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I knew it! I knew it was too good to be true! Plus, the presence of that little dual-LED flash alongside the rumored Xenon flash should’ve been my biggest clue. But it is only now that I realize that I’ve actually been staring at the photo of a… fake. This is not a ”leaked photo of the Nokia N96 with Xenon flash.” Indeed, it’s just a regular modified photo.

A Nokia Port forum admin named ExiTuS led me to the light. In a post, he puts the original Nokia N96 “template” photo in comparison with the allegedly leaked image pictured above. Obviously, the Xenon flash was just cropped from another phone, perhaps the N82 or 6220 Classic, and then slapped onto the N96 on top of its dual-LED flash. I sure hope Nokia doesn’t take any design cues from this one. They can do a better job than this.

Via [Nokia Port]

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If you were an early Windows Vista adopter, you might have had a rough time with Microsoft’s newest operating system last year. Crashes? System hangs? BSODs? Shockingly, Microsoft isn’t at fault for your less than perfect experience. Ars Technica has reported that a 158-page bundle of email correspondence (PDF) regarding the ongoing “Vista Capable” lawsuit has been made public. The data reveals that NVIDIA accounted for 28.8% of Windows Vista crashes last year. In total, 1,663,748 system crashes had been reported to Microsoft in 2007 and NVIDIA was the problem in 479,000 of those cases. In comparison, Microsoft was responsible for 19.9%, ATI took 9.3%, and Intel with 8.8%.

Microsoft was quick to release a statement:

“Microsoft takes exhaustive steps in testing hardware compatibility internally, as well as by working directly with our partners, to address compatibility long before customers experience an issue,” the software maker said. “However, testing can only be conducted under so many different circumstances, particularly with such an exceptionally complex code that graphic drivers have. Understanding this, Microsoft has set up a system to help quickly identify the problems, work to fix them and, if warranted, potentially push them through to customers via Windows Update. NVIDIA has taken similar steps, and since launching Windows Vista, Microsoft has seen great progress in addressing potential issues by NVIDIA.”

I find it quite in good faith for Microsoft to retain itself from blasting NVIDIA for possibly being the root of Vista’s public impression of being unstable. But who is really to blame here? NVIDIA or Microsoft? I place fault equally between the two companies: NVIDIA for releasing drivers that lacked proper testing and Microsoft for their failure to provide adequate support to its third party vendors. While the data is an eye opener, it is important to note a few points:

1. Companies are pretty much guaranteed to suffer issues whenever they launch a new product, particularly software. NVIDIA is no exception and their eager venture to make drivers for Microsoft’s newest operating system was impossible to be bug free early on.
2. Before the ATI fanboys rave in, NVIDIA owns a larger portion of the graphics card market than ATI. So, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that NVIDIA has caused the most problems.
3. The information released is a year old. NVIDIA, as well as the other vendors, have since made significant improvements to their drivers. In fact, NVIDIA has responded to the news by creating a website that allow users to easily report any driver issues they come across.

The information came into light after a federal judge gave the green light for a class action suit to continue against Microsoft, which was filed in April 2007. The lawsuit argued that the software giant misled consumers with its “Windows Vista Capable” promotion program. In 2006, the program placed “Vista Capable” stickers along with a “Premium Ready” phrase on various retail computers that gave the impression to consumers that the machines were capable of running Vista, including the top-of-the-line version of the OS. However, that proved not to be the case, as consumers began complaining that their Vista-capable machines could not run more than Vista Basic—a clear misuse of the company’s use of the “Premium Ready” notation. The early emails that were submitted as evidence revealed that Microsoft caved in to Intel by lowering Vista’s graphics requirements, making it easier for computers integrated with Intel’s weak graphics chip to get the Vista Capable sticker.

Read [Ars Technica]

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Photoshop Express recently attracted my attention and I signed up. This was a very easy and short process. Include me in that group of digital photo snapping and sharing fanatics. Sharing photos has become the easy part - choosing where to share them is - well, not so easy. Researching the numerous photo sharing sites available on the internet is very time consuming.

Competition is rampant among these photo hosting sites. Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly and Picasa are just a few popular drops in the bucket. I wish that there was a giant list of options that could be checked off that would lead to the perfect site for me. My requirements may not be the same as yours but here goes.

I’d rather not pay a subscription fee. Most photo sharing sites offer free albums but extra features will initiate a fee. Editing abilities and uploads to my blogs as well as other sites are huge time savers. For example, photos in Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa can be edited through Photoshop Express. Viewing options for my visitors are also important to me. Whether viewing as a private visitor or as a public viewer, slideshows and videos are fun. 

So, what else does Photoshop Express offer you and me? It may not mean a lot to some but the Flash Player 9 required to run Photoshop Express gives a smooth and good looking page. There are not an over abundance of features that confuse someone just getting started - but the quality of the features keep more experienced users happy. I can choose to display all or some of my photos to the public or to keep all or some of them private. Overall I like Photoshop Express.

Menus are not hard to navigate and some editing can be accomplished by simply placing your mouse over a photo. With a simple click on the photo you will see a long list including options from editing to emailing. Small editing projects are also possible. You can touch up areas that you don’t like such red-eye or a blemish. Change the overall hue of the photo, change areas to another color or change it to black and white. Editing should not scare anyone since the separate thumbnails will show the result of any changes made and you can always return to your original photo. My tip here is to give your changes a second or two to finish. At first I thought that I was doing something wrong and then realized that the screen was telling me that Photoshop Express was “working” and to give it a rest already.

Photoshop Express fills many of my requests. It is still in beta so maybe I will tell them about options that appeal to me. One thing I noticed is that when I upload a photo I am shown the size and date of the photo. Although I can resize it I would rather be able to specify the size rather than to choose a preset adjustment. I like to highlight particular areas of a photo with my choice of colors. I had great luck changing the colors of the screen of my cell phone but not so much with wings of a butterfly. The “Pop Color” feature could be a bit easier to use in my opinion.

Product [Adobe Photoshop Express]

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Here’s a waterbed that not only provides superior comfort as you take a break after a long, hard day at the office - it also features a dedicated base plate where you will be able to mount loudpseakers inside the bed. Well, all you need to do then is to hook up a suitable audio source and play your favorite relaxing music. There is no word on pricing, but Akva Sound claims the whole experience will be extremely surreal since it uses water’s unique properties as a carrier of sound and oscillation to envelop you in its embrace.

The Nintendo Wii Wheel has been priced at $14.99 when it is released this April 27th. After all, it would be more fun if your friends can drop by and play using the Wii Wheel just like you instead of holding the Wiimote horizontally. After all, whenever you pick up Mario Kart Wii for $49.99, it will already come with a Wii Wheel inside. $14.99 is a whole lot to pay for just a piece of plastic if you ask me, but that won’t stop legions of Mario Kart fans from snapping this up when it is available.

The Vintage Tin Robot Concept Watch is a joy to behold, featuring user-friendly functions despite looking more complicated than taking a car apart and putting it back together again. The left eye is the hour register, while the right eye features GMT indication. As for the nose region joint with the mouth region, you get seconds and retrograde minutes placements respectively. The Mr. Roboto watch is powered by automatic winding movement, boasting 25 jewels to get your bling factor up whenever you enter a swanky venue. You will be able to pick up the Mr. Roboto watch this September as long as you have at least $4,800 lying in your bank account.

Asus’ My Cinema PE9400 Combo PCI Express TV card aims to bring TV entertainment to your desktop without adding additional burden on your processor courtesy of an embedded MPEG2 hardware decorder. Other features include :-

• Support for digital (ATSC/QAM) and analog (NTSC) TV programs formats
• Picture-beside-Picture function
• Picture-in-Picture function
• Scheduled recording
• ASUS VideoSecurity Online technology for home monitoring
• Bundled with “Microsoft MCE Certified” Remote Controller

Sounds as though this is the add-on card to get if you’re interested in building a home theater PC.

Best Buy will be carrying the Windows XP version of its Asus Eee PC 4G for $399 this April 9th - so those who have been hankering after this uber-mobile piece of computing will be able to break open their piggy banks a day earlier and start counting all those pennies and quarters. All the hardware will remain exactly the same as the Linux-powered version, with the only difference being the operating system. Somehow 512MB RAM and such limited memory makes me a skeptic - I guess I had best bring a portable hard drive with me wherever I go in order to complement the Eee PC 4G.

eyeSight has announced Ninja Stroke - touted to be the first cell phone game in the world controlled by actual hand movements right in front of the camera. I suppose talking aloud into your DS’ microphone while on your daily commute is already embarassing enough, but to actually perform karate chops with one hand in front of your phone’s camera? Most people would die from embarrassment IMHO. Well, hopefully the advanced real-time image processing algorithms will be able to hold up as you go about (virtually) dispatching of kurai ninjas with your mad skillz.

South Korean police are currently trying to push for a plan that will see all cell phones come with an embedded GPS chip of some sort, enabling satellites to track all these users. While the benefits of it nabbing those involved in kidnapping and other crimes against women and children are there, must it come at the expense of privacy for the average Joe? I think this plan will probably fall through as most, if not all people will go against it while the prices of cell phones will rise as well due to the added technology.