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WiMax enabled – but no sitesto log onto yetAsus’s Eee PC – which has sold over 350 000 unitsin just three months – has added a seven inch, eightinch and nine inch unit to its range of mini-laptops.They are all wireless machines with an in-built WiMaxcapability which is all well and good, but there are veryfew WiMax nodes in the world although 70 countriesare investigating its use. The small laptops come witha four-gigabyte solid state drive with a Linux operatingsystem although they can apparently run WindowsXP. The entry level new Eee model is expected to costaround $999.Ad removal tool for recordedprogrammesFashion with feeling comes togamersTN Games has designed a wardrobe for serious gamingenthusiasts which comprises a vest with inflatable cells orbladders that are connected to the computer via a USBconnection. When strapped into position, the ‘shooter’version recreates the direction and force of the bullet fire,allowing the gamer to ‘feel’ when and where a shot hashit. Another version of the vest simulates G-forces that arecommonly experienced by racing drivers and fighter pilots.For instance, in a motor racing game, when the driveraccelerates, the cell inflates in the front of the chest andthe faster the acceleration the more rapid the inflation.Conversely when the car is braking the back cells inflateand the front cells partially deflate creating the sense ofpressure.It had to come: one television viewer obviously irritatedby the constant stream of advertisements appearingin a recorded programme has invented an advertisingremoval tool so that when watching recorded showsno viewer has to endure the advertising. The software,developed by VideoReDo automatically strips out theadverts. It works by looking for clues about what’s onscreen – such as a blank screen between adverts – andthen cuts that section. The software has apparentlybeen available for about three years and was originallybundled with a video-editing suite. The newest versionhas a useful feature that allows edited programmesto be recorded on a DVD. A trial version of the TVSuite including the ad removal tool is available for freedownload from the company.PVR for your PCAmerican-based Hauppage Digital has introduced apersonal video recorder (PVR) for the home computerwhich can record high definition television video intoH.264 in real time. The HD PVR uses its on-boardhardware encoder to record television signals fromcable or satellite set-top box receivers. It comes with thesoftware to control channels on most of the popular cableand satellite television services, using the company’s IRBlaster software. The HD PVR will be available in the firstquarter of this year and will sell for about $250.February 2008 20