All things mice

MICROSOFT is ushering Chinese New Year 2012 by reworking the exterior of a couple of mice, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 Year of the Dragon and the Arc Touch Mouse Year of the Dragon editions.

DUAL-CORE MONSTER

 

The former will feature an intricate dragon design created by premier artist Nod Young, who was inspired by the famous Nine-Dragon Wall in Beihai Park, China, as well as the popular Dragon Ball cartoon series. The dragon mouse comes with the award-winning BlueTrack Technology as well as a snap-in Nano transceiver, enabling it to work just about anytime, anywhere on most surfaces. As for the Arc Touch Mouse Year Of The Dragon, it has a sleek crouching dragon design which matches the special Arc Touch Mouse form factor, letting you bend, snap and stow to accommodate the ultimate road warrior.
The Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 Year Of The Dragon, in traditional red and gold colours, is expected to sell at US$34.95 (RM111) while the Arc Touch Mouse Year of the Dragon is going for US$69.95. Details at www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/
DUAL-CORE MONSTER
Meizu used to make the headlines simply because it supposedly had an iPhone killer in the works back in 2007, but it seems that the effort fizzled out over the years, with Samsung and HTC coming close with their range of Android-powered handsets instead. However, Meizu is back with its latest effort — the Meizu MX. This device runs on a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, aided by 1GB RAM, an eight-megapixel back-illuminated camera and LED flash, accompanied by a gyroscope and a plethora of other sensors. Sporting a clean, intuitive and minimalistic design, the Meizu MX is also equipped with a gorgeous 10.16cm high resolution (292 PPI) AVS display with the ideal 3:2 aspect ratio. Not only that but its custom-designed user interface based on the Android operating system, known as Flyme OS, is said to be a snap to use, although it seems that the Meizu MX is only destined for the China market, at the moment.
The 16GB Meizu MX is expected to arrive in China from Jan 1. Hopefully someone will run a parallel import to Malaysia as it does look like a sleek looking handset to own and use. Details at www.meizu.com.hk.
HAVING A BLAST
So you reach home after a long, hard day at work, and decide that some heavy metal music is what’s needed to help you vent the day’s frustrations, only to realise that the puny iPod dock that you own in the living room is not able to express your emotions across the audio spectrum.
You check online for a heavy hitter, and chances are you won’t be able to peel your eyes away from the Behringer iNuke Boom, touted to be the loudest iPad, iPhone and iPod dock in the world, or at least, when it is presented at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) next year.
Retailing for a monster US$2,999.99 to go along with its behemoth-like speaker system performance and dimensions, the iNuke Boom measures 8ft (2.44m) wide by 4ft in height and tips the scales at more than 300kg. It is capable of bringing the house down (and the police knocking on your front door!) at over 10,000 watts of power.
I can just imagine blasting all those classic rock and metal tracks with the iNuke Boom. You won’t be winning your neighbours over, but at least it helps you vent the day’s stress away. Details at www.behringer.com.
ALL THE RIGHT CURVES
HTC has just unveiled its latest smartphone here. The HTC Explorer targets the mid-range market, coming in a curved and compact design with a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen display, a three-megapixel shooter located at the back, as well as the custom HTC Sense 3.5 user interface that certainly makes it a whole lot easier to use compared to the stock Android user interface. The new lock screen allows for quick and easy access to the camera with a mere swipe, and there is also a new Smart Dialer which displays a one-touch menu for quick, easy dialing of contacts.
While Adobe may have killed off future developments for mobile Flash, that does not mean Flash is dead on the mobile platform right now. No. The HTC Explorer supports Flash in its browser for a rich Internet experience, while smart URL prediction makes it easier for you to access the top 100 websites.
Running on a 600MHz processor, the HTC Explorer also features 512MB RAM, 90MB of internal memory that can be augmented by a microSD memory card slot, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi connectivity, and GPS support.
The HTC Explorer comes in just one shade — metallic black, where it will retail for a highly affordable RM749. Why not wrap this and place it under the tree this holiday season? Details at www.htc.com/sea/

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