Nov 23

No Laptops Allowed! A New Trend?

Posted in: Laptops, Today's Chili

This article was written on March 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

laptop ban At the start of my last semester of school, I was taken back when I read the syllabus for one of my classes. It read something like: “laptops may not be brought to class because they distract both the student and the teacher.” For most of my college career I had gotten used to bringing my laptop to class to take notes because I could type much faster than I could write, and sorting and organizing notes was much easier. Here I was in my last semester and the teacher wasn’t going to allow a laptop. I was annoyed, but life went on without my laptop and I had to get used to writing my notes once again.

That was the first and only time where I’ve been in a situation where laptops were not allowed, but that might be changing. Now it appears that managers of companies are thinking like my professor did and asking their employees not to bring computers to meetings. Will this request eventually become a new trend? A recent blog entry by Christopher Null over at Yahoo Tech talks about this very issue. Nulls says that managers are tired of workers bringing their laptops to meetings to do anything but work.

He says:

Laptops are vital business tools and banning them makes little sense on the surface.  That is, after all, why laptops were invented in the first place: So people could take their computer off their desk and into another environment, like a meeting and be doubly productive.

Then he went on to say:

Laptops may be more a symptom of meetings that were already useless rather than the cause. How many times have I wished I could catch up on my email instead of having to sit in a crowded conference room and listen to a stuffed shirt drone on about another grand, corporate design that will never come to pass?

More than I can count. Now give me back my Minesweeper.

I’ve always been one that has the mind-set of work smarter, not harder, and that’s what a laptop has allowed me to do. While some employees and students may use a laptop for leisure (at times, there’s nothing wrong with using a laptop to pass time), others don’t and use it to work smarter. This got me thinking about other technology devices that could be added to a “ban” list like Smartphones, iPhones, or cell phones in general. When it comes down to it, are all of these devices more distractive than they are beneficial?

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping that a “no laptops allowed” rule doesn’t become the new trend…

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Nov 21

MacWorld 2008 Followup

Posted in: Apple, Features, Gadgets, Today's Chili, videos

This article was written on January 15, 2008 by CyberNet.

Now that people have had time to settle down from the MacWorld event this morning we thought we would take a look at some of the buzz from around the Internet. We’ll checkout the new iPhone firmware, show a video of the new MacBook Air, and give our opinion on the video rentals.

Overall, I would have to say that the keynote was rather disappointing. There was no “one more thing” this time around, and a majority of what was announced had already been leaked by this point. All we really found out was the finer details.

For full information, specs, and features read our full review of the MacWorld 2008 Keynote.

–iPhone 1.1.3 Firmware–

Luckily we managed to update our iPhones with the new 1.1.3 firmware before the service went down this afternoon. I did it using the new iTunes 7.6 and Ashley did it using iTunes 7.5, so some of the other sites are wrong when they say you need the new version of iTunes in order to get the new firmware. If you are experiencing issues connecting to Apple’s servers for the firmware update head on over to Engadget who has posted some direct download links.

As far as the features go I would say that Apple did a wonderful job making this a worthwhile update. It would have been nice to have copy and paste functionality, but the advanced home screen customization and pseudo-GPS for the maps really make the update shine. Being able to have up to 9 home screens is more than what I would ever need…that comes out to 144 icons!

The only thing I’m not all that fond of with the new firmware is how the iPhone comes up with an icon for websites you bookmark on your home screen. It snaps a screenshot of the upper-left corner of the screen, scales it down, and adds some polish to it. The problem is that a lot of my “made for iPhone” sites all look the same, and I wish there was a way to assign a specific image to be used for the icon.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Software Development Kit (SDK) will really be ready next month. Then we’ll see true third-party apps breathe new life into the iPhone.

P.S. I do feel sorry for the existing iPod Touch users out there who have to fork out $20 for the update, but I guess Apple isn’t getting any kickbacks from those owners via AT&T.

Here’s a movie posted by Apple demonstrating the new iPhone 1.1.3 firmware:

–Movie Rentals–

I was pretty excited about the movie rental system ever since news of it had been leaked. I thought that Apple would surely do this the right way, but I think they came up short in some aspects. The fact that you get 30 days to start watching the movie after purchasing it is nice. Then after you hit the play button you have 24 hours to finish it, which also isn’t that bad. The thing that really gets me is that the videos won’t be available until 30 days after they are on DVD. That probably just ruined any chance of me actually using the service.

I’m with CrunchGear on this one:

Here’s my line of thinking: If the movies were on iTunes one month after hitting the theaters, which you know I hate going to, I’d have no reason to pirate them. What’s the point in downloading a crappy CAM or Telesync if I can get a DVD quality version in one month?

–MacBook Air–

Apple’s new MacBook Air prances in at $1799 for a starting price, and if you want the 64GB Solid State Drive that will run an additional $1300! It’s sleek, small, and functional all rolled into one package, but Apple forgot to mention one thing. While the battery life is a touted 5 hours, the question of how to replace the battery was never brought up…and for a good reason. It turns out that the MacBook Air will have to be shipped back to Apple to get the battery replaced! Some things are just too good to be true.

I do have to say that the multi-touch trackpad looks rather sweet. You can checkout everything the MacBook Air can do in this video:

So there’s our MacWorld followup. In all it was a disappointing show, but Steve Jobs did say that there are still 50 weeks left in the year. The real question is whether they are going to produce something worthwhile in that timeframe.

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Nov 12

Apple Commands “Premium” Computer Market

Posted in: Apple, Today's Chili

This article was written on May 20, 2008 by CyberNet.

A recent article from Fortune really makes it clear that the majority of people who go out to buy a computer have a budget of under $1,000. It also makes it clear that Apple is seeing pretty significant growth. Let me explain…

So far in 2008, Apple’s market share in the big scheme of things is 14%. While that number may not be HUGE, it is a number that has continued to grow over the last few years. What’s more impressive is when you take a look at Apple’s market share of computers sold that cost over $1,000. There they stand at a whopping 66% and if you break it down, it’s 70% of desktops and 64% of notebooks. While we knew that Apple was experiencing some pretty impressive growth, never would we have thought that they commanded 66% of the market for the “premium” computers.

apple share-1.png

Two-thirds is the magical number here. Two-thirds of all computers priced above $1,000 are Mac computers. To put this into perspective, just two years ago their market share of computers over $1,000 was just 18%. Talk about growth! So what would it take for Apple to increase their market share in the under-$1,000 category? Well for starters, they would have to expand their line of computers to include more that are priced under $1,000. As it stands, the only computer that you can by from Apple under $1,000 is the $599 Mac mini which doesn’t give buyers much choice. On the other hand, maybe Apple has no desire to try and command the under $1,000 computer market?

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Nov 11

AMD GPU roadmap points to a happy 2011 for Radeon lovers

Posted in: AMD, plans, radeon, roadmap, schedule, Today's Chili

The ATI name might be dead, but Radeon graphics cards are only growing bigger, bolder and better. AMD’s recent financial analyst day has made official what many of us already knew or suspected: there’ll be three new high-end GPUs forthcoming in the first quarter of 2011. The slides explicitly describe the recently launched HD 6870 / 6850 as mere refreshes, aiming to bring HD 5800 series performance in a more efficient package, but peek beyond them and you’ll see an armada of HD 6900 chips just itching to bring the fight to NVIDIA and its newly crowned GTX 580 king of the single-GPU hill. No specs yet, of course, but at least we now know there’ll be some fireworks to greet us early in the new year. Oh, and if the mobile realm is more your thing, we’ve got a shot of AMD’s plans on that front waiting for you just after the break.

Continue reading AMD GPU roadmap points to a happy 2011 for Radeon lovers

AMD GPU roadmap points to a happy 2011 for Radeon lovers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 10

2 Billion Personal Computers In Use Within 6 Years

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on June 23, 2008 by CyberNet.

recycle computers.pngAny guesses on how many personal computers are in use out in this vast world we live in? As of July 2007, it’s estimated that there are about 6.6 billion people in the World. Out of those 6+ billion people, how many of them do you think are using a computer? According to Gartner, a research firm, the number of personal computers in use has passed the 1 billion mark which is pretty big. In other words, about 1/6th of the population has a personal computer.

Of course we know that the number of people who actually own a computer is under the 1 billion mark because of all of the people (you may be one of them) that own multiple computers, but this is still pretty significant. An analyst with Gartner says about 58% of those one billion computers are owned by people in “mature” markets – places like Japan, the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. What’s interesting though is that they’re expecting the next billion computers to come by 2014 and many of those computers will come from emerging markets.

Now that more people are using personal computers, there’s one major problem that has to be addressed: computer recycling. Computers have multiple components that are toxic to the environment. As computers age, people often times decide to just throw them out instead of recycle them when they buy a new one. Each year millions of computers become obsolete and end-up in landfills.

How do you recycle a computer you ask? Most manufacturers these days have a recycling program which makes it easy to do. Take Dell for example. If you go to www.dell.com/recycle, you’ll see options to either donate or recycle your computer. Dell even offers to have it picked up at your home at their expense. All you do is fill out a form and they provide a label for you to print. Nice, huh?HP is another example, and you can find their program at www.hp.com/recycle. Depending on where you live, they also offering recycle services for rechargeable batteries and cell phones along with computer hardware and printer cartridges.

If your computer is aging and you intend to buy a new one, definitely think about your options for your old computer including recycling and/or donating it.

Source: Reuters

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Nov 08

Microsoft’s Surface Computer Has the “Wow” Factor

Posted in: Apple, Microsoft, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on May 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

MicrosofttableSurface Computing is a project that’s been in the making over at Microsoft for several years now, and just last night Microsoft filled everybody in on all of the details regarding their Tabletop Computer (also code-named Play Table). The videos that are included at the bottom of this post do most of the talking, and after viewing them, I have to admit that this tabletop computer looks slick! It’s more intuitive than anything I’ve seen before, and I’d say without a doubt, surface computing definitely has the “wow” factor.

Where will the tabletop computer appear?

This tabletop computer will appear in hotels like Starwood, restaurants, retail locations like T-Mobile, and casino resorts like Harrah’s.  Gestures like pinches and pushes will navigate you through data like pictures. The top of the table which is a 30 inch touchscreen in a clear acrylic frame will react to brushes, fingers, and everyday objects.

While responding to more than just one touch at a time, it will be able to recognize physical objects like cell phones, cameras, paint brushes, etc.,  It gives you  the control over photos, music, maps, and more.

Uses

One example that I was impressed with was the table acting as a cashier and splitting the bill amongst a group of people.  Restaurant patrons would be able to place their credit cards right on the table (object recognition) and then drag the food and beverage items that they had right to their card.

Users would be able to resize and shuffle through photos using their hands and their fingers instead of a mouse. The resizing of the photos reminded me of the iPhone demo in which two hands were used to resize a photo.  It can also act as concierge in the lobby of a hotel to provide directions and maps.

It’s no everyday table.

Your everyday table is now something much, much more sophisticated.  No longer is there a need for a mouse or a keyboard, so interaction is not traditional by any means.

Microsoft outlined the key attributes for this table as:

  1. Direct interaction – Users can “grab” info with their hands and interact with content.
  2. Multi-touch – Use one finger, two fingers, or all of them!
  3. Multi-user – Everybody gathered around the table can collaborate using the computer.
  4. Object recognition – Depending on the object, a different digital response will occur.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO says:

“We see this as a multi-billion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters, to the hallway mirror.  Surface is the first step in realizing that vision.”

Pricing will range from $5,000 to $10,000 per table, so it won’t be popping up in every household anytime soon.

Surface computing is certainly a new method that will undoubtedly impress. I just can’t help but wonder though, what would a blue-screen of death look like on this one?

Oh, and I don’t think I’m alone on this one when I say that this can only mean a multi-touch Zune must be coming soon. In fact, perhaps there is evidence that this is true?

Source: Thanks for the tip Radu and Cory!

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Nov 07

Nvidia the Cause of Vista Complaints?

Posted in: Today's Chili, Windows Vista

This article was written on August 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Nvidia VistaI’ve been using Vista for several months on four different computers. Out of all of those computers there have been no issues (well, file transfers are a little slow but this fixed that), and I’ve only seen one blue screen of death (BSoD). Sometimes it sounds like my experience has been far too pleasant with the operating system when comparing it to what some people have gone through.

I was reading an article by Ed Bott this morning that detailed the root of his problems: the Nvidia graphics cards. He mentioned that Nvidia just released another drive update for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista last week, but there are still a full 10-pages of open issues remaining (read about them in this PDF).

So what did he do to fix his problems? Have a look:

Over the weekend I yanked Nvidia cards out of both systems. On one, I went back to the onboard Intel GMA950 graphics. On the Vista Media Center PC, I installed an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro card with the most recent ATI drivers (Catalyst Version 7.7, released July 19, 2007).

The difference is night and day. Sleep works perfectly again. I can switch effortlessly between Media Center and the Windows desktop on the HDTV, and the full desktop is visible. (ATI’s drivers aren’t bug-free, but the list of known issues with Windows Vista is dramatically shorter – one page, not ten.)

This actually explains a lot because every system I own is using an ATI graphics card. And looking back at some of the problems I’ve heard about regarding Vista have been from people using Nvidia cards.

So if you’re having troubles with Vista and you’re using a Nvidia graphics card, you might want to get an ATI card. I’ve got a Radeon X300, Radeon X1950, and two Radeon Mobile X1400. I’ve had no problems with any of those on Vista.

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Nov 04

Create A More Powerful Battery-Powered USB Charger

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on May 31, 2006 by CyberNet.

Create A More Powerful Battery-Powered USB Charger

People have seen the 9V battery chargers that will charge your USB devices, but now there is one that takes 2 AA batteries! Using 2 AA batteries appears to give a longer battery life than traditional 9V homemade USB chargers. It will power the iPod Video for 3 hours which is equivalent to one full recharge.

The nice thing is that you don’t have to go and scrounge for the parts yourself because there is a kit available to purchase. Now you get the fun of assembling your own charger without the hassle of running from store to store looking for parts, and it is only $20 (a little high but not too bad). However, there is some soldering needed but it doesn’t look to intensive.

These Altoid tins are quite popular for these chargers because they fit all of the parts snuggly and make the charger very portable. I like that is uses AA batteries so I might have to give this one a shot.

Buy The Kit
View The Assembly Instructions

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Nov 03

Asus Eee PC on Sale at Newegg

Posted in: Gadgets, sales, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 31, 2007 by CyberNet.

Asus Eee PC Newegg is among the first retailers in the United States to start selling the much anticipated Asus Eee PC. They only have the version available (and in stock) which is equipped with the 4GB solid-state drive, and it costs $400 to pick it up. No, the cheaper 2GB model is not yet available.

You may remember that the Eee PC comes with Linux pre-installed, but the Eee PC does also support Windows XP. Computers with XP pre-installed will supposedly be shipping by the end of the year, but I don’t see any reason that you couldn’t install it yourself.

Here are some of the specs for the Asus Eee PC

  • Operating System: Linux
  • Screen: 7″ WVGA (800×600 resolution)
  • Processor: Intel 900MHz
  • Memory: 512MB DDR2
  • Hard Disk: 4GB Solid-State Disk
  • Graphics Card: Intel UMA
  • Battery Life: 3.5 hours
  • Dimensions: 8.86″ x 6.30″ x 0.79-1.26″
  • Weight: 2.0 lbs
  • Other: Webcam, 3 USB ports, MMC/SD memory card reader, 802.11b/g wireless

Unfortunately we won’t be seeing any of the models rolling in under the $200 price mark like we originally expected, but other versions are rumored to be coming out shortly. The price range for the three different models, including the one mentioned in this article, is supposedly between $300 and $400.

Newegg Eee PC Homepage [via Engadget]

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Oct 29

OLPC Sale Starts with Donations

Posted in: Laptops, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

The last time we wrote about the One Laptop Per Child program was late September when it was announced that they’d go on sale starting November 12th.  Consumers who want to buy one will be required to actually purchase two — one for them, and one to give.  This “Give 1 Get 1″ program will cost $399, and is still set to start on November 12th. Despite the fact that there are about two weeks left before the launch to consumers, the foundation has already started to sell the laptops, but only to those who are wanting to donate.

As BetaNews reports, it’s all about donation at this point. If you visit the foundation’s site, you’ll see that there are three options. Someone can donate 100+, 1000+, or 10,000+ laptops with the price fluctuating based upon the number donated.  For someone who decides they’d like to give 100 or more laptops to the location of their choice, they’ll be charged $299 per laptop with $99 from each laptop going to fund another 50 laptops that would be sent to a country that the foundation chooses.  For those giving 1000 or more to the country of their choice, they’ll pay $249 per laptop with $49 from each going to fund another 250 laptops.  For those wanting to give 10,000 or more, they’ll be charged $200 per laptop and can choose where they’d like the laptops to be sent.

Seeing as the purpose of the whole program is to provide children in lesser-developed countries with a tool to learn, I think it’s great that they’re starting out with a “donation” drive before they start the Give 1 Get 1 program. They’ve had their fair share of setbacks and delays, so it’s exciting to see the sales of these computers finally start.

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