The last time Haier really wowed us was back in 2007 when the company was peddling its “screen-on-a-stick” laptop tech. Two years later we’ve got this little beauty to drool on: the Jian i7. The 13.4-inch Core 2 Duo ULV laptop is pretty dang thin, weighs 3 pounds, and retails for a mere 6,000 Yuan (about $879 US). Where do we sign up?

Today is officially the first day of CEDIA Expo 2009 and now that Microsoft has announced its Media Center news, it’s the partner’s turn. Up first is Nevius which is of course releasing new Media Center PCs with Windows 7, so of course the new looser DRM and other features are included. Niveus is stepping up the hardware though too by adding RAID and SSD drives to the Pro Series, and also a new Windows Home Server requirement for its full system restoration capabilities. The other new offering is the aptly named White Glove service, which basically means the services

Windows 7 is the most powerful and feature-packed version of the operating system we’ve seen so far, but you won’t necessarily see that straight away. Dubious default settings mean most Windows 7 installations aren’t properly optimised, and if you want your system to have the best performance, usability, security and battery life then you’ll need to apply a few extra tweaks. Here’s what you need to know. 1. Get Windows 7 anti-virus It’s a dangerous world out there, so the very first step you should take on any Windows 7 system