Panasonic have had a fairly strong monopoly in consumer "tough" laptops, with their ToughBook line, but that all might be set to change with Dell announcing the rugged XT2 tablet. It features all the things you'd expect, lots of protection, hot-swappable drives and modules. It has a quick Core 2 Duo processor and with up to 5gb of RAM it's performance looks likely to match it's ruggedness... although there is no option for Windows 7... Why is this, Dell?

Remember when Nintendo first showed off the Wii? They had a nice display with lots of different brightly (and darkly!) coloured consoles, and I'm fairly sure they said something about them all being available. Perhaps it was the sheer demand the Wii experienced that put this off, but that certainly never really panned out. However, those who are a fan of darkly coloured electronics, will be pleased to know that the Wii is set to be available in black from the 6th of November... In Europe!

Hopefully it'll come stateside soon...

Google have been slowly invading lots of different markets over the past half decade, providing a free service which usually ends up being just as, if not more functional than the paid one it competes with, and it looks like they are about to do it again.

What's the market this time? Satnav. With the upcoming launch of Android 2.0, Google are rolling out "Google Maps Navigation" which is set to provide live, turn by turn directions to and from destinations of your choice. Automatic rerouting should you miss a turn or the like, will also be featured, as will photography from the really rather smart streetview.

Satnav giants TomTom and Garmin were hit heavily on the stock market after the announcement, with shares dropping 13 and 18 percent respectively; showing that there is genuine concern as to whether standalone units will be as viable with Google providing a free service which may end up being rolled out on more platforms than Android.

The only concern is to how it aquires map data; Google Maps does not have a large cache by default and downloads maps over the net as it goes, and worldwide mobile internet cover is still really not that great... so will it work? More as we know it.

The Motorola DROID is a little phone I have been following with great interest; based upon the latest version of Google's Android, it packs some serious tech specs and a design I am personally a fan of. However, in the past Moto' hardware has never been that much cop, with many buggy and outdated RAZRs springing to mind before attrocities such as the ROKR even register.

This has all changed though apparently, with the DROID receiving a very very positive once over by our friends at Engadget, naming it by far the best Android device available, but falling short of placing it above Apple's iPhone. Well worth a read over there if you are interested in getting your mitts on a new smartphone in the near future.

(sidenote: appologies for my lack of posts this month and the one before, I was involved in a car accident and have been in and out of hospital! I'm home now though!)

Microsoft, I have to hand it to you; it has been a good month for you. I am a Apple Fanboy, but this month my heart has been in Redmond not Cupertino. In the past month, I have installed Windows 7 on my HP Mini (a 1116NR) and I have purchased a Zune HD with the Zune Pass. I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong, my MacBook Pro is still my workhorse computer, and I definitely could not and would not get everything done on my little Windows 7 netbook, but I am not carrying my MacBook around with me on a day to day basis anymore.

First, the Zune HD is a winner. It is an iPod Nano, Shuffle, or Classic killer. I don't think it will knock the iPod touch off of the media player throne anytime soon, but I don't think it was meant to. The iPod Touch is an altogether different machine; it is a mini tablet or quasi computer, and it does many things pretty well. The Zune HD however is a media player, and it does that job nearly perfectly. When you add it to the Zune Pass (the Zune HD killer app) it becomes perfect. With the Zune HD comes the ability to download music directly to the player, and the courtesy of having a nearly unlimited media library at your fingertips. Plus, with the new Zune.net, I am able to steam my media to my Mac via Fox or Safari. Zune.net has replaced Pandora on my desktop and the Zune HD has replaced my iPod for music on the run. There are several reviews about the Zune HD and most of them are spot on. The device is thin, light, and sexy. The Screen is beautiful and the touch control is fabulous. There isn't an app for everything, but I don't need it to do anything but play music well.

Second, I have picked up my little HP Netbook again. To be honest, I have hated the thing since I received it. It wasn't that the keyboard and screen aren't great (because they are), but Windows XP sucked and stuttered on it and Vista was a joke. The little SSD drive in it just hated Windows XP, and I didn't want to invest the hours necessary tweaking the device to be better. After all, my MacBook just worked. I received an educational discount on Windows 7 and decided to experiment with installing it on the HP 1116nr. Not only did it install flawlessly, but it brought new life to the little device. I know have a little workhorse with a battery that lasts nearly 4 hours, complete wireless access to my Evernote library or Google Docs at my will. Plus, with the Zune Software on the machine, it has turned into a tiny media server. It is the most fabulous portable computer, and it is all thanks to Microsoft. To be honest, it feels a little strange.

I won't be a fultime Windows user anytime soon. Again, I love my MacBook, but until Apple produces something lighter, faster, and more powerful than my HP Mini with Windows 7, my MacBook will not be leaving my desk anytime soon. It will be all Microsoft on the run.