When I looked in detail at the pictures from Samsung's X360 launch I realised I'd seen the diminutive lappy before – in Korea. As you might recall from earlier blogs, I went for a good look around Samsung's factory in May.

Unfortunately under the restriction of a non-disclosure agreement, it was impossible to report on some of the stuff we were shown at the time, but I remember the X360 well (not that it had a name then).

At the time, one of the things I reported on was that Samsung was considering launching an Eee PC rival. But I no longer think that's the case. Samsung were clearly uneasy about the concept of a low-cost netbook for fear of it damaging its 'normal' laptop sales. I can certainly see that point- mostly because most consumsers still don't understand what a netbook can and can't offer them.

Design, design, design

The X360 unit I handled wasn't quite final, but I had one overriding impression; while it was nice and thin and sleek, it didn't have any of the style nous of the MacBook Air.

Now, that's not to say I discount it as a contender. After all, Samsung's foothold in the laptop market is growing and there are a hell of a lot of purchasers after a fully functional thin and light for whom a MacBook Pro just doesn't fit – not to mention that it's not a natively Windows machine.

However, it still remains that the X360 is somewhat regular in appearance and is hardly a design departure. On that same tour we were also taken to Samsung's Design Center in Seoul where we managed to irritate our hosts by asking why it wasn't possible for PC manufacturers to come up with fantastic looking designs when Apple can. Especially now Apple Intel notebooks are essentially PCs under the hood.

The designers simply shrugged their shoulders and intimated that things were still different. Just how exactly? While nicely thin and light, the X360 is proof that our confusion remains.

Mozilla has announced Ubiquity, a new plugin that helps you do more stuff. At a very basic level it's designed to help you insert items such as maps into your email without having to leave the page.

Equally, you can Wikipedia something from the page you're looking at, rather than having to open a new tab or window. It's a command-based launcher really- quite similar to Quicksilver which, personally, I never really got on with.

But it actually looks pretty useful. Mozilla has announced it as a version 0.1 alpha app, so expect bugs. However, the organisation has already got a little tied up in self-important webby language. A video posted on the Mozilla Labs site irritatingly insists on referring to user-created mashups, which I can imagine is as enthusing to the average user as a cold kebab (although I know Ubiquity isn't intended for the masses yet). I also HATE the word mashup. What does it mean? 'Combining stuff?'

User uncleozzy, posting on Metafilter, I couldn't agree with you more: "This is really neat, but he lost me as soon as he said 'mashup.' And then again. And again." Word up, brother.

Nicely placed at the tail end of the Summer, Berlin's annual IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) home entertainment show gives us a chance to get up close and personal with a whole raft of AV kit after only an hour's flying time. The trouble with CES in Las Vegas is that 1) You have to gamble to keep yourself amused, 2) It's massive and 3) it's too cold to sit outside with a beer.

No such problems in Berlin where, although the show covers a massive 30 halls, it's all in one place – the massive Messe Berlin. And it's showy too, since it's open to the public. Like Hannover's CeBit computing show, things can be a bit German-centric, but it's a big show and all the top names are there, usually in force. As we've said in one of our IFA previews, last year the show was attended by 222,780 visitors, and covered by 6,600 journalists.

OLED the star

For us, the main interest will be in OLED screen tech. I've already got up close with a XEL-1 Sony prototype in London, but Samsung looks likely to join the party this IFA, so watch this site for coverage of its press conference tomorrow. Sony also demonstrated a larger-screened OLED display at CES earlier this year, so we might glimpse that again in Berlin.

3D TV will also be seen around the show, following on from the Samsung demo we saw at CES. There's some speculation the company could even show off a 31-inch model.

There'll also be more of what we saw at CES – thin screen tech. Pioneer showed us a 9mm thick plasma there, so we'll see what happens this time around. That was a prototype, but we'll also see mainstream LCD panels with thicknesses down to the 1.5cm mark. And expect a good dollop of manufacturers making noises about their green credentials, too.

Among the multitude of things I'm currently mulling over is whether Microsoft's post-Vista OS really will be called Windows 7. Microsoft itself seems determined to punt this name around now. So if it isn't a final name, why is it being used?

After all, the OS has had not just one but two other codenames – Blackcomb first (a mountain/ski resort, following on from XP's Whistler and Vista's Longhorn) and then Vienna. Quite why the Vienna name was dropped remains a mystery. However, could Windows 7's new name have something to do with new boss Steven Sinofsky?

He was formerly in charge of the Microsoft Office development programme and the next release of Office is routinely called after a version number. Office 2007 was Office 12, while the next version is Office 14. No superstitious 13 of course.

It's very likely that Windows 7 is just an internal name. As well as being a lucky number, 7 is also unlucky in some territories. And software developers are notoriously superstitious beasts. We'll find out whatever it is next year – unless somebody lets the cat out of the bag early of course.

Yesterday, I saw a flying saucer. It was all part of the MOD's Grand Challenge event, designed to find innovative solutions to help our troops in the field.

The location for the competition between teams comprised of industry and academia was Copehill Down Village. Near Warminster, Wiltshire, this place is rather odd – a fake village built in the 80s to help soldiers with urban warfare techniques.

The various solutions built by each of the teams was astounding including various flying helicopters, a flying saucer and tracked machines. Read my full report.