Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a paragraph I hope to never read or think about again,

In the study, thermometers were used to measure the temperature of the scrotums of 29 young men balancing a laptop on their knees. Even with a lap pad under the computer, the men’s scrotums overheated quickly.

I have a lot of questions about the quote–most of which I hope I never find out the answer to.

The scrotum monitoring is part of a study attempting to link laptop usage with a loss in sperm numbers. According to Yelim Shenykin, a urologist from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who was involved in the study, “Millions and millions of men are using laptops now, especially those in the reproductive age range. Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don’t feel it.”

A study has yet to positively identify a link between laptops and sperm loss, but according to Reuters, “earlier research has showed that warming the scrotum even more than one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) is enough to damage sperm.”

So, in the meantime, buy a lap rest and practice safe computing.

Even if you’ll never get your hands on one, you’ve got to love super-rugged computers. VT Miltope just announced a new family of ruggedized computers for demanding military environments, dubbed the Hard Ware line. This family includes clamshell laptops, convertible laptops, handhelds, and mounted computers. The idea is to fill in the product line so that the company can serve any of the military’s needs.

“Our military is on the forefront of technological development, and one of our biggest challenges is in the management of critical information. VT Miltope developed a new family of Hard Wear computers to provide robust and rugged computing platforms to meet those challenges,” enthuses retired Army Brigadier General Tom Dickinson.

Even if you don’t like its methods, you’ve got to appreciate iFixits’s tenacity. It rips apart every single hot new gadget the moment it hits the market. The site just got its hands on the brand new 11 inch MacBook Air and worked its magic on the ultraportable.

“Most components–RAM included–are soldered to the logic board, preventing them from being replaced,” writes iFixit–an unfortunate revelation for anyone planning to upgrade down the road. “We definitely recommend users to buy the 4GB RAM version of the Air, as the paltry 2GB already borders on obsolete by today’s standards,” the site adds.

iFixit also took a good long look at the laptop’s 64GB flash memory, which, incidentally, is the one thing that isn’t soldered to everything else. “This may enable some crafty tinkerers to rig a larger drive inside the Air, provided they can fit everything within the tight confines of the .68″ thick case.”

Those with strong stomachs can check out more lovely hi-res images of the MacBook Air being picked apart.

Even with a software focus, it wouldn’t be a real Apple event without some serious hardware announcements. The company kicked off its new line of Macs with a brand New MacBook Air. “We think it’s the future of notebooks,” Jobs told the crowd.

The larger of the two measures 0.68 inches at its thickest point and 0.11 at its thinnest, weighing in at 2.9 pounds. It features a 13.3 inch LED backlit display, featuring 1440 x 900 pixels–more than you’ll get on the 15 inch MacBook.

There’s a Core 2 Duo processor and NVidia GeForce graphics inside, but no optical or hard drive–instead all of the storage is relegated to flash chips. The 13 inch version should give you up to seven hours of battery life

The smaller Air features an 11.6 inch display, five hours of battery life, and a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

The MacBook Airs start at $999 for the 64GB 11 version. There’s also a 128GB version available for $1,199. The 13-inch version comes in 128- and 256GB versions, which will run you $1,299 and $1,599, respectively.

Analysts aren’t confident. The market sure as heck doesn’t seem confident. But HP? HP is very confident in its choice of former head of SAP, Léo Apotheker, for its top spot. How confident?

“I have never felt more confident about our business.” That’s a quote from Cathie Lesjak, HP’s CFO, who has been the interim CEO for the company since the untimely departure of Mark Hurd.

Lesjak, of course, seems to be particularly excited to go back to her old job. “My heart is in being a CFO, and my family and I are pleased I’m going back to that,” she told the press during a conference call this morning.

Just to show you how ultimately confident HP is in its choice, the company wants you to know that Apotheker was its number one choice, never mind the fact that he was only SAP’s CEO for a total of seven months.

According to HP, Apotheker was the only person offered its top job. After an exhausted two month search, HP “ended up with six people who could have done the job,” says HP independent board director, Bob Ryan. From there, the board chose Apotheker unanimously.

Is HP on the up and up here? Does the company’s confidence really matter if no one shares the sentiment? After all, HP’s stock price dipped four percent on the news of Apotheker’s hire.