Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

It wasn’t that long ago that it was next to impossible to pickup a new laptop for under $1000, but now you can regularly find them for just a few hundred dollars. And there’s no arguing that people are becoming more and more connected thanks to the Internet access proved by cellphone networks. When you combine the falling prices of laptops with the increased connectivity what do you get?

Well, there is some thoughts that this could lead to wireless carriers offering free laptops when you sign a mobile Internet contract with them. It would work much the same way as buying a cellphone, where you get the device for free if you agree to stay with the carrier for a few years. And breaking the contract would obviously result in an early termination fee.

Will this takeoff? I think it has a good possibility because it would mean that the customers could upgrade every 18 to 24 months just like with cellphones. There would, of course, be the higher-end laptops that you could pay for, but you would still receive a significant rebate off of the original price.

The wireless carriers wouldn’t really suffer from doing this because it’s likely that they’ll use the same tactics that are used when selling cellphones. By that I mean they’ll increase the monthly plan price to compensate for the cost of the computer. It’s really no sweat off their backs, and I’m sure plenty of businesses and consumers would love being able to upgrade their laptops regularly without any hassle.

The selection probably wouldn’t be the best, and so this likely wouldn’t appeal to me. What do you think though?

The Guardian [via Gizmodo]

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Microsoft has come up with a spanking new Cybercrime Center headquarters as part of their efforts to highlight its fight against cybercrime. This particular project has also been admitted by Microsoft to be a “CSI kind of place,” where it does seem to be focused on building awareness of potential threats as well as promoting Microsoft’s efforts when it comes to the non-stop fight against cybercrime. Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit general counsel David Finn said, “It’s like a functional movie set.But there is real-life cybercrime going on, and these are real-life labs to fight it in a cutting-edge way. This is not a TV show – we have important cases we’re working on right now, right on the other side of the window.”

Microsoft figured out that around half of online adults have fallen under the shadow of cybercrime in the past year, and cybercrime itself is said to cost the global economy up to $500 billion each year – now that is certainly a whole lot of money. Those who drop by the headquarters will be treated with information about specific cases which Microsoft did work on, where among them include the Citadel botnet which was believed to have infected millions of computers, and it was used to steal around $500 million from businesses and individuals. [Press Release]

Cybercrime Center By Microsoft original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple has experienced a pretty significant degree of success with their Apple Stores, and it does seem as though the good people over at Intel, too, want a piece of the physical retail store pie. In the video above, you will see that Intel has every intention to reach out to the masses through a similar modus operandi – by opening up their very own retail stores, too. Intel exec John Wallace did share some details concerning the Intel Experience Store plan, with the first location set to open this November 23rd (that is just less than a fortnight away!) in New York City’s NoLita area.

Unfortunately, not much else is known about this particular range of Intel stores, but we are pretty sure that you won’t be able to find any iOS devices on sale in there. Do expect to see an Ultrabooks galore area over there, and we sure as heck hope that there will be additional store locations revealed to us in the days and weeks ahead. Will it be able to take off with a similar level of success as with Apple’s physical retail stores? Only time will be able to answer that particular question. We do wonder just which computer vendors would want to sell their wares there, too.

Intel Set To Open Own Retail Stores Soon original content from Ubergizmo.

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