So what have I got in store for this issue of Claud talks Gadgets?

• A cool MP3 player
• Latest TVs
• Get a second screen for your lappy!
• A bad ass but very portable DSLR
• Many phones!
• And new macbook pro + iPhone 3GS

Let’s find out… keep scrolling after the fold.

Starting off is my second third ‘bestfriend’ that I cannot leave without, especially for long rides on public transport. It’s green, very portable, wireless, super sound quality and very long lasting gadget I’m going to talk about is my Sony W-series Walkman NWZ-W202 MP3 Player.

Ever since I collected mine from Sony Showroom, I cannot leave home without it. My previous MP3 player was a green creative stone which I got tired of charging and having to spin the yellowing earpiece wire around the tiny thing. Now with the Sony W-series Walkman, I do not have to worry about charging (not so often) nor distracting wires! Freedom to jog in the gym, freedom to board/ alight train and freedom to move without having a dangling wire! The battery life for this is amazing too! I can listen to it throughout 4-days of commuting and still there’s battery to last. I charge it like once a week only.

Next up is something I wish to own but can never afford to! (Cause I would buy a macbook pro if I have that sum of money. I can live without TV for a few months but I cannot live without my lappie even for a day!) So yes, its a super sexy and amazing TV! The Samsung LED TVs was launched not too long ago and I’ve had 4 good hours with 3 amazing LED TVs when they had their movie night.

The image quality is amazing! The 5 LED Tv displayed at Samsung flagship store at Vivo City will sure to capture anyone’s attention when you enter the store. The paintings come to live and will blow your mind away! LED TVs though expensive, it consumes lesser power than the normal LCD TVs and the Samsung LED TVs come pack with amazing features such as the content library where everyone in the family can enjoy some entertainment or transform the TV to a digital art piece when you have guests over for dinner.

If you don’t believe that these LED TVs is so damn good, go check them out at Samsung Vivo City lah!

Samsung Lapfit Wide LCD Monitor (LD190)

The recent WWDC made me regret not getting an extra display for myself! I wanted to catch the live updates on Gizmodo and join in a chat on tokbox. But can’t keep up to the happenings on my mini 13″ macbook screen! If I had an extra display than, I would have done all that! *sadness*

And than Samsung came along and offered a review unit of their latest Samsung lapfit wide screen LCD monitor! And I am a damn happy woman! I can see my work stuff in full screen mode, and have other happening updates going on in the extra display! Hope they’ll give a super duper discount to buy in this review unit after the testing period. I want to keep it!

If you are having the same problem as me, working on a lappy and needing more screen space, head on down to PC Show today, tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday! Bring along the coupon below… Get Samsung Lapfit LD190 at PC Show 2009 and get free Takashimaya vouchers! Just print out the below coupon and show it before payment. And if you bring a friend along to buy, you and your friend gets an extra $10 voucher! Shiokness lah!

What are you waiting for? *Promotion only available at PC Show hor!

More about the lapfit can be found at Lester’s blog and DK’s blog.

Done with the non-photographying gadgets, next few that’s coming up all have got photography linked to them. Yes! Claudia simply loves taking photos! My fingers have been happy snapping away during my recent trip to Bangkok with a light and another amazing devices!

Yes! Its the one that I would like to swap my Nikon D40 with! Its the Canon 500D DSLR. When I first held the prototype at the Canon blogger event, I knew I’ve got to give this a test drive! And I did! And I regretted doing it! Cause now I’ve got to save money to buy it! BUT!! When I finally got the money to, Canon’s going to release another better one!! The frustration of the fast paced technology advancement!

Some shots taken with Canon 500D. Click to view larger image.

More photos can be found here.

Samsung BeatDJ mobile phone

This phone is for those who loves mixing their own ringtones and blasting your favorite music out loud! The sound quality from the Samsung BeatDJ is amazing for a mobile phone. Powered by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower speakers, people around you might appreciate more when you start blasting in public. I strongly do not recommend you to do that though. Keep the blasting and showing off this cool phone among your peers when you’re at your private party or home.

Samsung BeatDJ phone is now available in the market.

More reviews of the Samsung BeatDJ phone can be found at:

• Tech65′s blog
• Joseph’s blog
• The Lilttle Match Girl’s blog

Nokia N97

My new found love that I cannot leave home without! After surviving two days with it at ad:tech Singapore, I think I have found my iPhone replacement! It fits (almost) perfectly to my current lifestyle and needs, both for work and for play! I’ve got much to share about this nifty gadget. More detailed review will come soon!

Some shots taken with the Nokia N97. Click on photo for bigger view.

The LG Viewty Smart phone

I don’t know how I should put this phone. I’m using it more like a standby camera rather than a phone. Cause I’ve got too many phones now! Seven to be exact!

I’m not commenting much about the performance of the Viewty Smart as a phone since I’ve got few much better ones, but I have to comment that their camera is not bad. Capture speed wise not as fast as the Nokia N97 nor my Samsung Innov8, but the quality of it with low ISO setting is pretty good. Than there’s the “Beauty shot” and “Art Shot (cool)” which I dig! Just look at this shot of pretty molemole! Makes her even more pretty lah!

Some shots taken with the LG Viewty Smart phone. Click on photo for bigger view.

Nothing much I can say about this phone for now. But do watch for a review of it later in the month. You can find this at PC Show yet, launching only next week at CommunicAsia. Which I can’t make it! *sulks*. Will be out of town next week.

And finally! I want one of these two below to be my birthday present! *hint-hint* Yes! I want one of those “Most affordable lineup ever”!

Announced few nights ago on WWDC09, the new Macbook Pro and iPhone 3GS. I don’t think I need to say much about them lah! Google for more information! Or you can bing it! *coughs*

One year plus after using my macbook, I started to feel the heat coming out from below. When it gets too hot, the hard disk will start complaining by a loud spinning and heating sound. Than my left hand will start heating up too. I tried lifting up with the ball thinggy I got from Challenger to let the heat escape, but it didn’t help much. When I was asked to try a new product from Targus, I was skeptical. Will it really work? I’ve seen many similar products in stores before, but many of them looks like some China made product that I was afraid of trying.

When I received the brown box from Targus, my first impression was “WoW!” And than, “Will this really work?”

The Targus Chill Mat is created specially for mac. The sleek and simple design fits nicely with my macbook. And it was love at first touched – between the Chill Mat and my Macbook. See how loving they look together! (Pardon the dirty looking macbook! Its sign that I should get a new one soon!)

The Targus Chill Mat has dual USB powered fans that are strategically placed for optimal cooling. And you can use the Chill Mat on your lap too! The soft mesh bottom is breathable and facilitates air flow and keeps your lap cool. With the tilted angle design, it is ergonomically positioned for comfortable use on both on the lap and desktop.

Since its USB powered, you just need to connect the Chill Mat to your macbook and switched it on!

My verdict after using the Targus Chill Mat for Mac? I’m loving it! I’m using it everyday in my office. Great for long hours of heavy loading on my macbook, and it really works! And its silent too. You cannot hear the spinning fans at all! No more grumbling from my macbook when I’m using the Chill Mat. My macbook will still scold me whenever I use it at home, cause there’s no cooling mat below it. Hurhur!

Targus Chill Mat for Mac is available in stores and you can get yours at S$72.90. Price is a little steep, but its worth it!

My table at the office…

P/s: I know this is my second Claud talks gadgets this week! But I’m having sooo many things on my CtG list now! Will be pushing out more CtG for the rest of the week! So many that I’m considering setting up another blog just for gadgets! *faints*

First saw the X-mini at Challenger, but good thing I didn’t buy it then. Saw this new release, the X-minimax at Challenger, the next time I was there. But still didn’t get it. Finally, at CommunicAsia08, I saw the real thing in action. And I told myself I MUST get it!

Here I am… a happy girl with my mini size but powerful sound speakers – the X-minimax!

Here are 2 quick reviews I did with my canon ixus camera. These videos can’t do real justice to the speakers, but will have to make do with it. You should still be able to hear the difference!

Oh and did I tell you that this is a local creation? Support local products! But only the good stuff!

I’m now using a macbook 2GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB 667 MHz memory. My harddisk memory (80GB) is drying up and had to backup lots of things in my external HDD daily to make space for more new stuff. 80GB where got enough???

Recently I found myself doing LOTS and LOTS of HD video editing and post processing tons of high resolution photos. Up top of these, I will be starting to create my own music with Garageband and thus need lots lots lots more storage and faster and better processors.

So now I’ve given myself a couple of choices. I need help to decide which is the most cost effective one. Do you think you can help?

Option 1
Buy a 500GB Seagate Free Agent HDD + upgrade my current 80GB internal HDD to 200GB + iMovie08 upgrade
This option, I will have to fork out cash for all the above. It’ll probably set me back to about $600 cash.

Option 2
Sell off my 1 year old macbook (with 3 more years warranty) + buy a macbook pro on interest free installment plan + 500GB Seagate Free Agent HDD
For this option, I will get some cash in hand from the sale of my current macbook, and I’ll end myself up with yet another installment plan which will probably be around $200 for 24months. The cash in hand I can use it to buy the Seagate HDD and offset whatever outstanding bills for my cards. Hmm… tempting option.

Option 3
Stick to whatever I have now and just dump all rarely used files into hundreds of DVDs. And continue to backup and delete files from my macbook to make room for new stuff.
This one, I will most probably end up wasting lots of time everyday trying to find files to remove, delete and transfer to external HDD or DVDs. Time is not an option as I’m running out of time!

So now what? Is there an option 4 for me? How???

I am so pissed when the browser auto closes and I had to loose all my previously typed data! And whenever I read something, it auto closes on me! How am I suppose to enjoy my surfing like that? This is sooo frustrating! Anyone got solution for me?

*A desprately needing help to solve the auto closing of browser* Claudia

The first 5 min was alright. I tried the Spaces feature and I simply love the new Finder! Next 10 min was spent trying to figure out why my Starhub mobile didn’t manage to connect itself when I plugged in. I panicked. After several plugging in and out of the Huawei E170 USB Stick, I gave up. I tried connecting to the crazy mio from my home and surprisingly it connected itself without any problem! But it’s only good for internet connection for browsing web, my adium had problem connecting.

Quickly googled (always my hero!) for solution. And after checking out several forums and blogs, finally I found the reason why! After reconfiguring the network settings, I managed to get it connected. *HAPPY!*

And the last 5 min was spent typing this entry. I’ll be exploring more of this new cat over the weekend. Hope it’ll not disappoint.

*meow!*

So now, I need to find way to mask my entire keyboard and wrist rest of my macbook. Or should I get a mbp instead? (Y never let me win the 3mil toto draw this week?) Wahahaha!