Not all notebooks or desktop computers have a built-in web camera. With desktop PC’s, this isn’t that big an issue: as you don’t carry them around, you can just buy an inexpensive, clip-on USB camera and you’re set. Not so with notebooks, UMPC’s or Tablet PC’s – with them, purchasing (and carrying!) a cabled solution might be overly suboptimal. Then, just using your camera-equipped smartphone may turn out to be the best solution; preferably over a wireless connection like Bluetooth.

In my latest Misc News collection, I’ve already recommended Towers Trap, a brand new game on two mobile (Windows Mobile and Symbian S60) and desktop Windows platforms. GameZoneProject’s official page is HERE. No matter what platform you have, I really-REALLY recommend giving the trial a try and play through the (initial) tutorial. (Again, you’ll have text rendering problems on VGA Windows Mobile devices). I’m pretty sure you’ll like the game.

1. I have some very good news for you all tech geeks. You may have heard (for example, from me) that the latest, double-OS HTC model, the Shift, has a severely crippled and almost useless Windows Mobile OS. This was one of the reasons I haven’t really recommended it either

The excellent MoDaCo guys, authors of several other, similar "liberator packs", did not leave it at this and have published a tool that unlocks the full Windows Mobile operating system on the Shift.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/16/sony_unveils_vaio_ux/

Sony will ship its Vaio UX UMPC on 27 May, the consumer electronics giant said today. The successor to the company's U series of handheld mini PCs will ship as the retail-oriented UX-50 and as the Sony-sold UX-90S and UX-90PS. As expected, the UX-50 will contain a 1.06GHz ultra-low voltage Intel Core Solo U1300 processor backed by 512MB of 400MHz SDRAM and a 30GB, 4,200rpm hard disk. The unit's display is a 4.5in, 1,024 x 600 panel driven by Intel's integrated GMA950 GPU - the chipset's a 945GMS. The handheld PC runs Windows XP Home Edition. Connectivity comes courtesy of Bluetooth 2 and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi. There's an integrated webcam and a fingerprint sensor. ...more at The Register. My comments: these three devices are indeed very appealing. The hardware is based on Intel CPU's (even the low-end model, the UX-90S will have a Celeron M, which, as all notebook freaks know, isn't significantly slower than Pentium M's of the same CPU clock speed; it's only that they don't support speedstep and, therefore, chew through the battery far faster) and, therefore, will be significantly faster than that of the two OQO models (the OQO 01 only has an 1 GHz Transmeta Crusoe, which is significantly slower than even the Intel Celeron M). Its hard drive, taking the size of the unit (15 x 9.5 x 3.2-3.8cm) and the capacity (20-30 GB) into account, can be no bigger than 1.8", which will also mean it'll be pretty slow (no wonder IBM has switched back to using 2.5" HDD's in the latest X-series subnotebooks, the X60/X60s) but, knowing Sony, I think they will still be able to come up with something usable and not completely ruined by a very slow HDD. The built-in Intel GMA950 Integrated Graphics Core, as notebook freaks may have already guessed/know, isn't really suited for 3D gaming. That is, it is not at all suited for 3D gaming. While it delivers passable results in synthetic tests, dedicated chipsets completely deliver a K.O. to it in games as can be seen for example in these comarative tests. That is - as with all integrated Intel graphics solutions, this chipset (and, therefore, the new Sony UMPC's) isn't for gamers either.