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If your taste runs beyond basic black nylon, check these bags out. Today at CES, Speck introduced a new line of original laptop bags, backpacks, and sleeves. Each bag comes in two colorways: Speakeasy Black Pinstripe with a Robin’s Egg Blue interior, or Coffeehouse Brown Plaid with a Desert Tan interior.

The AftPack Notebook Backpack (above) carries laptops up to 17 inches wide. It has contoured, padded shoulder straps and tuck-away chest straps and a quick-access notebook compartment. It sells for $99.95

Three more bags, after the jump.

The CorePack Notebook Messenger Bag has an innovative, adjustable dual-position shoulder strap buckle system, which allows you to cinch up the bag to wear it messenger-style or carry it briefcase-style with the tuck-away carry handle. The bag can carry up to 15-inch notebooks and is $89.95.

The PortPack Notebook Shoulder Bag offers vertical styling for notebooks up to 15 inches. The bag has a headphone cord pass-through to keep your bag looking clean while you listen to your media player. The upright design is unique, and you can carry it over your shoulder or with an easy-to-hide handle. The PortPack is available for $79.95.

Finally, the TuckPack Notebook Carrying Sleeve offers lightweight protection for notebooks up to 13 inches. It has micro-fleece padding to keep your laptop safe. It’s small enough to fit inside a backpack or briefcase, but it also comes with a shoulder strap to wear around your shoulder. The bag is available for $39.95.

For PCMag’s full CES coverage, go to http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,2235882,00.asp.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

AOC has been slowly but surely delivering solid, cost-efficient HDTVs / displays in the run-up to CES 2009, and while the 2230Fm HD3 and 2230Fh that it’ll be showcasing aren’t entirely new, the V22 Verfino (pictured) definitely is. All three of the aforementioned units are part of the outfit’s new Gamer Certified displays series, with the newest of the bunch packing a LED-backlit 22-inch panel (1,680 x 1,050), 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 2-millisecond response time and an HDMI input to boot. There’s no price set just yet on the early 2009-bound screen, but judging by AOC’s history, we’d wager that it’ll be priced attractively. Full release and specifications are after the break.

Continue reading AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit ↮ Verfino display

Filed under: Displays

AOC takes wraps off of 22-inch LED-backlit V22 Verfino display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

No clue if HP will be sticking with the Digital Clutch moniker (wouldn′t be a bad choice, actually), but one’s thing for certain: it’s teaming up with Vivienne Tam for a highly decorated netbook. The shot you′re looking at above is just about all we have to go on, but obviously this one won′t appeal to those who aren′t into vivaciousness, vividness and, um, flora. We are told that it’ll be available this December with an Intel Atom processor within (which is pretty noteworthy given HP’s current relationship with VIA), but everything else is being closely concealed for now — even though Atom typically equals 1GB of RAM, a 1.6GHz clock speed and an 80GB HDD. But hey, a woman has to have her secrets, right?

[Thanks, Ronald]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Most of the Windows Mobile / iPhone cross-breeding we’ve seen has either involved elaborate WinMo skinning or terrible iPhone KIRFs, but we suppose it was just a matter of time before Microsoft’s mobile OS was made to run on Apple’s hardware — or at least that’s what it looks like here. Pretty much everything about this video is suspect, from the shadiness of the MyPhone2008 conference it was shot at to the interviewer’s ridiculously inane questions (”You don’t have girlfriends in Norway?”), but damn if that isn’t WinMo happily booting on what appears to be an iPhone 3G — we can’t tell, but it’s a good bet it’s jailbroken. The developer, Erik Kristiansen, says that mod is in beta right now but that he’s looking at a January release — we’ll see what more we can dig up before then. Video after the break.

[Via MacToday.nl; thanks Daniel]

Continue reading Windows Mobile ported to iPhone, we think

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Household

Given how large the green bandwagon has become, it’s no real shock to see an energy-saving concept from the 1930s being exhumed and investigated further. Scientists at Oxford University have begun to take a closer look at an early invention from the great Albert Einstein in order to hopefully create refrigerators (and appliances in general) that could be used completely without electricity. Back in the day, Sir Albert created a mechanism that had no moving parts and used only pressurized gases to keep things chilly. Once compressors became more efficient in the 50s, however, the idea was tossed aside. Now, the idea obviously has greater appeal, and if things keep humming along nicely, a completed prototype should be erected by the year’s end.

[Via Physorg]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

This insanely kitted out Toyota ̄ is being put up for sale by its owner somewhere in Germany — he’s a highly motivated seller, provided you have the prerequisite electronics and programming (especially Visual Basic) skills. The standard gauges and indicators in the car have been removed, replaced with touch screens and a console mounted iDrive knob, offering the pilot of this machine control over almost every aspect of its operation: climate control, GPS, fuel consumption, mirrors, radar/laser, wireless transfer of music from a home computer, lights, fog lights… and the all-important VCD playback. Also listed on the original posting is something called the “police button” which “virtually controls the police.” This might have been something that Google mistranslated, but we prefer to think otherwise.

[Via Autoblog]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Transportation

This insanely kitted out Toyota MR2 is being put up for sale by its owner somewhere in Germany — he’s a highly motivated seller, provided you have the prerequisite electronics and programming (especially Visual Basic) skills. The standard gauges and indicators in the car have been removed, replaced with touch screens and a console mounted iDrive knob, offering the pilot of this machine control over almost every aspect of its operation: climate control, GPS, fuel consumption, mirrors, radar/laser, wireless transfer of music from a home computer, lights, fog lights… and the all-important VCD playback. Also listed on the original posting is something called the “police button” which “virtually controls the police.” This might have been something that Google mistranslated, but we prefer to think otherwise.

[Via Autoblog]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables

Just as Mr. Adams wrote of the summer of ‘69, some heralded pop star decades from now will pen a smash hit recalling the summer of two-thousand and eight. Oddly enough, the tune will likely focus on the revitalization of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which has somehow wiggled into just about everything imaginable over the past few months. The latest concoction is a bit different, though, as the NES Belt Buckle doesn′t really shove NES capabilities into a buckle; rather, the NES is the buckle, which is sort of weird to be frank. Still, for $300 you can have your very own, but we’d recommend boosting your self-esteem and saving your cash by just making your own with that dusty system that’s still in your attic. Tons of laughs await you in the demonstration vid just past the break.

[Thanks, Harrison]

Continue reading NES Belt Buckle: most inelegant, awesome NES-in-a-whatever mod out there

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

Apparently some folks have $6,600 to toss on a gaming PC, and thankfully, those folks — we won’t mention names — invested in a camera to let us all live vicariously. HP’s Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition, which packs a pair of NVIDIA’s potent GeForce GTX 280 cards, has landed in the home of one lucky gamer, and there’s a good selection of pictures to prove it. You know where to head from here.

[Thanks, bioender]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

For those who won’t even glance in the general direction of a gaming laptop unless it weighs in at 12+ pounds, you′ll probably be unable to take your retinas off of Maingear’s forthcoming beast. Word on the street has it that the aptly-titled eX-L will posses a potent 3.06GHz Core 2 Extreme X9100 CPU, which will predictably be overclocked by an undisclosed amount. Graphically, we’re told to expect a couple of ATI GPUs or a single NVIDIA unit, while the 17-inch display, built-in speakers (with subwoofer) and 802.11n WiFi are pretty much par for the course. Pricing and availability details are still being withheld, but it sounds like this one won’t be coming your way cheap.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

It’s hard to stop a rolling stone, don’t you know? Just months after you figured you’d never hear of Rock again, the recently rescued outfit has introduced a few Centrino 2-based lappies of its own. At a high level (tenth time you’ve heard that today, office dwellers?), we’ve got the Xtreme 780 with a Core 2 Duo Extreme X9100 and GeForce 9800M GTX, the Xtreme 620 with a Core 2 Extreme T9500 and 512MB GeForce 9800M GT, the Pegasus 520 and the Pegasus 320. As for pricing, you can expect a mild level of sticker shock when the crew goes up for pre-order later today. Check the read link for the full rundown of specs — try not to get lost in there.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

Wait a second — are absurdly large, overdecorated gaming desktops making a comeback? With Acer’s Aspire Predator and ASUS′ ARES C򮵻 lighting up eyes everywhere, we’re beginning to think yes — particularly when you take one glance at Packard Bell’s elephantine ipower X2.0. Revealed at the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, this beast features a tremendously large, high-gloss chassis, a liquid cooling system, a dedicated lock to keep PCB snatchers at bay and a nice array of components including Intel’s Core 2 Quad / Extreme processor, a Blu-ray optical drive, hybrid TV tuner, up to 3TB of storage, a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2, a 21-in-1 card reader and a gaming keyboard / mouse. Somehow, Packard Bell is managing to offer this thing up for anywhere between £999 ($1,979) and £infinity, but don’t count on securing one ‘til Christmas. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Trusted Reviews]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

What’s that, Acer? Your vicious Predator not feel so dominant now? ASUS just dropped a bombshell with the official release of the ARES CG6150 that first surfaced at CeBIT, and for gamers who accept nothing less than cutting edge, this is your rig. From the top, we’ve got an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (overclockable to 4.0GHz) processor, NVIDIA’s nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 3-way SLI setup with GeForce GTX280s, up to 4TB of HDD space, a Blu-ray optical drive, twin gigabit Ethernet jacks, two power supplies and a custom liquid cooling arrangement. ASUS is being tight-lipped (as usual) with pricing / release information, but let’s just assume you′ll need a serious stack of Benjamins to even sniff this beast.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

Just because you haven′t seen one on every street corner doesn′t mean that HP′s Blackbird 002 gaming rig hasn′t been around the block a time or two. Still, those of you who haven′t found the nerve (or spare change) to pull the trigger can look forward to being tempted even more this summer. Starting soon, the Blackbird 002 will be available in an exclusive configuration at Amazon, NewEgg and select Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R and Micro Center locations. This launch marks the first time the unit has sashayed into B&M outlets, and packed within will be an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 processor, dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards, 4GB of Corsair Dominator RAM, 500GB SATA drive, 7.1-channel onboard HD audio, a 15-in-1 multicard reader, 900-watt power supply and an nForce SLI motherboard with RAID support. Said config will run customers $3,299, and a list of locations from which to buy it will be made available on June 29th.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Wait a second — you mean ASUS actually had something other than subnotes at Computex? Tucked away in some surely obscure corner were these two gems: the 15.6-inch G50V and 17-inch G71V. The first of the two rigs was packing a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT graphics card, a WXGA “3D display,” Intel’s Centrino 2 platform, support for 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a pair of 320GB SATA drives and a sturdy keyboard built for gamers. The larger sibling was said to posses the same GPU and platform, though it was sporting twin 500GB drives and support for DDR3 memory / CPU overclocking. Beyond that, we’re left to wonder what on Earth could be hiding behind those somewhat unsightly shells, but hopefully ASUS won’t keep us wondering for long.

[Thanks, David]

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Original post by Darren Murph