In short the Inspiron Zino HD is a small PC that packs quite a punch in an 8” by 8” square. And the best part is that it’ll make an awesome device to have in your living room. So what does the Zino HD come with?

Well for starters, it comes with tons of customization options on the Hardware configuration just as you’d expect otherwise from Dell. The base model starts at 299$ and here is what the PC comes with (or can be configured with)

• It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit or Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
• You can customize the PC with 7 solid colors.
• You can customize the PC with 3 designs.
• The Inspiron Zino HD uses AMD’s Athlon processor (single or dual core).
• The base configuration is 3GB of RAM, but can be configured with 4, 6, and 8GB of RAM with 8GB being the max.
• Storage shouldn’t be a problem with your choice of 500GB, 640GB, 750GB, or 1TB 7200rpm SATA hard drives.
• You can choose either a DVD +/- RW drive or Blu-ray drive.
• For graphics, you can choose either an integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 or discrete ATI Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB of dedicated memory.
• It has HDMI and VGA ports.
• A 4-in-1 media card reader and integrated gigabit Ethernet are both standard.
• It has integrated 2.1 High Definition audio with the choice of going with a Sound Blaster X-Fi High Definition audio from Creative.
• For your wireless needs, you can choose either a Dell 1397 802.11 b/g wireless card or Dell 1520 802.11 b/g/n wireless card.

What Makes the Inspiron Zino HD the best choice for a Home Media Center?

• Extremely good storage options.
• Connectivity through HDMI will allow you to connect to HDTV.
• Good expandable options, so you can easily connect a TV Tuner card, to record TV.

And with the upcoming Boxee for Windows which will be on the same level as Boxee for Mac/Linux in the coming few months. However the upcoming Boxee box is also something I’m looking forward to.

But the Inspiron Zino HD is just too irresistible for my tastes and would love to own one of these cute PC’s to have in my living room. Wish Dell just had a nice little remote to give like the Apple Remote!

For more of Dell Inspiron Zino HD, have a look at this picture stream on Flickr.

photo credit: psd

Who said Linux can’t look pretty? For long its been said that Linux is the most boring OS ever and is not user friendly. I’ve been a linux user for sometime and I can say that my experience with it was nothing short of marvelous. Linux offers you unlimited amount of control as to how can you customize your desktop.

Scoring around the net I found some really fantastic desktops and here is what I feel are the best of what I’ve seen. Certainly not the most exhaustive list, but they are reminiscent to the fact that Linux can look pretty good if you know how to make it look good.

Without further delay, here are my favorite Linux desktops, and I’m sure they are some of the prettiest you’ll ever see.

Note : Click on the images for bigger screenshots

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Are you a Linux user? Please show us your desktops.. It will be go a long way in promoting Linux as a User friendly OS. If you have come across other cool looking Linux desktops, please share them as well.

Way to go Tux!!

For long I’ve always felt that Mac’s were super sexy and did extremely well in the looks department of a computer. There’s this self attracting charm of the Mac’s that pulls in the crowds wherever you take it. Looks like Dell is aiming to do something similar with its Studio Hybrid Desktops.

Dell claims that the Studio Hybrid desktops are the most power efficient desktops in the market today and it Uses about 70% less power than a typical desktop, and it meets Energy Star 4.0 standards with an 87% efficient power supply. Well done Dell!

The major selling point about the new Studio Hybrid’s is that they are extremely environmental friendly. Here’s what Dell has to say, “Studio Hybrid packaging is made from 95% recyclable materials. And the Studio Hybrid comes with a system-recycling kit, so you can help preserve and protect the environment”.

Going by its looks you might feel that it is severely underpowered just like the Mac Mini. But it isn’t the case. The base model that retails for 499$ (without monitor) and for 699$ (with monitor) comes in the following configuration :

• Intel Pentium Dual Core (1.86 GHz)
• 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner
• 1GB RAM (DDR2 , 667MHz)
• 160GB Hard disk (5400RPM)
• Integrated Graphics (GMA X3100)

The Studio Hybrid’s suffer from weak 3D performance due to the system’s integrated graphics, but if you don’t need to play 3D games, the Studio Hybrid is a good alternative to the boxy mainstream PC’s that have dominated the market since the dawn of personal computing. 

Personalization is an added benefit,  several acrylic shell colors are available including Topaz and Ruby, the system can also be wrapped in a bamboo finish and changed on the fly through a swappable sleeve. The design can either sit horizontally on a desk or upright by using a special stand.

The higher end Hybrid’s are just as good as the modern day towers with Core 2 Duo Processors and upto a maximum of 4GB of RAM.

Looking at all this, I feel that Dell has a winner at its hands. It beats the Mac Mini hands down with option of a Blu-ray drive for HD video, HDMI video out, an 8-in-1 card reader and the choice of a TV tuner.

With the impending refresh of the Mac line, we have to wait and watch for what Apple comes up with. I’d want the Mac Mini compete heads on with the Studio Hybrid. At the moment though it is the Hybrid’s winning the battle.

If only Hybrid’s ran Mac OSX, it would be the best small factor PC/Mac out there suitable for a small home theatre in your living room.

Nice industrial design from Dell. The bamboo model looks particularly nice. What are your thoughts on the Studio Hybrids?

Gimmie uses an innovative tabs-based approach to categorize everything on your computer. Not just the applications you have installed. You can quickly find friends, documents, computers on the network, notes, music, and just about everything else in a few clicks.

All Your Stuff

Because your computer is a tool for performing all sorts of tasks, Gimmie tries to organize all the objects you use to make your life easier. Support for new kinds of objects are being added all the time, and Gimmie already knows about all these…

• Installed Programs
• Connected Devices
• CDs and DVDs
• Nearby networked computers
• Printers
• System Preferences
• Administration Tools
• Bookmarked Folders
• Office Documents
• Audio Files
• Movies
• Downloaded Files
• Saved Email Attachments
• Instant Messaging Buddies

And since more and more of the things you use are located online, Gimmie is working to integrate all your favorite online resources:

• GMail Contacts
• Google Office Documents
• Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace Contacts
• LiveJournal Friends
• Flickr Photos
• Del.icio.us Bookmarks

Find Your Stuff

Instead of forcing you to remember where you placed a file, or the name you gave it, Gimmie lets you quickly search everything right inside it’s main tab. Looking for a contact you haven’t talked to in a while, or a downloaded movie, or recent bookmark takes just a few keystrokes.

Recent Stuff

Most tasks performed on computers involve interacting with the same things over and over again. So Gimmie keeps track of what you use, and allows quick reuse through the Recently Used category that’s in each tab.

And Gimmie allows you to bookmark any of the things you use regularly, so you find them instantly.

What is Youtube Desktop?

YouTube Desktop is incredibly cool with a modern design and terrific dynamic web application for searching, watching and downloading videos from the richest online video archive YouTube.

This is basically adding functionality and experience to what “should be” there. The possibilities of the site reach far beyond that. It gives you the chance to create your own environment for watching video clips, saving them and sharing them with friends.

What makes YouTubeDesktop unique?

Videos can be dragged, resized, minimized in a tray, drag’n'drop of videos between players and results, standard menus – makes Youtube Desktop the richest web application for viewing and managing video content! You will be amazed by the flexibility and fabulous design of the website. It is user friendly and easy to navigate but also has great functionality.

Some of its features include :

• Interface, designed to be used just like every other desktop application
• Fast flexible searching, displaying the results with option to resize them, so you can use the site even when sitting in your sofa and watching on a plasma TV – will look just as perfect!
• Managing Playlist – create and save any video to watch later or share them with friends
• Watching multiple videos at the same time – you can have more than one player open – all made easy using standard functionality – dragging and resizing the windows, minimizing them within the tray – never been easier!
• Download Videos as avi, mp4 (ipod), mov, 3gp (mobile), wmv, flv, exe (built in standalone player) – all converted on the fly. That gives you the chance to save all your favourite videos on your computer and watch them whenever you want.
• Drag and Drop interaction – Allows you to drag videos around to create a new player or playlist.
• Change themes – set the way the site looks according to your mood
• Share videos with friends – send url’s and recommend videos to friends through e-mail
• View your recently played videos.

Here is a small screencast of Youtube Desktop that I took. Sorry for the choppy video. This happens to be my first screencast thats why it ended up being like that.

If you want to try out YouTube desktop then drop in a comment and I will send you my beta username and password for you to try this cool thing out..