Boo yeah! Now we've got more reason to trade in our Eee PC 701s, and it's because a beefier 900 is definitely forthcoming. Official specifications have been spilled from ASUS itself, and to it we've added other tasty delights such as regional launch dates and target price range. Learn more about the next in line for the million-selling Eee PC series at the full story.

The Nokia Corporation was able to reveal with their in a recent survey they conducted that there's a new trend from emerging markets, phone sharing. To be able to answers the demands of the growing markets, Nokia has just released two new handsets, the 2600 classic and the 1209. Both phones are packed with features at exceptionally accessible prices. Head on over to the full article for more details on the phones and the survey.

Want to get rid of your bulky laptop? If yes, then you may want to check out Nokia's new N810 internet tablet, which is available right now at your nearest electronic retailer stores. Equipped with good things such as upgradable 2GB RAM, a 4.13" screen with 800x400 widescreen resolution among other things, this is all the device that you'll need.

A good old one-two to divert the attention away from the competition would be similar to what Ultimate series creators i-Mate did recently: drop two high-end bombshells. Introducing i-Mate's Ultimate 8502 and 9502, two QWERTY high-end cellphones running on Windows Mobile 6 operating system and sporting a specifications set like other sweet features decked on the competition's bleeding edge mobiles.

The 8502 and 9502 go all out black, though the 9502 (image to your right) sports quad-band GSM, 3.5G connectivity, and tri-band HSUPA powered through Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 operating system. It also comes with a video out port aside from providing crystal clear, crisp images through its sliding VGA LCD display, and LED flash for still captures.

But yes, it also jogs all the way down to the 2.5 millimeter audio jack, which doesn't quite broaden your headset options.

The 8502 in contrast touts a more simplistic design (no slide-down LCD screen), though its feature set is anything but simplistic. Aside from the usual WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity, you get 256 MB ROM and 128 MB RAM from the get-go, plus the 9502's 400 MHz Qualcomm processor. The camera slices down to a 2.0 megapixels from the 9502's 3.0 megapixel camera.

There are no details yet on price and retail shipping yet, so we can't tell you how much moolah you'll have to burn for i-Mate's new muscle gizmos. But as soon as they come up, we'll let you know. For now, feel free to visit i-Mate's website to take a gander at these beauties. The link redirects you to the Ultimate 9502 section.

Details on Nokia's N810 internet tablet are now out, and we couldn't help but feel awed by its presence. Make no mistake, this is not really a phone and does not work by receiving phone signals. The N810 connects to the internet (and make internet phone calls through Skype or Gizmo) via Wi-Fi connection through Boingo Wireless, Earthlink and The Cloud, among other Wi-Fi service providers.

The N810 looks like Sony mylo's older sibling, with the same sliding qwerty keypad and similar basic functions. It's small enough to fit in one's pocket, however, making it an indispensable tool for online communication on the go. It basically lets you fire off instant messages, check emails, make internet calls, all without having to lug a laptop around.

The N810 has a 4.13" inch screen with a crisp 800x400 widescreen resolution, and also has an integrated GPS receiver making it an ideal device for tracking and navigation via Wayfinder. It also has an integrated VGA camera, and with an optional 10GB memory card, you'll never have to venture out into the world unprepared.

Samsung SDI (Samsung Display Interface) is looking to spearhead the manufacturing of wide VGA (or wVGA, 480 x 800) OLEDs for handhelds. In English, that means the company, together with Clairvoyante, Inc. is looking to make high-res displays for our compact gizmos.

According to a press release, Samsung and Clairvoyante has teamed up to make the wVGA active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) dream come true. The joint venture will be making use of the Clairvoyante's PenTile subpixel rendering technology and will be resulting (hopefully) in a 3.08-inch diagonal screen perfect for upcoming handheld applications.

Right now, we only have displays of up to quarter VGA (qVGA or 240 x 320) because of the challenges in manufacturing, among other things. According to the release, it will be made possible since "PenTile technology makes it possible to attain this improved performance by eliminating one-third of the subpixels while maintaining the same display resolution."

Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung SDI vice president had this to say:

Our partnership with Clairvoyante will create a new PenTile OLED panel that will lead the handheld market with a power-efficient, high-resolution OLED panel that supports continued innovation in emerging handheld applications.

And Samsung seems very confident about the project (just like Sony and its XEL-1 OLED TV), indicating an ETA of Q1 2008 for samples and Q3 for the mass production. For tech heads out there, here are the specs:

• Specifications: 3.08 inch PenTile RGB OLED from Samsung SDI
• Diagonal 3.08 inches
• Luminance 200 cd/m2
• Contrast 1000:1
• Power consumption 400 mW
• Color Gamut (NTSC) 100%
• Format Wide VGA 480 x 800

  

Offering wide scale upgradability and options for users to plug in parts for added performance, ASUS C90 basically broke the mindset of the non-upgradeable laptop by significant measures. But since ASUS and MSI-branded lappies have offered such features before, the C90 probably leads the rest with a rich feature set and the curves to boot.

The C90, although configurable, can actually go up to Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 while being merry with an NVidia DX10 compliant 8600GT graphics chip with 256 MB of memory. An MXM graphics swapping concept allows the video capabilities to be expanded with a simple switch of the module. S-Video, VGA and HDMI are all supported by the C90 - especially the new and improved HDMI 1.3 - while the graphics system also revolves around a built-in TV tuner.

    

Memory is a no-brainer for the C90 as it supports all the way up to 3 GB of DDR2 memory, while sporting a four (yes four) fan ventilation unit right behind the LCD screen to keep heat from frying the sleek monster. It also boasts E-SATA interfacing, PS2 and USB connectivity, and IEEE 802.11n wireless networking support.

Bluetooth connectivity is also provided, while ASUS nests a 2.0 megapixel camera right on top of the 15.4-inch, 1680x1050 resolution LCD screen. A finger print reader is adds to the features of the C90, while both HD-DVD drives and Blu-Ray can both replace the standard issue DVD burner.

The barebone version of the laptop might reach up to US$ 1500, PC Perspective reports, although it should make up for the costs with ASUS standard issue overclocking customizations. And PC Launches reports that a C90 is offered up on E-Bay right this instant.

  

Okay, time to give you guys a sneak peak at some tech that you wish would hit North American shores. This one even has that much hyped "Santa Rosa" Core 2 Duo T7300 (2GHz) CPU. It even can handle Direct X 10.

The Qosmio F40W is a 15.4 inch laptop that has a 1,280 x 800 resolution, Intel's Core 2 Duo T7300 (2GHz) CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, 120GB of hard drive space, a dual-layer Label Flash-enabled DVD writer, built-in terrestrial digital TV tuner, and NVIDIA's new 128MB GeForce 8400M GS for DirectX 10.

It has four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-pin FireWire connector, ExpressCard slot, a multicard reader that handles SD, SDHC, MMC, xD, and MSPro, 802.11a/b/g, Ethernet, VGA / S-Video / HDMI outputs, S/PDIF audio output, and a Li-ion cell that Toshiba claims should last around 1.3-hours.

Given all those numbers this unit is obviously a media centric mobile computing/entertainment machine. Of course, that 1.3 hour cell may be a hindrance for those truly on the go, but hey, at least the laptop is graphically sweet.

As mentioned, there's still no word of an American release. Those in Japan should be able to purchase this notebook for around US$ 2,136.

Paul Steed, former artist for id Software's first in the Quake franchise, is now Chief Creative Officer at Exigent, an Indian game outsourcing firm. No longer drawing gorgeous pixels for your VGA screen, Steed is now educating Indians and encouraging them to make games for the western market.

We know you're probably asking, "What in the world is he doing there?" In an interview with "The Art of Gaming" haven Gamasutra, he revealed his revelation of the business of outsourcing and how he got interested in it.

After leaving Atari last September, he moved on to Exigent, and hoped to tap into the productivity potential in the Asians' love for games.

But more importantly, he sees that the future of the game industry rests on the mobile game and the PC. He said that there are more computers and cellphones in the world than consoles and "[that will] never change." In fact, he believes once his company goes from outsourcing only to part developer studio "Exigent Interactive," they will be only focused on games for the PC. He defended his position, saying, ""That’s what’s most accessible for audiences."

Steed also spoke about Sony and the PSP. And guess what, PSP folks: he says that "Sony just lost focus" on the PSP. In the defense of his opinion, he added, "They tried to do too much with it. And God, the price. You look at the PSP and you’re like, 'Hey, do you even realize your portable costs as much as Nintendo’s next-gen home system?'"

Piracy is commonly frowned upon by most members of the game industry - but not by Paul Steed. We'll let him explain his two cents worth on the (overrated?) issue of piracy:

My take on piracy is kind of weird. I know I can’t stop it, so I don’t try to stop it. I just try to create a whole fanbase. If you can buy it, buy it. I was in China and I saw a copy of my book ... my first book, translated in Chinese and it had my name on it, and I was like, 'Well, at least they put my name on it!' I don’t think people mean to steal when they pirate your stuff. I just don’t think they realize that it only increases the price.

He also said something about casual gaming, although it's a bit "nit-picky" on the fairer gender of gamers. We'll leave it to you, oh curious web surfers, to hop right to the interview and read it for yourself, via the "Read" link below.

  

No kids, we are not trying to teach you to smoke here, we're just showing you how the Chinese have invented yet another innovative product. You've heard of camera phone and uhh, whatever fusions. Now we're showing you this: camera phone - cigarette box fusion.

This gadget is an actual cigarette box. It looks like a cigarette box with the proper health warning labels on the sides; slide it open and you will reveal the cigarette compartment which can hold 10 cigarette sticks. But it is also a phone. It runs on dual band GSM, takes microSD cards, plays MP3, has a color screen and a VGA camera on the side.

The cigarette box camera phone sells for the equivalent of US$ 175. Seeing the reactions of your friends' faces after calling from a cigarette box? Priceless.