It’s here. It’s really here.

Palm has officially announced the FOLEO, just about 30 minutes ago. The Foleo is the long-awaited, revolutionary mobile device that is specially designed to pair with the highly regarded Palm Treo smartphones. The Foleo is meant to be an extension of the Treo, to expand its scope almost to the arena of laptops.

Here are some of the features of the Foleo:

• 10-inch screen
• full-size keyboard for fast and lengthy emailing
• connects wirelessly with the Treo to download email & attachments and for easier web-surfing
• 5 hours of battery life
• instant on and off - no power-up time like laptops
• open documents for reading
• syncing of photos
• WIFI!

Revolutionary idea? Actually, it looks more like a reduced laptop than anything else. To be honest, I don’t see why people will want to lug around another equipment, when our pockets are already so full with stuff. I mean, isn’t that the reason why most of us switch to a smartphone in the first place? To avoid having to carry a laptop all the time? This concept of a mobile companion seems really strange and alien to me.I suppose, the main strength of this gadget, is its smaller size and weight than a full-blown laptop. But I figure, if you really want to be doing all those stuff listed above, wldn’t you honestly prefer a laptop instead? Oh, and I should give credit when due. The other main strength of this thing, that you may say severely makes up for the weakness in the Treo series, is the availability of WIFI! Something that Treo fans have been screaming for such a long time and now they finally get it….. in a sense.

*All pictures taken from Palm.com

How this baby will develop and attract the hearts of the Treo lovers, is yet to be seen, although as of now, I’m an unbeliever. Stay tuned for more!

Photoshop has been considered to be an industry standard tool for most of the graphics needs. From web graphics to photo manipulation, from effects to illustrations, Photoshop can be extended to be used for practically anything 2D or 2.5D.

Photoshop also has loads of plugins that can further extend its expansive capabilities. Recently, Photoshop’s latest version, Photoshop CS3 has been released. It is packed with new evergrowing features.

Photoshop is available in two versions, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. Photoshop Extended has Motion And Video Editing, 3D Visualization and Texture Editing, DICOM, Matlab Support etc., apart from all the features that the ordinary version contains.

The new features added are smart filters, quick selection and edge refining tool, better interface, HDR and much more. This really moves forward towards increasing the productivity of anyone using Photoshop.

The new features included may not be needed by everyone. If the new features does not find a place in your current workflow, you can stick with CS2 for the moment. The new 3D features unique to the Extended version might be useful to many. But if your design jobs doesn’t require the extra functionality, you may wish to upgrade at a later time.

There are many who may already have plugins to streamline their workflow. Thus, the new upgrade might not seem to be urgent for them. But yes, if you’re serious about graphics designing, and want to take advantage of the increased amount of features, you should upgrade as soon as possible.

The new Matlab and DICOM processing might impress many, who use applications like Matlab frequently. For them, manipulations of the output generated by matlab just became easier and more productive. Photoshop’s new high precision measurement tools bring the finest details of any picture at your disposal.

Photoshop CS3 alone might not suffice. Thus, Adobe Creative Suite CS3 will suffice for those who want a complete suite of tools to work under their disposal. Just having several tools for various tasks is never sufficent. These tools should integrate with each other to offer a streamlined workflow. Adobe Creative Suite CS3 does just that.

Whether you use Photoshop as a standalone tool for creating graphics for the web or desktop, or as a tool to create inputs for other applications, it is the number one tool of choice for any 2D graphics designing needs one might have. At its competitive pricing and rich features, very few programs come close to Photoshop.

For more details on improved features, you can refer to Photoshop Homepage.

The OPTIMUS keyboard was announced sometime back and after much development and delays, the king of keyboards is finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Renamed as OPTIMUS MAXIMUM, it is manufactured by Lebedev and company, and is slated for official release on 30 Nov 07 with pre-orders in Apr 07.

This device’s keys light up to indicate each associated function. Needless to say, it is wireless, with a dedicated collection of keys on the left for switching applications and modes, and the keys in the regular QWERTY bank can change to display any number of languages as well as numbers, symbols HTML codes and mathematical functions. Each key features a 32×32 resolution OLED. However, each key will only have an expected life-span of about 5 years, depending on usage frequency. There is a plastic protection cap that slides around the keys to reduce the wear-and-tear on the expensive OLED keys. You can expect to fork out a cool US$1500 for this eye-turner of a keyboard, definitely not for the mass technology geeks out there.

Recently, the company has encountered difficulties with its manufacture of its OLED keys as its manufacturer has closed down and they will need to source for another supplier. However, the company is still optimistic in meeting its scheduled delivery date of Nov/Dec 07, which has the whole industry waiting in eager anticipation, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath right now on this baby.

HIS launched the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT on 15 May 2007. This is the latest in a series of DirectX 10 capable graphics card released in recent times. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT delivers The Ultimate Visual Experience through best in class immersive high-definition multimedia playback. Gaming is definitely one of the core functionalities of this state-of-the-art graphics card.

“We set out to create a family of products that would revolutionize the graphics market by introducing leading-edge technology at game-changing price points,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president, AMD Graphics Products Group. “We’ve delivered on this challenge, broadening the enthusiast gaming market so that more people than ever before have access to the phenomenal gaming and multimedia experiences that the ATI Radeon HD 2000 series introduces.”

DirectX 10 Capable
The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT is fully designed for complete indulgence in DirectX 10 gaming experience. The card is the first to introduce a powerful 2nd generation Unified Shader Architecture (USA), a 512 Mbit memory bus designed for full performance high dynamic range (HDR) rendering. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT was specially designed and built with high-tech gamers in mind with amazing frame rates at all levels of resolution. It brings a level of realism surpassing the graphics cards of the last generation to allow for immersive HD gaming. Needless to say, native CrossFire functionality is also provided for allowing multi-GPU configurations.

Ultimate Multimedia Experience
In addition to gaming, the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT delivers an exciting high-definition multimedia experience on the PC with improved visual fidelity afforded by ATI Avivo HD technology. ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT handles HD multimedia with ease, allowing consumers to watch the latest HD DVDTM and Bluray discs with incredibly fine image quality and smooth playback. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT also offers a new simplified video and sound solution through HDMI, making it easy to switch between watching content on a high definition television and working at a monitor as only a single cable is needed for both video and audio.

Thailand has decided not to raise a highly publicized law suit against the highly-popular video-sharing site, YouTube after YouTube agreed to remove 12 videos that allegedly insults the Thai King.

Thailand was initially displeased that YouTube refused to remove clips that Thailand claims ‘insults their king’. Thailand holds its royal figurehead in very high regard, almost like a god-like status and it is illegal to do or say anything that is demeaning to him. Even recently, a foreigner was sentenced to 10 yrs in jail for vandalizing pictures of Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej. However he was later released and extradited.

However Google, who owns YouTube, has recently agreed to remove the clips in order not to worsen the situation. Leading up to the decision to drop the lawsuit, Google sent a letter to the Thai ministry, which read, “We have the deepest respect for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. e likewise respect Thailand’s law and tradition and hope that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution to the current controversy,” according to the AP.

The question now remains, under what conditions do people, organisations and nations have the right to demand the removal of information like videos when deemed untasteful or damaging? Will the private videos of a school-girl having a sex romp lie in the same category? How much right does such information site have in publicizing anything that members put up?

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is an integral part of a computer system, akin to brain in the human body. The power of the CPU defines the speed and performance of the computer and the kind of applications it can render most efficiently. CPU is where all the computing takes place in a computer, including arithmetic and logical operations (ALU), as well as decoding and execution of the extracted instructions (CU). CPU is housed in a single chip in a computer system called microprocessor. This is why, terms CPU and microprocessor are used interchangeably.

Not so long ago, the microprocessors followed single core architecture to get satisfactory computing capabilities. Within a span of few years, multi-core processing technology took over owing to the shot up demands of the digital world. Dual and Quad core microprocessors are the popular multi-core processors at present that sustain the need of the hour sophistication in terms of speed and performance.

The dual and quad cores CPUs basically exploit the famous English idiom “Divide and rule”. The logic is very simple. The microprocessor makes use of multi-threading technology to get work done; wherein each calculation work received by the microprocessor is spread over multiple execution cores. Thus demanding applications like those which entail multi-media are able to sustain multiple operations concurrently without slowing-down the system.

On the same lines, the contemporary systems run many applications simultaneously, while giving a feel as if unaffected by the workload. For example, a personal computer or laptop with latest configuration generally runs anti-virus protection and security, compression, encryption, synchronization, as well as, Microsoft office application(s), Internet based applications, Multi Media player et al, concurrently without affecting the overall performance of the system. The phenomenon is termed as Multi-tasking, which has evidently enhanced both user experience and expectations manifolds.

To elucidate in technical terms, Dual and quad cores unite two or more processors, their caches and cache controllers into a single integrated circuit (chip) made up of silicon. As may be easily gathered from the names, while dual implies two processors, quad indicates four or more processors in place. Therefore, Quad cores guarantee much better user experience in terms of mobility, computing and highly engrossing multi-media. In specific, Quad cores are more effective for backend server, as the server has to detect programs running simultaneously.

Dual core processors are prevalent in the present scenario, as they more than suffice the performance requirement of movies and HTPC and expected programs in the coming year. Quad cores, however, is by all means the future rage considering the present pace of developments and ever-rising demands of the computer user community. In fact, the signs have already started showing.

On 13th Dec 2006, Intel launched its quad core processor - “Kentsfield” chip - commercially baptized “Core 2 Extreme Q6700″, sporting impressive speed of 2.66Ghz with 8MB of L2 Cache. Later on Jan 7th 2007 has followed the mainstream chip launch by Intel named Q6600 at 2.4ghz. To compliment the developments in anticipation, AMD has also announced its quad core processors to be launched soon in 2007 only.

To conclude, the ongoing chase for breakthrough performance to meet largest of computing needs at reduced operating costs and pioneering efficiency has already gained further momentum.