While Apple’s 27-inch iMac has been having some notable problems recently, causing long delays and a possible halt in shipments, it seems that things might be back on track for the fruity company. Folks who have been waiting expectantly for their iMacs to arrive have started to receive notifications that the units will be shipping out soon. An online user who ordered his 27-inch iMac on January 29th has received his shipping email, with the unit set to leave the depot on February 9th, and delivery should take a week. Hopefully this means that Apple has sorted out the various issues that it has been experiencing, such as yellow displays or cracked screens.

AMD has rolled out its latest ATI Radeon HD 5570 graphics card which is an energy efficient, low-profile DirectX 11 card that targets small form factor PCs. Despite its relatively small size, it still sports full DirectX 11 support, ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology and ATI Stream capabilities. Just as we ought not to judge a book by its cover, let us also not do the same by the size of a video card - in this case, the Radeon HD 5570 is capable of delivering full 1080p HD playback while handing the full Microsoft Windows 7 experience without missing a beat - now how about that! It will sell for under the $80 banner while boasting a maximum of 1GB of onboard GDDR3 RAM alongside a 650MHz core clock speed, sipping a mere 43W of juice under a full load. Any takers? [Press Release]

So you think you've got a pretty mean setup for your desktop? The NEC P701 certainly takes the cake, as it is a monstrous 70" in size, albeit maxing out at 1,920 x 1,080 in terms of resolution. Other specifications include a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, a 420 cd/m2 brightness rating with 600 cd/m2 maximum brightness. You will find that the NEC P701 is also equipped with an integrated thermal protection and internal temperature sensors. Nice to know that this industry-standard display relies on a sealed design that keeps dust, grease and steam out so that it can operate just fine under most weather conditions. With an internal clock, the P701 knows when to turn itself off during off-peak hours to further reduce energy consumption. Expect the NEC P701 to roll out this March with an integrated tuner known as the P701-AVT for a yet undisclosed sum.

AnyDATA has made available a couple of Windows-powered smartphones in the form of the ASP-318 and ASP-518, where the former is easy on your pockets, making it the ideal Windows Mobile smartphone for students and enterprise workers, where it runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, sporting a 3.2" color touchscreen display, GPS navigation, an accelerometer, dual SIM carriage, a microSD memory card slot, a 3.2-megapixel camera with an integrated flash and autofocus as well as a built-in FM radio. Apart from that, AnyDATA aims to enhance the ASP-318 further with SRS TruMedia from SRS Labs. As for the ASP-518, this 3G dual mode smartphone will also be powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, sharing many features mentioned earlier with the ASP-319 albeit having dual cameras (a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera and a VGA camera), the Qualcomm MSM7627 3G processor and SRS technology for its audio needs. Meanwhile, we are left scratching our heads as to who would be offering these handsets, and at what price. [Press Release]

Considering that the future is going to rely heavily on virtual goods and services, Apple seems to have gotten a rather nice patent under its belt, specifically a patent for improving the user experience in a 3D virtual Apple Store. While virtual shopping might be fun, it can also lack a certain feel that users experience in traditional stores. Apple goes into quite a bit of detail of things such as natural outdoor lighting that reflects the time of day, seasonal outdoor schemes, and anything that might make the cold digital shopping experience more fun. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of experience shopping at a virtual Apple store would be like. After all, most online stores nowadays are just point-and-click sites, we’ll see if Apple can make it fun.

Netgear's latest MBRN3300 is the result of a collaboration with Ericsson, where the device is capable of using an internal 3G modem which includes HSPA+ at roughly 20Mbps, while sharing that link via either 802.11n Wi-Fi or through a quartet of 100Mbps Ethernet ports - it all depends on what your home network setup is like. Both Ericsson and Netgear is priming the MBRN3300 for households where regular cable, DSL or fiber isn't available, as well as those who rely on completely mobile local networks. Heck, you can juice it up with you wherever you go in a car, thanks to the optional car charger and a battery pack that does not need a traditional plug. No idea on its pricing since Netgear hopes to make the MBRN3300 available from various telco carriers.

Seagate has announced its Savvio 10K.4 hard drive which is touted to be the highest capacity and most reliable 2.5" enterprise-class drive in the world, hitting a maximum capacity of 600GB while boasting a 2 million hour MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) solution. Targeting enterprise servers while enabling new levels of data density in external storage arrays, the Savvio 10K.4 has twice the capacity of its nearest rival. No idea on pricing though. [Press Release]

Not everyone is able to upgrade their notebook every couple of years to keep up with the latest and the greatest, so if you're still on a computing boneshaker and want to play games on it while viewing all its past graphical glory on a HDTV, then the Atlona AT-HDVieW ought to be your cup of tea. Powered via USB, it will take both VGA and 3.5mm audio by merging their signals together, sending the resulting output at 1080p via HDMI. On the plus side, the scaler/converter will communicate with your HDTV so that the right output resolution is achieved just in case 1080p looks weird. Looks like a no-brainer of a device which retails for a mere $120.

Panasonic Japan has made a rather nice announcement for 3D fans today, with the 54-inch Viera TH-P54VT and 50-inch TH-P50VT2 announced (though only the first supports 3D). Specifications for both these plasma TVs are rather impressive as they boast full HD displays, native contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, Viera link, web connectivity, 4 HDMI ports, multiple TV tuners, eco-mode, built-in speakers and sub-woofer. If you want to use the 3D feature for the TH-P54VT, you’ll need to wear active shutter glasses, so do keep that in mind. Both these displays will be going on sale in Japan on April 23rd. Expect to pay $5900 for the TH-P54VT, and $4800 for the TH-P50VT2.

Elecom has a couple of new memory card readers available in Japan - the USB-style MR-A001BK as well as the cable-type MR-A002 series. The former is capable of handling up to 10 different types of memory cards, including the latest SDXC format which maxes out at a whopping 64GB, while the MR-A002 series plays around with 32 different types of media including SDXC, alongside the Memory Stick range from Sony sans an adapter. Design-wise, there is nothing much to shout about although we're pretty happy with them in terms of practicality. After all, isn't it better to be prepared than get caught with your pants down?

We brought you news of a new Super AMOLED handset from Samsung that will debut at Mobile World Congress (MWC), Barcelona, and today there is a new development on this mystery phone. Apparently, it is being promoted as the first Bada-powered Samsung phone, debuting on a day filled with love - Valentine's Day. What do you think of this news - will you be all thrilled about a Bada OS phone, or are you still saving up to make sure you have enough money to purchase an Android or iPhone OS-powered handset?

Google has recently been offering free turn-by-turn navigation for Android phones in the US, and while that is great, our friends on the other side of the pond have had to make do without for some time now. Fortunately Google seems to have been listening, and word is that Google has been working with a company in the Netherlands to bring said feature to folks over in Europe. Speculation is that the company might be Navteq (which is owned by Nokia), and the recent withdrawal of Navteq from the Android market serves to further strengthen speculation. If Google were to start rolling out its free turn-by-turn navigation in Europe, and maybe extend it to Asia, companies that focus on GPS such as Garmin might start to shudder in fear.

Are you a sports addict that flicks between channels all day long? If you think your remote isn’t keeping pace with the rate you’re flicking between channels, the ESPN Game Changer Universal Remote Control might be able to help you out. Featuring dedicated ESPN buttons (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU); you’ll be able to quickly switch between sports channels to keep in touch with all the games that are running simultaneously. If you want to keep switching between a non-sports channel, you’re still covered, as the buttons are programmable, so you won’t miss whatever reality show you’re addicted to at the moment. The best part is, it won’t set you back $300 like the Ultimate Remote, rather you’ll be able to pick up two of these remotes for just $8 (plus $5 for shipping). Doesn’t seem like an expensive decision to make, does it? Especially since Amazon is selling it for $24.99 each.

After the NVIDIA Optimus teaser was posted in early January, there was some speculation about what it was, but we now have first-hand information: NVIDIA Optimus is an architecture for multi-GPU computers (typically integrated + discrete) that allows the operating system to seamlessly switch between integrated and discrete graphics. The goal is to use the most appropriate graphics processor at any given time in order to minimize power consumption or maximize performance.

I’ve seen it in action, and I can tell you that it is leaps and bounds better than what is out there today. Typically, today’s computers require several steps in order to switch from one GPU to another. It’s not intuitive and most users don’t even bother doing it because it’s a hassle.