After announcing an international release of iPad for late April – Apple pushed it back due to unforeseen demand in North America. Now the pre-order for UK starts from May 10. No information on what other countries get lucky along with UK. We will know more details including a release date and pricing on may 10.

Touchscreen phones are finallymaking it big in 2008!They are easier to use that you would expect and one you are hooked, you wouldn't want to see a bulky QWERTY phone again! And there are lots of great options besides the much-loved iPhone. 

Here are a few models, tell me which one is your favourite:

1. iPhone 3G

2. Samsung Omnia

3. HTC Touch Diamond

4. LG prada

5. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

6. Samsung Armani

7. LG KC910

What better way to start posting again than to talk about the new iPod Nano. The new fourth generation nano bears a strong resemblance to its original avtaar - with a longer body and a larger display. Its also the slimmest and lightest iPod ever. Love the  ‘Shake to shuffle’ feature and the landscape option on screen.  The new iPod nano works with the new iTunes 8 Genius feature, allowing customers to automatically create playlists while on-the-go with their iPod nano. Users can preview the playlist Genius creates, refresh the list to choose different songs and save Genius playlists to enjoy again later.

Now available in 8Gig and 16 Gig flavors, there are plenty of delicious shades to pick from: black, silver, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. 

This blog has been left in deep hibernating mode for way too long! What can I say except that I had been really busy! Hardly an excuse! And writing on technology is something i really enjoy. So, let me say this today : I am back! And I will be posting regularly! 

Healthy competition is always good news for consumers. While I am a loyal Skype user, I couldn't resist the temptation to check out another VoIP service called Babble, Launched by a UK company, Babble undercuts the already inexpensive prices of rival service Skype. As well as being able to dial out through Babble, you can also receive calls by purchasing a "real" phone number from them. It also gives your 30 free minutes of calls per day for calling landlines in nearly 25 major destinations around the world.

As advertised, Babble does require ISDN/broadband connections to work and will not operate on even the fastest dial-up connection. Registration is free, the software download is free and there is no obligation to subscribe whatsoever. Voicemail and instant messaging are also free. It doesn't, however, have some of the more sophisticated Skype features like video and conference calling.

So why am I flirting with Babble? Because Babble uses an industry-wide standard called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), and it may be able to work (not tried yet) on Nokia N80 which has just become SIP compliant.

If you have been waiting for the launch of Wi-Fi Skype phones from Netgear and Belkin – there is something more interesting on the horizon. Philips has introduced a new internet DECT phone that doesn’t need a Wi-Fi network or connection to PC. The VOIP841 plugs straight into your normal land-line connection as well as your ethernet broadband connection. This means you're able to make calls on both Skype and your traditional house phone. So if you dont have wireless network at home, or you are not tech savy enough to play around with your Wi-Fi network, then this phone is for you. It’s expected to be on shelves before Christmas but there's no news on the pricing.

The newest member of the Creative Zen family makes a debut - the Creative Zen Vision: W. Upping the ante to a 4.3-inch 16:9 widescreen, 480 x 272 resolution display, the W is said to take on just about every video format out there, including MPEGs, AVIs, and DivX too. In both 30GB and 60GB capacities, the Zen Vision W features FM radio with 32 station presets, voice recorder, and syncs with Microsoft Outlook contacts, calendar & tasks.

The Creative ZEN Vision W (30GB) premiered at COMEX 2006 for S$649. The 60GB model will be available in end September 2006 for S$749. Its definitely pricey for a device that cannot record video. Archos can breathe easy for now!

If you are thinking of buying or building your home theater pc (HTPC), check out this handy guide, by yours truely, featured in the July 2006 issue of Man's World.

Sony Ericsson recently unveiled the Z610 as the "shimmering ‘mirror’ clamshell with hidden depths". Darn, copywriters!! Where do they come up with such fancy words! But the phone is definitely far better than its description. This lustrous, mirror-like stylish clamshell boasts a 2 megapixel digital camera and a media player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ music formats, as well as Bluetooth A2DP stereo headphones. There's an added bonus in the form of the ‘Picture Blog’ application, which lets you blog photos instantly and there's a slot for expandable memory for all your photos and media files.

The "hidden" external display is probably the most coolest things about this phone. When a call or SMS is received, the hidden external display, that uses OLED technology, illuminates, giving the effect that the caller-ID information is floating on the face of the phone itself.

The Sony Ericsson Z610 will become available in Q3 2006 in 3 flavors: black, pink and blue.

First Samsung gave us the very sexy and very red Q30 notebook. We loved it! Well, all that lovin wasn't enough for Samsung - they had to make us swoon some more. So here it is -Samsung’s diminutive Q40 in a beautiful new color - pink. Yeah, I know - I am not a big fan of gadgetmakers coloring their toys pink to get more women to buy them. But this really is a cutesy pink. Very unlike the shocking pink RAZR. And, pink or not, the Q40 is a talented little notebook. It boasts an Intel Core Solo U1400 (1.2-GHz) processor, 512MB DDR2 RAM, 60GB HDD, an external DVD burner, and a 12.1-inch widescreen display. Despite weighing just 1.2 kg, it still includes two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, Wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Oh yes, its just 21 mm thick! Beat that!

Now the bad news, its available in just UK for now. For more info, check out PCWORLD.

A few women in Australia figured out that the best way to encourage young women to consider a computing career is to put together a racy calender. This calender is the brainchild of IT professional Sonja Bernhardt who says "the method in the madness is to get to a broader audience so that people can see that it's not nerds in the IT industry. They are full bodied, fully intelligent, fully socialised women who absolutely love what they do."

The IT Screen Goddesses Calendar 2006-2007, featuring female IT professionals posing as film icons, will be released in Queensland, Australia, at Movie World on Aug. 11. The calendar includes recreations of sexy females in their famous roles, such as Uma Thurman in "Pulp Fiction," Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge" and a nearly naked Mena Suvari in rose petals from "American Beauty." The models are from all mainland Australian states as well as South Africa, Finland and Sri Lanka. Each month includes a biography of the woman featured that month, as well as a significant date in technology history, covering leading technology women.

However not everyone's really happy with the calender with a lot of criticism being fired their way. The opponents of the idea say that the message being sent is that being smart is no longer enough to succeed - you also have to be sexy.

Well, we think Ms Sonya's gimmick will definitely sell a lot of calendars. But if she thinks that this will be an incentive for girls to follow a career - she's totally wrong. Lots of doctors posing in Playboy will not make more girls want to pursue medicine! If only career choices were made the way these women think, then Hugh Hefner would be a much richer man!

Businessweek has an interesting article on how Plantronics is aiming iconic products at bluetooth users and women. They want to push design for women's headsets beyond the strategy of painting a device pink. This Plantronics concept headset, for example, is fashioned to look and feel like jewelry. The ear buds can be worn like a pendant when not in use, and the necklace features a mike. Now, only if Plantronics would get Tiffany to design it, we would definitely get one for ourselves.

Motorola is growing the handset family of its hot-selling RAZR. The new models include an even thinner phone monikered KRZR (pronounced 'craze-er'), and a sliding phone called RIZR, both targeted at the emerging markets. Both phones will be available towards the end of the year.

KRZR features a glass surface on top and brushed magnesium on the bottom, and is equipped with up to 1GB of removable memory and a 2-megapixel camera with an 8X zoom lens. The CDMA version of the phone, KRZR K1m, will feature high-speed EV-DO (evolution-data optimised) capability, and will include a dedicated keys on the outside of the phone for controlling an integrated music player.

Motorola's first GSM slider, the RIZR (right image) handset features a 2-megapixel camera, music capability, stereo Bluetooth, 20MB of internal memory, external touch-sensitive music player controls and a micro SD slot that can hold 2GB memory cards.

A follow up to their wildly successful V3x phone, the new MotoRAZR MAXX is one of the smallest 3g phones and features two-way Video Calling, a 2 megapixel camera, 50MB of internal memory, Bluetooth connectivity, music playback functions, and a microSD memory card slot.

After weeks of speculation that Microsoft was planning an iPod-killer, the software giant finally confirmed that company will, later this year, launch Zune, an umbrella brand for "a family of hardware and software products". The first implementation of this will be the portable music player and digital music service that will take iPod-iTunes offering head-on. The hard-drive based wireless player will be shown off at the end of the month with a launch planned before christmas season.

We love this cute little offering from Creative. Slightly shorter but a tad thicker than Nano, the Creative Zen V and the Zen V Plus will hit the market in July and August 2006. Available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, the V's smallish size and 1.5-inch, photo-capable OLED could cut significantly into Apple's slice of the flash-based MP3 player pie.

The Creative Zen V Plus throws in video playback and an FM tuner with rest of the Zen V features to make it a very compelling offering indeed.

Both models come in various color combinations on black and white base. And yes, there's a reason for color - the players are color coded for memory. Orange for 1GB, green for 2GB and blue for 4GB.

If you thought Sandisk only made memory, this will come as a surprise. Sandisk has been trying to capture a bit of the MP3 player market and its lastest launch of the flagship e200 series is making news everywhere. The small and sleek e200 measures 3.5 by 1.7 by 0.5 inches and has a maximum capacity of 6GB ($300). It boasts an excellent 220x176, 1.8-inch color screen, as well as a durable titanium back cover and a user-removable rechargeable battery. The e200 also comes in 4GB and 2GB versions, but its 6GB version is making waves, as it's the highest-capacity flash-based player in the world. Other nice features include a MicroSD expansion slot, slide-show functionality, an FM tuner with FM recording, and compatibility with WMA subscription services.

This Nano-lookalike will set you back by $279.99 if you buy the 6GB flavor.

Hello,

I am back from a long hiatus from blogging. Its been crazy few months and spare time was at a huge premium. Well, now that things are a bit settled on all fronts - you will see more regular updates.

Cheers

The Sony Ericsson phone carnival is here and there are plenty of goodies for everyone. At the 3GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona, SE announced several new mobile phones. Here's a lowdown on the new babies:

Sony Ericsson W950i
This one could be the phone of the year! Billed as the Walkman Phone, the Sony Ericsson W950 comes with 4GB of storage and a touch screen for simple navigation through music genres, playlists, individual songs or albums. We would have been happy with this but Sony Eric’s also squeezed in 3G, Bluetooth and – the knockout tech punch – the new version of the smartphone operating system, UIQ. Okie, we are crazy already!

Sony Ericsson K790 and K800
First we saw the "Walkman" range of Sony Ericsson phones, and now Sony Ericsson present the "Cybershot" range, using another Sony sub-brand to apply to this new range of 3.2 megapixel camera phones. The K790 and K800 are, respectively, tri-band GPRS and 3G versions of the same phone, capable of taking 3.2MP photos and offering all the Bluetooth 2.0, web browsing, music playback and FM radio talents of the formidable K750i. Another big feature is the ability to directly send your photos to a blog, thanks to Sony Eric’s partnership with Google. Once you’ve taken a snap, you can go to straight to a drop down menu, select ‘blog this’, add text and then post it directly to a Blogger page.

Sony Ericsson W300
The Walkman party is now rocking with the introduction of a seventh member: the budget W300. It’s the first clamshell Walkman mobile, and is on the lower end of the range with a basic VGA camera, Bluetooth and FM radio. The internal memory is yet to be confirmed, but it will ship with a 256MB Memory Stick Micro card.

Other Models: There's a new entry-level option - the K310, which offers a VGA camera and basic 65k colour screen. The Z530 is basically the W300 without Walkman software. If you need a better camera, check out the K510 which sports a 1.3MP camera, Bluetooth, 262k display and a basic push e-mail service.

This summer will be great for smartphone lovers. Among other launches, Fujitsu Siemens has also announced the LOOX T800 series. The series will comprise two virtually identical models, with one main difference – the T810 has a VGA camera where T830 sports an impressive 2MP cam. Other specs include Intel XScale 416MHz processor, 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM, a 240 x 240 display, GSM and UMTS support, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, integrated GPS, an SDIO/SD/MMC slot, a thumb-board, and of course, Windows Mobile 5.0. Both phones should hit the markets in June, roughly the same time as Nokia’s much-anticipated N80, and prices are yet to be announced.

The video format wars kicked into high gear when the companies backing HD-DVD said that nearly 200 titles would be available for the format by the end of the year. Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, HBO Video, New Line Entertainment and Warner Home Video announced movies such as Million Dollar Baby, Harry Potter 4: The Goblet of Fire, Blazing Saddles, Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dukes of Hazzard. The Matrix, Twister and Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow would come out this year on HD-DVD discs. Blu-ray discs will hit the market later this year while HD-DVD discs will be available from March 2006.

One of the chief advantages of the format, as compared with the Blu-ray format supported by Sony and others, is that it is compatible with existing DVDs. So you can buy a HD-DVD player and use it to play existing DVDs too. Some companies will produce dual-sided discs that will contain an ordinary DVD movie and an HD-DVD version. Makes sense to go for the format if you have made a significant investment in DVD libraries. Unless your player can play DVD, HD-DVD as well as Blu-ray. That will be ideal, won't it?