Usually the terms "enthusiast cooling equipment" and "sexy, sexy" don't go hand in hand, but Thermaltake has here an exception that proves the rule. This here V1 CPU, which retails for $60, can handle a nice assortment of Core 2 and Athlon processors, but we'd rather just set it up on a table somewhere and stare at the pretty lights. That's a red dot design award well earned.

[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]

The fine folks at Asus are dropping three new portable series to serve professionals with Core 2 Duo speeds and snazzy design. For starters we have the V1 widescreen laptop, with a 15.4-inch display and the full range of Core 2 Duo processors, from the 1.67GHz T5500 to the 2.33GHz T7600. Graphics are provided by ATI's Mobility Radeon X1600, with 256 or 512MB of RAM. Hard drives range from 80 to 120GB, with a dual HDD option, and the V1 features gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 for connectivity. There's also an ExpressCard slot, fingerprint reader, S/PDIF audio and a card reader to round out the 0.98-inch thick, 6 pound laptop. The F2 series is only slightly more modest, with processors from Core Solo all the way to the Core 2 Duo T7400, and a 15-inch XGA or SXGA+ display. There's no digital audio, but the F2 does have TV-out and an optional 1.3 megapixel webcam. Graphics are a Radeon X1400 card running 128MB or 512MB of memory, and specs are otherwise similar to the V1. The R1F Tablet PC keeps the trend going, keeping pace with its siblings on specs for the most part, but featuring a 13.3-inch WXGA LCD and most likely integrated Intel graphics. There's no word on price or availability for any of these models, but we're liking where Asus is headed with 'em so far.

[Via Laptoping]

The UPnP Forum has rolled out version two of its UPnP specifications, which promises to make it easier for users to network various devices together, while at the same time keeping companies happy by ensuring that all the content flying around remains protected by DRM. Some of the biggest additions to the v2 specs come in the UPnP AV MediaServer and MediaRenderer device classes, which encompass everything from PCs, DVD players, and PVRs to televisions, stereo systems, and portable media players. The Forum's mostly talking in generalities in their announcement, but it looks like among other things, the new specs define how programs and other digital content is recorded and stored for later viewing. You'll also be pleased to know that the new specs are also fully backwards compatible with the v1 specifications, so your gear's not obsolete just yet -- well it is, but not because of this upgrade.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]