"If you love puzzles, photography and stickers (like us), this project is definitely for you. As part of our MOOvie Mania Competition we asked people to share their "how tos" or "tutorials" that featured MOO. John Arnold has created a brilliant video that shows how to create a collection of stickers out of one photograph - in essence turning the 90 stickers in to a giant puzzle. He then brilliantly arranges all 90 stickers on his new laptop giving it a unique cover."

I'm not sure whether to call this project brilliant, or masochistic - one thing is for sure, I respect his attention to detail and precision. I'd have a hard time getting that final result to look good - hell, I couldn't even get my DecalGirl iPod Touch sticker on completely straight! If you skip to the 9 minute 30 second mark, you can see the final result. Impressive!

"Dell introduced Dell Wireless 700, an option that adds location awareness to the Dell Mini 10 netbook. With the $69 upgrade, users will be able to get turn-by-turn directions and use location-based services. I sat down with Hari Ganti and Alan Sicher for a demo of the GPS-enabled Dell Mini 10. Dell has partnered with Skyhook so that users' locations are accurate even when a GPS signal is not available."

Do you have a Dell Mini 10? Want to make it GPS-enabled? Then you'll be interested in the Dell Wireless 700 - head on over to Notebooks.com to check out two videos on this add-on and how it works.

"If you upload videos to YouTube and feel restricted by the 1GB limit, YouTube now offers 2GB of wiggle room as well as the ability to directly link to and embed high definition video."

If you use YouTube, you're going to like this: YouTube has expanded upload limits to 2 GB, which is around 60 minutes of 720p HD quality video. And if you have a blog where you like to embed your YouTube videos, you can now embed it in HD. One thing worth noting: if you're embedding at 600 pixels wide, there's not much point in using the HD option. The high-quality (HQ) option looks quite good at that size. To show the HD option, you'll want 800+ pixels in width - or tell people to go full screen. Good stuff - thanks YouTube!

"The Fit PC 2 is an inch thick, about 4 inches each way, and pipes 1080p video through an HDMI port. Though a perfectly usable PC with a 160GB hard drive, Atom Z CPU and a gig of RAM, it's so small that it makes even netbooks look bulky."

Like netbooks, nettops (or whatever you want to call them) have existed for quite some time before gaining any attention, but the current net-noun craze is getting manufacturers pushing the technology in them further. The Fit PC 2 is such a wee device, it likely can fit on the VESA mount on the back of certain monitors. It's performance is much like any current generation net-device, even going so far as making non-flash 720p video playback watchable. I could see this as handy for offices, and some use in homes with geeks who like small toys everywhere around the house, myself included, who is still waiting for the right device that I can put one in every room. I have to admit that netbooks will probably dominate over nettops since you don't really seem to be saving all that much with these wee machines.

gdgt is from the team that brought you Engadget: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block. gdgt is a different sort of site - it's less about up-to-the-second news and more about a community of people that love gadgets. When you register on the site, you create a profile (here's mine) where you can add gadgets that you own, gadgets you want, and gadgets that you've had in the past. I've added a handful to my "have" list - anything more would take me many hours! gdgt looks like a cool site and is definitely worth checking out.

The other new site that launched recently is MIDstories.com, a new site from Xavier Lanier, the guy behind Notebooks.com. This new site of his is focused on Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), a type of gadget that has yet to really take off in terms of mainstream popularity - maybe Xavier's new site will help with that. Worth checking out!

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the Dell Inspiron Studio 14z (I mistakenly thought it was called the Inspiron 14z, but it's not an Inspiron, it's a Studio notebook). This notebook, shown here in ruby red, is a little different that most notebooks in that it lacks a CD/DVD drive - but it's no netbook! It has a 14 inch, 16:9 aspect ratio screen running at 1600 x 900 resolution, which is Dell's 900p resolution option (an upgrade). The standard resolution is 720p, which is 1280 x 720.

Powering it all is an Intel Core 2 Duo: the P8600, running at 2.4 Ghz, with 3 MB of L2 cache. 3 GB of DDR3 RAM at 1066mhz provides the memory, and storage is handled by a 320 GB, 7200 RPM hard drive. The graphics processor is an NVIDIA GeForce 9400G-M, and the on-board 802.11 b/g/n WiFI is an Intel 1515 card. It also has Bluetooth 2.1, and an optional ExpressCard 8-in-1 memory card adaptor that arrived damaged as you'll see in the video. The keyboard is back-lit, which is an add-on option, and it's running Windows Vista 64-bit. Powering it all is a 6-cell, 54 WHr battery.

I paid $1306 CAD for this configuration from Dell Canada as of May 2009, but Dell's prices change daily to always check their Web site for the most accurate pricing information.

Since shooting this video I've been using the 14z a fair bit, and my impressions of it are quite positive. The screen is superb - bright, evenly lit, and very crisp with the 1600 x 900 resolution. I'm less impressed with the fact that it only has an ExpressCard 34 slot, and not an ExpressCard 54 slot, because my Delkin CompactFlash adaptor needs a 54 slot. That means that I'll need to carry a USB-based CompactFlash card reader if I take this notebook travelling and want to off-load my DSLR photos. Not terribly convenient. But, all in all, the 14z is impressing me. Stay tuned for my video review.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's still searching for the ultimate netbook.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

This video is a bit different than my normal videos - it's designed more for you to pass it along to others interested in netbooks, because if you're reading this site you probably know all the answers I give. In this video, I tackle the ten most frequently-asked questions that I see in YouTube comments. Rather than endlessly answering the same questions over and over again, I thought I'd make a video that handles the most common questions and then point people to it to have their questions answered. I hope you find it helpful!

"The Supreme Court on Monday delivered a blow to the television networks when it declined to hear a case about a digital video recorder technology, opening the gate for wider use of DVR systems. The case began in 2006 when Cablevision Systems, the New York-area cable operator, announced plans for what is called a network DVR system."

The decision paves the way for Cablevision to implement its network DVR system across all of its customers. The setup is fairly clever and looks like a great way to provide DVR abilities to everyone without a costly investment of hard drive based PVRs. I have concerns that the technology may end up being locked to just one provider, instead of being available to all cable companies. I suppose you could consider this the moment of when DVR starts moving into the "cloud." With everyone hosting their emails, documents, spreadsheets, personal videos and social life online, it was only a matter of time before our tv shows made that transition. The market must be limited though, since I imagine this would only be preferred by those with limited or no Internet access since streaming solutions provide a comparable service.

"1) Tell us who you would like to have your photos printed and mailed to on a regular basis. 2) Email your photos to your own @picwing.com address or upload them through the website. 3) Your recipients will automatically get professional-quality 4x6 prints of your photos in the mail twice a month."

If you send lots of prints of your digital photos to family members on a regular basis, this is a pretty nice way to automate much of the process. At $0.19/print, it is not overly expensive and surely makes up for the time it would take to print, collate, and mail to multiple individuals. But, I'd make sure none of your frenemies get a hold of your @picwing e-mail address, or Grandma might be getting some unexpected pictures.

That's what I see for choices when I look on Amazon.ca, and this is something I've seen before: the studios release a Blu-ray version of the movie that has less features on it than the special edition DVD version - at least in Canada they do. In the example above, both movies are the Directors Cut, but the Blu-ray edition ($27.95 CAD) has no indication that it has the same bonus features as the special edition DVD ($33.99 CAD). The lower price of the Blu-ray version seems to back that up. Yet when I look on Amazon.com, the only Blu-ray version is the special edition, and it has all the bonus features listed. Curiously, it's the same price ($22.99) as the special edition DVD. What a headache - it looks like I'm going to have to wait for this to be in stores before I can figure it out.

This is a bit off topic for some sites in our network, but a good deal is a good deal: our hardware affiliate partner Expansys is selling the Linux-based version of the Acer Aspire One for $199, which is an excellent deal. This version of the Aspire One has an 8.9 inch screen, 1 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive, and uses the 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU. Combine that netbook with a $49 copy of Windows 7, and you've got yourself a nice little piece of mobile computing technology (just be sure to also have an external USB-based optical drive). I haven't installed Windows 7 on an Acer Aspire One, but I suspect it would work just fine - Windows 7 identified all the important hardware on my MSI Wind and HP Mini 1000 netbooks without a problem. At the time of this writing, Expansys only has 58 left in stock, so don't delay.

"Many of us have seen sci-fi movies where the characters come home, walk in the front door, and their lights turn on for them. Perhaps they tell the house to switch on the TV or bring up the video phone with its wall-sized screen to call a friend. Unfortunately, we're not quite "there" yet with regard to commercially-available home automation technology. But you might be surprised at how much can be achieved by the enthusiast looking to advance his home into the 21st century. Let me show you some of the shipping protocols and options. Then, we'll walk through the purchase process and installation to see what it takes to turn a house into a modern-day electronic toy."

I've thought home automation was due to be the next big thing for years now, yet it never seems to quite take off. This article explores some of the reasons why as well as guide to setting up some Home Automation. We have some different home automation features in our home, but no real tied-together system. Anyone want to share their home automation successes and/or failures?

"Time Warner and Comcast have joined hands in order to regain control on some of the content that is slipping right out from under 'em. In the olden days, the only portal for catching content was the 'tube; today, a vast array of television shows are available gratis on the web, and that's downright frightening for pay-TV operators. Today, both firms are detailing TV Everywhere in the most general way possible, only telling us that paying Comcast subscribers will soon have access to "premium long-form content" via a web portal. TNT and TBS are the only networks specifically named thus far, but considering that both of those already offer their best programming online to everyone, we're not terribly impressed."

I'm thinking cable networks are going to start getting desperate. Hulu, Netflix, and DTV offer a much cheaper alternative than even basic cable. Unfortunately, giving subscribers what they can already get for free elsewhere will probably do little to help solve this problem.

You'll have to excuse the network-wide broadcast (well, except Apple Thoughts of course), but I thought this was something that everyone would want to know about: Microsoft is offering the forthcoming Windows 7 at a steep discount, but only for a limited time. Until July 11th, you can purchase Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49.99 USD (that's an Amazon affiliate link, so your purchase helps support Thoughts Media). The normal price of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is $119.99 USD, so that's a very significant level of savings ($70 to be precise). You can also pick up Windows 7 Business Upgrade for $99 if you want that version. When Windows 7 is released on October 22nd, Amazon will ship you the software.

The Windows 7 upgrade will work on a computer with Windows Vista or Windows XP installed. If you have an older computer, you may want to run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to make sure your computer is ready for Windows 7, but in general any computer built in the past four years should be able to run it just fine. Windows 7 is lighter on resources and works well across a broad spectrum of hardware.

Got a netbook? Then you'll want to take advantage of this offer as well - I'm running the Windows 7 Release Candidate on an MSI Wind, and an HP Mini 1000, and it works really well on both of them. I think Windows Vista is a fine operating system, but Windows 7 is even better - it addresses many of the concerns that people had with Windows Vista and adds a degree of polish that means everything is easier to use.

Unfortunately, this offer is only valid in the USA and Canada (Canadians can order from Amazon.ca, Future Shop, and Best Buy). as far as I can tell. Europe is getting a different version of Windows 7 due to the lawsuits Microsoft is undergoing there.

"Portable applications suites are a great way to get your hands on a ton of useful software with minimal fuss. Got a new flash drive, or maybe an old one you don't know what to do with? Throw one of these suites on it and you've got an instant software Swiss Army Knife."

DownloadSquad rounds up four portable application packages that can make you portable with just a USB drive. Of the choices, I find that PortableApps is probably the easiest to use and most targeted towards the mainstream. All the others provide a considerable larger selection of tools, which while handy for power users, may end up confusing regular users. If you are the one who is singled out by family and friends whenever something goes wrong with a computer, you will probably find these extremely useful for troubleshooting. Portable application popularity has been stunted with the growth of web applications, but since some programs just are not practical web based, continued development of portable applications are safe. I have my own personal collection of installable and portable applications that I keep handy on a usb drive and many of them are included in several of these compilations. What is on yours?

"Goodbye Windows Defender, hello Windows Security Essentials. The new antivirus and antimalware package that Microsoft's been working on for the past year is ready for its semi-official unveiling today. Eager malware-thwarters from the United States, Brazil, and Israel will get first dibs on the public beta of the free software, available for both 32- and 64-bit installations of Windows XP, Vista, and 7."

It has been a long time coming, but it looks like Microsoft will finally be entering the anti-bad-stuff market in force. Morro has been released in beta to select markets and eventually it will be offered for free to all Windows users. Morro pretty much replaces Windows Live OneCare, which was a paid service that offered all manner of security tools to keep your computer safe. Like OneCare, Morro will protect your computer against viruses and malware, and tap into a large online database that is contributed to and used by other Morro users. I think it is great to see Microsoft stepping up to help protect their customers for no additional cost. Sure, one can argue that if Microsoft were that friendly, they would not develop software that would need protection, but having worked in the software industry in various ways, I know that just is not practical, if even possible. All operating systems are subject to exploits, and I consider it a very unfortunate reality that as customers, we have to keep our guard up to protect our computers. At least in this case, it will be free.

"HP today announced it will offer the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system on consumer and business PCs beginning Oct. 22. To meet customers' computing needs while protecting their investments, the company is participating in the Windows Upgrade Option Program to help customers transition easily to Windows 7. The program will enable customers who purchase qualifying HP PCs to enjoy the benefits of a new Windows-based PC immediately and receive a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available in October."

That pretty much says it all right there - if you're thinking about ordering an HP computer, wait until tomorrow, and you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it ships in October 22nd.

I was looking at Microsoft's stock price on Google Finance (oh, the irony), and saw this little line that caught my attention:

"Microsoft Corp on Thursday said it will sell the standard home-user version of its new Windows 7 operating system for 8 percent less than the comparable version of its Vista system, as the global downturn hits spending on technology."

This is the first I've heard of any pricing information about Windows 7 - this 8% drop would make the approximate prices as follows based on Best Buy pricing today for Windows Vista:

• Windows 7 Home Premium Full: $220 USD
• Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade: $119 USD
• Windows 7 Ultimate Full: $294 USD

That's just a theoretical price though of course - because today you can buy Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade from Amazon.com for $83.57 USD, far less than the $129.99 USD Best Buy is charging. In the XP to Vista transition era, the vast majority of computer users didn't upgrade their operating systems. Most people getting Vista bought a new PC. Windows 7, however, is going to be a different beast - if someone has a reasonable Vista-era computer, they'll have all they need to run Windows 7. So if Microsoft wants those people to upgrade to Windows 7, the upgrade pricing has to be reasonable. I'm not sure 8% is going to cut it. What do you think?

UPDATE: Looks like the pricing details on Windows 7 are now public. $119.99 (Home Premium), $199.99 (Business), or $219.99 (Ultimate) are the upgrade prices for XP or Vista users. Those fall in line with the prices I estimated above. That strikes me as too expensive, especially in this belt-tightening economy we're in. I think $89 USD would have been a much more attractive upgrade price. There's going to be a limited Window of pre-order pricing at $49 USD for the Home Premium upgrade, starting on the 26th of June, but how many people are going to take advantage of that? I'll post more news about that when I find out details.

"A user by the name of "hackerman1" has installed Windows 7 on his PC, which in itself is nothing to write home about. The catch here is that he's gotten a bootable, working installation on no less than a Pentium II system. No, that's not a typo--Pentium Two. The extreme...ly old machine consists of a 266 MHz CPU, a whopping 96 MB of memory, and a next-generation 4 MB graphics card."

While we know that Windows 7 is less memory-intensive than Windows Vista, this is a geeky experiment bordering on lunacy when you consider other users in the same forum as "hackerman1" are reporting install times of 17 hours on Pentium III-based systems and boot times of 17 minutes. Why do they do this? Because they can of course!

"The latest release also introduces a handful of attention-getting web apps like MLB.tv, officially supported and offering full access to baseball games around the country. Others, like Current TV, Digg, some clever Twitter/Tumblr mashups and niche video sources, came from the providers themselves or the just-ended dev challenge."

Boxee has made quite a name for itself, though with my desktop PCs running Windows (I have a couple of Linux servers, and I cannot afford Macs) I've been standing on the sidelines, looking longingly at the media player. Finally, a Windows client has arrived, though it is very much an alpha version. After playing with it for a few hours, I find the interface quite pleasant and more intuitive than Windows Media Center or those which come on media playerback devices like the WD TV. I had no problems immediately accessing content, both locally and on the net, though being in Canada, I did hit a few roadblocks with several applications telling me that I'm not allowed to watch Babylon 5 of Macgyver. The alphaness of the Windows client also shone through in some places with some spawned programs crashing, but overall, its been pretty pleasant experience. I would like to see some more customization options, and some regional presets so that if some applications cannot be accessed from where you are, it does not display them. I can only hope that as more content becomes available online to Canadians that Boxee will dedicate enough resources to add some polish, or I'll have to look towards setting up yet another computer just for media playback!