Replug unplugged

It happens to the best of us. You jack your headphones into your notebook, suddenly get up to grab a cuppa coffee still umbilically joined to the head, and CRASH. That's the awful sound of your laptop being rudely yanked off the desk into the next dimension. Ouch. Could be worse. Which is where the S$39 (US$26.90) Replug, which ships to Asia/Singapore in December, attempts to make it a lot less painful on the pocket book, particularly if you habitually forget your tethered state. This little gizmo acts as an interim attachment that works on any device with a 3.5mm audio jack. As the two parts of the Replug are joined magnetically, these separate easily if you yank on your headphones accidentally. Pure genius. Save the cheerleader, save the jack?

Sony VAIO TP1 stripped and naked

We rarely see circular designs in desktops. After all, when 99 percent of components are made for the conventional box shape, getting parts to fit a round chassis takes more investigative work than a season of CSI.

The VAIO TP1 is unique in many ways. Besides being round, it is also based on a notebook platform like the iMac. Meant for the role of the entertainment nerve center for the family, the TP1 will be launched in Singapore this year.

Sony's product manager Katsuki Fuchu was responsible for the VAIO TP1's unique shape and met with CNET Asia to explain the inner workings of this desktop entertainment system. However, being more "show me, not tell me" journalists, we took the opportunity to ask for one to be taken apart. Check out our photo gallery to see the VAIO TP1 stripped down and its bits exposed.

HTC Juno is officially the T-Mobile Shadow

We've talked about the HTC Juno before when it was spotted in China, and then again in some poorly taken shots together with a BlackBerry Pearl. Well, it's now official from T-Mobile, and will be called the Shadow.

The US operator plays down the technical features of the Shadow and instead focuses on this new handheld's user interface. Even though it runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the Shadow's default screen looks nothing like it. Instead of the regular (and boring) Today screen, this PDA-phone has the myFaves home screen from T-Mobile which uses graphical icons to give access to common features. To further reinforce its not-for-boring-businessmen image, T-Mobile even gave it the tagline "The official phone of fun".

For those interested in the specs, the Shadow is a quadband phone with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It has a slide-out keypad with a QWERTY layout similar to the BlackBerry Pearl and HTC Touch Dual--two letters to one key. A QVGA display is found on the front, while a 2-megapixel camera is positioned on its back. HTC has not launched this device separately from T-Mobile in the US, so we won't be seeing it in Asia at the moment. But given that the HTC Touch Dual has almost all of its features and more, that may not be a bad thing.

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LG gives its HTIBs a champagne glass facelift

When it comes to aesthetics, you can trust the Koreans to go over the edge with fancy designs. It started off with the Samsung Bordeaux-series LCD TVs with their wine glass-inspired flat panels and now we have LG following suit. As part of its Design Art home theater systems, the electronics giant is launching two models featuring speakers modeled after a champagne glass. Each of these sleek tall-boy speakers is dressed in stylish piano black and has a two-way design with dedicated tweeter and woofer for better sound reproduction.

Though we believe LG could have done a little better than naming them HTZ62TZ and HTZ762PZ, these sexy home-theater-in-a-box sets are, nevertheless, equipped with all the latest technological bells and whistles. Both pack powerful 700W digital audio amplification, offer 1080p DVD upscaling and ship with Simplink-ready (HDMI-CEC) HDMI terminals. Onboard USB playback has not been forgotten, too, though we are still awaiting confirmation on its capabilities.

The S$799 (US$587.50) HTZ62TZ and S$699 (US$513.97) HTZ62PZ are perfect complements for its LB9R-series LCD TVs from the same product line and are now available in Singapore. There was no further information on launch details for the rest of Asia.

The high and low of Halo 3 Legendary Edition

Yes, we know this highly anticipated Xbox 360 game was launched recently in Asia, but how about the Halo 3 Legendary Edition? This US$129.99 package has the software bundled with an authentic replica of a Halo Spartan Mjolnir Mark VI helmet, storyboard art from artist Lee Wilson and a pair of supplementary DVDs. So far so good? We are sure Halo fans would love to lay their hands on a set, but according to the Singapore Microsoft office, it will not be heading our way anytime soon due to limited worldwide supply.

All is not lost, though. You will still have a chance to bag one either by participating in the company's events (read: Lucky dip) or pay good money through parallel importers. We narrowed down a couple of Singapore online dealers offering it for a cool S$359 (US$263.97). That's more than twice the original US price after factoring in currency conversion, but hey, remember the Visa advertisement slogan? We are talking about a priceless experience for your Halo 3-crazed partner this Christmas. Or, even for yourself.

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