The Zone

A Dell product launch event? In Malaysia? Yeap, it's true. For the first time, Dell has decided to do something different with their new line of Inspiron and XPS notebooks, staging a product 'fashion show' at Cineleisure Damansara yesterday to highlight the bright and bold display colors that their new notebooks sport. More pics of the show after the jump!

Notebooks that you can actually game on? Asus says 'Why not?' and promptly came out with the Asus G1 and G2 notebooks. Now Asus has come up with a refresh of the G1 notebook series, the G1S, which comes with spanking new NVIDIA 8600M GT discrete graphics.

Starting prices? RM6988 for the 15.4" while the 17" model goes for a cool RM7988. Expensive? Terribly so. Highly desirable? Oh yes indeed. Click the jump for more wanton pics of the new G1S notebook in the flesh, along with Asus' Ultra Mobile U1F notebook and the oh-so-sexy Asus Lamborghini VX2.

Blasting down a go-kart track after work is fun, especially when you get to bump your bosses around *evil laugh*

Moar pictures after the jump!! 

iZZi just launched their new wireless broadband service today, and to demonstrate how effective their connections were, the media were treated to a trip to The Eye On Malaysia wheel at Tasik Titiwangsa. Needless to say, the view at the wheel was incredibly scenic, which I managed to capture a few snapshots. Click the jump to view more!

This morning the media was invited to a special Media Machinimasia workshop organized by Intel and Machinimasia, where we were briefed on some tips on making our own short movies through captured footage from games and basic film-making techniques. It was kinda interesting, though I wished they had prepared the presentation earlier so we could have more time to play around with the game and movie-making application. 

The good news is that the workshop is also open to the general public but only for today (Friday) at 5 p.m. and tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 a.m. So if you have an interest in making your own short movie clip of your favorite video game, go check it out! It's totally free of charge, and you might pick up some useful tips in the meantime.

Venue:
Horus Surfer iCafé
No.4, Jalan SS 2/61,
47300, Petaling Jaya.

Time:
Fri, 13 Jul, 5pm to 7.30pm
Sat, 14 Jul, 10am to 12.30pm

Hey guys, next month its that time of the crazy bargains and all-out buying fun as PIKOM's PC Fair (II) 2007 comes along! we have some real great promotions in store for you!

More after the jump! 

For the August issue of HWM, we'll be reviewing two polar opposites of the standard notebook. One is the Toshiba Qosmio G40, a desktop replacement notebook that's absolutely ginormous in multimedia entertainment. The other is the petite Fujitsu U1010 UMPC, which is the smallest tablet PC we've ever reviewed. Click the jump for a preview of the two notebooks that we'll writing about next month!

When one user sents in his iPhone for service, he gets a loaner unit as well as an 'official' iPhone tool that even comes with its own instruction label and packaging! Fantastic! Too bad the 'iClip' doesn't come with a white finish; it would have been a lovely match with the white iPhone.

Read

Pictures 

HWM Malaysia was down at The Apartment, The Curve earlier this afternoon to check out BenQ's new range of Joybook notebooks inspired by Pop Art, the S41 and S32! Click the jump for more pics and impressions of the new BenQ Joybooks that sports the latest Intel Centrino Duo chipset.

Want an iPhone? Here's how you can get one...

Yesterday HWM Malaysia was at the LG Electronics main office to witness the judging of the 3 finalists of the LG Young Interior Designer competition. The competition was held for art students to demonstrate their creativity in integrating living spaces with their choice of LG ArtCool air conditioners. Pictures of the judging and winners after the jump!

In a somewhat thumping blow for the Blu-ray camp in the current nex-gen format wars, Paramount Pictures just announced that they're going to throw their support solely behind HD-DVD. All Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films and DreamWorks Animation movies will only exclusively be available on HD-DVD (or DVDs of course). Note that Steven Spielberg's films do not apply as his films are not exclusive to either format.

According to Paramount, one of their main reasons to do so is because they believed that standalone HD-DVD players are more prevalent in homes today in the US. Of course, what Paramount didn't say is that it's also easier on Paramount's pockets too as HD-DVD is cheaper to manufacture than Blu-ray discs. So much for the PlayStation 3 being a so-called trojan horse for Blu-ray adoption eh?

The first movie to be released from Paramount exclusively on HD-DVD will be Blades of Glory on August 24th. Yes, Transformers and Shrek The Third will follow soon after that. And yes, exclusively on HD-DVD only.  

Source here.

Last week Intel sent a couple invites our way to catch Ratatouille at Cineleisure Damansara, the latest Disney 3D animated film from Pixar studios. Since the Intel Core 2 Duo processor is also 2 years old, they held a little birthday cake party before the event where they had these two 'French chefs' extolling the benefits of the Intel processor. Wah so knowledgeable one these chefs. :p

After the cake was carried out and the candles were blown, we were ushered to the seating halls where we got free popcorn and Coke. :D We didn't get any cake though, even though we were promised some slices. :(

As for the movie Ratatouille, I highly recommend it. The graphics and animation is fantastic and quite unparalleled compared to other 3D animated movies showing in cinemas now. The short animated clip 'Lifted' at the beginning was really funny, and the movie overall was solid entertainment for both adults and kids. 

All will be revealed today...