixel camera and 3G support.

Specifications:
Network:
Quad Band GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
EDGE
UMTS: 850, 1900, 2100
HSDPA
Dimention: 103.0 x 48.0 x 15.0 mm
Weight: 103.0 g
Colour: Fancy Red, Intense Black, Rocky Silver
Screen: 240x320 pixel (262,144-colour TFT)
Memory: 40MB Phone Memory, Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support
Ringtones: Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
Vibration: Yes
Phonebook: 1000 contacts, Photo call
Call Records: 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB

Features:
Camera: 3.2MP, 2.5x digital zoom
Music: MP3, AAC, FM radio with RDS
Games: Yes and downloadable
Internet: WAP 2.0/HTML(NetFront), RSS reader
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email
Built-in GPS receiver
Push to talk
Java MIDP 2.0
Organiser
Built-in handsfree
Voice memo

This phone will have the same high end W series walkman function. With the stereo speaker located at green and red receiver button and megabass function, you will get better overall music experience and you can share your music with your friends.

Now with the integrated GPS, finding a location is not a problem anymore. It is preinstalled with the Google Maps for mobile application. With the Tracker application you can check how fast, for how long and how far you have moved.

Even though this phone equipped with 3.2MP camera but the images captured was not as good as K series. You can capture images up to a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. With the GPS function you can use geotagging to your captured pictures. The video recording is QVGA resolution at 15fps and encoded in MPEG4 format with AAC audio.

Read more..

Atom For Small Devices

Intel has announced a new chip to it processor family. This chip will be called Atom, built purposely for small device like Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), affordable Internet-focused notebooks (netbooks), and desktops (nettops).

We can see today the demand for small and cheaper devices mainly use for web browsers, email clients, or simple network media players. This kind of devices don't need powerful processors like Intel's Core 2 or AMD's Phenom processors. These kind of devices need small low energy and low cost but powerful enough to browse and surf the internet. These sort of softwares can easily run on Pentium III processor. With the latest technology we can build a microprocessor that offer the same performance as Pentium III with low power that can run without heatsink and cheap enough for mobile devices.

This new Atom processor is built on Intel's 45nm manufacturing process and will have 47 million transistors. It is Intel's smallest and lowest power of x86 microprocessor with just about 25mm² and powerful enough for full internet capabilities. Atom will has power consumption ranging from subwatt to 2.5 watts with idle power as low as 30mW.

In term of performance, Intel claims that Atom will offer the same performance of the first Pentium M with lower power. A 1.6Ghz Atom will be 20% faster than 800Mhz Pentium M. Comparing Atom to ARM11 processor (built by ARM limited) in web page render times, Atom is about 4 to 6 times faster. This performance is far below today's Intel Core 2 family but you don't need so much power when all you do is browsing internet or play a movie on mobile devices.

You will begin seeing the first devices with Atom processor over the next six months. It is an opportunity to offer more Asus EeePC like devices in future as new generation of Atom will be more powerful and multi-tasking. Right now Intel's Atom will be competing with ARM processor in CE market and I believe sooner or later AMD will enter this market segment and offer more cost effective processors.

The End of High Definition War

It was a long battle of high definition war between Blu-ray team (Sony and Pioneer) and HD-DVD team (Toshiba and NEC). At first the HD-DVD team with the support from Warner Brothers and Microsoft seem to have an advantage due to cheaper players and discs. Sony who had lose in format war between VHS and Betamax back in 80s learned that they cannot afford another lose in format war. With the launched of Sony Playstaion 3 with the Blu-ray drive, the format war slowly start to favor to Blu-Ray. Even though HD-DVD had X-box 360 support as an add-on drive, the popularity of Play Station 3 had helped Sony to win this war.

When Warner Brothers announced that they will stop release HD-DVD movie after May 2008, the format war has become clear that the Blu-Ray will be the future format for High Definition. In February 19, Toshiba announced that they will no longer develop and manufacture HD-DVD player. Now consumers has no worry anymore to choose which player to buy as the winner of HD war is Blu-ray.

With the high price of Blu-ray players now, we have to wait for another few years before we can see Blu-Ray is well accepted by all levels of consumers. The current DVD format will still dominating sales in movies, players, and computer parts for many years before it slowly replace with Blu-ray.