New Acer Aspire Timeline, a super thin laptop w/DVD drive & full sized keyboard.

Aspire Timeline 4810-8480 laptop about $700/ & Up The new Aspire Timeline Series is designed to deliver exceptional 8-hours battery life on a single charge. Part of the energy saving comes from having an LED backlit Hi Def 14” display. (13 & 15.6-inch models are also available. It ships with Windows Vista Home Premium, but you’ll be able to get a free upgrade to Windows7 when it comes out at the end of October. This computer, which is only about 1 inch thick, uses the Intel Core2 Solo Processor running at 1.40GHz. It’s not blazing fast, but it saves battery power and is certainly perfect for most computing chores you’ll have. 4GB of RAM is very good, and there’s a robust 320GB hard drive. Unlike Netbooks which don’t have optical drives, this Timeline 4810 has an integrated Super-Multi drive. There’s also a convenient built in 5-in-1-card reader. The display is the Acer CineCrystal 14.0" WXGA (1366 x 768) TFT display. And there’s an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD. Students can keep in touch with folks back home and all their friends via the net with the built-in 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N WLAN and integrated webcam with mic. Weight is about 4.2 pounds. All the specs and options are at the company’s website:

 http://tinyurl.com/nd84rw

UPDATE: In an ad in Tuesday’s NY Times J&R Music has one version of this Timeline computer for $559.99 after $50 rebate.

 http://www.jr.com/acer-computer/pe/ACE_AS4810TZ401/

Targus has backpacks under $25, but we go to the top tech model!

The Targus SonicPak features a padded notebook compartment that can accommodate laptops with screens up to 15.4". It has padded shoulder straps and pockets for your cell phone, pens, books, etc. But wait, there’s more! The fun SonicPak backpack integrates quality speakers right into the sporty laptop case. It features advanced NXT technology, which reproduces stereo sound using flat panel speakers. The small and flat SonicPak speakers produce really decent stereo sound. I played them for several people and all were impressed with the quality of the sound. Just connect the speakers to an MP3, CD/DVD, laptop or other digital device and you share your music. Three AA batteries provide up to 100 hours of continuous listening time from the self-contained amplifier. The water resistant speaker panel and durable materials help to protect against the elements. Take the SonicPak anywhere – from dorm rooms and college campuses to camping trips, picnics and the beach. The flat panel speaker system can easily be disconnected from the SonicPak too. Targus has the price listed as $109.99, but if you do a search on Amazon.com, you can find it for about $85.

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=TSB116US

Verbatim comes up with a tough and tiny usb drive!

The Tuff-‘N’-Tiny USB drive is so small you could hide it under two pennies! And the thickness is about the same as that of a penny. It’s most compact, durable USB flash drives I’ve seen so far. It’s small enough to put in your wallet or change purse without creating much a bump. Verbatim Tuff-N-Tiny USB Drives are significantly more rugged than standard flash drives because they feature SIP technology, which encapsulates all of the electronic components into a single miniaturized and sealed unit. As a result, the tiny drives are resistant to dust, water and static discharges. They include a key ring lanyard which you should attach immediately so you don’t misplace the entire drive! The Tuff-N-Tiny USB drives are available in 4GB (emerald green) and 8GB (royal purple) capacities. For security conscious PC users, the Tuff-’N’-Tiny USB Drives also include password security features to protect sensitive data in a user-defined private zone. The public zone is for open access and sharing of non-sensitive content. Since it’s so tiny, it’s easy to put T-N-T drive in the USB port upside-down. That won’t damage the drive, or the computer. With no room for a light on a drive this tiny, you’ll know it’s installed correctly when the computer recognizes it. Leo said a person could install www.portableapps.com on this device and be able to have a ‘personal PC’ anywhere they plug in their Tuff-N-Tiny USB drive into a PC. When you take it, your apps and files go with you, leaving nothing behind. Works with PC, Mac and Linux. MSRP US price is $29.99 for the 4GB drive and US $49.99 for the 8GB drive. But if you do a web search you can find them for a lot less!

www.verbatim.com

 I did a Daily Giz Wiz Netcast on this gizmo. Hear it here: www.twit.tv/dgw901

CLICK ON "NEXT 5 ENTRIES" FOR MORE!

A new version of the popular SanDisk Clip, the Clip+

Sansa Clip+ $40 & up This is the newest version of the Sansa Clip, called The Clip + (plus) It has a 1.5” LCD display and it’s still thin. Just over 0.6" deep and it weighs only 0.9 oz. It now has a memory card slot that accepts pre-recorded songs, or blank memory cards (up to 8GB) for endless recording with the built in mic. So it’s great for taking notes in class. There’s also a built-in digital FM Tuner. On a single charge San Disk says you should get about 15 hours of battery life. (There are 2, 4 & 8 GB models available.)  It ships with ear buds, USB cable and owner's manual. Supported formats include MP3, WMA, secure WMA, Ogg, Vorbis and FLAC. The card slot accepts microSD and microSDHC memory cards. It’s also slotRadio and slotMusic card-ready, which means you can buy 1,000-song albums from San Disk for about $40 each. The songs are Billboard compilations and cannot be copied, but you’re paying about 4 cents per song! See the slot music website for full details. And yes the new clip still includes a clip that lets you attach the MP3 player to a pocket, backpack or purse strap. PC and Mac compatible. The 4GB model will be Best Buy for $49.95. You can preorder it now.

 Here’s info on slot music cards:

http://sandisk.com/consumer-products/music-player.aspx

When this was posted, Sunday, August 30^th, 2009, San Disk had not listed info on the Sansa Clip+ yet on their website. But Best Buy has it listed on their website, although not for sale just yet:

  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9448537&type=product&id=1218106627473 

Have kids 3 years old & up, but not old enough for school yet?

Here’s fun tech toy: Leap Frog Text & Learn. This new toy looks like an oversized PDA. Just like the parents have. (And maybe if the kids have their very own PDA, they won’t try to play with the real one! It has built in games, and even a QWERTY keyboard. Kids can send a text message which doesn’t go anywhere, but is acknowledged by Scout, the built in puppy dog! Scott also can messages back.  They can check Scout's planner to see what his week entails and more in the pretend browser mode.  Other learning modes offer practice with letter matching, shape identification. There are also silly animations and sound effects. I was so good I've almost mastered the "pop the letter balloons" game! Parents can connect to the online Leap Frog Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning. Price is under $22.00.

 http://www.leapfrog.com/en/preschool_toys/text_learn.html