M-Systems, which makes USB flash drives under its DiskOnKey brand name, announced last week it has it has created a USB flash drive with 2G bytes of storage capacity. With the storage equivalent of 1,400 diskettes, it certainly makes it easy to carry around a lot of MP3 files or PowerPoint slides on a USB flash drive.

The 2G-byte version will cost about $470. It will be able to store about 30 minutes of compressed video (depending on format), or about 500 digital music files (depending on song length).

More information on the device can be found at here.

Dell goes wide with new Inspiron

Dell last week announced its first 12.1-inch widescreen notebook, the Inspiron 700m. The 4.1-pound notebook includes an LCD screen that allows for DVD viewing and has additional screen area for multiple applications to be viewed.

The notebook starts at about $1,500, and includes an Intel Pentium M 725 (1.6-GHz) or 745 (1.8-GHz) processor, a choice of a DVD/CD-RW drive or a DVD+RW drive, internal wireless LAN connectivity (802.11b or 802.11g), and memory ranging from 256M to 2G bytes. Users can choose a 30G-, 40G-, 60G- or 80G-byte hard drive. The notebook also includes two USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE 1394 port, a Secure Digital card slot and an S-Video output port.

When is a notebook not a notebook...

. . . when your device becomes a "mobile personal entertainment and computing device," which is what Toshiba calls its new Qosmio (pronounced "koss-mee-oh") device. The E15-AV101 will be available this month and is being touted as a four-in-one device that can replace the functions of a TV, DVD player, stereo and computer.

The notebook includes a built-in TV tuner, personal video recorder software, surround-sound Harman/Kardon stereo speakers and a 15-inch screen. The device includes the QosmioPlayer, which lets users watch TV and DVDs, and listen to CDs, by pushing a button instead of having to boot up Windows. A remote control will let users control the Qosmio as if it were a TV or stereo instead of a computer.

The Qosmio comes with an Intel Pentium M 735 processor (1.7-GHz); integrated wireless LAN (802.11g) and Bluetooth connectivity; an 80G-byte hard drive; 512M bytes of RAM; several video input and output ports; an IEEE 1394 port; four USB 2.0 ports; a media adapter slot for media cards such as Secure Digital, Memory Stick, xD and Memory Stick Pro; an integrated 10/100 Ethernet; and a V.92 modem port. The notebook will start at $2,700.