Today's Pick - Seagate 250GB 3.5-inch External Hard Drive

This is a very cost efficient model. It has 250GB storage space, USB 2.0 interface, 7200 rpm and 8MB cache. It's very light and compact, also looks good. It's not as powerful as the one I mentioned yesterday, but it really worth the money. Click here for details and pricing.

Today's Pick - Seagate 300GB Combo USB 2.0/Firewire External HDD

In my opinion, this is the best external hard drive in terms of both performance and pricing. It has a 300GB hard drive with both USB2.0 and Firewire connections. I think Firewire is better for external storage devices (external hard drives and external optical drives etc.). Although USB2.0 is faster (around 20%), Firewire can provide much more power over the cable, 30V as opposed to 5V for USB. Especially for our notebook users, Firewire can free one of our USB ports. But for most desktop users who don't have a Firewire port, USB2.0 is still a very good option.

In addition, this model has a pushbutton backup function with backup software. 7200 RPM and 16MB cache also bring top performance.

For those of you who don't know how big 300GB is, here are some quick stats:

• 5000 hours of digital music
• 96,000 digital photos
• 300 hours of digital video
• 150 exciting games

For more information and pricing of this model, click here

Storage Solution - External Desktop Hard Drives

My friend Sam and I were talking about storage solutions the other day. We all want to add extra storage space to our computers. Nowadays, various multimedia files eat lots of hard drive space, especially when we do video editing. DV editing is a killer of storage space; one hour uncompressed AVI video file takes around 13GB.

I'm using a Sony VAIO PCG-Z1VCP notebook (PM 1.6GHz, 1GB, 60GB) with external LG DVD writer and external 60GB portable Creative hard drive. Sam is using a desktop (P4 2.8GHz, 1GB, Sony DVD writer) with 3 hard drives (no more space for additional hard drives). Both of us need some external storage solutions. Although DVD writer can solve some of our problems, it's not an ultimate solution. An external desktop hard drive would be the best option. External hard drives can be added into our existing systems very easily. And desktop models are most cost effective in terms of $ per gigabyte.

In next posts, I'll introduce some hot external desktop hard drives we're considering. For all available models of external hard drives, clich here.

More images for the ASUS-Lamborghini VX1

How much does it cost? - click here to find out.

ASUS introduces the Lamborghini VX1 notebook

It's an exciting product, isn't it? According to ASUS, the ASUS-Lamborghini VX1 is an extreme and spectacular expression of the ASUS and Lamborghini spirit that, with the look alone, exudes power, speed, strength and beauty.

It's also a very power machine, like a Lamborghini. Here is a summary of its specs:

• CPU: Intel Core Duo Processor T2500
  
• RAM: 2GB DDRII – 667MHz
  
• LCD Screen: 15’’ SXGA+ Colour Shine (1400 x 1050)
• Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7400/512MB Turbocache
  
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400 rpm
• Optical Drive: DVD 9.5’’ Super Multi Double Layer
  
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• WLAN: Intel 3945ABG
  

I think ASUS is going to use this Lamborghini range to directly compete with Acer's Ferrari range. Both brands are raising stars in the notebook era from Taiwan.

If I'm a Lamborghini owner, I will definitely have one. But as a Lamborghini dreamer, I'd like to have one as well. Clich here for details and pricing.

Break News - Nokia and Siemens create 25bn joint venture

Nokia and Siemens made an ambitious pitch to lead the global market for "quadruple play" - broadband, telephony, TV and wireless networks - on Monday by creating a new joint venture valued by analysts at up to 25bn (£17bn) from their combined telecoms equipment businesses. - The Guardian

Today's Pick - D-Link Network Attached Storage with Built-in 120GB Hard Drive

It's an alternative solution to traditional file servers. Here are some product features of it:

• 120GB 7200 Spindle Speed (RPM) 3.5-inch hard drive pre-installed
• 2 high-speed USB 2.0 ports for printer, external hard drive connection
• Built-in printer server function
• UPnP support for easy configuration
• System configuration file backup
• Security: user account database, sharing of folder access control by single user or groups
• System log with NTP (Network Time Protocol) support
• 10/100BASE-TX port to connect to Ethernet network
• Warning LED in case hard disk is full or broken
• Supported HD formats: FAT16, FAT32

It's a great product, isn't it? It integrates lots of good functions, plus a 120GB hard drive. The even better thing is it has a super special price in June (Save over $370). Click here for more information and check out the great price. Be quick!!!

PC Sales of First Quarter, 2006

According to IDC, the top five PC vendors in New Zealand for the first quarter of 2006 are:

1. HP
2. Acer
3. Dell
4. Toshiba
5. Lenovo

Hewlett-Packard continues to dominate all sectors of the PC market and Acer overtakes Dell to be the second. Acer benefits from the strong sale of notebooks. Market concentration on notebooks showed overall 20.8% growth. Sales of desktops and x86 servers declined 1.7% and 10.9% respectively. Desktop shipments fell 14.8% in the quarter.

The market showed sequential growth of 6.5% compared with Q4 last year to 134,093 units and notebooks represented 58,098 of those units. The market continues to show a preference for the portable form factor. For the extensive range of HP, Acer, Toshiba and Lenovo notebooks and portable PCs, click here.

Today's Pick - Canon Digital IXUS 65 Digital Camera

I think Canon is one of the best digital camera makers. Today, I'll introduce its Digital IXUS 65 digital compact camera. Here are its main features:

• 6.0 Megapixel.
• Canon 3x optical zoom lens.
• Massive 3.0 inch LCD screen.
• Super fast DiG!C II Imaging Processor.
• Print/Share Button allows easy 'one push' printing of images straight from the camera

Overall, I think it's a very good compact camera for daily uses. For details and pricing, click here.