The Telstra Android-powered Smart-Touch phone

The Telstra Android-powered Smart-Touch phone, at $99, is the cheapest of its type in Australia. Using the Android 2.1 OS., it has GPS, a 32 mega pixel camera & video recording and Bluetooth connectivity.

As a prepaid phone, it offers web browsing, email and 150 mins talk time. Certain

plans offer free access to social networks and 2 GB of data. The $50 Weekend+

plan offers free talk & text.

The new Lite-on eNAU external DVD burner

The new Lite-on eNAU external DVD burner has customizable cover plates. Use the existing ones or create your own from photos or your designs. The burner is an 8x speed USB-powered burner and can burn circular labels.

The 2 versions are almost identical. eNAU608 also has LightScribe direct disc labeling technology for CDs and DVDs at a cost of $79. The 508 doesn’t have this additional feature. Available in April.

Use your mobile phone as a credit card

Use your mobile phone as a credit card. An Apple iPhone with an inbuilt MicroSD memory card works with a prepaid debit card and allows you to charge purchases less than $100 by scanning your phone.

Over 20,000 terminals have been installed so far. The cards will soon be used in Android phones and Blackberries as well, giving users a decreased need to carry cash or credit cards at all.

The Eee Slate EP121

The Eee Slate EP121 is ASUS’s answer to Apple’s iPad and will be released in Australia next month. It’s a serious tablet at $1499.

It runs Windows 7 with an Intel Core i5 chip, 2 or 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD. The tablet has a wide view screen, Bluetooth keyboard and pen.

Targeted at all consumers, it has Office, PhotoShop and Quicken, and its popularity is yet to be decided.

New 1 Trillion bits per second photonic chip

New 1 Trillion bits per second photonic chip is set to overcome internet data bottlenecks due to massive increase in usage.

The chip accurately captures data through an efficient light-based stream known as “polarization multiplexed Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying.”

The transmitter must be efficient at both sending and receiving and it’s only possible by using more powerful, flexible networks that are cheaper and use less energy to run.