VideoLAN releases VLC v1.1.0 free media player

As always, VideoLAN has come up with interesting tweaks, updates and enhancements to its all popular VLC media player with the release of version 1.1.0. This new version promises better audio experience with integrated playlist into quicktime 4 interface, multiple album art views within the Quicktime 4 playlist interface, support for AMR-NB, Mpeg-4 ALS, Vorbis 6.1/7.1, FLAC 6.1/7.1 and WMAS audio formats, faster & lighter body framework with code simplification and removal of rarely used functionalities & moving them to extensions, support for HD ready graphics and video decoding, support for add-ons and framework extensions. In addition, it is reported to integrate web enhancements like support fir WebM decoding and encoding, improved web plugins and better streaming capabilities. Also, it promises a robust and simplified VLC library for developers with removal of exceptions for better C programming integration and new C++ bindings.

MSI's Gaming Laptop GX740

If you are searching for a new Gaming Laptop for yourself, your search ends right here. MSI has announced their latest gaming laptop GX740 which can put to shame many of the latest gaming PCs, which is now finally available in the market.

The MSI GX740 has a 17-inch wide-screen TFT-LCD display with a maximum of 1680x1050 pixels resolution support. Equipped with the powerful Intel Quad-core 1.6 GHz Core-i7 720QM processor and 4GB RAM of DDR3 hosted on a Intel HM55 chipset board, it comes loaded with 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7's Home Premium SKU. 500GB is quite moderate storage capacity for a gaming laptop of this range, as it includes a multi-layer Blu-Ray drive as optical media device.

On the gaming side - the graphics are powered by the ATI Mobility Radeon HD5870 GPU with 1GB GDDR5 video memory. Apart from this, the MSI GX740 includes 5 channel SRS audio output with built-in sub woofer, VGA and HDMI output for audile & visile pleasure. It has WiFi 802.11n support, Gigabit LAN and optional Bluetooth for connectivity reasons. Accessories, such as 2MP webcam, a multi-format ExpressCard slot etc. are also in there; though we would have been very pleased to have the grace of USB 3.0 and eSATA support on this laptop, but alas!

A 6-cell (optional 9-cell) battery empowers the laptop, as the entire thing weighs about 3.2Kg. The laptop has been announced at a shipping price of $1,399.99 - Indian customers, expect the price to be in Rs. 70,000 range.

Acer set to overtake HP as thelargest vendor of laptops

Acer, the Taiwan-based multinational computer technology and electronics corporation is on track to become the largest shipper of laptops in the world. Citing the Wall Street Journal, Acer Chairman JT Wang told investors that Acer was all set to overtake the current leaders HP. According to information technology research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., Acer shipped 9.49 million laptops in the first quarter, as compared to 9.47 million by HP. Acer, according to Mr. Wang, is also aiming to ship 10 million desktop units this year, and is investing $15 million in the red-hot smartphone market by churning out another phone based on Google's Android OS. Acer will also soon face competition from HP on another front, smartphones. HP recently aqcuired Palm, and Acer deals in Android smartphones.

Samsung Caliber

Samsung takes the cake with the advanced touchscreen which it has developed using the TouchWiz interface which is unique to Samsung. The touchscreen has several advanced features which includes certain Widgets which are specially designed so as to let users personalize them and adapt them according to their phone.

All the social networking websites like Facebook are accessible due to the phone’ s browser which is a full HTML enabled browser. There is mobile IM along with email facilities. The camera is a 3 mega pixel one and comes with a camcorder.

The Bluetooth comes with a stereo facility along with a speakerphone. The Caliber has the MetroPCS applications too. Other than these features the phone has a video and music player which is built in to the phone. The memory is expandable up to 16 GB using an external microSD.

Nikon CoolpixP100

There is a new Nikon model in the market – the Nikon Coolpix P100. It’s really quite extraordinary, you have many shooting options which are built around a high-speed CMOS sensor, and a 26x megazoom lens. With this camera, you get photo and video shooting on high speeds, and the opportunity to play around with fun modes, plus you can experiment as much as you want. Add to that the fact that you get 1080p HD-quality movie recording. The Nikon Coolpix P100 has easy-to-operate controls; you just need some time to get used to them by reading the manual. The camera itself costs a fair amount, approximately 400 dollars – quite a large sum of money for many people. It weighs about 17 ounces, is of 10 megapixels, and comes with a 3-inch LCD screen.

Acer Aspire One

We've pretty much known about all of these Acer netbooks that are officially being announced today, but their very tempting price tags are definitely new to us. First up is the 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 and 10.1-inch 521, both of which we checked out last month. While the duo are powered by the same AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processors and ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics, the 721 will start at $429.99 while the 521 at $349.99. And let's not forget that, unlike Intel Atom powered netbooks, they sport HDMI ports and claim to be "HD capable." Speaking of Intel netbooks, Acer's got those in store too -- the 10-inch, Atom powered Aspire One D260 and 533 will also be available later this month. The D620 packs an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM and a three-cell battery for $298. On the flip side, the $330 Aspire One 533 has a slightly faster N475 processor, a 250GB hard drive and a six-cell battery. Enticing, right? The full press release is after the break, but hopefully we'll be able to assist you in choosing one of these with some full reviews soon.

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5

The Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 ($200 as of April 30, 2010) distinguishes itself from competing pocket camcorders with a pistol-grip design, a 5X optical zoom lens, and a dual memory-card slot that supports both SD/SDHC cards and the MemoryStick format. It shoots reasonably good video and has some nice features, but ultimately it doesn't set itself apart from the crowd in the area of performance.

Unlike most pocket camcorders in stores today, the Bloggie MHS-CM5 looks like a miniature version of a full-size camcorder. And along with its candy-bar-style cousin, the Bloggie MHS-PM5, it's among the first Sony pocket camcorders to shoot 1080p-resolution high-definition video. Both Bloggie models are follow-ups to last year's Webbie camcorders; Sony has simply renamed its pocket-camcorder line.

Aside from having a unique design, the Bloggie MHS-CM5 is noticeably bulkier than most pocket camcorders. It has a built-in USB connector that swings out from a compartment on the side of the camera--a welcome improvement on last year's Webbie models, which used a separate USB cable to offload footage and charge the camera. Because of the camcorder's generous size, its USB connector may have a bit of trouble fitting in some port configurations. Fortunately, Sony includes a female-to-male USB extension cable to alleviate such woes.

The Bloggie shoots 1080p MPEG-4 video captured at 30 frames per second--as well as 720p video captured at 60 fps and 30 fps, 640-by-480 VGA video taken at 30 fps, and 5-megapixel still photos. There's about a second of shutter lag between when I pressed the shutter button and when the Bloggie captured an image, but the image quality is decent and the camcorder's SteadyShot digital stabilization does a good job of reducing any associated shakiness.

Video performance is decent, as long as you're in a well-lit setting. In bright indoor lighting, the Bloggie's 1080p video is a bit darker and somewhat less sharp than output from two competing 1080p pocket camcorders, the Kodak Zi8 and the Toshiba Camileo S20. The 5x optical zoom lens is a great spec for a pocket camcorder, but the Bloggie didn't offer nearly as much coverage on the wide-angle end as our wide-angle winner, the Creative Vado HD. Autofocus has a little trouble at the telephoto end of the zoom, but it ultimately locks in on a sharp image after a second or so of searching. Also, the zoom is the smoothest we've seen on a pocket camcorder, by far.

Shown below are the results of our standard pocket-camcorder tests. Wide-angle coverage is on a par with that of the Kodak Zi8, but footage shot with the Bloggie showed shadowy bands scrolling upward over our test footage.