PS3 to shed its fat ole persona?

Gadget magazine T3 had released the above image of a rumored streamlined PlayStation 3 said to be in the pipeline from Sony. While we seriously doubt its regional Hong Kong office will share more insights on this sweet sexy thing, this may well be more than a simple Photoshop job judging from the company's track record. Among its gaming devices on a forced dietary regime are the PlayStation 2 slim and PlayStation Portable lite.

We just hope Sony is not taking the easy route again by a la Xbox 360-style with an external power brick. It is also going to be a hassle if the USB ports are banished from the front. Likewise for the inbuilt multislot card reader which is clearly missing from the image. And according to T3, this model will probably ship with a 160GB hard drive. But wait, who cares about the capacity when you can upsized the storage by following our simple DIY guide here?

Via T3 | Photo credit: T3

Calling card vs. Freedom Phone, calling card please

Here's one that promises to unleash you from your crappy phone that goes on strike once you are out of your country. Designed by Vadim Kibardin, the Freedom Phone is a small pre-paid handset that allows you to chat for 60, 100 or 200 minutes. There's no room for your SIM card, so you will be spared roaming charges, and along with it, your number as well. According to Yanko Design, the Freedom Phone charges in just 10 minutes. That means you don't have to wait until the cows come home if you decide to pick one up from the stores. Not bad for a concept, but it should just stay as that. It's probably a better idea to buy a local calling card, though we might still consider using the phone as a paper weight.

Via Yanko Design

MWg devices to have wireless charging

While we are still waiting for MWg to release its first products, it has made another announcement. This time, it isn't new phones, but a partnership with UK-based Splashpower to provide wireless charging for its future devices.

When this is implemented, MWg's phones will not need to be plugged in for power. Instead, sitting it on a base station will allow wireless charging using electromagnetic induction. Such technology has been in the works for some time now, but till now, there's hardly any use of it in commercially available products.

Hardly any details have been provided by MWg so far. But given that the announcement is only about the agreement the two companies have made, we're not surprised. The first products will be equipped with the technology in the middle of the year.

HP launches smallest laser printer yet

Is your tiny desk space making you feel down? Do you have secret desires to dismember that elephantine piece of crap your IT department calls a laser printer? Well, you can stop popping those Valium pills because HP has just launched its smallest laser printer to date, the LaserJet P1005.

Taking up about the same area as a 15.4-inch notebook, this printer claims to be able to push out its first copy in under 8.5 seconds (from the PowerSave mode) with an average speed of 14 pages per minute. It uses a special ink developed by HP--formed from perfectly spherical particles--which should give better image quality over other inks.

This printer is available in Singapore now for S$209 (US$137.50). The replacement cartridge goes for S$95 (US$62.50) each. With the exception of Malaysia, China, the Philippines and India, other Asian countries will be retailing this unit soon.

Survey: Net first choice for Asians in deciding electronics purchase

Here's one more reason to justify all those hours slogging over consumer tech reviews, so CNET Asia readers can make more informed buying decisions. This survey popped into our inbox recently, by market intelligence company Synovate, confirming what we already know. That Asians are turning to the Internet first to make purchase decisions for electronic products.

Here're some key findings on the "Why" and "How" of it, published from the Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Consumer Electronics Survey.

• The Internet is the most used source for researching consumer electronics information, with 86 percent of respondents saying they use it to look for consumer electronics information, far ahead of newspapers (37 percent) and by word of mouth (37 percent).
  
• Over half (57 percent) of respondents said the Internet is their most important source of information, again much higher than word of mouth (10 percent) and brochures/catalog (7 percent).
  
• Reasons for using the Internet include convenience, ease of comparison and depth of information available, besides helping to avoid sales pressure in stores and crowd.
  
• On average, consumers plan to spend US$1,800 on consumer electronics in the next 12 months.
  

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