It's tough to get your fingers on a well made ultraportable that's decently priced. That is, until Gateway stepped into the picture. The Gateway E-100M reminds me of the Motorola Razr of notebooks.

This piano black miniature is almost as thin as the Toshiba Portege R200, but doesn't put a world of hurt on my pockets. However, it's not completely perfect given what's under the hood. The components are the latest Intel Yonah processors — that's the good news. But they're the lowest breed, integrating the Ultra Low Voltage U1400 Core Solo(1.2Ghz) processor and only 512MB RAM. Performance is much like the R200 — dreadful. Although if all you're doing is word processing and spreadsheets, the E-100M is an affordable alternative to the R200, and even the Lenovo Thinkpad X60s.

Battery is good with the 3 Cell, and a whole lot better with an extended 9 cell battery($79.99). It doesn't have a built-in optical drive, but an external drive is available($199.99). The price starts at $1,574.

The rumors are flying, thicker than ever: will there be an actual Apple iPhone?

The current round of rumors started with an Australian report citing executives from BenQ and several financial firms as saying that some Taiwanese manufacturers were competing to build the device. That was followed by a virtual scrum of analysts falling all over each other to predict Apple's move: first a VisionGain analyst saying the iPhone would appear on new wireless carrier Helio (via MobileTracker) and then a somewhat confused report on our own PCMag.com from Rethink Research, predicting that Apple will work with Intel, an Asian manufacturer, and existing carriers to build the phone.

I want to see an iPhone as badly as everyone else, and not just because I sit near "MacBook Pro" Cisco Cheng, "Intel Core Duo" Joel Santo Domingo and "iPod Hi-Fi" Mike Kobrin. Phones generally have hideous interfaces for anything beyond basic voice calling, and the market could do with a big dose of that old Apple magic for making things intuitive and easy-to-use. An Appl-ization trend on mobile phone interfaces, if it bleeds over to other manufacturers, could really be a shot in the arm for high-end data services that right now only geeks bother to learn how to use.

It wouldn't take innovative new features for an iPhone to be a hit. It would just take unlocking the features high-end phones now have, through an attractive, easy-to-use interface that always works.

I have no idea whether Apple will actually release a phone -- their smoke is opaque to me -- but I doubt they'll do it at next week's CTIA trade show. I also think they'll have to establish their own virtual carrier, or MVNO, like ESPN Mobile. (For global markets, the phone would probably be GSM, so Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers would be able to use it with their existing SIM cards.) The Motorola ROKR debacle shows that Apple doesn't play well with others: that phone was held up for a year in bickering between Motorola, Apple and Cingular, and ended up looking like the product of too many hideous compromises. Apple's strategy has always been to deliver a complete experience, and I don't see why they'd settle for anything less with the iPhone.

The popular Tamagotchi Virtual Pet continues to attract fans both young and old, ever since it hit toy shelves in 2004. Bandai America recently launched the advanced Tamagotchi Connection Version 3, which allows virtual pet owners to log on to TamaTown.com for more interaction with their pets. Version 3 is doing so well that Bandai America reports its selling twice the amount than of Version 2, and more than 50,000 users are visiting TamaTown.com each day.

Version 3 features three refreshed games, 20 additional characters, and 24 new design styles, including Translucent Black, Translucent Pink, Zebra Stripes, Green Snake, Sky Blue Circles and Pink Ribbon.

This year, Bandai America will launch new Tamagotchi lanyards so that you can wear your virtual pet around your neck.

Tamagotchi Version 3 Virtual Pets are available at ToyWhiz for $39.99 or MasterMindToys for $18.99 plus shipping.

[Thanks for the tip, Mark!]

To be geeky means to surround yourself with so many gadgets and gear that you can't help but be unorganized.

At least there's one product out there that can help us de-clutter our computer desks. Meet myKeyO's Keyboard Organizer. It looks like an ordinary keyboard, but it opens to an internal storage case. There's no need to waste hours on end trying to find a blank CD-R, notepads, stapler, markers, rubberbands, business cards--you name it. You can keep your important knick-knacks hidden inside this convenient case, which the company says is 1/10th inches thicker than a standard keyboard.

The Keyboard Organizer in white sells for $24.95, while the black model is $29.95. It's also available in a Wireless USB version, selling for $49.95. And for those who just love LED lights, you'll want the KO Backlit USB Multimedia Organizer ($69.95). Compatible with Windows and Macs.

[via Ubergizmo]