Random Access

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday June 9, 2008

Simon Tsang

SMALL WONDER

Ultra-light mini-notebooks are the new battleground judging by last week's showing at the Computex exhibition in Taipei. Taiwanese computer company MSI unveiled a new ultra-portable called the Wind U100 (pictured); we guess "Air" was already taken. The tiny notebook weighs just over 1kg and features a 25-centimetre screen, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 4-in-1 card reader and a conventional 80GB hard drive. The U100 is powered by Intel's new 1.6GHz Atom processor and goes head to head with Asus's Eee PC, which has been a runaway success, selling for less than $500 in Australia for the Linux version. Acer also weighed in with its own take on the mini-notebook formula, launching the Aspire One that will cost from $US399-$499.

EARTH TO AUNTY

The ABC has launched a location-based content service called ABC Earth. News via audio, video and text appear as icons overlayed on to satellite maps using the Google Earth application (earth.google.com). Viewers using Google Earth can "fly over" cities and countries to find news material relevant to that region. Content comes from the ABC's various news outlets, including news feeds, ABC TV and radio archive material, live radio and programs such as Foreign Correspondent. The New York Times has beaten Aunty to the punch with location-based news using Google Earth but the ABC is probably the first to incorporate streaming media. Find out more at abc.net.au/earth.

EDU-TAINMENT

Just when you thought iTunes was all about music and videos, along comes iTunes U, a virtual campus with free educational content. The content can be downloaded from participating universities and transferred to an iPod, as in any regular podcast, through the "iTunes U" link in the iTunes Store.

BUCKET OF SMILES

It's not often you see modern technology gear styled to look like a bucket but that's where Canon drew its inspiration from for its latest Selphy photo printer. The CP770's design means you can easily carry paper, ink and power cord without a separate bag. The CP770 handles paper sizes up to a wide-format 200 x 100 millimetres and Canon estimates each print to cost 39 cents. It's due for release in August for $189.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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