Adlopa - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Where's my $200 laptop (Score 3, Insightful) 261

by Adlopa on Wednesday July 09, 2008 @12:28PM (#24119327) Attached to: Asus Confirms Specs, Price of Eee PC 904 and 1000

I suspect that the margins are so low on a $200 'netbook' (which is how these devices are being pitched) that the temptation is to slip in a few more features and nudge up the price in order to make a little more money. It's not quite quite the boiling frog analogy, but it's not far off -- 7" screen too small? Why for only $50 more you can get 8.9"! And there's even a bigger keyboard for just another $30! Before you know it we'll be at the Eee PC 1200 netbook with a 12.1in screen for $700 - or a 'laptop', as such things are more commonly known...

Asus Confirms Specs, Price of Eee PC 904 and 1000 261

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday July 09, 2008 @12:05PM from the of-course-it's-in-pounds dept.

Ken E. writes "Asus seems to have completed its Eee PC laptop line-up, at least for the time being. The Taiwanese manufacturer has now confirmed both specifications and UK pricing of the Eee PC 904 and Eee PC 1000 — its two latest models. The Eee PC 904 is essentially an Eee PC 900 in an Eee PC 1000 chassis (big keyboard, 8.9in screen, Celeron-M 900MHz, Windows XP) and will cost £269 inc VAT. The Eee PC 1000 will cost £349 inc VAT for an Intel Atom (1.6GHz) chip, 10in screen, 80Gb HDD and Windows XP. Looks like those early Eee PC 900 adopters (£329 inc VAT, initially) have been stiffed. Still, that's progress, I guess ..."

AT&T To Offer No-Contract iPhone 193

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday July 05, 2008 @10:18AM from the pay-even-more-as-you-go dept.

rfc1394 writes "While the regular price of an iPhone is $199 if you take a 2-year contract with AT&T, if you're willing to pay a lot more you can get one without a contract. An article in InfoWorld mentions that 'Freedom will come with a price — $599 for an 8GB device and $699 for a 16GB — but this will mark the first time consumers in the United States are able to buy an iPhone without being tied down to a two-year contract. The phone probably would still be locked for use only on AT&T's network, said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. But buyers could choose a pay-as-you-go plan for voice service.' The question still remains, does it make any sense to pay that much for a phone that is still locked to AT&T's network even if you aren't bound to a contract?" Update: 07/05 18:21 GMT by T : An anonymous reader suggests that there is a convoluted but possibly cheaper route to an new, unlocked iPhone.

Review of Das Keyboard 713

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 30, 2008 @12:00PM from the clicky-clicky-clicky-clicky dept.

My old keyboard was so crusted up with junk from years of abuse that I found myself struggling to depress most of the keys on the left side. So I decided that it was time to find a new keyboard. My plan was to steal the keyboards of my co-workers and try them out when they aren't around. But as this plan was underway, Das Keyboard asked me to review their newest keyboard. I used it for a few days to see if their website's claim of 'the best keyboard on the planet' is valid. Read on to learn more.

USB Flash Drive Life Varies Up To 10 Times 192

Posted by timothy on Friday June 13, 2008 @12:23AM from the that's-worse-then-the-spread-for-people dept.

Lucas123 writes "Differences in the type of memory and I/O controllers used in USB drives can make one device perform two or three times faster and last 10 times longer than another, even if both sport the USB 2.0 logo, according to a Computerworld story. While a slow USB drive may be fine for moving a few dozen megabytes of files around, when you get into larger data transfers, that's when bandwidth contrictions become noticeable. In 2009, controller manufacturers are expected to begin shipping drives with dual- and even four-channel controllers, which will increase speeds even for slower drives."

Latest "Green" Power Generation — Your Feet 189

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 08, 2008 @03:23PM from the my-feet-could-power-gas-generators dept.

gbjbaanb writes "Remember those ideas that suggested hooking gym machines to the power grid? Well, the Times is reporting that something like this to harness free energy is about to become a reality — the footfall of trudging shoppers is to become the latest source of emission-free energy. 'Engineers who have modelled the effects of the technology at Victoria Underground station in central London have calculated that the 34,000 travellers passing through every hour could power 6,500 lightbulbs. ... The plans for heel-strike generation follow successful trials last year at a bridge in the Midlands where generators converted energy from trains passing above into electricity powering a flood detector.' Possibly the most important thing for the readership is at the end: 'There could also be a range of domestic uses, for example powering iPods by plugging them into batteries placed in the owners' heels, using technology which is already available.' Obviously you'd have to get up and walk around, but, as they say, it's the thought that counts."

T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Free Wi-Fi Deal 142

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 08, 2008 @08:59AM from the hot-spot-flare-up dept.

Glenn Fleishman writes "T-Mobile sent me the text of a lawsuit they filed yesterday against Starbucks. The telecom firm alleges that Starbucks didn't involve it in any discussions to launch their free loyalty program Wi-Fi service this week with AT&T. AT&T is gradually taking over hot-spot operation from T-Mobile, market by market over the course of 2008. T-Mobile told me Starbucks is essentially giving away something that isn't theirs. T-Mobile has sued to halt the two-hours-a-day of free service, and is asking for money to cover losses. This might sound like sour grapes, but T-Mobile still operates most of the network, and says that the terms to which they agreed with Starbucks and AT&T for the transition and with AT&T for bilateral roaming don't cover this situation at all. Maybe free access in exchange for buying a cup of joe every 30 days was too good to be true (this soon)."

Submission + - Chernobyl Mushrooms Feeding on Radiation

Submitted by cowtamer on Thursday August 02, 2007 @07:52PM

cowtamer writes: According to a National Geographic Article certain fungi can use ionizing radiation to perform "radiosynthesis" using the pigment melanin (the same one in our skin that protects us from UV radiation). It is speculated that this might be useful on long space voyages where energy from the Sun is not readily available.

Submission + - Scramjet Rocket Successful Test (news.com.au)

Submitted by Paul Murray on Friday June 15, 2007 @03:00AM

Paul Murray writes: News.com.au reports that the next test of a scramjet engine was undertaken today in the Australian Outback in a co-operative effort by the DSTO and the University of Queensland. Reaching an altitude of 530km, initially it appears that it was a success, however the goal was to reach 10 times the speed of sound, so they won't know for sure until they are able to collate all the data.

Submission + - Baby monitor picks up NASA's live shuttle video

Submitted by Digitus1337 on Thursday June 14, 2007 @07:19PM

Digitus1337 writes: FTA: "Since Sunday, one of the two channels on Natalie Meilinger's baby monitor has been picking up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis. The other still lets her keep an eye on her baby. Live video of the mission is available on NASA's Web site, so it's possible the monitor is picking up a signal from somewhere. "It's not coming straight from the shuttle," NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said. "People here think this is very interesting and you don't hear of it often — if at all." Meilinger silenced disbelieving co-workers by bringing in a video of the monitor to show her class on Tuesday, her students' last day of school. At home, 3-month-old Jack and 2-year-old Rachel don't quite understand what their parents are watching." Full story available here.

Submission + - Web censorship on the increase

Submitted by mid-devonian on Thursday March 15, 2007 @06:01AM

mid-devonian writes: Following on from the temporary blocking of YouTube by a Turkish judge for including postings insulting to Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, a group of academics has published research showing that Web censorship is on the increase worldwide. As many as two dozen countries are blocking content using a variety of techniques.

Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge 2007 70

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 15, 2007 @05:37AM from the jar-jar-noir dept.

Sarah Giannantonio writes "AtomFilms and LucasFilms launched today the 2007 Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. This is a yearly competition where the Star Wars community send in their fan films to be judged by George Lucas. Award recipients will have their film shown during Celebration IV and also on Spike TV. New for 2007 is the fan fiction category."

Submission + - Turing award announced

Submitted by wannabgeek on Thursday February 22, 2007 @10:02AM

wannabgeek writes: Turing award for the year 2006 is awarded to Frances Allen, an IBM Fellow Emeritus, for her work in compiler optimizers. From this article: she also "worked on writing intelligence analysis software for the National Security Agency. More recently she helped design software for IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer." It is the first time a woman won this honour. She was also the first woman to become IBM Fellow in 1989.

Submission + - Tons of Mac hardware updates in Q2? iMac Black?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22, 2007 @09:59AM

An anonymous reader writes: "...tipsters well placed at Apple informed MacScoop that the company is preparing to make the fight harder for its competitors of the Windows world with several Mac hardware releases scheduled for calendar Q2." [...] "a black version of the iMac could make its way with the next update of the company's all-in-one consumer desktop Macs." Full article here. Just a rumor though.

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