Laptops, Netbooks, Notebooks, NetTops, Eee PC, SmartTops, Mobile PC, Tablet PC

A Chinese local newspaper reported on Thursday that police in Shanghai, working on a tip-off, busted five individuals who were creating and selling fake models of the Apple’s iPhone. According to Shanghai Daily, the arrested fellows were a part of an organized crime group that purchased the smartphone’s spare parts from an outlet in Guangdong, southern China and assembled them in clandestine apartments in Shanghai. During the raid, police found approximately 200 fake iPhone devices on the scene.

Fake iPhone

We learned from our trusted source that when some genuine components are used, the cost of producing a fake iPhone is around 2,000 yuan (approximately $313). The makers often sell these fake devices on unauthorized markets via the Internet and brick-and-mortar stores for around 4,000 yuan. That’s a huge gain, as they sell the pirated devices only a few hundred yuan cheaper than the original iPhone.

Manufacturing fake copies of Apple’s mobile devices is a business that thrives in mainland China, and the Government is not doing enough to curb the piracy. Typically, fake iPhones have almost the same functionality as the genuine ones, but the battery life is shorter and often come with countless bugs. One police officer said that it is extremely difficult for consumers to differentiate between genuine and fake iPhones.

According to the technology blog, AllThingsD, Apple has finalized all plans to release its next generation of the iPhone on Tuesday, October 4^th, 2011. However, the tech blog cautioned that the Cupertino-based company could reschedule the launch to a later date. The post went on to say that at the moment, Apple’s new Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook, is ready to preside over launching the smartphone on October 4^th.

iPhone 5

Like we all know, the ailing co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, announced his early retirement last month as the company’s CEO, due to health reasons, and was effectively replaced by the 50-year old Tim Cook. After several years of being the visionary behind the Cupertino, California-based gadget-maker that produces the Macintosh computer, iPad, iPhone and iPod, Jobs stepped down at the age of 56 on August 24^th.

According to the Dow Jones-owned AllThingsD, the iPhone 5 would be available in retail outlets within a few weeks after the upcoming announcement.

Enormous pressure will be on Cook to deliver an outstanding performance, since this is his first time – it was Jobs who presided over all the previous product launches.Well, who knows if Jobs will be healthy enough to make at least a brief appearance?

Today, almost every desktop computer offers a wealth of options: You can opt for a computer with fixed hardware and software configurations, or you can choose to customize your PC, if you’re an advanced user. Customizing a system almost always entails being confronted with a dizzying plethora of choices from a configure-to-purchase vendor. When you choose the latter option, you’re not restricted to use only the components the vendor pre-installed for the model.

Desktop PC

There are three major categories of desktop PCs, namely, compact PCs, classic tower PCs (subdivided into high-performance, mainstream and budget categories), and all-in-one PCs. Each category has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on what you use it for.

When presented with an array of varied hardware and software options, often differentiated by hard-to-decipher naming conventions, we recommend you narrow your choice by considering the tasks you intend to use the new desktop to perform. If you’re a budget-minded photographer who needs a fast system for editing high-resolution pictures, then go for one with discrete graphics card and extra memory RAM.

If you have a large media collection and want a cost-effective, compact way to connect it to your HDTV, your best option would be a compact desktop PC configured with an eye for media sharing and playback.

According to a new research by Mark Moskowitz, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, the much-speculated next generation iPad will not reach the market until sometime in 2012. Even though many unconfirmed rumors speculate that the iPad 3 (the most-likely name for the upcoming tablet) will be launched in time for the holiday season this year, this latest report indicates the device won’t be here until in the New Year.

iPad-2

The iPad 2 was announced by the Cupertino-based computer maker, Apple Inc, last March, only 15 months after releasing the original iPad. So, hindsight tells us that launching the upcoming iPad 3 in early 2012 would be more consistent than this year with the company’s product release cycle.

We’ve also got news that Apple might release an iPad HD – a tablet computer with only few modifications from the reigning iPad 2 – this fall season, with the next major model to be unveiled in 2012.

As Apple becomes the world’s second most-valuable brand after Google, what type of product do you expect from the company this fall to cement that authority? Is it a minor update to the current version of the iPad, or the iPad 3?

There are several mainstream desktop computers on the market today that deliver optimal performance. The Origin Genesis Z68 belongs to this class of PCs and it has something extra going for it that makes it to stand out in the crowd – a palatable price tag!

Origin Genesis Z68

The Origin Genesis Z68 runs on Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, and packs Intel Core i5 processor with 3.3 GHz speed, Nvidia GeForce Discreet Graphics Chipset, 1120 GB of total hard drive capacity and dual-link DVI. It is also shipped bundled with all-in-one flash memory card reader, 750 watts’ power supply, Bluetooth connectivity, HDMI, USB, eSATA and installed memory of 16384MB DDR3.

Some of the benefits of buying the Origin Genesis Z68 desktop are as follows: It includes a plethora of available ports and an irresistibly-attractive chassis. To top it all, the desktop also has a competitive price tag.

The only downside of this beautiful and reliable desktop personal computer is that it is fully packed to the grills, which leaves a little space for maneuvering. The PC case easily gets dirty in dusty environments. But regardless of these minor cons, everyone agrees that the Origin Genesis Z68 is the computer to have in a house or office, if your job is resource-intensive and requires high speed.

Personal computers aren’t going to be phased out like gramophones, but they won’t be dominating how we connect to the Internet in a few years time. IDC, a tech research firm, has predicted that the number of mobile device users in the US will surpass those connecting to the Internet through wired computer systems by 2015.

Tablet Computers

IDC said in a statement that since smartphones sell more than feature phones, and with tablet PC boom, mobile devices look set to become preferred means of accessing the Internet in about four years time. In contrast, the firm predicts that the users accessing the Internet via personal computers (PCs) will stagnate and gradually decline in the coming years.

The prediction went on to say that the U.S. will first witness the purported migration, followed by Japan and Western Europe. Researchers believe a boom in worldwide use of the Internet, made possible by tablets and smartphones, will also transform our online world in positive ways.

Smartphones

Currently, only 20% of the world’s population has access to the Internet, but IDC predicts that number will climb to 40% or 2.5 billion people. And with the mobile device boom, advertisers will craft more innovative ways to reach tablet and smartphone users.

We have good news for everyone! Several developers have been trying to get HP’s TouchPad to run on Google’s Android operating system, after the tablet went on fire sales that saw its price drop significantly to $99.00. A cash bounty of up to $1,500.00 was even placed for anyone who successfully got the device to work on Android. That encouragement galvanized a lot of geeks to jump on board! And now there is a functioning Android port that even supports multitouch functionality, thanks to Team Touchdroid.

HP TouchPad on Android

Initial attempts to get the HP TouchPad to run on the Android OS had very limited success. For example, a hack by CyanogenMod successfully got Android to boot on the tablet PC, but then, its touchscreen didn’t function properly.

Now as luck may have it, a group of geeks known as the Team Touchdroid has come up with a port that has the capability to take care of ten-point multitouch via a vanilla build of Android 2.3.5.

If you purchased the now overly-affordable TouchPad that runs on the ill-fated webOS, but wants to install Android, it’s essential to understand that this 2.3.5 port is still a work in progress. We will soon see who will claim the HackNMod bounty!

Sony’s VAIO SB series is a high-performance, ultra-portable laptop that offers the best value for the money. It is thin, light, extraordinarily fast and performs optimally, regardless of some minor annoyances.

Sony VAIO SB

The high-end model of the Sony VAIO SB is a 13.3-inch laptop that weighs only 3.7 pounds on the scale, but lower-end configurations weigh a bit less than that. The series packs some impressive hardware configurations that include a dual-core Core i7-2620M CPU with hyper-threading capability at the base clock speed of 2.7GHz. Together with that efficient processor is a fast 256GB hard drive, switchable graphics (an integrated Intel chip plus a Radeon HD 6630M with 1GB of graphics RAM) and 8GB of memory RAM.

The story doesn’t end there! The Sony VAIO SB also sports Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, a combination of DVD burner and BD-ROM, and a dual-band 802n networking utility. Moreover, the ultra-portable laptop supports Intel’s WIDI wireless technology. It’s beyond my comprehension how Sony was able to pack all those nice stuffs into a 1-inch thick laptop that weighs below 4 pounds.

The base version of the VAIO SB series costs around $900.00 on the retail market and the high-end model has a price tag of $2500.00. It’s understandable why the laptop is expensive, considering its high-performance hardware configurations and ultra-portable size.

Acer’s new Iconia Tab A100 made history by becoming the first 7-inch tablet computer to run on Android Honeycomb – an operating system that is well-optimized for tablets. The slate has two available versions – an 8GB version which costs $330.00 and a 16GB version that has a price tag of $350.00. As we learned from a source close to the Taiwanese computer giant, the Iconia Tab A100 is ready to make its way to retail outlets very soon.

Iconia Tab A100

We received a review unit yesterday, gave it a test drive and we can comfortably vouch for its incredible performance. It works almost as a 10-inch tablet running on Gingerbread, though a little bit slower in opening programs.

The Acer Iconia Tab A100 has an attractive, low price tag that combines with a specifically made-for-tablet operating system and above-average hardware specifications to give the tablet PC a competitive edge on the market. Owing to the fact that there isn’t a lot of fierce competition in the 7-inch tablet arena, we reckon the top-level specs will place the Iconia Tab A100 at the top of that short list. But there’s a chance the price of the 8GB model would drop to $299.00 or even less in the near future.

Now, let’s take you to the first impressions we got about this Acer’s tablet: The size is half an inch and weighs less than a pound. It is powered by a dual-core CPU and sports a 1GB of memory RAM, and these make the device so enticing. The company claims the tablet has a maximum of five hours of battery life, but the power lasts for about four hours, depending on the applications you’re running and screen brightness. For someone who is used to long hours of larger 10-inch tablets, the Iconia Tab A100 leaves less to be desired, when it comes to battery life.