The Zone

Sometimes, the best things in life are the little nuances that you get while reviewing a gadget, be it expensive, cheap, large or small. Take this picture for example:

Although the review has been done with a couple of issues back, I still keep a high resolution copy because it looks so industrially beautiful. Of course, resizing the pix does not do it justice, as each side of every key has a slight color variation that looks damn cool at night.

Or maybe I'm just too poetic.

Does this animal look cute to you? With its beady eyes and slightly snickering smile, it looks a bit scary to me, in fact. Truth is, it (or rather, he) is the new Toshiba mascot for their IT product line, and yes, he's a seal. Like what you have been reading on other technorati blogs, Toshiba has finally launched the new Pala-chan MP3 player in Malaysia, along with their latest notebook range and branding strategy. More after the jump!

Kontron, a maker of tough computing devices that could possibly take a direct hit from a hydrogen bomb has released its latest tough portable computer - the NotePAC.  To quote from the site:

 "NotePAC™ is completely sealed from intrusion by water, salt laden air, and blowing dust and dirt. It combines a high-strength cast-magnesium case and shock mounted components to form a portable platform that can withstand a 15g ¬operating shock load–as might be experienced during rough transportation. For example, NotePAC can operate continuously in high vibration environments, such as found in rotary winged aircraft and off-road vehicles."

Now, before you people come to the conclusion that this is just another notebook that offers maximum security but has minimal performance advantages over, lets just say, a Sony VAIO ultra-ultra portable, you're wrong.

Maximum specs include a dual-core Intel processor, Wireless-G, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, super-shock resistant hard drives up to 160B, 3D audio and even a touch screen! If only it wasnt so thick and heavy at 16 pounds. *sigh* 

I just recently came back from the MSI Media Tour 2007 in Shanghai, China so I apologise for the lack of updates on my side. While it isn't my first time visiting an assembly factory, it was for me for a notebook and motherboard assembly plant so watching its production unfolds was a terribly interesting endeavour. It's a pity we couldn't take any shots of our own, so all of the factory production shots that you'll see in the upcoming report for this trip are basically stock photos approved by MSI.

What I was surpised most of all was how much of the assembly work is still done manually by hand instead of by machine, judging by the hundreds of assembly workers at the factory. I had always thought that notebooks were always churned out by the dime by machines. 

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow will see the start of Transformers RobotCon 2007. What's Transformers RobotCon 2007? Well if you love  the Transformers toys, cartoon, games and (soon-to-be-released) movie, you can't afford to miss out on this mega Transformer event at Cineleisure Damansara tomorrow. Autobots, roll out!

You've probably seen the movie by now and if you haven't, you should, at least for the amazing real-time and on-the-fly fluid transformations.  It pushes the special effects industry another notch up ahead with what could be created in this movie.

If you're amazed with the on-screen special effects and want to know more about it, here's a site which talks about how some of the things you saw on screen was done:

Popular Mechanics 

Remember Transport Tycoon (and its following Deluxe version)? It was a good DOS game back in those days. It was a digital replacement for guys who couldn't afford minature railroad models - or trucks, planes, and ships for that matter.

However, that only ran on DOS.  It's Windows successor, Locomotion, didn't fare too well as compared with its popular predecesscor.  Locomotion also used the Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 graphics engine - which was a far cry from Transport Tycoon's engine. So what's a Transport Tycoon lover to do in the Windows age?

Thanks to the miracle of Open Source, there's now Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe, which can take your DOS game graphics and port it over to run on Windows (even Vista)! 

You can get OTTD from here (3MB Zip file). Just make sure you have your DOS game as it needs the graphics.  OTTD comes with further enhancements like supporting RM currency:

There're also a host of other features you wished the DOS game had.  Now, you can get it all, in your glorious spanking widescreen Windows LCD screen too.

If you have 64-bit Windows XP or Vista, you can get the 64-bit version here.

If you have Linux or Mac OS (even Classic supported), you can also get their versions from here. There are also Handheld versions for Pocket PC (now known as Windows Mobile), but you can always search the Web for that.

'Twas a great journey that we went through, from the days of Need For Speed: Most Wanted to the adrenaline rush that is Crysis, from Region 3 to Region 1 and Region 3 back again, and when you became the only original component from my previous machine. Today, you have passed on to silicone heaven, and I will miss the times when you refused to read my backup DVDs thanks to bad dye. Living through Nero, CDBurnerXP, Alcohol 120% and a host of other DVD recording programs ain't hard for you wasn't it?

Any reccommendations for a new DL DVD burner?

Lucky people Pc Games Hardware got their mitts on NVIDIA's latest triple-SLI configuration which includes three 8800 Ultras, a 1200W PSU and Crysis. Unfortunately they weren't able to play the game 'smoothly' as it only maxed out, at ultra settings at 37.9fps. If this isn't an indicator of how all our rigs suck, nothing else can drive home the point that Crysis is a resource hog. The latest hogzilla, anyone?

How much are you willing to pay for the ultimate PlayStation collection, which includes nearly all games on the list as well as rare games, prototypes,  controllers, and consoles? RM1000? RM10,000? Try RM100,000. That's the asking price (USD30,000) for what looks to be the biggest PlayStation aunction ever on eBay. And shipping is free! But only in the US. International buyers will need to pay half of the shipping costs. And good luck explaining to Malaysian customs. 

But still, wouldn't it be cool beans to own a houseful of PlayStation games? At least it should make for some interesting dinner conversation to your guests when they come over to jealously eye your collection. ;)

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It's been said many times before but those new to networking sometimes forget about it:

Secure your Wireless Network!

Wireless networking broadcasts connectivity in an area around it, and if you don't secure your wireless connection, anyone within range can connect to it, and in the least, ride off your Internet connection (if you have one), for free.  This can affect your Internet speed as bandwidth is leeched off by others.

However, it is more dangerous if you're keeping sensitive data connected to your wireless network, and anyone can connect and start downloading, modifying, or uploading to your network (and the devices connected to it).

This is exactly what happened in a real-life case scenario...

Who would have ever thought that a flash hard drive would be so expensive??? Well, you DO get 640GB worth of data, but if you smart alecks are placing your page file on it, be prepared to shell out for more than USD19000 and a whole load of data. The good things about this flash-based drive is that you get loading speeds as fast as your DDR2 memory runs, and it's PCIE based, not to mention that heat output is negligible.

So who's buying? I know I would want one. 

If a price of a product indicates its spec sheet, then we wouldn't be 'blown away' by the Sony VAIO UX-series UMPC, thanks to its 1GB of RAM, Core 2 Solo processor, 48GB SSD, 1.3 Megapixel camera and a 4.5" 1024 x 600 screen, but hell, in a world where small does not come cheap, its as good as it gets! Interestingly, its sticker price is USD2500, which makes it out of reach for us puny journalists here in Malaysia (well, most of us anyways), but there's another competitor which Sony should fear - the EeePC from Asus. Now that's what I call a proper UMPC race :P

Hello guys, missed me? If you were wondering why I didn't blogged any entries for the week, it was because I was down in Korea for the HP regional PSG consumer launch. Lots of nifty stuff was on showcase, including their new HP TouchSmart PC and "Touch & Twist" TX-1000 notebook. I'll cover more on the event in the March issue of HWM Malaysia. Mucho thanks to my colleague kev for covering my share! I'll treat ya to yum cha one day. :D

What you see above is the free original DVD copies of Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit and 64-bit edition that was given out to all the members of the media who attended the Microsoft Corporate Vista launch this morning at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Don't you just love the holographic imagery captured by our studio lights? Too bad this Vista is for office-use only. I wish they had given away free copies of Office 2007 though...I could really use it, heheheh...

Look forward to our March issue for more pictures and coverage of the Malaysian Vista launch! For now, here's some pictures of what went down this morning down at the KLCC.