Take the latest commercials from Toshiba, for instance. In an effort to better compete in a mobile computing industry dominated by Apple and Android, Toshiba decided they would take things up a notch by using an attractive spokeswoman doing yoga to help pitch the products. The idea is to cut down on stress in the fast-paced business world by buying reliable technology, but the final product come across as more of an advertisement for the attractive woman doing yoga (and her boobs) as much as it does for Toshiba’s devices.

I mean, what else is the following freeze-frame trying to advertise?

Is Toshiba being light-hearted or overtly sexist? Or are they making fun of the sexism used in commercials be featuring some of their very own, done in a over-the-top manner? Take a look at all the commercials for this campaign and you decide:

[Via Buzzfeed]

Portege Z935 is being called the world’s lightest ultrabook at just over 2.4 pounds. That is ever so slightly less than the 13.3-inch MacBook Air. The Z935 comes with a 13.3-inch screen and a slim 8.3 mm profile at its thinnest point.

The Z935 comes with Ivy Bridge Processors, Intel HD 4000 graphics, up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 512GB SSD. It comes with a brushed magnesium alloy casing a backlit keyboard, and a 13.3-inch non glare 1366×768 resolution LCN. It comes complete with a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA and SD card reader slots.

It comes out on June 24 at a starting price of $899.99. That’s quite a bit cheaper than the 13-inch Macbook, so it may make for a good substitute if you want the thin design but don’t have the cash. Or, if you just don’t like Mac OS. In the U.K. the Portege will be released sometime in Q3 at a price of 899 Pounds.

This variant of the Satellite U845 ultrabook is unique in that it comes with a 21:9 aspect ratio used on many current films and movies. This also allows for 2 windows to easily be opened at once on either side of the screen. It may be a big hit for travelling business people, as it is truly a laptop for both business and pleasure.

Toshiba is calling the U845W the world’s first “entertainment optimized ultrabook”. As well as the ultra-wide 1792×768 resolution screen, it also comes with premium Harman/Kardon speakers, Ivy Bridge processors and tons of ports.

The 14.4 inch wide screen is optimized for CinemaScope’s 21:9 aspect ratio, and eliminates any need for letterboxing (the black bars on the top and bottom of widescreen movies played on more box-like aspect ratios).

The construction is of machined aluminum for the chassis and lid, with a strip of textured rubberized paint running along the edge of the lid and palm rest, and covering the bottom of the chassis.

Laptop Mag got to test it out and has provided a review:

The machine will cost $999 for the entry level configuration. This comes with Ivu Bridge i5 processor, 500 GB Harddrive with 32GB SSD cache and Intel HD 4000 graphics. It weights just under 4 pounds and gets around 8 hours of battery life.

For those that like Toshiba ultrabooks, but don’t want to throw down that kind of cash, the U845 offers the same look without the widescreen or the price tag. This system starts at $699 with the same internal hardware as the U845W.

Toshiba also announced the release of the Protege Z935, an updated version of the ultralight Z835. This version boasts a weight of 2.4 pounds and a .3 to .6 inch thickness. It ges 7 hours of battery life and starts at $899.

So there you have it – three new ultrabooks from Toshiba. One claims to be a top of the line entertainment bundle, one an economy version of the same, and one in the ultralight category.

They will hit store shelves July 15.

[h/t: PCMag]

The new memory cards will be SD Memory Card Standard Ver.3.0 UHS-I compliant. The minimum recording speed is compliant with UHS speed class 1 and SD speed class 10. The new products will be launched in three series, EXCERIA Type 1, Type 2 and Type HD – each offering three versions with different capacities.

The Type 1 series integrates new controllers that realize the world’s fastest data transfers, with a maximum read speed of 95 megabytes (MB)/sec and a write speed of 90MB/sec. Type 2 series products offer a maximum read speed of 95MB/sec and a write speed of 60MB/sec, while Type HD products have a maximum read speed of 90MB/sec and a write speed of 30MB/sec.

The Exceria Type 1 cards come in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB and will be available in July of this year; the Exceria Type 2 cards will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB and will be available in August. The Exceria HD will also be available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB and will be available in May.

As SD cards have emerged as a popular choice for data storage for digital equipment, largely in photography and video. The high speed of the Exercia cards will be most useful to photographers who typically or prefer to shoot in continuous shooting modes. The smaller size, when compared to CompactFlash cards, are better suited for the portability of today’s digital equipment as well as matching the quality that the equipment is capable of producing.

Toshiba’s high-end Satellite P series has retained most of the features included in its last iteration, including a Blu-ray drive, a high-definition screen with optional 3D, on the 15.6-inch Satellite P850 and P855 models. However, the 3D models of 2012 include Toshiba’s glasses-free 3D instead of active shutter displays. The company will also be selling two of 17.3-inch models, the P875 and P870, which will not feature 3D as an option. All P series laptops will have an option of a 1TB hard drive, or smaller HDD / SSD hybrid drives.

Toshiba’s L series will come in 13.3-inch, 15.6-inch, and 17.3-inch options, and customers can choose between Intel and AMD processors. Screen resolution will range between 1366×768 to 1600×900 and will not include any 3D options, although versions with Blu-ray drives will be capable of pushing 3D content over HDMI. Both the P and L series will be released sometime in during Q2, 2012, and it has been speculated that some models will feature Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.

They also announced that they will partnering with Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) to distribute their services across North America. Consumers can purchase these services through Toshiba’s TABS services, however free trials can be licensed to individuals for 30 days and organizations for 90 days through Adobe.

Raman Nagpal, senior director and general manager of Adobe Print and Scan Business commented on the service:

“Adobe has always prided itself on environmentally conscious behavior, from its LEED Platinum certified buildings to its carbon offsets,”

“With LeanPrint, we are bringing together our commitment to the environment and a deep understanding of the print industry to further drive down printing costs. Adobe is excited to launch LeanPrint with a like-minded company like Toshiba, who will help distribute this technology throughout North America.”

Bill Melo, vice president of marketing, services & solutions, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. commented on their new partnership with Adobe:

“Toshiba is happy to be Adobe’s first partner to bring LeanPrint to market in North America,”

“We believe that both companies are on the cutting edge of this technology, which allows people to make good usage choices and print smarter.”

So if you’re looking to save some costs or upgrade to more official looking letterhead, this may be the answer you’ve been searching for. The 40% cost-cutting is based on Adobe’s laboratory tests on typical office documents.

The tablet runs on the Android 3.2 “Honeycomb” operating system with plans to be upgraded in Spring to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The slim device is packing some punch with a powerful Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 dual-core mobile processor along with dual-channel memory, front and rear facing cameras and 8 hours of battery life. It also features a 10.1 inch diagonal LED backlit widescreen display with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

Carl Pinto, Vice President of Product Development for Toshiba America says, “Excite 10 LE embodies what a luxury tablet should be. We have engineered this tablet with premium materials and components and given it an elegant yet durable styling. It also has more connectivity options than any other tablet in it’s class, while fitting everything into an astonishingly thin and light design.”

The Excite 10 LE will have a 10.1 inch display at 1280 x 800 pixels, featuring Gorilla Glass. The tablet is 0.3 inches thick, at 1.18 pounds, making it slightly thinner and lighter than the iPad 2. Despite the thin profile, it features micro USB and microHDMI ports, along with a microSD card slot. The Excite will run Android 3.2 Honeycomb initially, and will upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich in the spring, on a 1.2-GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor. It will also feature a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, a 5 megapixel camera on the back.

The Excite 10 LE 16GB model starts at $529, while the 32GB version starts at $599, but still might be a bit hard to sell – Its screen resolution pales in comparison to the iPad’s 3 rumored resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, and many Android tablets coming out feature a quad-core processor, including Toshiba’s own AT270.

The Android-based tablet has a 10.1 display (.4 inches bigger than an iPad), and is a mere 7.7 millimeters thick (compared to the 8.8 mm of the iPad 2). In addition to the amazing thinness the device, it packs in a staggering array of ports, including a Micro USB port, an SD card slot, and a Micro HDMI port, as well as a dock connector like that on the iPad. It also boasts a 2 megapixel front camera, 5 megapixel rear camera, a full gigabyte of RAM, and a 1.2 GHz processor.

Though Toshiba has not been much of a player in the tablet market yet, this has the look of a very nice device. We’ll keep you informed of release date as soon as Toshiba announces it.

[Source: Business Insider]

5. The FX Mature (The Aurors) Harry Potter TV Show

Site: IGN.com

Why it’s on the list: While the video is obviously fake, IGN should be commended for really going the extra yard to provide some April Fools shenanigans. For the past couple of years, IGN has released video based pranks and “The Aurors” ranks as one of their best. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll especially appreciate it.

4. SlashTweaks is the Mad Libs of the Internet

Site: Slashdot

Why it’s on the list: The most obvious online April Fools prank is to simply make up a story and publish it for people to either be fooled by or call out. Slashdot deserves a nod for letting the April 1st proceedings be interactive. Most of the stories presented on Slashdot today have a few keywords which allow users to change them to their liking. Although this will only be available today, it certainly provides an interesting idea which might work in some capacity.

3. Toshiba’s 3D Monocle

Site: Toshiba.com

Why it’s on the list: Like IGN’s prank, Toshiba really stepped up and put some dedication into their idea by creating a video. Unlike IGN, this isn’t a content provider but an electronics company who relies on innovation to sell products. Which is what makes their idea so great; they integrated the fake tech directly into their site.

They created a legitimate looking landing page which has this “Important Consumer Notice” – Refrain from using two Toshiba Spectacle 3D devices simultaneously in each eye. Doing so may cause each device to render the corresponding 3D image in 3D yet again, resulting in an uncomfortable and infinite loop.

2. The Gmail Motion Beta

Why it’s on the list: Google took all the ideas used in the three listed, besides SlashTweaks, and forged them into a super prank. They didn’t just create a video, they made three videos for Google Motion. Like Toshiba, Google integrated the prank link directly into one of their most used platforms, Gmail.

They didn’t stop there, Google utilized fake science to explain the reasoning behind Google Motion. I also have to give the idea its due because it’s the only prank to fake me out. In my defense, I didn’t read anything on the page, and went straight to the download link. Stupid call to action buttons.

1. Facebook Partners With Zynga to Launch ‘Relationships’

Site: Techcrunch

Why it’s on the list: This might be a controversial pick, because I imagine many people would select Google Motion over this TechCrunch story. Hear me out. One of the key ingredients to pulling off a successful April Fools prank is plausibility. Of all the pranks I’ve seen on the internet today, this is one which could potentially happen on some level in the future.

Although it has shades of being possible, TechCrunch went a bit too far which was probably on purpose so people really didn’t get in a stir over the fake news. They announced that Facebook and Zynga would be partnering up for a ‘Relationships’ product. The idea is pretty interesting. Users would be able to track people they are potentially interested in dating, and could engage in social games to help break the ice and get to know one another.

The first couple of paragraphs in the story really draw readers into something which might be believable. However, the deeper you read, the more ridiculous the features sound. For instance, the picture I posted above would allow users to post what base they got to with a date. I won’t spoil some of the other jokes, but needless to say it becomes even more extreme the further you read on.

Due to the drawing in of readers, and providing an article title which sounds believable, TechCrunch gets the award for best April Fools joke in 2011.

Honorable Mention: GoDaddy.com CEO defends his elephant killing shenani…oh wait, that really happened.

What April Fools jokes have you seen that deserve recognition for their dedication, plausibility, and final punch line?