Got an Asus Eee PC (netbook) from BestBuy two weeks ago. No, this is not mine but rather my wife’s new “toy”. Previously, she was using my old laptop – the Compaq Presario C714NR but decided to give it to her sister who needed it. The Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 is my work machine and sharing it would be difficult so we decided to get my wife a new machine. Since she only needs a computer for checking her email, checking her Facebook account, surfing the web and watching YouTube videos, a netbook would be enough. Found one online on BestBuy, an Asus Eee PC 1005HAB on sale for $329. Paid for expedited shipping and got it within 3 days.

Basic Specifications:

• Intel® Atom™ processor N270 (533MHz system bus, 512KB L2 cache and 1.6GHz).
• 1GB DDR2 memory (expandable to 2GB).
• 10.1″ WXGA LED-backlit widescreen display (1024×600 resolution).
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Windows XP SP3 Home Edition
• Built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam
• 3-in-1 digital media reader
• 3 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
• Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
• Built-in 10/100 Mbps fast Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector
• 2.4 lbs. and 1.4″

Additional Photos:

As the in-house desktop support, I had the privilege of playing with it first. The Asus Eee 1005HAB didn’t have much bloatware installed so it took me only a few minutes to install the necessary programs like antivirus, web browser, media player, etc., update Windows and configure other settings. I also replaced the default blue Windows color scheme/theme to a black theme which looks much better and makes the desktop look nicer. Finding and connecting to my WiFi network was a breeze with the Asus Eee 1005HAB.

The Asus Eee 1005HAB comes with 1GB of RAM installed and is enough to run Windows XP but I do plan to upgrade it to 2GB as soon as I order some from Newegg. The WXGA LED-backlight widescreen display is clear and crisp and displayed DVD-quality videos very well. Other features I love on the Asus Eee 1005HAB are the 3 USB ports (love that it has 3 USB ports and love the location of the ports), the 3-in-1 media card reader and the 6-cell lithium-ion battery that can last up to 8 hours.

There were several models that had a bigger hard drive space (250 GB) but had Windows 7 Starter Edition installed so I opted for the one with Windows XP. For those who aren’t familiar, the Windows 7 Starter Edition is very limited – only allows 3 applications running at the same time and you can’t even replace the wallpaper. I regret not getting the $30 WIndows 7 Home Edition upgrade last month.

The only cons with the Asus Eee 1005HAB? The glossy finish around the display/keyboard and the hand rest area are fingerprint magnets and takes extra effort to remove. The other one is that the keyboards are a bit loose and feel kinda cheap. However, these are very minor flaws. Overall, I’m really impressed and I don’t regret purchasing the Asus Eee 1005HAB.

Filipinos all over the world were once again made proud this weekend, when Filipino “pushcart educator” Efren Peñaflorida was named CNN Hero of the Year at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California Saturday evening.

Hope you folks enjoy this week’s edition of the Weekend Roundup.

Blogging

• Why Nobody Cares About Your Blog
• Blog Struggles: How Do You Know When to Stop Writing a Blog Post?
• How to Use Licensed Photographs for Free
• Make them Subscribe: 6 Tips to Build Subscriptions

WordPress

• WordPress App Store is Live Not The Official One Though!
• WordPress hack : Automatically output the content in two columns
• WordPress How To: Easily Change Your WP Logo
• Feed Cache in WordPress

Technology

• High-Tech Devices Help Drivers Put Down Phone
• How Video Is Changing the Internet
• IBM makes supercomputer significantly smarter than cat
• Steve Jobs determines smoking is injurious to your Mac

Gadgets

• Hands On: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (‘Rachael’)
• Pegatron AQUIC Netbook Shows Up
• AMD releases dual GPU beast, Radeon HD 5970
• New PogoPlug adds four USB ports, and more

Pinoy Blogs

• Hands on with the Nokia N97 mini (PHP 28,900.00)
• Pinoy Builds Computer in 10 Min, Wins Hardware and Cash from Asus
• How to Get A Proper Domain Name
• Link Baiting – Fishing: Newbie SEO Attacks Experts

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

• Blog Updates 11.09
• WordPress Wins 2009 Overall Best Open Source CMS Award
• Digital Filipino Web Awards 2009 Winners

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or want your article or find an interesting story that you want to be featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Thank you for your time and hope you guys are having a great week!

ASUSTek or more commonly known as Asus, is about to enter the e-reader market with its own version of the e-book reader. The Taiwanese company who created and popularized the netbook is cooking up a dual-screen (touchscreen) e-reader that has a hinged spine and opens up like a regular book. The user can use the touchscreen to “turn” the pages from one screen to the other.

The dual-screen is not limited to only reading e-books as it can also be used for multi-tasking – the user can use one part of the screen to browse and surf the web, post Facebook or Twitter updates or blog while reading an e-book on the other screen. Another feature that makes this e-book reader unique from previous and current e-readers is that it will have a colored display instead of the usual monochrome (black and white).

According to an Asus spokesperson, the company is planning to release two versions of this color e-reader – a budget version and a premium version with the latter having more features. There are no exact details yet but this device particularly the premium version might have speakers and a webcam. With that said, this device might just not only be an e-reader but a completely different type of touchscreen netbook that will be released under the Eee line.

Here’s another photo of what the Asus Color E-reader could look like:

Aside from the dual-screen and colored display, the upcoming Asus E-reader would have a lower price compared to the Amazon Kindle 2 or Sony Reader or other competing e-readers. The Asus Color E-reader could probably cost around $150 for the budget version and the premium version or other versions slightly costing more depending on the added specs or features.

With better features and a lower price, the Asus Color E-reader could shake up and revolutionize the e-reader market just like what the netbook did to the UMPC market.

Does anyone here own an Amazon Kindle or any other digital e-book reader? Would you be interested with Asus upcoming color e-reader? What other features would you like to see added to regular e-readers?

Blogging

• 15 Things You Should Know Before You Start Blogging
• Seven Expert Tips For Outstanding Web Writing
• 3 Things To Find About Yourself Today
• Twitter’s ‘suggested users’ Get Mammoth Boost From New Feature

Technology

• Asus May Put Android On Netbooks
• Is Hulu Driving People Back to Piracy?
• Methane fuel cells the latest in portable power
• The Death Of “Web 2.0″

Gadgets

• Option’s GlobeSurfer X·1 turns USB modems into WiFi hotspots
• Abra Kadabra: Vodafone summons the HTC Magic
• Seagate’s FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player Is a Set-Top Dock for Hard Drives
• The lisse T10 takes the PMP world for a Spinn

Pinoy Blogs

• Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team warns Downloaders
• 11th Philippine Web Awards Set for February 27
• Plagiarism on the Internet
• Yahoo! Philippines kicks off 2009

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

• HowTo: Easiest Way to Install/Dual Boot Ubuntu on Windows
• HTC Touch Pro2

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or want your article or find an interesting story that you want to be featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Thank you for your time and hope you guys have a great week!

I don’t wanna miss another edition of Weekend Roundup and better late than never right?

Blogging

• Thinking about starting a new blog but not too sure about it? This might help. Here are 5 reasons why you need to start a new blog.
• If you want to gain more exposure for you and your blog without having to shell out money for advertising, another option for you would be guest blogging. Guest blogging gets you more exposure.
• Problems with your blogging schedule? Having a hard time determining the best time to publish your posts? Lorelle shares tips on determing the best time and day to publish a blog post.
• In this post, Matt Mullenweg explains why 200 WordPress themes were recently removed from WordPress.org’s theme directory.

Technology

• No software is free? A middle school teacher recently confiscated Linux CDs from her student because she believes there are no free software.
• With the US economy plunging like crazy this year, a lot of people lost their jobs and tech jobs are not exempted. According to TechCrunch’s Layoff Tracker, tech related job layoffs are now over 100,000.
• Safer than ActiveX? Google’s Native Client, is a new experimental browser plugin that allows web applications to securely run native code on the underlying platform.
• Coming soon to a netbook near you. Netvibes founder Tariq Krim is building an iPhone-like operating system for netbooks called Jolicloud. It is a stripped down Linux OS that comes with a custom browser and tons of other features.

Gadgets

• Lenovo doesn’t make cellphones, right? Not anymore. The Lenovo-Chine Mobile Ophone is an Android-powered phone made to comply with China Mobile’s Open Mobile System. Too bad only the folks in China will be able to use this thing of beauty.
• One of Dell’s latest products is the Optiplex 160 aka Tiny Desktop Computer is really tiny. Measuring only 1.85 inches thick, it runs on a single-core Intel Atom processor, 80 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, Windows Vista Home. Dual core models ship next year.
• Maximum PC has a hands-on review of Logitech’s latest gaming keyboard or gameboard called the Logitech G13 gameboard. Features include a mini LCD, mouse buttons and an analog stick. It can store (bind) 87 different macros on it which is nice for MMO fanatics.
• There’s a new Eee box in town! Asus recently rolled out the Asus Eee Box B203, an Intel C220 Celeron-powered Eee netbox. It runs Windows XP Home, comes with 80GB, 120GB or 160 GB hard drive, 4 USB ports, flash card reader, DVI output, WiFi and Ethernet connectivity.

Pinoy Blogs

• Need help with Globe WAP/MMS/Streaming settings for Nokia N95? My friend Jhay has you covered.
• Jehzeel Laurente is planning on building/setting-up his own computer and he needs suggestions for the parts of a desktop pc. If you’re good with computer hardware and stuff, you help him out by giving some suggestions.
• Wanna send your family and friends something new and unique? If you’re tired of the regular Christmas greeting cards, why don’t you send them a YouTube Greeting Cards this year? via TechPinas
• Abe Olandres has a detailed hands-on review of the Nokia E63 which is almost exactly the same as the Nokia E73 but with lesser features.

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

• WordPress Release Candidate 2 – Second release candidate for WordPress 2.7
• Lunascape – World’s Fastest Browser? – New web browser that uses three rendering engines. Kinda IE, Firefox and Safari/Chrome rolled into one.
• WebSapient Rips Off Designer’s Portfolio – Web design company rips-off freelance designer’s entire portfolio.
• WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” – The much awaited and final release of the latest version of WordPress.

Hope you enjoyed this “late” edition of the Weekend Roundup. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or want your article to be featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Thank you for your time and hope you guys have a great week!