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The iPad! A revolutionary, game-changing product. But also, far from perfect. Let’s help Apple out on that second front, shall we?

Don’t feel like you need to stick to realistic improvements, either. Sure, me adding Flash to make Hulu usable wasn’t too crazy, but please think outside the box here.

Send your best entries to me at contests@gizmodo.com with Improved iPad in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs under 800k in size (seriously, anything over will not be posted because our gallery system freaks out when we try to feed it lots of large files), and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Send your work to me by next Tuesday morning, and I’ll pick three top winners and show off the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it!

Dell recently issued a BIOS fix for its Studio 17 with Core i7, designed to solve a serious crashing issue. However, after the release of Intel’s new Core i5 processor and a number of vocal user complaints about its Core i7 product, the company has made the lower-powered and priced Core i5 the Studio 17’s default CPU choice. Though, as of this posting, we did not see a Core i7 option on Dell.com, a rep assured us that the Core i7 model, labeled the Dell Studio 1747 has not been discontinued and will return to the site within days.

When we reviewed the Dell Studio 17 with Intel’s Core i7 processor (aka Dell Studio 1747) in November, we gave the notebook a 4-star rating due to its blazing performance and relatively affordable price. However, we noted two major problems we experienced with our review unit. First, the initial system we received stopped booting (and made several beeping noises) just after testing had been completed and, second, we noticed that the exterior of the chassis got hot, with the underside of the system registering a troubling 112-degrees Fahrenheit after just 15 minutes of playing a Hulu video.

We returned the first unit to Dell, which repaired it and sent it back to us a couple of days later, saying that the first issue we encountered was an isolated incident. The repaired unit worked, but we did experience experience a couple of mysterious blue screen crashes the first time we tried to play Hulu videos on it, though these seemed to disappear on subsequent tests. After we informed Dell about the uncomfortably hot temperatures, they sent us a second review unit to test. This second unit  did not break or crash, but was just as hot as the original.

Readers Respond

Without having tested an entire assembly line of Dell Studio 17s with Core i7, it was impossible for us to tell if the one defective review unit we received was a fluke or a harbinger of trouble. However, after the product began shipping, we began receiving negative reports from many users, claiming that their Dell Studio 1747s (with Core i7) had died after a few days or hours of use.

A number of users also posted on forums that their Dell Studio 1747s slowed down after intense use. For example, a French-speaking user posted this experiment, which claims that after running two CPU-intensive programs, Prime 95 and Furmark, the CPU speed dropped from 1.6 to 1.06-GHz. Notebookcheck.com, a professional review site, did not see a clock speed drop but did see their test notebook’s 3DMark06 scores drop significantly after 12 hours of intense use. We did not test our review unit for performance throttling before we had to return it to Dell.

Dell’s BIOS Update

Recently, Dell  issued a BIOS update that fixes what they call the “7 beeps problem,” the same issue that bricked our first review unit. Dell advises that, if you own a Dell Studio 1747 that is working properly, you should install the BIOS update to insure you never get the 7 beeps problem. If your Dell Studio 1747 has already stopped booting, you can call Dell support or try re-seating the CMOS battery to bring the system back to life.

Whether the new BIOS update (termed the A04 BIOS) makes the system cooler or resolves its alleged performance issues remains to be seen. If you have a Dell Studio 1747, please let us know if the BIOS update has improved your system by posting in the comments below.

Own another Dell notebook or netbook? Sound off here on what you think of the brand.

Active Media Products has introduced a new range of 1.8-inch solid state drives, SaberTooth ZX. The three current offerings have a PATA ZIF interface and either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of storage capacity. Their performance is rated at up to 80MBps of sequential read speeds and up to 38MBps sequential write speeds. The drives are meant as an upgrade to netbook PCs.

The drives support PIO mode 6 and Ultra DMA mode 6. The 128GB SaberTooth ZX is available now through Amazon for $380. There is also a 64GB version at $200 and a 32GB drive for $120.

Big news for doubleTwist, the iTunes alternative that allows you to manage media for hundreds of devices, including Android phones, the Palm Pre, and BlackBerry. Tomorrow, the company will announce that it has forged a partnership with T-Mobile, which is now promoting it as the supported way to sync media to its line of Android phones. As part of the deal, T-Mobile will begin displaying doubleTwist banners in their retail stores and on T-Mobile.com. And perhaps most important, doubleTwist will come pre-installed on some Android devices, including the new Fender/Eric Clapton myTouch 3G handset.

For those that haven’t used it before, doubleTwist is a media management program that’s both visually and functionally similar to iTunes in many respects, but with one big difference: it will work with nearly any device (iTunes only plays nice with iPods and iPhones). You can drag and drop songs to playlists, sync music, photos, and video to your devices, and share your media with friends using integrated Facebook and Flickr support. In effect, doubleTwist can serve as an “iTunes for Android”. The software is impressive in its own right, but the company has also gotten quite a bit of attention because it was co-founded by DVD Jon, who serves as CTO.

This is a smart move by T-Mobile. One of the most jarring experiences when moving to an Android phone is figuring out how to sync media to the device. First, you have to manually mount the SD drive from the phone’s screen. Once that’s done, you may find yourself half-expecting iTunes to cheerily pop up to help transfer your media, but nothing happens — it’s up to you to drag and drop media from your computer to the appropriate folder on the phone. There are plenty of applications out there meant to help you do this, but it’s a poor experience for users who are trying the platform out for the first time. doubleTwist makes this much easier for new Android owners (it even shows you how to mount the SD card). It may not be quite as robust as iTunes, but it’s going to be good enough for most people. If this proves to be successful for T-Mobile, it wouldn’t surprise me if doubleTwist was adopted by other carriers as well.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) January 18, 2010 — Aperion Audio, a consumer direct maker of award-winning home theater speaker systems, introduces the Aperion Home Audio Link (HAL), a wireless adapter which streams any audio format wirelessly from a computer, iPod, MP3 music player or mobile device to a variety of audio systems. By adding more HAL Receiver units the music can be distributed to up to three rooms. HAL is simple to use, utilizes a robust wireless link, and delivers high quality sound at an affordable price.
Aperion’s Home Audio Link™ wireless digital media adapterMany music libraries are stored on computers, MP3 players, and other mobile devices which are restricted to small, built-in speakers. By using Aperion’s HAL, music lovers can hear great sound wherever they want in the home, on the type of sound system they prefer. The Aperion HAL gives users a choice, setting the music free and enabling it to be heard on the best audio system available, such as a home theater speaker system. HAL can also be used to wirelessly connect a powered subwoofer.

To hear music from a laptop computer, for example, the user simply plugs the matchbox sized HAL Send unit into a computer’s USB port, connects the HAL Receive unit into an AV receiver, plugs in the power adapter and the system links automatically. Unlike many wireless products on the market today, HAL does not require a Wi-Fi network or software installation. The HAL gives new meaning to the phrase “plug and play”.

“Our customers have been asking our Home Theater Gurus for advice on wireless audio systems; we set out to find a reliable technology that we could advocate,” said Mike Hopkins, Aperion Audio’s Product Development Manager. “We created HAL to give consumers the opportunity to listen to all of their music or favorite internet radio stations wirelessly on their preferred sound systems and we’ve been able to do it simply with an elegant, affordable solution.”

Pricing and Availability:

The Aperion HAL system is priced at $149. To enjoy distributed music throughout the home, consumers can purchase additional HAL Receive units for $70 each. The system is available for pre-order now at AperionAudio.com and ships January 28, 2010.

Specifications and Warranty:

Package Includes: HAL Send unit and HAL Receive unit, 2 USB power adapters, 2 stereo mini to RCA cables, one stereo mini cable, and two pairs of adhesive Velcro strips.

Technical Specifications: Transmits uncompressed digital audio up to 100 feet in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

Warranty: One (1) year limited warranty covers all defects in material and workmanship.

The Aperion Audio Experience:

Aperion was the first in their industry to provide free shipping both ways with their Risk Free 30-Day In-Home Audition™. Aperion’s “Home Theater Gurus” are available to assist those shopping for audio systems from initial research through lifetime technical support. The “Gurus” are home theater experts, focused only on making sure the customer is able to enjoy a lifetime of great sound.

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