Dell Canada has the SP2309 23″ screen — a monitor with 2048×1152 screen resolution (that’s a bit greater than the standard 1080 hd resolution) — for a mere $239 until midnight!

I’m usually not an advocate of spending, but if you have $250 and need an external monitor, this is a must get. It’s a great deal; I’ve personally been a fan of Dell’s monitors ever since I got the S2208W (here’s my review on it: http://cutedge.org/full-hd-in-22-inches-the-dell-s2209w/), and this baby exceeds HD (even if only by a bit)!

Check it out, it’s only on till midnight so get cracking!

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/days_of_deals?c=ca&cs=cadhst1&l=en&s=dhs&ref=hbn

No doubt there are a huge amount of MacBook Pro fans (I’m one of them) — the new MacBook Pros are cheaper, more efficient, and simpler than ever before. There wasn’t really much competition. Until now.

HP has created an (almost) exactly replica of the MacBook Pro; taking the exterior design of the MacBook Pro and slapping an HP logo on it, but reinventing the inside to have a lot more juice, and a lot more power. Named Envy, this line of laptops was created to capture a portion of those interested in MacBook Pros — the Envy line is more than comparable to Apple’s MacBook Pro.

With an i7 processor and double-digit RAM, and a dedicated ATI graphics card, the Envy is definitely something to keep your eyes peeled for. Available in mid-October, I’d suggest holding off that MacBook Pro until you’ve decided whether Snow Leopard is that essential, and if you can live with Envy and the Windows 7.

Read: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/hp-envy-13-and-15-bring-luxury-to-the-everyman-look-like-macboo/

Read: http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/envy/discover_15.html

Alright, so we’ve got Windows Vista or XP, and we can’t wait for Windows 7 to come out. We absolutely have to make Vista look nice. Like, right now. Here are 5 tools to instantly make Windows Vista or XP that much more bearable. Best of all, they’re free.

1. Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Ever needed to slightly alter the appearance of Windows? Enter Ultimate Windows Tweaker, a utility for Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 to adjust the details of Windows. For example, I remember one time when I decided that shortcut arrows were a nuisance and I didn’t want them to appear on the icons of my desktop. I went into Ultimate Windows Tweaker and performed the adjustments from within – one reboot later, presto! They were gone.

Visit: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista

2. Avedesk

Avedesk is a favourite amongst many computer customization enthusiasts – it is a program that basically adds a layer onto your desktop that enables gadgets (aka applets, widgets, desklets, etc) to run. I like Avedesk because there are a ton of applets ready to be downloaded, and because it looks beautiful. However, I wouldn’t suggest running it on anything that can’t run Windows XP smoothly – it can significantly slow startup time.

Visit: http://www.avedesk.org/

3. LogonStudio

What’s the first thing anyone sees after the boot screen (excluding those single users who don’t set up a password)? Your login screen! I remembered the first time I saw Vista’s beautiful Aurora-styled login screen – but after a certain number of reboots, it got old. If you’re as bored of the background as I am, be sure to give LogonStudio a look.

Visit: http://www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio/

4. Samurize

Somewhat along the lines of Avedesk (don’t ask me which was the original), Samurize offers a bunch of applets to enhance the look of your Windows desktop. I think Samurize to be a bit more computer-intensive than Avedesk, but it’s still worth a go (hey – it’s free) if you’re wanting to take computer customization to the next level.

Visit: http://www.samurize.com/

5. VistaGlazz (+ DeviantArt)

VistaGlazz is a beautiful two-in-one application – basically, it patches the uxtheme.dll on your computer and replaces the default Aero theme with one that has transparent windows even when maximized. By patching the uxtheme.dll, VistaGlazz opens the world of non-Microsoft themes up to your computer. The transparent Aero theme is reminiscent of the updated theme in Windows 7.

As for third-party themes, there are a ton – stuff designed to emulate OS X, Windows 7, or stuff that’s just way out there. For a grand collection of these themes, visit the Vista Visual Styles collection at DeviantArt (links below).

Visit: http://www.codegazer.com/vistaglazz/

Visit: http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/vistautil/visstyles/

Can you still complain about the ugly look of Windows after running through these five applications? And even if you despise Windows, I’m sure that these applications or patches will make things all the more bearable. More importantly, have fun modifying Windows! Hacking and modifying is an excellent experience to have under your belt.

I truthfully think that Microsoft has the most going for it at the moment. Its graphics are top-notch and comparable with the PS3, it retains a respectable portion of the market, it has an excellent online-gaming experience, a slew of very fun games, and costs less than the PS3 and only a bit more than the Wii.

First off, the games that are coming up: Halo 3 ODST, Left 4 Dead, and Forza 3 come to mind. However, there’s a lot more to look forward to with the Xbox 360 that was introduced at E3 2009. I’m talking about Project Natal.

photo credit: juanma.cabello

REVOLUTION.

Project Natal works with a camera — it captures full-body motion, scans pictures, and integrates a new touch-based navigation system into the Xbox 360. That’s a lot of stuff. The official Project Natal page can be found here (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/), and there is no shortage of videos. And I must admit, I’m very impressed — think Wii, without the controller. If Microsoft really focused on making dedicated games towards Project Natal, I’m sure that the tides will turn and the Xbox 360 will surpass the Wii inevitably.

photo credit: modenadude

Secondly, Project Natal already has a program coming up — a friend of mine (thanks Nick!) told me about this about a month ago, but I never got around to seeing it until now — called Milo. Milo, developed by Lionhead, is basically a program where a boy (named Milo?) interacts with the player. One can hold a conversation with this boy, play interactive minigames, but — can also input data virtually into this game. Meaning that Milo scans a piece of paper through Natal, and will have it appear on screen. The transition is seemingly seamless, which is very impressive and speaks a lot for the processing power of the 360 and the speed of Natal.

Again, truthfully, I believe that the Xbox 360 is gearing up for the future, and the other consoles will no doubt be decimated unless they plan something fast. With games coming left and right, and Project Natal around the bend, the Microsoft Xbox 360 would be my recommended system to purchase today.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY&feature=fvst

The Wii’s success is self-evident in its sales — and the fact that it took nearly a year after release before one could manage to find a Wii in stock at a retailer (I imagine it’s not nearly as difficult now). Anyway, the Wii has had much to offer — most outstanding would be its motion-detection and incorporation of movement into its controller. The pioneer of mainstream motion-sensing, the Wii is now feeling pressure from both Sony with the unofficially-named “PS3 Wand” as well as Microsoft’s “Project Natal”. With both powerhouses trying to rob the Wii of its competitive advantage, what is Nintendo’s next move?

photo credit: hirotomo

Surprisingly, nothing drastic — after all, the Wii already had the advantage to begin with. Instead, the Wii is upping its arsenal of games — with new Zelda, Metroid, and Mario games on their way to bolster the current line-up. Interestingly enough, Nintendo is also starting to experiment more with MotionPlus sensitivity on the WiiMote, starting with Red Steel 2 (another game to keep an eye on).

photo credit: yoppy

But to be truthful, although the Wii has maintained a good lead in the console wars, I can foresee it losing its current advantage very quickly — the PS3′s wand will incorporate motion control, levelling the playing field in that aspect, and the Xbox 360 is taking it a step further with full-body motion sensing. With both competitors possessing far superior hardware and catching up to the Wii’s only advantage, what will Nintendo do? I once doubted Nintendo and scoffed at its lack of power — but the people have proved me wrong. For Nintendo’s sakes, let’s hope that they come up with something interesting — and that the people love it.

Undoubtedly, the iPhone and iPod touch just had to be included in this list. Everyday, I see more and more people tilting their iPhone/iPod Touch around, smiling and laughing with amusement. And everyday, I hear more and more about the iPhone’s capabilities — I think it’s fair to say that 3D gaming on most mainstream phones sucked until the arrival of the iPhone.

photo credit: tsmall

The killer feature about the iPhone/iPod Touch is the combination of functions, and the convenience that this combination packs into one small device. The new iPhone 3GS features a more powerful graphics card, more RAM, and a faster CPU — all working together to create a deeper gaming experience.

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Not to mention the iPhone/iPod Touch already incorporates an important dimension into many of its games — touch. The iPhone/iPod Touch, although not for hardcore gamers, is more than suitable for casual gamers that just want something to do on the bus ride home. More importantly, the iPhone/iPod Touch can do more than just game — again, for the casual gamers that don’t plan on gaming more than surfing the web or listening to music, perhaps the iPhone/iPod Touch is the right gadget.

Further Reading: http://gizmodo.com/5286263/will-future-iphone-games-run-on-your-iphone-3g

Indeed, the current state of the PS3 isn’t one to be proud of. Losing much territory in the console wars, the PS3 doesn’t hold too much of a competitive advantage in any aspect — its pricing is higher than its competitors, its navigation is very traditional, and its hardware — although powerful on paper, is still comparable to those of the Xbox 360. In fact, the only thing I can actually see is the free online play, which kind of sold the device to me. It has lost much of its unique selling points, including certain PS3-exclusive titles (Final Fantasy XIII sold me to the PS3 — but not to worry, Final Fantasy is expected to be PS3-exclusive). However, the PS3′s booth at E3 launched the PS3 in some interesting directions.

Sony's new PS3 Wand in action.

Firstly, the PS3 Wand really popped out. Initially, I was torn — sure, Sony took a huge page from Nintendo’s playbook, but at the same time, when paired with the PS3′s graphics, this could be an interesting combination. The unofficially named PS3 Wand has millimetre-precision, enabling just as much control over motion as the Wii. Also, upon seeing some pictures, I couldn’t help but note that this PS3 Wand looked much more advanced than the Nintendo Wiimote (I mean, look at the design of that thing — it looks like it came off an Alienware truck or something!).

A great slew of games await the PS3, including the ever-so-popular Uncharted 2.

Not to mention those titles that are still PS3-exclusive — Uncharted 2, ModNation Racers, MAG, Gran Turismo 5, and God of War 3 come to mind — are still coming right around the bend. The PS3 surely is still in the game, but will the PS3 Wand be able to turn the tables? I’m also thinking that the PS3 price will drop soon due to pressure from both the lack of sales and Activisions influence. The next six months should be interesting for the PS3, and if you’re looking for a device to combine both the Internet and media experience and blend it into your living room, the PS3 is not a bad investment (not to mention it still plays Blu-Ray — another capability that sealed the deal for me).

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sony-ps3-wand-is-best-of-both-worlds

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10254966-1.html

The PSP has always been a very solid contender. Acceptable multimedia management, a decent-sized screen, and a joystick (of course, we could always use a second) — and upcoming games like Soul Calibur, Little Big Planet, and Gran Turismo are all very valid reasons to get the Sony PSP — but before you run along and pick one up, you should know about the new kid on the block…

The PSP Go

Digital gaming is nothing new — Steam’s been at it with the PC for at least a good five years (I say “at least” because I remember getting Counterstrike: Source around five years ago). The idea of downloading games to a personal account isn’t a bad one — firstly, the games are more flexible because they can be downloaded anywhere. Secondly, a copy of the game will always exist — no need to worry about the condition of the physical disc. Thirdly, a minor convenience — but we don’t have to step outside to pick up a game anymore (the implications might be a bit depressing — after all, what happens when people don’t need to leave their houses for anything anymore? Alas, that’s a whole other can of worms).

Sony's new PSP Go can slide!

The PSP Go’s physical appearance is the most noticeable change — it is made more portable by sizing down the screen and the removal of the D-pad, analog stick, and the respective PSP buttons. Instead, Sony decided to split the physical form of the PSP Go into two differing platforms — the screen at the top, and the various methods of navigation on the sliding bottom platform.

With the PSP Go, Sony enters the digital gaming market — a good time to be entering the booming industry (could’ve been earlier, but it’s still not too late to make an impact). The PSP Go will not have a UMD slot for traditional PSP games — but it will have 16GB of flash storage as well as an extra memory slot for games, music, and videos (an acceptable 3.8-inch screen). According to Cinema Blend, Sony will allow for old games to be downloaded in the PSP Go format (http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Sony-Offers-Solution-For-UMD-To-Digital-PSP-Go-Game-Conversion-17993.html). Not a bad idea, considering the possibility of a huge conversion from the PSP 1000 crowd.

A look at the PSP Store concept on the PSP Go.

If you’re hoping to keep the Internet in your pocket, the PSP Go offers wi-fi connectivity (note: no 3g though). I suppose it’s alright — after all, it saves on the complicated bit on finding a supporter for the 3g and whatnot. The PSP can also connect to devices via Bluetooth, so connecting to the Internet via cell phone (sounds awfully redundant though) is a possibility.

Is the PSP Go something to wow over? It depends — what will you be needing it for? If you are wanting the portable gaming experience, then by all means consider the PSP Go. However, if Internet or multimedia playback is more important than gaming, the iPhone or iPod Touch si always an alternative.

Sources:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10254798-1.html

http://www.us.playstation.com/psp/systems/pspgo.html

http://gizmodo.com/5273203/psp-go-leaked-slider-with-16gb-of-flash-storage-and-bluetooth

http://www.developmag.com/news/32092/UMD-PSP-games-going-digital-to-support-Go-launch

Moblin Video

There’s a revolution starting about (evidence: 1,2). No need to panic, but you might do a double-take: the netbook revolution has started. You might have noticed some “savvy”-looking people carrying around absolutely minuscule laptops/notebooks. I know I did a double-take. But now, the number of these people are starting to grow exponentially — from a 40-year-old housewife (power to the people!) to that businessman in a power suit. Next thing you know, the majority of people will probably have one of these miniature laptops/notebooks — also known as netbooks. In fact, my own parents have considered getting one as of late — and so have I.

photo credit: intdev

My desire for a netbook comes with the thought of convenient computing. Sure, good old powerful computers are still essential for tasks like heavy photo and video editing, gaming, and rendering — however, lighter, more convenient and portable netbooks are appealing for their quick boot speed and simple UI. Because practically everything in a netbook is accessed through the Internet, it’s not really necessary to have a more “complicated” UI like Windows — instead, the netbook’s main functions can all be covered in just a few tabs or menus.

photo credit: Joe Brockmeier

From the video, Moblin looks like a very inviting and warm operating system — I’ve seen some comments directed to it’s UI being too childish for some of the more mature users, but I personally find it quite refreshing. Also, it’s great that Moblin not only provides easy access to the Internet, but also to more specific and specialized features like direct Twitter updates and media players. Moblin shows great promise, and if I ever manage to get my hands on a netbook, I just might have to give it a whirl. If you’re interested in learning more about Moblin, you can visit them at http://moblin.org/.

My iPod Video 5.5G, which I got as a gift for Christmas a couple of years ago, has been good to me. It does what it was made to do — play music — very well, and it’s still playing videos and that nice game of Pong. However, there are times when I get bored with the relatively dull iPod UI, when I wish I had more games on it, or when I wish I could use my own equalizer settings to play my music the way I want to play it. The beauty of having a popular device, like the iPod Video 5.5G, is its community of dedicated hackers, working night and day to improve it. There are many alternatives to the original Apple firmware, but amongst the various ones, I believe that Rockbox is the most reputable and trusted, and also the one that appeals to me the most for its simplicity (sorry, iPod Linux).

Capabilities

Rockbox can do a boatload of things with the iPod that the original Apple firmware couldn’t — like using Windows Explorer to import music to your iPod (meaning you don’t have to go through iTunes to upload or download your music), more flexible customizability (you can tweak even the fonts you want to see), and a support for a huge variety of file formats (http://download.rockbox.org/manual/rockbox-h10_5gb/rockbox-buildap1.html). But amongst all these, I found the following to be the deciding factors for me:

1. Themes

There are 14 themes for the iPod Video in the Rockbox Themes Directory. Granted, a good portion of them don’t look too hot, but I think there at least one or two that are pretty eye-catching. It’s just a guess — since there used to be a lot more themes that looked a ton better — but I’m assuming that Rockbox developers removed them due to the lack of Album Art capabilities. Works fine for me. If themes are your major concern, then I’d consider using iPod Wizard to tweak the current iPod theme, and just leave Rockbox alone — but if you’re looking for more than just a theme change, read on.

2. Built-in Gameboy

What? You can play Gameboy on your iPod? Yes. For free. Rockbox can play Gameboy and Gameboy Color files by default (granted, Gameboy Color files might be a bit laggier if I’m not mistaken). All you have to do is a quick Google search for ‘Gameboy Color ROMs’ and a ton of results will pop up. I have two things to warn you about: these sites will be shady, and this is not legal if you didn’t already buy a version of the game. I’ve got a legitimate version of Pokemon Red, so I can play it on my iPod. By the way, always go with Charmander — I know it’s a pain in the ass to play against Brock and Misty, but it’ll pay off.

3. Equalizer

I think the factor that sealed the deal would be the built-in equalizer that Rockbox offers. Unlike the iPod default firmware, which only offers presets (such as ‘Bass Booster’), the Rockbox firmware offers pretty full equalizer that allows you to put more emphasis on different frequencies (I think that’s the word for it). A must-have feature for audiophiles or people that get really into their music (but if you were an audiophile, you’d already be ranting about the shortcomings of the iPod, so I can’t see why you’d have one — haha).

Installation

In the olden days, we had to drag and drop files that we downloaded and unzipped from our desktop to the iPod’s drive directory. Not anymore! With the release of Rockbox Utility, Rockbox is a lot simpler to install (not that it wasn’t simple before), so there’s really no need to write a tutorial (plus I don’t really enjoy writing tutorials that much — sorry folks, there are just too many pictures I have to create, then crop, then upload, and then link to — it’s a heck of a process just for a couple of graphics).

Take the Leap!

If you’re afraid because you haven’t done anything like this before, remember that you can always return to your old firmware via iTunes (the iPod System Restore comes in handy). It can be undone! Just remember — follow instructions to the word, don’t do anything stupid like pull out the iPod USB cord while transferring, and relax. But I’d like to say here that if you do manage to brick your iPod, I hold no responsibility for it.

Good luck.