Asus is set to launch its UMPC, the R50A, which has full PC and GPS functionality, in January. Not much more info at this time, but stay tuned!.

The $149 ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USb offers two TV tuners allowing users to watch and record off-the-air Digital TV/HDTV, unencrypted Digital TV (ClearQAM) cable programming, analog TV, and listen to FM broadcasts.

“No other company offers this exceptional choice of connectivity and configuration in TV tuner PC products,” said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “Our graphics pedigree is built on long-standing leadership in TV and video on the PC. The ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB and ATI TV Wonder 600 PCI/PCI Express, offered through VisionTek, take the best of our company’s digital TV experience and enable amazing HDTV on PCs today.”

For those who live in areas where the TV air signals are poor or non-existent, the ATI TV Wonderâ„¢ Digital Cable Tuner is the solution to enjoy premium digital cable shows , such as HBO and Showtime, on the PC.

As a heavy user of my own PVR, I’ve been hankering to convert to a system with CableCARD support. It’s just plain silly to pay the $6.00/month for a cable receiver, and then futz around with the IR blaster (which inevitably gets out of synch right when I’m ready to start recording). No, I’d rather just plug in that CableCARD and let my PVR software do its stuff. So, Dell, your XPS 410 might have just jumped to the top of the list for my upcoming upgrade. The premium’s not even all that much, at $236 per tuner. Most good tuners for for around the same price, anyway.

Some manufacturers are having some difficulties shipping their hottest machines (cough, Dell, cough), but Alienware will ship you a mediocre, moderately configured Area-51 M5550 "Quick Ship" version. It’s nothing to get that excited about, with no Santa Rosa, a T7200 Core 2 Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (not the best performer), 2Gb RAM, a 15.4" LCD, typical optical drive, and a 160GB HDD. Pricing is $1,699, and they’re promising a 48-hour shipping time. So, if you’re will to trade time for performance (something of a contradiction, if you think about it), here’s you’re deal.