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Maggie Reardon joins the show today. We talk about the impending world pandemic of swine flu. "Mean-Jeans Maggie" gives us the inside scoop from a NYU professor who thinks that the virus could be really bad in the fall. From now on, we're wearing face masks in the podcast studio.

(Credit: Wilson G. Tang/CNET)

Meanwhile, Amazon.com is trying to cash in on the fearmongering by offering a $25 dollar "Pandemic Swine Flu First Aid and Safety Kit." It's a couple of respirator masks, a pair of safety goggles, gloves, hand sanitizer, and booties. Yeah, you can pick up most of this stuff from your corner hardware or drug store for the cheap.

Also, a fan of the show turns Wilson into a "ce-web-rity" by adding him to a list of celebrities you can punch on Facebook. He cries in a corner today. Hopefully, you won't find Wilson on the roof of the CBS building any time soon.

Finally, we get in-depth about the possibility of the iPhone coming to the Verizon network. Neither Wilson nor Maggie thinks this will be a possibility in the near future. We think it's a ploy by Apple to get a better deal with AT&T. There is a chance the iPhone will appear on the Verizon network, when the company switches over to the LTE 4G standard.

Send in your comments to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Call us at 1-866-404-CNET (2638). We'll try not to catch the swine flu, but it maybe can't be helped, as Justin loves licking subway poles.

The eagle-eyed folks over at Hexus have spotted a gigabyte GA-IBP at CeBIT. So what’s so special about this board? It’s a P55 chipset, socket LGA1156 motherboard for Intel’s upcoming Core i5 processor.

Some background. The Core i5 is a Lynnfield processor, which is itself based on the Nehalem Intel Core microarchitecture. It features an integrated memory controller supporting 2-channel DDR3, hyperthreading technology (which means that four cores translates into processing capacity for eight threads), features 8MB of Intel Smart Cache, and supports Turbo Boost technology and an integrated PCI-Express graphics controller. The socket for this chip differs from the LGA1366 used by the Core i7 (Bloomfield). So what’s the difference between the Core i5 and Core i7? Core i5 CPUs don’t make use of Intel’s QuickPath Interconnect.

So, what’s the big deal with Core i5? Simple, it’ll allow consumers access to Intel’s next generation microarchitecture at a lower price point than Core i7. What kind of ... Read more

roundup The annual late-winter high-tech fest in Germany presents a smorgasbord of gadgets, gear, and technology partnerships.

The Eee PC Touch at CeBit 2009.

(Credit: ZDNet Germany)

Photos: Eee PC Touch at CeBit 2009

Garmin slims down with Nuvi 1200 and 1300 series

Mio Explora 750 GPS Phone debuts

IBM and SAP preview live motion between clouds

At the CeBit 2009 trade show taking place this week in Hannover, Germany, Asus showed off its Eee PCs, including touch-screen models that can be used like the iPhone, with finger gestures. Our colleagues at ZDNet Germany snapped some pictures of the computers; scroll through the gallery below to see what Asus has up its sleeve.

Photos: Eee PC Touch at CeBit 2009

(Credit: Garmin)

Mio isn't the only one making GPS news at CeBIT 2009. Garmin also got in on the action and introduced its new Nuvi 1200 and 1300 series of portable navigation devices on Tuesday. The new products sport thinner designs and are the first to offer the option of enhanced pedestrian navigation through CityXplorer maps.

Realizing that portable navigation devices are no longer restricted to just the car and hoping to reach new customers, Garmin wanted to provide an option for those exploring new cities by foot. Slimming down the size of the GPS was one solution and CityXplorer was another.

CityXplorer maps will be available as an optional download to users, ranging from $9.99 to $14.99, and provides information for select cities that allows users to plan and use routes that include public transit options, such as buses and subways. Garmin has not yet released a list of supported cities but plans to publish them (for both North America and Europe) on its Web site in Q2.

Even if you ... Read more

Mio Explora K70

(Credit: Mio)

Back at GSMA 2009, I spotted a mysterious Mio GPS Phone (pictured below) at the Microsoft booth but couldn't find much information on the device other than what was printed on the spec card. Well, it looks the mystery smartphone had its official coming-out party on the opening day of the CeBIT 2009.

On Tuesday, Mio Technology took the wraps off its Mio Explora K70 GPS Phone, a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone with an integrated Qualcomm gpsOne chipset. The handset offers turn-by-turn navigation and quad-band connectivity (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) with 3.5G support (HSDPA/HSUPDA 850/1900/2100). The Explora K70 also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The slim device (4.5 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick; 4 ounces) features a 3.5-inch touch screen with a 400x240 pixel resolution and a customizable Mio Menu for quick access to contacts, applications, and more. The K70 also has a 3-megapixel camera with photo geo-tagging abilities.

Pricing and availability date were not ... Read more

Eee PCs on display at the 2009 edition of CeBit. For more Eee PC photos, click on the image. (Note: The captions are in German.)

(Credit: ZDNet Germany)

HANNOVER, Germany--Asus is to phase out its 7-inch-screen Eee PC Netbooks in mature markets, company chairman Jonney Shih said on Tuesday.

During a press conference at the CeBit technology show here, Shih told ZDNet UK that the manufacturer would concentrate on its 10-inch Netbooks, which he said customers preferred. He denied recent reports that Asus would phase out its 8.9-inch Netbooks. However, he did say that it would cut 7-inch Eee PCs--the original size for the line--from its catalog.

Asus Chairman Jonney Shih at CeBit.

(Credit: ZDNet UK)

"It seems that customers prefer to have a greater screen, which also means a larger keyboard," Shih said. "I still believe we have a good opportunity in 8.9-inch for kids, telecoms (providers) or emerging markets. The 7-inch (Netbook) is going to be phased out, although some emerging countries may still have some demand."

Asus has previously had to deny rumors that it would remove all its sub-10-inch Netbooks from its range. In November, it said both its 8.9-inch and 7-inch Netbooks would survive with refreshed specifications.

At CeBit, the annual spring tech show, Asus showed off a variety of new and recently announced products. It offered up an Eee videophone, an Eee NAS PC, and several new notebooks, including the Eee PC "Seashell" 1008HA, which is a one-inch-thick, 10-inch-screen version of the Eee Netbook design.

Today Nvidia unveiled the GeForce G102M, a new laptop GPU that will debut in a new 14-inch notebook from Asus called the K401N. The announcement was made at the CeBIT trade show in Germany.

According to Nvidia:

The GeForce G102M is designed to provide a superior graphics experience for thin, affordable notebooks. It uses 8 watts less power when running stressful applications than typical discrete notebook GPUs.

The new GPU has 16 processor cores which provide up to 4 times faster graphics performance than Centrino 2 systems1. The GeForce G102M includes up to 512MB of dedicated graphics memory to accelerate 1080p HD video playback, photo and video editing, and casual games."

There are three models Asus introduced in the K series family: the 14-inch K40IN, which features a GeForce G102M GPU; the K51 15-inch, and the K71 17-inch which will feature the GeForce GT 120M GPU. The GeForce GT 120M performance GPU boasts 32 processor cores, and, according to Nvidia, will, "provide up to 15 times faster graphics performance than Centrino 2 systems and encode ... Read more

See me, feel me, touch me.

(Credit: Asus)

Spotted at the German CeBit 2009 show was this interesting concept piece from Asus. It's a laptop with two displays, instead of a traditional screen and keyboard. The company calls it "a revolutionary dual-panel concept notebook," and says the design was inspired by "ideas contributed from users from around the world."

Using a Web site called WePC.com, consumers could submit and discuss ideas for innovative laptops, and many of the submitted ideas seem to revolve around multiple displays in a single unit.

These photos represent a stab at bringing one of these crowd-sourced ideas to life, but Asus warns that "the concept is still a work-in-progress which requires continued feedback."

This is how Asus describes the system:

The dual panel offers a flexible working space in which users can adapt to suit their prevailing usage scenarios, for example adjusting the size of the virtual touchpad and keyboard.

Through hand gestures, handwriting recognition, and multitouch, users are presented with a control surface that is both flexible and intuitive. Users can use the dual-panel concept in a myriad of usage scenarios, for example as a conventional notebook with multitouch screens, a virtual keyboard and touchpad; a multimedia hub, in which both dual panels could combine to form a larger display for widescreen entertainment; or an E-book mode in which users can hold the dual panel concept notebook just like they would a conventional book while flipping pages through intuitive gestures or by touch.

These concepts aim to bring convenience to the user through technological innovations and user-centric design.

More pics after the break. ... Read more