Have you been saving to buy a TiVo? Well, if you have not saved enough and you are already dying to get your hands on a TiVo you might as well settle for this alternative, the Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC.

Though there are a lot of softwares that can already do TV recording using your computer with a TV tuner, this device uses a software that completely replicates the TiVo interface and functions in your PC. So the interface on your computer screen looks just like the one on a TV equipped with a TiVo box. The kit will be availble on October 15 which includes a remote control and a TV tuner that plugs into your PC. This by the way only supports Windows, Mac users have no choice but buy the real thing.

Be ready to shell out $199 for the kit. Or if you have a tuner-equiped PC already then just buy the software for $99.

At long last you can get an iPhone 3G that is not locked to a specific carrier. The downside is Apple is only selling its unlocked version of the iPhone 3G in Hong Kong. Once you have the unit, you can activate it using any wireless carrier of your choice.

Here in the Philippines the iPhone 3G is being offered exclusively by Globe Telecommunications. But with this sale in Hong Kong, other wireless subscriber can now enjoy the technology from Apple’s iPhone 3G. Though some might have already unlocked or purchased an open-line phone since there are a lot of iPhones that are being sold in the black market.

You can purchase the 8-gigabyte phone for $5,400 Hong Kong dollars ($695) while the 16-gigabyte version costs HK$6,200 ($798). You can order it online with free shipping.

Are you a technology buff on the go? Then you need the "Carry a Charge" bag. It is just frustrating to have your gadget, be it a PDA, iPod or digital camera, go low on battery or worst dies out on you while you are on the go. You can of course go to the nearest coffee shop and recharge. But the best thing to have is really this bag. All you need is our good old sun for you to charge your device.

The bag is made from plastic and aluminum material, monocrystaline cell type, and uses a 5 volt battery pack. Obviously you can see the solar panels on the side which converts the solar energy to needed power to charge the battery.

This supports a wide range of gadgets, Motorola Razr V3/Blackberry, iPhone/iPod, Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung and other brands that I might have forgotten. You can connect your device using the Mini-USB interface. And if you're bored, you can also plug in your headphone to the headphone socket so you can listen to your favorite music while charging. Now isn't that cool?

It seems like companies are really trying to find new ways to package and sell their product. They might try anything just to attract buyers. Just check out the one that Maxell did to its latest DVDs. They unveiled a range of leather DVDs.

Maxell claimed that the discs are the first leather coated DVDs in the world giving music lovers a choice of five different color to choose from to burn their music or movie. Leather lovers, 100% leather at that, might be disappointed though since the DVDs are just coated with “leather-like” materials which suggest that it might be synthetic.

In any case, leather and gadgets lover will have to wait till next month to grab a bunch of these discs.

Motorola unveiled today its first WiMAX USB adaptor, the USBw 100. Motorola had kept its word of delivering high-speed, wireless broadband while on the go.

The Motorola USBw 100, like most USB devices, plugs directly into your laptop computer to provide mobile and wireless broadband connectivity both indoor and outdoor. This flash drive-sized device will be available in three versions. That is to have connectivity to the three, 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5 GHz, WIMAX network bands approved for use around the world.

Gadgets and technology geeks, you will still have to wait till late this year to get your hands on this device.

The PS3 that is now in the market are using 65nm Cell processors. However next year Toshiba will begin mass-producing 45nm Cell processors which will make the PS3 slimmer should Sony put them into use.

If this will be the case, the PS3 will be slimmer not only because the processor is thinner. Though there is a reduction in size but the technology is improved. In short, it delivers the same performance as the current one but consumes less power. And this in turn will reduce the internal cooling kit requirement since it will generate less heat.

As of this time Sony and Toshiba neither confirmed nor denied that this new Cell will be used in PS3 gaming console. But Toshiba will definitely use the new 45nm Cell technology in the next generation HDTVs that it is planning to ship next year.

Here is another news maker for Apple iPhone 3G. Apple is recalling it "Ultracompact USB Power Adapter" for its iPhone 3G. The reason for the recall was that the metal prongs of the adaptors can break off and remain stuck in the power outlet which can create an electric shock risk. Though the company received reports of a very small percentage of the adapters sold, it is warning owners not to use it and instead use a computer’s USB for charging.

Good thing is Apple will be replacing the said adaptors free of charge. However, replacements will not be shipped until October 10. You can process the replacement online. Just be ready with your gadget’s serial number though.

The recall affects iPhone 3G that was purchased in the US, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Apple didn't say how many units are affected by the recall.

"Stop cowwecting mie!!", “Eliminate l’autocorrezzioneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," and "Do we really have to wait until the iPhone 4G?" are just a few dissatisfied comments that customers are saying about the auto-correct feature of iPhone 3G. This has become a really big nuisance, compared to bad 3G reception and short battery life, to non-English users. This has led to an online petition by a Swiss web design company Fruahjahr.

The auto-correct feature of iPhone 3G makes it almost impossible to write an email or an SMS message on the iPhone in a language other than English - the phone 'corrects' your words into English as you type.

Actually the option to enable or disable the auto-correct function is in the device but it is hidden. Apple might have some reasons for it but apparently they want to keep it hidden. But some hacks are already available online. You can check it out and disable or enable your iPhone’s auto-correct or should I say auto-misspell function.

You think drinkers don’t do technology stuff? You are wrong. There are drinkers there that are also gadget geeks. As what you can see with TrekStor’s USB Flash drive. This is no ordinary flash drive, it is dual purpose. TrekStor’s USB Stick CO is a bottle opener but it is also a USB Flash Drive. You might loose your memory once you are drunk but no worries, this drive will not let you down. You can be as sober as you want but the drive will still have its information. Just don’t lose it though. The device by the way is available in 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16GB memory capacity with 25MB/s read speed and 12 MB/s write speed.

Just recently Western Digital had rolled out its 500GB 2.5in Scorpio Blue drive which is a notebook drive with 250GB per platter and a spin speed of 5400rpm. Seagate in the meantime expects to roll out later this year its half terabyte 2.5in drives.

Bigger capacity drives are expected to be rolled out by mid-2009 as what is expected from Fujitsu for its 750GB 2.5in and perhaps 1TB by end of 2009. It looks like Western Digital is leading other manufacturer in manufacturing higher capacity drives. They may as well roll out their hi-cap models or else WD will dominate the market.

For iPhone 3G owners and Pinoy gadget enthusiast you will really like this device. An optical zoom for your iPhone 3G. This is an accessory from Brando which is actually a 6x telescope that you can attach to your iPhone 3G via the specially designed hard casing which protects your phone. Just snap it then screw the telescope and you are ready to take pictures.

It is really simple to use, adjust the zoom accordingly as how you see the image on the screen.

Want to digest the news? Then eat it. That is not a joke. With the Scan Toaster you can basically do that. This is another device that can be added to a Pinoy gadget collection. The Scan Toaster, manufactured by Electrolux, connects to a PC using a USB cable and can download the design that you want on your toast. So you can practically eat the morning news on your bread. This gadget was designed by Sung Bae Chang but no plans yet for mass production. So just watch out when this bread technology will be rolled out.

The inventor of the World Wide Web or internet and currently the director of the standard-setting World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Tim Berners-Lee, say that there is a flaw that he sees in Internet Explorer in the way it handles graphics feature for web pages. And this is true not only with the recently released Internet Explorer 8 Beta but to older versions as well. Though Berners-Lee did not say it directly he said, "If you look around at browsers, you'll find that most of them support scalable vector graphics. I'll let you figure out which one has been slow in supporting SVG."

Web images that are encoded as SVG or scalable vector graphic can be magnified to fit the entire computer screen or resized to other proportions without getting pixilated. Meaning the image doesn’t become blocky and lose sharpness which is usually the case with images encoded in bitmaps.

Firefox, Safari and other browsers have built-in support for SVG while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer utilizes a plug-in, which needs to be downloaded, from Adobe Systems Inc. before it can show SVG objects. The problem here is that Adobe will be ending its support of the SVG plug-in on January 1.

The holidays are still a few months away but Apple is already prepared for the holiday shopping rush. Steve Jobs unveiled last Tuesday the new iPod models and iTunes stores upgrades. The new releases include high-definition television shows from Apple's online iTunes store and a slim new iPod Nano model.

The new iPod Nano might be slimmer, taking the gum stick look that most people preferred, but the technology in it is upgraded. That’s what I call as a power packed gadget. The motion-sensing "Accelerometer" technology of iPhones and iPod Touch models are incorporated in this new iPod Nano model. What does this technology does? Simple, it just orients the screen relative to how the device is held. And also you can just practically shake the gadget to shuffle the music. Isn’t it cool? But so far that’s what is known for now aside of course for the dimension of the device. And the new Nano is made with toxin-free components and is primarily recyclable aluminum and glass.

Statistics shows that Apple’s iPods has nearly 74 percent of the MP3 market. That is a very big gap from that of Microsoft which has a share of 2.5 percent with its Zune devices.

Asus is not only competing with their mini notebooks. On Friday, they will be releasing their newest entry, the P552w, in the highly competitive and exciting world of mobile phones. The new entry is fully touchscreen. It boast a 624MHz CPU, a 240 x 320 QVGA display, HSDPA / UMTS radios, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP), 256MB of flash memory, 128MB of DDR, plus support for microSD / SDHC cards. ASUS also claims that the device has "seamless Google integration" aside from the inclusion of proprietary software like "EziPhoto" and "EziMusic". Well, I’m not sure though when this will be available in the Philippines. But it’s a mobile worth checking out once it landed here.

Dell had finally released its own version of a mini laptop to join the mini notebook party. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 might have been late but it will surely not disappoint you. It is using Intel® AtomTM Processor (1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB) with up to 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM. For display, it uses Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950. This mini comes in Ubuntu Linux 8.04 with custom Dell interface OS but you can always upgrade it to Windows® XP Home Edition SP3. The hard drive is up to 16GB. Its display is an 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600). And just like most minis the Mini 9 does not have any optical drives. For I/O, it uses USB2.0, Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45), 15-pin VGA video connector, Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 mic-in), 3-in-1 Media Card Reader and AC adapter connector. It is also equipped for wireless connection via Wi-Fi 802.11g mini-card and Bluetooth® Internal (2.0) mini-card.

WordPress will be joining the social networking circle soon once BuddyPress will be available to WordPress users. Currently it is already in WordPress MU (multi-user) and will be available to individual users by the end of this year hopefully.

BuddyPress is a "niche social network" that would allow users to integrate their blogs, online groups and more into extended profiles. It is essentially a set of plugins with each plugin adding a distinct feature. These features include an extended profile, a personal blog, private messaging, status updates, albums, groups, friends and The Wire, where friends can post on each other’s profile.

WordPress is one of the leading blogging platforms in the world and has a large user base in the Philippines.

Sony Corp. announced yesterday that it is recalling the VAIO TZ series laptops due to possible overheating. The recall is being done worldwide for the estimated 440,000 laptops that has a wiring flaw which can cause overheating. Of the estimated number, 67,000 of that were sold in Japan and the larger number of 373,000 was sold in 48 countries including the US.

The wiring flaw was in the hinge connecting the body of the laptop and the display. Improperly placed wires can wear and can be the source of short circuit and overheating. The rim could also overheat due to a flaw in a circuit board inside the display. So far, Sony has received 209 reports of overheating worldwide.

The recall involves 19 models in the VAIO TZ series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008.

Microsoft will be selling its Xbox 360 video game consoles at a reduced rate in Japan. This is mainly due to the very competitive market in Japan where Sony and Nintendo are dominating the market. The Xbox 360 has faced tough competition in next-generation gaming machines in the home market of Nintendo Co., which has been recording booming sales of its Wii, as well as Sony Corp., which makes the PlayStation 3.

By September 11 Xbox 360 Arcade will only cost $180 down from $260 making it the cheapest among the next-generation gaming consoles. Nintendo’s Wii costs $230. While Sony’s PlayStation 3 which has a 40-gigabyte hard drive sells for about $370.

Other Xbox models are also being reduced in prices. The 60-gigabyte Xbox 360 will be introduced in Japan at $270, while the Xbox Elite, the top grade, will be sold at $370 down from $440. I guess the competition is that tough to make Microsoft reduce their prices significantly for the gaming consoles.

Most of us do watch TV, right? But have you been trying to watch you favorite show from the bathroom or the pool but cannot do so because you don’t have a TV in that part of the house. Now you can enjoy being a couch potato even if you’re in the pool or a bathtub. Thanks to Sony’s BRAVIA TV, technology and ruggedness combined in one.

Sony’s Bravia XDV-W600 is a 4-inch waterproof portable TV. And it’s just not waterproof, it even floats. Though it is small, it has 16.7-million color 272 x 480 pixels LCD. It also comes with and AM/FM radio tuner. And this is what I really like, you can record up to 10 hours of TV broadcast made possible by its 2GB internal memory. You don’t have to worry about power as well since the device came with an internal rechargeable alkaline battery that can support 23 hours of viewing time. Just make sure that the TV does not get submerged more than 3.3 feet of water or else you can say goodbye to your $368.

Google Inc. had joined the browser war by announcing that its new web browser called the Chrome will be available for download today. This came just a week after Microsoft released a test version of its browser, Internet Explorer version 8.

The question is can Chrome topple the leading web browser as of today? Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is currently being used by almost 75% of internet users worldwide. This is a really huge part of the pie. Not to mention that there are a large number of users who are using Mozilla’s Firefox which account for more than 10% users worldwide. Firefox is actually being supported by Google in its aim to undermine Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It even extended its advertising alliance with Firefox through 2011.

Google might be dominating the search engine world but definitely not the browser arena. But again, who knows, in the future they might succeed on this. Meanwhile, Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by investing billions in the development of its own search engine and making an unsuccessful attempt to buy Yahoo Inc. for $47.5 billion.