Asus has announced some of technical details of its second generation luxury laptop, the Lamborghini branded VX2, which comes compete with a leather-bound palm rest.
We’re not quite sure what kind of market that Asus is hoping to attract with this heady mix of Lamborghini and black leather (a fast driving heavy metal fan, perhaps?), but the laptop sure looks mighty purdy, encased in an aluminium-magnesium alloy or carbon fibre surround with a super shiny lid..
Lurking inside the upmarket casing is 13.3-inch 1,280×800 pixel WXGA display, a large keyboard, 120GB hard drive, integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, DVD super multi drive and an equally shiny copy of Windows Vista (Home Premium edition installed by default).
Despite the Lamborghini badge on the lid, you won’t find a v8 engine inside but a rather sprightly 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600 processor with Intel 945GM Express integrated graphics and 1GB of memory (with an option to install an extra half a gig).
There’s bluetooth and WiFi onboard, naturellement, with the standard battery keeping the laptop revved up for around 2.7 hours of juice on a single charge.
An optional extended battery nearly doubles the uptime at the expense of a distinctly Morris Minor-esque lardy bulk sticking out of the back of the machine.
Wrapping up the specs is three USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire/IEEE 1394 interface, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN and a V.92 modem for traditionalists looking for that authentic 1997 surfing experience.
The lappie weighs in at 1.86kg (2kg with extended battery) and measures up at 317×228.6×32.15~37.5mm.
The leather clad beast is expected to slither out of Japanese shops at the end of the month for about 249,800 Yen, which is something like $2,000, or just over a grand in good ol British spondulas.
[Via Reg Hardware]
It may be nowhere as much fun as the near-vapourware 
If the mood takers you, you can also turn your workspace into a mini disco, with music skins that “dance” to the music, as keys are triggered by whatever music you’re playing on your PC (we could imagine it proving a little difficult to operate if you’re playing thrash metal. The lights! The lights!)
In the company’s marketing guff, Luxiium bang on about the keyboard be using to “relieve stress via colour therapy”, but we reckon most people will like it because it’s a bit of a laugh. After all, who wants to be stuck with a boring pile of keys when you can have a mini Pink Flowd lighting rig on your desktop?
Clearly, Sony’s Memorable Product Name Division were all on an extended tea-break during development, with the new camcorders all bearing fiddly and instantly forgettable names: DCR-DVD106E, DCR-DVD109E, DCR-DVD306E, DCR-DVD406E and DCR-DVD506E.
The upmarket DVD406E and DVD506E models also offer ClearVid CMOS Sensor technology for sharper images, with the topdog DVD506E 6.1MP cam sporting a hefty 6.1 MP still camera and Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilisation 
Pricing is also still to be confirmed.
Measuring up at a pocketable 78.5mm x 123mm x 16.9mm, the flash-based player comes with a large 4″ widescreen display and can display photos up to 16 megapixels, making it handy for photographers on the move.
External storage options come in the shape of a slot for SD and the new SD High Capacity (SDHC) cards.
Skinnier than an anorexic stick insect in need of a snack, Casio has unveiled what it claims is the “slimmest digital camera with a 7X optical zoom lens” in the known universe, the Exilim EX-V7.
This is backed up by some software wizardry which works out the speed and vector of a moving subject and then sets the most appropriate ISO sensitivity and shutter speed automatically.
The EX-V7 comes with a 2.5-inch, 230k LCD screen, a max sensitivity of ISO 1600 (in High Sensitivity mode) and can take around 240 shots on a single charge of its Li-ion battery.
Samsung have gone new-camera bonkers, unleashing a veritable pack of seven new snappers, all set to be hitting the shelves this Spring. 
Rather a sleek and seductive number in an all black finish with a saucy blue trim, the S1050 delivers impressive video functionality, managing to record movies up to 800 x 600 at a baby’s-bum-smooth 30fps.
First seen in 
Making up the septet of new snappers is the curious-looking i70, a multimedia-packed little fella with a sliding cover offering a
Samsung has launched what it claims is the first mobile phone in the known universe to come with an optical joystick.
The slide-open phone also comes with an illumination sensor which automatically controls the brightness of the LCD screen and keypad, so you won’t be dazzled if the phone goes off in the middle of the night.
More than four in every five camcorders sold in Europe in 2005 recorded footage to digital tape. However, according to a new industry report from Understanding & Solutions (U&S), digital tape will only account for 14% of the European camcorder market by 2010.
“By 2010, DVD will have clearly established itself as the format of choice for mass market consumers, and will account for nearly half of all camcorders shipped,” says Bryant. “This format’s appeal is its ease of use. You can record direct to a DVD and then drop the disc straight into your home player: it makes for a hassle-free workflow system. Couple this with the wide availability of low cost DVD players and you can see its appeal.”
In addition to traditional motivations for video capture, there is an upsurge of consumers who capture video to inform, meet and entertain, primarily via the Internet. The growing global interest in social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace will squeeze the camcorder market, applying pressure through hybrid ‘still-cams’, digital cameras and mobile phones. In particular, the ever-increasing capacity of flash memory will make these devices a serious future competitor to the camcorder. 
T-Mobile UK has announced the launch of the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, the number one accessory for users who can’t get enough of email and instant messaging on the move.
Jet-setting socialites will appreciate its tri-band support (850/900/1800MHz), enabling them to keep up their vital text messaging on both sides of the pond, with EDGE offering extra nippy Web surfing.
The GSM Sidekick also comes with Bluetooth connectivity 1.2 for wireless headsets and vCard transfer and 64MB of SDRAM/64MB Flash memory.