Asus M530w set to launch on Oct 6

After several delays, the much-awaited smart phone from Asus, the M530w, will finally make its way to shops in Singapore, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines this weekend. Touted to give the Dopod smart phones serious competition, the M530w will retail in Singapore for S$828 and be available exclusively at Asus authorized shops and M1 outlets. (M1 is one of the major mobile carriers in Singapore.)

According to an Asus representative, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines will be the first countries to get the M530w, followed by Taiwan and Hong Kong. Selected European markets such as Germany, Italy, Denmark and France are also due to receive the smart phone within the next one to two weeks.

Targeted at mobile business users, the Asus M530w comes with a suite of connectivity features that include 3G, triband GSM, 802.11b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth. It is also equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, a second VGA camera for 3G video calls, a 2.4-inch QVGA screen and runs on the latest version of Windows Mobile 6 without Office Mobile. Get our first impressions of this smart phone here.

Intel G965 driver update: Performance boost or bust?

Back in mid-August, Intel's Nick Knupffer made a promise to casual 3D gamers by suggesting that a new driver update would give systems which use the Intel G965 integrated graphics chipset a much-needed performance boost. I was highly skeptical of this claim, but wanted to put Intel's claims to the test.

To test Intel's claims, I chose an Acer TravelMate 4720-6727 laptop, which uses a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 CPU, 1GB of RAM, an integrated 965GM Express graphic chipset with 384MB memory allocated, and running Windows XP Professional SP2. While this hardware combination is not the fastest available, I feel it comes close to representing a typical configuration for a midrange laptop with integrated graphics. I tested the laptop with CNET Labs' regular suite of 3D gaming benchmarks, using the originally installed driver (14.29) as well as the updated version (14.31.1).

First up on the list was Quake 4. At a resolution of 640 x 480, using the low-quality video settings, and with only vertical-sync and antialiasing (AA) turned off, the result was an average of 20.2fps with the updated driver. With the video quality changed to high quality and AA set to 4x, the average framerate decreased by only 2 percent. I continued to up the ante to 1,024 x 768 at high quality and AA set to 8x; ending at 12.2fps. In comparison to the older (14.29) driver, I consistently saw only a 3 percent to 3.5 percent performance increase--which actually falls within our acceptable margin of error.

Next up was F.E.A.R. At 640 x 480, using fairly conservative performance settings, but with Enable Shadows turned on, it reached 22fps. By turning off the Enable Shadows feature, however, it achieved a more respectable 43fps. F.E.A.R. was actually the only game I saw that truly benefited from the driver update dramatically, nearly doubling the frame rate.
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A camera lens that's all wet

Try not to leave this camera in the sun. You wouldn't want your lens disappearing in a puff of steam. The camera in question? A 2-megapixel CMOS USB camera with a variable focus liquid lens called the IVIN- 2M USB 2.0. Talk about technical.

It's recently been announced by both Varioptic and IVA Corporation. Practical? Well, it's meant to be used as a surveillance videocam.

Impressive specs? It shoots up to only 1,600 x 1,200 at 15fps, but those wet lenses are the kicker, so it's not a total washout. Mass up enough of them in your home and you can trigger a mini tsunami when all one million of them detect a furtive intruder swimming in your pool.

Via Dcviews

ASUS announces F8 and U6 laptops

The latest notebooks to join the Taiwan maker's lineup are the ASUS F8, a portable entertainment machine with built-in TV tuner and the fashion-conscious U6 for the corporate user.

The ASUS F8 is based on the Santa Rosa platform with a powerful 2.2GHz processor, 2GB RAM and 160GB harddisk. Besides a hybrid TV tuner (which can accept both digital and analog signals), the 14.1-inch display is driven by a powerful Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics card with 256MB of VRAM. Only the BenQ JoyBook S41 offers a similar video engine in a 14.1-inch package. Other notable features comprise of a fingerprint sensor/TPM security chip combo, built-in Webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi radio. It will be available in Asia from the third week of October at the S$2,898 (US$1,939.37).

The ASUS U6 is an ultraportable which not only looks good, if has a wealth of features that throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Connectivity-wise, the U6 includes a 3G HSDPA radio for use with mobile broadband networks, while keeping 802.11n for Wi-Fi connections. Though we did expect to see a fingerprint sensor/TPM security chip combo for this business machine, we were surprised by the inclusion of an integrated optical drive, hybrid harddisk and discrete graphics card. Despite the surfeit, the U6 manages to weigh only 1.57kg with dimensions of 300 x 220 x 31.6mm. Its top cover has a unique glossy paint job with shimmering fiber (don't ask us. We can't see it from the image, either), while the palm rest is covered with leather. No news on the pricing yet, but it will be out in Asian stores come November.

Mobispine wants you to share news with your Facebook friends

Ah yes, Facebook, the social community Web site that some cannot survive a day without, while others can't wait to see it go down in history as yet another failed Web 2.0 attempt. It's anything but going away for now. And if the huge database of applications (some utter crap) isn't enough to impress, Mobispine is here to add to your joy, or headache, or both. The mobile media browser allows you to share news with your friends via traditional SMS method or publish it as a feed on your Facebook account from the convenience of your mobile phone. Of course, data traffic charges still apply, and if you already have tons of apps on your Facebook, what's another? More info here.

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