Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on July 24, 2007 by CyberNet.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has begun the mass production process of the low-cost XO notebook computer. This puts the project on track to ship these in bulk as soon as October 2007.

The even bigger news comes from Reuters who says that the OLPC could be hitting the retail stores this holiday season. So what kind of price are we talking about? Well, it isn’t exactly the $100 laptop that it once set out to be, but they did manage to squeeze each of these out for a mere $175. But I don’t see you buying a million of these at one time, so if you’re looking to grab one for yourself it’s gonna run you at least $350. There are even talks of charging consumers $525 for one of these which would then help fund more computers for developing countries.

If you’re looking for a laptop that can be powered by a hand crank, and want a battery that lasts a whopping 12-hours this might be the computer for you. Or maybe you want something that can withstand severe weather? If none of those things appeal that much to you then you might want to think about an Eee PC instead. It’s going to have a version for less than $200 available later this year, and much like the OLPC XO laptop it too will be running Linux.

I think a consumer version of the OLPC XO notebook could have done reasonably well for $250 or even $299, but $350 is pretty darn high in my opinion. And then the thought of $525 for this thing is insane since I can get a full-featured laptop these days for a similar price.

I know I know…I’m not looking at it with the "help the developing countries" point of view, but I think there are other considerations that should be thought about. Most countries, if not all, have poor areas that can hardly afford school supplies. If there was a way where I could designate who gets the proceeds (which could be delivered in the form of a laptop) from my purchase I might be more willing to do it. I’m sure that is something they are already thinking about though.

How much would you be willing to pay for an OLPC XO laptop?

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on December 04, 2007 by CyberNet.

When it comes to Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Microsoft is doing two things that almost counteract each other. First off Microsoft is easing up on the “Reduced Functionality Mode” for those users who don’t pass the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) test. As of right now if you don’t pass WGA Vista will disable premium features such as Aero Glass, ReadyBoost, games, and BitLocker. More annoyingly, however, is that it will log you out of Windows after just one hour of use.

From the standpoint of cracking down on piracy this might have been a good thing, especially since Microsoft is reporting the the Vista piracy rate is half of what it was with XP. The Reduced Functionality Mode, however, came at a cost for Microsoft. Some genuine Windows users have found themselves sitting at a computer that suddenly becomes pirated in Microsoft’s eyes, and when that happens they only have an hour at a time to work before they get logged out. In Vista SP1 when users are classified as non-genuine they will just see a notification in the System Tray as well as an image on the desktop background. It’s obviously still annoying, but at least if you’re on your way to give a presentation you don’t have to worry about your computer logging off every hour!

On the other hand Microsoft is cracking down on the Vista hacks available around the Internet. One method in particular, using purely software, is able to emulate an OEM BIOS. That is significant because users hacking Vista in this way will appear to be genuine to Microsoft. When emulating an OEM BIOS Microsoft can’t simply blacklist a serial number, and trying to flag non-genuine users would probably result in many genuine users falsely getting flagged as well.

Microsoft said that cracks like these will no longer work in Vista SP1, but that should be clarified a bit. In their current state Vista OEM BIOS cracks won’t work in SP1, but hackers will have developed a new method probably by the time SP1 is even released. You can’t blame Microsoft for trying though.

[via Ed Bott]

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on August 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

I’m a huge fan of coming up with cheap hacks that replace otherwise expensive solutions. I thought I would use this article to discuss creating a low-cost laptop sleeve from various items, as well as picking up a nice laptop stand at the store for under $5. Hopefully these instructions will save you some time and money…

–Laptop Sleeve–

I originally saw this trick on Lifehacker, and I thought it was really clever. Someone had made a sleeve for their laptop using 3 or 4 FedEx envelopes! Directions on how to make your own are available on Instructables, and here is what the final result looks like:

Instructables also has two other alternatives for laptop sleeves: one made with a hoodie, and another made with a simple piece of fabric. Before you get going on any of these tricks you’ll want to have some sewing skills!

I, however, forked out about $25 to purchase a well-padded laptop sleeve that fits my computer very snuggly. If I’m going to be using this to transport my computer I want to have something that does a little more than just prevent scratches.

–Laptop Stand–

I had given a tutorial back in June regarding how to change your primary monitor. Since then I’ve had several people ask me what I used to get my laptop lifted off of the desk, and make it more at level with my standalone monitor:

In the photo the stand is the four white legs holding up the laptop, and it’s just a wire shelf often used in the kitchen. Here is someone selling a similar shelf on Amazon for $5, but I picked up a three-pack of these at our local Walmart for under $6 (they varied slightly in size). I recommend going to a department store and looking in the kitchen section for these if you want one yourself. It surely beats paying $32 for something that serves the same purpose.

And besides for just putting the laptop at an equal level to this monitor, it also serves a few other purposes. Since it is a wire rack it provides plenty of ventilation for the various vents on the computer, and therefore it runs cooler than normal. Not only that, but the way the rack is designed makes it possible for me to easily utilize the space underneath the computer for something else.

Tip: Some stores will have these stands in aluminum or stainless steel for a few dollars more, and that style looks a lot nicer. I decided to just go with the cheapest thing I could find though.

–Have Any Laptop-Related Tips?–

If you’ve got some sort of cheap hack that you’ve come up with for your laptop feel free to share them! I hate paying more than I have to for items that serve the similar purposes, and I’m sure plenty of you have come up with some clever setups. Hit us up in the comments below.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on January 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

eBay has angered a lot of sellers over the years because they are frequently jacking up the cost of their fees to list the items. They are trying to make amends with all of the sellers by lowering fees across the board, which will become effective on February 20th, 2008. Well, maybe not all the way across the board.

Some of the listing fees have dropped by as much as 50%, and they’ve completely removed the fee for adding a gallery image (the thumbnail that’s displayed when performing a search). The biggest price reductions come to those who start their auctions under $25, and even more to those who start under $0.99.

There’s one bit of information that they failed to leave out of their mass email that was sent out to all members (I received it earlier this morning). As you would expect eBay isn’t just going to reduce the prices without making up for it somewhere else. Right now with every item that you sell eBay will take 5.25% of that revenue, and on February 20th they will start taking taking 8.75%! That’s an increase of 67%.

To help put the increased Final Value Fee into perspective lets look at an example. If you sell an item for $500 on eBay they would have previously gotten $26.25 plus the listing fees. Now they are going to get $43.75 from the final selling price plus the slightly reduced listing fees. That’s a difference of almost $17, which is doubtful that you’ll make up from the reduced listing fees.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. eBay wants to make you think that they are putting more money in your pocket, but the only people who are really benefiting from the changes are those who have items that don’t sell.

[via The Associate Press]

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

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