music & computer

Model Fender Limited Edition “Thin Skin” ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue

Intro As long-time readers of this blog may remember, in early 2007 I began a “Quest For The Perfect Strat,” with the sole intention of digging up the best combination of playability, affordability, looks, and tone that Fender had to offer in the way of vintage-style Stratocasters.

Having had a life-long love affair with the company’s simple but versatile Tele––and somehow managing to go some 20+ years without ever owning a Strat––I decided early on that I would skip the many worthy clones on the market, and keep my efforts trained on the real deal: the Fender Stratocaster

Model Fender Limited Edition “Thin Skin” ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue

Intro As long-time readers of this blog may remember, in early 2007 I began a “Quest For The Perfect Strat,” with the sole intention of digging up the best combination of playability, affordability, looks, and tone that Fender had to offer in the way of vintage-style Stratocasters.

Having had a life-long love affair with the company’s simple but versatile Tele––and somehow managing to go some 20+ years without ever owning a Strat––I decided early on that I would skip the many worthy clones on the market, and keep my efforts trained on the real deal: the Fender Stratocaster
Because there’s really no such thing as a “perfect” guitar, and the readers of this blog alone make up a huge cross section of popular guitar-playing styles and techniques, my quest has been not so much to find “the” perfect Strat, but the Strat that best suits my own personal tastes and needs… or to put it perhaps more succinctly: when reading this review keep in mind that as always, your mileage may vary.

After more than a year of searching through big-box guitar stores and pawn shops alike, I’m happy to report that Fender is producing some particularly gorgeous instruments at *subjectively* reasonable prices right now (if you’re willing to dig around a bit,) and that I found my own little piece of heaven in a 3-tone Sunburst “Limited Dealer Run” Thin Skin ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue––one of just 180 produced.

This thing is stunning…

Specs

Comfort-contoured Alder body
1-piece “C” shaped Maple neck with nitro finish (25.5“ scale length)
Rosewood fretboard with 21 Medium Jumbo 6105 frets (7.25” radius)
Three American Vintage ‘62 Strat single-coil pickups (w/aged covers)
Master volume and two tone controls
3-way pickup switching (5-way pickup switch included)
American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo w/“Ash Tray” bridge cover
Fender/Gotoh vintage-style tuners
Chrome hardware
3-ply Mint Green pickguard
3-tone Sunburst “Thin Skin” nitrocellulose finish
Limited Edition backplate
Deluxe brown hardshell case (orange plush interior,) strap, and cable
What I Liked Oh the tone… like the production-model American Vintage ‘62 Strat reissue, this “Thin Skin” beauty very commendably captures the sound and feel of a real vintage Stratocaster circa the 1960s––minus the heart-cluching price tag and cosmetic wear & tear of course.

In fact, if you’re already enamored of the ‘62 Strats then keeping an eye out for a thin skin model is pretty much a no-brainer. Many of the classier guitar joints get “Dealer Run” limited editions on a regular basis, and they are often priced competitively with the standard production models that they’re based on.

Two of my favorite retailers are Music Zoo and Music Machine (no affiliation, folks,) but there are any number of others you might want to peruse on a regular basis.

The two big selling points on this particular instrument are, surprise, surprise, the same two things that I had found lacking from Fender’s American Vintage ‘62 Strat reissue (a guitar I really loved nonetheless) ––the “Thin Skin” comes already upgraded with a set of comfy Medium Jumbo 6105 frets (those skinny vintage wires just don’t feel good to my fingers,) and of course the whole thing is decked out in a very thin nitrocellulose finish, causing it to age quickly and beautifully, and sing like nobody’s business.

As I stated in my earlier review, if you’ve ever doubted the tonal effects that a quality nitro finish can have on a guitar, then I dare say you haven’t spent enough quality time with a nitro-finished Strat––let alone a thin skin. There’s a singing richness to the sound that simply can’t be replicated by a poly-coated guitar… at least not to my ears.

And those fatter, taller 6105 fret wires add a bit of extra sustain to an instrument that already seems to wail unendingly. They’re also far more comfortable for those of us who like to bend strings to the moon and back, and feel particularly solid when chunking out big jazz chords and comping up and down the neck.

With these two added features out of the way (oh yes, and a Limited Edition backplate,) the Thin Skin ‘62 Strat stays pretty much true to its Production Run predecessor.

The guitar is loaded with a trio of Fender’s reissue American Vintage ‘62 Strat single-coil pickups, and these things do a very impressive (if noisy) job of re-creating that warm, organic, early ’60s Strat punch. Mid-tones are emphasized, and the traditional Strat “quack” is there in spades. As is to be expected, the bridge pickup is a bit more biting than I personally find useful, but once again: your mileage may vary.

From snarling Hendrix-style chord chaos to gut-aching blues and twang, the Thin Skin ‘62 is both highly versatile and impressively true to that vintage Stratocaster sound––shimmering highs, fat and round lows, and a truly walloping mid-section make for a thick full tone that’s difficult, if not impossible, to adequately explain.

As far as playability is concerned, the Thin Skin ‘62 Strat is everything you could want it to be… provided you like a vintage feeling guitar (like I do!)––the highly curved vintage 7.25“ fretboard radius makes for easy chording and vamping, but if you’re a serious string bender (who isn’t?) you’ll probably need to ride that action fairly high. With that kind of curve in the neck you are bound to fret-out a bit above the 12th fret otherwise.

Of course, this is true-to-form for a vintage Strat, and for folks who like their guitar to fight back a bit it’s no big thing, but if you’re a speed demon who prefers his action low and fast then you’ll probably want to look elsewhere––a vintage-style Strat just isn’t going to float your boat.

Neckwise, the ”Thin Skin“ is armed with what is easily my favorite Fender neck profile: the Vintage ”C“ shape. Now, neck preference is a very personal thing, but time and again I’ve found the vintage ”C“ to be wonderfully contoured for my own playing style, hand size, and finger length… it just feels good in my hands.

Tuners are solid, the six-point vintage tremolo is surprisingly dependable, and even with string trees on the headstock I have found this guitar to have fewer tuning issues than any electric I’ve owned in the last 20 years. For blues it’s a true godsend.

Last but not least, the ”Thin Skin“ ‘62 Stratocaster is about as handsome a guitar as you’re going to find. Beyond its tonal value, the thin Nitrocellulose finish on these beauties is absolutely stunning just on looks alone. Gone is the thick, plastic-like gloss of polyurethane––this bad boy is imbued with a subtle, almost matte-style sheen that wonderfully accentuates the natural wood pattern beneath.

On top of that, a ”mint green“ pickguard matched with aged plastic parts (including switch tip and pickup covers,) makes for a throughly vintage vibe all around. The Deluxe brown Tolex hardshell case brings the package full circle with a funky orange plush interior and old-school Fender good looks.

What I Didn’t Like Surprisingly, my only complaint after many months of constant playing is that the Thin Skin ‘62 Stratocaster, like pretty much all vintage-style Strats, has a propensity to hum and buzz like nobody’s business.

Why a world class guitar behemoth like Fender doesn’t bother to supply better shielding in its instruments is anyone’s guess, but luckily for us, adopting the much less noise-prone wiring of the popular Quieting The Beast modification is fairly straight-forward business… provided you’ve got a few soldering chops and an afternoon you can safely set aside for pulling your guitar apart.

It’s a shame that this fairly basic wiring scheme hasn’t been introduced into any of Fender’s guitars, but I definitely wouldn’t let this one ”true to the time period“ flaw get in the way of purchasing such an otherwise amazing instrument.

Other than a bit of noise I have no reservations about this guitar––it does what it does, exceedingly well, and at a surprisingly decent price point. What’s not to love?

Final Word In the end, the Limited Edition ”Thin Skin“ ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue takes an already great thing (the production model American Vintage ‘62 Strat,) and makes it truly shine––all for a price well below that of very comparable Custom Shop models.

Sure, you could pay a few thousand more for a pre-worn-in Relic, but why bother when you can get a ”Thin Skin“ model that should age quickly and gracefully on its own, and for a surprisingly reasonable price of just less than $1500.

The RGTHRG1 features Giger's "NY City XIX" painting on the Ibanez RG body design popular among heavy metal guitarists.
Features: It was made in 2005 I beilive. It has 24 XJ frets as well as a 5 peice maple/walnut Wizard II neck with a dark "deluxe" sharktooth inlay. It is a neck-thru body, and has one of the most amazing feels and fret access I've ever felt. You can really get on the upper-frets with ease. The body is mahogany shaped into the typical RG design. The finish is a beautiful, eye catching graphic made by H.R. Giger himself, which contains a kind of mechanical/industrial look to it along with it's erie dark green/black colors. The whole guitar, including the finish, is satan. It comes with passive eletronics. Ibanez IFN1 neck and IFN2 bridge dual humbucker setup. The controls are Volume, Tone and a 5-way selector. The tuners are simply Ibanez stock. The bridge is a Ibanez Edge Pro II Double Locking. It came with a neat material Ibanez/Giger poster which actually looks pretty cool. I just wish it came with a case. // 9


Features: It was made in 2005 I beilive. It has 24 XJ frets as well as a 5 peice maple/walnut Wizard II neck with a dark "deluxe" sharktooth inlay. It is a neck-thru body, and has one of the most amazing feels and fret access I've ever felt. You can really get on the upper-frets with ease. The body is mahogany shaped into the typical RG design. The finish is a beautiful, eye catching graphic made by H.R. Giger himself, which contains a kind of mechanical/industrial look to it along with it's erie dark green/black colors. The whole guitar, including the finish, is satan. It comes with passive eletronics. Ibanez IFN1 neck and IFN2 bridge dual humbucker setup. The controls are Volume, Tone and a 5-way selector. The tuners are simply Ibanez stock. The bridge is a Ibanez Edge Pro II Double Locking. It came with a neat material Ibanez/Giger poster which actually looks pretty cool. I just wish it came with a case. // 9
Sound: This guitar is a pretty versitle peice of equipment. My style varies. It suits most all of them including, classical, metal, blues, rock and classic rock. The 5-way and passive makes it kind of easy to pull a more Strat like tone out of it all though never completely authentic. I play this directly into a Peavy Triple XXX Half-stack. When distorted, the noise and feedback tends to be extremely low. It has a nice warm sound but it's hard to get a good solid bite out of it. It plays beautifully for lead yet average when it comes to rhythms. The sustain was one of the best features. It went on for days and made the harmonics sing as well as scream. When clean, the sound is full, warm and clear and brings absolutely no issues. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I had received this guitar well passed its discontiuation date. I was lucky to get my hands on it. The factory set up was decent yet needed adjustments because I use a thicker gauge of strings then the factory set. After those adjustments were complete, The guitar was perfect. Played great, everything was as described, except for me the finish looked better in person. It contained absolutely no flaws other then the neck adjustment. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is very very very durable. It only has 1 small scratch so far with it. It had 1 or 2 hard hits to the back of the neck and the paint on the back came out with no damage what-so-ever. It seems it would be perfect for Live playing and I can't wait to take it on-stage next time I have a gig. The hardware works fine and the locking tuners do keep in tune pretty well. The strap buttons work perfect even though I am going to Switch them to strap locks soon. If I were to play this guitar on stage, I'm pretty sure I would not use this as a backup guitar. The looks and reliability would be a instant yes, to taking it on stage. The finish seems to look thin but it proves durable. For me this is a first but it actually has been extremely durable and still looks new. // 10

Impression: I play in a metal band, and this guitar is almost a perfect match. The only problem was it's distorted rhythm tone didn't have enough bite. One thing that might be a problem for some people is the fret dots on the side of the fretboard are slightly hard to see. I've been playing for over 3 years now, I also own a Dean Razorback, ESP LTD EC-1000, and a Peavy Triple XXX halfstack. Suprisingly it beats my razorback and almost my LTD. If this were lost or stolen I would hunt the person Who stole it down because this was too hard to get ahold of in it's discontinued state, and it's never gonna get lost, that's a promise. I would glady go on ebay and pay well more to purchase it again though. I love its feel and upper-fret access, as well as its screaming lead. I hate the 5-way switching and it's average rhythm tone. My favorite thing about it is definately the feel of the neck. I picked this over a Jackson RR3 and another Ibanez RG. This was completely superior. Not only that, I'm a huge fan of H.R. Giger's artwork. The only thing I wish was different about it is the passive system. The passive system on this wasent that well with the rhythms. I wish for it to be active, along with 3-way instead of 5-way. Other then that, it's great. Giger's artwork with a awesome RG model, this is a must for a lot of lead players or Giger fans. The price is very reasonable too. I just wish you good luck getting this discontinued model though. You'll probably only find it on ebay now.

The beautifully designed Motorola Cliq is a social butterfly’s dream phone, but others may find the MotoBlur user interface overwhelming.

The Motorola Cliq ($200 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile) caught my attention because of its sleek design and its innovative MotoBlur overlay for Android. Overall, the new features lived up to my expectations, and I applaud Motorola for doing something different to separate itself from the Android pack. The Cliq isn't perfect, however: Its camera disappoints, and it doesn't ship with the latest version of Android.

The beautifully designed Motorola Cliq is a social butterfly’s dream phone, but others may find the MotoBlur user interface overwhelming.

The Motorola Cliq ($200 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile) caught my attention because of its sleek design and its innovative MotoBlur overlay for Android. Overall, the new features lived up to my expectations, and I applaud Motorola for doing something different to separate itself from the Android pack. The Cliq isn't perfect, however: Its camera disappoints, and it doesn't ship with the latest version of Android.
Like the T-Mobile G1 and the Samsung Moment, the Motorola Cliq has both a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard. I haven't spent enough time with the Samsung Moment to compare it and the Cliq in depth, but I can safely say that I much prefer the Cliq to the G1. It feels sturdier, more streamlined, and more comfortable during use.

Measuring 4.5 inches long by 2.3 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick, the Cliq falls somewhere between the G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G (T-Mobile's other Android offering) in size. Weighing 5.7 ounces, it is slightly heavier than other current smartphones--the iPhone 3GS, for example--but it doesn't feel bulky. The Cliq feels as though it has a high build quality, thanks in part to the glass display and metal trim around the handset. I'll take heavier materials over cheap-feeling plastic any day.

The 320-by-480-pixel capacitive touch display dominates the phone's face. Though a 3.1-inch screen is large enough to support watching a video or navigating around the interface comfortably, Motorola didn't use the available real estate very efficiently. The Cliq sets a noticeable amount of space aside to accommodate logos; I wish that Motorola had made this area smaller and the screen larger.

Three hardware buttons appear beneath the display: Menu, Home, and Back. These buttons are nicely raised, easy to press, and brightly backlit. A volume rocker, a charging port, and a ringer switch lie on the left spine of the phone; and the lock/power button and camera shutter occupy the right. The 3.5mm headphone jack sits at the top of the phone.

A physical keyboard is necessary because the native touch keyboard on the current version of Android is far from perfect (as we noted in our reviews of the T-Mobile MyTouch and the HTC Hero). I appreciated the raised, dome-shaped keys, but I didn't like their mushy feel in comparison to the responsive clickiness that other QWERTY keyboards (such as the BlackBerry Tour's) possess. I suspect that I'll get used to the keys with more use, however. The keyboard is spacious, and I liked how large and easy-to-find the Alt, Search, Space, Sym, and Undo keys were (they're a different color than the other keys). A four-way directional pad sits to the left of the keyboard and serves as a handy navigation control if you don't feel like using the touchscreen.

Call quality over T-Mobile's network was very good. I made a few calls on a busy street corner and could hear my contacts perfectly. Motorola says that the phone incorporates two microphones as well as noise-cancellation technology. Callers on the other end of the line told me that my voice sounded very clear, although one noted a faint hiss during our call.

The Motorola Cliq is the first phone to showcase MotoBlur, Motorola's skin for Android. Before we delve into Android, however, I should note that the Cliq doesn't ship with the latest version of Android OS 1.6 (more deliciously known as Donut). T-Mobile says that it won't announce any plans for 1.6 at launch, but the company did mention the ease of making over-the-air upgrades via MotoBlur, so perhaps you can expect one later in the year.

When you start up your Cliq for the first time, you have to register for a MotoBlur account. This establishes a registration record of your phone on the MotoBlur servers so you can receive updated information without interruption. You then choose which social networks or accounts--such as such as Facebook, Last.fm, MySpace, and Twitter--you want to associate on your Cliq. MotoBlur then aggregates all of the information from your networks and delivers it to the phone.

The best example of how MotoBlur organizes this information is your contacts. The application collects all of the contacts from your various social networks. If you're friends with the same people on multiple networks, MotoBlur condenses all of their information into a single listing to avoid duplicating data on your phone. You can then see each of your contacts' current information--birthday, status update, current profile picture, e-mail address, phone number, and the like. You can view your communication history with a particular contact as well as viewing that person's activity on different social networks.

When your friends update their information in one of the supported social networks, MotoBlur will update their listing on your phone. To see how quickly the updating would occur, I used my PC to change my picture on Facebook via the Web. My picture updated in my contact info on the Cliq in less than 30 minutes.

Android is easy enough to get the hang of, but it lacks the aesthetic appeal and intuitiveness of some other OSs. This is where MotoBlur comes in: MotoBlur uses Android's live widget capabilities to bring all of your messaging and social networking activity to the phone's homescreen.

At first glance, MotoBlur is a bit overwhelming: Text, talk bubbles, and images fly out at you in every direction. And the text and icons don't pop out as much as the ones on iPhone OS or the Palm Pre do. Fortunately, you have five homescreens to fill with the widgets and applications of your choice, which helps reduce the clutter (a small indicator at the top of each page tells you which page you're on--much as on the iPhone. In addition to the standard Android widgets (Music, Clock, Calendar, and Search, to name a few), you'll see four MotoBlur widgets: Messages, Status, Happenings, and Weather.

As its name implies, Messages delivers your most recent unread texts, social network messages, and e-mail messages to the homescreen in a speech bubble. The sender is identified at top of the message in bold, so you can easily tell whether the message is important or just spam. A snippet of the e-mail appears, but when you tap on it, you jump the full message, at which point you can reply or delete it. You can also view all of your messages in a universal inbox similar to Palm's WebOS--or you can view your messages by account, if you prefer.

MotoBlur's Happenings widget gives you instant access to your social networks from the homescreen. Facebook, Gmail, Last.fm, MySpace, Twitter, Yahoo, and other social networks are constantly connected and continually updated on the app. Honestly, I found Happenings a bit annoying. Do I really want some random former classmate's status popping up on my phone?

Status is fairly self-explanatory, too: You can use it to update your status to one or all of your social networks from your phone. This feature is pretty convenient because you don't actually have to open the application to enter a status update; instead, you can do it from the homescreen.

MotoBlur's best feature may be its ability to track your lost or stolen phone via GPS and remotely wipe it. And since all of your data is stored in the MotoBlur cloud, you won't have to reload everything into your new phone.

The Web browser loaded pages quickly; but the Cliq doesn't support Flash, so certain videos and pages won't load. Though Flash 10 for Android is coming soon,you'll just have to hold out until it is available. The browser itself is reasonably easy to use: You can open multiple windows, bookmark pages, and search for words on a page.

Holding down the dedicated shutter button launches the camera application. My outdoor pictures looked great, with bright, accurate colors and sharp details. Snapshots taken in dimly lit indoor settings didn't fare as well, however. Some test images had yellow or blue color casts and looked grainy. One shot of an acoustic guitar had a noticeable amount of noise in the lines of the wood. In addition, the shutter speed is disappointingly slow, and you can't adjust it, so you'd better make sure that your subject stays put for a good 3 seconds to ensure a decent shot.

The Android music player is straightforward and easy to navigate. You can download DRM-free tracks from the Amazon MP3 store, which is a nice alternative to iTunes. Music playback sounded good (though slightly tinny) through the included earbuds. Video playback looked great on the Cliq's 3.1-inch display--but again, I wish that the display were a little bigger.

For hardcore social networkers, the Motorola Cliq is a dream phone. You get fast access to all of your accounts and a well-designed QWERTY keyboard for typing long messages. If you aren't into social networking or if you want to keep that information limited to your computer, you may be turned off by the Cliq. The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G might be a better Android option, or you could choose one of the many BlackBerry models on T-Mobile.
pcworld.com

The BlackBerry Storm 2 phone is an overall improvement from its predecessor, but SureType still feels a bit unintuitive.

When the BlackBerry Storm debuted last fall, RIM's first touchscreen device received not-so-stellar reviews. RIM took reviewers' and customers' gripes into consideration, however, when designing the BlackBerry Storm 2 ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/14/09). The result? This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year--the device's build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation. Even so, pressing to type still takes some getting used to.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 phone is an overall improvement from its predecessor, but SureType still feels a bit unintuitive.

When the BlackBerry Storm debuted last fall, RIM's first touchscreen device received not-so-stellar reviews. RIM took reviewers' and customers' gripes into consideration, however, when designing the BlackBerry Storm 2 ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/14/09). The result? This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year--the device's build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation. Even so, pressing to type still takes some getting used to.
In measurements and display size, the Storm 2 is identical to its predecessor. It weighs just slightly more (0.1 ounce more, to be exact) than the original Storm. If you put the two handsets side by side, however, the older Storm looks clunkier. All of the buttons on the Storm 2 are more recessed, making for a more streamlined design. Hardware buttons no longer run below the display; instead, the new handset offers touch-sensitive buttons there. And unlike with the first model, on this version you won't see a crack between where the display ends and the keys start--this alone puts the Storm 2 eons beyond the Storm in design aesthetics.

The absence of that (somewhat disturbing) crack is due to the new SurePress technology, which is now electronic rather than mechanical. You still have to push down to type or select an application, but the unit no longer feels wobbly or clumsy to press. As my colleague Yardena Arar noted in last year's review of the Storm, the mechanical SurePress interface was often inaccurate: You'd press one application, and another would activate.

Without getting too technical, the difference in the two generations lies underneath the display. The original Storm was essentially one big suspended button mounted below the screen's center point. Below the Storm 2's hood, in contrast, four activators sense when you're pressing on the screen. This design allows for a more stable navigating experience.

I had a much easier time typing on the Storm 2's keyboard than on the original's, but I still can't get accustomed to pushing down on a display to type. I know that it is supposed to feel more natural than a typical touch keyboard, but I think I prefer the physical BlackBerry keyboards. I do like how you can hold down the Shift key and a letter to capitalize it, as you would on a physical keyboard. A colleague with larger hands had more difficulty typing on it than I did, however.

One interesting thing to note: RIM studied the way people typed on touch keyboards, and found that, while typing quickly, they often briefly held down two keys at once. The Storm 2's keyboard mimics that by having both keys respond when you press them, thus making typing faster. And of course, the keyboard has RIM's excellent SureType predictive-text entry, which facilitates speedy typing.

The new Storm also has inertial scrolling, which means that you can move through your contacts or media library quickly with a flick of your finger. It isn't as speedy as the iPhone's scrolling, but it is a big improvement from that of the older Storm, which barely budged when you flicked to scroll. There were times when I had to flick multiple times to get the phone to respond, however. The cut/copy/paste functions are also easier to use, since the "handles" you grab to select text are bigger.

While the Storm 2 retains the original's 480-by-360-pixel display resolution, the user interface looks a lot brighter and sharper. This is due to the BlackBerry OS 5.0 software, which has sharper icons, brighter colors, and blacker blacks than does BlackBerry OS 4.7 (which shipped on the original Storm). The interface is clean and simple to navigate, thanks to the easy-to-identify icons.

Call quality over Verizon's 3G network was very good, with no background static or hiss. Voices were loud enough for me to hear easily, and they sounded natural. Parties on the other end of the line could hear my voice clearly while I was standing on a busy street corner.

Like all BlackBerry products, the Storm 2 has excellent messaging and e-mail capabilities. You get BlackBerry Enterprise Server support for your work e-mail, and you can load up to ten work or personal POP3 or IMAP accounts. The Storm 2 doesn't come loaded with the new BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, but you should definitely download it from BlackBerry App World. Trust me, you'll never go back to the old Messenger: Version 5 sports a spruced-up interface that's easier to use, it offers more emoticons to choose from, and it has the ability to display your location via GPS.

Pages loaded quickly over Verizon's 3G network, and even faster over Wi-Fi. Yes, the Storm 2 has Wi-Fi, and that alone makes the revised handset a big step up from the original Storm. RIM says to expect all of its future CDMA handsets to ship with Wi-Fi connectivity, so kudos to the company for finally getting past that roadblock. The browser will default to a mobile page when one is available, but it also loads full sites without any issues. Of course, the BlackBerry platform doesn't yet support Flash, so Flash-heavy sites won't load.

The music player displays album art and has easy-to-access touch controls. Audio quality sounded a bit hollow piped through the bundled headset and on my own higher-quality earbuds. Video playback was very smooth throughout most clips; I noticed only a bit of stuttering in fast-action scenes.

Overall, I was impressed with the Storm's 3.2-megapixel camera. Snapshots taken both indoors and outdoors looked better than pictures taken with the iPhone 3GS. Colors were a bit washed out and even more so when the flash was on, but details were sharp and I didn't detect any noise or graininess.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 is definitely an upgrade from the first Storm in design and usability. And while the keyboard handles better, I still can't really get the hang of it. Before you decide to purchase the Storm 2, try it out extensively in a Verizon store. If you discover that it isn't for you, consider getting a phone with both a touchscreen and a keyboard, like the LG enV Touch or the HTC Touch Pro 2. With one of those models, you get the best of both input technologies rather than something in between.
pcworld.com

This third-generation TouchSmart PC is boosted by Windows 7's gesture support, but HP's custom multitouch software is even more impressive.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has built support for multitouch gestures directly into the operating system. And though using your fingers to tap, flick, and pinch your way around probably won't replace the humble mouse anytime soon, HP has almost three years of experience in producing multitouch-capable all-in-one PCs. It shows.

This third-generation TouchSmart PC is boosted by Windows 7's gesture support, but HP's custom multitouch software is even more impressive.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has built support for multitouch gestures directly into the operating system. And though using your fingers to tap, flick, and pinch your way around probably won't replace the humble mouse anytime soon, HP has almost three years of experience in producing multitouch-capable all-in-one PCs. It shows.
Aesthetically, the new TouchSmart 600 retains the familiar and elegant TouchSmart design, including ambient lighting that casts a soothing colored glow. Its 23-inch display puts it between HP's existing 22-inch TouchSmart IQ500t and 25.5-inch TouchSmart IQ816 in terms of size. Like the latter, the TouchSmart 600 supports a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p)--perfect for watching high-definition movies and TV via its built-in Blu-ray slot drive and HDTV tuner. You can also stream shows wirelessly over 802.11n, and suck in photos with the integrated multicard reader. A remote control is included, as well.

But as with the earlier models, on the TouchSmart 600 it's HP's custom software that really shines. Version 3.0 is a significant upgrade, offering touch-friendly versions of Hulu, Netflix, Twitter, and other applications that have oversize buttons and that understand gestures such as swiping and pinching. The Collage app lets you use two hands to shuffle, resize, and rotate photos, in a way that's reminiscent of Microsoft's high-end Surface table PC. And the HP apps now multitask, letting you hop back and forth by sliding them around with a fingertip. The interface is responsive, and is the benchmark for upcoming Windows 7 all-in-one PCs from Acer, Asus, Dell, Gateway, and MSI.

As touch remains best for casual interaction with the PC in a family room or kitchen, HP also throws in a wireless mouse, plus a low-profile wireless keyboard that you can tuck beneath the case when you're not using it.

Our $1600 test configuration included Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor, 4GB of DDR-1333 memory, a 750GB hard drive, and 1GB nVidia GeForce GT230M graphics. Those components helped the TouchSmart 600 achieve a WorldBench 6 score of 92, which is right in the middle of our top-performing all-in-one PCs. It's pretty much equal in performance with the Core 2 Duo T8100-equipped TouchSmart IQ816 (81) and the Lenovo IdeaCenter A600 (87). (When it comes to all-in-one speed, nothing we've tested so far has matched the 24-inch Apple iMac's WorldBench score of 111.) As for gaming, however, the TouchSmart 600 simply can't match those all-in-one PCs; it struggled to break a playable 30 frames per second at 1680 by 1050 resolution, in either Enemy Territory: Quake Wars or Unreal Tournament.

Even with Windows 7, touch remains an entertaining luxury rather than a killer feature; and if you can do without it, you can get a machine for a lot less cash with features and specs that are otherwise comparable. But if you're ready to reach out and touch Windows, the TouchSmart 600 lets you do it in a way that's both fun and effective.

If money is no object and mobile gaming is your goal, the Core i7-fueled M15x strikes a reasonable balance between size and speed.

To fans of high-end hardware who want to be a little more mobile: Check out the new Alienware M15x. Take Alienware's M17x, shrink it down to the all-purpose size bracket (our test unit had a 15.6-inch screen), and pop in a Core i7 CPU. If you don't need to read any further, that's about as reductive as it gets. While a baseline machine starts at $1499, the real power doesn't exactly come cheap (our review unit, as configured, sells for about $2999). But how does the M15x fare versus its bigger brother? Surprisingly well.

If money is no object and mobile gaming is your goal, the Core i7-fueled M15x strikes a reasonable balance between size and speed.

To fans of high-end hardware who want to be a little more mobile: Check out the new Alienware M15x. Take Alienware's M17x, shrink it down to the all-purpose size bracket (our test unit had a 15.6-inch screen), and pop in a Core i7 CPU. If you don't need to read any further, that's about as reductive as it gets. While a baseline machine starts at $1499, the real power doesn't exactly come cheap (our review unit, as configured, sells for about $2999). But how does the M15x fare versus its bigger brother? Surprisingly well.
Jumping right to the performance, let's take a peek at some of the hard numbers. In WorldBench 6 tests, the M15x scored a 121 thanks to the Core i7-920XM processor, 4GB of RAM, and the 7200-rpm, 250GB hard drive. That's in the same range as the M17x and catapults it to the top of the all-purpose notebook pack. In fact, that puts it right in spitting distance of Eurocomm's near-$6000 monster machine that packed a Xeon processor on the desktop replacement chart. And as any self-respecting gaming rig would, the M15x also packs a decent discrete GPU--a 1GB nVidia GeForce GTX 260M. Under our stress tests, this GPU held up quite well.

At 1680-by-1050-pixel resolution with all the settings cranked (and 4X antialiasing) the M15x knocked out 69 frames per second in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and 89 frames per second in Unreal Tournament 3. That is nothing to sneeze at. By the way, for a little comparison, the M17x knocked out 65 and 84 frames per second in the same tests. So, technically, the little brother is more spry. Opting to throw a couple more curveballs, I loaded up Left 4 Dead, jacking up the settings to the machine's native resolution (1920 by 1080) and 4X antialiasing. I even fired up Crysis Warhead (with AA turned off). Both games looked great and ran reasonably smoothly. After that, I kicked on the Resident Evil 5 benchmark, and it shot out a respectable 40 frames per second. In short, it works as advertised. Bear in mind that it did all this running Windows Vista Home Premium Edition. With Windows 7 on board (a free upgrade coupon comes in the box), it'll probably run a hair snappier in these same tests.

Of course, a downside to all this power is that this high-performance rig can barely muster 2 hours of battery life. So you wind up with an all-purpose PC that lasts a little less than half the average run time. Keep the power supply handy and be somewhere near an outlet next time you want to play World of Warcraft.

Moving back to the outside of the hood, let's take a look at that 15.6-inch screen. It actually has good color reproduction with the brightness kicked up all the way. And, in games such as Left 4 Dead, the dark moody corridors don't get blasted out with ridiculous gamma settings. But as I just said, I needed to jack up the brightness to really get the best picture in mixed light settings. You plan to use the M15x in a cave? No worries, set it lower. And, it goes without saying that it was more than capable of outputting good quality video--at least as good video as the DVD-ROM drive could provide. While you can upgrade to a a BD-ROM drive, that wasn't on board here. But with the 1080p video we installed on the 250GB hard drive, a sample clip of a space shuttle looked crisp, with yellow-ish gray smoke plumes erupting in front of the early morning sky at the launch site.

One thing is for sure, this is nothing like the last-gen version of the M15x. That creaky box felt like it was held together with duct tape and true grit. The new M15x, by comparison, is a fairly solid, seamless chassis. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find many screws (they hide behind the battery for access to upgradable components).

And the keyboard? It certainly felt good enough as my fingers danced over the keys. Actually, maybe I should say that my fingers moved over the dance floor because you can change the color schemes on running lights around the machine. But I digress. Though the touchpad is a little on the small side for my tastes, it's textured and easy enough to use. The buttons also have a good amount of give as they jutted above the large wrist rest. Still, the buttons could stand to be a hair bigger. Truth be told, though, if you're setting up shop with this machine somewhere, you're probably going to opt for an external mouse, anyhow.

Crammed around the sides are a four-pin FireWire port, two USB plugs, one eSATA/USB combo port, an ExpressCard slot, and an eight-in-one Media Card reader. The M15x also makes room for DisplayPort and VGA video-outs. A couple of audio-out jacks for external surround sound provides a pretty strong indication that you won't be tempted to stick with the two built-in front-firing speakers--though the attempt at virtual sound works decently. 802.11n and Bluetooth wireless support complement the gigabit ethernet jack.

Coming in, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Alienware M15x this time around. But, thanks to the new guts and scaling down most of the M17x's designs, this machine is making me a believer. That said, this laptop certainly doesn't come cheap or last long on a single charge; and while this "all-purpose"-size rig may fit in your bag, it also may just tear a hole in the bottom. But it delivers on exactly what you'd expect: high-end gaming performance.

--Darren Gladstone
pcworld.com

We're still testing it, but so far the first Ion netbook delivers on its promise: The first affordable netbook that can support games and HD video has arrived.

Commuting to work this morning, I was playing Left 4 Dead on HP's Mini 311-1000NR--that's right, on a netbook. Few netbooks are up to that task, and HP is first to market with an nVidia Ion-based portable. The 3.22-pound, 11.4-by-8.0-by-1.2-inch Mini 311-1000NR has a reasonable amount of power and a $399 asking price. (Our review unit, as configured, sells for $450 as of October 5, 2009.)

We're still testing it, but so far the first Ion netbook delivers on its promise: The first affordable netbook that can support games and HD video has arrived.

Commuting to work this morning, I was playing Left 4 Dead on HP's Mini 311-1000NR--that's right, on a netbook. Few netbooks are up to that task, and HP is first to market with an nVidia Ion-based portable. The 3.22-pound, 11.4-by-8.0-by-1.2-inch Mini 311-1000NR has a reasonable amount of power and a $399 asking price. (Our review unit, as configured, sells for $450 as of October 5, 2009.)
What's Ion? If you've somehow missed the reams of stories I've already written about the Ion platform, here's the executive summary: For netbooks or nettops, it marries an Intel Atom CPU (in this case, the 1.66GHz N280) to an nVidia Ion LE GPU, yielding more-powerful, affordable machines that can output high-def video and even allow you to play some games.

Also fueling this machine are 1GB of RAM and a 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive--standard-issue netbook guts. Unfortunately, we don't yet know exactly how much additional juice the Mini 311-1000NR delivers--we're conducting our WorldBench 6 lab tests as I write this--but we do have some preliminary results.

I'm looking forward to the final results to see how an Ion netbook will fare against AMD's tweener-class Neo CPU, which came on board the category-defying HP Pavilion dv2 (a model that earned a score of 45 on WorldBench 6). And now the HP Pavilion dm3, due to replace the dv2, is just around the corner. HP spokespeople say that they expect the Mini 311-1000NR to deliver roughly 5 hours of battery life; we'll see.

Gaming on a netbook is one of the big bullet-point promises of the Ion platform--but don't expect to run Crysis Warhead. I tried: After a lengthy load time, it was a start-and-stop experience at 800 by 600 pixels with everything but the monitor turned off. Though I can say that I "played" the game, but it isn't exactly "playable." I had much better luck with Left 4 Dead and with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. At the same resolution--with visual effects switched to low setting--both were slightly jerky (frame rates bounced along in the high 20s and low 30s), but definitely playable. For laughs, I tried running the ridiculous Resident Evil 5 Benchmark that challenged the Core i7; at 1280 by 720 pixels, the Mini 311-1000NR managed 7.7 frames per second. (A $4000 desktop replacement laptop gets ten times that performance--not a huge surprise there.)

Like the Acer Aspire One 751h, the Mini 311-1000NR has a relatively large 11.6-inch screen as netbooks go. The LED BrightView display, at 1366 by 768 pixels (with a 16:9 aspect ratio), looks fairly sharp despite some glare problems when used outdoors in direct sunlight. Once I settled into a shady spot, though, I threw all sorts of test 720p content at the netbook, and it ran clean, with maybe one stutter-step moment out of all the video I installed on the machine's hard drive. The Mini 311-1000NR runs Hulu at full-screen as well. Just don't hold your breath for HD streaming video (unless maybe you can wait a little longer for a Flash update to support GPU acceleration). A quick launcher from the tool tray provides access to a number of video-calibrating options--from color and brightness to bit-depth and resolution--with minimal on-screen digging.

HP's take on the platform is fairly stylish--no surprise considering that the Mini (and the Pavilion, for that matter) sports curved lines and interesting patterns on a glossy finish. In this case, the Mini 311-1000NR comes with a white or black swirled lid that'll hypnotize you.

The keyboard reminds me of the dv2's, just shrunken down a little bit. HP spokespeople say that the Mini 311-1000NR's keyboard is 92 percent of full size. I've seen the dips in the buttons termed "scalloped keys," and the little lips do make them a bit easier to type on. Still, if HP had let the keys spread closer to the sides of the machine, the company might have been able to enlarge the buttons to 93 or even 94 percent of full size. And I wouldn't have complained.

The touchpad and button placement along the bottom of the netbook toes the line--and it's a world better than on previous Mini models, which stupidly dropped the left and right buttons in flanking positions on either side of the touch area. The left and right buttons on the Mini 311-1000NR feel firm though a little plasticky. One thing that I did miss was the little kill switch for turning off the touchpad. In its absence, I often found myself accidentally grazing the touchpad or buttons and inadvertently moving my cursor.

The I/O ports lining the box are in line with what you'd expect on a netbooks: three USB ports, a 10/100 ethernet jack, VGA out, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and a Webcam. Upgrade options include 802.11n, Bluetooth, and 3G WWAN broadband.

Among the minor tweaks that I approve of are a headphone out/microphone combo jack (compatible with the four-conductor headsets used in some cell phones), HDMI-out (taking advantage of the GPU, obviously), and a five-in-one flash card reader that can handle SD/MMC, Memory Stick/Pro and XD picture cards (most netbooks handle only SD/MMC cards).

So at this point I see a fairly good deal jammed into a machine that actually looks like a fairly good deal. Meanwhile, where is the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with the Ion under the hood? Lenovo was the first company to announce support for the chipset, but we're still waiting on its first product.

Remember to revisit this review soon for an update that will include a full score and proper test results. For those that simply can't wait, I'll say this: If you've resisted the urge to buy a netbook until something with a little more oomph came along, this could be your machine.
pcworld.com

Ease of Use: This thing is awesome. I have been playing for about nine months now, both various kinds of metal and some '60s "new ageish" folk/metal (thats right, combined) stuff and this thing can do it all and then more. It can play any style you want, metal, country, folk, punl, classic rock, or anything you can think up of on your own. It has everything you would ever need, distortion, chorus, reverb, delay, phaser, flanger, wah, tremelo, vibrato, it just goes on and on. It also has a freakin' sweet system where you can model amps, like a driven stack or oldschool blues tube amp. The version I bought didn't come with an owners manual, which is crappy due the bigillion functions this thing has. So I fixed that by downloading the manual off the internet at www.Boss.com and did a search for the owners manual, and got it right then and there. Now I don't know if that was just me, but I wrote that down just in case. Also I sould note that thy discontinued the GT6 and came out with the GT8 for $399 or $499, not really sure, but would try to get my hands on this bad boy before it goes away. // 8
Sound: Right now I am playing an Ibanez RG 321, which was great for its price, and a 15 watt Crate, but I plan to get a Fender FM212 100 watt soon, just need the money. It can have some unwanted feedback when you combine too many of the electronic features, or push teh volume too much directly on the system, but thats what the master volume knob is for on the amp. But if you don't get effects happy or push the system too hard, it sounds pretty good. But I can still get a hell of alot better distortion out of my Line 6 UberMetal petal, but that thing is top of the line hardcore. Other than that, the sound of the effects are pretty good. Also, it has a MIDI hook-up, and if you have a MIDI bank on your computer, you can get some crazy sounds like a piano or a squeeling pig if you have it. And if you don't its easy to get from a google search. // 7

Reliability & Durability: I have not found anything wrong with it, and it is made out of mostly metal, with rugged pedals and knobs. I have droped it once on soncrete for arms length, and survived just fine. I haven't done a show with it due to the absence of being in a full fleged band, but it is defiently up to the task, without a backup, to due any show you throw at it. // 7

Impression: I play hippie/metal, but it would suit any guitar player out there, and does just fine from my crazy styles I randomly come up with like a flanged acoustic (very space rock) or a simple classic Overdrive with a fast slicer. I really hoped it came with an accutual owners manual, because the computer version is hard to follow and read. I love all the functions, but I don't like the distortion feature, I think that they could have doen better. I would bust a cap if it got stolen, and would try to replace it any way possible, but it is expensive (for good reason)

Deep Purple has a new live album in the works called "Space Truckin' Round the World Live 68-76". According to Classic Rock magazine, the two-disc set — due out next month — will feature rare live recordings from various concerts all over the world, including gigs in Tokyo, Paris and San Diego. The compilation, which features multiple band line-ups, will also feature a detailed history of the group, individual concert details and photos. It's being released as part of the 10th anniversary of Purple Records — the label that handles the band's music.

Deep Purple has a new live album in the works called "Space Truckin' Round the World Live 68-76". According to Classic Rock magazine, the two-disc set — due out next month — will feature rare live recordings from various concerts all over the world, including gigs in Tokyo, Paris and San Diego. The compilation, which features multiple band line-ups, will also feature a detailed history of the group, individual concert details and photos. It's being released as part of the 10th anniversary of Purple Records — the label that handles the band's music.
The track listing is as follows:

CD 1:

01. "Hush" (Inglewood 1968)
02. "River Deep Mountain High" (Inglewood 1968)
03. "Hey Joe" (Inglewood 1968)
04. "Wring That Neck" (Aachen 1970)
05. "Into The Fire" (Stockholm 1970)
06. "Mandrake Root" (Montreux 1969)

CD 2:

01. "Child In Time" (Granada TV 1970)
02. "Lazy" (Denmark 1972)
03. "Strange Kind Of Woman" (Denmark 1972)
04. "Burn" (San Diego 1974)
05. "Mistreated" (San Diego 1974)
06. "The Gypsy" (Paris 1975)
07. "Lady Double Dealer" (Paris 1975)
08. "Wild Dogs" (Tokyo 1975)
09. "Love Child" (Tokyo 1975)

Deep Purple will be Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson's guests on Friday, October 9 during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio program, dubbed "The Bruce Dickinson Friday Rock Show". Listen to the broadcast live via the Internet between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. (midnight) U.K. time at BBC.co.uk.

Deep Purple's 18th studio album, "Rapture Of The Deep", was released in November 2005. It is the fourth studio CD from Deep Purple since guitarist Steve Morse joined the band in 1994. It was also the second album to feature veteran keyboardist Don Airey.

"Rapture Of The Deep" was produced by Mike Bradford, who also worked on the band's previous release, 2003's "Bananas".

Deep Purple has dates lined up in November in the U.K.
www.ultimate-guitar.com

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry, and one of the most important and influential musicians of his era across a range of genres. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. Hendrix was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry, and one of the most important and influential musicians of his era across a range of genres. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. Hendrix was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."
Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix's music may have been influenced by his partly Native American heritage.[14] As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003. He was also the first person inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame.
wikipedia.org

We're still waiting on final test results, but Dell has created a future-forward bit of tech that's good for the status-seeking businessman. Everyone else: Look on from afar.

You read car magazines for reviews of wheels you want to buy--and of the odd machine that you'd never be able to afford in a million years but can admire from afar. That's the Dell Latitude Z600 ultraslim laptop. Wait--a "sexy" Dell Latitude? It's hardly practical--or economical--but if you're into forward-thinking tech, this portable that starts at around $2000-plus is worth a good longing look. (Our review unit, as configured, sells for a mere $4323 with its wireless charger and base station).

We're still waiting on final test results, but Dell has created a future-forward bit of tech that's good for the status-seeking businessman. Everyone else: Look on from afar.

You read car magazines for reviews of wheels you want to buy--and of the odd machine that you'd never be able to afford in a million years but can admire from afar. That's the Dell Latitude Z600 ultraslim laptop. Wait--a "sexy" Dell Latitude? It's hardly practical--or economical--but if you're into forward-thinking tech, this portable that starts at around $2000-plus is worth a good longing look. (Our review unit, as configured, sells for a mere $4323 with its wireless charger and base station).
First observation: The Z600 is wide and way thin. We're talking a laptop with a 16-inch screen and only 0.57 inch thick (and weighs about 4.5 pounds with the standard 4-cell battery). It defies logic creating a machine this big, yet thinner than many ultraportables. You'll want to take it everywhere and show it off, but since it has a 16-inch screen, you'll have a tougher time finding a bag it will fit in. (For what it's worth, Sony's recently unveiled VAIO X Series ultraportables are a whole 0.02 inch thinner.) But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Grab the Z600, and you'll feel a supple, almost rubbery, black-cherry coating reminiscent of what Lenovo does on some ThinkPads. Open her up, and you're greeted by a 1600-by-900-pixel panel. Along the right side, Dell's TouchEdge LCD sensor technology replaces the need to clutter the machine with many shortcuts (you'll find volume controls parked above the keyboard, plus an instant-on shortcut button--more on the latter in a minute). Just tap an indent near the bottom of the panel, and it pulls up an overlay of application shortcuts. Tap the frame, and it launches whatever program you configure. It works really well.

And the screen's colors are crisp enough with still images. The backlit WLED panel does a great job reproducing the gamut of rich, dark tones like the ocean as well as those of bright, vibrant jungle scenes (think of the sample images in your computer's Pictures folder), and it keeps looking sharp whether indoors or out. Glare is minimal. And 720p video installed on one 128GB solid-state drive (our machine came configured with two SSDs) runs smoothly--a small triumph for the integrated Intel 4500MHD GPU, no doubt.

Under the hood of this test rig: A 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU9600 CPU and 4GB of RAM. Aside from the two aforementioned hard drives, these are the kind of guts you'll find in something like an Acer Timeline. Now, as much as I'd like to spit out performance numbers, you should keep two caveats in mind. First, this machine hasn't run through the vaunted WorldBench 6 testbed just yet--I had to steal the Z600 away just to give you this deep-dive hands-on. Second, our machine came loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate. Safe bet is that the computer you'd consider buying--assuming you have tons of cash--will come loaded with some flavor of Windows 7. Similarly, it's a little early to provide battery-life test results.

Want to get a little more life out of the machine--or not go into Windows proper? Try Latitude ON, a quick-firing OS that boots in 4 seconds. Not bad considering it runs off a separate ARM CPU, 512MB of RAM, and Linux. Log in and use a 3G WWAN (wireless wide-area networking) connection for easy access to e-mail, contacts, and calendar info synced with your Exchange server or over POP. Through it, you can view MS Office documents and PDF files. It's obviously geared for the mobile businessman on the go. And you can also hit the Web.

Just don't expect miracles. It won't sync with Outlook in Windows. And if you're trying to hot-swap between Windows and Latitude ON, you'll encounter some idle time between powering down one OS and starting the other. (Spokespeople say that the ARM processor won't cut deeply into battery life; we'll keep you posted on what we find). Neat as all this may be, we've seen variants of a Linux quick-boot option in laptops from HP and Asus as well.

Dell also pops in a couple of proprietary apps you might actually use. The optional 2-megapixel camera works with the fairly impressive Dell Capture software to scan business cards; as long as you hold up a "normal" card, the app will read all the info and plug it into your contact manager. The software also scans documents directly into PDF format. You also have options for biometric lockouts, either via the FaceAware app that uses the Webcam or the fingerprint scanner that sits next to the keyboard.

Speaking of the keyboard, it feels, like the rubbery finish around the machine, soft to the touch, and the cut-out keys seem suitably springy and responsive. While it looks all lovely and well-framed floating in the middle of the computer, I can't help wondering if this is the one area where form trumped function for the worse. I would've loved to see a little more room to make the keys a hair larger. And the top-row keys--from the "Esc" and function buttons to "Delete" at the end--seem disproportionately (and unnecessarily) small. You know what isn't small? The multitouch mousing area and good-sized buttons.

Also a little out-of-the-ordinary and one of this laptop's bigger selling points is the wireless laptop charging base station. This $250 add-on powers up the Z600 through a panel similar to how the induction coil works in the Palm Pre's Touchstone charger. The laptop charges just as fast as if you plugged it directly into the power brick. And despite some bloggers crying about how big the charging station is, I can honestly say, after testing it, that it's no larger than other elevated docking stations I've seen. It just does its job in high-tech style. What I really want, though, is a smaller, smarter charging pad that can feed the correct voltages to different devices. Hey, I'm allowed to dream.

The other (but slightly less sexy) wireless option is a docking station. No dongles required, it works out the box with your Z600. It houses four USB 2.0 ports, along with DVI-out video, headphone, and mic outputs. Another excessive accessory that came with the Z600: The slickly matching 4X external BD-ROM drive that drives up the price further. But if you're buying this machine, you aren't what I'd consider "thrifty."

Despite being so thin, the Z600 makes room for one USB 2.0 port, one hybrid USB/eSATA port, a DisplayLink video port, and a headset/mic jack. Cleverly hiding behind the screen--bracketing the battery--are power and ethernet jacks. Unfortunately, when trying to get so much done in so little room, some sacrifices must be made. The lack of a flash-card reader may not be a deal breaker for every executive considering this model, but it is for me. And the audio is a loud but tinny afterthought. Get headphones, stat. Beyond that, you get 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional 3G WWAN (mentioned earlier), and the ability to configure it for WiMAX.

The Z600 is a classy-looking machine. So much so that a test flight near the Macworld office area brought a couple nods. But is it perfect? No. Even though it's amazingly thin and surprisingly light, it's still a 16-inch laptop that you might find tough to fit into a travel bag. The Z600 may be perfectly suited as the interoffice status symbol, but for practical mobility I'd have asked for a laptop with a smaller screen. Keep the features, lower the price (and the screen size), and this could be a killer ultraportable.

Bottom line, the Z600 is very much not for everyone. In fact, I think they made this notebook just to sell it to Michael Dell and maybe a couple of his showboating buddies. But it boasts design smarts and a couple of tech innovations that I'd love to see trickle down to more mainstream portables (with slightly smarter implementations). Until then, I can dream. Also, look for a final score when we get test results from the lab.

Darren Gladstone
pcworld.com

First benchmark tests of Western Digital's 2TB hard drive reveal this model offers competitive performance.

The Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB WD20EADS hard drive boosts the capacity game to a whole new level. This $299 drive crams 2 terabytes into a single drive--making this drive a boon to anyone with a large data archive, multimedia library, or space-hogging video collection.
We've used words like gargantuan and massive before to describe the capacity of a hard-disk drive, but this model blows all other examples away. Western Digital is the first drive maker to achieve 2TB in one drive. The previous top honors for capacity went to the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive

First benchmark tests of Western Digital's 2TB hard drive reveal this model offers competitive performance.

The Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB WD20EADS hard drive boosts the capacity game to a whole new level. This $299 drive crams 2 terabytes into a single drive--making this drive a boon to anyone with a large data archive, multimedia library, or space-hogging video collection.
We've used words like gargantuan and massive before to describe the capacity of a hard-disk drive, but this model blows all other examples away. Western Digital is the first drive maker to achieve 2TB in one drive. The previous top honors for capacity went to the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive
This capacious internal drive provides an areal density of 400 gigabits per square inch on four 500GB platters. The drive is also part of WD's Green Power line of hard disk drives, billed as environmentally friendly drives due to their lower power consumption.

In our PC World Test Center benchmarks, the 2TB drive came in fifth place among all drives tested--one better than its nearest-capacity competitor, Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB. Its performance was above average and bettered that of its sibling, the Caviar Green 1TB WD10EACS, which finished ninth overall in our performance tests.

This model lagged behind our performance leaders (the Western Digital RE3 Enterprise 500GB and the WD VelociRaptor) on some results--most notably, the write-intensive disk imaging test that we perform as part of PC WorldBench 6. On other core metrics, though, the 2TB drive performed very competitively. For example, it completed our "write files and folders" test in 112 seconds and our "write large files" test in 92 seconds. On each of those tests, its results were off those of our performance leaders by a dozen seconds or less.

The 2TB drive has several WD technologies inside that the company says enable this model to achieve its balance of price and performance. StableTrac reduces vibration by securing the motor shaft at both ends, and this in turn permits accurate head tracking during read and write operations. IntelliPower, according to WD, adjusts the balance of spin speed, transfer rate, and caching algorithms for optimal balance between performance and power consumption. IntelliSeek optimizes seek speeds to enable lower power consumption, noise, and vibration. And WD's NoTouch ramp-load technology keeps the recording head from touching the disk media.

The storage fiend in me salivates at the thought of 2TB in a single 3.5-inch hard-disk drive. Such a high ceiling on capacity means that I no longer need to make choices about where I'm storing my data; instead, I can better organize and consolidate my data across multiple subjects. But even though I like the idea of consolidating my data under a single roof, I shudder to think what the costs to recover a ginormous 2TB drive might be if anything should go amiss.

I also admit that, at first blush, the 2TB model's $299 price tag gives me pause. That is, until I realized that its $.15 per gigabyte cost is actually fairly competitive with that of other drives on the market; the only difference is that this particular drive's supersize capacity skews the upfront costs accordingly.

The slight lag in performance shouldn't be enough to deter people who have large data libraries from getting the WD Caviar Green 2TB WD20EADS. Nor should it put off casual and professional digital media enthusiasts, who will rightly crave this drive. For these audiences, the price and performance tradeoffs are a small price to pay for the honor of packing a 2TB drive inside.
pcworld.com

The HF S10 camcorder offers sharp and vibrant video and stills, and its truly robust manual controls make it a great choice for dedicated users.

Hands down, the Canon Vixia HF S10 generates the best high-definition video and still images we've seen from a small camcorder. Add the impressively deep and professional manual controls, and you have an excellent--albeit expensive ($1300 as of 9/25/09)--camera for advanced videographers that will also appeal to many casual use

The HF S10 camcorder offers sharp and vibrant video and stills, and its truly robust manual controls make it a great choice for dedicated users.

Hands down, the Canon Vixia HF S10 generates the best high-definition video and still images we've seen from a small camcorder. Add the impressively deep and professional manual controls, and you have an excellent--albeit expensive ($1300 as of 9/25/09)--camera for advanced videographers that will also appeal to many casual use
The camera's 1/2.6-inch CMOS imaging chip records 1080 horizontal lines of video at 60 interlaced frames per second (60i), 30 progressive frames per second (30p), and 24 progressive frames per second (24p). The camera includes 32GB of built-in flash memory and supports SDHC cards, and it encodes the video as AVCHD files with data rates up to 24 mbps, the format's maximum capability.

In PC World's subjective evaluations, viewers judged the HF S10's HD video and 8.6-megapixel still images to be slightly better than those of the next-best camcorder (the Panasonic HDC-TM300). Among our test group of six new high-definition camcorders, the Vixia HF S10 ranked at the top in video quality under both bright lighting and low lighting, earning an overall video-quality score of Good. Under both lighting conditions, its images exhibited crisp color rendering and sharpness; under low light, they showed just a touch of noise.

Audio capture is another strong suit, as the Vixia HF S10 again came out at the head of the pack. The camcorder earned an audio score of Good, with noticeably better clarity and volume than rival camcorders offered.

In still-image quality the Vixia HF S10 again outranked the competition, with an overall rating of Very Good. Though exposure quality and color accuracy were its major strengths, it landed near the middle of the pack in sharpness and distortion. You might get better image quality from a good digital photo camera, but not much better.

The battery life, at about 100 minutes on a single charge, is perhaps the HF S10's main drawback, but it was still efficient enough. A few other camcorders in our test group had around 2 hours of battery life, with one model--the waterproof Sanyo VPC-WH1--offering more than 3 hours of power.

Once you're using the HF S10, the automatic mode on the camcorder works well enough and lets you capture high-resolution stills as you record HD video. The face-detection feature adjusts focus and exposure to enhance skin tones.

Of more interest to dedicated and more-experienced users is the camcorder's potent set of features and controls. You get an accessory shoe, as well as microphone and headphone jacks. Notably, however, the camcorder also offers two sets of "zebra stripes" to help set exposure levels, generates color bars and tone for calibrating display equipment, and offers good control over the aperture, shutter speed, and white balance.

A control dial mounted under the lens eases adjustment of the exposure and microphone settings. In addition, it lets you really fine-tune the camcorder's focus; together with the camera's peaking feature, which outlines subjects in a bright color when they are in focus, the dial helps the HF S10 provide excellent focus control and feedback.

The HF S10 does have a few weak spots. Its menu structure requires some work to master (but the included manual is excellent). The image stabilizer on its 10X-optical-zoom lens is just okay--I've definitely seen more-effective stabilizers on other HD camcorders, such as the Panasonic HDC-TM300. And the HF S10 lacks a viewfinder other than the 2.7-inch flip-out LCD; you must depend on the LCD to frame shots, check settings, and review footage.

None of those issues are deal-breakers, though, especially when you consider the camcorder's best-in-class video quality and fine-tuning capabilities. The great overall image quality, deep manual controls, and decent ease of use make the Canon Vixia HF S10 an excellent choice for both advanced and casual videographers.
pc world.com

Swedish Metal powerhouse, Arch Enemy, has finally unleashed its eighth studio album, The Root Of All Evil, in the US, courtesy of Century Media Records.

The Root Of All Evil, which released in Europe last week and entered the German charts at #84, is a collection of Arch Enemy classics from the band’s first three albums, rerecorded and reenergized by the current Arch Enemy lineup.

Swedish Metal powerhouse, Arch Enemy, has finally unleashed its eighth studio album, The Root Of All Evil, in the US, courtesy of Century Media Records.

The Root Of All Evil, which released in Europe last week and entered the German charts at #84, is a collection of Arch Enemy classics from the band’s first three albums, rerecorded and reenergized by the current Arch Enemy lineup.
t is available in CD, LP (with the full album on CD as bonus), and Digital format, as well as a Limited Edition CD including a special Mediabook packaging, three additional live bonus tracks, alternate artwork, an extended booklet and an exclusive embroidered patch.

The LP and Limited Edition releases will only be available in the US through CM Distro.

Two new tracks off The Root Of All Evil can be heard at the official Arch Enemy MySpace page, and the new music video for "Beast Of Man" can be viewed at here.

Arch Enemy will play a number of shows overseas in support of the new album to round out 2009.

forward form dream theater
History
Formation and early years (1985–1987)
Dream Theater was formed in September 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung decided to form a band in their spare time while studying at the Berklee College of Music. The pair came across drummer Mike Portnoy in one of Berklee's rehearsal rooms, where he was asked to join the band. The trio started off by covering Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.

forward form dream theater
History
Formation and early years (1985–1987)
Dream Theater was formed in September 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung decided to form a band in their spare time while studying at the Berklee College of Music. The pair came across drummer Mike Portnoy in one of Berklee's rehearsal rooms, where he was asked to join the band. The trio started off by covering Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.
Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy settled on the name Majesty for their newly formed group. According to the The Score So Far... documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album Caress of Steel) sounded "majestic". It was then decided that Majesty would be the band's name.
The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group. Petrucci asked his high school band-mate Kevin Moore to play keyboards. After accepting the position, another friend from home, Chris Collins, was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of "Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche. During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci, and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in college. Moore also left his college, SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band.
The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled The Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene. The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape format today, despite being released officially on CD through Mike Portnoy's YtseJam Records.
n November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together, Chris Collins was fired. After a year of trying to find a replacement, Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure.
Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name, so the band was forced to adopt a new moniker. Various possibilities were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1, which were all rejected until Portnoy's father suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a movie house in Monterey, California.
form wikipedia.org