Here is a round-up of Sony’s new electronic gadgets for 2013, as released today during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
Imagine a Sony Bravia KD-65 LED TV in your living room.
This year’s line-up includes new models to Sony’s Cyber-Shot, Handycam, Walkman, Xperia and BRAVIA range of products, as well as wireless speakers.
What are Dell’s foci for 2013. Transforming, Connecting, Informing and Protecting – says Ng Tian Beng, Managing Director, Dell South Asia & Korea.
Ng Tian Beng, Managing Director, Dell South Asia & Korea
Based on feedback from his customers, Tian Beng highlights two common issues that keep them awake at night.
Ng anticipates that, in 2013, the technology priorities of Dell’s customers along 4 key themes – Transform, Connect, Inform and Protect.
Below are the details of the four themes.
I brought the ThinkPad X1 Carbon along when I went on vacation in Japan in December. Why? Because it was light and slim and promised a long battery life. It did not disappoint. RRP: starts from S$2,349.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is on offer during IT Show 2013. For S$3,149, you get a 3rd Gen Intel Core i7-3667U 3G processor with Windows 7 Professional 64 with Windows 8 Pro Recovery DVD.
This configuration comes with 8GB DDR3 SDRAM + 256GB SSD, with Wi-Fi + 3G connectivity.
What’s more, bundled items include a Lenovo Mini-Display Port to VGA monitor cable and a USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter!
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the ideal fit for the mobile warrior.
Launched back in August as part of the ThinkPad’s 20th anniversary celebrations, the X1 Carbon was the world’s lightest Ultrabook at the time, and still is one of the thinnest and lightest around today (331x226x18.85 mm).
Slim & svelte is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook.
The X1 Carbon weighs less than three pounds, or 1.36kg – that’s less than a 1.5l soft drink bottle – thanks to its carbon fibre construction.
The Ultrabook withstood the physical rigours that we put it through lugging it from place to place.
The X1 Carbon boasted up to 8.2 hours of battery life and one of the best charge times in the industry, with rapid recharge up to 80% battery life in 35 minutes.
During vacation, I usually bring along a notebook for the family to surf the Web, check emails and social network updates, and for me to blog and do photo selection and editing for the holiday photos.
What I need is a powerful notebook that is light and powerful with long battery life. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon fitted the bill perfectly.
Indeed, the battery never once run out on me before I could hit a hotel to recharge, and the recharge was indeed rapid – wall power outlets can be much sought after when you have loads of other electrical devices to recharge at the end of a day.
The unit that I had did not come with 3G, so I had to connect using Wi-Fi most of the time. I didn’t need 3G anyway since I wasn’t data-roaming overseas.
I like the backlit keyboard so I can type in dim light without straining my eyes to locate the infrequently-used keys.
A special hinging mechanism allows the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook to be laid completely flat on the table.
The multi-gesture glass surface touchpad also made it easy to get by without having to connect a mouse.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook
Video conferencing with family and friends at home was a breeze, with the HD face-tracking camera, dual array microphones and Dolby-tuned audio.
In its effort to stay slim and light, I/O ports are limited.
There’re no VGA or HDMI ports, so I can’t plug into my external monitor at home without buying an optional cable for the mini display port.
There’s also no Ethernet ports. You might think nobody needs that since most hotels come with Wi-Fi. Well some of the hotels we stayed in only had wired Internet connections in the room and no Wi-Fi.
My say:
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a slim and powerful Ultrabook with long battery life and fast recharge – suitable for the mobile warrior – be it for business or on vacation. And it looks svelte and sexy to boot!
So I had to pop down to Best Denki in Kumamoto to buy a Logitec Elecom mobile wireless access point to broadcast the broadband access to the X1 Carbon, smartphones and tablet.
If you’re looking for a capable workhorse for your home office, this duplex A4 inkjet printer gives you the full range of print, copy, scan and fax capabilities you’ll need.
Print quality is good, operation is simple and fast – but make sure you have enough space for it.
RRP: S$499 (incl. GST).
HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One inkjet prints up to 20 ppm in black, and 16 ppm in colour.
The print quality of the Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is excellent. Text documents look as if they were printed by a laser printer, while photos (printed on glossy photo paper) were crisp and vibrant.
I was told the prints on normal A4 paper were “water-proof” so I immersed a few printed sheets in water overnight.
Indeed the ink didn’t run at all.
Of course the paper got all wrinkled after it dried but that’s got nothing to do with the ink or printer.
You’ll be hard put to tell they were not printed on a dedicated photo printer.
I tested the photo-print quality by printing full A4 sized outputs on glossy photo paper.
I was rather impressed as I didn’t expect a multi-function printer meant for office-use to produce photo prints almost as well as a dedicated photo printer.
The Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE will hit the shelves in Singapore tomorrow. The tablet will be available at S$998 (without contract), in deep grey.
The Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE Android tablet will be available in Singapore from tomorrow at S$998 (without contract).
Introduced back in late August last year (in the WiFi and 3G+WiFi configurations), the LTE+WiFi version of the GALAXY Note 10.1 will be available in Singapore from tomorrow.
The new ASUS convertible Ultrabook – featuring a display on either side of its cover – is available in Singapore from today for S$2,698.
The ASUS TAICHI tablet-cum-Ultrabook convertible has two screens – one on either side of the cover. Available from today in Singapore for S$2,698.
The 11.6-inch Ultrabook runs on Windows 8 and features a 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor and two back-to-back Full High Definition (FHD) IPS screens.
Sony is introducing the XBA-40 (S$388), XBA-30 (S$318), XBA-20 (S$238) and XBA-10 (S$98) in-ear headphones, available now from all Sony stores and authorised outlets.
Each of the models in the second generation in-ear XBA headphones come in gold or silver.
For users listening to music on their iPhones, each of these earphones models also come with “iP” versions that allow remote control of the music playing while talking hands-free.
| Model | SRP |
|---|---|
| XBA-40 | S$388 |
| XBA-30 | S$318 |
| XBA-20 | S$238 |
| XBA-10 | S$98 |
| XBA-40iP | S$408 |
| XBA-30iP | S$338 |
| XBA-20iP | S$268 |
| XBA-10iP | S$118 |
These headphones are the second generation of Sony’s popular XBA range of in-ear headphones, with gold and silver colour variations for each model to suit the individual’s taste.
The new XBA headphones feature the same micro-sized Balanced Armature (BA) drivers that are optimised for music enjoyment.
Double-layered housing prevents unwanted vibrations for crystal clear mid-high range audio reproduction.
The new range of XBA in-ear headphones now come with a high quality, PCOCC grain-free and oxygen-free copper cable wiring that minimises sound transmission loss.
A serrated anti-friction tangle-free cord helps music lovers deal with the constant challenge of messily stored wires.
Justin wishes one and all a Happy New Year for 2013!
Don’t ask me where Justin got that pose from. He just slid into it when I asked him to say cheese.
As we stride into 2013, let’s hope everybody gets a fruitful year ahead. Best wishes!
Today is the last day of 2012. As we look forward to 2013 tomorrow, Charles Clarke – Technical Director of APAC for Veeam – looks back on four IT trends in 2012, and shares his predictions for 2013.
Charles Clarke is the Technical Director, APAC, Veeam
First let’s take a look back at the year gone by.
Next it’s time to gaze at the crystal ball for the next year starting tomorrow.
The juicy details are elaborated below.
Children from all over the world have correctly answered more than 8 million questions on Skoolbo since its release in June. Average improvement rates are exceeding 22%.
Skoolbo is free and growing. Check out its website.
The free Skoolbo is the world’s largest educational game and currently targets literacy and numeracy for 4 to 10 year olds.
Skoolbo is increasing users by more than 10% a week with many schools using the program in their class activities.
In mid-2013, Skoolbo will launch 52 different language learning apps as well as additional content in Geography, Science and History.
About Skoolbo
Skoolbo is a team of educators and developers spanning the globe that commit to creating innovative and free educational game for children.
The company believes that technology can drastically improve learning outcomes for children by recognising and harnessing the way children learn.
