March 17 - 3:10pm EDT   Toshiba’s Japan-only new Dynabook SS RX1 is the first ever notebook to offer a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), matching the storage capacity of conventional hard-disk drives with the speeds associated with flash drives. The model will be available about nine months after Toshiba also unveiled the first laptop with a 64GB SSD drive. In North America, the RX1’s equivalent is the Portégé R500, already a holder of many “world’s first” accolades. [full story]

December 21 - 9:55am EST   Cell provider Cricket concluded the week before Christmas with the introduction of two high-profile phones to its lineup. The appearance of the RAZR 2 V9m marks the first appearance of the handset outside of the top five carriers and is set to take advantage of the carrier's unlimited phone, messaging, and data plans; like the reference versions available at Alltel, Sprint, and Verizon, the Cricket version has a 2-megapixel camera usable for media messaging and a 3G-level EVDO connection for web browsing. The handset continues to Bluetooth with stereo audio support and a microSD slot, and should be available now for $400 without a contract. [full story]