What is inside Apple's lightest MacBook Air

Basking in the glory of the success of its tablet device iPads and mobile device iPhone, Apple has added some of their features to its computers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled company's new ultra-light laptop MacBook Air which -like its popular iPad - has no hard drive. Also, Apple's popular App Store, available on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, too has come to Macintosh computers.

Introduced in two sizes, the new laptops aim to boost the company's falling share in the PC market. Here's looking inside Apple's just-launched MacBook Air:

1) Looks: Featuring an all-aluminum unibody design, the new MacBook Air is Apple's lightest laptop ever. The laptop measures 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68-inches at its thickest, and weighs just 2.3 pounds for the 11-inch model and 2.9 pounds for the 13-inch.

2) Multi-touch trackpad: Apple Air features a full-sized keyboard for typing as well as the popular glass Multi-Touch trackpad found on Apple’s MacBook Pro. The Multi-Touch trackpad lets users pinch, swipe, or rotate to adjust an image, zoom in on text, or advance through a photo album.

3) Facetime Camera: Apple is also bringing the FaceTime video chatting to Macs. The feature debuted this year on the iPhone 4 and has since been added to the iPad. The new FaceTime for Mac application, currently in beta, will let users make FaceTime calls over Wi-Fi with anyone who has a Mac, an iPhone 4, or the new iPod touch.

4) Flash Storage: The new generation MacBook Air models use flash drives instead of hard drives. The new MacBook Air is designed completely around flash storage. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as the iPad.

Apple has done away with CD and DVD drives in the very first edition of its MacBook Air, and in the current models the company ditches the hard disk drive. This, according to Apple, will speed up laptops' boot up time.
The 11-inch MacBook Air comes with 2GB of memory and 64GB/128GB of flash storage. The 13-inch model will pack 2GB of memory and 128GB/256GB of flash storage. The 13-inch MacBook Air also includes an SD card slot. More here >>>

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Now LED Monitors by DELL

DELL L

Dell has expanded its monitor portfolio with the launch of eight new LED displays.

Available in 22-inch (ST2220), 23-inch (ST2320) and 24-inch (ST2420) sizes, Dell's new Studio LED monitors are engineered to provide consumers with enhanced digital content consumption and creation.

The monitors are ENERGY STAR 5.0 compliant. Key specs include:

High-definition with 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution, mega dynamic contrast ratio (7,000,000 to 8,000,000:1), fast response time of 5ms typical (black to white) and a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Stylishly designed with its bottom front bezel lit when switched on, intuitive touch controls on the bottom right panel.

Environmentally-conscious display technology -- Designed to meet high environmental standards, the ENERGY STAR 5.0 compliant monitors are made of environmentally preferable materials such as arsenic-free glass and mercury-free panels.
With digital and analog connectivity features, consumers can connect the monitor with their desktop, laptop, gaming console and other peripherals with the VGA and DVI (HDCP) ports.

Dell also announced two 20-inch HD monitors, the IN2020 and IN2020M. The 1600 x 900 high-definition monitors offer 5ms black to white response time and dynamic contrast ratio estimated at 8 million:1.
The IN2020 monitor comes with a VGA connector while IN2020M has a DVI port that facilitates streaming of high quality video and audio.

The LEDs are priced at ST2220L ($199.99), ST2220M ($189.99), ST2320L ($229.99) and ST2420L ($259.99).
Dell also plans to soon launch a touch monitor, which it claims will be th first 21.5" multi-touch display with IPS technology which allows for wider viewing angles and better color reproduction.

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Review: Sony Cybershot TX9 camera

We see the world in 3D, but cameras with single lenses have a hard time doing that. Except the new Cyber-Shot TX9; a camera that is an ideal companion for the new 3D TVs in the market. 

The sleek metal body, active sliding lens cover and internal Carl Zeiss lens in the TX9 is very much like the existing TX7 and T99. But the CyberShot TX9 has a CMOS sensor which is unlike most compact cameras. A high quality CMOS sensor (like the ones DLSRs use) is better at capturing images in low light, with lesser noise. 

Around the back of the camera, a 921,000 pixel 3.5-inch touchscreen does duty for composition and playback. Most settings and features have to be controlled via the touchscreen as there are very few buttons. There are many modes, special settings and configuration options to keep you occupied. 

For example, HDR takes multiple shots and combines them in-camera to give a photo with better shadow and highlight details, i.e., a higher dynamic range. Twilight mode takes multiple photos and combines them into one with reduced blur and noise, so that you can take better images in low light. 

The Background Defocus mode makes your subject stand out by blurring the background. The TX9 also has some 3D tricks up its sleeve. It doesn't have two separate lenses and sensors like the Fujifilm Real 3D W1 camera, so it can't take 'actual' 3D photographs or video. 

Instead, it offers a 3D panorama mode. In this mode, you have to just pan the camera in a smooth motion from left to right (or vice versa), while it takes multiple images and combines them all to form a 3D panorama that can be viewed on a 3D display (or on the camera itself, thanks to a clever Gsensor that changes the image as you rock the camera from side to side). 

The 4x Carl Zeiss lens, optical image stabilization, CMOS sensor and Sony's BIONZ engine all combine to deliver admirable results in almost any situation. The vivid results are sure to please. If you're not sure what mode to choose from the myriad options, just leave it in intelligent auto. Thankfully, recognizing the inconvenience of a proprietary port, the box includes a dock which provides a standard HDMI out, mini USB and composite A/V output. 

And like several of the newer CyberShots, the TX9 accepts both Memory Stick Pro Duo and SD/SDHC cards for storage. However, the camera is often slow to respond, especially when switching from picture taking to playback modes. 

Shot-to-shot recycle times are not too great either; it takes about 2 seconds for the camera to get ready after taking a photo. Buy the camera as a companion for your 3D TV, but as a standalone CMOS compact camera, the Canon IXUS 300 HS is hard to ignore. 

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