The operating system itself is Linux based. Bout 256Mb big I believe. And is stored on an on-board chip, unless of course you happen to have Express Gate SSD which comes on a 512mb – 768mb flash add in. The OS lets you boot up into the Internet, Skype, Instant Messenger, Photo Viewer and depending on which motherboard you have you get music playback to.

The main reason I’m reviewing V1.4.4 (Asus P5QL-E version) is because it was gob-smackingly wonderful. The 300mb file (which Asus let me have a 20Kbp/s, cheers for that) intrigued me as usually the new update were pushing 70 – 100Mb. So I downloaded it and expected to see no visual improvement so I didn’t rush to restart my PC to have a gander. But after I finally did I was gob-smacked, the new layout is not far off vista’s cleanness, and is much better layed out than the previous versions. I’ve also noticed a slight improvement in load times, Firefox (splashtop browser as its called) loaded a lot faster than it used to as did the photo viewer but I was a bit disappointed to see the messenger side of things a bit worse off, Skype taking slightly longer to sign in as the messenger program (which does like to throw up contacts missing errors every now and then).

But overall I have to say the new major update has made me think of not bothering to boot into vista as I don’t really need to now unless I want to play a game. The only thing stopping me from doing this is the lack of music and video playback (oh and maybe a torrent app) but because I payed £63 for this motherboard I’m not expecting the best, I suppose you get what you pay for. Most of Asus new motherboards which display the Ai lifestyle sticker or which have the P43 chipsets (and upwards) include it now, apart from the gaming series motherboards, which is a shame as it’s a fantastic feature.

All in all Asus have shown real initiative in making the time to put this in. This is mostly aimed at people who are in a rush and don’t wish to wait a long time for XP/Vista to boot just so they can read their emails or make last minute plans over Skype/MSN. One thing that I am a little disappointed about is that at the moment there is no version for PC’s running the Windows 7 Beta/RC even though its in its very early stages most companies have seemed to make at least some effort in porting drivers over to it and Asus should to as it seems to be the “Leader in hardware”

For those interested I’ve taken some pictures of Express Gate.

Hope you enjoyed my review and stay tuned for the next one.

A little note, if you want to install this onto windows 7 then put the installer into compatibility mode for Vista SP2.

Also you may like to know that MSI have made something similar called WINKI, stupid name I know but if it’s like Express Gate then you’d put up with it.

Have you spotted any additional features that are missing? Please post any feedback below.

Ebay Inc. was the fastest growing company in 2007 for $75 million, though now StumbleUpon is sold for undisclosed fee

eBay now started to auction off ,well ironically, to the original owners. Skype could be next in line.

Stumbleupon, the personalized recommendation service, publically announced yesterday that the original founders had bought back the company with a billion dollar discount returning to its investor start-up.

This has happened just two years after Ebay Inc. purchased StumbleUpon on a very high ranking price.  The fee was a massive $75 million dollars which many of the public could not think how this would fit into the e-commerce site, Ebay.Who would of thought we would be in this position today?

Thankfully for most, StumbleUpon has now acquired the backing of the original founders. Garrett Camp, whom now is CEO of StumbleUpon and Geoff Smith purchased the company from eBay, though they could not of funded this by themselves so have been helped by other investors including Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, Accel Parteners and August Capital.

Garrett Camp, as CEO, quoted in his first official unveiling quoted:

“We are grateful to eBay for its guidance. However, we realized there were few long-term synergies between the two businesses. It is best for us to part ways and focus on our respective strengths,”

“This change makes it possible for StumbleUpon to continue to innovate and focus on becoming the web’s largest recommendation service.” Camp said.

He also said in the official blog that,

“This will help StumbleUpon move quickly and stay true to its focus – helping people discover interesting web content. While there will be some internal changes at StumbleUpon, it will not impact the Stumbling experience and will help us create the best possible product.”

The company StumbleUpon was founded in 2001, bought for over $75 million by Ebay in May 2007. Now, the discovering and rating system has a base of over 7.4 million registered users. It also recieves over 20,000 advertisers who want to promote their websites on this heavy traffic site.

Chief Executive John Donahoe said himself that Ebay Inc. is not offering enough customer satisfaction and is not as competitive as it should be as one of the top e-commerce sites online as he saw shares rise and fall on the day that StumbleUpon was sold.

According to 3News, Ebay shares fell 39 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at US$14.63 on Monday. Shares gained 25 cents to US$14.88 in after-hours electronic trade.