- Matthew Dillon

Several weeks ago I conducted an experiment.  I wanted to see if it was possible to buy a used notebook computer that was comparable or better than the current netbooks on the market.  It is possible to buy a netbook, an ultraportable laptop computer that is designed primarily for light functions and web browsing, for $399 or less.  With only $299, my hypothesis was that I could buy a better or comparable notebook.  I decided to use eBay as my testing ground.

The first computer I was able to snag was an older iBook with a G4 800 mhz processor, 640 mb ram, and a 30gb hard drive for around $260.  I was drawn to the iBook as a portable device because of its cheaper price, internal DVD/CDRW, long battery life, Wi-Fi, and OS X.  Although it was the older G4 processor, the iBook was known for being a durable computer with great mobility.  Weighing in at 4.9 pounds, it was a little on the heavy side as most netbooks weigh less than 3 lbs.

- Warner Crocker

I know some folks may have changed their summer vacation plans this year due to the crazy gas prices, but if you’re headed out on a road trip, here are a couple of posts that you should definitely check out.

RoadWarriors Live is a site that follows Steve and his family (his wife, two kids, and two dogs, and a cat) as they travel across the country in a RV. They are using an OQO Model 02 to live blog and also stream some video of their adventures. Steve is also using Dragon Naturally Speaking to dictate blog posts while he is driving. Thanks to OQO CEO Dennis Moore for the link.

If you’re looking for the right tools to travel with, Mashable is featuring a post that includes a number of trip related tools. 25+ Tools for a Road Trip 2.0 includes a bevy of tools from trip planners, to streaming tools, to social tools that broadcast where you are.

- Rob Bushway

MobileDemand's xTablet seems to have a problem with gambling. First, it makes a mysterious appearance in Vegas during CES 2008; and now, it has taken over ABC's new game show, Wanna Bet.

Tune in Monday evenings, at 8pm Central Time on ABC, to watch the celebrity panel use the xTablet to record their bets. Should be fun - just be sure to keep an eye on your wallet...

 

- Rob Bushway

Lenovo has announced their entry in to the red-hot netbook market, the IdeaPad S10, with prices at $399 and $499. This entry looks to be hitting all the sweet spots: price, style, features, size, and performance. I predict that this will be a very popular item and is aiming squarely for Asus' jugular. The S10 will begin shipping, and be available in retail, at the end of September. I've got my eye on the S10 for ALL of my kids for back-to-school. At $399 / $499 for these features, you just can't go wrong. Look for an InkShow in early September.

Let's cut right to the chase with specs, pictures and such:

• Red, white, and black configurations. Starts at $399 for 512mb / 80 GB HDD. The $499 model is 1 GB / 160GB HDD
• Windows XP Preloaded
• LED back light 10.2" WSVGA ( 1024 x 600 ).
• Some countries will have 9" models with different colors and Linux preloads
• 250.2 x 183 x 22.57.5 mm, around 2 lbs
• Intel integrated GMA 950
• Intel Atom N270 CPU 1.6 ghz & Intel 945GSE - 533 mhz FSB, 512k L2 cache, 1 core
• 2.5" HDD's, 5400 rpm
• Up to 2GB of memory, DDR2 400/533
• Battery: 3 hours on 3 cell, 6 hours on 6 cell
• Integrated 1.3 MP camera
• 2 speakers
• Multi-Touch Pad, 85% full size keyboard
• Integrated Wireless, Ethernet, Bluetooth
• Express card slot
• VGA
• 2 USB
• 4-1 multi-card reader
• Shipping and available in retail at the end of September

More pictures at the Read More link.

- Matthew Dillon

There is no doubt that all-day computing is peering around the corner.  The three questions about how fast it pops around the corner and jumps into our mobile tech lives relate to cost, appearance, and ease.  An Intel press release from 2004 provides a blast from the past, detailing how new industry standards and advancements set the goal of achieving eight-hour battery life by 2010.  With two years to go, there have been numerous advancements as we get closer to the goal of using our mobile devices without plugging into the wall.  Let's look at the remaining barriers to reaching an all-day battery.

The cost of long-life batteries:

You've heard how there may be battery shortages because a manufacturer in South Korea burned to the ground.  Despite any short-term problems this may have created, machines sold with longer battery life will always cost more than those with with less.  Just as a car with extra features may cost more than the generic model, a laptop with longer battery life can generate stronger revenues for the companies that sell them.  Here are a few choices on the market now and the difference between 3 hours and 5-8 hours of use:

- Rob Bushway

Microsoft's Omar Shahine gives the step by step on tethering your iPhone to Vista using NetShare - if you were lucky enough to grab it before Apple took it down again or live outside the U.S. I'll be digging in to this later today.

3G might be calling my name now....

Technorati Tags: iPhone, NetShare

- Warner Crocker

The case of the mysterious iPhone tethering app, NetShare from NullRiver has entered another chapter. At the moment it is back up in the iTunes App Store ($9.99) and folks are downloading it. There are instructions included for setting it up with a Mac, (and MacRumors has some detailed ones as well) but nothing included in the app for Windows. That said, here are some instructions for setting it up with XP from faris.com. Matt, Rob, and I are trying to get this working on Vista tonight, but if anyone else gets it going, let us know.

UPDATE: This is getting a tad ridiculous. Apparently the app has been removed again with a message that says “The item you requested is not currently unavailable in the US store.”

Does the right hand no what the left hand is doing in Cupertino? I’m just asking.

 

- Warner Crocker

I’m not trying to make a political point here, instead merely offering this as info for travelers coming into the US. If you’re traveling into the US (citizen or non-citizen) be aware that your laptop, mobile phone, mp3 player, or any gadget “capable of any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form” may be taken for inspection by the TSA. This also includes video, video tapes, books, pamphlets and “written materials commonly referred to as pocket trash or litter.” This practice by the USA’s Transportation Safety Administration has actually been in effect for awhile but now the Department of Homeland Security is actually acknowledging it publicly.

This, like everything since 9/11 is draped in the cloak of national security. Once your gear has been impounded it can be kept for a reasonable period of time. There are reports of this taking quite some time in some instances. Note that this can occur without any suspicion of wrongdoing on your part and that officials may share copies of your data with other agencies.

Via The Washington Post

 

 

- Truc Bui

Back in June, Aiptek announced their diminutive PocketCinema V10 projector at Computex. Using 3M's LED projector technology, the PocketCinema V10 was able to project a 50-inch image at 640x480 resolution. Today, Gizmodo Australia reports that the Aiptek has been rebranded as the Mint V10 retailing for $649AUD (about $610US)  and will be available throughout Australia and New Zealand starting in September, per Mint's website.

Other notable features of the device include a 3-in-1 AV input jack that can display photos or video from an external source, 1GB onboard memory, stereo speakers, and a media slot for direct playback from SD, MMC, and MS Pro cards. All that needs to be improved on is the resolution, which, I hope, will happen soon... and of course, an American release would be pretty nice as well.

- Truc Bui

I love watching destruction of office equipment. Maybe it's my secret desire to give a few of my non-functioning peripherals the Office Space treatment. In all seriousness though, having a durable external hard drive is essential in the mobile space. Popular Mechanics has posted a head-to-head review complete with video of four popular portable external hard drives and drop-tested them to see which one held up the best.

 

 

- Truc Bui

IBM and Google's joint Cloud-based project at the top universities of Carnegie-Mellon, Stanford, and MIT has been in full swing since May, putting pressure on for the rest of the industry to respond. Answering the challenge, HP, Yahoo, and Intel have announced their collaborative efforts with research teams from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. EETimes.com reports:

Each partner will host a cloud computing research site, largely based on HP and Intel hardware with 1,000 to 4,000 processor cores. The test beds will undertake research and training in a wide array of Internet-scale computing issues. Work is expected to span subjects ranging from data center hardware design to systems and applications software issues including automatic resource allocation, scheduling, monitoring and management.

Andrew Chien, director of Intel Research, states, "My understanding is the IBM/Google partnership is focused on applications... We're trying to support research at a variety of levels including systems software and even hardware Intel might put in its future silicon."

The industry is trending towards Cloud-based services and up to this point focused solely on the software aspects of the Cloud with little attention given to the hardware required to operate in the Cloud. This latest collaboration allows for a complete solution from the ground up for a truly integrated Cloud.

 

- Warner Crocker

I wouldn’t call this over by any stretch of the imagination but it does herald some potential good news for mobile customers. Yesterday, a judge handed Sprint Nextel a loss in a case over early termination fees. Sprint has two weeks to respond and if they lose here, I would imagine they will most likely appeal. While Sprint and the other Telcos argue that they need these fees to recoup the subsidies that they offer to keep the costs of cell phones low, (they are petitioning the FCC on this issue) this judge wasn’t buying that story. To be fair, Sprint and other Telcos have been moving towards at least a pro-rate system of ending contracts, but to be skeptical that is mostly to avoid regulation that seeks to abolish the practice.

Other similar cases are making their way through the courts and it points up the conflict between subsidized hardware prices and long term contracts that no consumer seems to like. In my view of the world that sort of lock in wouldn’t be required if companies were able to perform better or at least offer up a reasonable set of expectations that they could live up to.

 

- Warner Crocker

Last week we saw a news report that Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, warned his staff about the possible health risk of using cell phones. This reignited a debate that comes around every now and then about whether or not there is an increased risk of cancer with cell phone users.

Steve Rubel picked up on the story, along with others, and is wondering if in the future we’ll be viewing and participating in this potential controversy in the same way we went through the tobacco wars.

No conclusions can be drawn at present, but can you imagine the upheaval if enough scientific evidence was uncovered that supported that hypothesis? I know of one person who is convinced that her maladies are caused by WiFi and cell phones and her beliefs have led her to a very sheltered life at present.

- Warner Crocker

Steve “Chippy” Paine is running a poll at UMPCPortal asking the simple question, “What is the minimum battery life you consider to be suitable for an Ultra Mobile device in 2008?” I’m not suprised by the results. Over 85% want four hours or more. While this may be akin to asking who wants lower gas prices, the point is obviously clear.

 

- Matthew Dillon

Browsing the Internet on mobile devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and PMPs is hotter than ever and often more frustrating than ever.  Although devices like Nokia's Internet Tablets and Apple's iPhone/iTouch have greatly improved browsing on a small screen, there is still a long way to go with mobile web browsing.  In our quest to be more connected, the mobile Internet still suffers to offer a 2.0 experience on many of our portable devices.

The mobile web offers portable, less powerful devices the ability to surf a stripped-down version of the Internet.  The mobile web exists largely because many cell phones and PDAs have smaller screens, less power, and often less bandwidth.  Many major Internet players such as Google, Yahoo, and FaceBook have invested in and offer mobile versions of their websites.  The top-level domain .mobi exists to provide surfers a place to find pages created for mobile devices.  All sites with the .mobi domain should be optimized for viewing on a mobile device.

Until our devices have enough battery life and horsepower to give us a full web experience, here is a list of resources for the dotMobi crowd.

- Warner Crocker

This will make my wife happy, and I imagine quite a few other wives as well. The NFL is going to experiment this season with streaming games over the web on Sunday nights. The announcement is due to come on Monday and Michael Learmouth of Silicon Alley Insider is linking to a Wall Street Journal article today.

This comes after NBC will have just completed (successfully we hope) offering streaming content for the Olympics. According to the WSJ this will be free for the 17 games this season. I’m assuming this will use the same Silverlight technology that is supposed to be unveiled by Microsoft and NBC at the Olympics.

The really good news? This reminds me that we’re getting close to football time. The season opens on September 4.

 

 

- Warner Crocker

I imagine by now everyone has heard of the problems with Apple’s new MobileMe service that is touted as Exchange for the rest of us. The Contact and data syncing service that allows users to work with their data across multiple computers and platforms had major issues on launch day. Apparently for some there are still major problems, with emails and data just disappearing. I’m up and running, but not really using the service as I’ve been busy and just haven’t had time to give it a go. I guess this is one time I’m glad real work is intruding on my bleeding edge behavior.

Apple had already extended the service for one extra month, (it costs $99 a year), for users who experienced early problems. Even though Apple claims the problems are only affecting a small percentage of users (1%), they must be serious enough as Apple has broken its usual wall of silence and in a sort of quasi way started blogging about the problems. There are no real answers (or any name or authorship credit for that matter) but they are at least acknowledging that problems persist.

Apple certainly hasn’t had an easy go of the recent launches of the new iPhone, the App Store, and MobileMe, but I’m guessing there must be some pretty intense struggles going on for Apple to change its hush-mouth policies this way. Apple obviously made a huge investment in the infrastructure to launch the service, and I can’t imagine they can afford to keep taking hits without some sort of PR strategy. this had gotten into the mass media with Walt Mossberg saying the service isn’t ready and David Pogue reversing course on his earlier praise for the service.

- Rob Bushway

There are times when you just need to unplug from your Tablet PC to take notes, brainstorm, or just get away from it all. However, wouldn't it be great to still capture those notes and have them available for searching? That is where the Dane-Elec ZPen comes in.

- Warner Crocker

When I think of mini-refrigerators and college I think of beer, which is one way to cool things down. But maybe these researchers at Purdue will change that. They are working to create a mini-refrigeration unit small enough to cool laptops and personal computers.

The Purdue research focuses on learning how to design miniature components called compressors and evaporators, which are critical for refrigeration systems. The researchers developed an analytical model for designing tiny compressors that pump refrigerants using penny-size diaphragms and validated the model with experimental data. The elastic membranes are made of ultra-thin sheets of a plastic called polyimide and coated with an electrically conducting metallic layer. The metal layer allows the diaphragm to be moved back and forth to produce a pumping action using electrical charges, or "electrostatic diaphragm compression.

Certainly any advances in keeping laptop and mobile computers from being gonad grillers will be an improvement, so here’s hoping they will overcome the obstacles to make this feasible in the future.

- Matt Faulkner

I don't know how long it will take, but it's coming sometime...  We'll have to see how this goes when it gets to me, but this is going to be my work phone hooked up to our exchange server.  It's the first Apple product I will ever own!  Maybe that rumored (yet again...)  Mac Tablet will be the second one I will own :)  I'm kind of worried about the battery life reports out there, so maybe I'll have to look into one of these when it gets to me.  I bet you the first time I go on a trip I'm going to miss the ability to tether it up to my computer...

EDIT - Ordered Wednesday - supposed to be delivered tomorrow!!!! Can't believe that - Warner isn't going to be happy... What fun for the weekend :)