Asus are all set to release the ‘big brother’ of the popular 7 inch Eee PC. The new larger model referred to as the Eee PC 900 (not confirmed) will boast a slightly higher spec as well as some great new features.

The Eee PC was a big hit for Asus, being voted the “The Most Wanted Christmas Gift” by American Amazon.com and Cnet, as well as winning a prestigious award at the International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards for 2008, it was inevitable that Asus would develop a bigger more powerful machine.Recently unveiled at CeBIT 2008 the new Eee PC 900 seems to have kept the same basic concept as its smaller counterpart, adding a slight specification upgrade and just enough new features to keep you happy.

ASUS promises the screen will display a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution and specs will be upgraded to 1G of memory, a larger storage of up to 12GB and wider 8.9-inch screen. There is also the addition of a “multi-finger gesture input” trackpad, which will provide the ability to zoom in and out as well as allowing for two-finger scrolling similar to the pad found on Macs.

The Eee PC will be compatible with both Linux and Windows although the Windows version is set to retail at nearly twice the price. Here we really notice the cost benefits of open source software.The Eee Pc is set to release in the summer, will retail for around 399 (Linux OS), making it reasonably priced depending on the choice of hard drive space.

K3B is simple CD/DVD creator for Linux OS. K3B has been optimized for use in KDE - a powerful graphical design environment for Linux and Unix Work stations – and it ships in most default KDE packages.

One of the main benefits of K3B is that it is such a mature project. Some my find the simple interface a little outdated but the fact of the matter is that K3B is stable, user friendly and has a wide range of feature for your burning needs.

On opening the K3B application you are presented with a split view window, directories are listed on left in a tree structure, the current directories are on the right and the welcome page is at the bottom displaying main options.

Once you have chosen your desired task the welcome page will become the current project window, all the files that are to be burned to CD/DVD will be displayed here. You can simply drag and drop the files you want to copy and once you’re done, you’re ready to burn.

K3B’s whole burning process is extremely clear and should be easy for anyone who is familiar with Nero to understand.

For KDE users, K3B is highly recommended for an easy, yet powerful way to burn data, audio and more to disc. GNOME users may want to try Gnomebaker, and if you’re into using the command line, give CD record a try.

Download K3B CD DVD Burning Software

Staying up to date with the latest software and applications can be expensive. Professional applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office certainly don’t come cheap, even the Windows operating system required to run your PC is costly.

Many are unaware of expensive applications’ free open source and online alternatives.

Click To See The Battle Plan of The Software Wars

Open source products comprise the work of many collaborators. Each person works on small portions of a project, and anyone is welcome to contribute. The finished product is available freely for anyone to download or even modify.

After the jump is a list of fourteen free open source applications.

(Click Here To Read More…)

Forget trying to pry open your Xbox to solder on a modchip that allows you hack your classic machine. A new software modification lets you replace the Microsoft dashboard with the stunning open source Xbox Media Center Software, transforming your once discarded machine into a user friendly, and very accessible media center.

After the release of the Xbox 360 many classic Xbox’s have unfortunately been left to gather dust. With a powerful processor, a sizable hard drive and an Ethernet port your old Xbox is capable of a lot more than simply connecting to Xbox Live or playing Halo 2. With the new XBMC software installed on you Xbox, you will be able to:

• Access and play videos, music and photo slideshows located in any shared folders on your network.
• Transfer files to and from your Xbox hard drive.
• Rip DVD’s (or any file) to a shared folder for later use: burning, back up etc.
• Watch Apple movie trailers, YouTube videos, Launch.com videos and see RSS newsfeeds loaded from the internet.
• Watch DVDs “dongle” free (no more DVD Playback Kit required!)

First you will need to collect a list of software and hardware that enables the soft mod.

• Xbox Classic
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – must be the original un-copied version, Pandora’s Tomorrow or Chaos Theory versions won’t work
• Action Replay Kit – USB memory card that lets you load and save games, unlock games and store cheats.
• Ethernet Router – A connection to the internet through a standard network router must be established.

(Click Here To Read More…)

Quickly gaining popularity and taking back the web, Firefox is lighting up the internet with personalize browsing that is safer, faster and more powerful. When Firefox first emerged not many expected much since there were already other browsers, like Netscape, Opera, and Eudora, that had been out for a long time already and were no where near being as popular as Internet Explorer. This has caused Microsoft to start paying attention and listening to the users - but still falling short in keeping users loyal. Microsoft is synonymous with closed-code with only Microsoft add-ons at Microsoft prices.

For those of you who are not familiar with Firefox, prepared to be awaken to the revolution taking place on the web and quickly become converted to a Mozilla Firefox user.

(Click Here To Read More…)

The release of Google Docs and Spreadsheets, the highly anticipated free office suite application available through the internet by download, threatens to topple Microsoft’s dominant position as the leader in desktop software offering services delivered over the Web supported by advertising and/or subscriptions. So much so that Microsoft set to the drawing board and immediately began developing a rival project.

Tip: Be sure to check out the link at the end of this article for a link to a listing of various free and open source software programs for download that is having the executives at Microsoft shaking in their boots and thinking about ways to counter this!

The aim is to offer a free version of Microsoft Works which will be pre installed in desktops and will display advertisements stored in cache, the advertisements that help support the application will be refreshed when the computer establishes an internet connection.

(Click Here To Read More…)

There seems to be a lot of hype surrounding the newly released Apple iPhone. Boasted by Apple as a ‘Revolutionary Mobile Telephone’ the iPhone packs new technologies never seen before in a cell phone…. well, this isn’t entirely true. Sure the iPhone has Wifi capability and uses Safari explorer to access the web as if using your home PC or Mac but it certainly has its limitations, with the phone only available on contract for 1 year from AT&T and add-ons and widgets only available from registered suppliers and manufacturers, hackers are desperately trying to crack the iPhone to open up its capabilities.

Enter the OpenMoko Neo 1973(pictured:above left, against the iPhone:above right), first seen last November the Neo 1973 shares a lot of similarities with the iPhone except one very important specification, the Neo 1973 is the only cell phone based on open hardware specifications, this means that all the hardware and software code is open to developers, engineers and designers to build on and potentially create things even far more exciting than the current Apple iPhone. Upgrading your phone applications becomes as simple as downloading a new ring tone or installing new software on your PC or Mac. (Click Here To Read More…)