Asus has unveiled a new laptop based on Intel's current Core 2010 platform. The chassis is built from aluminum-magnesium alloy lid and a "nanometer coating" on the palm rest that is meant to resist fingerprints and be easy to clean.

The U36 is just 0.75" thick and weighs in at 3.2 - 3.7 lbs depending on the choice between 6 and 8-cell batteries. The 8-cell is rated for 84 Wh which Asus are claiming will achieve around 10 hours of run time for the laptop.

It also uses a standard-voltage Core i3 and i5 CPU (again, depending on model) and has a GeForce 310M discrete GPU. nVidia's Optimus graphics-switching technology is offered - which is definitely not a bad thing. Keeping in mind how thin the laptop is and it has a standard-voltage CPU a more powerful GPU would have been hard to do.

Microsoft's next-generation XBox is obviously being worked on and while the externals (the look and packaging) might be nowhere near finalised, hardware is having to be done right now and locked in with various companies with AMD looking like Microsoft's BFF for the new XBox.

The original XBox launched in 2001 with an Intel CPU and nVidia GPU. At the time it was more or less a PC in a new shell. At the time Intel complained that no money was being made from the CPU's being sold to Microsoft so they were scrubbing the entire project off as a marketing and brand awareness exercise (but we all know Intel is now the king of the CPU market, so maybe it worked?).

Microsoft not only had issues with Intel it also butted heads with nVidia - near the end of the project Microsoft asked nVidia for a list of issues raised and fixed with the hardware. nVidia refused - reportedly saying it was 'nVidia's intellectual property and not to be shared with outsiders'.

No real surprises came from Verizon's press event today. Their 4G LTE network is officially starting up in 38 cities and 60 airports across the U.S. starting December 5th. Verizon states it will cover "one third of Americans." $50 will get you 5GB of data a month while $80 a month will get you 10GB.

According to Verizon, customers can expect 5-12Mbps downstream and 2-5Mbps upstream in "real-world, loaded network environments." Current phones are not currently compatible with LTE; Verizon is making the LG VL600 USB adapter available at launch to take advantage of LTE with the Pantech UML290 coming later. More "consumer oriented" devices are expected to get some face time at CES next month. Check out the full list of covered areas after the break.

The full list of covered areas: (courtesy of Gizmodo)

When most of us want to listen to our favorite music or watch a movie, we want to hear the audio not the noise in the room around us. This is particularly true for the user that travels a lot in a car, plane, or train where things can be noisy. Noise cancelling headphones are also a great way to block out noisy spouses and kids so you can get some work done. Audio-Technica has unveiled two new sets of noise cancelling headphones.

The new offerings include the ATH-ANC27 and the ATH-ANC25. The ANC27 set claims to block up to 85% of the noise in the room around you and the ANC25 version will block up to 80% of the noise. Both headphones use active noise cancellation and use high-efficiency drivers inside. Both of the headphone models are compatible with the iPhone and iPods as well as computers and in-flight entertainment systems.

You can also turn off the noise-cancellation feature and the headphones will still work. They come with a ¼" adapter, airline adapter and the AAA battery for the noise cancellation tech. The ANC27 headphones are $99.95 and the ANC25 are $79.95 making these some of the cheapest active noise cancellation headphones around.

One of the most compelling reasons for me to upgrade to the iPhone 4 from my iPhone 3GS (other than the cracked screen on my 3GS) was that the iPhone 4 has a much better screen. The quality of the screen is one of the biggest reasons that media consuming smartphone users will use to upgrade to a new device. That is assuming that a geek needs any reason at all to upgrade other than a new device is available.

One of the largest companies in the mobile display market is Samsung Mobile Display. SMD makes screens for all sorts of smartphones and other devices and the company has unveiled a new screen technology called Super LPS that will replace current generation IPS screens. You can see from the image here that the Super PLS screen is much clearer and brighter than other screens on the market. According to SMD, the new screen is 100% better in viewing angles and 10% brighter than other screens on the market.

The best news is that despite the improved performance of the screen, it's also cheaper to build. SMD says that the screen costs 15% less to produce than IPS and other LCDs. SMD also notes that it owns 30 patents that relate to the construction of the screens. It plans to start mass production on screens using the tech in Q1 2011 and will build screens sized for the smartphone and tablet markets.

I think that more patent applications surface from Apple than any other company. Maybe it's that we only hear about the Apple ones, either way a cool new app has surfaced today that comes from Apple and shows some cool tech that we may be seeing on future Mac computers and notebooks. The patent app shows off a new version of the MagSafe cable, which is one of the coolest things about the MacBook line of notebooks in my opinion.

The MagSafe cable is familiar to many of us with the design that pops free easily if it's pulled on to keep you from catching the cord and knocking the notebook off a desk. The patent app outlines a new version of the MagSafe connector that provides the juice the notebook needs along with servicing the function of a power cable as well.

The design has a single MagSafe connector that provides power and then runs to a box that has lots of connectivity like a docking station would offer. The line art shows the adapter having an Ethernet port, USB ports, optical ports, and DVI output. One image with the app also shows the MagSafe splitting into a fiber optic cable that would be perfect for Intel's Light Peak that Apple is thought to be launching first.

The weather has finally turned cool here in Texas so thinking about swimming right now is enough to give me chills. If you live where it is warm all the time or have an indoor pool you like to use, H2O Audio has a new set of waterproof earbuds that will also stand up to sweat without breaking on you. The new earbuds are called the Flex All Sport buds and they are offered in four different colors.

You can get the things in Super Hero Blue, Envy Green, Onyx Black, and Power Pink. They look nice and the Super Hero Blue ones remind me of Superman. The Flex earbuds promise clear and rich sound in up to three feet of water and the ability to stand up to the sweatiest of workouts without breaking down. They ship with three different earplug sizes for a comfortable fit and you can pick up a set in any color right now for $29.99.

You will need to add some sort of waterproof case to your music player or phone before you try these things in water. "Flex headphones are another example of H2O Audio's innovation in waterproofing music for your active lifestyle. Flex provides the quality and waterproofing H2O Audio is known for, now in fun, fashionable colors for everyone," said Tom Kampfer, CEO of H2O Audio. "We are excited to expand our line of waterproof, sweatproof headphones to include an all sport earbud that delivers performance, style and value, perfect for running, gym workouts and an active, fit lifestyle.

Bitfenix pulled the wraps off its sweet Colossus case a while back and it was one of the coolest cases I have ever seen. Before the Colossus hit the market, I had not heard of the company at all and I was very impressed with the design and features of the chassis. Bitfenix is back with a new version of the Colossus called the Colossus Venom.

The main difference between the new Venom and the original Colossus case is that the Venom has a new lighting color to choose from. The case has LED lighting that can be changed from red to a new green hue at the touch of a button. The green with the black aluminum shell looks fantastic. Like the original, the light channels run down the sides and across the front of the case. The chassis has a pair of USB 2.0 and a pair of USB 3.0 ports on the top under a trap door to keep things clean looking along with other connectivity options.

Other features include a CPU cooler cut out on the mainboard tray, five external optical drive bays and seven internal 3.5" or 2.5" drive bays. The cooling system has a 230mm front fan and either a 140mm or 120mm fan on the rear. Bottom and top fans are optional. Bitfenix is also announced a new windowed side panel for the Colossus that lets you see inside the computer. The only downside with the window panel is that you lose the cool lines on the side of the case.

Earlier today we caught up with Andrew and Holst from Foxconn at their headquarters in Taipei and discussed all things motherboards.

Firstly we got some exclusive hands-on time with their upcoming high-end Quantum Force P67 motherboard. When it comes to the market sometime early next year for a rock solid price of around 150 USD, it will support upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 processors. It comes with a nice red and black style with several overclocker friendly features.

Besides the hands-on, we also got into Foxconn's thoughts on the motherboard market and trends that it is seeing. Andrew from Foxconn marketing commented about how his company is focused more on mid-range products packed full of features, rather than over-exuberant high-end products that cost an arm and a leg to own. In a nutshell, Foxconn notes that it sees more revenues being generated from mid-range products due to sales numbers.

ViewSonic have announced it will it's upcoming ViewPad will reach Australian shores in January 2011. The device comes in two sizes, 7 and 10-inch will obviously be up against Telstra's T-Touch Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the ever-so-popular Apple iPad.

The ViewPad includes an 800x480 screen, two cameras (a 3-megapixel rear camera and VGA-quality front camera), Bluetooth and of course WiFi, thrown in is also in-built GPS. To show the iPad up, it includes MiniUSB and a MicroSD slot built into the ViewPad - it will be powered by Google's Android 2.2 operating system.

As for pricing, the 7-inch model will come in at $699 with the 10-inch not much more at $799. The 10-inch ViewPad has a feature that the 7-inch is missing which is the ability to dual boot it's Android OS with Windows 7 Home Premium. This unlocks endless possibilities and combinations of use amongst a much broader user-base.

DoubleTwist isn't taking Winamp's official arrival on the Android music player scene lying down. On the same day that Winamp went out of beta and into public consumption mode, DoubleTwist fired back with a major update that brings wireless sync to the popular Android music player.

AirSync, the simply titled new feature, will allow you to wirelessly sync your movies, music, and photos. Simply connect your phone to your PC's WiFi network, start the app, and touch the AirSync button. After keying in a passcode, you can set up the app to sync music, video, and photos. After the initial setup AirSync automatically syncs to your network, picking up new files if they're added. You'll have to shell out for the paid version to play with AirSync; the first 10,000 users to sign up will get it for 99 cents and after that it will cost $4.99.

With this obviously being a response to Winamp's wireless syncing ability, TechCrunch reached out to DoubleTwist to get a response about Winamp hitting the market. Their response was straight to the point and a bit testy:

Home theater is built on HDMI for the most part today. The move from multiple cables to a single cable for audio and video was huge for fans looking for an easy way to wire their home theaters and superior sound and video at the same time. Analog Devices has unveiled a couple new physically small and power sipping HDMI receivers for home theater hardware that have some nice features inside.

The new receivers are the ADV7611 and the ADV7612. Both of the receiver chips support HDMI 1.4a 3D connectivity and have full 1080p resolution at 60fps support. The smaller 7611 is very compact with chip dimensions of 10mm x 10mm x 1.6mm and the 7612 measures 14mm x 14mm x 1.6mm. The footprint of the receiver chips is 50% smaller than other similar chips and use 25% less power than other chips.

The new chips are aimed directly at power-sensitive ultra-slim home theater in a box systems, projectors, AV receivers, and TVs. The chips will also find their way into sound bars and other items. The 7612 supports 32-bit deep color whereas the 7611 only supports 24-bit color. The 7612 also supports ADI's Xpressview for changing between HDMI inputs in under a second.

When it comes to SSDs, there are a ton of companies on the market that we can choose from. Silicon Power is one of the companies that seems to be offering up a new SSD every time I look around. The latest new SSD to come from the company is called the E20 and the SSD is really fast. The E20 uses a special RAM cache function to speed the drives operation and reduce bottlenecks.

The SSD has a DRAM cache that enhances the read and write performance of the storage device. Silicon Power claims that the SSD is good for read speed up to 250MB/s and write speed up to 230MB/s. The write performance of the SSD is boosted further by using Windows 7 TRIM functionality. The drive uses a 2.5-inch form factor and it is offered in multiple capacities. The capacities include 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB.

The SSD also has SMART support ad uses a circuit current sensor to tell when power is fluctuating to the drive and help prevent your data from being lost. Other features include wear leveling, RoHS compliance, resistance to shock and vibration, as no noise production. The SSD measures 100mm x 69.85mm x 9.5mm. Pricing is unknown at this time.

Corsair has announced that it has launched some new RAM that might be perfect for the next enthusiast or gaming rig you are building up. The new RAM is in the Vengeance series of DDR3 and is aimed at making for some great overclocking on current and coming Intel platforms. All of the Vengeance modules run at 1.5V.

The RAM will be offered in single, dual, and triple channel modules kits and will come in capacities from 4GB up to 16GB. The entire line has the same aluminum heat spreaders of thermal performance and has a cool appearance as well. The RAM really does look good too; it reminds me of the suit in Crysis for some reason.

The RAM will be offered in different speeds with 1600MHz and 1866MHz kits. The 1866MHz is only offered in a dual DIMM 8GB kit. Pricing ranges from $74.99 for a single 4GB DIMM up to $305.99 for a kit of four 4GB DIMMs for 16GB total.

Have you put your mind back together after glimpsing at the picture? Because it would typically blow your mind looking at it. The design is something that has never really been done before and obviously it's a concept - so we might never see this in the retail market.

Doesn't stop you from dreaming though, don't dream too much though as this phone will detect your emotions. No, seriously it will. A RIM-sponsored design project at the Art Center College of Design are talking about how they have designed the Empathy to detect the emotion of it's user and his or her contacts.

It's not clear how it does this, but one of the crucial bits to this tech is the biometric feedback ring (as seen in the picture), unfortunately this ring is not the 6th ring and will not let you let your powers combine to call upon the help of Captain Planet.

NVIDIA are on a roll, and that roll is down a green hill made of money and good times. Palit's sales sheet for the GTX570 has been distributed ahead of NVIDIA's official launch of the upcoming GTX570 on December 7th.

The GTX570 has the same number of cores as the older GTX480, but has them clocked 32MHz faster. It's down to 1.28GB of memory from 1.5GB and that 1.28GB of memory is down to a 320-bit bus.

Keep in mind that there are abundant stocks of the GTX480 in most places and getting rid of them will be hard. It was not that popular to begin with and considering the GTX580 is everything the GTX480 was meant to be, who would buy a GTX480 over the GTX5x0 cards unless it was uber-cheap? Now, I will not knock back any free GTX480's - I have a 1200W power supply and 4-way SLI board waiting, so feel free to send me some, ok NVIDIA? ;)

Google has released Google Earth 6, with it comes a variety of upgrades and improvements. Most important is Street View is now deeply integrated into Google Earth which allows users to fly from space to whichever street Google has Street View imagery of.

In order to do this, pickup the Pegman icon docked right next to the navigation controls and drop Pegman wherever you see a blue-highlighted road.

With the update comes more historical imagery, which allows a user to see photos of the location in a timeline (from 1945 to present) for those who are interested.

I live just outside of one of the largest cities in my part of Texas. Even with me so close to a metropolitan area, my house is on a rural power co-op and that means that the power goes out if a dog up the street farts twice in a row. The thing that really pisses me off about the power going to so much is that it always happens right in the middle of something I want to watch. More than power outages though the power will brown out for a bit and make the TV turn off. I really hate that.

Toshiba has unveiled a new TV line that is cool called the PowerTV. This is the first set on the market that has an internal battery. When the power goes out the battery in the TV kicks on immediately to keep your set running and you watching TV. It sounds like a TV with an integrated UPS like the one I use on my computer. That should mean that the battery would keep the set going if a brownout happens as well.

The PowerTVs will come in several screen sizes and the battery can power the set for two hours per charge. The TV uses LED backlighting to save power and has signal boosting tech to help you get a signal OTA. That last bit is important since your cable box lacks a battery so in an outage only the tuner inside the set will work.

eReaders are huge in the US today and they are popular around the world. Sony eReaders have been on the market much longer than popular devices like the Kindle and Nook have, but early on Sony eReaders didn't catch the eye of users in Japan. Back in 2007, both Sony and Panasonic pulled out of the eReader market in Japan. Despite the market not being enough for them in their home countries, Sony has been selling its eReaders in the US for a long time now.

Sony is now set to go back to its home market with its eReaders. Sony will offer a 5-inch screen eReader in Japan starting on December 10 for 20,000 yen or $240. A 6-inch screen version of the reader will be offered for 25,000 yen. Reuters reports lack of content was the main reason the Sony readers failed originally. The popularity of eReader rivals and tablets like the iPad has to be another factor pushing Sony back to its home market.

Sony has big plans for its Japanese eReader re-launch too. It plans to sell 300,000 readers in the first year back on the market and grab up 50% of the Japanese market by 2012. Japan now has about 1.2 million titles in its Reader Store in America that presumably would be available in Japan along with Japanese language titles.

I'm not happy at all with the speed of the wireless networks in my area. All of the major wireless carriers in the country offer 3G here in my city, but the connections are all very slow. The 3G connections here are patchy at best and offer speeds more like dial up than the blazing fast broadband connections some parts of the country have. While I still wait for better 3G coverage, many places are already getting 4G coverage.

Clear has announced today that the latest area to get 4G WiMax coverage with its new 4G network is Los Angeles. The faster network launches in the LA area just in time for Cyber Monday and the fast speed will make for blazing fast online shopping and will be a great gift that any geek would be happy to get on Christmas Day.

Clear's 4G network is about 3x as fast as your typical 3G connection. Clear now covers about 11 million people in LA and Orange County. Clear is also offering a big sale on the Clear Spot 4G connection device. Shoppers can pick one up today for $20 with that price good online only until midnight today. Buyers will also get 50% off their first two months of service.