Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on March 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

Barnes & Noble recently launched a new how-to site that they’re calling Quamut. Their tag line is “the go to how to” and it’s all about providing users with simple instructions on how to do different things in a variety of topics.  Topics that they cover include house and home, hobbies and leisure, money and business, computers and technology, and mind and body. What’s different about Quamut in comparison to other “how-to” sites is that every bit of information is written by an expert and then reviewed by a fact-checker. It’s produced and then published by the editorial team at Barnes & Noble headquarters so that you have some reassurance that the information is correct.

Each “how-to” article is called a Quamut and they are consistently adding new ones. To make money, topics are formatted into a printable chart which users can purchase and then print for easy access. Charts vary in length, but it appears that they all cost $2.95. If someone is looking to just read the information online, they can do that too without needing to purchase the chart because all information is also formatted in HTML and available on the site. Selling Quamut’s isn’t their only method to make money, they also use Google AdSense and provide links to Barnes & Noble where users can purchase different books relating to the topic they were looking at.

One perk to the service is that each day they offer a free Quamut for users to download.  Today’s free Quamut is Gardening Basics which will tell you anything you ever wanted to know about gardening in six pages. You can also just view the online version for Gardening Basics here. Another nice feature is that they have a community Wiki where users can share their knowledge with others on various topics.

Overall the site looks very promising. I like the route they’re taking to monetize the site by offering all of the content for free, viewable only online, or making it available for purchase in which case the user can print and view it offline. As Mashable points out, it looks as though finally we may be headed in the right direction as far as online publishing goes.

Go ahead and check it out, and then let us know what you think!

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This comic, from the always amazing XKCD (aka Randall Munroe), tells it to us straight. The Kindle 2 is in fact The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Just make sure to bring along a towel.

Kindle [XKCD]

When the MacBook Air was first drawn from a meme-inspiring manila envelope, we gasped. "It’s so, so, so thin!" we shouted, like Marty McFly meeting his teenage mother. Then we found out that there was no optical drive inside and the hand-wringing began. "How will we install AOL?" cried the blogging world.

A year later and nobody cares. DVD-free netbooks are flying off the shelves and the CD-ROM hasn’t gotten any more relevant. Hell, I have a new MacBook and I don’t want the SuperDrive in there. I never use it and it makes an annoying groan every time the computer wakes up.

MCE comes to the rescue. Using its kit you can replace your optical drive with a second hard drive of up to 500GB. It’s essentially a sled which fits into the optical drive bay and holds a standard 2.5" hard drive. And your old drive? MCE will sell you an enclosure for that so you can have it around for those rare times when you need to reinstall AOL. The new drive hooks into the SATA connector and should just show up upon reboot.

This is a fantastic idea, if a little expensive. The 500GB kit will cost $250 if you install it yourself. Add an extra $100 if you want MCE to do it for you. After opening up my MacBook to add RAM, I saw how easy it is to access the SuperDrive. I’m very, very tempted to try this out.

Product page [MCE via Apple Insider]

See Also:

• How-To: Adding RAM to Unibody MacBooks

With the Kindle back in the news, everyone’s interested in showing off their E-Ink displays. Here we have the latest video from Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center. Their new bendy display is touch-sensitive (stylus or finger) and makes us long for Apple’s old Newton for some reason. Check the video after the break to see why.

[Via I4U News]

Continue reading Video: ASU’s touch-screen ePaper display evokes the future from the past

Filed under: Displays

Video: ASU’s touch-screen ePaper display evokes the future from the past originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel has finally broken its silence regarding Psion’s attempt to bludgeon the industry into submission with its trademark on the term “Netbook.” Important stuff seeing as how Intel is credited with (re)introducing the term in its modern meaning back in March 08. Granted, it took awhile for the name to catch on (we asked you to name the emerging laptop category in May) but ultimately stuck with the deluge of Atom-based ultra-portables launched at the Computex show in June of 2008. Unsurprisingly, Intel’s position essentially mirrors that of Dell although it was Intel that actually filed its lawsuit first: 1) the public already uses the term in a generic manner, and (2) Psion’s Netbook has been out of production since 2003 with no intent of being reintroduced into the market. Stupid is as stupid does, right Psion?

[Via Electronista]

Read — Intel sues Psion
Read — Intel’s “Thoughts on Netbooks” (March 03, 2008)

Filed under: Laptops

Intel also sues Psion over ‘netbook’ trademark, general stupidity originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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