Sony Unveils Vaio X, Vaio CW Laptops

Sony has unveiled the official specs for its super-slim Sony Vaio X series laptops, which the company was showing off last month at the IFA trade show in Berlin. The specs are pretty close to what was predicted, but there are a few surprises--including a lower-than-expected price. Sony also detailed its upcoming Vaio CW series laptops, which are less expensive than the X series.

The Sony Vaio X is sure to turn heads, with its carbon fiber body weighing in at 1.6 pounds. At only 0.55-inches thick, the new Vaio X is a little bit thinner than the recently announced Dell Latitude Z, and a lot lighter than most ultra-slim notebooks.

You will have to make some trade offs for the Vaio X's sleek chassis, though, starting with its puny 11.1-inch LED backlit screen with 1366 x 768 resolution. By comparison, the MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch diagonal screen and the Dell Latitude Z sports a whopping 16-inch display. As for the processor, Sony will only say it's a 2.0 GHz Intel chip. Early speculation said the Vaio X would come with an Atom processor, which would make the Vaio X's processor the Atom Z550, but that is only speculation.

The Vaio X ships with Windows 7, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 64GB solid-state drive, multi-touch trackpad, Memory Stick Duo and SD card slots, GPS (works in the U.S. and Canada only), Ethernet, Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth connectivity, 2 X USB 2.0 ports, and MOTION EYE Webcam. The Vaio X also comes with built-in 3G capability, which requires a Verizon wireless broadband subscription. Available colors include black and gold. The Vaio X's body is made of carbon fiber, but the top case around the trackpad and keyboard is aluminum.

Sony Vaio X pricing starts at $1300, which is much lower than Sony's claim last month that they Vaio X would be priced under $2000. The Vaio X will start shipping in November and can be found on Sonystyle.com right now.

CW Series

For something a little cheaper you can try the Sony Vaio CW on for size. This laptop runs Windows 7, and features an optional Blu-ray drive, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce dedicated graphics card, 320GB hard drive and HDMI out, which Sony says will allow you to playback high-definition content on your big screen TV. Available colors include fiery red, poppy pink, icy white, jet black and indigo purple.

The Vaio CW series starts at $780, but looking around on Sony's Website, the cheapest version I could find of the model described above started at $800. The CW Series will be available at the end of this month, likely after the Windows 7 launch on October 22.

Honda's U3-X: A Geek-Friendly Unicycle

Gentlemen, start your incredibly lazy engines: Honda has a new answer for those of us too tired to get off our keisters. Meet the U3-X "personal mobility device," a unicycle-like ride that makes heading into the kitchen for pie as easy as -- well, pie.

The Harmonious Honda U3-X

Sure to excite mall cops everywhere, the Honda U3-X makes the Segway look like an outdated piece of junk that no one in their right mind would ride. (Actually, the Segway already looked like that. Disregard.) The device is a 2-foot tall infinity-symbol lookalike with two pull-out pads for your tuchas. Marketed as a mobility device that "co-exists in harmony with people" -- yes, seriously -- the U3-X lets you hop a squat and zip around a room simply by shifting your body weight.

Honda says its U3-X allows for "free movement" in any direction, be it forward-backward, side-to-side, or on a diagonal. And the more you lean, the faster you go. At least, until the battery runs out (or someone sees you on this thing and proceeds to beat the living daylights out of you).

The Honda U3-X weighs about 22 pounds and is said to run for an hour on each charge. It'll officially debut at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show next month, after which it'll presumably be ridiculed and then promptly forgotten.

Can You Hear Me Now? iPod Volume Restrictions On The Way

Have you heard? iPods in Europe are about to get a lot more quiet. Regulators have released a new set of standards governing how loud portable music players can go, and that means the default max volume is going take a big dip from where it currently sits.

The EU's New MP3 Player Policy

The European Commission's new policy will require iPods and other MP3 players to have a default maximum volume of 80 decibels. That's considered a "very loud" level by most sound rankings; anything above that mark can be potentially dangerous. Presently, most MP3 players go as loud as 115 to 125 decibels.

For some fun comparisons, we turn to the U.S. National Institute On Deafness And Other Communications Disorders (apparently, every shorter agency name was already taken). According to the, er, USNIODAOCD:

• 80 decibels is equivalent to the level of noise you'd hear on a busy city street;

• 90 decibels is lawnmower-like loudness;

• 110 is as ear-shattering as a loud rock concert;

• 120 to 130 matches the level of an airliner taking off -- or, in less technical terms, "GET USED TO PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVING TO SHOUT AT YOU!"

Some Volume Limit Limitations

Now, the new European MP3 volume policy won't make it impossible to pump up the jam (even if you do make dated references to subpar dance tunes) -- it'll just make it more difficult.

With the new restrictions, MP3 player-makers will only have to preset their devices' default max volumes. They will, however, have the option of allowing users to disable that default and venture into deafening territory, albeit with some sort of warning about the eardrum-puncturing delights that may occur.

So what would this warning actually entail? Per the EU statement:

"A dequate warnings for consumers on the risks involved, and on ways to avoid them, including the situation when the original set of earphones is replaced with another type and this causes higher unsafe sound levels. The mandate is not prescriptive in terms of how this is done. Industry solutions could include, for example, labels or digital information on the screen."

(I'm pretty sure they meant "adequate," not "a dequate." Because, I'll be honest, I have no idea what "a dequate warning" would be.)

Sounding Off

Personally, I think it's great that users will still be able to ignore the advice and subject themselves to harmful decibel exposure. It's perfectly permissible for someone to ruin his own lungs with heavy smoking, after all, or to ruin his own liver with heavy drinking. Why draw a distinction with eardrums?

Seriously, though, the new visual warnings should be a good step toward ensuring people are at least aware of the dangers of rockin' out earbud-style. Unless, of course, they've already had their eyesight damaged by an exploding iPod. Then they're just totally screwed.

Microsoft Security Essentials Launched

If you can't wait to get your hands on Microsoft's upcoming free antivirus app, and you missed the limited public beta period, you won't have to wait any longer. Microsoft has confirmed that its Security Essentials antivirus software will be publicly available tomorrow, September 29.

The download isn't yet available as of this writing, but you'll be able to get it from Microsoft's Security Essentials site. It'll be avaliable for users of Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Microsoft first announced Security Essentials--code-named "Morro"--late last year, as a free replacement to the paid Windows Live OneCare. The announcement shook up the free antivirus market, and led some to wonder if Microsoft would ultimately end up dominating the desktop security market.

In late June Microsoft offered a limited public beta of Security Essentials. In my initial hands-on, I found the Security Essentials beta to be well designed and easy to use. The main interface uses a single window with four tabs, and a color-coded status bar across the top, so you can see if your PC is protected at a glance.

The Security Essentials public beta also took fourth place in our recent roundup of free antivirus software. Microsoft Security Essentials beta detected 97.8 percent of malware in tests conducted by AV-Test.org, which is decent score compared to other, similar free antivirus tools. Malware scans were a bit on the sluggish side, though, taking longer to scan than a number of competing products.

But Security Essentials has a lot going for it, though it isn't perfect. As our reviewer Erik Larkin put it when he looked at the beta, "If Microsoft can improve the detection rate a bit--and rev up the scan speed more than a bit--before the program's final release, Security Essentials could turn out to be a real contender in the free antivirus arena".

T-Mobile Announces Motorola Cliq

Motorola's entry into the Android game, the Motorola Cliq, is coming just in time for the holidays. The Cliq will be available to existing T-Mobile customers October 19 and everybody else on November 2. The $200 pricetag is comparable to the iPhone 3GS, but $20 more than Sprint's HTC Hero (also an Android phone) and $100 more than the Palm Pre. With less expensive options out there, will the Cliq shake up the competition?

While I only used the Cliq briefly, I could tell already that I liked its design best out of all the Android phones out there. Like the G1, it has a keyboard and a touch screen. A physical keyboard is necessary as the native touch keyboard on the current version of Android is far from perfect (as we found out in our review of the T-Mobile myTouch and the HTC Hero).

The Cliq's keyboard is even better than the G1's, though. For one, the keys are more raised and easier to press than the G1's. The Cliq also doesn't have that annoying inset as seen on the G1. Other things we liked about the hardware: The gorgeous 3.1-inch touch screen (which showcases the MOTOBLUR UI beautifully), the 3.5-mm headphone jack and the 5-megapixel camera.

The Motorola Cliq will also be the first phone to showcase MOTOBLUR, Motorola's skin for Android. While Android is easy enough to use, it lacks the aesthetics and slickness of some other OS's. MOTOBLUR to the rescue: The UI is clean and intuitive and isn't overdone with too much fluff. It is also highly customizable and doesn't look like any OS out there. I'm curious to see how it stacks up to HTC's UI on the Hero, which also impressed us.

Android and Motorola have enough appeal to sway customers from the iPhone or other less expensive offerings? Check back soon for a full rated review of the Motorola Cliq in coming weeks.

Five Reasons to Dive Into Google Wave

Google is inviting another 100,000 people to play in the Google Wave test pool. The developing duo of Jens and Lars Rasmussen envision Wave revolutionizing online communication and collaboration. I am not sure it will be revolutionary, but at first blush it seems at least evolutionary and worth taking a closer look at.

Google Wave is part social networking, and part unified communications, and all Google. Wave combines email, instant messaging, blogging, document sharing, wikis, and multimedia content to provide a seamless communications platform.

Unless you're one of the lucky (relatively) few invited by Google, you can't play with Wave just yet. But, I'll give you five reasons you should be anxiously looking forward to giving Google Wave a try:

1. Single Point of Access. Many of the functions of Google Wave already exist, but require logging into separate applications- email, instant messaging, office productivity, blogging, etc. Google Wave will provide you with one platform that ties all of these separate applications together.

2. Next-Generation Communication. A Wave is part email, part instant message, and part document. It combines text, photos, video, maps, and other elements into a single communication stream, enabling richer, more dynamic conversations.

Wave really blurs the line between the various methods of communication you are used to. You can instantly add new participants to a wave by dragging them from your contact list. You can also link to other waves, photos, and other content elements by simply dragging them into the wave.

3. Real-time Sharing and Collaboration. Arguably the most compelling aspect of Google Wave is the real-time collaboration functionality. Wave participants can comment inline and the statements are accompanied by the user's avatar and a timestamp allowing you to easily identify who said what, when.

Users can see text appear in the wave as it is being typed- even as they typo and backspace to correct the text. Wave participants can view and edit the same content at the same time-collaborating in real-time.

Even cooler is the Playback function which allows new participants who just joined the wave to play the wave stream back post by post. They can add comments and edit text as they go through the stream and get caught up on their own schedule so they can join the real-time conversation.

4. The Wave Lives On. A wave is like an email or instant message on steroids. The entire wave has a life of its own. Participants on the wave are notified as the wave is updated or modified, and the wave can be easily searched based on any content of the wave-dynamically updating potential results as you type.

You can link to waves from other email and instant messaging clients, and you can also embed waves within web sites or social networking services using Google Wave API's.

5. Its in the Cloud. One of the things that Google has always brought to the table is Web-based access. Not only is it nice to combine email, instant messaging, and other online communications in one place-it is also nice to be able to access the platform seamlessly from anywhere in the world. Have Web access? You can Wave.

It still remains to be seen if Google Wave is a competitor for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, or if it's a unified communications tool competing against Microsoft and Cisco. If it's as revolutionary as Google makes it sound, perhaps it is all of the above and none of the above at the same time.

Will Google Wave Be Another Heartbreaker?

Google Wave is another grab for the Holy Grail of collaborative computing. But, will it be more successful than previous attempts?

Whenever you see something compared to Lotus Notes, as Google Wave has been, you know to expect an uphill slog. Add a comparison to Microsoft Groove, which I have not seen but seems reasonable, and you can expect deep trouble.

Both Notes and Groove are wonderful, innovative applications that have never caught on as I had hoped. Why? They are too difficult to use and develop for. They were way ahead of their time.

Maybe Google Wave, a workplace collaboration application that is being rolled out to an additional 100,000 beta testers, has arrived at the right time, finding the right mix of power vs. ease-of-use, and the right metaphor for delivering it.

We have an excellent story that offers "Five Reasons To Dive Into Google Wave." That is, if you can find a way to get into the beta.

The big question: Can Google Wave succeed where seemingly every collaboration application that has gone has failed?

I would love to say yes, but these applications have been a heartbreak for me. Lotus Notes is, arguably, one of the coolest applications ever. Likewise Groove, another gem from the fertile mind of Microsoft's Ray Ozzie.

Yet, both are what I call "head scratcher" applications. In that, after looking at them, people are prone to scratch their heads and wonder, "What can I do with that?" Then, once they decide, realize that Lotus Notes and Groove implementations are not nearly as easy to accomplish and they hoped.

Wave may have solved this problem. The user interface makes sense, from what I have seen, and it does not seem to overreach, which is a problem both Notes and Groove suffer from.

At the same time, Google's online applications are not particularly inspiring. Sure, Gmail offers neat filters, but that isn't much to hang an app on. Wave needs to be much more exciting than what Google has done so far if it is to succeed big time.

Nevertheless, success is out there. Collaboration really is a Holy Grail of software. Everyone knows they need to collaborate better and most think a computer should be able to help.

If Google Wave is the collaboration platform that people have been waiting on, Google's success as a search engine may become known as its second-greatest accomplishment.

30 Web Design SEO Tips for Web Masters

Tip No. 1 - Study and read everything possible about advanced SEO techniques right from the start of your project.

Tip No. 2 - Always keep in mind that designs are cool, but what is equally important is the code that goes behind it.

Tip No. 3 - Always keep the code optimized, check for W3C compliance right from the start.

Tip No. 4 - Follow the basics, titles, meta tags are still important if not ignored, so keep space for them.

Tip No. 5 - Keep a horizontal directory structure, don’t go too deep with them, the search engines likes easy access to any file in the quickest time.

Tip No. 6 - When you name the files and directories, keep it descriptive and simple. Keep away numbers and weird characters.

Tip No. 7 - Images better be optimized for size, and quick loading. If you can’t keep away from loading that fancy graphic, mix it with the page elements. Don’t make them look blunt.

Tip No. 8 - Make room for a lot of text. As you already know, search engines love text, lot of them.

Tip No. 9 - Flash files are cool. And Search engines have found better ways to crawl and index them unlike old times, but that doesn’t mean you can use them extensively blocking access to relevant text info. So if you are keen on using flash, keep alternate text versions ready.

Tip No. 10 - If you have dynamic content, make sure you keep it simple and split to parts. Also, make sure you have optimized static pages for your primary keywords.

Tip No. 11 - Always do a bit of competition analysis. See what your competition is, if they have a minimalistic design you don’t want to have a flash design, and leaving no room for improvement. Stalk your competition.

Tip No. 12 - Many web designers make the mistake of using a template through out the site and many a times this includes repeating the same title or similar page titles all over the site. Get over this, use descriptive page titles everywhere possible.

Tip No. 13 - Keep the page titles to 65 characters or less in count. Nothing wrong is going over it, but you could avoid a spill over.

Tip No. 14 - The meta descriptions are supposed to be mini ad-copies that should be descriptive of what the page is about. Don’t keep them the same for all pages.

Tip No. 15 - Keep the JavaScript away from navigation menu. Navigation menu is a good resource for gathering information about what your site is about, and using javascript can make it less crawlable by the engines.

Tip No. 16 - Use CSS based navigation if you want fancy effects. Pretty much all of the javasript stuff can be done on CSS, in a more search engines friendly way.

Tip No. 17 - Use the header tags effectively. Don’t limit yourself with H1 and H2. Use H3, H4 and beyond and use it wisely on the page.

Tip No. 18 - Use strong tags wisely. Don’t let them stand out like bolded text, within the content, style it down to show up as normal text within the content.

Tip No. 19 - Use the footer effectively. Of course, you can use it for all your TOS/Legal stuff, but also use it to link to the important pages on your site. It helps.

Tip No. 20 - Identify the most important pages on your site as seen by the search engines, and leverage them to promote other resource pages.

Tip No. 21 - Link well internally, and use descriptive anchor text instead of “click here” and “check this out” like phrases.

Tip No. 22 - Use al tags, Title tags on images and use descriptive filenames. They help search engines find more information about them.

Tip No. 23 - Use a SEO friendly layout, at least one that does not block or hinder the crawling of crucial areas on your site.

Tip No. 24 - Find out the important areas on your website, like the content rich area in the center and keep them above the fold. Not only helps the engines but the user as well.

Tip No. 25 - When designing dynamic pages, try to stick to pages with descriptive URLs and not the one with session ids and other parameters. Google can still get it’s head around them, but its good if you can stick to SE friendly, descriptive ones.

Tip No. 26 - When dealing with CMS’s there might be instances where you have to keep the page URL the default way with the extra parameters. Use URL rewrite mod to re write the most important pages URL’s to SE friendly form.

Tip No. 27 - When using AJAX, load the modules in parts split across pages and not in one single page. Although this defeats the purpose of using AJAX in the first place, you might be able to provide more information to the search engines using other on site SEO parameters.

Tip No. 28 - If you want to block any particular area on your site from the reach of Google spiders, use either Robots.txt commands, or else set up a login access. This is the safest way to block crawlers from spidering vital information.

Tip No. 29 - Keep the meta descriptions descriptive and precise to about 150 characters.

Tip No.30 - Use an SEO simulator to test your design through out the process. And make sure no part of the design blocks/hinders any part of information being accessible to the search engines. So essentially, web designers got to ensure that while their designs are unique and eye-catchy, making sure that there is enough information available in the form of text is always recommended, and leveraging this information by using all the possible SEO metrics in a healthy and balanced way to cater to the search engines is the right way of designing a search engine friendly web design.

Mitsubishi LT-40148 Review – 40-inch LCD HDTV

Mitsubishi LT-40148 LCD TV. It is a 40-inch LCD TV with full HD Display Format of 1080p that ensures real life-like images. The model is based on TFT active matrix technology that further improves the picture quality by improving its addressability, contrast etc. Available in fine glossy black finish and sleek design, LT-40148 adds an element of style to any home décor.

This 1080p LCD flat-panel model has an ultra-thin frame that emphasizes on the large screen, thus resulting in theatre like viewing experience. The Smooth120Hz Film Motion feature of Mitsubishi LT-40148 assures “blur free” images during fast moving content which is often the problem with the regular TV sets. The feature also preserves the integrity of film by eliminating irritating and unwanted film judders.

The built in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners make over the air reception possible with the aid of an antenna. The QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without any need of a set-top box (cable service required).
Mitsubishi LT-40148 Features and Specifications Review:

* USB Port: 1 port(s)
* HDMI Ports: Qty4 port(s)
* Video Interface: Component, composite, HDMI, S-Video
* TV Tuner: 1x analog/digital combo
* Additional Features: Perfect Color, Plush1080p, NetCommand Home Network Control System, 1080p Processing, Full Spectrum Color, Deep Color
* Comb Filter: 4D digital
* Widescreen Modes: Conventional 4:3, 16:9
* Progressive Scan: Progressive scanning (line doubling)
* Image Aspect Ratio: 16:9
* Display Format: 1080p (FullHD)
* Resolution: 1920 x 1080
* Technology: TFT active matrix
* Color Temperature Control: Yes
* Speaker(s): 2 x right/left channel speaker – built-in – 10 Watt
* Output Power / Total: 20 Watt
* Surround Mode: Yes
* Speakers Included: 2 speakers

The Mitsubishi LT-40148 is provided with multiple audio and video connectivity options like Component, composite, HDMI and S-Video. These options allow you to connect different inputs that you may need for your game consoles, DVD and computers and several other gadgets.

The brightness and contrast levels of the model ensure unparallel depth and detail. Moreover, the TV display is provided with NetCommand Home Network Control system that ensures you easily eliminate unwanted cluttering by controlling your audio and video equipment with one remote.

Besides assuring incredible viewing experience, the high quality sound system of the LT-40148 (two speakers of 20 watts) makes listening experience enjoyable too. So, if you desire to go for a perfect cinematic experience, then you can try this model.

A known name in the field of electronic goods, Mitsubishi has designed the LT-40148 with the aim to meet the contemporary demands of the consumers. With its stylish look, fine finish and good audio and video performance, the model has managed to get some positive reviews that has strengthened its credibility.

50 Simple Tips for Improving Your Website

This checklist provides 50 simple ways for you to make your website even better!

1. Use .htaccess to redirect the non-www version of your website to the www version.

2. Extend the registration of your domain for at least five years.

3. Make sure that when a visitor clicks your website’s logo, they are taken back to the homepage.

4. If you think your font is too small, make it bigger!

5. Remove widgets that aren’t directly enhancing your website.

6. Include an easy to find contact link, e-mail address or phone number on every page of your website.

7. Use a CSS stylesheet to make your website printer friendly.

8. Fix or remove broken links (external and internal).

9. Add ALT tags to all of your images.

10. If your website is using frames, get rid of them!

11. If you don’t have a robots.txt file, create one.

12. Provide the same basic navigation menu on every page of your website.

13. Use the same color for links throughout your website.

14. Spell check your content.

15. Format your content so that it is easy to scan.

16. Add at least one picture to every page of your website.

17. If you don’t have an About page, create one.

18. Use your About page to show your brand’s personality.

19. Include at least three pictures on your About page.

20. If your website has pop-up windows, get rid of them!

21. Link to relevant social media profiles from your About page.

22. Add a search box near the top of your website’s layout.

23. Create a privacy policy page.

24. Place a link to your privacy policy at the bottom of every page.

25. Use dashes in filenames instead of underscores.

26. Add a link to Google Maps on your Contact page.

27. Add internal links from one piece of content to another.

28. Write a unique META description for all of your main pages.

29. Validate your source code and correct any errors.

30. If you have a link exchange page, get rid of it!

31. Add a site search box to your 404 page.

32. Create a sitemap for your website.

33. Add a link to your sitemap at the bottom of every page of your website.

34. Add a copyright notification to the bottom of every page of your website.

35. Underline your links throughout your website.

36. Turn off music that automatically plays.

37. Get rid of any flashing GIF animations.

38. Include your website logo at the top of every page.

39. Register the .net and .org versions of your domain and redirect them to your website.

40. If you don’t have a help or support section, create one!

41. When you answer a question via e-mail, add the answer to the help/support section.

42. Look at your contact forms and see if there is any information you don’t have to request from your visitors.

43. Add your analytics code to every page of your website.

44. Get rid of any pages that automatically resize visitors’ browser window.

45. Create a favicon for your website.

46. Only use email address that include @yourdomain.

47. Label each box of any forms on your website.

48. Show a confirmation any time a visitor completes a significant action on your website.

49. Create one new piece of quality content for your website every week.

50. Leave a comment with your suggestion for the fiftieth tip!