Filed under: Laptops
Really, it’s ok, you can stop tipping us on the Golden Age / Bling My Thing MacBook Air. We know it’s all 24k gold and has 12,000 Swarovski crystals and crap, but we’ll be honest, this stuff kind of freaks us out. We don’t know, it’s just offensive in that way that only a triggered gag reflex can properly describe. Supposedly only twenty are being produced, and you know the story about price, and these things being out of your league if you even have to ask.
[Via Pocket-lint, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
It’s been in development for nearly half a decade, but this year at Microsoft’s R&D extravaganza TechFest, the company finally lifted the curtain on its research-oriented Singularity OS. Let’s just be clear from the get-go, though: while it’s is available for immediate use, Singularity is nowhere near anything you’d replace your desktop OS with. The sole intention here is to test out futuristic new concepts in application interaction, microkernel architecture, and so on, so don’t expect to hear that Microsoft is hanging up the Vista apron or anything. But for the turbo-geeks in the crowd, the Singularity Research Development Kit (RDK) 1.1 is now available for download for academic non-commercial use. And for the rest of us, well, we’ll just see what the year 2011 holds in store.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Read - Brush up on your Singularity theory
Read - Download that biz
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No one likes all these telephone wires that are everywhere. At the same time everyone is in the habit of pacing the floor with a telephone receiver in his/her hand. That’s why a lot of different wireless phones where designed. Yet, the fact that they are wireless means that sometimes you have to recharge the receiver.
Filed under: Digital Cameras
There’s certainly something to be said for the Olympus E-420, which only takes up 5.1 x 3.6 x 2.1-inches and 13.4 ounces in your bag — but that totally 80s body style is getting tired. Would it really have killed them to update the look from the E-410 and the rest of the line? Still, it’s not the most expensive DSLR you’ve ever met, and it does have a 10 megapixel sensor with live view, 2.7-inch display, and ISO up to 1600 (meh). Come April or May (depending on where you live) expect to drop $500 for the body, $600 with an ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko lens, and $700 with an ED 25mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens.
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
CNN has a pretty extensive profile on El Jobso — the likes of which seem to appear almost monthly these days in the mainstream media publication of your choosing — but one of the more interesting tidbits is that apparently he sat on his pancreatic cancer for nine friggin’ months before seeking treatment back in 2004. To put that in perspective, although his diagnosis was curable at the time, pancreatic cancer is considered to be among the most deadly forms and despite the urgings of the very few friends, family, and associates in the know, Steve apparently sought to cure himself holistically for three quarters — while everyone else (including Pixar, where he was also CEO) was in the dark. Of course, eventually he gave in and got the surgery he so desperately needed to make his recovery; water under the bridge now, but Apple shareholders certainly must have a feeling or two about Jobs coming so close to the brink.
[Thanks, Adhik]
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Filed under: Robots
If Pleo’s holiday behavior mode left you thirsty for more, chances are the first bona fide update to its Life OS won’t disappoint. Version 1.0.2 enables your dino to explore its surroundings more, engage in fits of singing when encountering groups, and hear erratic noises when sleeping softly. Of note, UGOBE promises the update won’t change your Pleo’s existing personality, so apparently, there’s nothing to lose (but more spare time). Go on, hit up the read link and start that download — right after you tell Pleo to expect a treat, of course.
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
They’ve finally, really done it. Your good friends in the hacking community have apparently come up with a solution to get you Vista — should you want it — activation free. According to a report, there’s now a cracked, full version of Vista floating around that totally circumvents that cumbersome and costly activation process. The crack supposedly stems from OEMs (and end users) that were fed up with that process, and somehow persuaded Microsoft to pull an up-up-down-down maneuver and make the OS work, sans activation. The software utilizes System-Locked Pre-Installation 2.0, embeds OEMs BIOS files (signed by Microsoft), and passes all of the company’s Windows Genuine Advantage checks. Of course, maybe it’s possible that the folks in Redmond care more about users adopting Vista than they care about them paying for it. Nah, probably not.
[Via Techdirt]
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Around the office we’ll occasionally joke that there are more people doing home theater than buying home theater. And while it feels true (at least in our neck of the woods) it was encouraging to see some hard data that backs-up something I’ve suspected for quite some time, home theater is still a growth market.
According […]
Filed under: Storage
Not quite a year after Samsung joyfully brought the Spinpoint MP1 into the world, the MP2 has arrived to rightfully take the baton. According to Sammy, the 2.5-inch drive is best suited in desktop replacement lappies, workstations and blade servers, and it’s said to provide quicker read / write speeds than the 500GB M6 announced at CES. The 7,200 RPM drive is slated to land at $299, but an 80GB version will be available for a bit less cash, too. In less sluggish news, the firm has also restated its plans to deliver a 256GB SSD by 2009, and if you were looking for even more bulletin board material, Jim Elliott, vice president of memory marketing for Samsung Semiconductor, proclaimed that it was “trying to double SSD capacity every 12 months.” Music to our ears? You bet.
Read - Spinpoint MP2
Read - Samsung’s SSD plans
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Filed under: Desktops
Last September, Lenovo tooted its horn quite loudly with the introduction of the environmentally-friendly ThinkCentre A61e. Fast forward a few months, and it’s the same song and dance once more — with even more green this time, though. The ThinkCentre M57 / M57p machines won’t blow anyone away in terms of raw horsepower, but they are the first desktops from any PC maker to garner GREENGUARD certification. Additionally, these power-sipping rigs are EPEAT Gold rated, Energy Star 4.0 rated, and the first ThinkCentres with recycled material from consumer plastics. Internally, you’ll get to choose from a range of Intel Celeron / Core 2 Duo CPU options, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, integrated graphics, an 80GB / 160GB hard drive and not much else. ‘Course, with prices on the M57 starting at $699 and an understandable focus on energy-efficient components, we wouldn’t expect much different.
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