There are a lot of people who get enamored with those weird gadgets that is powered by a laptop’s USB port (you know who you are). I myself would like to have the portable light that I can use to illuminate my keyboard when I’m working in the dark. But then there are those who would pay good money to buy USB-powered mug warmers, soda can chillers, fans and even massagers.

One of USB gadget that I recently saw is a USB-powered “memo lamp”. The device, which looks like a translucent rock can emit different colored lights to match your “mood”. The weird thing about it is that it also comes with a pen and you can use it to write short memos on the rock-like gadget itself. Call it a glorified lava lamp with post-it functionality. The product, which is sold by a Korean company, retails for almost 20 US Dollars.

You know it was bound to happen.

Apple has announced that it is releasing new updates to its Macbook and Macbook Pro line.

The new addtions are in are the multi touch trackpad that will now be made available in the Macbook Pro. The Macbook Air was the first Apple laptop product to possess this feature. The multi-touch functionality works a lot like the iPhone’s touchscreen. This allows users to zoom in or out or even rotate images by using basic motions with the finger.

The speeds of all the Macbook line of products have also been bumped up. You can now get up to 2.6 ghz power using the Core 2 Duo chipset. Users can opt to upgrade up to 4GB of RAM and up to 300GB of hard disk storage. The lappies are also now equipped with backlit keyboards that has an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the amount of light that comes out of the keys.

The new updated Macbooks are now available.

Microsoft experienced a boo-boo last Thursday when the software giant inadvertently released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to a a number of users. Vista SP1 is supposed to be released mid-March.

SP1 is supposed to be the first major update/upgrade to the new OS that was released January 2007. What happened was that Vista SP1 was posted on Windows Update and was, by some glitch, made available to a large group that accessed Windows Update.

A number of users who actually know of the release date were surprised to see the availability of SP1. But the company has reiterated that the mid-March timeframe is still on schedule.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft also released SP3 Release Candidate 2 for Windows XP. The update has been made available on Windows Update but users are asked to revise some settings on their registry in order to get the update.

If there’s one thing about notebook specs that you always have to take with a grain of salt are battery capacities. If you believe that batteries will really run through the stated number of hours claimed by the manufacturer you will almost always end up disappointed. Even the venerable Apple brand is not immune from these lofty claims. When Steve Jobs unveiled the Macbook Air, he claimed that it has a a 5 hour battery life. This most probably meant that the actual battery life is closer to 4 or 4 and a half hours when used in the real world.

But there has been a growing number of claims on various forums that some Macbook Air users are actually experiencing a dismal two hour battery life on their new gadgets. And to top it off, it takes 8 to 10 hours to fully charge the battery. This and other battery issues are being aired in various forums and even in Apple.com’s discussion boards.

Have any of you guys bought a Macbook Air lately? Share your experiences with your battery here.

Is anyone else having similar problems? Is your Air’s battery working fine? Let us know in Comments.

With the release of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, there is speculation that it will further slow down the public’s adoption of Microsoft’s new Windows Vista.

The new Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 was released last Feb. 19 without much fanfare, maybe as a way to not really give too much of the public’s attention to XP at this point when the company is still trying to sell the advantages of upgrading to the Vista OS. The problem is that with SP3, XP has become more stable and reliable and with a larger installed base, this will make it doubly hard for Microsoft to encourage people to go with vista, which is still considered as having many quirks and instabilities. SP3’s introduction has basically brought a Catch 22 situation for Microsoft. And the company’s decision to stop supporting XP in the near future will only further alienate its customers.