Zen media player has now a 32 GB version, offered by Creative for those who need more space for their music, videos, photos and the other files.

With the 32 GB Zen you can have up to 120 hours of WMV9 video encoded to 500 Kbps or as many as 8,000 songs. The Zen media player supports:

• audio:

• MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC

• video:

• MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD

• photos:

• JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF

It wights only 65 grames, it has a 2.5-inch TFT display with 16.7 million colour support and also many functions like: FM radio, voice recorder, clock and alarm.

You can have it for 300$.

We all know that mobile phones that use Linux as operating system are pretty rare and when you manage to find one, you have to pay a lot of moneys for it. Well, it seems that a NXP Semiconductors and Purple Labs managed to solve this problem, and following the trend described by Asus, with his EEPC, released a press announce that informed the readers they have managed to create a device that fits to the daily needs and is also Linux-based.

I was more than glad to read that text! I remember when I’ve bought my actual cellphone, a Sony Ericsson W810i, that I’ve said : „When I’ll buy a new one, it will be a model that uses Linux. Either it’s Gphone or something else.” It seems that my dream will come true and I will be able to furfill my dream.

But I’m curios and I followed another link, that pointed to the official website of the manufacturers. Those folks really impressed me! Clean website, nice desing, good informations… well, well, they really draw a smile on my face.
With a menu full of links, I eagerly clicked everyone of them, in search of more and more informations. And my efforts paid off, quite soon.

I managed to find out what kernel is behind this device. We are talking about a 2.4.20 Linux Kernel, with add-ons and backports from 2.6.x versions. This kernel was originally developed for Texas Instruments OMAP730 chip.

On the add-on list we can find :

• LCD drivers
• LED driver
• GPIO driver
• Static camera buffer
• Bluetooth serial port

They were also added and modified some kernel features like :

• Kernel drivers ALSA 1.0.8
• YAFFS 1/2
• SquashFS

Kernel was modified especially to suport :

• USB (backported from 2.6.x series)
• I2C
• Power management
• TCP/IP stack tuning
• OMAP Keypad
• Various OMAP730 dedicated files
• Suppor of OMAP850 chip

These driver modules was also added :

• Camera & V4L2
• Security (SHA-1, TDES)

Now, imagine all this, wrapped together in a handheld capable to do the same tasks as your linux powered desktop or laptop. Cool, isn’t it?

Between the keyfeatures of this device, we encounter 3G Video Telephony, Video streaming, Bluetooth and USB conectivity, micro-SD support, FM Radio, MP3, AAC and even H264 support!!! Now, tell me what do you want more?

All this, require a 208MHz Chipset, with a mininum of 32 MB of RAM video (double the amount if you want 3G services) and 32 MB NAND.

In the right photo, we can see the menu. Simply (stupid). It reminds me of the old Slackware.

In the following photos, it’s the browser of this device. I wonder if Google will optimize their service again, to be handled better by this cellphone.

Do you imagine your smartphone without a good email client? Guess not! So, in those images, you can see a dummy email from this phone.

And, as I said earlier, it’s the first 3G Linux-powered mobile phone. So, this is a «screenshot» during a video call.

Will this phone change the mobile world or it will be forgotten after a few days? It will sustain the myth that claims that Torvalds is able to install Linux even on a dead beavor?

A Linux user, A.Faith.

Valentine`s day is coming soon so you`ll probably want to have a beautiful evening with your partner. You can try this Spa lights, which can create a romantic atmosphere around the water in your bathroom.

You just need to stick them over the sides of the bath or, if you`d like, to float them over the water. The Colour Changing Spa Lights can last up to 120 hours and are changing the colours every few seconds.

To make more impression, bring your partner in the bathroom with the eyes closed, after you have aranged the light there. Enjoy!

You can buy them for just 14$.

My Passport Essential is a portable hard drive from Western Digital, which  helps you carrying files and e-mails from work/home or to share them.  It`s a small device, it can easily enter into you pocket, but it has also an elegant design, perfect to keep it in your hands, like a phone.

You will not get complicated with the installation, it doesn`t work with a cd, you just need a usb cable. It weighs few ounces, but it has a capacity of 320GB on which you can upload photos, songs, videos, e-mails and other files.

System Requirements:

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• Available USB port
• Mac OS X 10.4.8+

You can have the Passport Essential for just 200$.

Haven`t you got bored to clean your keyboard all the time by pulling out the keys, putting them back and after 2 minutes the dust will still be there? Here I have a solution: 109-key USB Glow Type Keyboard.

This keyboard is flexible, being made of silicone. You can use it safely even when you work, while you`re eating and you drop something on it. You just take off the usb and you clean it with a towel or something.

You will have a soft feeling while you`re working and you can take it whereever you need, by simply rolling it, like you see in the picture.

The 109-key USB Glow Type Keyboard needs Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and includes USB to PS/2 adapter.

Looking for some lamps to make my room more colored, but warmly, I found this one: Aduki Lamp, the lastest creation fron Mathmos. It looks great for any kind of room, is little, round, you just put it over some table, desk, night stand and the lamp will do its job. It weiths only 330 grames and has different colors: red, green, blue and when are changing it shows the others too.

Before the first use, you have to charge it for at least 18 hours. After that, Aduki lamp can light for about 6 hours, without beeing powered directly by the charger.

You can buy it for about 70$.

If you`re searching for a beautiful and unique clock, I think I found a perfect one. Tix LED Clock has an elegant design, simple one, which displays the time in a different but new way. It has some leds of different colors, which attract your attention, but without annoying your eyes. It`s just an ingenious way to read the time.

All you need to do is to count the leds colored. The Tix LED Clock has 4 parts, grouped 2 by 2: 2 of them indicates the hour and the other 2 the minutes.

In the picture below, all you need to do is to count the bright colored leds. So we have 12:14.

It seems for me very adequate as a desk clock, but also can be put over a wall. Beside this, it would be a nice gift for someone`s house or even for someone who need to have more attention with the time, the schedule and so on.

The price for Tix LED Clock is about 50$.

Here we go at the 3rd device presented recently by Toshiba: Portege G450. This phone has a USB modem HSDPA handset and can be used easily with your PC, by connecting it at the Internet/E-mail through the USB port.

As you can see in the photo, G450 has an unusual design, we could say it`s also original, there are no many mobile phones with such a form. It weighs only 56 grames and comes with 3 colors: white, red and black.

The battery life in stand-by will resist up to 300 hours and while you`re talking up to 180 minutes. That`s not like we were used with the other two devices (G710 and G910), but there are many differences between them.

Other Details:

• Dimensions: 98 x 36 x 16 mm
• Connections: GSM / GPRS / UMTS / HSDPA (3.6Mbps) /EDGE
• Memory: 160MB
• Messaging: SMS text editor with T9
• Readers Media Player: MP3, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +

Its price will be about €200, being available in March or April.

The second device that Toshiba presented is Portege G910, a smartphone equipped with Windows Mobile 6 Professional. It has a memory of 256MB ROM, RAM 128MB and it`s incorporated with Microsoft Office Pack: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, that allaw you to acces the e-mails.

Another advantage is the touch screen by 3 inches Wide VGA-standard and the fact that is very easy to use it, having a weight of only 183 grames.

In stand-by, this device will accompane you up to 460 hours and talking “just” 300 hours. At the G910 you can use the Bluetooth 2.0, USB, WiFi, the 2 Megapixel camera VGA, you can send messeges through SMS, MMS, E-mail, wireless push e-mail, Windows Live Messenger and listen music (MP3, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, WMA)

Other details:

• Format: Opening a horizontal shell
• Camera: 2 Megapixel camera VGA
• Battery: 1320 mAh
• Java MIDP2.0, JSR179
• Security: fingerprint reading

The price of this device will be around 600 $.

Recently, Toshiba has presented 3 new devices: Portege G710, G910 and G450.

I`ll write firstly about G710 one because I like it the most, but very soon I`ll come with more information about the other two of them.

The Portege G710 will be available only in March and is a Global GPS PDA based on Windows Mobile. Also has MP3 player, QWERTY keyboard, 2 Megapixel digital zoom 8x camera and is armed, at the memory chapter, with: 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM, supporting a micro SD card up to 2GB.

It`s prepared to resist up to 200 hours in stand-by and 180 minutes talk time. It doesn`t have a new and extraordinary design, but it looks nice, especially for business men, being wide and big enough for a strong hand. Obviously, is not for women

Other details:

• Dimensions: 115 x 62 x 13 mm
• Weight: 130 g
• Interface: with A2DP Bluetooth 1.2, USB 1.1
• Battery: 1,100 mAh
• Microsoft Direct Push e-mail, E-mail, Instant Messaging, SMS, MMS

The price for this device is not speciefied yet.