JBL partnered with Roxy to launch these headphones a month ago and I have tested them for a few days. I like the bright and fun design that for sure is appealing to the young generation and might be targeted to the female audience, given the color palette (pink and orange) and the picture on the product page, however there is also a green and blue version, for the boys who do not dare to wear pink. The product comes with a cool looking pouch ornamented with bright colored drawings (see gallery), I like the subtle organic design that "grows" on the headband as well.

Now that we've spent some quality time with the mBook, including a live blogging field trip, let's go over the pro and cons of using one of the smallest PCs out there. First, I would like to share the context: during a discussion with Intel, we were asked how we would use this MID and what kind of problem we could put it to work for. We thought that it would be useful to have a tiny computer during an expo so that we can go from booth to booth and post immediately. Intel loaned the mBook to us and we set out to try posting live from their Search Day and see how the mBook performs. The computer was subsequently returned to Intel.

As you can imagine, using such a tiny computer isn't without challenges, that's why the Mobile Internet Device (MID) category is still in "soul search" mode. The bottom-line is: it worked well for us, but we had to adapt our workflow to it.

I just got a Umid mBook, a mobile internet device (MID) powered by an Atom processor. Out of the box, it runs Windows XP Home, but I might try to install Windows 7 which is more finger-friendly (kind of). At the moment, I have turned the unit on and inspected the physical aspect of the mBook.

We've played with it before (CES, and elsewhere) but it is still amazing to see Win XP (or Linux) run on a device that is so small and light (330g/11.6oz). Right now, the battery is charging and we will see how long it can hold. The trick with these devices is to find what they can do for you, given their small size – I mean other than being very cool! It's a good example of limitations mainly induced by "us" (humans) - our eyes can see only so much and our fingers aren't getting smaller - if anything, the latest stats show that we’re getting bigger… This costs $599.

By Sean Captain

Publisher's note: unlike the older Palm Pre mini Review, this post was written with the final retail version of the Palm Pre.

Remember the old "Don't call it a phone" ads for wireless company Helio? I was reminded of the "don't call it" imperative when I first laid my fingers on the new Palm Pre from Sprint this evening. Everyone wants to know how it compares to Apple's iconic handheld. Is it an iPhone killer?

No, it's not. And that's not a bad thing. It's simply different. Despite having a capacitive touchscreen, snappy animations and even many of the same designers (defects from Apple's iPhone team), the Pre is a very different device.

We had time to play with the Sony PSP Go and here are our first impressions: The format is nice, it is much smaller than the product photos would have you think. That is definitely a pocket device. It feels small and light and it is also comfortable in my hands. All the games demonstrated were fairly fast, and normally, everything PSP app be as fast – or faster – than a PSP. No problem there.

The controller is OK for most games but we know that many of you would miss an analog stick. Fortunately, I’m an old school player, so I can deal with the standard direction control. There’s one thing that worries about the buttons on the right: they are a little small. It’s OK when playing games that don’t require a difficult string of buttons, but something like a tap game (Guitar hero) or a fighting game (Tekken) might be problem because there might not be room for more than one finger.

Thanks to its size, the Samsung NC20 is a 12" netbook that brings an appreciable level of comfort for typing and viewing - two things that their smaller cousins have come under fire for. In our minds, there's no doubt that PC makers are currently building a 12" to 13.3" category of low-cost laptops that cater to a simple customer demand: "good enough" performance, comfortable typing and long battery life.

Each of us has a different take on what that really means, that's why many variants will continue to exist. In this article, we will tell you if the Samsung NC20 was good enough for us.

In-depth review by Karsten Lemm

When U.S. television switched to broadcasting in high-definition, many shows were forced to change their production design: HD images are so crisp and clear that any blemish on the set – paint jobs, cracks in the wall, the old sofa in the corner – would have jumped out at viewers right away. Hollywood's plastic surgeons, needless to say, saw a similar boost in business as Home Depot did.

Now the HD revolution is shaking up the world of home video, and while the effect on Botox sales may be hard to predict, it's certainly easy to believe that high-defintion camcorders deliver the same pristine picture quality known from HDTV. After all, "high-definition" means an image size of at least 1280x720 pixels – roughly three times as many as a standard television picture contains. "Full HD" even stands for 1920x1080 pixels, big enough to make you go "Wow!" on even the largest home-theatre screens.

By Simon Barber*

I have just spent a week with a Kindle 2 Amazon lent me to review. Tomorrow I have to send it back and will be sorry to see it go. I am fairly certain that I will not be able to resist the temptation to buy one of my own although I do continue to have reservations about the $350 price tag and the longevity of the device.

On the latter score, I find it intensely irritating that I should be asked to pay $65, a fifth of the purchase price, to extend the warranty from one year to two. That is either a rip-off or, if an actuarially based insurance premium, a worrying omen.

I buy and read a lot of books, both for pleasure and for work. This past week I was preparing a column on Cass Sunstein, the University of Chicago, and latterly Harvard, law professor President Obama has just appointed head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House. Sunstein is a prolific author, though perhaps not yet a household name. I had no trouble locating Kindle editions of his works on the Amazon website at $9.99 a pop, beamed instantly and without additional charge to my device via Sprint’s wireless EVDO network. Dead tree editions, delivered, would have been closer to $30 and would have arrived too late to have been of any use to me.

Sasha from netbooknews.de just posted a video hands-on (below) of the cute MSI Wind U200 that we mentioned when it leaked. You can also check the launch event photo gallery here.

In-depth review by Karsten Lemm

Click photo to see gallery. For hi-res photo sample, go here

What’s so special?

Making your camera go "click!" at just the right moment is crucial: Blink and you'll miss it when your child scores a goal, a bee buzzes away from a flower, a surfer hits the waves. Most cameras can't guarantee that you'll capture a striking image when something happens in a split second – because even high-end models tend to top out at six or seven frames per second. The Casio, in contrast, manages to capture roughly ten times as many: up to 60 single images in one second. That should virtually guarantee a keeper, as it’s equivalent to the frame rate of slow-motion video.

Except we're not talking about a video. These are 60 fullsize photos, each of them six megapixels in size. While that may seem relatively small by today's standards, it's easily big enough to allow prints the size of a small poster. For those preferring 9 megapixel photos, Casio offers a sister model to the EX-F1, the EX-FH20. (Catchy names!) The trade-off is a lower frame rate: The EX-FH20 takes a maximum of 40 pictures in one second – which is still plenty in most situations.

To make sure that you don't miss a crucial snapshot, you can have the camera start taking pictures – buffering, in effect – before you fully release the shutter. After taking the 60 images you can either save them all or quickly review and choose which ones you'd like to keep.

Is it as good as Acer/Nvidia say at Playing HD content?
Yes, it is. The Aspire Revo plays HD video content without any problems. It is actually quite impressive, even if we had seen previous demos using the Ion platform.

How cute is it in the real world?
We like it. If you factor in the price, we have to admit that the computer has a lot of cuteness. The built quality is on par with popular netbooks, so that gives you an overall idea.

No DVI Output?
Yes, we know... It's kind of annoying that Acer did not choose to go with a DVI instead of the VGA ouput, that's a minus in our book.

[GDC09] Just as it was announced, we got our hands on the Vuzix Augmented Reality Kit. Our conclusion: it is still rough and requires higher resolution cameras in the future. Clearly the demo works and depending on your application, the current setup might be "good enough", but for example the pistol demo lacked the resolution to align the sights as one would expect.

Vuzix Augmented Reality Kit uses a camera that can "see" and track the position and orientation of an object (included in the kit). From there, it can act as a controller. Developers are required to do more work to make their games compatible, so check Vuzix's website to be sure (GDC09 Booth 5123).

The Xperia X1 was one of the most anticipated smart phone of 2008. It came to the market very late, but it's never too late to play with it and publish our findings. Let's provide some context: The Xperia X1 is Sony Ericsson's first Windows Mobile smart phone and is the leading model in an "Xperia" family that will grow overtime. Among its numerous qualities, two set it apart from the Windows Mobile crowd: metal construction and panel-based interface. Does the X1 live up to the hype, and how does it compare to other top of the line Windows Mobile phones?

Dell just launched the Studio One 19, an affordable all in one computer with a multi-touch tactile display. We played with it and the few things that we came away with are: it's reactive, well priced and... the sound is surprisingly good. First, let's go over the highlights:

• 18.5" Display (1366x768 or 1920x1080, 16:9) with Webcam (Multi Touch as an option)
• Intel Celeron (2.2Ghz) or Core 2 (3Ghz max) processor
• 4GB RAM (max), 750GB (max) HDD (user upgradable)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9200 or 9400 GPU
• 558mm tall, 395mm wide, 82mm deep
• Blu-Ray (optional)

Although the body is made of aluminum and glass, the colored contour is actually a fabric (with plastic underneath). There are several colors (White, Tuscan Red, Navy Blue, Powder Pink and Charcoal) but there is not interchangeable faceplates. Customers will have to choose one color at buy time. Another detail: on the product photos, the keyboard shown is a wireless one, but the basic configuration comes with a wired one, so keep it in mind.