Hasta La Gadget!

Using your computer is a regular day at the beach when you’ve got the just announced Sony Vaio W mini-laptop that was created in partnership with Billabong. The pattern is called Imperial Lime, although it looks like dripping paint, and it was intended to bring a little boardshort style to the Vaio.

The Vaio W Series has a 10.1-inch LED widescreen display, a 250GB hard drive, and runs on Windows 7. The battery can go seven hours on a charge. You can pre-order the Imperial Lime Vaio today, although it won’t arrive till next week. This notebook starts at $500.

Sony and Billabong will partner for other promotions, including Billabong’s Design for Humanity event on June 10.

Speaking of revolution in Taiwan is always risky, but Nvidia
CEO Jen-Hsun
Huang didn’t mince words: “This is the beginning of the 3D revolution.”

Huang spoke at its 3D Experience Center, a few blocks away from
the Computex Taiwan World Trade Center Hall, where he had gathered a few
hundred tech reporters and graphics groupies. Indeed, although, Huang spoke for
a bit about Nvidia’s Optimus and DX11 support, most of his enthusiasm was
reserved for Nvidia’s 3D Vision.

“There is no reason to buy another PC unless it has 3D in
it,” explained Huang. To make it easier to tell if a PC is 3D capable, Nvidia
offers a simple formula, which, of course, puts Nvidia front and center. The
company calls a 3D PC any desktop or notebook that:

• Includes a pair of active shutter glasses
• Has a 120Hz 3D capable display
• Includes a discrete graphics processor that can render high
  definition 3D imagery.

Take a look at our ever-growing slideshow
of Computex 2010 at PCMag.com.

The show floor is still under construction, but when Computex 2010 opens its doors tomorrow in Taipei, Taiwan, expect to see a parade of netbooks, 3D displays, and lot of would-be competitors to the Apple iPad. 

One of the key trends at Computex this year is expected to be tablet computers designed to go head to head with the iPad. Last week, Acer showed off an Android-based tablet at its annual sales conference in Beijing, and that device will probably make an appearance in here in Taipei as well. What’s more, both Asus and MSI are expected to debut Windows 7-based tablets at the show. Dell and Sony also plan to launch tablets this year, although they probably won’t make the show floor.

Granted, the tablet market has been downright dormant for years, but the iPad has given the segment a big boost; and vendors here at Computex sense an opportunity. Although tablets are still a small part of the overall computer industry, they could grow fast. According to ABI Research new-generation tablet PCs will reach 4 million units this year and could swell to 58 million by 2015.

This is the 30th anniversary of Computex, Asia’s largest technology trade show. According to the Computex organizers, there will be more than 1,700 manufacturers on the show floor, filling more than 4,600 booths.

The show extends across the city of Taipei, from the Taipei’s World Trade Center and Nangang Exhibition Hall. The show opens officially tomorrow, June 1st, and runs through June 5th.

Take a look at our Computex 2010 slideshow at PCMag.com.

So Apple didn’t update the Macbook Air, but it did rejuvenate its cheapest laptop with faster parts and a bigger battery. 

You’d better comb that hair, because you could soon be videochatting with a much sharper picture. OmniVision Technologies of Santa Clara, California, has introduced the OV2720, a 1/6-inch native 1080p high-definition CMOS image sensor, the first of its kind to provide 1080p HD. The sensor could soon find its way into notebooks, netbooks, webcams, and video conferencing applications. The OV2720 uses a proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality.

This sensor offers 1080p video in a size small enough to meet the module and height requirements of today’s thin notebook designs. OmniVision is currently testing the sensor with its tier-one customers. It should go into mass production in June.