Linked Hybrid (China) – a “green” complex of 750 apartments in Beijing. It features geothermal heating and cooling systems and recycled grey water designed by Steven Holl.

Shanghai World Financial Center (CHINA) – Rising in the Lujiazhui financial district in Pudong, the Shanghai World Financial Center is a tower among towers. The elegant 101-story skyscraper will be (for a moment, at least) the world’s tallest when completed in early 2008

Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt) – Because of its proximity to the sea, the architects and engineers had to deal with saline-infused ground which called for sophisticated geotechnical analyses and an intricately designed foundation and structural design. Four levels of the building are below ground, while the remaining seven floors of the disk-shaped building soar into the air. The exterior wall is clad in 4,000 granite blocks, carved with text and letters, and the roof is topped with solar sails that can be adjusted to allow sunlight inside.

Seattle Public Library (USA) – The resulting 11-floor, 362,987-sq.-ft. library is a dazzling display of glass and steel. In all, 4,644 tons of steel were used in the building, the equivalent of 20 Statues of Liberty, while the outstanding engineering of the building’s grid system is designed to withstand high winds or earthquakes. Inside, the building houses a 275-seat auditorium, a 50-foot living room, and an instantly legendary Book Spiral in a continuous run of books, organized by Dewey decimal number, that has room for the collection to expand.

Central Chinese Television (China) – The design of the new Central Chinese Television (CCTV) headquarters defies the popular conception of a skyscraper — and it broke Beijing’s building codes and required approval by a special review panel. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn’t apply to the CCTV building, which is formed by two leaning towers, each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop.

Ski Dubai (UAE) – When one thinks of a vacation in Dubai, the first images that might to come to mind are sun and sand. Now add snow. Two feet of snow, topped with a daily layer of fresh powder, to be exact — thanks to the system of 23 blast coolers and snow guns inside Ski Dubai. It might be 135 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors, but inside the 32,290 square-foot, $275 million structure, visitors ski and snowboard. The heavily insulated facility also includes the world’s largest indoor snow park, offering 9,842 square feet for sledding or bobsledding.

Fiera de Milano (Italy) – An international consortium of marquee-name architects — London’s Hadid, Tokyo’s Isozaki, New York and Zurich-based Libeskind, and Torino’s Maggiora — was chosen to redesign the trade-fair district of Milan. The quartet’s joint concept for updating the area of the gritty Northern Italian city centers around an “archipelago”-style layout that the architects say doesn’t duplicate any existing urban plans. The collaboration promises to produce an intentionally varied set of neighborhoods-within-a-neighborhood. The plan calls for a central park area, and clusters of commercial high-rises that are designed not only to reflect the signature styles of the four architects involved, but carefully proportioned and positioned to provide shade for pedestrians.

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Acer Aspire 4720 Notebook PC

* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 1.5 GHz speed
* 2 MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB
* Intel 943 GML Express chipset motherboard with integrated 3D graphics
* 1024-MB DDR II SDRAM, 667 MHz (max 2048 MB)
* 160-GB Serial-ATA hard disk drive, 5400rpm
* 8x DVD Super Multi Double Layer Optical Drive
* 14.1-inch (35.81 cm ) WXGA TFT LCD with Acer CrystalBrite Technology, 1280 x 800 resolution, high brightness 200nits
* Integrated 3D graphics, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950, up to 224 MB of shared system memory, supporting Microsoft DirectX 9.0
* Two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers, Dolby Stereo Sound
* Integrated Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR
* 1.3 Megapixels Crystal Eye WebCam
* Built-in Microphone
* 5-in-1 card reader, supporting Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick PRO (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card (xD)
* Intel/PRO Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g) Connection
* 10/100/1000 gigabit Ethernet Network card
* 56 kbps v.92 fax/modem
* Type II PC Card slot
* AC/MC 97 soundcard and modem
* 71W 4800 mAh Li-ion 8-cell battery pack, 3 hrs backup
* Linux OS (preinstalled)
* Dimension: WxDxH – 14.3 in, 10.8 in, 1.3 in
* Weight: 2.4 Kgs
* Licensed Windows Vista Operating System
* Carrying Case

Regular Price: P54,000.00
Price on Ebay: P28,000.00

Only at the Gift Alley

TIME’s 50 Best Websites of 2008

1. GasBuddy
2. Howcast
3. iliketotallyloveit.com
4. Omiru
5. PsychCentral
6. TripKick
7. Wikitravel
8. Yahoo! Answers
9. Zeer
10. Afrigadget.com
11. AskMen.com
12. ConcreteLoop.com
13. Health.com
14. PopSugar
15. ProFootballTalk
16. Rate My Professors
17. Serious Eats
18. The Nest
19. Geni
20. MapJack
21. Mint
22. NexTag
23. Nymbler
24. Picnik
25. Pixelgirl Presents
26. SearchMe
27. TinyUrl.com
28. Mobaganda.com
29. Urban Dictionary
30. Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
31. Hulu
32. Imeem
33. Kongregate
34. ffffound.com
35. Lookybook
36. Someecards
37. WebSudoku
38. Penny Arcade
39. Gaia Online
40. CarbonRally
41. COLOURlovers
42. Apartment Therapy
43. Digital Vaults
44. Free Rice
45. HypeBeast
46. Kiva.org
47. Net-a-Porter
48. Open Source Food
49. Petfinder
50. WikiSky

India’s Tata Motors introduced the “Nano”, bringing new mobility within the reach of tens of millions of people.

The Nano has a snub nose and a sloping roof and it can fit five people. The basic version the costs $2,500 has no radio, no passenger-side mirror, no air conditioning unit and has only one windshield wiper.

From the bottom to the top, this year’s Best Gadgets are:

10. Optimus Maximus Keyboard — From Vaporware to Reality

We’ve lurched from voluble praise of its beauty to bitter sarcasm aimed at its price, but there’s one thing you can say for sure about the Maximus: It actually exists and you may order one. Hey, it’s more than can be said about other things in the vaporware stakes. This $1,536 beast of a ‘board isn’t the most expensive thing in our Top 10, but it’s not far off.

9. HP Blackbird 002

Who would have thought it? Hewlett Packard — peddler of bland office-bound boxes that remain spiritually beige even if color schemes have moved on — paired up with Voodoo and turned out the year’s most-distinctive desktop gaming tower. And good Lord, what a box! Even if similar specs are offered by a dozen other boutique outfits, none can match that sexy etched case.

8. Zune 2

OK, we’re batting for the other team. Defiantly decent on first look, Microsoft’s second outing kills the iPod Classic up close, and we’re not afraid to say it. Sure, Apple’s moved on with the iPod Touch, but with only 16 GB of flash storage, it’s more of a minor leaguer compared to other players. This year, the devil rules our roost.

7. Amazon Kindle

Given the choice of Sony style or the ugly, poke-your-eye-out lines of Amazon’s new e-reader, the one with free internet wins. Though its primary functionality is designed to funnel you into spending money at the Kindle store and is hampered by nickel-and-dime fees, skip to the web browser, and the unit shines. The e-ink display is, as ever, fabulous.

6. Asus Eee PC

The little laptop that could, the Asus Eee PC grew from summertime whisper to a whirling dervish of hype by fall’s end. Now the reviews are in, and the damn thing rules. Stuck in a thick pack of cheap ultraportables to appear at Christmas, including the Zonbu Mini, the OLPC and the Nanobook, it’s the one we like best.

5. Nokia N810 Tablet PC

Nokia’s N810 internet tablet is the pocket-sized computer an entire generation of geeks has dreamed of owning. So what if it isn’t a phone? Phones suck. This is the wired life given to you wirelessly. And because the operating system is built on Debian Linux, you can hack it any way you like.

4. Olevia 747i

Cheap, utilitarian and good, Olevia’s entire range of high-def TV sets puts more-expensive brands to shame. Its 747i is the king, a 47-inch beast packed with inputs, features and a picture that smokes sets that cost twice as much.

3. Archos 705 Wi-Fi

The just-released successor to the summer’s best portable media player, the Archos 705 Wi-Fi remains our undefeated favorite, even after the Cowon Q5W fell flat. Solid, powerful and pricey, it is to everyday MP3 players as Porsches are to Pintos.

2. Olympus E510

Nokia’s D40 kicked open the door to affordable DSLRs, but the Olympus E510 closes the book on them, thanks to aggressive discounts that bring this formerly sub-$1,000 model into the sub-$500 bracket. Sharp pics, top-notch image stabilization and 10 fashionably unfashionable megapixels make it the camera to have.

1. Jailbroken iPhone

Out of the box, Apple’s iPhone is horrifically crippled. With a mid-triple-digit price tag and ample power purring within, Cupertino’s flummoxing user restrictions did nothing but motivate the haxz0r community. Broken wide open by these ninja tinkerers, the Jesus phone comes to life with third-party homebrew software ranging from retro-gaming emulators to serious PIM apps. Why wait until February for carefully curated (and controlled) outside development, when you can have it now, and feel a little dirty while you’re at it?

Source: Wired.com