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Original kick scooter made of sturdy aircraft-grade aluminum with blue highlights
Patented T-tube and deck design folds conveniently for transport
98 mm inline-style urethane wheels with springless shock system
Patented rear fender brake for quick stops; all-new wheelie bar
Recommended for ages 5 and older; 6-month warranty
The original kick scooter just got a whole lot better, making it even more fun for kids and teens alike. Though it'll never replace the internal combustion engine, the Razor A2 will get your child from point A to point B much quicker than on foot alone, and requires just a few scoots of one's shoes in the process. Plus, it's a blast to use, as your progeny will likely attest. The Razor A2 is built of aircraft-grade aluminum, a sturdy material that holds up to use and abuse through the years.
Razor combined the traditional aluminum construction, however, with a number of recent innovations, including a springless shock system that makes bumpy pavement feel smoother than ever and an all-new wheelie bar that guarantees an extra dollop of fun. Add in the foldable T-tube and deck, which tuck together to create a compact footprint (ideal for carrying when riding isn't appropriate), and you have a great kick scooter for virtually any situation. Other details include an enhanced finger guard, 98 mm inline-style wheels, and a patented rear fender brake for quick stops. This version of the Razor A2, which weighs around 6 pounds and supports up to 143 pounds, sports blue handlebars, a blue deck logo, and blue wheels and is recommended for ages 5 and older. It's also backed by a six-month warranty.
The buyer and rider of the Razor A2 scooter are responsible for knowing and obeying all local, state, and federal regulations regarding the riding and use of scooters.
Product Description The Razor A2 Original Kick Scooter is now better than ever. Features:
If you're looking for the perfect camera to take on your next vacation to the Amazon rainforest or Sahara desert, look no further than Ricoh's upcoming Caplio 500SE; like the 500G that preceded it, this 8 megapixel ruggedized shooter also sports a water-, shock-, and dust-resistant casing, but throws in some sweet wireless action to offload your pics no matter where you are. The high end Model W not only features a WEP- and WAP-secured WiFi radio like several other products on the market, but is one of the first imaging devices to also include Bluetooth 2.0 in the mix. No hotspot? No problem -- just transfer the pics over to your smartphone and release them onto the Internet wherever a cellular connection is available. Besides the dual radios, you're getting a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, 26MB of internal memory (enhanced via SD), and rather underwhelming QVGA video capture that may not even include sound. Still, this is a hell of a package (both in terms of its feature set and its weight: 482 grams fully loaded) with a price to match -- ¥130,200 ($1,100) for the Model W and ¥115,500 ($990) for the WiFi-less Model B when they ship sometime this winter and September 1st, respectively.
For Expert Gamers. The Logitech® MX™ 518 redefines extreme performance with a 1600-dpi ultra-high resolution optical engine that delivers startling response and mirror-smooth tracking. Driver-less "on-the-fly" access to three sensitivity levels, a contoured grip, and super-slick feet give you unprecedented control for total game domination!
Product Description The Logitech MX 518 Gaming Optical Mouse helps you play at your personal best, as often as possible. With its ultra-high resolution, 1600-dpi MX Optical Engine and adjustable sensitivity, you'll have peak performance and comfort for the most intense gaming sessions. Designed to fit comfortable in your hand Compatible with Windows XP computers
MicroGear Precision scroll wheel operates in two distinct modes, allowing you to scroll faster and with more precision than ever before
SmartShift technology automatically applies the best scrolling mode for the application you're using
Document quick flip lets you move effortlessly between documents and applications
Integrated search button connects instantly to your preferred search engine
Precise laser technology and a rechargeable battery
World´s most advanced mouse.
Smarter, faster, and fully-loaded, the MX Revolution gives you powerful new controls that will streamline the way you work. Logitech´s innovative MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel lets you fly through long documents at hyperspeed, or switch to precise click-to-click scrolling for navigating lists, slides, and image collections. Toggle between open documents with the convenient Quick-Flip thumb wheel, or search the Web by highlighting a word or phrase and pressing the Search button.
New, revolutionary, hyper-fast scroll wheel
A new concept in PC navigation, the MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel operates in two distinct modes, allowing you to scroll faster and with more precision than ever before:
Free-spin mode for hyper-fast, nearly frictionless scrolling. With a single flick, the machined alloy wheel spins for up to seven seconds, scrolling hundreds of pages or thousands of rows. Fly through long documents, and instantly stop wherever you want.
Click-to-click mode for detailed navigation. An ultra-precise ratchet-scrolling mechanism allows users to move line-by-line through complex spreadsheets, step through slideshows, or travel small vertical distances in documents or Web pages.
Hyper-fast scrolling Fly through long documents at hyperspeed. Shift to precise click-to-click scrolling, to navigate lists, slides, and image collections. SmartShift technology MX Revolution detects your current application and automatically applies the scrolling mode that best fits the task at hand. Document quick-flip Move effortlessly between documents. Cut and paste between applications, compare documents, or check email.
Touch to search Highlight a word or phrase and press the search button to instantly display results from your favorite search engine. Rechargeable Li-ion battery Never worry about replacing batteries. A 4-stage battery level meter lets you know when to recharge. Cordless Laser Full-speed USB wireless technology and state-of-the-art laser engine deliver absolute precision and control.
System Requirements
PC
* Windows XP * Windows Vista (requires Internet connection) * Available USB port * CD-ROM drive
Mac
* Mac OSX 10.2.8+ * Available USB port * CD-ROM drive * Internet connection
Package Contents
* Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse * Recharging station * AC power cord * USB micro-receiver * Logitech SetPoint software CD * User's guide * 3-year limited warranty
Product Description The Logitech MX Revolution scrolls through long documents at lightning quick speeds with the nearly frictionless alloy scroll wheel. Shift to precise click-to-click scrolling to navigate lists, slides and image collections. A high-resolution sensor inside this mouse makes it the most sensitive, highest performance mouse on the market. The precision laser tracking works on almost any surface. The Logitech MX Revolution uses advanced technology to detect your current application and automatically apply the scrolling mode that best fits the task at hand. Two conveniently located side buttons let you easily move forward and back through pages on the Internet. The mouse also moves seamlessly between documents. It's never been easier to cut and paste between applications, compare documents or check email. Highlight a word or phrase and click the Search button to display results from a search engine immediately. Have full-speed USB wireless technology with a simple plug and play interface. System requirements - Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, NT 4.0, XP, Mac OS 8.6 or later, available USB port, CD-ROM drive (for MouseWare software installation) Package Includes - Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse / Recharging station / AC power cord / USB micro-receiver Logitech SetPoint software CD / User's guide / Manufacturer's 3-year limited warranty
The Dell Inspiron E1405 offers up a mobile Core 2 Duo processor and the longest battery life I've seen in a laptop.
When I reviewed the Dell Inspiron E1505 last May, I didn't hesitate to give it the Editors' Choice award for offering incredible value at a budget price. The only thing that could've made it better was a lighter chassis and better battery life. Now, there is a "Mini-Me" version of the E1505, the Dell Inspiron E1405 ($1,156). If its size and 8 hours of battery life do not capture your attention, perhaps the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor will. The E1405 will be one of several Inspirons to get the new processor upgrade, and it's priced with frugality in mind. But the performance gains I had expected from the processor upgrade really didn't come to fruition.
If it weren't for the 85Whr (8-cell) battery sticking out from the back, the E1405 would actually be over a pound lighter than the E1505, instead of just 0.8 pounds lighter. Despite the heavier battery, the 5.8 pound system is still easy to tote around. I think the 14-inch widescreen is the perfect size for work and play, and it's one of few 14-inch displays to sport a 1440-by-900 resolution. Most budget systems with a 14-inch screens (and even budget systems with 15.4-inch screens, like the E1505) usually max out at 1280-by-800(WXGA) resolution. As a matter of fact, except for the weight and the screen, the two systems offer the same features, just at different dimensions.
Like its predecessor, the E1405 also has a 1.6-GHz processor. The main difference, of course, is that while the E1505's chip was an Intel Core Duo T2300, the E1405 has the new Core 2 Duo T5500. (Keep in mind that the E1505 will also get the processor upgrade in the future). On the SYSmark 2004 SE Internet Content Creation tests, I saw an 11% performance increase over that of the E1505. Office Productivity tests, surprisingly, were dead even. This tells you that media related tasks will benefit more than office applications will from an upgrade to a system with the T5500 chip. Photoshop tests were nearly neck and neck, so you won't see much of a performance gain there. Even video encoding tests improvements were minimal. In contrast, systems using the higher-clocked Intel Core 2 Duo processors (such as the Dell XPS M1710 with its Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 mobile processor, and Gateway M465-E with its Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 mobile CPU) saw 20% improvements in performance on the tests over the 1.6-GHz Core Duo mobile processor-equipped E1505.
The E1405 uses integrated graphics, which might have some people yearning for the discrete ATI graphics on the E1505. Discrete graphics is simply better for gaming, and spec-wise, it'll be ready for Windows Vista, Microsoft's next-generation operating system. The advantages of going with integrated graphics, you ask? Well, insanely long battery life for one. The 8 hours and 9 minutes that the E1405 achieved in MobileMark 2005 tests is the most impressive battery score to date on all laptops. The 85Whr (8 Cell) battery was a big factor, and low powered components contributed to the system's score. You also end up with a cooler system because of this. Using an infrared thermometer, temperatures barely climbed to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to triple digit temperature readings on systems running higher clocked Core 2 Duo processors. Ultimately, battery life makes the E1405 a better traveling companion than the E1505.
In the end, there are certainly performance gains for the E1405, with its Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor, over that of the E1505, with its Intel Core Duo mobile CPU, but not as much as I would have hoped. You'll see better gains in systems using higher-clocked mobile Core 2 Duo CPUs. Performance is still top-notch, and if battery life and portability are at the top of your list of priorities, the Dell Inspiron E1405 is a solid notebook for frugal shoppers.
See how the Dell Inspiron E1405 measures up to similar systems in our side-by-side laptop comparison chart.
Benchmark Test Results Check out the Dell Inspiron E1405's test results.
Chip maker Intel is hoping a new high-end chip will help it reclaim market share the company has lost to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Intel Corp. says its eight new dual-core Intel Xeon 7100 series processors, codename d "Tulsa," combine a pair of processing cores on a single chip.
The design performs better than previous Xeon chips, and offers lower power options to help cut energy costs. The chips offer up to "twice the performance and nearly three times better performance per watt over previous Intel Xeon MP processors," according to Intel.
The new Xeon chips are designed for multi-processor servers built for business and e-commerce, such as those running enterprise-resource planning (ERP) software and customer relationship management (CRM) packages.
Intel says servers based on the processors are expected to be available from more than 40 manufacturers beginning Tuesday.
Intel has been under pressure from AMD's Opteron chips in the business market in recent months, and is betting that the new Xeon line will renew the corporate world's interest in its high-end computing products.
However, some industry watchers point out that the new chip is based on Intel's olde r NetBurst architecture. Companies considering a major upgrade using Intel-based hardware may choose to wait until high-end products using the new Core architecture appear on the market next year.
Prices for the Xeon 7100 chips range from $856 US for the 2.6 gigahertz version, to $1,980 for a 3.4 GHz model.
Microsoft Corp has announced that Japan-based Electronics major, Toshiba Corp, will manufacture the company s forthcoming "Zune" portable MP3 player, being hailed by many as the "iPod killer".
A spokesperson for Microsoft said that a filing made by Toshiba with the Federal Communications Commission is for Zune, and that the device will sport a 3-inch liquid crystal display, 30GB hard-disk drive, and wireless connectivity, among other features. Zune is slated for release later this year.
A reference in the user manual section of Toshiba's filing reveals that the upcoming device will allow users to send and receive photos, songs, and albums with a wireless connection; and that it will feature a FM radio tuner, as also allow users to stream music to up to four other devices.
With the growing buzz that Zune might just be Microsoft's answer to Apple Computer s wildly popular iPod, it is still perceived an uphill task for the software giant to bridge the gap with respect to its competitor. What with the iPod reportedly holding sway over more than half the digital media player market world-wide, and iTunes fixedly maintaining crown position across-the-globe.
While the pricing of Zune has not been disclosed, it is learnt that Toshiba s existing 30GB hard-disk player, Gigabeat is available for a price of around $350.
Rechargeable batteries are the brawn behind the brains of portable electronic devices. But unless a cellphone dies in the middle of a call, or you are trying to determine which of your six charging devices to stuff into a suitcase, you might not give batteries much thought.
Dell's recall of batteries for more than four million laptop computers, though, has brought renewed attention to the temperamental nature of this power source.
Rechargeable batteries come in two types. Lithium-ion batteries are generally found in laptops, cellphones and iPods; nickel metal hydride, or NiMH, batteries are used in cordless phones and less-expensive digital cameras, plus a few laptops.
Batteries of both types are usually manufactured specifically for the devices they power, with their own proprietary recharging plugs, leaving the typical consumer with a jumble of chargers to manage. But following a few routines can help make the batteries run longer and more safely. And a variety of gadgets are also emerging to ease the burden of recharging them.
Lithium-ion batteries are particularly sensitive to heat. To avoid the danger of a fire, they should not be stored in direct sunlight. In addition, the connectors should be kept away from metals that could cause a short circuit.
There are ways to increase the life of a rechargeable battery. According to Brian Kimberlin, director of consumer batteries for Panasonic Battery Corp. of America, one of the best strategies to prolong the life of batteries is to use them. Otherwise, "they will lose their capacity to hold a charge," he said.
"Leaving a notebook charged all the time is not a good idea," said Andrew Bradner, senior product manager for APC, a maker of charging devices. To prolong battery life, it is best to use the battery and wall current alternately to run the laptop.
According to Michelle Thatcher, a senior associate editor at CNet.com, if you only use wall current to run the device, you should remove the laptop's battery to prevent it from being constantly charged and from becoming overheated.
A laptop continues to draw battery power when it is put to sleep. To cut back on power consumption, shut down the computer completely. And if your laptop comes equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities, shut them off if you are not using them; otherwise, current is continually drawn as the laptop searches for devices with which to connect.
To reduce battery consumption further, both the Windows and Mac operating systems include control panels that allow users to increase battery life by simultaneously decreasing performance.
The hard disk can be made to spin down whenever possible, and the screen can be dimmed from maximum brightness when battery power is being used.
Other battery-saving strategies including removing a CD or DVD from the laptop's slot when not in use to prevent the disc drive from needlessly spinning, and quitting any applications not currently in use. If you do not plan on using your laptop for several months, Apple Computer recommends that you remove the battery and store it at 50 percent of its charge. Storing it when empty will prevent it from holding a charge later, while storing it when fully charged will reduce its maximum life, the company says.
Reducing the time a backlight is used also helps maximize an iPod's battery life, Apple notes on its Web site.
Cellphone battery life benefits from some of the same conservation strategies as laptops: Use menu options that keep the screen dimmed, turn off Java-based games and disable Bluetooth when not connected to a Bluetooth device.
Of course, there will always be a time when a battery needs to be recharged. To avoid lugging around a suitcase full of chargers, several manufacturers make all-in-one devices: charging bricks that come with a selection of tips to fit different tools.
The Universal Power Adapter ($100 from www.apc.com) comes with 10 adapter tips to recharge laptops, hand-helds and cellphones. The device works with American and European line voltage, car voltage or even with the hard- to-find power outlets on planes. While charging a laptop, two additional devices can be charged simultaneously.
The iGo Juice ($120 from www.igo.com) comes with eight power tips to recharge a range of laptop batteries. An optional iGo dual-power accessory ($25) allows one additional device, like a cellphone, digital camera or MP3 player, to be charged at the same time, using additional $10 adapter tips available on the company's Web site. Less-expensive universal rechargers are available from iGo, starting at $40, but they cannot charge laptops.
For the times when AC power is not available but a charge is needed, several devices can help bridge the power gap. APC's Mobile Power Pack ($70), an external rechargeable battery, can give an additional 10 hours of talk time for cellphones, and up to 55 hours for an iPod Nano. USB connection cables for hand- helds, cellphones and other portable devices can be purchased from mobilecomputing.apc.com.
The tiny SideWinder portable generator ($20 from www.sidewinder.ca) is a useful cellphone recharging option when you are nowhere near wall current. Turning the crank for three minutes gives an additional two to eight minutes of talk time, depending on the model. When not connected to a phone, the crank will charge a small light-emitting diode for up to two and a half minutes, to provide emergency lighting. The company sells a range of phone adapter plugs.
If cranking is not your style, the Soldius1 Universal Solar Charger ($110 from www.mysoldius.com) can power up an iPod, cellphone or PDA in less than three hours, using only the sun's rays.
Available in a variety of colors, the Soldius1, weighing three ounces and about the size of a portable calculator, comes with adapter plugs to fit iPods and other music players, cellphones and BlackBerrys.
If all of these tips seem daunting, the best way to increase battery life, according to Norm England, president of the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association, is "to read the owner's manual of the product." But with so many new portable electronic devices to cope with, that could be a challenge.
Men's Dr. Martens 8267BA 10 Eye Notched Welt Boot - Black Nappa
Product Description Legendary Dr. Martens construction. Classic 10 eye boot with cap toe stitching across forefoot. Leather: Nappa is a super soft leather with a matte finish. Vintage is a full grain rub-off leather that when rub-off and polished gives a luscious bright, two-tone effect. Construction: HBD sole with notched welt.
I like these boots. I've had them for a few months and they still look great. For some reason the yellow thread that's present on most Dr Martens boots isn't here, and I miss it. But I liked this style over the others, so I got them anyway. The part that surrounds the ankle and the leg is made of just leather without any padding, so when you tighten the laces they fit closely and I like that.
Comfort: I had to wear them a couple of weeks to get comfortable. In particular, the part that connects the "tongue" to the boot itself is stiched in a way that when you slide your foot inward, the foot rubs against it and usually turns that little piece of leather outward but not all the way, so it turns perpendicular to the foot and you feel it as you walk. The stiching on the factory should have made it face the direction of the toe instead, so that when you slide your foot in it would be straightened out every time. This is how it's done on all my shoes/boots/sneakers. But over time (maybe two or three weeks) that part of the leather becomes softer so you don't feel it as much (or at all eventually). I think it's a design flaw though, or maybe just an error on the factory. That's the reason I gave 4/5 stars. And also because these boots are not made in England, they're actually made in China (but that's not reflected on the price tag for some reason).
Bottom line: At the time I was buying these, I couldn't find a better style. Well, maybe I should have gotten 8761FH for side-by-side comparison... but those are fairly common, so I'll just get them next time when I wear these out :) Overall, I'm happy with my purchase.
Product Description Looking to cover a lot of miles in a short amount of time? This aerobically-inclined boot is a willing companion. Airmesh and leather uppers and a Gore-Tex® liner make it breathable and comfortable in warm temperatures and under light loads. 2 mm waterproof nubuck leather and airmesh upper with contoured phylon midsole. Vibram® contact outsole with nylon lining and dry tech footbed. Intergration technology with nylon plate.
Original 8 eyelet boot with Airwair loop and flex link comfort technology built into the sole
Haircell leather used in upper for ultimate quality
Product Description When you're looking for a good transition shoe for school or work into an evening out, the Unisex 3 Eye Steel Toe Gibson from Dr. Martens just might be the pair for you. Made with haircell leather--the best, strongest, and most valued layer of hide--this Gibson shoe will take a beating, and yet clean up enough to be your Sunday best. The durable sole has a unique air-cushioned feature that's bound to please the most discerning feet.
Benefits of Goodyear Welt Goodyear welt is a shoe construction in which the upper and sole of the shoe are stitched together for greater durability rather than glued. The resulting seam is visible and runs around the outside of the shoe, where the upper and outsole meet.
About Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens is the stuff of legends. It all began near Munich, Germany in 1945 when Dr. Klaus Maertens injured his foot in a skiing accident in the Bavarian Alps. To make walking easier during the healing process, he designed a shoe with an air-cushioned sole. Using old rubber tires, he constructed soles that had air trapped within closed compartments. He showed his prototype to his engineer/inventor friend, Dr. Herbert Funck, and together they decided to develop and produce the shoes. Not only did the shoe solve the doctor’s immediate problem, but it also started to sell well in Germany.
By 1959 the two decided that they needed a company to produce and distribute the shoes, then called Dr. Maertens, in other parts of the world. At first, many manufacturers rejected the concept of an air cushioned sole as a short-lived gimmick. However, the R. Griggs Group, located in the village of Wollaston in England, decided to go along with the idea by creating the first work boot with the revolutionary sole. On the first of April 1960, the first cherry red eight-eyelet work boot was produced and named 1460 (1/4/60). To sell the brand name better in England, the name was anglicized to Dr. Martens. The range was branded AirWair and the rest is history.
From the Manufacturer Born in England in 1960, Dr. Martens boots and shoes began as a working class standard that has become a world renowned footwear brand. Dr. Martens has earned it 's timeless reputation for making, comfortable and durable footwear through a commitment to manufacturing a quality product.
Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house
Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables
Create an instant wireless network on the go
Access an AirPort Express wireless network
Compatible with Windows XP or 2000; Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later
From the Manufacturer Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house. Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables. Create an instant wireless network on the go. Extend the range of your current wireless network. Featuring AirTunes for playing your iTunes music wirelessly on your home stereo or powered speakers, AirPort Express brings not only the Internet but your music to wherever in your home you like to enjoy them most -- whether you use a Mac or Windows PC. Unmatched in its ease of use, it delivers data rates up to 54 megabits per second, fits in the palm of your hand so you can take it wherever you go.
Driving the Wi-Fi Revolution In 1999, Apple sparked the wireless revolution with the introduction of AirPort, the first affordable and easy-to-use solution for accessing the Internet without restrictive cables. In 2003, AirPort Extreme took your unwired connection to the next level by harnessing the superfast 802.11g wireless standard for data rates nearly five times those of the 802.11b standard that the original AirPort used and many current wireless networking devices still use. With AirPort Express, Apple continues to advance wireless, delivering the first device to pack wireless networking, audio, printing and bridging capabilities into a single affordable, portable unit.
AirTunes Unleashes Your Music AirPort Express with AirTunes brings your iTunes music in your Mac or PC into your living room -- or wherever in your home you have a stereo or a set of powered speakers. All you have to do is connect your sound system to the audio port on the AirPort Express Base Station using an audio cable (included in the optional AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit) and AirTunes lets you play your iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers -- wirelessly. iTunes automatically detects the connection of your remote speakers, so you just have to select them in the popup list that appears at the bottom of the iTunes window and click play.
Enjoy your playlists, set iTunes to shuffle through your entire library or repeat your favorite songs over and over
Enjoy your playlists, set iTunes to shuffle through your entire library or repeat your favorite songs over and over again -- however you like to enjoy your music on iTunes, you can now enjoy it that way through your stereo speakers, wherever they're located in your house.
Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house Buy more than one AirPort Express Base Station and connect one to every stereo or set of powered speakers in your house -- one to your stereo in your living room and another to a pair of powered speakers in your kitchen, for example. Its small size and affordability make it perfect for having more than one. Imagine being able to play your iTunes music on whichever speakers in your house you prefer.
Because AirPort Express is so compact, you can also easily take it along with your laptop to a friend's house and share your unique musical taste on your friend's stereo.
Add Music to Your Current Wireless Network If you already have a wireless network in place, you can use AirPort Express to add music to its capabilities. Let's say, for example, you have AirPort Extreme set up in your den. There's no need to scrap this setup and create a whole new one with an AirPort Express Base Station, your DSL or cable modem, printer and stereo all in one place. Simply connect AirPort Express to your stereo in your favorite music room and plug it into an electrical outlet -- it wirelessly links to your existing network, letting you play your music in your room of choice without moving anything or connecting anything else.
Easy Setup Listen wirelessly, connect wirelessly, extend your network wirelessly, print wirelessly — no matter what you want to do with AirPort Express or whether you use a Mac or PC, you can bet it’s a breeze to set up. With the AirPort Express Assistant, it’s just a matter of a few clicks. The software automatically detects what you have connected to AirPort Express — whether it’s your stereo, DSL or cable modem or printer — then walks you through the easy steps to complete the setup.
Connect Wirelessly AirPort Express uses the 802.11g wireless standard to deliver blazing data rates -- up to 54 Mbps. It supports both Macs equipped with an AirPort Extreme Card and Wi-Fi-compliant 802.11g Windows PCs, as well as Macs with the older AirPort Card and 802.11b Windows PCs. Everyone in your family can surf the web wire-free because AirPort Express provides simultaneous wireless Internet access via your DSL or cable modem for up to 10 computers.
Extremely portable, AirPort Express weighs less than seven ounces and fits in the palm of your hand
AirPort Express connects you and everyone in your family not only to the Internet but to each other. Since it employs the powerful 802.11g standard, you can wirelessly share photos, movies and other files without having to worry about slow data transmissions. Nor do you have to concern yourself over a difficult network setup procedure. AirPort Express uses the revolutionary Rendezvous technology in Mac OS X to allow your AirPort-equipped Macs running Mac OS X to detect each other with no effort on your part -- they discover each other just by virtue of being within the range of the network.
Extend Your Network If you already have a wireless network in your home and would like to extend its range, AirPort Express is your answer. Suppose you want to connect to the Internet with your PowerBook in an area that lies beyond the 150-foot range of your AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station. You can use AirPort Express as a wireless bridge to extend the range of your primary base station.
There's no need for extra wires or cables -- serving as a bridge, AirPort Express doesn't have to be physically connected to your primary base station or to your DSL or cable modem. Simply place AirPort Express within the range of your primary base station and near the area where you'd like to enjoy your wireless connection.
Product Description Apple M9470LL/A AirPort Express Base Station - The AirPort Express is a very unique wireless base station. It fits in the palm of your hand, plugs directly into a wall outlet, and allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet, print, and stream iTunes music to any room in your home. It does this via 3 bult-in ports. A WAN Ethernet port for your cable or DSL modem, a USB port for your printer, and an Audio port for your home stereo. Security - Built-in Firewall, Password Protection, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Support, & 128-bit WEP Encryption Supports up to 10 users NOTE - Wireless printing over USB requires Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later or Windows XP or Windows 2000 and a compatible printer NOTE - AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express can extend the range only of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express wireless network
Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Bluetooth Mouse- Charcoal
Box Content - Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Notebook Mouse for Bluetooth, Installation guide, 2 AA batteries, CD with software (PC only), Carrying Case
Designed for travel - More comfortable than a touchpad, instant-on performance for maximum productivity on the road
Smart power management - Long battery life, on & off switch, power-saving modes and a low-battery indicator light
Convenient carrying case - Comes with pouch for easy storage
Product Description The Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Notebook Mouse for Bluetooth works without a receiver for the ultimate in hassle-free mobility. It instantly connects to notebooks enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology, providing up to 30 feet of cordless range. Power-saving sleep modes, a low-battery indicator light, and an on & off switch let you manage power wisely. A 1000-dpi optical sensor offers incredibly smooth, precise tracking for maximum productivity while traveling. Instantly connect the Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Notebook Mouse without the hassle of cords or receivers. Travel without clutter - No receiver or cords are required System Requirements - Windows 2000 or XP, Computer enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology, Bluetooth software installed - Broadcom/Widcomm Bluetooth BTW 1.4.2.21 or above, Microsoft XP SP2 or Microsoft XP 64, CD-ROM drive, Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher Requires Computer with Bluetooth wireless technology enabled
Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2004 Macintosh
A productivity suite with a host of ground-breaking new features
Full versions of the leading productivity applications from Microsoft
Easily share ideas across platforms and around the globe
Confidently create stunning documents with impressive new tools
Spend less time managing info and more time using it
Graduate to Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition and let your intellect shine. Groundbreaking new features in this release can help you manage, create, and share ideas with ease and confidence. For qualified educational users running Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or later, this is a must-have application suite that offers full compatibility with Windows versions of Microsoft Office applications, plus many new features that are only available to Mac users. When you're ready to get down to business, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac provides the intuitive, intelligent tools you need to transform your ideas and opportunities into action. Put Office 2004 to work for you, whether you use your Mac for home, school, or business.
The new Project Center.
A handy Toolbox. Work with Tools That Work Like You The new features in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac aren't constrained by boundaries--in fact, many of them are designed to give you access to your ideas and information from every program in the suite. Thanks to input from thousands of Mac users, Office 2004 contains tools that are more integrated and intuitive than ever. The new Project Center allows you to consolidate all of your project-related details and easily access them from Word, Excel, Entourage, and PowerPoint 2004. Quickly view all of your project-related e-mail messages, files, notes, contacts and schedules in one convenient place. Plus, the new Project Gallery lets you quickly find the documents you've worked on recently while offering the new Learn tab to find instructive sample documents. Meanwhile, the new Compatibility Report tool helps you resolve platform- and version-related compatibility issues before they arise. The tool identifies potential compatibility issues and offers ways to avoid them. Lastly, the Office Toolbox lets you quickly access compatibility Reports, your Scrapbook and the Project Palette from Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2004.
Notebook layout view.
Improved Track Changes functionality. Word 2004 Express your ideas with more brilliance and clarity using the innovative new tools in Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac. The gold standard in word processing works harder than ever for you with improved reference tools, dynamic reviewing capabilities and enhanced views for organizing your thoughts. The new notebook layout view allows you to type right onto ruled notebook "paper." Manage different sections with tabs and quickly search for key ideas using this new view. Plus, with the improved track changes system in Word 2004, you can view changes in comment balloons next to your text, quickly identify the reviewer with color-coded comments and initiate instant message conversations about comments with MSN Messenger for Mac. Access a dictionary, a thesaurus and a link to the Microsoft Encarta online encyclopedia right from the Office Toolbox, or quickly scan and navigate through your document with the improved document map and thumbnail view.
New page layout view.
Major charting improvements. Excel 2004 Organize, analyze and present your data with precision and panache. The new tools in Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac give you more control over your spreadsheets, and the enhanced charting tools give you more dynamic ways to display your information. The new page layout view lets you review and manipulate on screen what will appear on paper. Now you can easily scale your data to fit the right number of pages, and insert headers and footers by simply double-clicking in the document. Meanwhile, punch up your numbers with vibrant new color schemes. Use the Formatting Palette to quickly update your chart type, options, data, colors, weights, fills and special effects. Smart buttons let you instantly track down and fix spreadsheet formula errors, control how the AutoFill feature applies formatting to your data, and more. And editing and functioning improvements mean that you can view the correct syntax for more than 140 functions to ensure that calculations work every time. You can also now simply click and drag to change ranges with the updated Range Finder. Lastly XML file support is integrated in Excel 2004, so you can share complex data with ease.
Handy new presenter tools.
Cool animations and transitions. Powerpoint 2004 Incorporate rich movies, animations and transitions into your presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac. Keep the show running like a pro with features such as the on-screen timer, notes, navigation and more. New presenter tools help you keep your presentation well timed, and make adjustments on the fly as you respond to your audience with the tools in the presenter's view window. You can also experiment with new 3D transitions and vivid custom animations to make your presentations richer and more dynamic. Choose from more that 100 new design templates and quickly set font spacing, size and transparency with the new Format Font dialog box. Plus, the expanded clip gallery helps you get creative with updated illustrations and new clip art.
Efficient new three-column view. Robust management of accounts and contacts. Entourage 2004 If your day revolves around connections and ideas, use Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Mac to pull it all together. Consolidate your e-mail, contacts, calendar, notes and project details in one easy-to-access place. The new three column view option lets you blaze through your inbox with new features such as the preview pane, message threading and improved junk e-mail protection. With new Message Grouping you can easily group, view and search for messages based on project, sender, date or other criteria. Calendar printing has been improved, too and now you can experience more flexibility and control over calendar formatting and printing options. Meanwhile, managing accounts and contacts has never been easier: Access messages and contacts from multiple e-mail accounts and take advantage of integration with MSN Messenger for Mac version 4.0. And now, for the first time ever, Entourage features Exchange server support, so you can easily integrate Macs with an Exchange email system. Another great feature, archiving, allows you to export personal information manager (PIM) data--such as e-mail messages, contacts or schedules--into an Entourage archive package to keep your PIM database clean and secure.
Eligibility To license Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition, you must be a Qualified Educational User or the parent or guardian of a Qualified Educational User who is a minor. Qualified Educational Users include full- or part-time students, home schooled students, and full- or part-time faculty or staff of an accredited educational institution.
Product Description Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition offers a complete set of powerful applications, for better business and information management. Analyze sales data, create important paperwork, design eye-catching presentations and more, with the amazing new features available here.
13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy TFT widescreen display, 1280 x 800 resolution
From the Manufacturer What do you get when you put up to 2 GHz of pure Intel Core Duo power, an iSight camera, Front Row, iLife '06, and a 13-inch glossy widescreen display into a sleek case? More than you thought possible for less than you thought possible. Meet MacBook.
Better bang-to-buck ratio Now the Intel Core Duo is as affordable as it is powerful. With MacBook, you get the world's fastest mobile architecture in a beautifully designed notebook that costs less than slower, clunkier models. That's like getting a sports car for the price of a scooter. Of course, MacBook holds more than your average two-seater: up to 80 GB hard drive, an optional DVD-burning SuperDrive, built-in Bluetooth, wireless-ready (802.11g) AirPort, and up to 2 GB of RAM. And for the first time ever, choose brig ht white or sleek black.
Friends for iLife Every MacBook comes with iLife '06--an amazing suite of applications that make it easy to live the digital life. Use iPhoto to share entire high-res photo albums with anyone who's got an e-mail address. Record your own songs and podcasts with GarageBand. Break into indie filmmaking with iMovie HD and iDVD. Then take all the stuff you made on your MacBook and share it on the web in one click with iWeb. Just turn on your MacBook and you're halfway there.
Take it on tour MacBook features Front Row, so you can navigate your movies, music, photos, and more at the touch of the included Apple Remote--no matter where you roam. Give an impromptu vacation photo slideshow in your favorite café. Screen your latest iMovie on the train. Watch a DVD in bed. MacBook and Front Row give you the best seat in the house (or out of it).
All smiles Look closely. See that little lens in the display bezel? That's the MacBook's built-in iSight camera. Use it to video chat simply by opening iChat AV and clicking on a buddy icon (or three). Or fire up Photo Booth and take a few snapshots with the iSight, play around with sixteen fun effects, then admire your handiwork. That little camera lets you create Web-ready videos, too. Just open up iMovie and start the action. From there, iWeb makes it one-click easy to get your talking head on the Web. Looks like fun.
Positively brilliant Thanks to a 13.3-inch widescreen display that's 79% brighter with 30% more viewing area than the iBook before it, MacBook provides the perfect combination of pixels and portability. Photos feel crisper. Movies play vividly. Even daily tasks like surfing the Web and checking e-mail take on a whole new sheen.
Hit the hotspots The built-in wireless capability of MacBook puts the "world" back in "world wide web." If there's a wireless hotspot nearby, you can get online. No need to burn valuable surfing time configuring your computer. Just open it up. MacBook automatically detects wireless networks within range and asks nicely if you'd like to join any of them. That's it. Catch up on your blog, share this weekend's trip a s a photocast, or just chat with your friends. Anytime, anywhere.
MacBook: the most advanced affordable Mac notebook ever.
What's in the box MacBook, Apple Remote, 60W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord, Lithium-polymer battery, install/restore DVDs, and printed and electronic documentation.
Product Description Apple MacBook - The Apple MacBook features the latest in mobile computing technology. At it's heart is an Intel Core Duo processor. A processor with 2 separate cores. In English, that means it's like having 2 processors in one. The MacBook also features a glossy 13.3" widescreen display. It's 79% brighter and has 30% more viewing space than the previous iBook model! You also get a suite of Apple created software titles like Front Row for navigating your computer via the included Apple Remote, and iLife '06, which handles...well, your life. Everything from music, photos, video, calendars, blogs, podcasts, and more. These are some amazing features, but the MacBook has a lot more to offer.... 60GB 5400RPM SATA HDD Slot-Loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive Write Speeds - up to 24x CD-R & 16x CD-RW Read Speeds - up to 8x DVD-ROM & 24x CD-ROM Intel GMA 950 Graphics Processor with 64MB of shared memory (memory is taken from the main system's RAM) Built-in iSight Camera 13.3 Glossy Widescreen Display 1280x800 Native Resolution Ports - 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 1 FireWire 400, 2 USB 2.0, Mini-DVI (support for DVI, VGA, S-Video & Composite Video Out via optional adapters), Combined Optical Digital Audio Input/Audio Line Input, Combined Optical Digital Audio Output/Headphone Out Built-in Stereo Speakers Built-in 54Mbps AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11g) Support Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) Module Color - White Unit Dimensions - 1.08 (h) x 12.78 (w) x 8.92 (d) Unit Weight - 5.2 lbs.
Chill… till the next episode. Logitech just launched the ChillStream controller for the PC, a $39.99 controller that circulates up to 3.41 cubic feet of air straight across your sweaty, sweaty palms. It’s also got some fancy system for the D-pad:
The controller features Logitech’s patented floating D-pad, which uses four points of contact instead of a single pivot point – a design that resists side-to-side tipping inherent in other controllers, making the controller more precise.
Whatever… this thing blows all over you, a perfect preventative measure for those who suffer the dreaded Moist Controller Handoff Phobia, an irrational fear that kicks in during multi-player play on a single controller machine. You know the feeling: you and your fellow gamers wince as you grab the single game controller while it’s still warm and, most probably, wet. Comes out in September.
We've featured the work of Kaizo Aho Ichidai before, and it's glad to see he's still pushing out the barriers of hardware idiocy. Latest project is a USB-powered barbecue hotplate, though unfortunately we doubt this is ever going to hit the shelves. Disappointed by his lack of success with USB-powered egg-frying, he wasn't going to do things by halves for his next culinary experiment; his hotplate runs off a desktop with six USB expansion cards in the back, and harnesses the power of 30 USB ports. However, as the video on his site confirms, the result is some bona-fide Korean-style meat-grilling action and, shortly thereafter, dinner.
SanDisk, a manufacturer of memory cards and USB keys, released a new music player Monday that can hold twice as many songs as a similarly priced iPod Nano.
The Sansa e280 has eight gigabytes of memory and can store about 2,000 songs, twice as many as the best-selling version of Apple Computer's iPod Nano.
Both music players cost about $250 US and both use flash memory, but the Sansa e280 also has a memory expansion slot, meaning its capacity can be increased to 10 gigabytes.
Apple's other iPod models use small hard drives for storage and can hold up to 60 gigabytes of music, photos and videos.
SanDisk's player also boasts an FM radio, voice recording and a battery life a few hours longer than the iPod Nano.
SanDisk, based in Milpitas, Calif., also cut the cost of its other e-series music players, which can hold two, four and six gigabytes. All of the models can store music, photos and video clips.
SanDisk is the world's largest manufacturer of flash memory, such as SD cards for digital cameras and PDAs, and USB flash memory keys. It is a distant second in the portable music player market, behind Apple.
Market analysts estimate that Apple has about three-quarters of the market in the U.S., compared to SanDisk with 10 per cent.
Other manufacturers, including Creative Technologies, iRiver, Samsung and Toshiba, are also attempting to chip away at Apple's share of the portable media player market.
Microsoft has announced plans for a wireless media player, called Zune, to be launched later in the year, along with an online music downloading service to challenge Apple's iTunes.
Sunbeam 2349 Heritage Series 12-Speed Stand Mixer, Red
Die-cast metal construction; stainless-steel beaters, whisk, and dough hook included
Comes with 2 stainless-steel bowls, 4-1/2 quarts and 2-1/5 quarts
Product Description Combining modern elegance with utility and performance, this stand mixer offers a selection of features for ease of use and versatility. Designed with a die-cast metal construction and a powerful 450-watt motor, the unit offers three-way mixing action and 12 variable-speed selections for ultimate control over various mixing projects. The unit comes with two stainless-steel bowls; one that holds 4-1/2 quarts and another that holds 2-1/5 quarts. The mixer's tilt-back head provides easy bowl removal, and its sleek design makes for easy cleanup. Attachments include a stainless-steel beater, whisk, and dough hook.
Lightweight, maneuverable, deep carpet cleaner with convenient folding handle
Low-profile hood for hard-to-reach areas; removable, easy-to-fill side-by-side water tanks
Clean Surge; 5 exclusive SpinScrub brushes; removable tool caddy with powered hand tools
Comes fully assembled and ready to use once detergent and water have been added
Measures 13 by 23 by 30 inches; 1-year warranty
For deep carpet cleaning that's as easy as vacuuming, this lightweight, maneuverable unit comes with an array of convenient features. The cleaner gets under furniture and in hard-to-reach areas with its low-profile hood, which is transparent and removable for easy clean up. At the push of a switch, the Clean Surge feature provides heavy-duty cleaning for the worst type of dirt, like high-traffic areas and pet stains, while removable side-by-side tanks are easy to fill, and dirty water and clean water always remain separate. The cleaning solution and carpet are heated by forced air to assist in the cleaning process, to aid in drying, and to save time. Five exclusive SpinScrub brushes, which pop out for easy cleaning, work together, touching carpet fibers on all sides to gently loosen dirt. The cleaner comes with a removable tool caddy with powered hand tools, including a hand tool with SpinScrub brushes, which is ideal for carpeted stairs and upholstery. Due to its convenient folding handle, the unit comes fully assembled and is ready to use once detergent and water have been added. The cleaner measures approximately 13 by 23 by 30 inches and carries a one-year warranty.
Product Description Lightweight, maneuverable and full of convenient features, the Agility SteamVac makes deep cleaning as easy as vacuuming Low-profile hood fits under furniture and into hard-to-reach areas like no other upright deep cleaner. Its convenient, folding handle makes it ready to go out of the box (and easier to store). Just add detergent and water! 5 SpinScrub brushes work together, touching carpet on all sides to loosen dirt. They pop out for easy cleaning. Removable tool caddy, with powered hand tool (great for stairs and upholstery), ensures that tools are there when you need them and not the Heated cleaning --- the cleaning solution and carpet are heated by forced air to assist in the cleaning process to aid in drying and save time. The Clean Surge feature gives heavy-duty cleaning for the worst dirt and pet stains.
Non-chafing finished edges put an end to rub spots
Extra-flexible sole keeps them running all day
Back-strap pad stops Achilles rub
Supportive footbed feels great on little toes
Product Description Put simply, these are great sandals for the price. We sweat all the design details. Like moving the stitch lines off pressure points so they can't rub, and padding the upper so feet feel extra comfy. Rip-grip straps at the forefoot and our saddle-system ankle support give them a great fit without slippage. Plus, the sole is extra flexible and protects their feet whether they're canoeing, beachcombing, or just crossing a hot parking lot from the pool to the car. Spot clean. Imported.
Vicious is back with one of their desktop replacement laptops. Carrying a Core Duo, 2GB of RAM, and a 7900GTX Go, this machine is built to be a gaming powerhouse. Is Core Duo still a major player? If so, what can it do for you?
Introduction
About Our Program
As many of you might know by now, HardOCP doesn’t "review" systems; we evaluate the experiences they facilitate. We order the system the same as you would and evaluate every aspect of the end-user experience. Not only does this give us a better idea of what hardware an end-user actually receives, it also allows us to obtain a more accurate picture of just how each company functions and treats its customers. As fast as PC hardware has become over the years, we think giving a personal computer "5 stars" based on how fast it ran a synthetic benchmark is simply irresponsible. We think service, support, and reliability are much more important factors in today's climate rather than speed. Fast is easily bought, but purchasing and ownership satisfaction can be elusive.
This process allows us to not only evaluate the system, but the OEM that builds it. Our goal is to give you the wide-angle lens view of the computer and the company so that you can make informed and educated decisions as to what you purchase or recommend to clients, friends, and family.
Vicious PC and [H]ardOCP
Article Image
We’ve written one previous article on Vicious PC. Generally, our impressions of Vicious PC were positive when we left that evaluation. We were quite pleased with the hardware we got for the price we paid. We received a very sharp-looking system, complete with cathode lights, and we were impressed with the general build quality. One high point is that our $1500 bought us a water-cooled system. While they skimped a bit on the accessories - such as a branded box, a nice presentation of the system documentation, and an image-based restore solution - we couldn’t argue with the system’s performance.
However, our tech support experiences were less than optimal. At the time, Vicious was using 2Net for their support. We had some problems initially getting 2Net to help us out because of a serial number mix-up. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but for some reason Vicious was totally non-responsive for four business days. If we would have been a normal consumer and had a major hardware issue, we would have been greatly inconvenienced. However, all ended well and our issues were resolved. We had some questions about Vicious PC’s operation because we got a hold of one guy who seemed to be the “Jack-of-all-trades ” at Vicious. Let’s see if they’ve followed ABS’s example and converted to an in-house tech support department.
This will also be the fourth laptop we have evaluated that carries the “desktop replacement” moniker. Our first was from Hypersonic, then we had a Sager 9750-C, and very recently a Gateway NX860X. All of these systems had robust hardware profiles and were short on battery life. We’ve also seen an assortment of processors with the Hypersonic carrying a Pentium M, the Sager carrying an AMD X2, and the Gateway carrying a Core Duo T2300. This time, we took it up a notch and went with a Core Duo T2500. We’ve seen the mobile Core Duo chips in two previous systems: the Gateway mentioned above, and the Lenovo ThinkPad T60. While we were befuddled by the poor performance of the Gateway, the T60 blew us away with its raw horsepower which was beautifully paired with great battery economy.
What We’re Looking For
We know that this machine carries a hefty load of hardware - not to mention it being a physically hefty load itself - so battery economy, portability, and size aren’t of core interest. However, what we get in return for sacrificing those things definitely is. We’re looking for power and performance, as well as thermal and noise control. We’ll also be looking to see if Vicious has given itself a facelift in both presentation and tech support.
With Core 2 Duo hitting the scene and Merom getting closer, does our Core Duo-equipped solution still have a place among power users, or is it on its way out?
Here’s another of our popular Top 10 lists - this time we have looked into beautiful cellphones. If your favorite designer phone didn’t make it into the list, please add it in the comments. Thanks.
10. Hitachi W42H
Hitachi W42H I would prefer a more glossy look, but the W32H from Hitachi is still a beautiful phone. Each phone comes with some snap-on accessories that can change the looks of it. The phone is available in black, white and orange and three different snap-on accessories. Hitachi W42H phone changes with your day [mobilemag.com] W42H Special site [hitachi.co.jp] (Japanese) 9. Samsung SGH-E900
Samsung SGH-E900 The Samsung SGH-E900 was first shown at the CeBIT in Hannover earlier this year and it got quite a lot of attention - especially from the fashion and design oriented media. It’s a true beauty and I guess LG weren’t too happy to see this one only a few months before they introduced their Chocolate model. Samsung SGH-E900 Trandy Phone [mobilewhack.com] 8. KDDI Talby by Marc Newson
KDDI Talby The Talby is a quite old phone. It was first shown as a product concept back in 2003 and garnered a lot of attention during a couple of years. The Tably is available in three colors, hornet green, orange orange and hole black. The Talby is only available in Japan. KDDI Talby [kddi.com] 7. O2 Ice
O2 Ice The O2 Ice was actually the phone that was the inspiration to this article. It’s a small stylish 3G phone that has the usual built-in MP3 player, 1.3 megapixel camera, bluetooth etc. It’ll be out in September in the UK for around $200. O2 Ice [gadgetcandy.com] 6. Samsung SGH-E870
Samsung SGH-E870 The Samsung SGH-E870 is a nice looking clamshell phone coming in three different colors Chic White, Valentine Pink and Chilli blue. It’s primarily aimed towards girly-girls. Nice design, or what do you say? Samsung’s Pink SGH-E870 Clamshell Phone [chipchick.com] 5. KDDI Neon by Naoto Fukasawa
KDDI Neon The Neon is one of the latest phones coming out from the AU Design project at KDDI. It’s available in three colors, light blue, pink and black. It has a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera, miniSD slot, music player, FM tuner and a 320×240 screen. I love the clean front of this phone! KDDI Neon [kddi.com] 4. Black Diamond
Black Diamond Black Diamond is a luxury phone that isn’t out on the market yet. It’s supposed to be launched early 2007 from a company called VIPN. On their site they promote a limited edition of the phone made out of titanium and with real diamonds - only $300 000. Crazy. Black Diamond [jarengoh.com] 3. Helio Kickflip
Helio Kickflip The Helio Kickflip is small and stylish, but it’s still loaded with a 2 megapixel camera, 2.2″ screen (320×240) and 3G capabilities. But most of all - it’s a truly beautiful cellphone! Helio Kickflip [helio.com] 2. LG KG-800 Chocolate
LG KG-800 Chocolate I have the pleasure of owning a LG Chocolate and it’s a pure beauty. I really love the design of it and it’s one of the most stylish phones you can get at the moment. This phone won the 2006 IF Design Award in Germany. LG KG-800 [gadgets.fosfor.se] 1. KDDI Penck by Makoto Saito
KDDI Penck Yeah, this is my kind of phone. Isn’t it absolutely stunning? The PENCK phone designed by Makoto Saito is one and a half years old, but it’s still the most beautful phone ever made. The PENCK is available in three colors, metal, milk (white), and bitter (black). Too bad it’s only available in Japan. KDDI Penck [kddi.com] Honorable mentions Nokia 8800 Scirocco edition
Nokia 8800 Scirocco The Nokia 8800 Scirocco edition hasn’t been officially announced by Nokia yet, so it will only get an honorable mention. It’s expected to have a 2 megapixel camera and all other standard functionality. It will be available in silver and black and will cost around $1000 (!) - quite expensive one. Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition [techtickerblog.com] White Pearl
White Pearl White Pearl is the little sister of ‘Black Diamond’ featured above. Although it doesn’t look that good in white, it’s worth an honorable mention. White Pearl [esato.com] NEC N908
NEC N908 The NEC N908 was shown by NEC in Hong Kong quite recently. It’s a good looking credit card sized that features a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD card reader, music player etc. Nice one. It’ll be out on the Asian market any day. Even though I’ve only seen this one on this quite ugly picture you can see that this one looks really awesome. NEC N908 Credit Card Phone [slashphone.com] The brick phones
The brick phones I just wanted to add a bit of perspective to this short article before we round off. It wasn’t that many years ago, well ok 15 years ago, all cellphones looked like the Motorola SUN1660BB featured above. That model is only from 1992… Motorola SUN1660BB 1992 (scroll down) [samhallas.cwc.net]
High-Definition Digital Camcorder (With X 0.7 Wide Angle Converter Lens)
This small, easy-to-carry unit is Kevin’s main camera, producing video as good as the best available TV images. With 3 megapixels top delivery 1080i image resolution in a 16:9 ratio, this is the smallest and lightest true HD camcorder anywhere right now. Kevin likes this consumer model rather than its more professional cousin, the HDR-FX1, because the HC1 is less obtrusive in the field. It’s easy to shoot from hip level while maintaining eye contact with an interview subject, and it doesn’t belie its presence with an obvious microphone or large, rectangular lens shade. But equipped with a 1/3-inch CMOS sensor and 10X Optical/120X Digital Zoom Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T Lens, the HC-1 produces broadcast-quality images on standard mini DV tapes. For work in an armed conflict area, the HC-1 has a Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization System with motion sensors that adjust for the shaking caused by moving hands or rattle of artillery. It even has an infrared setting to shoot HD video in low- to no-light conditions. The HC-1 does its MPEG-encoding on the fly and has some pretty sophisticated on-board editing functions. But Kevin is more likely to hook it up to the Apple PowerBook through a FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface and edit in FinalCut Pro. The whole thing weighs about .7 Kg (1.5 lbs).
Samsung SC-X105L
Digital Camcorder With “Headcam.” A second camera for situations where Kevin needs two free hands, or as a backup.
It weighs just 150 g (0.33 lbs), but the Samsung SC-X105L can be stuffed with enough memory to store anywhere from 22 minutes to more than two hours of video, depending on the resolution. It’s also extremely small and easily held with a pistol-grip style handle. With a 10X optical zoom, it has the ability to record video at 720-by-480 (best resolution) in MPEG4 format. What makes this camcorder so useful to Kevin is its remote lens accessory — its cable end plugs into the SC-X105L body and the lens can then be head mounted using an elastic headband. It may look very geeky at first, but the feature lets Kevin shoot “point of view” video, even when he’s running or needs to have both hands free.
ASSEMBLING THE REPORT Apple 12-inch PowerBook
Laptop Computer. A light, powerful unit that’s the choice of journalists and photographers all over the world.
Kevin’s workbench, typewriter and editing studio is Apple computer’s smallest PowerBook model, weighing in at a bit less than 2.1 Kg (4.6 lbs). Because he’s handling video, he’s equipped his unit with the maximum 100GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. He uses FinalCut Pro and iMovie HD for video editing, Microsoft Office for writing, Adobe Photoshop for his still images, and Yahoo! (of course) for email. The 12-inch screen is a weight and portability tradeoff for working in an armed conflict area. To facilitate live reports and interactive chat sessions, Kevin is also carrying an Apple iSight Web camera, which mounts to the top of the PowerBook screen and connects to the laptop’s FireWire port.
CALLING HOME Hughes R-BGAN Satellite Modem
How Kevin sends images and computer data back to Yahoo! News.
Kevin’s main data link to the outside world, R-BGAN looks and weighs like a laptop computer but offers a plug-and-play IP (Internet Protocol) or GPRS (mobile phone packet data) link via satellite. It offers Internet connections at speeds of up to 144 kbps over a shared send/receive channel, somewhere between the fastest dial-up and the lowest DSL broadband speeds. It hooks up to Kevin’s Apple PowerBook laptop through a built-in Ethernet port (USB and Bluetooth wireless are available options). It supports anything from simple email to full, secure VPN access to Yahoo! servers. Weighing about 1.6 Kg (3.5 lbs), it uses an internal lithium ion battery to give one hour of fullpower use or 36 hours on standby. Kevin can also plug this sleek, powder blue box into 110V or 220V AC power for a recharge if he happens to be by an outlet (although in the field, he’ll use photovoltaic solar panels to generate his own electricity). About 500,000 R-BGAN units are in use in about 30 countries. The system operates, under most conditions, in a large swath of the earth north of the equator from far western Africa to mainland Europe, the Middle East, and central Asia (as far east as India).
Thuraya/Hughes 7101
Portable Satellite Phone. A sturdy backup phone that works where cell phones can’t.
Operating on the same satellite network as the R-BGAN modem, the 7101 phone gives Kevin another option for voice communication (including when he finds himself in range of a GSM provider, which saves battery life because less transmitting power is required). At 200 g (0.5 lb), it’s the size of a typical handset, with a lithium ion batteries that gives up to 2.4 hours of talk time (satellite) and 34 hours of standby time. The phone can also determine its position using the GPS network and transmit those coordinates, making it easier for Kevin and his U.S. team to keep precise track of him. Again, this is a full-featured phone with a built-in SMS function that can send messages in English as well as Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and Farsi.
Palm Treo 650 GSM Mobile “Smart” Phone
A standard mobile phone/organizer combo for calling under normal circumstances.
Many reviewers consider the Treo 650 to be the best “smart” phone on the market. The latest in the Treo line, Kevin carries the GSM model because that’s the standard in most of the world outside the U.S. It’s got a sharp color touch-screen display with 320-by-320 pixel resolution and 65,000 colors that can be seen even in sunlight — which is in abundance in most of the places from which Kevin reports. Although it’s not the best choice for professional work, the Treo 650 does have a built-in camera with 2X zoom, can play MP3 files and comes with a full suite of organizer applications. A small backlit QWERTY keyboard makes it possible to send email with the phone, search with the built-in browser — or, with an extra bit of software, chat with buddies over Yahoo! Messenger. Bluetooth and infrared connections are built in, and it can synchronize contacts and schedules with Kevin’s laptop (even via Bluetooth). It adds 178 g (0.4 lbs) to his backpack, not counting the add-in SD memory card for storing files, photos, or MP3 songs.
Handheld computer and phone maker Palm is to unveil the latest version of its Treo smart phone next month as it attempts to revive sales hit by tough competition and problems with previous models.
"The announcement is going to be made in the U.K. on Sept. 12, and we will give all the details then but at the moment all we are saying is that it will be out before the end of the year," said a Palm spokeswoman.
A September or October release is seen by analysts as vital for any firm hoping to cash in on the all-important Christmas period as they vie for shelf space with rivals' products.
Any later than that and stores and Web sites are likely to have already made decisions about what to stock their shelves with ahead of the key trading period.
The California-based firm said in July the new version will operate on Vodafone's high-speed third-generation (3G) network and be powered by Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, however details about the handset's functionality remain sketchy.
The current 700p version of the latest Treo has a slot for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards, but with the latest Nokia, Sony Ericsson and O2 offerings all boasting the technology in-built, Palm knows it cannot afford to fall further behind as the competition heats up.
Palm is to launch the new handset to Vodafone customers in a number of European countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands as it attempts to win back the confidence of a market it once dominated with its Palm Pilot device.
The company is hoping the move to the Windows Mobile will help alleviate the concerns of Treo users who have long complained of Palm's own operating system crashing the handsets on a regular basis.
In June, the company stopped shipping its Treo 650 model in Europe because it was not compatible with a newly introduced phone technology standard.
State legislature now allows teens of Colorado who are home schooled to take a home schooled driver education course. Teens that are home schooled can opt to take a State approved Colorado driver education course to obtain their learner's permit and drivers license.
The Driver Education Online web site offers a complete State approved course. The course comes complete with multimedia instruction for the student and a special disk for parents that provides lesson plans for behind-the-wheel training. If you are a home schooled teenager or parent, this course will satisfy the DMV as an approved course.
Dude, just because you're in the Netherlands doesn't give you any reason or excuse not to have traded in your Dell laptop battery for one that isn't so, shall we say, explosive? This unfortunate Latitude (appears to be a D610 D510) met its fate when, like so many others, it was cut down before its time in a violent and easily prevented explosion. We'd tell you more, but unfortunately the article is in a tongue we don't speak (sorry, we took Zulu in high school), but if any of our Dutch pals want to apprise us as to the situation, we'd be most obliged.
Update: Jeroen gave us the skinny on this one. Apparently the unit's owner, Ewout, was on holiday in Hungary with the laptop when it caught fire; of curse it would not be extinguished by mere water, so sand was found and thrown on the machine. Thankfully Dell was, um, gracious enough to replace Ewout's laptop, so there ya go.
You live life in the fast lane and need a mobile that can keep up with trends and manage your busy lifestyle. Meeting your wireless aspirations, the surprisingly slim and artistically designed Motorola L6 delivers a rich, multi-sensory communication experience that keeps you connected. Easily capture and share your adventures with an integrated VGA digital camera, video capture and playback and multimedia photo album creation tools. And when not expressing your artistic side, leverage Bluetooth® wireless technology*, Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC)**, and advanced messaging functionality*. Explore and uncover a new wireless world with the intuitive, sleek, sensorial Motorola L6.
Instantaneous Connectivity With a list of multi-sensorial ways to keep in touch, the Motorola L6 is dedicated to making it extremely convenient and hassle-free to leverage communication versatility. Chat hands-free via Bluetooth wireless technology*, quickly connect with a colleague or workgroup through one-touch PoC**, or send a candid video message using Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)*. It’s easy to manage both work and personal business with an integrated speaker and cable-free information sharing with other compatible Bluetooth-enabled* handsets, PCs and PDAs.
Indulge in Fun Imaging Skillful and creative, the Motorola L6 blends a variety of multimedia features, offering fun and spontaneous imaging capabilities including a 4x zoom VGA digital camera with auto timer, video capture and playback, and the ability to create personal multimedia photo albums. With a generous amount of user memory space for storage and the ability to capture and send photos, video clips and more to others through MMS* and Bluetooth*, this mobile embraces multi-sensory connections.
In Tune to You With a surprisingly slim, avant-garde candybar design and uncompromised features, the Motorola L6 is the communication accessory to showcase your high style and taste. Make it your own by personalizing the screen with downloadable* wallpapers and screensavers or liven up incoming calls with picture caller ID* and unique MP3 vocal ringtones that you can sing along to,
SUMMARY OF FEATURES: • Ultra sleek sliver form with vivid glass color display • Integrated 4x zoom VGA digital camera with auto-timer and multimedia photo album creation • Video capture and playback with support of MPEG4, .3gpp, H.263 files • Hands-free communications via Bluetooth wireless technology* and integrated hands-free speaker • PoC for quick connections to one or many ** • MP3 and polyphonic ringtones with 22 KHz speaker and 24 channels • Messaging via MMS* and Instant Messaging* via IM Wireless Village • Preloaded & downloadable* games, wallpapers, MP3 ringtones, video clips, screensavers and animations • Personal Information Management (PIM) functionality, Picture caller ID* and Internet access*
The Motorola L6 is expected to be available in the second half of 2005. For more information regarding pricing and product availability in your region, please contact your local Motorola representative.
The IBM PC is 25. And here are the top PCs ever, from machines you owned and loved to systems you've never heard of.
IBM's first PC, announced on August 12, 1981, was far from the first personal computer--but when it arrived, there was near-universal agreement that it was likely to be a landmark machine. It was. And 25 years later, it still ranks among the most significant computers ever.
Like the IBM Personal Computer, Model 5150, the greatest systems have always had ambitions to boldly go where no computer has gone before. Without these innovative machines, the PC revolution would have been a lot less...well, revolutionary. So we decided to celebrate the IBM PC's 25th birthday by identifying the 25 PCs that have mattered most--from any manufacturer, and from any era.
No single characteristic makes a computer great. But we managed to boil down an array of winning qualities into four factors, all of which happen to begin with the letter I.
* Innovation: Did the PC do anything that was genuinely new? Did it incorporate the latest technology? * Impact: Was it widely imitated? Did it become part of the cultural zeitgeist? * Industrial design: Was it a looker? Did it have clever features that made using it a pleasure? * Intangibles: Was there anything else about it that set it apart from the same ol' same ol'?
Armed with this scale, we considered dozens of PCs--which meant that we also had to consider the question "What is a PC, exactly?" Ultimately we decided that a PC is anything that's recognizably a desktop or portable computer in design--or, alternatively, anything that runs an operating system originally created for desktops and laptops. After a lot of nostalgic debate, we selected our winners. Which systems we picked--and didn't pick--for our Top 25 may be controversial. If one of your favorites didn't make our roster, check out our list of 25 near-great PCs.
Just to drum up a little suspense, we'll reveal the Top 25 starting with number 25, and then work our way backward to the single greatest PC of all time. (Spoilsports can skip ahead to number 1; we won't be any the wiser. You can also jump to the complete list of our Top 25 picks.)
Ready?IBM's first PC, announced on August 12, 1981, was far from the first personal computer--but when it arrived, there was near-universal agreement that it was likely to be a landmark machine. It was. And 25 years later, it still ranks among the most significant computers ever.
Like the IBM Personal Computer, Model 5150, the greatest systems have always had ambitions to boldly go where no computer has gone before. Without these innovative machines, the PC revolution would have been a lot less...well, revolutionary. So we decided to celebrate the IBM PC's 25th birthday by identifying the 25 PCs that have mattered most--from any manufacturer, and from any era.
No single characteristic makes a computer great. But we managed to boil down an array of winning qualities into four factors, all of which happen to begin with the letter I.
* Innovation: Did the PC do anything that was genuinely new? Did it incorporate the latest technology? * Impact: Was it widely imitated? Did it become part of the cultural zeitgeist? * Industrial design: Was it a looker? Did it have clever features that made using it a pleasure? * Intangibles: Was there anything else about it that set it apart from the same ol' same ol'?
Armed with this scale, we considered dozens of PCs--which meant that we also had to consider the question "What is a PC, exactly?" Ultimately we decided that a PC is anything that's recognizably a desktop or portable computer in design--or, alternatively, anything that runs an operating system originally created for desktops and laptops. After a lot of nostalgic debate, we selected our winners. Which systems we picked--and didn't pick--for our Top 25 may be controversial. If one of your favorites didn't make our roster, check out our list of 25 near-great PCs.
Just to drum up a little suspense, we'll reveal the Top 25 starting with number 25, and then work our way backward to the single greatest PC of all time. (Spoilsports can skip ahead to number 1; we won't be any the wiser. You can also jump to the complete list of our Top 25 picks.)
Ready?
Greatest PCs: Number 1 1. Apple II (1977) Apple II
The Apple II wasn't the first personal computer, or the most advanced one, or even the best-selling model of its age. But in many ways it was The Machine That Changed Everything. On all four of our criteria--Innovation, Impact, Industrial Design, and Intangibles--it was such a huge winner that it ended up as our Greatest PC of All Time.
The 8-bit system came with 4KB of memory, expandable to 48KB. It used a cassette rather than a disk for storage. It cost $1200, about twice the base price of its two biggest competitors, the Tandy TRS-80 Model I and the Commodore PET 2001. It couldn't even display lowercase letters (in the first several years of its existence, anyway). Yet it packed more pure innovation than any other early computer, and was the first PC that deserved to be called a consumer electronics device.
Born out of the Home Brew Computer Club by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs's tiny Apple Computer in 1977, the Apple II was the company's second PC, but it boasted more than its share of firsts: It was the first color PC (you could even use it with a television), the first to be easily expandable by users, and the first to run the VisiCalc spreadsheet--proving that these new boxes had a place in business.
Perhaps its greatest innovation was its design. Jobs wanted the machine to look at home on people's desktops, so he insisted that the Apple II have a sleek look, as opposed to the sheet-metal-and-exposed-w ire appearance of most other early PCs. The machine's coolness factor--an Apple trademark to this day--was as important to its long-term success as Wozniak's inventive engineering was.
And we do mean long-term: From the original Apple II model that debuted at the first West Coast Computer Faire in April 1977 to the discontinuation of the final iteration of the IIe in December 1993 (outlasting the 16-bit IIGS model that was introduced years after it), more than 2 million Apple II-family PCs had been produced. The Apple II line, well documented at Steven Weyhrich's Apple II History site, kept the company going through the Apple Lisa debacle and other turbulent events of the 1980s. By the middle of that decade, though, Apple had turned its attention to that other world-beater, the Macintosh Plus (number 4 on our list). But it was the Apple II that put the personal in the nascent personal computer industry. The rest is history. I didn't own the Apple II; I waited for one of its successors, the Apple IIe, a big, big step up from the very first Apple II. My Apple IIe came with a color screen, a floppy drive, and an 80-column display instead of the original's 40-column display. I have fond memories of using the Apple IIe to index and abstract tech articles, although I could fit only four records on each 5.25-inch floppy, which meant I had to carry stacks and stacks of floppies between home and office. I also remember having a love-hate relationship with the integrated keyboard: Its stiff keys made it a pain to use, sometimes literally. -- Dennis O'Reilly
Greatest PCs: 4-2
4. Apple Macintosh Plus (1986) Macintosh Plus
In 1984 Apple released the original Macintosh, which, while heavily influenced by the Xerox Star, was a breakthrough personal computer. But its 128KB of memory was so skimpy that the machine was virtually unusable. The company really hit the ball out of the park in 1986 with the Macintosh Plus (see the specs of this Apple model and others at Apple-History.com).
The $2599 Mac Plus had the same Motorola 68000 processor as the original Mac, but it came with a roomy 1MB of RAM and was upgradeable to 4MB of RAM. It supported the brand-new 800KB double-sided floppy-disk format, and was the first Mac with a SCSI port for fast data transfer to and from an external hard drive. Like earlier Macs, its cute beige all-in-one case housed a monochrome 512-by-342-pixel display and the 3.5-inch floppy drive. It also came with matching beige input devices: a sturdy keyboard with a numeric keypad connected by a coiled cord, and a boxy, rectangular mouse.
Apple sold the Mac Plus until 1990, making it the longest-selling Mac model ever. By then it had received cult notoriety via a cameo in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Today, working Mac Plus models sell on eBay for about $25. Nonworking models have found an entirely different afterlife: They've been reincarnated as fish tanks.
3. Xerox 8010 Information System (1981) Xerox 8010 Information System
As Winston Churchill might have put it, rarely have so many computers owed so much to such a flop. The flop in question is Xerox's 8010 Information System (better known as the Star), the computer that commercialized many of the breakthroughs invented in the company's legendary PARC research labs and first seen in the Alto computer (which was never sold as a commercial product).
Announced in 1981 and shipped in 1982, the Star had a graphical user interface with what-you-see-is-what-you- get graphics and a desktop metaphor (which, as documented at the DigiBarn computing museum, still look impressive today). It used a mouse, a device that was so unfamiliar that Xerox's documentation also called it a "hand-held pointer." It had built-in ethernet networking, and could work with "a 12-ppm laser printer that was three-fourths the size of a washing machine," says Dave Curbow, who joined the Star team as a software engineer in 1983. "There were way too many firsts to enumerate."
It also had a hefty price tag--$16,500 per unit--that was just the beginning, since the whole idea was that a business would outfit itself with multiple networked workstations, servers, and peripherals. "You couldn't buy one machine and do anything," Curbow explains.
Given that the notion of buying even a single small computer was so new at the time, it's not startling that Xerox had trouble selling companies on the Star. A couple of years later, Apple's far cheaper, Xerox-influenced $2495 Macintosh found more success. And over time, virtually every one of Xerox's out-there ideas became a core part of the everyday computing experience.
2. Compaq Deskpro 386 (1986) Compaq Deskpro 386
For the first few years of the IBM PC-compatible era, the industry had one undisputed leader--Big Blue itself. Then an odd thing happened: Intel introduced the powerful 80386 CPU, its first 32-bit processor, and it was Compaq, not IBM, that brought a 386 PC to market before anyone else.
The Deskpro 386's $6499 starting price wasn't as sky-high as it sounds today considering that decent configurations of IBM's AT cost at least $5000 and its high-end RT usually topped $16,000. With a 32-bit bus and 16-MHz clock speed, "on CPU performance alone the Deskpro 386 inhabits another league," PC World wrote at the time.
In 1986 it wasn't a given that a next-generation PC would run previous-generation software out of the box; the IBM RT, which used a RISC CPU, didn't. And so the fact that the Deskpro ran DOS, Windows, Lotus 1-2-3, and other major applications perfectly was as much of a selling point as the fact it did so with blazing speed.
The Deskpro 386 wasn't just one of the most powerful, most popular PCs of its time--it was also compelling proof that the PC platform was far bigger than any one company.
7. Commodore Amiga 1000 (1985) Amiga 1000
The Commodore 64 may have been the best-selling computer of its time, but its follow-up, developed by a Silicon Valley startup that Commodore acquired, was a vastly better computer. Years ahead of its time, the Amiga was the world's first multimedia, multitasking personal computer (see an early commercial for it on YouTube).
The $1500 (sans monitor) Amiga came with the same Motorola 68000 CPU used in the Apple Macintosh. But the most innovative thing about its architecture was its three coprocessors--they helped provide the Amiga's graphics and sound, which were stunning for the time. Its main video processor (dubbed Denise) helped Amigas accomplish feats like 3D animation, full-motion video, and fancy TV processing years before other computers. And the four-voice stereo sound chip (Paula) provided speech synthesis, produced more realistic audio than the Commodore 64's famous SID chip, and helped inspire Soundtracker, the first "tracker-style" music sequencing program.
The original Amiga was rechristened the Amiga 1000 when it was replaced by the Amiga 500 and 2000 in 1987; later Amiga-based products included the Amiga 4000T tower and the CD32, a gaming console. Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, and the Amiga name and technologies bounced from owner to owner in subsequent years. Modern iterations of NewTek's Video Toaster and LightWave 3D software continue to be used for major TV and movie productions to this day. In 1987 I had sort of lost interest in PCs--until I got my first real job, which happened to be in an office next to a computer store called The Memory Location. I walked by its window and saw an Amiga 500 showing off everything it could do. And what it could do was astonishing, given that garden-variety IBM PCs often didn't do color at the time. I collected enough paychecks to buy an Amiga and stuck with the platform until the IBM world caught up--which took years. -- Harry McCracken
6. IBM Personal Computer, Model 5150 (1981) IBM 5150
Many key moments in PC history weren't identifiable as such when they happened. (Was there any reason to pay much attention when a couple of young guys named Steve decided to start a microcomputer company and name it after a type of fruit?) But when the company that was synonymous with computers announced its first PC on August 12, 1981, everyone knew it was a great milestone in the history of a very young industry.
Technology-wise, the most interesting thing about IBM's Personal Computer, Model 5150, was its CPU: Intel's 8088, a powerful 16-bit processor in an era when most popular models still used basic 8-bit CPUs. IBM offered the system with several operating systems, including the then-popular CP/M, something called P-System, and a new OS that IBM named PC-DOS but that most people would remember as MS-DOS for versions marketed by publisher Microsoft. (Legendarily, Microsoft's OS was based on QDOS, or "Quick and Dirty Operating System," which it picked up for a song from a small Seattle company.)
Within 18 months IBM's machine sat at the center of a booming PC ecology, with a bevy of hardware add-ons, third-party software, clones, books, and magazines. Some of IBM's later machines were hits and some were flops, but all of them, like the vast majority of computers on the planet today, were direct descendants of the IBM Personal Computer. (Read IBM's take on its own archives.)
5. IBM ThinkPad 700C (1992) Thinkpad 700C
Unveiled at Comdex in 1992, IBM's ThinkPad 700C ushered in a new era for laptop computers: Now, the laptop could be both useful and stylish. The first ThinkPad's distinctive black case and its red TrackPoint pointing device in the middle of the keyboard were striking departures from other notebooks, which tended to be practically interchangeable, chunky, dull gray or beige boxes with trackballs that hung off to the side or sat like a lump below the keyboard.
One of three ThinkPad models at launch, along with the 300 and 500 (the numbering scheme was reportedly inspired by BMW's car lines) the $4350 ThinkPad 700C was IBM's top-of-the-line system. It came with an eye-catching 256-color, 10.4-inch TFT VGA color screen (large by 1992 standards), a removable 120MB hard drive, a 25-MHz 486SLC processor, and a comfortable touch-typist-friendly keyboard. Current ThinkPads--now manufactured by Lenovo--may be radically more powerful than the 700C, but they retain the black case, TrackPoint, and fine keyboard as major selling points. (See the ThinkPad's evolution at Lenovo's archive.)
PC World recognized the ThinkPad's significance right away: The product won a World Class award in 1993. In 2004 it became the first--and to date, only--product inducted into the World Class Hall of Fame.
10. Apple PowerBook 100 (1991) Apple PowerBook 100
If your first portable computer doesn't succeed, try, try again. That's the lesson of the PowerBook 100, Apple's splendid successor to the famously awful Mac Portable, a machine we named to our list of the 25 worst tech products of all time.
Along with the higher-end PowerBook 140 and 170, the $2500 100 sported two features that the rest of the industry quickly cribbed. First, the company pushed the keyboard back toward the screen hinge, freeing up space for a wrist-rest area that made typing more comfortable. And in the center of that wrist rest sat a nice, large trackball, the best mobile pointing device of its era. (At the time, folks who ran Windows on portable computers were still futzing with unwieldy clip-on trackballs.) Those were just two of the more striking innovations in a slick laptop design that, according to Jim Carlton's book Apple, took the company from last place to first in laptop sales.
The PowerBook 100--which was, by the way, manufactured by Sony--was discontinued in 1992. But the PowerBook line went on and on, coming to an end just this year, when the final 12-inch PowerBook was replaced by the MacBook.
9. Columbia Data Products MPC 1600-1 (1982) Columbia Data Products MPC 1600-1
When IBM created its first PC, it used an Intel 8088 CPU, off-the-shelf parts, and Microsoft's DOS--which meant that other manufacturers could build machines that were at least reasonably compatible with it. They did, and the very first to ship one was Columbia Data Systems.
The $2995 MPC, whose name was short for "Multi Personal Computer," had double the typical IBM PC's RAM, more expansion slots and ports, and two floppy drives rather than one. At the time, Columbia's Fred Conte told InfoWorld that he didn't see the system going head-to-head with Big Blue. "It is a multibillion dollar marketplace, and if we can pick up a small percentage--say, 2 to 3 percent--it will be a luxury," he said.
Columbia's PC soon had lots of company. At the COMDEX show in November 1982, a flurry of what were then called "IBM look-alikes" were announced--so many that the show also saw the announcement of the first magazine specifically "For Second-Generation IBM PCs and Compatibles." Its name? PC World.
By the mid-1980s, Columbia foundered, and though the company still exists, it hasn't built a PC in a long time. But by producing the clone that other clones cloned, the company helped to define the Intel-and-Microsoft platform that dominates to this day.
8. Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 (1983) TRS-80 Model 100
Though not quite the first notebook computer--Epson's forgotten HX-20 preceded it--Tandy's Model 100 was the first that caught on. (One thing that didn't catch on: Tandy's desire that the machine be known as a MEWS, for Micro Executive Work Station.)
In a day when most "portable computers" were 25-pound behemoths, the 3.4-pound Model 100 was indeed the size of a notebook, which meant it could go places that computers had never gone before. Yet it packed a 2-by-7.5-inch screen that could display 40 characters across and eight lines of text; a full-size keyboard that's still impressive today; built-in software such as a word processor and spreadsheet; and a 300-bps modem that let you connect to services such as CompuServe.
Variants of the Model 100 included 1984's Model 200, which introduced the clamshell case that almost every portable computer would eventually adopt. Well into the 1990s, some journalists were still toting these Radio Shack systems--and sites such as Club 100 continue to help people use them.
13. IBM Personal Computer/AT Model 5170 (1984) IBM Personal Computer/AT Model 5170
Three years after IBM's first PC shipped, the PC/AT marked both a revolution and an evolution in personal computing. The revolution came in the form of powerful specs; the evolution came in the system's design refinements (no, we're not talking about its honking big beige box). It was another IBM hit, although it also turned out to be the last IBM model to serve as a standards bearer for the entire PC industry--a year later, Compaq's Deskpro 386 ended IBM's stranglehold on PC innovation.
The $5295 PC/AT was the first system to use Intel's 80286 CPU (first a 6-MHz model and later an 8-MHz model). It also featured a 20MB (or greater) hard disk that was faster than, and had double the capacity of, the PC XT's original hard drive; supported both 8-bit and 16-bit expansion cards; used IBM PC-DOS 3.0, which supported high-density 1.2MB (5.25-inch) floppy disks; and even integrated a battery on the motherboard to power a real-time clock. Its keyboard, meanwhile, introduced the basic layout we still use today, including a number pad (with cursor keys and a key lock) and dedicated function keys. And the system could handle advanced graphics with its optional 16-color Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) or 256-color Professional Graphics Controller (PGC).
Like many PC model designations, AT stood for something--and no, it had nothing to do with the Imperial AT-AT walkers featured in The Empire Strikes Back. The term was short for Advanced Technology.
12. MITS Altair 8800 (1975) MITS Altair 8800
Computer historians are still squabbling over whether MITS's Altair was the first true personal computer. (Earlier candidates include the Kenbak-1 and Micral-N.) What's undeniable is that it was "the first machine to really capture the imagination of the geek sector in a big way," says Erik Klein of Vintage-Computer.com. "The fact that other companies quickly jumped onto the bandwagon was proof of its power and allure."
The Altair started life as a $397 build-it-yourself kit--little more than a box, a board, an Intel 8080 CPU (which MITS bought at a discount because of cosmetic blemishes), and 256 bytes of RAM. At first you needed to program it by flipping switches, until Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a tiny company called Micro-soft (yes, with a hyphen) and came up with a version of the BASIC programming language that would work on the system.
Software from Bill Gates wasn't the only thing the Altair had in common with today's systems. Much of the infrastructure that would support later PCs--from disk-drive manufacturers to software developers to computer stores--sprung up to support it. There were even clones, such as the popular IMSAI 8080.
The Altair's time as the dominant computing platform was brief, and in 1978 it was discontinued altogether. But what a legacy it left.
11. Sony VAIO 505GX (1998) Sony VAIO 505GX
In late 1997 Sony introduced the VAIO PCG-505 in Japan, proving not only that thin was in, but that being thin no longer meant compromising on computing power. The PCG-505 measured just 0.94 inches thick--amazingly slim for the time--and weighed a mere 3 pounds (the chassis was made of magnesium alloy). And when this notebook first hit the United States in the latter half of 1998 as the Sony VAIO 505GX, it spurred an ultraportable revolution.
At $2699, the 505GX didn't come cheap. But it packed in a fair amount of functionality for a compact notebook PC, including a roomy, comfy 10-inch-wide keyboard (1 inch wider than the keyboards of competing subnotebooks of its time). The 505GX improved on the Japan-only version with specs that included a Pentium MMX-266 CPU and a 56-kbps modem. In PC World's tests at the time, the notebook's lithium ion battery lasted 4.7 hours, which we deemed "an adequate figure but hardly stellar."
Sony continued the 505 line with later iterations such as the X505; its current ultraportables, such as the TX line, retain some of the 505's design flair.
16. Tandy TRS-80 Model I (1977) Tandy TRS-80 Model I
Tandy's TRS-80 Model I lacked the pizzazz of the Apple II, but it was the first computer to be truly marketed to the masses: Over 200,000 of the monochromatic little machines were sold by Radio Shack, an electronics retailer with thousands of locations in an age when almost nobody had ever heard of a computer store.
For $600, the first iteration of the TRS-80 gave you a measly 4KB of RAM and a rudimentary version of the BASIC language, and it stored programs on sluggish, flaky audiocassette tapes. As with other early PCs, the best way to get it to do something was to write a program from scratch. "There was an almost indescribable joy to be had the first time a program that you wrote yourself actually worked," remembers early owner Craig Landrum.
Over time the Model I gained more memory, disk drives, networking, and other enhancements; acquired a library of thousands of programs; and saw the debut of progeny such as the TRS-80 Model 100 portable (number 8 on our list). TRS-80 computers were the first to be the subject of magazines devoted entirely to one company's PCs; today, they're impressively documented at Ira Goldklang's TRS-80.com.
15. Shuttle SV24 Barebone System (2001) Shuttle SV24 Barebone System
For years, the PC was all about the big beige box. But in 2001, Shuttle came up with a toaster-size design for do-it-yourselfers that would push the limits of how much you could pack into a tight space. And it was tight: The case measured just 10.6 by 7.5 by 6.7 inches, and its components were so crammed in that airflow seemed to be an afterthought. To get an idea of just how small it was compared with a standard midsize tower, turn to Anandtech's review of this system.
The $250 SV24 Barebone System offered the basics, namely a compact Flex ATX motherboard with integrated audio and graphics and a 150-watt power supply, housed in Shuttle's small, aluminum case. You supplied the processor, memory, and storage. Appropriate for home or office use, this tiny system sparked a slew of imitators, all trying to match and improve upon its combination of size, functionality, and style.
Today, Shuttle not only sells bare-bones systems but also offers fully hatched PCs, like the XPC G5 2100 we recently tested for the value half of our Top 10 Desktop PCs chart. The company's compact models have upped the ante considerably with regard to performance and construction.
14. Atari 800 (1979) Atari 800
Two years after Atari unleashed its first video game console, later dubbed the Atari 2600, the company shipped its first home computers. In many ways the Atari 800--the more advanced of the two models Atari introduced in late 1979--redefined the expectations of what a home computer could do, especially in graphics and sound.
Part game machine, part productivity enhancer, the $999 Atari 800 was the first home computer to feature a custom video coprocessor in addition to its CPU, which was the same 8-bit 6502 used in the Apple II. This design enabled the Atari 800 to generate 128 colors (256 in later versions) on screen. The system could also display four programmable animated screen objects at once--a boon for action games such as Star Raiders, the system's "killer app"--and it had another custom chip that helped it produce superior sound (four voices, across 3.5 octaves). Two cartridge slots under the hood were available for games and other applications, and four joystick ports were included, too.
While Atari eventually replaced its 8-bit computers with the 16-bit ST line, designer Jay Miner, who led the team behind the Atari 800's video chips, went on to lead the group that developed the Commodore Amiga 1000's graphics system. Like all kids my age, I wanted an Atari 2600 to play games. But my mom thought it would be a good idea to get something that could be educational, so my family decided on an Atari 800. Many a night of head-to-head Star Raiders, Missile Command, and Pac-Man tournaments ensued with my dad (all very educational, of course). But the Atari 800 wasn't entirely about the games; I also used mine to learn BASIC programming and compose my school papers. For years my memory retained AtariWriter's string of control codes--conceptually similar to HTML coding--for such common tasks as making text italic or bold. Little did my mom know then where all of that would lead... -- Melissa J. Perenson
19. Apple iMac, Second Generation (2002) Apple iMac
The first-generation iMac of 1997 may have been the machine that told the world that Apple, and its recently returned cofounder Steve Jobs, were back. But its second-generation successor was a vastly different, far more inventive computer. And even though it didn't turn out to be an influential one, it remains a high point in PC design history.
With its dome-shaped base and its flat-panel screen that "floated" on a swivel arm, this iMac was, quite literally, like no computer that came before it. It had a friendly, anthropomorphic feel, in part because it bore a spiritual resemblance to Luxo Jr., the plucky desk-lamp hero of the Oscar-winning short film from Pixar, Steve Jobs's other company.
The design looked cool, saved space, and provided near-infinite adjustability for the display. But it didn't last long: In 2004 the second-gen iMac was replaced by yet another all-new model, which squeezed the entire computer into the back of the flat-panel monitor. That elegant design is probably more practical than its lamp-like predecessor, but it lacks the older machine's whimsical exuberance.
The innovative OmniBook 300 wasn't just one of the first subnotebooks--it was one of the most innovative hardware designs ever, albeit one that didn't prove particularly influential. Weighing 2.9 pounds, the system stored Windows 3.1, Excel 4.0, Word 2.0, and MS-DOS 5.0 in ROM memory rather than on a hard drive; this allowed it to boot up instantly. User storage was solid-state too, on a 40MB PCMCIA Type III hard disk or a 10MB PCMCIA Type II flash-disk drive.
Productivity was a central theme for the OmniBook, which started at $1950. The unit came with LapLink Remote Access and HP's organizational tools (contacts, appointments, and a financial calculator, same as in the HP 100LX), and provided one-button access to all applications. It also had a unique integrated mouse that popped out of the laptop's right side on a thin piece of plastic; the design eliminated the need for an annoying mouse cable, but the mouse was small and awkward to move about.
Given the OmniBook's basic 386SXLV CPU, monochrome 9-inch VGA screen, and power-friendly ROM storage, it's not surprising HP gave the notebook a high battery-life rating--up to 9 hours of power for the 10MB flash-disk version. (In a pinch, the unit could run on AA batteries--unheard of for a computer with a full-size keyboard.) Although the solid-state approach to laptop storage didn't catch on at the time, it's back today in products like Samsung's new 16GB and 32GB flash-memory drives. Funny how things come full circle.
17. Toshiba T1000 (1987) Toshiba T1000
Toshiba's wildly popular T1000 brought DOS in a truly lap-friendly portable size. The T1000 measured 12 by 2 by 11 inches and weighed 6.4 pounds--a veritable featherweight compared with suitcase-size luggables, and more than 3.5 pounds lighter than its nearest competitor, the Datavue Spark. It was also cheaper than most laptops of its time.
The T1000's durable clamshell design accommodated a full-size 82-key keyboard, a 720KB 3.5-inch floppy drive, 512KB of RAM, and an internal modem. The unit embedded MS-DOS 2.11 in ROM--which eliminated the need to have two floppy drives, as some competing notebooks of that era had, but also made it impossible to use certain software (such as WordPerfect Executive, which required two disks to run).
To achieve its size and cost, the T1000 made some sacrifices in CPU and battery performance. Nonetheless, this model helped catapult Toshiba to the fore of mobile computing, and it paved the way for the next wave of laptops, including number 18 on our list, HP's OmniBook 300 (above). (You can read the T1000 quick-reference guide at this fan site.)
HP's 100LX wasn't the first would-be pocket PC, but it was the first one that nailed both the "pocket" and the "PC" aspects of the equation. (The Poqet PC wasn't really pocketable, and HP's own 95LX had a low-res screen that hobbled compatibility with desktop apps.)
The $749 100LX managed to squeeze a lot of functionality into its tiny clamshell design. It had a QWERTY keyboard (with a separate numeric keypad!), an 80-by-25-character monochrome display, and Lotus 1-2-3 in ROM. Best of all, it ran DOS 5.0, which meant that it was compatible with thousands of popular programs.
HP's 200LX, a slightly improved version of the 100LX, was also popular. With the 300LX, however, the company dumped DOS in favor of the then-new Windows CE operating system. Compatibility with desktop software was lost--which might be one reason why the 300LX is forgotten but people are still using its predecessors to this day.
21. Alienware Area-51 (1998) Alienware Area-51
For as long as there have been PCs, there have been PC gamers. In 1996, Sakai of Miami--named after a Japanese warrior--began rethinking how to market its home computers. "The premise was that we could sell gaming PCs, that we could target people like us who were gamers," recalls company cofounder Nelson Gonzalez. In 1997 the company renamed itself Alienware ("I was really into The X-Files and aliens back then, and I was into computer hardware," he says) and launched its first gaming machine, The Blade, with a 3D video graphics card.
In 1998 that model evolved into the Area-51 (an Intel machine; its AMD counterpart, the Aurora, came out a year later). It was amped up with gaming hardware, including three video cards (one 2D card, plus two 3D add-on cards with 3Dfx's Voodoo chip) and two sound cards (a Sound Blaster 16 for older games and a newer Diamond Monster Sound card, which took advantage of DirectX-capable features like 3D positioning). Back then a high-end system set you back $3799. In 2000, the company added an array of space-age colors to its still-ordinary Area-51 and Aurora case design; it wasn't until 2003 that the vendor introduced its current hallmark design, the sci-fi "Predator" chassis.
Alienware's innovative and startling design influenced PC cases in general, and gave gaming PCs new street cred (even Dell and HP have produced gaming systems in the years since). The company, which Dell bought last year, continues to refine its distinctive design and to produce top-flight gaming rigs: In May we named the Alienware Aurora 7500 one of the Top 100 Products of 2006, and in July the company introduced an improved alien-motif case design.
Back in 1996, when convergence was still more buzzword than reality, Gateway 2000 (the company later dropped the 2000 from its name) launched a system that was the precursor to today's media-centric PC. At its debut, the Destination was priced from $3499 to $4699. But for that hefty cost of admission, you got a system that was ahead of its time: The Destination married a 31-inch CRT monitor with a multimedia PC, a combination designed to replace the gear already filling your entertainment center.
The PC itself was black and boxy, practically the size of two 1990s-vintage VCRs stacked on top of each other. It included a wireless keyboard and remote control, a TV tuner, and surround-sound speakers. As with today's DVRs, you could browse TV listings--but you couldn't record TV to the hard disk.
Along with other proto-Media Center PCs such as Compaq and RCA's PC Theatre, the Destination attracted lots of attention but failed to make its way into many living rooms. However, it did find a niche among businesses and schools as a presentation machine. And the basic idea it pioneered returned in 2002, when PCs based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center operating system appeared.
25. Non-Linear Systems Kaypro II (1982) Kaypro II
Non-Linear Systems' Kaypro II didn't break new ground when it appeared toward the end of 1982, but it was a classic case of the right product at the right time. Even more than the Osborne (which had pioneered the concept of the luggable microcomputer), it appealed to a growing group of nongeeks who were awakening to the productivity benefits of personal computers but couldn't afford (or didn't want to spend) several thousand dollars for an Apple or IBM PC along with the necessary software and peripherals (such as a printer).
Named for NLS founder (and digital voltmeter inventor) Andrew Kay, the Kaypro II--and its series of successors over the ensuing years, including the 4 and the 2x--was a moderately priced alternative. When first released, the Kaypro II cost $1795 and, like the Osborne, came with all the productivity software (word processor, spreadsheet) most people would need. Encased in grey and blue metal, the Kaypro was rugged and utilitarian in design: You could latch the keyboard over the 9-inch monochrome display (far roomier than the Osborne's stingy 5-incher) and carry it like a suitcase. But at 26 pounds, it was a heavy piece of luggage. The Kaypro line also represented the last gasp of the CP/M operating system: By the mid-1980s, MS-DOS was already becoming the lingua franca of non-Apple personal computing. The Kaypro's affordability and out-of-the-box usability was very popular with journalists, including myself: In 1984 I took out a $1600 loan to buy a Kaypro 2x--my first computer--and by then the purchase price also got me a daisy-wheel printer. A year or so later, I became a TV critic for a newspaper, which bought me a Hayes Smartmodem that let me electronically transmit my reviews from home (the modem also enabled my introduction to online computing). I used that Kaypro and Hayes modem until 1992, when I took out another loan to buy my first IBM clone. I've never again used the same PC for eight years. -- Yardena Arar
Increasingly, PCs have evolved into sophisticated entertainment devices. And the first truly entertainment-centric notebook to catch our attention was Toshiba's Qosmio, which continues to innovate as a portable entertainment PC two years after its introduction. (Oh, that name? Toshiba says it derived Qosmio, pronounced "kozmio," from cosmos, as in universe, and the Italian word mio, meaning "my.") The latest iteration not only improves on the thoughtful design of its predecessors but is also the first notebook to integrate a blue-laser-based optical drive--in this case, HD DVD--for playback of high-definition entertainment content.
The current, third-generation Qosmio G35-AV650 packs a slew of features that will make it as at home in your living room as in your home office. A stylish 10.1-pound notebook, this $2999 model's HDMI port supports HDCP and 1080i output, so you can connect it to an HDTV. It also runs Windows XP Media Center and comes with a TV tuner and remote control, so it can serve as a DVR. The 17-inch wide-screen LCD gets its power from two lamps instead of one, which we found generated greater brightness than competing models. The system features an integrated 1-bit digital amplifier, Harman/Kardon speakers, and Dolby Home Theater enhancements, as well. When I first reviewed the Qosmio, I liked its winning combination of looks and design. I have big hands, and I found the notebook easy to navigate. I also appreciated its bright, high-resolution display. The roomy LCD provides plenty of on-screen real estate for when I'm working on spreadsheets, and its audio-visual prowess provides welcome relief after hours. -- Danny Allen
23. Apple eMate 300 (1997) Apple eMate 300
Over the past three decades, Apple Computer has released a bunch of great PCs that had a huge impact on the marketplace. Here's one that had almost no impact during its short life--aside from its cameo in the film Batman & Robin as Batgirl's (Alicia Silverstone's) PC--but we love it anyway.
The $799 eMate was idiosyncratic in virtually every way a computer can be idiosyncratic, starting with its target audience: schoolkids. It ran an operating system designed for PDAs (Apple's Newton OS). It didn't have a hard drive, but it did have pen input. It looked vaguely like a notebook, but its industrial design--with a green, curvy case that looked like it had sprung from the mind of science-fiction illustrator H.R. Giger--was utterly unique.
The eMate attracted a cult audience among business users. But Steve Jobs, who returned to Apple soon after its launch, wasn't a believer: Less than a year after the eMate shipped, he killed it, along with the rest of the Newton line. The cult continues, though--you can even find hacks to overclock the eMate at Stephanie's Newton Web Site.
Almost a decade later, the eMate feels like an early pass at the kind of innovative, affordable educational PC that the world is still trying to create. Too bad it turned out to be a dead end.
Made from top-quality materials, the Nokia 8801 feels like a luxury item. But its high price and relatively thin set of features (groundbreaking stereo Bluetooth music playback notwithstanding) prevent it from being the RAZR-killer it could be.
Shimmering, warm, and almost like liquid metal, the stainless-steel 8801 is luscious to the touch. At 4.8 ounces, it's heavy enough to feel solid, and it slides into a pocket easily. The glass-covered 1.7-inch, 208-by-208 screen has rich colors and looks great in sunlight. Pressing just below the bottom center of the screen snaps the keypad up out of the casing decisively. A set of soothing, rich, Asia-inspired ringtones is also included. The phone comes with an elegant charging stand that glows softly blue and displays your phone as if it were a work of art.
Unfortunately, all that glass and steel attracts fingerprints like nobody's business. That's the problem with the screen on the Motorola RAZR, too, but at least the RAZR's screen is hidden most of the time. And the RAZR's dull exterior resists prints better than the 8801's shiny face.
We were also disappointed with the 8801's keypad. It's handsome, but small. The Up button on the navigation pad is hard to press, and we kept confusing the right soft key with the hang-up button. Sound quality seemed a bit hollow but generally okay; the speakerphone was acceptable, but not extraordinarily loud. The three-band radio will roam the U.S. and the world, though it falls short of the RAZR's quad-band model in terms of flexibility.
Battery life is so-so, only 5 hours 55 minutes of talk time—perplexing for a rather heavy phone. A heavy phone usually means a big battery. In this case that isn't true; the 8801 actually has an unusually small battery—its heft is due to its stainless-steel body. These results place it among low-end GSM models. The 800-by-600 camera isn't great, either; we saw blurring near the edges of images, and odd color effects.
We were also frustrated by the 64MB of memory (53MB available); we simply have to ask why so little, considering the very interesting media player options. It can play AAC or MP3 files through its own speaker, a wired headset, or even a wireless Bluetooth headset—it's actually the first U.S. phone to stream stereo music over Bluetooth. But you can't run the included FM radio over Bluetooth; you need a wired headset.
Even so, the 8801 has a very comprehensive set of Bluetooth features, so you can sync calendars or contacts with your PC via Nokia's free PC Suite software, or transfer MP3s and pictures onto your phone or PC. We transferred MP3s and AACs to our phone easily and used them as ringtones. We also had an easy time sending photos back to our PC.
You can also use the phone as an EDGE modem for your laptop. Its Class 8 EDGE should offer good download speeds, averaging 80 to 140 Kbps, but our tests maxed out at around 45 Kbps. This is a very poor showing, since we got 78 Kbps in a side-by-side comparison with the supposedly slower Class 4 Motorola V551. The 8801 is still faster than the RAZR, which uses the slower GPRS protocol.
As we said in our preview of the 8801, you're going to buy this phone based on how it makes you feel, not on its EDGE class or camera resolution. But ultimately, luxury phones today must be held up to the high standards set by the Motorola RAZR, which is now selling for $200 on Cingular's Web site and for even less through some independent retailers. The Nokia 8801 looks just as good as the RAZR, but has only a slight performance edge and costs three times as much. We think that's a big minus.
The 8801 will be available later this summer on Nokia's Web site and in upscale retail stores. It will work with existing Cingular and T-Mobile contracts.
Check out our comparison table to see the similarities and differences between the Nokia 8801, Motorola RAZR, as well as three other exceptionally good-looking phones, the Nokia 7280, Samsung SGH-p207, and Siemens S66.
Benchmark Test Results Continuous talk time: 5 hours 55 minutes Jbenchmark 1.1.1: 1009 Jbenchmark 2.1.1: 112 JBenchmark 3D HQ: 92
Korean manufacturer Daysis has entered the crowded fray of 20-inch widescreen LCDs with its DS201W monitor, which looks to be thoroughly average in every respect except for one key area: price. Spec-wise, the display pumps out the standard 1680 x 1050 resolution and promises an 800:1 contrast ratio, 300cd/m² brightness, and 12 ms refresh rate, with the LCD panel itself coming courtesy of LG. Both VGA and DVI ports are included, as well as an audio-in port if you want to use the sure-to-sound-great built-in speakers. Best of all, however, the display costs just 300,000 won (about $300 US), although actually getting one over here would probably prove to be more trouble than it's worth.
If you're thinking about buying a flash card for a camera, it's always a good idea to wait.
Over the past several years, Compact Flash cards, used in many cameras, have dropped about 42.7 percent every year, according to Bill Frank, who runs the trade group behind the Compact Flash standard. (Compact Flash cards are the square ones). Frank spoke at the Flash Memory Summit taking place in San Jose this week.
In 1998, one megabyte of flash cost about $3.50 at retail. Now, a megabyte costs about 2.5 to 3 cents. As a result, a 1gigabyte flash card (which contains 1,000 megabytes) costs about $25 to $30.
Two years from now, flash will sell for less than a cent per megabyte, he said. If the same trends continue, a megabyte will cost around three quarters of a cent. Thus, a 1GB card will cost around $8.
Finding a 1GB card, however, may be tough because densities keep rising. Some manufacturers now make 12GB cards. 20GB and more are in the future.
Locator key helps find lost handset; hearing aid and headset compatible; charcoal black color
Remanufactured to like-new condition; 30-day limited warranty
Enjoy convenient, reliable communications with the remanufactured Uniden EXA-4246C cordless phone. The analog unit, which operates on the 2.4 GHz frequency, is outfitted with several essential call features, including a caller ID/call waiting function that displays the name and number of an incoming caller even when you're on the phone with someone else (subscription required), a 30-number caller ID memory, and 10 programmable speed dial locations. The caller ID/call waiting function is particularly handy for busy phone users who anticipate important calls coming through but don't want to interrupt their conversations unless absolutely necessary.
The phone also offers independent earpiece and ringer volume controls, a last number redial button, and a handset locator key that helps you find the handset when it's buried in the couch cushions. And folks with hearing difficulties will appreciate the phone's hearing aid compatibility, which works with all inductively coupled hearing aids.
Additional features include a ringer off setting, trilingual language support (English, French, and Spanish), and a rechargeable ni-cad battery. Finally, the EXI-4246C is headset-compatible, so you can talk hands-free by connecting a headset to the phone's empty jack (the phone also comes with a belt clip to support hands-free communication). The EXI-4246C, which comes in charcoal black and includes a wall-mountable base unit, is backed by a 30-day limited warranty.
What's in the Box Base unit, handset with rechargeable battery, telephone line cord, AC adapter, belt clip, user's manual.
Product Description 2.4 GHz Extended Range Compact Cordless Phone Caller ID/Call Waiting¿ - Displays the name and number of the caller in Call Waiting even while you are on the phone. ¿To activate the Caller ID features, you must subscribe through your telephone company. Caller ID Memory* - 30 per handset Retrieve Stored Numbers During Call 10 Memory Dial Locations New Message LED Indicator Earpiece and Ringer Volume Control Headset Compatible Ringer Off Setting Find Handset Locator Key Tril-Lingual Language Support - English/French/Spanish Hearing Aid Compatible - Meets all of the requirements for compatibility of inductively coupled hearing aids. Pulse/Tone Dialing Last Number Redial - Instantly dial the last number called at the touch of a button Rechargeable Ni-Cd Battery Included
Creative Zen V 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Blue)
Portable media player fits perfectly in your palm or pocket
Big 4 GB memory holds up to 2,000 songs, photographs, and album art
1.5-inch OLED screen displays rich and vibrant photos, full-color menus, and more at any viewing angle
Direct CD Recording allows you to record songs directly from an audio source without using a PC
Player doubles as a voice recorder with the handy built-in microphone
With a tiny, eye-catching design, smooth contours, and discreet size, the Creative Zen V 4 GB Portable Media Player fits perfectly in your palm and slides effortlessly into your smallest pocket. With 4 GB of storage space,
A 1.5-inch OLED screen displays rich and vibrant photos, as well as the easy-to-use Creative interface. View all Zen V features.
Not much bigger than a pair of earbuds! (black and orange model shown) See the Zen V in 3D. the Zen V holds up to 2,000 songs, and the 1.5-inch OLED screen displays rich and vibrant photos, full-color menus, and album art at any viewing angle. Another great feature built right into the Zen V is the tiny device's ability to support subscription services and pay-per-download music. Plus, you'll never sweat formats--the Zen V plays the broadest selection of MP3 and WMA music. And browsing your music collection has never been easier with Creative's innovative interface that enables effective and intuitive navigation and track selection.
Other great features include a Direct CD Recording function that allows you to record songs directly from a CD player or other audio source without using a PC as an intermediary. You no longer need to burn CDs to your PC then download to your MP3 player. Just connect an audio device directly to your Zen V, and record your favorite CDs, records, beats and more, direct from the source. Meanwhile, automatic track detection separates each song for you--a handy feature when you're converting analog (records and cassette tapes) to digital. If organization is a high priority, the Zen V's Personal Organizer will help you stay connected and in-sync with your Microsoft Outlook information. Just connect the Zen V to your PC, sync your Outlook information, and you'll be ready to carry around your contacts, calendar, and to-do lists right in your pocket. Plus, the Zen V uses a handy built-in microphone to double as a voice recorder, so you can capture notes, record lectures, and more.
No matter how you hold it, the Zen V is just the right size.
Creative knows that sporty is sexy, and this player is ideal for any workout junkie. The skip-free playback is perfect on your morning jog or your most rigorous workout at the gym. The optional armband and case fit comfortably on your arm and keep your Zen V safe and secure while running or lifting. The Zen V player was designed for people who appreciate style and function. Don't be surprised when people take notice of your cool, colorful music and photo player. You can proudly announce that your device carries up to 2,000 songs, and you can show off your favorite photos that you've stored on this pocket-sized powerhouse.
What's in the Box Creative Zen V, EP480 earphones, drawstring pouch lanyard, USB cable, line-in cable, installation CD including user manual, and quick start guide.
Product Description Includes: ZEN V Player, Earphones, Lanyard, Drawstring Pouch, USB Cable, Line-in Cable, Installation CD, Quick Start Guide
Zen is a discipline deriving joy from deep, meditative concentration. Creative Zen is an MP3 player that lets you derive pleasure forom whatever you do. The ZEN V player was designed for people like you?those who walk a step or two ahead of the pack. So don't be surprised when people take notice of your cool, colorful music and photo player. Tell them you carry up to 2000 songs with you. Show them just a handful of the photos you've stored on the pocket sized powerhouse. And tell them there's even more but they'll have to get their own. ZEN V is ideal for your next jog on the trail or trip to the gym. At under 2 ounces, the Zen V from Creative is a digital-media player for everytime and anytime that can go anywhere. Direct CD recording Syncs contacts, calendar & tasks Built-in voice recorder Skip free playback Plays music, ZENCast & audiobooks Alarm & clock Customizable main menu 8 EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock & vocal) Organizer - Syncs with and views Microsoft Outlook Contacts, Calendar & Tasks Audio Playback Format - MP3 - WMA - WAV JPEG Photo Format Battery Life - Up to 15 hours continuous playtime / Built-in, rechargeable Li-ion battery Unit Dimensions - Size WxHxD - 2.7 x 1.7 x 0.6 / Weight - 1.55 ounces Creative Bundled Software - Use Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer to import music into your computer and transfer it to ZEN V. Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer is your digital music center for playing, creating, organizing and transferring digital music. / ZEN Media Explorer offers you the ease of managing music tracks and data files in ZEN V, in a Windows Explorer environment / Windows Media Player 10 Microsoft Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or higher), Intel Pentium III 1GHz or AMD Duron 1GHz, 256MB
Blades stay sharper longer for Extra Closeness and comfort, shave after shave. Guaranteed.
A true revolution in shaving! TITANIUM-coating trimmer blades stay sharper longer for an EXTRA CLOSE and COMFORTABLE shave on your entire face, even the tough spots, shave after shave! GUARANTEED.
Advanced Shaving System Screens and trimmer work together to delivery optimal shaving performance:
Stay-Sharp TITANIUM-coating trimmer blades cut the hard to shave hairs
2 ultra-thin screens comfortably shave hairs extra close
2 Super-Flexing Screens Automatically adjust to every unique facial contour TITANIUM-coated Trimmer Blades Extend to precisely groom mustaches, sideburns and neckline High-Speed Motor 8500 RPMs, for a fast shave Counter-Directional Cutters Minimize vibration
Also Includes:
Easy-grip Surface
Cleaning Brush
Travel Pouch
Power Features:
Cord/Cordless Use with or without cord
Charging + Low-Charge Indicators
Quick Charge 5 minutes for 1 shave 60 minutes for full charge
2 Super-Flexing Screens Automatically adjust to every facial contour.
3-Position Trimmer
55 Minutes Running Time
Cord/Cordless MS20370
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee, See Details inside. Questions or comments? Call 1-800-736-4648 (USA) or 1-888-277-6333 (Canada) Made in China
Dedicated sound in the speaker for low battery, switch on, switch off, pairing, volume adjustment, voice activation, reconnection request, waiting call, etc.
Compatible with Bluetooth enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs & computers that support Headset and / or Hands-free profile
Removable & adjustable ear hook which allows the headset to be worn on either ear comfortably. Comfortable even when wearing glasses!
Bluetooth specification: V1.1
With a stylish form factor, comfortable design, and powerful Bluetooth features, the Bluetrek S2 headset is sure to please anyone who wants to increase their mobile productivity and freedom.
The S2's removable and adjustable ear hook allows the headset to be worn on either ear comfortably. Plus, the headset is designed with eyeglass wearers in mind. Meanwhile, dual color LED lights on the headset keep you informed of charging status, low battery, stand-by and Bluetooth pairing status. The built-in speaker also informs you of low battery, on/off status, pairing status, volume adjustment, voice activation, reconnection requests, and call waiting status. Controls are provided for volume and answering/ending calls.
Weighing in at just 13 grams (excluding the earhook), and with a size that's not much bigger than a stick of gum, you'll barely notice the S2 is on your ear! With talk time of up to 10 hours and a standby time of 21 days, you can talk freely all day before you'll need a charge. An AC charger is included with the unit. The S2's Bluetooth capability means that you can roam up to 30 feet away from your phone and still talk -- no wires! The headset supports the Bluetooth 1.1 specification.
What's in the Box Bluetrek S2 headset, earpiece sponges, AC charger, lanyard, and user's manual.
Product Description Innovative and state-of-the-art universal wireless handsfree with Bluetooth technology compatible to fully qualified bluetooth-enabled phones. With new designed detachable earloop to allow you to wear the headset comfortably on your left or right ear.
We're getting a Star Wars vibe from this one, specifically on the ice planet of Hoth. This is something that mere mortals can operate, although it weighs almost a ton.
It's the Land Walker, and it's more than 10 feet tall. You sit in the cockpit, or the robot's "brain." You can control the movement of the robot's feet (forward, backward, or sideways) and the built-in air guns, which shoot sponge bullets. Watch out, Luke Skywalker!
BTW, the price tag is a rather steep US$315,000. George Lucas could afford a few, but you might be limited to one (maybe).
Onkyo's certainly be a fan of all things wireless, so it should be no surprise that the company is turning out yet another pair of cordless headphones, the MHP-A1s (not to be confused with the MHP-AV1s). This new set looks to be pretty comparable to those AV1s from last year, with Dolby Digital and DTS support and a range of inputs including optical digital, coaxial digital, RCA, and a 3.5mm stereo mini-plug. Just as importantly, the new phones also up things in the style department, looking more like something you'd actually want to keep in your living room rather than hide in a closet. Also like the AV1s (and plenty of other wireless headphones), the A1s use the crowded 2.4GHz frequency which should give you a range of about 30 meters (just under 100 feet), but could also be cause for or subject to interference depending on where you use them. Look for these to drop in Japan September 22nd for ¥25,200 ($220US), and here, well, eventually (probably).
Simply turn the headset on, place it on your ear and a Bluetooth® link is automatically established
The multifunction button allows you to place, receive or end calls, all with the push of a button!
With Bluetooth wireless technology, devices work together even up to 10 meters (30 feet) away.
The overall compact size and lightweight (less than 20g) allows for easy storage when not in use
Packaged in a poly-bag with headset, quick-start guide and travel charger.
If you have a Bluetooth phone, it's time to make the most of it with the Motorola HS820 headset. Comfortable, stylish, and intelligently designed, the HS820 frees you up to multitask and talk whenever, and wherever you please. And now it's available with a refined-looking gloss black exterior.
Simply turn on the headset to establish a reliable wireless connection to a compatible phone up to 32.8 feet away. The headset's Bluetooth 1.2 compatibility means that you'll enjoy faster connections, better audio quality, adaptive frequency hopping and improved interference rejection (don't worry, it's also compatible with the older Bluetooth 1.1 specification). With up to six hours of talk time, you can converse to your heart's content before you'll need to charge the HS820's internal battery. The headset also has up to 100 hours of standby time, so you're always ready to receive a handsfree call.
No matter how fancy or powerful a headset may be, it's not all that useful if it isn't comfortable. Fortunately, the HS820 has comfort covered. The earhook is designed to work on your left or right ear, while an intuitive function menu and comfortable buttons make everyday use a breeze. There's also an LED light indicator that shows the status of the headset, including notification of pairing mode, pairing successful, power state, charge state and call state. Call management features -- such as voice dialing, last number dial, conference calling and hold -- are available right from the headset, so you can leave your phone in your pocket, in your briefcase, or across the room. All of this is rolled up into a package that weighs less than .8 ounces.
Compatibility: Motorola A630, RAZR V3, V505, V551, V600 and V710 Phones, and all other Bluetooth 1.1 or 1.2 compliant devices.
Product Description Wireless Headset HS820 Fashionable headset provides affordable wireless convenience; lengthy talk times complement long hands-free conversations.
Flip it open and you've got a QWERTY keyboard; perfect for messaging and email.
Integrated speakerphone makes hands-free communication a breeze.
Features an alarm, calendar, calculator (with a tip calculator) and a voice memo recorder.
Built-in VGA camera with self portrait mirror and LED flash.
Limit 5 phones per customer.
Get ready for high-powered messaging, email, chat, and a whole lot more with the ingeniously designed Kyocera KX21 "Switchback." At first glance, the phone looks like just another candybar style handset. Flip it open, though, and you've got a QWERTY keyboard and a large internal display. Plus, features like a VGA camera, support for the wireless Internet, and a speakerphone make this phone far from ordinary. It's a great way to take advantage of all that Virgin Mobile prepaid service has to offer.
Design The KX21's face features a large, 65,000-color screen with 128 x 128 pixels. You'll also find a dialpad here and a five-way center button that controls most of the phone's on-screen menus. Flip the phone open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, another five-way center button, and call control buttons. The design allows for calling functions to be performed with the phone open or closed. A horizontally oriented 160 x 128 screen is placed above the keyboard, right next to a speaker that enables the phone's speakerphone functions.
On the back of the phone, you'll find a VGA camera, as well as a self portrait mirror and an LED flash, which can also double as a flashlight. Other design features include a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets and side keys for controlling call volume and other functions.
Calling Features The phone's internal phone book can accommodate up to 500 contacts for quick retrieval of numbers, email addresses, and other info. The phone supports polyphonic ringtones and Virgin Mobile's "Superphonic" music ringtones, as well as vibrating alerts. Voice dialing lets you call your favorite contacts by simply speaking their names, and you can also control many of the phone's features and dialing functions with your voice. Meanwhile, picture and ringer ID functions allow you to set specific ringers and pictures to certain callers. And last but not least, a built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk hands-free.
Messaging, Internet, and Tools Support for basic text messaging and robust multimedia messaging (MMS) are built into the KX21. When used in combination with the phone's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging chat is also supported, thanks to an embedded AOL Instant Messenger client. A built-in wireless web browser lets you surf Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 2.0 sites via the Virgin Mobile Web service. eZiText text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
A number of handy tools ship with the KX21, including an alarm, a calendar, and a calculator with a tip calculator. There's also a voice memo application for recording quick notes or numbers.
Imaging and Entertainment The KX21 is designed to kick the fun up a few notches. The built-in VGA camera captures great stills and comes equipped with a flash, a five-step digital zoom, multi-shot adjustment, a self-timer, resolution adjustment, and white balance. Because the KX21 supports Java applications it is compatible with many Java-based games. Many games are available from Virgin Mobile's wireless download service. You can also customize the phone with custom graphics and wallpapers, many of which are also available from Virgin Mobile.
Vital Statistics The Kyocera KX21 Switchback weighs 4.1 ounces and measures 4.25 x 2.05 x .95 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3 hours of digital talk time, and up to 150 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
.61ctw Round Diamond 14k Yellow Gold Wedding Band (SI1/2, H-I)
This elegant 14 karat yellow gold wedding band features two rows of small round cut diamonds, held in shared prong settings and set in a groove that spans the top of the band. The diamonds continue, in single rows, along the sides of the band, adding to the ring's luxurious look. The polished bead-like prongs add interest and texture while the recessed setting maintains a smooth, snag-resistant line. The diamonds, with their cool radiance, stand out beautifully against the warm glow of the yellow gold. A smooth polished interior gives this ring a comfortable feel against the skin. A custom jeweler will be able to size the ring within a 1/2 size. It is a normal process to then tighten the settings to ensure the stability of your gemstones.
Bluetooth Wireless Technology: Built-in radio technology allows fast, secure transmission between your phone and accessories without cables or wires. Bluetooth wireless accessories are sold separately.
Mass Storage Area: Store pictures, videos, voice memos and music within the internal memory of the phone.
Streaming Music Enabled: Stream music to your phone with Music Choice®. Select from Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, and R&B plus exclusive video clips, performances, and artist interviews.
Built-in Media Player: See and hear your favorite news, sports, and more in real-time streaming video and audio at broadband-like speeds.
Advanced Voice Recognition: Say the name or number of the person you want to call and the number is dialed automatically without using the keypad. No prior voice training is needed.
Slim, sleek, and incredibly powerful, the Samsung A900 is the most advanced Sprint phone yet. With a design that is sure to turn heads and powerful features, including support for Sprint's awesome Power Vision high-speed data and media service, a 1.3 megapixel camera, advanced voice recognition, Bluetooth, and more, the A900 can duke it out with the best of them in the contest to be the most powerful phone on the market.
Take a closer look at the A900's functions.
Sleek and powerful: The A900 supports Sprint PCS' amazing Power Vision services. Design While it's true that the A900 takes many design queues from the Motorola RAZR V3, the A900 ups the ante with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a 2.5mm stereo headset jack, 50 MB of internal memory, and support for PictBridge-based direct-to-printer printing (via USB). The A900 also sports a massive 240 x 320 color display with 262,000 colors. The outside cover of the handset features a supplementary 96 x 96 full-color display that can display pictures, time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The camera lens is housed above this display and it features a swiveling mechanism that allows it to face in or out. Meanwhile, media control buttons are placed below the outer display. Up/down buttons are placed on the left side for volume control, while most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's backlit control pad. A charging port and USB data cable port are placed on the bottom of the phone.
Calling Features The A900's internal phone book can hold up to 500 contacts, and the phone's picture ID system allows you to assign pictures and ringtones to your most common callers. The phone ships with 29 polyphonic ringtones, but for those times when you want to be discreet, there's a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear, and advanced voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates easy. Simply say the name or number of the person you want to call and the number is dialed automatically without using the keypad. No prior voice training is needed. Lastly, because the A900 is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation.
Messaging, Internet, and Tools The A900 is a messaging powerhouse, with support for Sprint PCS picture and video mail services. Shoot high quality pictures and video clips with sound and instantly send them to email addresses and or other Sprint PCS phones that are compatible with picture and video mail services. Or upload them to the Sprint PCS pictures Web site (sprint.com/picturemail) to create albums. You can also use the A900 to send and receive email, exchange text messages, or join a chat room. Plus, the A900 features an embedded SMS voice messaging client for quickly sending voice messages to other wireless users or any working email addresses.
The real power of the A900 comes alive with Sprint's PCS Power Vision services. Relying on Sprint's new EV-DO high speed data network, Power Vision allows you to enjoy full-color video clips or live TV of the latest news, sports, and entertainment from CNN, Fox, The Weather Channel, and more.
You can also stream or download music to your phone with Sprint's Music Store service. Download stereo-quality, digital tracks instantly to your phone. Choose from hundreds of thousands of full-length songs from virtually every genre. Select songs directly from the phone and listen to them wherever you go. Even download them to your PC.
And last but not least, enhanced 3D games, personalized news and information tickers, and downloadable screen savers and ringtones are also available through the Power Vision service.
Sprint's high speed data network allows you to browse the web like never before while you're on the go. Check out full-color versions of popular web sites or purchase and download premium applications to your Sprint Power Vision Phone. You can also use the included USB cable or Bluetooth to connect to a PC, allowing Internet and email access on your laptop wherever you roam.
The A900 is packed with useful tools to make your life more productive and fun. A message dictation system lets you speak your SMS text messages into the phone, while a customizable favorites menu makes it easy to personalize your phone based on the applications you use most frequently. A voice memo recorder lets you record up to five minutes of spoken voice notes. The phone also includes an alarm clock that can be set one time or daily, a calendar with a to-do list and a scheduler, a calculator, a stopwatch, and a world clock. A PC synchronization application makes it possible to sync your phone's data with your PC.
Imaging and Entertainment As mentioned, the A900 features a powerful camera that can be used to capture and send video and still images. The camera also has an LED flash and a self-timer, as well as controls for brightness and white balance. The A900's built-in media player lets you see and hear streaming and stored media, and it supports MP3, AAC, and AAC plus audio files. And where will you put all these pictures, videos and songs? The phone's 50 MB of mass storage does the trick. The phone takes gaming to the next level, too, with support for advanced, action-packed 3D games.
Vital Statistics The Samsung A900 weighs 3.9 ounces and measures 3.86 x 2.01 x .57 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3 hours of digital talk time. It runs on the CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
Product Description The ultra-thin, sleek design of the A900 by SamsungSM is enough to turn heads, but this phone is not just another pretty face. Coupled with the great features of the Sprint Power VisionSM Network, Bluetooth Wireless technology, and megapixel camera it is the perfect blend of fashion and function.
Recently I heard a rumor that ATI will ship their next generation graphics cards without a reference cooler. Initially this struck me as being a little odd, but then the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. The majority of graphics cards out there are uninspiring and few manufacturers really come up with a decent “unique” cooling solution.
For example, when the GeForce 7600GT cards were first released, I found myself with half a dozen graphics cards that looked almost identical in every way. Not one manufacturer went with anything other than the plain and boring reference cooling solution, which I might add was extremely noisy. Making matters worse, almost all of them were built on the same plain old green PCB.
This was extremely disappointing as the GeForce 7600GT was set to be the number one choice for affordable gaming. Of course, now there is a little bit of diversity in the 7600GT range as big name manufacturers such as ASUS and Gigabyte are onto their second or third revision. So basically, the reason why we initially see such a huge range of generic graphics cards is because the race is on to deliver the product as soon as possible, at the best price. The strategy makes sense, but at times I wonder if the quick sales are worth tarnishing the reputation of a manufacturer such as ASUS.
The GeForce 7300GT on the other hand did not get the attention of the 7600GT upon launch and there did not seem to be such a rush to get this product to the masses. As a result, it has been far more joyful testing these cheaper low-end graphics cards, as each and every one seems to be a little different. For example, Gigabyte went with a basic heatpipe design and MSI used a large black heatsink with a copper pipe at the base to help evenly distribute the heat. However, it was Albatron that impressed me the most, with their very serious heatsink design that does bare a remarkable resemblance to that of ASUS' Silent coolers.
In fact, Albatron has created a nice little GeForce 7300GT option focusing purely on the graphics card itself. Rather than including several poor quality games, Albatron offers nothing more than the NVIDIA drivers suite which has allowed them to budget for a "better" graphics card.
The end result is an impressive-looking passive heatsink that keeps the GPU core and memory cool at all times. Not only has Albatron made their 7300GT completely silent using a high-quality passive cooler, but by doing so has allowed for a 50MHz core and a 133MHz memory clock increase. This factory overclock will boost the Albatron 7300GT’s performance by at least 30% in most cases over a standard 7300GT.
This is important because at default NVIDIA specifications the 8 pixel pipeline GeForce 7300GT is very slow. However given such an overclock, performance can be boosted dramatically. We have seen a 475MHz core/900MHz memory 7300GT outperforming a GeForce 7600GS with ease.
But then, there is still the question, should you purchase two GeForce 7300GT cards to overclock and run them in SLI? The cost of two 7300GT cards or a single 7600GT is roughly the same, and the performance is close. Let's consult the performance results in the next few pages before we draw any conclusions...
Benchmarks: 3Dmark2006, X3: Reunion Test System Specifications AMD Athlon64 3800+ Socket AM2 Corsair PC5400 Pro 2GB DDR2 ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (nForce5 590 SLI) Seagate 250GB 7200RPM (Serial ATA II) ASUS GeForce 7600GT (256MB) Albatron GeForce 7300GT (256MB) Albatron GeForce 7300GT (256MB) SLI Software - WinXP 32bit - Microsoft Windows XP Pro (SP2) - WinXP 32bit - NVIDIA Forceware 91.31 - WinXP 32bit - NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI 9.35
The 3Dmark2006 results are quite interesting, as the single overclocked Albatron 7300GT graphics card is significantly slower than the 7600GT. However, SLI has always been well adapted for 3Dmark2006 and as a result, in SLI mode the standard Albatron 7300GT cards are faster than the 7600GT. Through overclocking they become even faster, though the boost is merely noticeable.
The X3: Reunion performance results are very similar to those of 3Dmark2006, with the single overclocked 7300GT being significantly slower than the 7600GT. However in SLI mode the standard 7300GT cards are slightly faster than the 7600GT. Once overclocked the 7300GT cards find a few more frames per second, which is nothing to write home about after the impressive non-overclocked SLI showdown.
Benchmarks: Doom 3, Quake 4
Right out of the box a single Albatron 7300GT plays fairly well at 1280x1204, rendering an average of 41fps in Doom 3. Overclock this graphics card a little more and the average frame rate at this resolution quickly hits 50fps! Throw them in SLI without any additional overclocking aid and the frame rate jumps to 72fps. Then overclock the SLI configuration and you end up with 82fps. That's an extra 15fps over the GeForce 7600GT at 1280x1204.
Given Quake 4 is based on the Doom 3 engine, you can expect to see similar performance margins and trends. This time let’s take a look at the 1600x1200 resolution performance. I find it impressive to see such affordable graphics cards delivering playable performance at this resolution. I find this even more impressive given the fact that FSAA 2x + Aniso 8x is enabled along with high-quality in game settings.
Initially the Albatron 7300GT managed to render 37fps and once overclocked this number jumped slightly to 42fps. However, it was SLI mode that really kicked the 7300GT in the backside, boosting the average frame rate at 1600x1200 to 67fps. Then the overclocked SLI configuration pumped out an insane 81.7fps! This was an impressive 17fps over the 7600GT mark.
Benchmarks: Far Cry, UT2004
Despite being somewhat of an old title, Far Cry does put these affordable graphics cards to the test, particularly with maximum in-game quality settings enabled with FSAA 2x + Aniso 8x. The Albatron 7300GT card really struggled at 1600x1200, rendering just 29fps. Overclocking boosted this to a more healthy 36fps average. Once again SLI did well, effectively boosting performance to 54fps and then 65fps once overclocked. This is quite good when you consider the overclocked SLI 7300GT cards were 12fps faster than the single 7600GT.
The UT2004 performance results prove that if you are going to play games that are only as demanding as UT2004, a single 7300GT graphics card is going to be more than ample.
Benchmarks: F.E.A.R
F.E.A.R kills anything mainstream let alone low-end and the GeForce 7300GT found this out the hard way, as it was reduced to unplayable 18fps at 1600x1200.
Nevertheless, SLI mode did boost the performance to 35fps and through overclocking found another frame, making the grand total 36fps at 1600x1200. Not exactly breathtaking performance, so you have to consider that for games like F.E.A.R and others to come, you will want to take the resolution a notch down to 1280x1024 as well as turn off FSAA settings in order to get over 60fps out of your $80 investment.
Final Thoughts The Albatron GeForce 7300GT cards overclocked slightly better than most 7300GT cards I have tested before, and although this can vary among boards, it shows the effectiveness of the passive cooling solution used in this card.
As a consequence the overclocked performance was impressive enough, and the Quake 4, Far Cry and F.E.A.R tests showed interesting results. For this short summary let’s also forget about the non-overclocked results, as we already know where the 7300GT stands. The Quake 4 performance using just a single overclocked 7300GT was quite impressive, with an average frame rate of 59fps at 1280x1024. Adding another overclocked 7300GT to the equation boosted performance significantly, increasing the average frame rate at 1280x1024 to 100fps, making it considerably faster than the GeForce 7600GT.
Shortly after testing using Quake 4 it was time to give them a run in Far Cry, which is a much older game but even by today’s standards, still looks quite good. This time 1600x1200 was a better resolution to focus on and here the SLI overclocked 7300GT cards were 80% faster than a single overclocked 7300GT. This was a spectacular gain and allowed the SLI 7300GT cards to outperform the single 7600GT once again.
Then there is F.E.A.R, a game that the 7300GT really struggles with, and even through overclocking, was only playable at 1024x768. However, when in SLI mode the overclocked 7300GT cards let loose. Hitting an average frame rate of 76fps made them 75% faster than the single overclocked 7300GT. Furthermore, at all three resolutions the overclocked SLI 7300GT cards were faster than the single 7600GT card. So there you have it; Quake 4 favored the overclocked SLI 7300GT cards by 7%, Far Cry 16% and F.E.A.R 11%.
Drawing a final conclusion on what to buy will depend on your current system and the possible upgrade paths you can take. Obviously this article targets gamers on a budget, otherwise there would be no reason why SLI should appeal to you. So having that said, even if you consider yourself a casual gamer, and you are building a new system from scratch, we must recommend a motherboard that supports either SLI or ATI's Crossfire. NVIDIA's implemention of dual graphics cards (SLI) is more mature nowadays, and applies to the cards we tested here, so we are going with that, not to mention motherboards supporting the standard can be had for less than $90.
Throughout the benchmark results it was shown that the GeForce 7300GT despite of being a budget videocard can still run games at playable framerates, especially when overclocked. So those seeking a bargain and wishing to play games such as World of Warcraft, F.E.A.R, Quake 4, Far Cry and even older games such as UT2004, will be extremely pleased with what the GeForce 7300GT can offer them for under $100. At that price point and with the advantage of a completely silent videocard, it's an attractive offering if you don't want to spend the big bucks today.
Furthermore, it was made completely clear by our benchmarks that two GeForce 7300GT running in SLI can effectively increase framerates by over 70% in many cases, which makes this a viable opportunity for those wanting to upgrade today or tomorrow. Even the non-overclocked single GeForce 7600GT had a hard time competing with the two 7300s.
However, if you are wanting to buy a videocard now, and you can afford a GeForce 7600GT, we would recommend this over the two 7300s, for very logical reasons. A single GeForce 7600GT can be had for about $170, which is more or less the price of two 7300GTs. Despite of the marginal performance advantage of the SLI cards, buying a single 7600GT coupled with a SLI motherboard means you could buy a second videocard later (and cheaper), once again giving you room for increased gaming performance. And while GeForce 7600GTs do not have the fame of being great overclockers (so don't expect gains out of it as seen on the 7300GT), manufacturers are finally offering silent, passively cooled models, just expect to pay a premium of $20-30.
Bottom line is, running two GeForce 7300GTs on SLI is better suited as an upgrade path rather than a destination, since a single GeForce 7600GT can offer roughly the same value with the option to upgrade in the future. But if you are in the market for a sub $100 card, you couldn't go wrong with the GeForce 7300GT.
Later this week, we will be taking a more in-depth look to the sub $100 videocard market, with major players put head to head, namely the ATI Radeon X1300 Pro, Radeon X1600 Pro and of course, the GeForce 7300GT.
Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs is expected to announce more gadgets to stuff down your trousers next Monday, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. As usual, speculation is rife. Especially since Apple's PR department fiercely tracks down any real leaks like an Afghan hound, which makes finding out any pre-launch information as easy as trying to recite pi to 83,432 digits.
One of the longest-running rumours this year has been the Apple iPhone, essentially a mobile phone that looks like an iPod, and walks like an iPod, but talks like a mobile phone. A plethora of mock images, videos and even fake adverts have fuelled such a large fire that every tech blog seems to regularly mention the imminent arrival of an Apple mobile phone. Of course, last year Apple did make a phone with Motorola (the Rokr E1), but this was, in no uncertain terms, a disaster. Some pundits went as far as saying that Apple intentionally made the Rokr bad, so that people wouldn't buy it and would continue to buy iPods instead.
It's rumoured that the new Apple phone will be nothing like the Rokr -- it's been said it will have a scroll wheel, and a look and feel like the rest of the Apple product family. But we think the idea that Apple will launch a phone on Monday is simply ridiculous.
Although we'd love to see an iPhone, we don't think it's going to be launched any time soon. From speculation about a mobile network deal with Japanese communications company SoftBank, to the mobile phone code in the latest iPod firmware update, we think these rumours are simply too good to be true.
We think there will be an iPhone at some point in time, but it won't be soon. Apple prides itself on making simple to use products and making a mobile phone that matches the rest of its product range will take time. As we saw with the Rokr, you can't simply strap iTunes onto any phone -- you have to remake the entire device including the interface and casing. This is by no means a press to play product, so unless Jobs has already been planning this for years, there's still a long way to go. Now we know Steve is a tech clairvoyant, but music phones have only been a viable part of the market for about a year.
So if you're pinning your hopes on upgrading your phone to an Apple one soon, then you'll have to keep on dreaming. At least you can put a face to your fantasies by looking at the mock-up images, although the real thing may end up looking very different
Once in a while it's good to remember the computer classics, in order to see how far we've come in making these devices more fun and more useful. I'm going to illustrate the utility of this by citing what I believe are some of the great products of yesterday. Readers are invited to toss in other suggestions or weigh in with their own top 10 lists.
I'll begin with a list of what I believe to be the top 10 laptop or notebook computers. I am specifically referring to portable, battery-operated laptop/notebook computers. These criteria call for leaving out the famous GriD Computer of the early 1980s and various plug-in Toshiba machines, although those did influence future designs:
The Top 10 Classic Laptops<
10. TRS-80 Model 100 (1983). This machine would be higher on the list if future computers had emulated its shape, but its influence on the market was unmistakable. It was probably the first machine to be used widely by professional writers. This was a small single-piece unit with an eight-line monochrome LCD. It was derived from the NEC-8201, which was not seriously marketed in the USA.
9. Toshiba T-1000 (1987). Listed for its popularity and price. A well-made monochrome unit that pushed in the lightweight (3.5kg) direction.
8. Zenith laptops. By today's standards, these laptops were heavy clunkers, but in their day they were stylish and trendy. They set the stage for today's clamshell designs. These machines dominated the scene in the late 1980s.
7. The first HP laptop (1984). This $3,000 unit was one of the most ambitious offerings ever produced by HP. Ahead of its time in every way, it also had Lotus 1-2-3 bundled into the ROM on the machine, making it very fast to work with. Curiously, this laptop/portable unit is no longer listed on HP's corporate-history timeline. One also has to note the HP-75 series (1982), which others consider as the first HP laptops.
6. IBM 5140 Convertible (1986). Selling for a reasonable $1,975, this machine triggered more interest in lightweight machines only because it was from IBM. In fact, it was not a true laptop. It was something of a clunker, especially when docked with its printer.
5. Poquet (1991-1992). The first real example of a super-small full-featured computer, an amazing unit ahead of its time. Atari followed with its Portfolio. This shape never got much further than those two models, which have evolved into the Palm and other more modern machines.
4. Toshiba Porteges. For a number of years Toshiba dominated the laptop arena with a line of ambitious lightweight units called Porteges. This line became so important that Toshiba continues the brand to this day.
3. IBM ThinkPads (1992-present). I'm grouping these together as one, since nearly every one since the original was a classic. Only the odd units with a "butterfly" keyboard were dubious. Nearly all the rest were huge successes that catapulted IBM to the top in laptop design and popularity.
2. Texas Instruments LT286/CompuAdd Companion (circa 1990). The first modern superlightweight machines. I consider them to be among the most important computers ever built, as they initiated the true ultra-lightweight movement in an era where people were demanding that floppy-disk drives be in the machine. These were hard-disk notebook-style machines before anyone had imagined that this would be the permanent direction of the future. Fabulous for their era.
1. The NEC Ultralite (1989). This is the classic that set the stage for everything that came after. The original Ultralite still has features that we'll probably see again someday, such as silicon-based mass storage rather than a hard disk. This was probably the classiest machine you could use in its day. It remains, at least in my thinking, the machine that forever changed portable computing.
What has consistently interested me until this day was the length of time that it took to finally get these machines right. All of today's laptops owe a debt to these classics.
Handheld games console title Mario Kart DS leads the nominations for the Golden Joystick awards 2006.
The Nintendo DS game has six nominations, including game of the year, while role playing game Oblivion is short listed in five categories.
Quiz game Buzz and Xbox Live's marketplace, where gamers can download demos, lead the innovation category.
The winners - voted for by gamers - will be unveiled at a ceremony in a London hotel on 27 October.
Votes can be cast on the Golden Joystick awards website and organisers are expecting more than 250,000 ballots to be cast.
Different categories
There are 16 different categories, including handheld game of the year, family game, girls' choice and online game of the year. Oblivion Oblivion has been praised for its immersive world
Other contenders for the title of game of the year include Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty 2, Guitar Hero and Pro Evolution Soccer 5.
Lara Croft, who turns 10 this year, is in the running for the favourite character award. Croft made a successful return in Tomb Raider: Legend this year.
Also nominated are Mario, Agent 47 from Hitman: Blood Money, Alyx Vance from Half Life: Episode 1 and Prince of Persia from the Two Thrones title.
The Golden Joystick awards were founded in 1982 when Atari, Commodore and Spectrum were the dominant players in the market.
The industry is now worth $25 billion (£14bn) a year and the big players include Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Game development has grown in complexity to rival the work of Hollywood studios with high-profile titles costing up to $20m (£12m) to produce and involving years of work and hundreds of staff.
This year the awards ceremony will be webcast on the Computer and Video Games website.
Cingular has introduced the first phone to take full advantage of its high-speed network, the LG CU500, making it the fastest phone for Cingular users, and one of the fastest in the United States. Skip to next paragraph
The CU500 can receive data at an average of 400 to 700 kilobits per second, depending on signal strength.
The phone can be used as a wireless Bluetooth modem, as can many phones, but it can also act simultaneously as a modem and a phone without slowing down, Cingular says.
The phone uses the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access protocol, sometimes called 3.5G, which is roughly five times as fast as previous network speeds.
The streamlined black flip-phone also has an MP3 player equipped with a Music ID program that within seconds can identify a song played into its handset.
It can receive subscription radio stations and subscription video as well.
Claiming to be the fastest just invites someone faster to come looking for you, of course, and other carriers have or will soon introduce their own fast phones.
AOL announced today that starting next month it will offer 5GB of free online storage for all web users. The free online storage will start in September, and will be powered by Xdrive, a service acquired by AOL late last year. There will be no charges for uploading or downloading documents and files, and users will be able to access their files at www.xdrive.com.
The service will allow users to store digital photos, videos, and important documents in Xdrive's secure data facility, and will include:
5 Gigabytes (GB) secure online storage at no cost
No charges for uploads or downloads
Ability to store any type of file, including photos, music, video, and documents
Drag and drop interface between online storage and hard drive
Access to files through any Web-connected PC or mobile device
Permission-based file and folder sharing
Online collaboration via shared files
Scheduled automatic backups
Automatic upload of e-mail attachments from providers including AOL Mail, AIM Mail, or any non-AOL POP3 or IMAP-compatible mail providers
Full-resolution photo storage
Easy access to AOL Pictures for professional prints and photo gifts
The free Xdrive service will begin in early September and will be available to anyone with an AOL account or AIM screenname.
Based on the idea from Richard Jones, Viksoe.dk has developed a utility called GMail Drive shell extension that allows existing GMail’s account holders to create a virtual hard disk space in Windows Explorer and allows storing and retrieving data from it. User can also drag-and-drop the files into the virtual hard disk like normal folders. Users must first sign into their account before starts accessing this storage space.
However there are limitation using this utility such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters.
Download it and try it out today and have alternative backup method.
Lunar meteorites are so rare that scientists and collectors are turning to unconventional sources, even one that sometimes attracts fraudsters: eBay.
Moon rocks have been in scientific demand since the Apollo program first started carting them to Earth in 1969. But the 800 pounds of astronaut-carried moon rocks and dirt became property of the U.S. government -- which is notoriously stingy in doling out samples -- and the supply dried up after the last landing in 1972.
Fortunately, some moon rocks have found their own way to Earth, and a government-sponsored expedition began identifying lunar meteorites in the early 1980s. In 1990, Robert Haag became the first private dealer to stake claim to a lunar rock found at Calcalong Creek in western Australia. That spurred fortune hunters to search for their own stony treasures.
The advent of online auctions fueled the meteorite boom, and today scientists are going to the internet in search of study samples -- sometimes paying upward of $70,000 for a smallish rock.
"I check eBay pretty regularly, as goofy as it is to have to buy samples from dealers," said Randy Korotev, a lunar geochemist at Washington University in St. Louis who has studied moon rocks for 30 years. "In a sense I don't mind. I think these finders are doing a wonderful thing for the scientific community. It's far cheaper than going to space and bringing the rocks back."
Most dealers on eBay are reputable, Korotev said, because meteorite dealers are aggressively self-policing.
Prospectors who want a stamp of approval for their meteorites register their rocks with The Meteoritical Society (which presently lists 89 lunar meteorites) or the meteorite catalog at the Natural History Museum in Britain. Finders must send several grams of dust from their meteorite for analysis and registration. Without this authentication, scientists can't use information drawn from the samples in a scientific paper.
"Begrudgingly, most (dealers) cough up their amount because as soon as it becomes official, in my opinion it becomes more valuable -- it's to their advantage," Korotev said.
Meteorites that don't come from the moon also have value: A dealer in Britain, Trevor George, has turned rock collecting into a $500,000-a-year enterprise by selling these more-common meteorites, as well as terrestrial fossils that go for about $45 each. He said his record price for a rock is $5,000. About 40 percent of his revenue comes from his eBay store, which he launched in 2001.
"It was good fun," George said. "Then I eventually turned my hobby into a multinational business."
Many of George's meteorites are from northern Africa, or from the Nantan meteor strike recorded in 1516 in Guangxi, China. Scientists who purchased some of George's Nantan samples recently published a paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications showing evidence that reactive, water-soluble phosphorus was present on the very early Earth.
As with any eBay market, some sellers try to buck the system -- though unauthenticated extraterrestrial rocks are still less common than, say, bogus sports memorabilia.
S. Ray DeRusse claims to have found lunar meteorites in Texas. If that's true, it would be the first such find in North America. DeRusse recently put up for auction a small amount of dust from one rock for a "buy it now" price of $75,000. The auction expired with no bids and many skeptical questions about authenticity.
DeRusse said he believes scientists see him as a threat and want to discredit his find.
"There is no legal nor moral requirement that we register samples with the Meteoritical Society," DeRusse said. "It does no compelling good to us, the public, or the Meteoritical Society in submitting samples to those scientists."
But until he allows scientists to examine his rocks, DeRusse's $75,000 asking price seems like shooting the moon.
A virtual ID card designed to improve children's net safety has been launched in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
The NetIDMe card can be swapped by children online when using chatrooms, instant messaging and social networks.
Parents and children can apply for the card using credit card details and a form countersigned by a professional who knows the child concerned.
It is hoped that the card will make it harder for adults to pose as children when online.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) has said one in 12 children met up with someone encountered first online.
Online friends
The ID scheme was set up by UK businessman Alex Hewitt after he discovered that his daughter could only verify the age and identity of a third of her 150 online friends.
We would advise all parents and young people to remain vigilant to potential dangers Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Porter
He said: "People want to feel safe online and know the people they are talking to are who they say they are."
The company said it would also use software techniques "similar to those used by the passport agency" to authenticate applications for the ID card.
The system can only work if two children messaging each other online have both signed up to the scheme.
Children swap their assigned NetID nicknames and take turns to log onto the service's website.
The IDs are confirmed only if both parties have entered their e-mail address and passwords into the service. The card costs £10 a year and Mr Hewitt said he hoped it would "substantially reduce" the risk of young children being targeted by adults.
Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Ceop Centre, said: "Any measure that can help identify the real age of someone online is one more step to deterring people from assuming different online identities to exploit, groom and abuse children over the internet."
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Porter, head of interventions, of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said technology could not guarantee complete protection.
He said: "We would advise all parents and young people to remain vigilant to potential dangers and ensure no personally identifiable information is shared with online strangers."
ometimes when I’m on a really boring conference call, I play Bejeweled on my computer. Is this rude?
This isn’t an etiquette column, but I can’t resist channeling Emily Post. The question is, is there any harm done?
It’s possible that you’re one of those ADD-fueled multitasking freaks who can simultaneously pay close attention to a numbing debate over your firm’s paperclip budget and rack up a high Bejeweled score. (Bill Clinton, for instance, was famous for completing crossword puzzles while talking on the phone with advisers.) “People have been doodling and playing tic-tac-toe and re-creating the Mona Lisa on scratch pads in meetings for 100 years. How is this any worse?” asks Garth Chouteau, spokesperson for PopCap Games, maker of Bejeweled. Heck, maybe your employer should be glad you play – without the game you’d have died of ennui in your cubicle long ago.
Now, such notions do not wash with old-school management thinkers, who regard videogames with deep suspicion. Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, had never heard of Bejeweled – and he flipped out when he saw the game. “There’s no way you could concentrate while doing this,” he gasped. “It’s nothing like doodling. It absolutely would be rude.” Or worse: In May, a security guard at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant became so absorbed in a videogame that he failed to notice an inspector sneaking right by him. D’oh!
Ultimately, you should split the difference. Play the game only if the meeting is really sucky, if you’re not expected to speak or take notes, and if your boss is Bejeweled-out enough to go easy on you when you get busted.
Then again, you should know that I composed this column while totally engrossed in a killer round of Minesweeper, so mayb I missed might have little bit your qusetion?
My friend wrote something really nasty about me on her MySpace blog. What should I do about it? Post a comment?
What you’re dealing with here is the MySpace version of a flame war – particularly combustive given the teen-heavy environment. So let’s listen to the wisdom of our elders. Millions of years ago, on the anarchic message boards of Usenet, we had guidelines for dousing online flames.
The cardinal rule? Never throw fuel on the blaze. A negative public reply is likely to get your friend’s hackles up. Have you considered that you may be misreading her posting? Studies show that people misjudge the tone of an online communication almost 50 percent of the time. So start by using a back channel. Email or IM your friend to ask what’s up.
If she doesn’t reply, the situation gets dicier. It’s still best to take the high road and ignore the posting. But if you’ve been flat-out libeled and your friend is spreading false gossip, you may want to set the record straight with a short missive in her comment field before Google permanently archives the diss. One clever idea is to post a note saying, “Hey – why don’t you email me to talk this over?” That way, “people can see that you’re responding to her, and it may goad her to actually reply to you,” says Karell Roxas, editor of the online community gURL.com.
What if nothing works – or her comments get even nastier? You have to let it go. MySpace is filled with invective and innuendo, but it’s also very protean. Users often alter postings, change the entire layout of a page, or bulk-delete a blog on a whim. “The problem with gossip online is that it’s persistent,” says Danah Boyd, a UC Berkeley researcher studying online communities, “but MySpace isn’t that persistent.” Keep your head up and sail on.
I want to increase traffic to my Web site. Should I try “link farming”?
Yeesh. I wouldn’t. Link-farming companies claim to improve your Google rank by setting up thousands of sham Web sites that link to you. The theory is that Google’s algorithms will look at those links and conclude, Whoa! You’ve got a real popular site there, fella!
Only n00bs fall for this line. Google – not to mention Yahoo and every other half-competent search engine – does not. In fact, most search engines can detect if you’re being aggressively linked from these “bad neighborhoods” (as Google calls them), and they’ll probably punish you by reducing your rank in the search results. It’s just like your grandmother told you: A gentleman is known by the company he keeps.
Another example of spontaneous combustion by a Dell laptop has emerged accompanied by graphic images of the molten aftermath.
This latest report comes in the wake of a flaming Dell laptop that was captured on film in the act of exploding during a conference in Osaka in Japan last month and another Dell that reportedly burst into flames at an office in the US state of Illinois just last week.
A reader in Singapore, who has requested that he not be identified, told us his Dell laptop supplied to him by his company had been involved in a similar act of self-immolation.
The incident took place one evening in early November. The man was working late in the office when the computer, which was running on battery power, suddenly began to make "popping noises".
"It wasn't quite an explosion, but white smoke began to pour out of the machine, completely filling up the room, and there were flames coming up the sides of the laptop," he said.
The man said he grabbed the machine by its screen and raced it to a sink of water to douse the flames, but when he pulled it back out, it once again began to smoulder.
After seeking advice from his brother-in-law, he removed all the batteries from the machine, and soaked it in a sink of water overnight.
Although Dell was quick to replace the machine, he said he was never told by the company what had caused the fault and to this day worries about a recurrence of the problem.
"I'm now so paranoid that will it happen again that I don't use my laptop on flights anymore. Just imagine if that had happened on an aircraft," he said.
"The amount of smoke alone would have been a major concern, but if it had actually been on my lap I would have been burned in quite a serious way."
It turned out that his was not an isolated case. In December last year, Dell launched a massive recall of about 35,000 notebook batteries contained in laptops that were deemed to pose a potential fire risk.
The company said at the time it had received three reports of batteries overheating, and while no injuries were sustained, damage to a tabletop, a desktop, and minor damage to personal effects had been recorded.
It is not clear if the Singapore incident was one of these three reported cases.
Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are believed to present a fire hazard when they are either damaged or suffer a short circuit, but it is not apparent whether any of the latest incidents involved one of the recalled batteries.
Although an investigation of last month's incident in Japan is still underway, Dell said: "The initial analysis indicates that the event involved a fault in a lithium ion battery cell".
In the separate incident reported last week in the US, police and a fire crew attended the office where the laptop spontaneously burst into flames and evacuated the entire floor.
The problem is not limited to Dell laptops. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, as many as 43 laptop fires have been reported in the US alone since 2001, and the National Transportation Safety Board is currently examining whether or not a recent fire aboard a UPS cargo plane was caused by laptop batteries.
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Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs is expected to announce more gadgets to stuff down your trousers next Monday, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. As usual, speculation is rife. Especially since Apple's PR department fiercely tracks down any real leaks like an Afghan hound, which makes finding out any pre-launch information as easy as trying to recite pi to 83,432 digits.
Cingular has introduced the first phone to take full advantage of its high-speed network, the LG CU500, making it the fastest phone for Cingular users, and one of the fastest in the United States.
