Hasta La Gadget!

How do you fit a full-sized keyboard into a netbook? Acer is achieving this seemingly impossible feat by simply making it bigger. But not that much bigger: The new Aspire One 751 has an 11.6-inch screen, only slightly bigger than the standard 10-inches but also not far off the magic 12” of Apple’s beloved 12” PowerBook of old.

And it’s not a bad idea. The Register, Britain’s cheeky-chappy of tech, has a video showing the sleek new machine and the larger size doesn’t seem to kill the portability. In fact, those extra inches bring a few other advantages along with the (obviously) bigger screen and keyboard.

The battery is larger, too. Acer claims five hours for the standard and nine hours for the optional six-cell. Even with the power-optimization of the latest netbooks, that’s pretty good. Remember that the gen. 1 Wind has less than two hours on a three-cell.

Another bonus is that, with the extra area, the internals can be spread thinner and the 751 has a very slim body because of it. From then on, things remain resolutely standard, with the usual three USB ports split over the two sides, a card reader, Atom processor, 160GB hard drive and a gig of RAM.

It’s an interesting move. Spiritually, this is clearly a netbook but physically it pushes the boundaries of the category while still keeping a good price. The notbook will be on sale this month in five candy colors for £380 ($570, but expect it to be less in the US).

Acer 11.6in notebook-not-netbook demo’d on camera [El Reg]

If you like the idea of the little laptop that started it all, but need a little more workspace to keep your eyes from going all aesthenopia on ya, hold on to your wallets for a few more weeks. According to DigiTimes, ASUS is planning on releasing an 11.6-inch Eee by the end of the month, following up on its pledge made last year to do just that — while simultaneously breaking Jerry Shen’s promise to never surpass the 10-inch mark without creating a spin-off, “premium” netbook brand. But, with the 7-inchers relegated to their place in history, perhaps now the company has a little extra room on its production lines. No further information is available on the forthcoming model at this point, but we’re hoping that new screen will get a few more pixels to fill out its new-found girth.

Filed under: Laptops

Asus going big(ger) with 11.6-inch Eee PC later this month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 May 2009 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The plasma industry may be teetering on the edge of certain doom (okay, so maybe that’s exaggerating it… a little), but Samsung‘s still pushing the envelope. Over in South Korea, the company just outed its latest PDPs, the 850 PAVV lineup. Aside from being 40 percent more power efficient, 20 percent lighter and 120 percent more seductive than the prior generation, the new 50- and 58-inch sets also boast DLNA support, a USB 2.0 socket, DivX compatibility and a rather striking stand. The real kicker? The 29 millimeter depth, which equates to just over one inch thick for those who abhor the metric system. There’s no word on when these beauties will hit the streets, but we’re guessing Panasonic will be keenly interested in knowing.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung’s 850 PAVV plasma teases the 1-inch thick mark originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 May 2009 08:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on September 13, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

I thought today I would do something a little different than usual. Sure I have done lists of Firefox extensions before (tabbed browsing and security) but this one takes a unique approach. It isn’t focused on productivity or usefulness, instead we are taking a look at funny extensions. Some of them are even great for pranks.

–Ad Bar (Download)–
Duh, this is what Firefox has been missing all along. Ads!

This extension will display ads in Firefox much like how Opera used to. If there are some relevant ads to be displayed from Google it will do so, otherwise you will see a Firefox ad like the one pictured above. Before you jump the gun…no one is making money off of this because the Google ads use a “test” mode:

If adbar were to generate revenue from ad clickthroughs, it would violate the AdSense policy that disallows client software from showing the ads. While Google has made an exception for the free version of Opera, it did not respond when I asked for an exception for adbar.

Two of the other FAQ’s will give you a good laugh as well:

Can I register and get rid of the ads?

Of course! Paypal $19 (51% cheaper than Opera!) to me or the Mozilla Foundation, then uninstall adbar using the Extension Manager in Firefox’s Tools menu.

When I visit porn sites, why do I get public service ads instead of ads for porn?

Good question.

They say “51% cheaper than Opera” because this extension was last updated back in 2004…you know the days when Opera didn’t offer a no cost version that was ad-free.

–Firesomething (Download)–
Sick of your title bar always saying “Mozilla Firefox”? Then have it say something a little more random. Firesomething will replace the word Firefox with Fire**** where the asterisks are random words.

I’m sure the title of this extension makes a lot more sense now.

–Hammer Time (Download)–
So you’re trying to introduce your Grandma to the Internet but she just doesn’t understand how the stop button works, right? I know, that is a common issue but the Hammer Time extension will solve all of your woes! You can now replace the stop button with an MC Hammer icon. I mean how can anyone forget what that button does now…”STOP! Hammer Time..” 

–Remove Links (Download)–
If you find yourself browsing the Web too much then this extension will definitely solve that problem. Why? It will remove every link so that you have nothing to click on. If you can’t click then there isn’t much you can do.

–Anti-Paranoia (Download)–
If you are constantly watching over you back, can’t sleep at night, or stressed out at work then you need the Anti-Paranoia extension.

It will add an option to the Tools menu that says “I am afraid” which activates the extension. Once it has been activated you will see a notification box every 3 to 7 minutes popping up in the bottom-right corner of Firefox with comforting messages like “Everything is good” and “The world is a good place”.

–Random Theme Switcher (Download)–
This extension does have some usefulness to it but I would say it would be awesome for performing a prank. All you have to do is install a bunch of crazy themes and this extension on someone’s Firefox and they will go crazy…especially if you make it a point to tell them that a virus has been going around lately that infects Firefox which makes it constantly change its appearance.

–Goodbye, Cruel World (Download)–
Someone thought the Hello World program was a little too cheery. Enough said.

–Mood Tap (Download)–
This extension will let the whole world know how you are feeling. Just select your mood from the list of options and it will add it to the other statistics on MoodTap.com. It looks like right now the world isn’t feeling too good.

–Office Poltergeist (Download)–
Sure you could setup someone’s computer so that you could remotely control it but why not just hijack their web browser? All you have to do is download this extension and install it on your friends existing Firefox installation.

Once installed you will be able to access the computer by typing in http://IPADDRESS:666 to if installed on a PC and http://IPADDRESS:13013 if the computer is a Mac. Once you are in control you can change the URL of the site they are viewing, make an alert box popup, play a sound, shake their window, or replace every word on the screen with another word.

This extension can give you hours of amusement when installed on a friends computer.

–Autobrowse (Download)–
This extension will take all of the pain away from finding search results. How? Just activate it from the Tools menu, choose the search term,  and pick the search engine. Once it has that information it will automatically start surfing through the results!

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary
• CyberNotes: What Are Your Favorite Firefox Extensions
• What do you want your Firefox to do?
• A Look Back at Firefox in 2006
• The Ultimate Firefox Test: Installing Over 100 Extensions

I live in an old house, which means it is full of old, old plumbing, most of which doesn’t work very well. This is why I want the PermaFLOW, a replacement sink-trap which both shows you the problem and offers a solution, all at once.

First, you will get a build-up of goop and foreign objects in your sink drain. The PermaFLOW is made from clear plastic, not just because it makes for a nice show, but because it means you can see what and where the blockage is. Second, a built-in unblocker means you can clear the pipe with a simple twist of a knob — way easier than chemicals, bendy wire brushes or, worse, calling out the plumber.

Take a look at the comparison page to see many other real and perceived advantages of this ABS U-bend. One of these “advantages” actually turns out to be anything but. While other solutions are “Largely Made in China”, the PermaFLOW is “Made in the USA”. This patriotism obviously doesn’t guarantee better build quality, but it does mean a higher price — around $60 online.

Now, if they made one of these for our decrepit, antique toilet, I’d buy one, made in the US of A or not.

Product page [PF Waterworks via Core77]