Tech Nukem

Intel Corp is famous for its thermally efficient Atom processor especially in the netbook market. And in order to eliminate the possibility of cannibalization into notebook segment utilizing its other processor and chipset families, the giant chipmaker has set the boundary of maximum panel resolution capped at 10.1-inch since day one. And good news now, if the rumor is true, it may have plan to remove such restriction in conjunction with the release of dual-core N550 Atom processor by Q3 this year.

The move could be due to few reasons. First, with more and more powerful Intel Atom processor (or its companion chipset) that could handle 1080p full HD (High Definition), it requires larger screen that can showcase its capability without limited by 10.1-inch resolution that stays merely at 1024 x 768 pixels. And even before N550 availability, Pine Trail and Broadcom CrystalHD combo is believed to be able to scale up the display panel size and resolutions, unlike its first generation Z5xx (codenamed Silverthorne) or N270 (codenamed Navy Pier) that being blamed for their inferior graphics and video decode performance. Secondly, its strong opponent, ARM based architecture are believed to have next generation smartbook that could potentially feature with relatively larger (more than 10.1-inch diagonal size) and so there is a need to prepare itself to stay competitively in this market space.

However, this doesn’t address the cannibalization of notebook sales and perhaps the giant chipmaker will come out with other differentiation factor to try avoiding such scenario either with different price point, form factor or others that could differentiate well from notebook category

You may have seen some notebook designs with convertible dual screen and when the top screen being flipped, a touch screen on reversed side will surface that able to transform the whole notebook into tablet PC which could be flexible and useful for those that prefers to tap or touch on screen directly as a replacement of conventional hard keyboard. However, the recent prototype disclosed by MSI may slightly change this hybrid design and instead of rotating its LCD display, the new concept focuses on its keyboard base and by simply flipping the keyboard by 180-degree, users will able to utilize its trackpad which was hidden underneath in normal configuration.

Named as SketchBook, it is still in early concept definition stage but recently its physical design was disclosed by MSI and spotted at an event in Amsterdam. While it looks not much different from conventional notebook at first glance, but when its keyboard base was flipped over, a trackpad will appear and users can input or sketch anything using its bundled stylus, just like what can be done on a paper. The targeted market segment could be either professional artists (if the screen size is not a concern) or children educational purpose (if the pricing is affordable) or for those that prefers hand writing or sketching more than keyboard typing.

Since this is still in early conceptual phase so no pricing information yet and don’t expect it to reach consumer market soon. And one inconvenience that we realized is that unlike rotatable tablets that you can change the view without lifting the whole machine from your desk, the Sketchbook concept may require some extra effort in order to lift its keyboard base before ability to turn it.

For convenience’ sake, users sometimes tend to share files and folders so that their colleagues from the same department can copy or modify some documents. When you share files or folders, the shortcoming is you do not know who is actually accessing them unless you have a utility such as ShareWatcher to help.


ShareWatcher is a free Windows utility which helps users to keep an eye and to monitor their shared files or folders. This tiny utility will monitor the shared files or folders and alert users when their shared folders are accessed as well as when files are added to others’ shared locations. Users can trace and be notified if someone is trying to access some files or data store in the shared folder. Necessary action can be taken for unauthorized access from personnel.

ShareWatcher can be downloaded free via the link here to keep track of users’ network activity.

Accidental loss of important data can be a truly painful experience especially when you realize you don’t keep a backup copy and the lost copy is the only copy you have. This might be due to many reasons such users having accidentally deleted the data, the data files are corrupted, the hard drive has been formatted, bad boot sectors, and so on. If you are unlucky and happened to be the victim, perhaps the comprehensive data recovery application, iCare Data Recovery, might give you a solution.

iCare Data Recovery is a data recovery tool that is dedicated to data recovery for formatted hard drive, corruption of MBR (Mast Boot Record), bad boot sector, drive inaccessibility, partition readability problems, partition deletion, software operation failure including data loss caused by Partition Magic, Ghost failure, virus attack, etc. This application can help users to recover deleted files such as documents, MP3, digital images, presentation slides, etc in various types of storage media such as hard disk drive, external hard drive, memory card, USB drive, pen drive, flash card, etc. This application is user-friendly and features a simple interface to get the recovery operation done.

iCare Data Recovery normally is priced at $69.95. However, the developer now is giving away this software for free from May, 21, till May, 25. Users who want a copy of this data recovery tool can download it from iCare-Recovery Free portal via the link here, or directly download the setup installer: icaredrs.exe and enter the license code “2K1XB2X964MPHOCJ8M1RYIJF0OVHFOFH”.

Meetings are meant to be productive activities with certain specific purposes to be achieved such as decision making, discussion of issues, etc. However, sometimes when they are not properly planned without specific goals or agenda, the meetings are not only boring but a waste of time. On many occasions, you may be aware you are attending an unproductive meeting but your role, say, as a consultant or service provider prevents you from excusing yourself. Perhaps a good way to indicate to your clients and alert them of the fact is to bring along a TIM clock! Alternatively, you are the paymaster and would like to highlight to your staff that they are wasting invaluable time and money in unproductive meetings.


TIM or the Time is Money clock is an interesting meeting cost calculator and clock that will do instant calculation on how much money has actually been spent in a particular meeting if it is dragging on and on. This device is pretty easy to operate. Users just need to key in the number of people in the meeting room and an estimated hourly wage of the respective attendees. Once this is done, users press the illuminated start button and the calculator cum clock will start working. This fun gadget for sure will catch everybody’s attention when people start looking at the money piling up as the clock continues ticking. It indirectly informs the chairperson or boss: “Look, how much money you are wasting for this idiot meeting!”. Besides, TIM also features an audible and visual fifteen minute reminder to remind users with a light beep sound and simple visual light flash on every fifteen minute interval. The alert indication is not really strong and will not really irritate meeting attendees. It is a good time keeper to ensure meetings are kept short and sweet.

Besides being a meeting cost calculator and clock, TIM can also be used for other purposes. For instance, general workers or some consultants are paid hourly; the device can be used to show proof to clients their actual working hours to prevent any dispute in calculation. TIM costs $24.99

Looking for an extreme convenient, true hands-free solution for easy communicating on the road? The world’s leading provider of innovative Bluetooth peripheral devices and accessories, BlueAnt Wireless is planned to launch its new sleek, stylish BlueAnt S4, which the company claims as the world’s first voice controlled Bluetooth car speakerphone, allowing drivers to communicate completely using just their voice commands, without the need to touch their handsets or car speakerphones while driving – all with the cool BlueAnt S4.

In addition to voice control capability, BlueAnt S4 also incorporates Vlingo SafeReader application that able to read out all incoming text messages and e-mail with just the touch of a button, fully compatible with BlackBerry smartphones and Google Android 2.0 or newer mobile devices.

Features of BlueAnt S4:

Say trigger phrase “BlueAnt Speak to Me” to activate voice recognition
Say “Answer” or “Ignore” for responding to an incoming call
Say “Phone Commands” to activate voice dialing
Store up to 2,000 phonebook entries per paired mobile phone
True multipoint for connecting and conducting calls on 2 cellphones simultaneously
Pre-loaded with Vlingo SafeReader app that designed to read out SMS and email, utilizing text to speech (TTS) technology
High-performance, full duplex speaker for a rich, superior audio quality
A2DP streaming capability for playback of music, podcasts and directions from GPS navigation app on handset
Integrates with Microsoft BING-411 for a handsfree gateway to a world of information, including stock quotes, movie times, weather, sports, news and traffic updates
Talk time: up to 20 hours ; Standby time: up to 700 hours
Size: 124 x 60.7 x 16 mm
The new powerful, portable hands-free BlueAnt S4 voice controlled Bluetooth car speakerphone that comes with 2 metal visor clips for easy attaching to the vehicle’s sun visor is now available at Best Buy, scheduled to hit AT&T stores beginning May 23 for approximately $100.

Steam has released Steam for Mac client for gamers and players using Mac OS X system to enjoy the supported game titles available on Steam Store. When trying to install Steam game client onto Mac OS X system, typically on /Applications folder, a stop halt error error may occur with the following message.

Steam requires that Applications/Steam.app/Contents/MacOS be created on a case-insensitive file system, with read-write access.

Mac OS X, like most Linux operating system, uses case-sensitive file system where two files with same name, but different capitalization may co-exist.

For Mac OS X users who are using case-sensitive file system, but want to install Steam, here’s a workaround to successfully install Steam, by creating another case-insensitive volume:

1. In Disk Utility, create a new partition (of your preferred size and taking into account the
file size of the games you plan to install). Label the partition as steam (in lower
case), and format the new partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.

2. Copy Steam.dmg to the new partition created.

3. Create the following folders on the new partition:

/Application Support/Steam
/Documents/Steam Content

4. Create symbolic links to point the default location where Steam client for Mac will look for
to the actual location where they supposedly exist, on the case-insensitive volume. To create
the symbolic links, open Terminal, the type the following commands:

Note: If the ~/Library/Application Support/Steam and ~/Documents/Steam Content
folders have already existed, delete them.

ln -s /Volumes/steam/Application\ Support/Steam ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam
ln -s /Volumes/steam/Documents/Steam\ Content ~/Documents/Steam\ Content
sudo ln -s /Volumes/ /volumes

The last command requires user to enter administrator password.

5. Select the Steam app in the new partition, and press Command + L button to create an alias of
Steam app, then drag and drop and alias into Applications folder for easy access.

6. Steam can now be ran properly, with games and content installed properly.

For users in a situation where it’s impossible to create a volume on existing partition,
using disk space allocated to existing partition without actually partitioning the physical
hard disk anymore.

1. In Disk Utility, create a New Image.

2. Give the new image file a name (Save As), e.g. Steam and choose the location to save the
image file (Where). Then, set the image characteristics as below:
Name: steam (in lower case)
Size: any (the image will expand the size when required and the size is the maximum size the
image can take)
Format: Mac OS Extended (Jornaled)
Encryption: No
Partitions: No partition map
Image Format: sparse bundle disk image

3. Mount the image file if it’s not yet mounted.

4. Copy the Steam
app for Mac into the image.

5. Open Terminal.

6. Run the following commands to create required folders in the image and symbolic links between
actual location Steam app looks into and physical location:

mkdir /Volumes/steam/Application\ Support/Steam /Volumes/steam/Steam\ Content
ln -s /Volumes/steam/Application\ Support/Steam ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam
ln -s /Volumes/steam/Steam\ Content ~/Documents/Steam\ Content
sudo ln -s /Volumes/ /volumes

The last command requires user to enter administrator password.

7. Select the Steam app in the image, and press Command + L button to create an alias of Steam
app, then drag and drop and alias into Applications folder for easy access, where the volume
will be automatically mounted too.

8. Steam can now be ran properly, with games and content installed properly.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program by Microsoft which is part of the Microsoft Office suite for Microsoft Windows operating system. In other to allow anyone who likes to open and watch Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (created in PowerPoint 97 though PowerPoint 2010) in all formats on their computer without the Microsoft PowerPoint installation, Microsoft has released a new PowerPoint 2010 viewer for viewing PowerPoint presentation in full-fidelity.

According to Microsoft, the new PowerPoint viewer is expected to present all the new transitions, video and effects exactly like in PowerPoint 2010.

Key features of the PowerPoint 2010 Viewer:

Able to view, copy and print presentations.
Supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
Supports most of the presentation formats such as ppt, .pptm, .pot, .potx, .potm, .pps, .pptx, .ppsx and .ppsm.
Intuitive User friendly interface with navigation buttons for next slides, previous slides, print, copy, help, full screen slide and end show functions.
PowerPoint 2010 viewer works well in most of the Microsoft Operating Systems such as Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86), Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 editions, Windows Server 2008 (SP2), Windows Vista (SP1), Windows Vista (SP2) and Windows XP (SP3).

Download PowerPoint 2010 Viewer (direct download link): PowerPointViewer.exe