AH - New ELECTRONIC and GADGETS

Microsoft is set to release a version of its Windows operating system that is honed for use on tablet computers built using power efficient processors. According to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, the new version of Windows will be compatible with ARM processors that currently dominate the mobile market. No target launch date has been mentioned. The WSJ expects Windows tablet to be available no less than two years from now. Currently, Windows exclusively supports Intel's x86 architecture targeted at desktop computers and optimized for blistering speeds, but not power efficiencies essential for battery powered mobile devices. ARM chips have targeted mobile devices from the outset. Microsoft on Tuesday, December 21, announced that 1.5 million smartphones using Windows Phone 7 OS, launched just six weeks ago, have been shipped to distributors already, meeting the company's expectations. Microsoft wrote the Windows Phone 7 OS from scratch, after phasing out i...

NVIDIA's Tegra 2 SoC featuring dual core Cortex A9-CPU at 1MHz is expected to become a hot favorite amongst tablet manufacturers in 2011. The chip can power smartphones as well as tablets. LG Electronics on December 15 unveiled the Tegra 2 powered LG Optimus 2X, the world's first smartphone with a dual-core processor. Based on its research, Citigroup recently reported that Samsung has placed a sizeable order with NVIDIA for Tegra 2 chips in the first half of 2011. Samsung earlier relied on its own Hummingbird SoC to power its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. Citigroup's Glen Yeung points out that Tegra 2 is the "reference design" for Google's upcoming Android "Honeycomb" that the company says will feature full support for tablets. Samsung's decision could well have been influenced by Google's support for Tegra 2. Ambrish Srivastava, a semiconductors analyst with BMO Capital Markets, expects NVIDIA chips to power a numb...

For all those music lovers, here’s another ultra cool gadget waiting for you, the TEAC Aurb , which not only plays nice with your iPhone and iPod but also doubles itself as a CD Player and an FM Radio . The TEAC Aurb is not cheap but it’s worth expense for it can offer an ultimate musical experience. Compatible with all iPod and iPhones most available, it boasts some pretty good audio quality, featuring a retractable iPod/iPhone dock, a top-mounted CD player and auxiliary/USB inputs for you to play back MP3 and WMA files from memory cards and CDs amongst others. Besides, it ain’t no shy flower, belting out 100 watts of power through its dual 32mm tweeters and 89mm woofers. Plus this black little player looks absolutely cute, so having it in your room for New Year’s party is a must!

The yellow-and-black combination is no longer associated with bees once Sponge Bob Square Pants stepped into his own, so the new Y+B headphones will grin not sting. As long as you don’t mind wearing two too-happy perfect-to-the-last-detail Sponge Bobs on each side of your head, these headphones will brighten your outfit and your days. Fitted with a characteristic wire slider as well.The paltry price ($9.99) is an additional incentive to drop hesitating.

Here’s a cool – and fairly cheap – design that lets you wear a truly unique watch on your wrist. Actually in this case the disparate quality of your watch depends solely on yourself; but if you have that streak of a true artist in you, forget about stumping up whooping thousands for the pleasure of sporting Swiss watches. Instead you can pay up just £7.99 for the Paper Watch and get to work on it! The Paper Watch is an uncommon digital timepiece whose case is made from extra durable paperlike material that you can look on as a blank sheet ready to see where your fancy will take you, whether it will be just doodles, curves or more figurative drawings. Your name, an effigy of your amulet, the inscription from the Tolkien Ring of Power – anything will do fine! By the way, the strap is made from the same material lending itself to your artistic aspirations too.

If a watch for you is not a traditionally recognized timepiece but another accessory that adds color and arty charm to your outfit, you should check out the Dot Watch . This concept wrist watch is simple and ingenious at the same time that will surely appeal to those who opt for unusual designs and total divorce from olde worlde appearances. The Dot Watch presents a single strap that embraces your wrist comfortably. A PVC-based sheet runs over it; it can be stretched or removed. The final touch of this simplistic for-all-sexes-alike design is one dot that stands out on the colorful background. And what about the time, you wonder after you’ve taken in the general appearance of the gadget . Well, here comes another clever feature of the Dot Watch. The central dot is actually the end of a cylinder that is pressed against the covering sheet from the inside. It is the main controller which must be pressed to make two other cylinders come up and become likewise visible. The o...

Even a small gadget like an mp3 player can give you a modicum of trouble, dangling loosely in your pockets, getting behind or under things in your purse. Some of those tricky objects have an annoying habit of sliding out of your hand when it’s least convenient. If your media player plays up on you, it’s a good idea to consider dumping it for a device called the Skinny Player . A recent design by Chih-Wei Wang and Shou-His Fu, this portable music player doesn’t get lost among your stuff. You just stick it on your body on any place you think best for the purpose, like a band-aid. It can be peeled off and re-stuck at any instant. When the case gets soiled, you get the dirt off with a wet cloth. It can’t be any handier!