Hasta La Gadget!

The first of Lenovo’s CES-announced S Series, the S205, sauntered into the computer manufacturer’s online store this week, albeit lacking the 8GB DDR3 SDRAM option mentioned at its announcement. The base model sells for $499, sporting a 1.60Ghz dual-core AMD Fusion E-350 CPU, an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768 resolution) 16:9 widescreen panel, 3GB of DDR3 SDRAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 6310 graphics, and a 350GB HDD. Two higher cost configurations score an extra gig of RAM, an optional Bluetooth radio, and a 500GB or 750GB HDD. The lesser of the higher end models can be had for a $429 at LogicBuy until Wednesday, if you can live without Bluetooth (which man did for thousands of years, but you know what we mean).

[Thanks, Tim!]

IdeaPad S205 hits Lenovo webstore, starts at $499 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No frogs transformed into princes and no wicked stepmothers were vanquished — not on camera, at least — but today’s royal wedding managed to capture the world’s imagination. Thanks to partnerships with CBS, the Associated Press, UK Press Association, and Entertainment Tonight, the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton broke viewing records on Livestream.com, maxing out at 300,000 simultaneous viewers and a total of “at least 2 million” unique users, according to Max Haot, the site’s CEO. We reached out to YouTube and Facebook to see how they did on the streaming front, but neither site has a final tally — though a Facebook spokesperson did tell us that 6,819,072 people have commented on the wedding in the past 24 hours. We don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but we hear News Corp. has secured the rights to the Royal Divorce — just in case.

Royal wedding livestream breaks hearts, records originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That non-standard charge port on your Tesla Roadster isn’t proprietary, it’s just outmoded — but don’t worry, a four foot adapter is here to save the day. This new J1772 to Roadster connector bridges the Roadster’s 2008 designed charge port to the industry standard J1772, adopted by automakers and energy firms over a full year after the Roadster’s debut. The new coupling cable will juice up your wheels in just four hours at EV stations outputting 70 amps, or in seven and a half hours for the average 32 amp level 2 charger. Native plug access to those thousands of ChargePoint stations will set you back $750, but if you’ve already bought a Tesla Roadster, that’s just another drop in the ($100,000) bucket.

Tesla J1772 mobile connector standardizes Roadster, costs $750 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Steve, who seems to be proving the College Stereotype wrong in a big way. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I’m a college student and we are updating our intranet / network capabilities at my fraternity. One idea is to create a network drive for backups for each member living in the house. We already have a network drive accessible by everyone wired in (about 40 people via Ethernet cable), so the raw storage and infrastructure is there. What is a good backup software that is cross-platform (Mac and Windows) and free or relatively cheap? Moreover, once the backup software is in place, what steps should be taken to ensure security of each members data? Thanks!”

Any software junkies (or frat admins) out there care to chime in? Seems like a common problem, actually, and we’re more than confident that someone sticking to that 4.0 GPA has an answer. Toss yours in comments below.

Ask Engadget: best network backup solution for multiple computers? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on February 09, 2007 by CyberNet.

GPS, which is known to help navigate you around the world, or create maps, has been expanding in use and usability. You can now find integrated GPS devices in cars, phones, or even watches. Hikers and climbers use GPS to help determine their position, boats and ships use it to guide them through the oceans, and planes use it to get from point A to point B. All of those different uses are good reasons to make use of the satellite navigation system, but what about GPS in your shoes?

Isaac Daniel came up with the idea of GPS devices built right into shoes after he got a call that his 8 year old son was missing. Shortly after he began the process of designing a line of shoes that will sell for $325-$350 which have GPS built right in. The line designed for adults is expected next month, and a children’s line following shortly thereafter.

Aside from the actual cost of the shoe, there would also be a service fee of $19.95 per month.  That covers the cost of the 24-hour monitoring service that would be alerted should the GPS button on the shoe be activated. The main purpose behind the shoe is actually safety should a child or an adult go missing.

Could someone use this to check up on suspicions that their spouse or child aren’t where they say they are? Well, they could, but then they’d be faced with law enforcement costs. It was designed with emergency situations in mind, and no other purpose.

The shoe works by pressing a button to activate a GPS.  From there, details about the location of the shoes are sent to a monitoring service. After the button is pressed, the shoe will continue to transmit information until the battery runs out which means that it could potentially be useless in times of actual need. The  GPS chip is tucked away into the bottom of the shoe, and measures 2 inches by 3 inches.

The Good: This is a potentially life-saving device. If a child is wearing the shoes, and the parent notices the child has gone missing, they can call up the monitoring service and provided they know the password to the account, the GPS will be activated.

Later this year, a “Plug and wear” version will be available which would allow wearers to remove the module from an old pair of shoes and place them in a new pair, cutting back on price of shoes for growing feet in children.

The Bad: The price will probably be enough to keep most parents from making the investment, especially with the additional monthly service charge.

The Ugly: The shoes aren’t actually considered ugly.  In fact they come in six different designs and look more like a running shoe.  But, convincing your child that this is the next “big” name in shoes probably will take a little effort.  Especially if all of their friends are wearing Nike’s.

Source: Associated Press [via Yahoo]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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