We finally get a first look at the upcoming Microsoft Windows 7 as it gets unveiled at the All Things Digital Conference yesterday. But still, little is known about the highly-anticipated OS that is to be the successor of Windows Vista come 2010.

From the video above, we can see that there are lots of emphasis on touch interface support. Multi-touch gestures in photo galleries like two-finger zoom, flicking, and panning, multi-touch paint program where you can draw with 10 fingers, Multi-touch piano software, application that pulls from Microsoft Live Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth with, again, support for touch.

There will also supposedly be an OSX-like dock. Ha, the copycats are in action again. Time will tell if this will be an innovative breakthrough, or a lackluster offering like the Vista.

For those familiar with Mac, we all know how useful Exposé can be. With the click of a button, it elegantly displays all your open windows in one screen, making it really easy to find a particular window that you are looking for.

Long have Windows users yearned for something like this. There have been several offerings for Windows that tries to do the same, but neither has been particularly successful in emulating the original. And with the birth of Windows Vista, there is now Windows-TAB that does something similar, but still not as good.

But now, we have something new called DExposE2 Reloaded. This one seems really promising in becoming a worthy substitute for Exposé on Windows. It even features a handful of extras such as interactive previews, hot corners, and multi-monitor support. Why not give it a shot?

Download: 05-08-2008 Build

Alternatively, download via the developer’s site.

Has anyone tried their hands yet on Adobe’s new web image-editing tool, Photoshop Express?

I took a test drive and found it stylish, intuitive, social, and equipped with the very necessary image-editing functions. Completely appealing.

Just like Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom, it neatly organizes and tells you in a glance how many photos you have in your library and the respective albums they are in.

Intrigued but skeptical as I am, I logged in to my Facebook account from Photoshop Express, half expecting something totally inconvenient that will prompt me to end my test drive. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy I was able to access to my photos on Facebook.

I moused over one of my recent favorites to find options to edit, download, or embed it on my blog. Intuitive.

The editing options were less than power-packed, but definitely comprehensive enough for the purpose of image-editing on the web. It’s not meant to replace serious image-editing anyway.

The Gallery is another neat way to share your albums with the community and your friends.

I like the convenience of it all. Definitely worth recommending to your Facebook, Picasa friends.

Dive operators, dive guides and seasoned divers may soon have a new “toy” to play with - contributing details of diving hot spots around the world right down to the water conditions and maybe, just maybe to the species of corals and the residents living there.

Rumor has it that Google is brewing an exciting 3D ocean map with the help of marine experts and in selected areas, providing us with high-resolution pictures.

Google’s foray into the ocean comes as no surprise really - with the (Google) Earth and (Google) Sky already covered, it’s probably the next best extension of the project.

I’d say the guys behind Asia Dive Site would definitely have plenty to contribute. So would many, many other websites.

And for those who do not fancy descending 70 feet into the deep blue sea, it’s time to get ready to take a tour underwater - all dry.

On first glance, the keyboard on the new Dell Vostro 1310 looks perfectly fine. But stare closer, and compare it to your own keyboard. Notice any difference?

Hint: The ‘Z’ key.

The ‘Z’ key should be below ‘A’ and ‘S’, not below ‘S’ and ‘D’! This is going to make typing absolutely frustrating for most.

This seems to be a problem only for UK customers. But if the Vostro 1310 is on your list of purchases, please check the keys before whipping out your credit card, James Bond style. Or at least, make sure you are perfectly comfortable with this key layout.

Microsoft finally releases its highly anticipated Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP today. But not without some hiccups.

SP3 was found to be incompatible for users running Microsoft Dynamics RMS, hence, an official release on Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update is not available at this time.

But, you can still grab the service pack from their download.windowsupdate.com domain:
Chinese (Hong Kong), Czech, English, French, German (Deutsch), Hebrew, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Simplified (Chinese), Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.

As long as you are not running Microsoft Dynamics RMS, it is perfectly safe to install SP3 now. But, beware of undiscovered bugs that often haunts any major software updates.

Windows XP SP3 Overview

SP3 includes the hundreds of updates and fixes released since SP2. And it includes four features that are backported from Windows Vista. Nothing too exciting for the average consumers though.

• NAP is a policy enforcement platform meant for enterprise use that blocks systems attempting to access a network until they meet whatever security criteria the corporation has in place.
• “Black Hole” Router Detection helps detect and protect end users from a router that drops packets without returning the specified Internet Control Message Protocol response.
• Microsoft Kernel Cryptographic Module incorporates cryptographic algorithms in a single module other kernel mode drivers are capable of hooking into and accessing.
• The new Product Activation module allows users to install XP without entering a product key at installation.

Other new features include:

• A more descriptive Security Options control panel user interface.
• Enhanced security for Administrator and Service policy entries.

For more in-depth details on SP3, download Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3.pdf from Microsoft.

Now’s the perfect time to get a Mac desktop. Apple has updated its iMac line of desktop computers today, giving it more power than ever.

The US$1,199 20-inch model now sports:

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processor
• 128MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics
• 1GB of memory
• 250GB 7200RPM hard drive

The US$1,499 20-inch model sports:

• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processor
• 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics
• 2GB of memory
• 320GB 7200RPM hard drive

The US$1,799 24-inch model sports:

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processor
• 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics
• 2GB of memory
• 320GB 7200RPM hard drive

Finally, the top-of-the-range US$2,199 24-inch model sports:

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processor
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics
• 2GB of memory
• 500GB 7200RPM hard drive

Available immediately from Apple Online Store.

What’s more romantic than a pair of connectable Cat 5 ethernet rings!

A wedding set for the unconventional! The female ring has a choice of four opaque colors: turquoise, white, orange or black. The male ring stands tall and dramatically transparent. Switch-up the sexes! Order two of the same! The world is your technological oyster.

Each ring is currently priced at US$7.00.

For a long time, Apple fans have been hoping for a slim and lightweight version of the MacBook to come along. Even the lightest MacBook was over 4.5 pounds (2kg).

And so, after a long wait, it’s finally here. The MacBook Air.

Debut at the MacWorld 2008 yesterday, the MacBook Air is currently the world’s thinnest (and may I add, the coolest) notebook in the market, measuring a mere 0.76-inch (1.94cm) in height and 3lbs (1.36kg) in weight.

The Goodies

It packs a punch as well, sporting a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, 80GB PATA hard disk drive, 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display, MacBook-style keyboard with backlighting, super-cool iPhone-like multi-touch trackpad, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+, and an awesome 5-hours battery life on Wi-Fi.

The Baddies

Sounds amazing! But surely it has its cons right?

Sure enough, upon closer inspection you might ask, “Where did the optical drive go?” Apparently, Apple ditched the optical drive to make the thinness possible. Quite a pain if you are a frequent user of optical drives.

But as always, Apple offers alternatives. First is the new Remote Disc feature, which is a software that you install on another Mac or PC on your home network, and it automatically shares that computer’s optical drive with your MacBook Air. The second alternative is to purchase the optional external SuperDrive at US$99.

The Price

Good things come in slim packages. And slim packages come with heavy price tags. A MacBook Air with the above mentioned specifications is currently priced at US$1,799.

And there is a higher-end model which has a better 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64GB solid-state drive instead of the regular disk drive. We’ll probably see less of this model on the streets, as it has a heavy price tag of US$3,098.

Pre-order

The MacBook Air is perhaps the best Apple notebook by far for the road warriors. Lightweight and long battery life, with decent specifications to boot, what more could you ask for? It is available for pre-order now from the Apple Store.

hField Technologies’ Wi-Fire is a compact high-performance USB Wi-Fi Adapter for Mac and PC that extends the Wi-Fi range upwards of 1,000 feet. Being a college student, I am blessed with a blanketed campus, offering a strong Wi-Fi signal wherever I go, right? …. Well, wrong. Dreaded dead spots exist and, to my dismay, my dorm room seems to be the epicenter of a dead spot, a barren wasteland of former Wi-Fi signal.

My solutions included hardwiring—too easy. Setting up a router? Forbidden. And as this epic conundrum reached a head, an epiphany hit me like a ton of bricks (as they tend to do). However, this epiphany came in the form of a small device called the Wi-Fire from a startup company that I had never heard of. The device triples the power of the internal receptor, making it virtually impossible not to get a signal, regardless of where you are.

On my current winter break, my internet cut out on me and, although I am not condoning it, I continued surfing without a problem off of an unsecured network down the street. The device uses a directional antenna with an arrow to ensure a strong signal. According to hField’s site, “the Wi-Fire provides interoperability with any 802.11 b/g access point and multiplies the effectiveness of wireless networks allowing users to connect to a WiFi network from up to 1,000 feet, more than three times the range of Airport cards and other 802.11 adapters, at significantly higher speeds, and even in locations where no wireless signal could be detected previously.”

If you’re looking to improve your internet connectivity and thereby improve your efficiency in any setting whether it’s the airport, park or even dorm room, look no further than this valuable gizmo from hField Technologies, Inc.

The device is 3 x 4 x 3/8 inches in size. It folds up for transportation and connects to the Mac and PC using USB. The device retails for $79 in the U.S.