Amazon is now offering a PC version for their Kindle E-book reader solution, you can download the reader for free or even get it pre-installed on select Asus Laptops and Netbooks. With Kindle on your PC you’ll get access to the full library of books in electronic format that you can download digitally and read directly on your computer. You can choose from more than 540,000 of the most popular books to read, including 96 of 112 New York Times Best Sellers, covering just about any topic you can think of.

With Kindle for PC you can read thousands of free books, including popular classics such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Treasure Island and others just like you would with the dedicated Kindle E-Book reader, but on your own computer. The full commercial book catalog of Amazon has books starting from $9.99 USD that you can get immediately on your computer and start reading, without having to wait for them to arrive. And of course you can also read them on a Kindle device if you do own one of these E-Book readers…

Besides the hardware Kindle E-Book reader and the PC version of Kindle you can also get a free Kindle reader software on your Mac, iPhone, BlackBerry and iPad with an application for Android-based devices coming very soon.

- List of the Asus laptops with Kindle pre-installed…
- The first 6-inch Kindle Wireless E-Book Reading Device
- The Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device for electronic books
- For the complete list of all E-Books available for Kindle…

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Now that is something that is usually hard to find and a bit expensive, but it might be very handy at times. If you have an old laptop that uses the older PCMCIA (CardBus) standard for extension cards you might be out of luck if you have to insert a new ExpressCard device for some reason. At such time this small Filco ExpressCard to USB adapter can be very useful, although it may not be very convenient to be used while traveling and using the mobile computer. The good news is that you can also use an ExpressCard device designed for your laptop on your desktop PC with the help of this adapter…

The adapter is compatible with both the smaller ExpressCard/34 standard and the bigger ExpressCard/54 devices so you don’t have to worry your device wont be compatible and of course you’ll still have to install drivers for the device in order for it to function correctly.

The ExpressCard to USB Adapter will cost you $39.09.

- To buy this useful adapter for your laptop or desktop pc…

PC Peripherals | 1 Comment »

AGEIA Technologies announced the world’s first PhysX Mobile processor, the AGEIA PhysX 100M, for high performance gaming notebook PCs. The new PhysX 100M offers an unmatched combination of power, efficiency and design flexibility enabling innovative hardware designers to take PC notebooks to a stunning new level of excitement.

This is the first mobile processor offered by AGEIA. The 100 indicates that it’s part of the first generation of dedicated PhysX processors and the “M” designates its incorporation of AGEIA PhysX Mobile Technology. The power consumption is as low as 10W under normal gameplay conditions. Optimized PhysX processing resources to deliver the same peak PhysX processing throughput as the original AGEIA PhysX processor.

The new AGEIA PhysX 100M processor is available now. Exciting gaming notebooks powered by AGEIA PhysX Mobile Technology are expected to hit the market very soon.

- More information about the AGEIA PhysX 100M…

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The GoBook XR-1 elegantly combines rugged features with high-performance computing, comprehensive wireless capabilities and unmatched security features in a product designed to perform in mobile outdoor environments.

The notebook meets MIL STD 810F (military standard) ratings for drop/shock and vibration and the IP54 (ingress protection) standard for water and dust. The entire notebook is water tight and features an innovatively designed keyboard that can withstand liquids and abrasive dust and dirt particles commonly found in outdoor and industrial environments. The notebook???‚?„?s sealed design can even withstand bleach-water submersion and scrub tests, required after exposure to toxic substances. Users also have a choice of a capacitive or resistive touch pad, which can be used in rain or when wearing gloves. For operations in sub-zero weather, the product incorporates standard heaters for the hard drive and display, which assure operation in the coldest environment, while extending these components???‚?„? life.

For the ultimate performance in a rugged notebook, the GoBook XR-1 uses the next generation of mobile dual-core processor from Intel, the Core Duo 1.83GHz, with a FSB of 667MHz. It also features increased graphics capabilities using a dedicated ATI M22-CSP/32 external graphics controller, allowing the GoBook XR-1 to score over 1900 in the 3D Mark 2003 benchmark test, over twice as high as its closest competitor. In addition, the GoBook XR-1 comes with a 40 GB or 80 GB 5400 rpm SATA hard drive, a power management utility, and an integrated Ethernet 1GB LAN and Microsoft’s XP Professional operating system.

The sleek and professional-looking GoBook XR-1 weighs just 6.8 pounds and has a very small footprint (11.8 inches by 9.65 inches by 1.97 inches), making it the lightest and smallest fully rugged notebook available. The product’s touch-screen display uses a multi-layer anti-reflective coating process to improve outdoor viewability, and glow-in-the-dark keys and optional backlit keyboard to improve keyboard viewing in low light conditions.

The notebook has the capability for up to four embedded concurrent wireless radios – WLAN, WWAN, Bluetooth and GPS – to ensure the widest range of coverage options with seamless roaming capabilities offered via special wireless management software.

It also features user-removable hard drives for added flexibility in securing data and also supports the industry standard Trusted Platform Module version 1.2, which is a network security shield for data and content. The GoBook XR-1 also has an optional fingerprint scanner and smart card to simplify password entry.

The GoBook XR-1 fully rugged wireless notebook will be available in September, the suggested retail price for the base configuration is $4,330.

- For more information about the General Dynamics GoBook XR-1 notebook…

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