Picture King Dalight Screen Square Format from MonitorOutlet.com: $189.99

Samsung Blu-Ray Disc Player from MonitorOutlet.com: Marked down from their own wholesale price of $349.99 to $321.99.

Sony Ericsson, the fourth largest handset maker revealed its new X10 mobile phone this morning, its first attempt to run on Google Inc’s android operating system . It has now formally enlisted in the ever increasing group of vendors that have come out with smart phones running on Google’s OS this past year. Well at least you will have more options if you are a part of the anti-iPhone movement!

The X10 will have a 4-inch-wide touch screen, music player, high-speed web access, Google Maps, a touch-screen interface and will use Qualcomm Inc’s Snapdragon processor. It also comes with an 8.1 megapixel camera that supports geo-tagging, face/smile detection, image stabilization, auto-focus and flash. The facial recognition software will be able to recognize up to five faces in a single picture, automatically connecting that photo with a user’s “social phone book” comprising of calls and messages sent to and from that person. Sony’s strategy takes a fresh turn from entertainment and mega pixel rich units to full scale social media. A new “user experience platform” enables people to organize their contact information, social networks and personal media through an “open, human and intuitive user experience”. It has a “social phone book” that threads conversations by person, and a one click access to all your interactions with contacts whether the medium of interface was by text or email, or on Facebook.

Sony says the interface will be overlaid on the existing Google Android foundations and will be the first mobile phone to “truly humanize the way people interact with their phones”. Where have we heard that before? Sony has added two unique applications of its own that it calls Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is a messaging application that lets users access all of their communications in one place including Twitter posts ,Facebook updates, phone calls and SMS messages. Mediascape is a media management application that lets users arrange their music, video and web content like YouTube and Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow apps store. Of course one can download all the additional apps and software you want to from the Android Market. It will go on sale in selected markets at the start of 2010.

For more specifics, visit sonyericsson.com.

Mount this cool gadget in your kitchen for easy access to the world’s greatest recipes online.

The Qooq came out this September, but is only offered in France for around 350 Euro, or roughly $500. Programmed to only handle French audio and voice commands at the moment, it is a breakthrough object, though not ready for the mass market. Maybe you can be the genius to get a Qooq, open source it, and make it available to English-speaking cooks worldwide? Who smells a billionaire on the rise, because I sure do.

Top Gamer Hoodies on the Market:

Re-Invaded Zip Hoodie from SplitReason.com: $69.95

For those who really want to show their support for a large sign, recognizable bit character from the video game generation of yesteryear, here is the hoodie for you.

Gamer Medley Zip Hoodie from SplitReason.com: $69.95

Gadgets are the pattern of your life, so why not make them the pattern on your clothing? Beautiful design and object topography makes this a stellar, sleek look.

Firefox fans would be happy to know ( and there are so many Firefox enthusiasts out there) that Mozilla announced the availability of the first beta for version 3.6 of its open source Firefox web browser. If you are a dedicated Internet Explorer user, you will not find the updates too thrilling but Firefox users will get some new upgrades in this version.The release features will provide built-in support for Personas, “skins” for the browser surround of menus (Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click) , alerts that will warn users when their plug-ins are out of date or on delivery of new plug-ins and support for the Web Open Font Format (WOFF). Other promises are quicker loading and support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5. You can also expect better JavaScript performance and display Open, native video on full screen. A feature allowing you to drag and drop files from a PC to the browser can be included.

Mozilla warns that being pre-release software, you are likely to run into compatibility problems with some websites and add-ons. If you are an outstanding open source citizen , you can help Mozilla by bringing these bugs to their attention and help them get fixed here.

You can find the full scoop on Firefox 3.6 browser here and for free Download click here.

It’s an accepted fact by now that iPhone killers come and go, but so far none have quite managed to dethrone the crowned prince. But Droid managed to set the press on fire yesterday as news and reviews poured in for this Motorola-Verizon-Google Smartphone. Many gadget lovers believe that this might just be the one tenacious contender to finish the job that others failed to accomplish!

Let’s start with the basics. Said to be the slimmest phone on the market with a full, slide-out QWERTY keypad , it is poised for release on Nov. 6th for $199 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. It makes it at 4.6 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches, a negligible few hundredths of an inch thicker than the iPhone. If you are looking for a lightweight phone, you might be disappointed that it is on the heavier side at six ounces. But there are going to be some pay-offs for the physical keyboard and the big display which is lacking in the iPhone and sought after by many.

Droid’s 3.7-inch touch screen is about two-tenths of an inch bigger than the iPhone’s display and provides an advantage while web browsing. What’s got everyone’s curiosity piqued is the fact that it is the first phone to run on latest version 2.0 of Android, Google’s open source operating system. That comes with a few extra perks such as full-on push support for Microsoft Exchange and Google Gmail. If you are a Facebook addict, the phone will draw contact information from your Facebook pals into your address book via a widget. A click gets you right into their profiles and you never need to miss on any of their status updates when you are on the go. Other preloaded widgets include YouTube, a corporate calendar, and “Power Control” where you can turn on/off your wireless connections, adjust brightness etc. (The iphone does not support widgets.) A You Tube app lets you comment on clips, favorite them, or share videos via e-mail and Facebook.

Google Maps with new GPS-aided turn-by-turn navigation makes it’s debut with Android 2.0 and Droid. The navigation system provides free, voice-activated service with satellite view, traffic, ATMs, and restaurants, Google latitude, turn-by-turn directions etc. Thanks to Android’s voice-recognition technology, you can say where you want to be directed to if you find typing cumbersome.

The Droid’s 5-megapixel camera comes with a dual LED flash and auto-focus/image stabilization capabilities and the consensus is that the DVD-quality video recording is comparable to that of iPhone’s. You can then upload your shots directly to Facebook and Picasa with geotags. The iPhone is still king when it comes to cooler and more numerous apps for download, not to mention the popular access to movie rentals and iTunes store. (Droid does let you download songs via the Amazon MP3 store). But it is only a matter of time before Droid’s open android platform, more malleable to customization to get the development community going for a more creative apps palette.

Other features include Wi-Fi; USB mass storage; Bluetooth 2.0; a 3.5mm headphone jack; 440×854 pixels resolution, a vibrate mode, text ;multimedia messaging, a calculator, and an alarm clock .

Now the million dollar question is if Droid will manage to knock Apple off its pedestal. Judging by past record of wannabes, I wouldn’t hold my breadth on that one. But judging from all the excitement in the media, Droid promises a stiff fight ahead.

YouTube - Watch Link

I can’t say I’m too thrilled with the idea. While we probably would find it handy when we are being snoops ourselves (and we all have been there sometime), I doubt most of us would be too happy to have our every online move put on a parade a la our own version of an intrusive reality show. I understand that when we put some info out there into the world, on some level we should be prepared for this invasion of privacy because you have created the content publicly. But are you ready for this kind of concentrated, targeted information so ready at hand for any casual acquaintance that you’ve forgotten to knock from your forward list? I’m not talking just your name, place of work etc. I’m talking your political views, religious beliefs and your online review about a local restaurant, the works.

But if you are determined to try this brand new feature, at least in part to find out what you are up against when it is used against you, visit Google’s Experimental Labs page and click the button to “join the experiment.” Then after you do any search, use the “Show Options” box just under the search box at the top of the search results page. Then select the “Social” link along the left-side of the page. Upon entry, you will be privy to social information at the bottom of your search result pages. While you’re there, click on the “Results from people in your social circle” link at the bottom of the page to target the results to just the social data. For example, if you make a search on a topic that catches your fancy , you would immediately be subjected to information such as what your friends or acquaintances have said about that particular topic on other sites. It will also provide info about people whom your friends are associated with like say on a Twitter site. If this is not reason enough to stop accepting social invites from strangers on the net, I don’t know what is!

But Google does give you a way out of this scary little feature, you can always remove any mention of other services you don’t want looked into from your Google profile. And presently Google cannot access your Facebook friends or content, if you have not made it available outside of the site. Since social search is still in early stages of development, Google will probably iron out some annoying bugs soon. I hope they make a way of adding or deleting people from this service depending on our comfort zone. After all of us have different layers of trust with people in our current social circles…As they say “all friends are not made equal”.

For more info, check out the official Google Social Search features page, now live on the Google support site.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 boasts High Resolution Display, TrackPad Navigation, Expandable Memory and Speedy Network Connections. With up to 6 hours of talk time and 38 hours of music playback, this is a mobile device prepared for the long haul. Go ahead–be bold!

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 was announced yesterday and will be made available in stores in early November. We don’t know exact pricing or dates yet, but one things certain: don’t go buying an old BlackBerry with the new one on the way!

Taiwanese laptop manufacturer, ASUS’s N51V notebook computer has become the world’s first notebook to receive both Environmental Product Declaration and carbon footprint certificates.

Asus claims that it made it possible by reducing its operational carbon emissions in materials, manufacturing, using, transportation, and disposal. Moreover the ASUS N51V is an EPEAT Gold registered product for its innovative energy-saving technology that Asus calls Super Hybrid Engine which not only improves energy performance by 53.75% as compared to merely following the Energy Star standard, but also extends the battery life from 35% to 53%. The reuse, recycle and recovery rate of the N51V is at least 90%, and the recycled content in the packaging achieves at least 80%. Asus says that the laptop comes with an Air Ioniser that promotes a fresher environment for the user by helping to clean the air of allergens and germs.

The trim looking notebook is shiny black, sports a silver Asus logo in the middle and has a standard 15.6-inch, 1366×768 screen. It comes with all the features that you would expect from a medium sized laptop including three USB ports, VGA and HDMI outputs, Express Card 54, SD card reader, microphone and headphone jacks. The N51V is stacked with Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, 2GB RAM, 802.11n, Bluetooth and gigabit Ethernet. A single button next to the power button is used to load Asus Express Gate the Splash-top based quick loading OS when you don’t need Windows in full blast.

All in all, Asus N51V is a pretty decent buy for the price and if environmental considerations figure high in your list of priorities while making a purchase, I think you will be a happy customer.

Journalism 101, off the record is off the record. You jeopardize your ethics and integrity when you stray from that basic principle and ABC’s “Nightline” co-anchor did just that when he published an off-the-record comment via the most mature medium possible, Twitter… now THAT’S professional.

The snide comment, “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential,” was tweeted (wow, I can’t even type that without shaking my head in comedic dismay) to over a million or so followers. What, as a personal aside? Lame.

ABC has issued an apology but the damage is done, as if they didn’t know this already. Nothing like presidential dirt to juice up a slowing Twitter following. Who knew mobile devices could be used as weapons of mass destruction? Bottom line: as a journalist, excuse me, as a journalist with ethics, Moran should not have published the comment via Twitter or otherwise and should be reprimanded if not sent back to the intern desk.

Speaking of inappropriate behavior, I think we can all agree Kanye’s behavior was inappropriate as well, but measure the public reaction all over the Net via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and the news in response to the Kanye/Swift fiasco compared to the Wilson/Obama outburst. Where are all the “Sen. Joe Wilson is a douche!” tweets and comments?

Sources: FOXNews, ABC (photo)