Category: News

  • Nokia Nseries ditching Symbian by 2012?

    maemo

    According to the Maemo marketing team, it looks like it’s already in motion. Apparently Nokia still has some Nseries devices in the pipeline which will still use S60 as the operating system, but after those are out of the factory, it seems like Maemo will be the OS of choice for Nokia’s Nseries. That doesn’t mean that Nokia has plans to ditch Symbian altogether yet, as the enterprise-friendly Eseries and new Xseries will still run Symbian for the foreseeable future.

    Read

  • Samsung announced SE Asian availability dates for their Omnia line-up

    samsungomniarange

    Samsung has announced the South East Asian availability rates and prices for their Windows Mobile Omnia line-up.

    The Samsung Omnia 2  is of course already released in Singapore and other SEA markets, but the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 (QWERTY Slider)will only be coming to SEA in December 2009 and Singapore mid-January 2010.

    The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 (Front-facing QWERTY) will be coming to SEA this month November 2009.

    Lastly the Samsung Omnia Lite will be coming to Singapore November 21st for $598 and the rest of SEA December 2009.

    Read more details at CNET Asia here.

  • Vegan White Cake

    Vegan White Cake

    I was looking for a good white cake recipe to bake for my husband’s birthday. I saw a recipe for vegan white cake in The Vegan Family Cookbook by Chef Brian P. McCarthy. Actually that book has a lot of interesting recipes, especially vegan baking recipes and I literally want to try each one of them. Wish I had the time for it. So do look for that book in your local library.



    For that week’s class I had to take 8 cupcakes. So I used the recipe to bake one 8-inch cake for my husband’s birthday and the remaining batter was exactly enough for 8 cupcakes. We practiced with tips 3, 12, 21, 67 and 2D in the 3rd class. Check the following links to see what decorations are possible with these tips.

    Vegan White Cake Roses

    Ingredients

    Cake Flour 3 cups

    Baking Powder 2 teaspoon

    Salt 1/2 teaspoon

    Egg Replacer Powder (EnerG) 2 teaspoons

    Water, lukewarm 1/4 cup

    Unsweetened Soy Milk 1 and 1/2 cups

    Margarine 1/2 cup

    Sugar 1 and 1/3 cups

    Vanilla Extract 1 tablespoon

    Yield: One 8-inch cake and 8 regular size cupcakes or two 8-inch cake rounds or one 9×13-inch cake

    Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Oil and flour cake pans. I used one 8-inch round pan and baked the remaining batter in a muffin tin for cupcakes. Got 6 of them.

    2 In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

    3 In a blender/food processor blend together the warm water and EnerG and blend it until it’s frothy. To this add the soy milk and blend it for another 30 seconds and set it aside.

    4 In another bowl beat the margarine with an electric mixer until softened. Add sugar and vanilla to the margarine and cream together thoroughly.

    5 Add 1/2 of the soy milk mixture to the margarine/sugar mixture and beat for a minute.

    6 Add 1/2 of the flour to the margarine and beat for a minute.

    7 Now add the remaining soy milk mixture and flour mixture alternately and beat together for a minute after each addition.

    8 Pour the cake batter into prepared pans.

    9 Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

    10 Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire cooling rack.

    TasteThis cake was good, but I think I felt the presence of soy milk when I ate the cake without the icing. Luckily my husband and others didn’t feel it. So next time I’ll be trying some other non-dairy milk instead. It did have a nice texture, especially the cupcakes. Together with the frosting it tasted no different than any other cake.

    My Notes1 I used sweetened soy beverage so I reduced the quantity of sugar to 1 cup and it was perfect because it also got the sweetness from the frosting.

    2 For the margarine, I used Fleischman’s No Salt Added soft tub margarine.

    3 If you don’t have cake flour it’s ok. Instead use this substitute which is widely used. Place 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill the rest (until the top of the cup) with all purpose flour
    and level it off.

    Vegan White Cake

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  • Don’t Post Comments On StlToday.com Or They Might Tell Your Boss

    Via Romenesko comes this little gem of how the online editor of StlToday.com got upset about a “vulgar” comment that was left on a story. The editor, Kurt Greenbaum, noticed that the commenter in question’s IP address was a local school, and contacted the school to alert them that someone from there had left a comment. And then:


    “About six hours later, I heard from the school’s headmaster…The headmaster confronted the employee, who resigned on the spot.”

    Lesson of the day? Don’t post comments on StlToday.com or its editors may call your boss.

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  • Digg Is Doing Great, Profitability Not an Issue Any More, CEO Says

    The future is looking bright at Digg, or at least that’s what cofounder and CEO Jay Adelson is claiming. The social news aggregator has been trying a lot of things lately to spur growth and, more importantly, revenue and it’s clear that at least some of them are working; the CEO especially notes Digg Ads. They’re working so well in fact that revenue is no longer an issue at Digg and profitability is just around the corner.

    In an interview with Fox Business News, the CEO made some interesting comments regarding Digg’s present and future, but also on the state of ‘news’ in general. One of the first questions most startups are being asked is how are they doing financially. This has been an issue for Digg also and there has been a lot of pressure on the company to start making money. This was evident from all of the focus on generating revenue especially over the summer, but this isn’t as much of a concern now and Digg is actually doing quite well revenue-wise with profitability now not so far ahead.

    Digg has tried a number of products and it looks like Digg Ads turned out to be the most popular. These type of ads combine advertising with content, making them much more engaging for the reader, so much so that Digg has been seeing very high click-rates, as much as 100 times more than the one… (read more)

  • LA Times Stokes Unintended Acceleration Fears

    Unfortunately for Toyota, rumors of rampant incidents of unintended acceleration have been irresponsibly perpetuated by news organizations more concerned about ratings than facts. The L.A. Times has been particularly aggressive in their efforts to slander Toyota and stoke public fears. Two “news stories” have printed un-substantiated opinions as fact and used incendiary imagery to stoke fear in the hearts of Toyota owners.

    While the L.A. Times isn’t alone in this practice, they’ve been leading the charge. Here’s what Toyota owners need to know.

    NOTE: It should be stated clearly for all to hear that our blog isn’t living up to any high journalism standards. We were completely and totally wrong about the 2009 Tundra diesel and the Tundra hybrid…embarrassingly so. When we accuse other journalists of being “sloppy,” it shouldn’t carry a lot of weight. Still, the truth must be told.

    When Toyota announced their voluntary recall in September, two reporters (we’ll call them V and B) began gathering data to see if they could embarrass Toyota somehow. Two weeks later, they published this story with the headline “Toyota’s runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats.” The article hints that Toyota’s electronic control systems might be faulty, a very scary prospect that probably got their article a lot of page views…yet 6 NHTSA investigations have determined unequivocally that there’s no problem with Toyota’s throttle control systems.

    Yes, that’s 6 separate investigations that determined Toyota’s throttle control system is completely safe. Yet the L.A. Times asks “Might a vehicle’s complex electronic features make it hard for drivers to react quickly when accelerating out of control?

    Obviously V and B have not driven one of the vehicles in question, because there’s nothing complicated about the gearshift, start button, or the function of the pedals. The only complexity is in the system behind these things…which is where the slander comes in. “Complex electronic features” insinuates there’s some sort of bug in Toyota’s throttle control system. Not true.

    Additionally, many of the accusations leveled at Toyota in this article advocate that a person in a panic situation might not be able to control their vehicle. No kidding?! Panicked people aren’t rational. There’s no way to “panic proof” an automobile, and it’s not a reasonable standard when it comes to assessing safety.

    V and B didn’t stop with the “runaway” accusations. Two and a half weeks later they published this story, which claims that Toyota and NHTSA are irresponsibly ignoring “1,000’s” of cases of runaway Toyotas. While the reporters make some interesting points, it’s hard to give V & B a lot of credit for being objective when they lead with this image:

    The lead image for the L.A. Times second "runaway Toyota" smear story (click the image to see the original).

    The lead image for the L.A. Times second "runaway Toyota" smear story (click the image to see the original).

    Talk about a smear job! That picture and the headline “Runaway Toyota cases ignored” make it look like a Toyota will plunge off a nearby cliff at a moment’s notice. Ridiculous.

    It’s true that NHTSA and Toyota systematically exclude complaints without investigation, and the process may need a review. However, accusing NHTSA and Toyota of negligence in their response is irresponsible and incendiary. Here’s why:

    • NHTSA (and Toyota) HAVE to figure out a way to disqualify some complaints as a matter of practicality. With tens of thousands of claims filed with NHTSA every year for every make and model on the road, NHTSA can’t investigate each and every complaint.
    • Not all complaints are equal. Some people file a complaint with NHTSA because they really have a problem to report, and others complain because they’re angry with the manufacturer, because they’re trying to secure some sort of financial benefit, or because they’re trying to avoid prosecution. After all, it’s much easier to say “my car accelerated on it’s own” that it is to say “I was negligent.”

    Specifically, let’s look at what types of claims were thrown out:

    • Cases of unintended acceleration sustained for more than 1 second. Why? Because, according to NHTSA and their decades of investigation experience, most of these cases are the result of driver panic.
    • Cases of vehicles that couldn’t stop. Why? Because, according to a NHTSA study from 2004, most vehicle brake systems can stop an out-of-control vehicle with ease. If there’s a point to be made in the L.A. Times article, it’s here. The results of the study are (obviously) not correct.
    • Cases where the complaint isn’t specific as to the “cause” of the problem, meaning the owner didn’t register a specific enough complaint. When owners aren’t specific about their problem, their complaints are ignored.

    So what complaints does NHTSA listen to? Complaints from safety experts, police investigators, auto repair professionals, and specific complaints that match an existing pattern. Since the year 2000, NHTSA has investigated Toyotas for unintended acceleration 9 times…seems like NHTSA is doing their job.

    V and B do make some valid points. NHTSA’s processes could probably stand some improvement and Toyota needs to upgrade their vehicle computer systems. However, there’s no disputing that these articles are designed to scare people, and for that we say BOO.

    Read user reviews of Tundra Accessories.

  • Sharp prepares Android phone for next year as first Japanese cell phone maker

    Android is still in its infancy in Japan where most domestic makers still stick with their proprietary operating systems, with basically no one outside the geek community knowing what it is. But things are changing slowly. Last week, SoftBank (the country’s third biggest cell phone carrier) announced an Android-powered phone for next year when the company announced their new models for the next months.

    And yesterday, Sharp announced at an event in Tokyo it will roll out a yet to be specified number of Android-based handsets as early as the first half of next year. Sharp commands the biggest market share of all eight cell phone makers in Japan so this is very good news for the Google OS in what is the most advanced mobile society in the world.


  • Music Videos Available Soon on Hulu

    There are several big trends in the web space at the moment and one great emphasis has lately been on media content, be it video or music. Online video is hitting the mainstream in a big way and new music services are popping up faster than the unsuccessful ones are closing down. So, it’s only natural to combine the two and music video is quickly becoming a hotly disputed market. Now, with the announcement that Hulu is also starting to experiment with music videos, concerts, and other related material, it’s clear that the battle is heating up in this space as well.

    Since launching a couple of years ago, Hulu has seen a surge in popularity in the US, where it is available, becoming one of the most popular video services, helped by the exclusive long-form content it carries. Even though YouTube also has a lot of TV shows and similar content available, Hulu, with its specialized focus, is the preferred source for this kind of material. But this specialization has a downside and the site is now reluctant to add other types of content, like music videos, with the fear that it may alienate its core audience.

    Still, it doesn’t want to be left out completely so it’s partnering with EMI, the smallest of the four big record labels, and launching a limited test to see how the music content is received. The material will be li… (read more)

  • Sony Ericsson confirms no official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Xperia X1

    xperiax1nowm6.5 Smashing earlier rumours that suggested an official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Xperia X1 will be coming, Sony Ericsson has confirmed the contrary to CNet Asia.

    Some owners may be rightfully upset by this, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has been one of the more expensive handsets of recent times, and while ROM’s are available on XDA-Developers they are not blessed with official updated drivers, meaning they would have issues not present in an official release.

    The device joins other premium devices such as the HTC Touch HD in not getting updates to the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS.

    Read more at Crave Asia here.

    Thanks Ahman for the tip.

  • Legal Texts Are Now Available in Google Scholar

    Often it’s not the scarcity of information but its abundance that is the problem. This is especially true online, the web holds huge amounts of information, yet finding it can be more hassle than it should in some cases. And it’s even harder for very specialized information which, while publicly available, can be buried deep enough that it’s practically useless. That is why Google is now introducing full legal texts in Google Scholar, making it easier to find legal options on any number of topics albeit limited to the US for now.

    “Starting today, we’re enabling people everywhere to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts using Google Scholar. You can find these opinions by searching for cases (like Planned Parenthood v. Casey), or by topics (like desegregation) or other queries that you are interested in,” Google’s Anurag Acharya writes. “We think this addition to Google Scholar will empower the average citizen by helping everyone learn more about the laws that govern us all.”

    Google Scholar enables users to find all manner of academic and research papers. As the name implies, it’s not exactly designed to be a thorough research tool, but rather to come to the aid of those doing a school project or just for per… (read more)

  • NEC prototypes battery-less remote control

    nec_remote_control

    NEC Electronics, an NEC subsidiary, has announced the development of a remote control [JP] that works without using batteries. Every time users push a button on the device, they generate a small amount of electricity through vibration. NEC says this is enough to turn on or off a TV (or any other electric appliance), switch channels or control the volume.

    The power generation unit in the prototype is made by a company called Soundpower [JP]. NEC teamed up with the Yokohama-based venture back in December 2006 to develop the battery-less remote control. Both companies plan to start marketing it to makers of home electric appliances next year.

    Via Asiajin [ENG]


  • Recording Industry Making It Impossible For Any Legit Online Music Service To Survive Without Being Too Expensive

    You just knew it would happen again. Every time the recording industry finally agrees to license a new music service to try to take the “sting” out of “piracy,” it demands licensing terms that are ridiculous. From the execs at the labels’ perspective, unless you pay an arm and a leg, you don’t get to offer music. So, a few companies agree, and then realize it’s impossible to make any money and shut down. In the meantime, the whole point of those legal licensed music services (to compete with “pirate” sites and services) is lost entirely. Wired is chronicling how all of the legal music sites are finding it impossible to survive and offer a free music service — including MySpace music (which beyond not offering much of value in terms of user experience) “is struggling to keep up with its own payments to music copyright holders.”

    Of course, it’s really no surprise that most of these sites have struggled. Beyond the ridiculously high licensing rates that the labels forced on them (often by negotiating through lawsuits), none of these sites put together a well thought-out business model. Instead, they all seemed to think that they could just slap ads on the site and that would be enough. But, of course, when you’re listening to music, you’re not looking at that website or paying attention to the ads — and if the ads got too intrusive, they’d just go elsewhere. A real business model would have been setting up something more comprehensive, that gave listeners a real reason to buy associated with the music. Eventually we’ll get there, but in the short-term, the graveyard of failed “licensed” music startups will grow, just as more and more “unauthorized” sites grow in popularity.

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  • Google Search Results Now Feature a 'Breadcrumb' Display

    The general layout of a search results page seems to have stayed pretty much the same since Google cracked it about a decade ago. At the time, everyone realized that Google had the right idea and most search engines today have a very similar way of showing the results. But, despite looking very similar, the design has evolved over time, small changes adding up to make for a much better experience. Now Google is introducing yet another small change that enhances the functionality in a subtle way, by modifying the way the web addresses are displayed, showing up in green in the results.

    “Today we’re rolling out an improvement that replaces the URL in some search results with a hierarchy showing the precise location of the page on the website. The new display provides valuable context and new navigation options. The changes are rolling out now and should be available globally in the next few days,” Harvey Jones and Daniel Rocha, software engineers in the Result UI Team, wrote.

    You hardly realize it, but the page address is a huge factor in choosing a result which you believe is relevant. Having the exact URL is good for determining if the result comes from a site you’re familiar with and you trust, but for navigational information it isn’t always very useful. With the new “breadcrum… (read more)

  • Opera Mobile 10 Beta now available for Windows Mobile

    36 In a move that was faster than we expected, Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile is now available for download.

    Opera Mobile 10 brings many innovations from Opera Mini 5 to the Mobile version, such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, password manager and Opera Turbo mode.

    Said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software:

    "We standardize our products so that our users use it regardless of platform or browser version in the usual way by them,"  "With Opera Mobile 10, we Opera_Mobile_10_2009111892459increase the expectations for the performance of mobile browsers. Today, users expect that a browser is as efficient as the Web, they expect that it does its daily work as reliably as their PCs – does exactly the Opera. "

    The new version also includes the new Presto rendering engine that ensures that Web pages are displayed exactly as on the PC.

    The download is available from Opera here or use our Microsoft tag (gettag.mobi).

    Via AreaMobile.de

  • Are There Any Celebrity Quotes That Had Disastrous Consequences?

    The tough part of being a celebrity is all the talking you have to do. Interviews, press conferences, paparazzi following you around asking questions – all of these situations and more give any celebrity plenty of chance to say one dumb thing. It’s bound to happen when you talk that much.

    But sometimes, that small, seemingly innocent quote, can lead to a huge mess. Simply trying to give someone a new twist on an answer you’ve given hundreds of times can get you in deep trouble.

    Here are some examples…


    Paul Newman Said…

    “24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.”

    You’ve probably heard that expression a lot. Maybe one day at a party you overheard the extremely drunk guy say it in an attempt to make people think that he can have some good old fashioned fun, even in face of the fact that his propensity for drinking himself in to oblivion makes everyone worry.

    The seemingly innocuous quote eventually turned in to a monster when college students around the country began celebrating a day called “Newman Day.” On Newman Day, students do just as the quote suggests: They drink one beer every hour, all day – all while still showing up to all of their classes. While this tradition had wormed its way in to dozens of colleges and universities around the United States, it wasn’t until it hit Princeton University that Paul Newman found out about the holiday created in his honor.

    He wasn’t very happy about it. Reason being, Newman’s son Scott passed away due to a drug overdose, which led to Newman starting his own foundation that promoted substance abuse prevention through education.

    Students getting drunk in class are a bit contradictory to Newman’s beliefs to say the least.  
    Newman asked Princeton to stop promoting this “holiday.” Princeton representatives said that Newman Day was not a school sponsored event, that it was a campus tradition that they had no control over.

    It was at this point that Newman and Princeton teamed up to spread the word of the dangers of Newman Day. While the day is still celebrated, the number of yearly at Princeton has declined.

    But the funny thing about this quote and its attribution to Paul Newman is that Newman probably never even said the quote. It is reported that Newman once said it during a speech he once gave to a college, a speech that there is no record of. So why the quote was even attributed to Newman in the first place is a bit of a mystery, but he took responsibility for its consequences anyway.


    NBA player Kevin Garnett said…


    “This is it. It’s for all the marbles. I’m sitting in the house loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war.”

    Kevin Garnett is known as one of the best players in the NBA. He’s a dominating presence that recently led the Boston Celtics to their first NBA championship in quite a long time. But before he began his stint with the Celtics, Garnett was a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that was good, but never quote good enough, even with his superstar skills on the court.

    Back in 2004, Garnett’s Timberwolves where in the middle of a hotly contested playoff series with the Sacramento Kings.  The quote above was given in the lead up to the deciding game in the series. Of course, as most athletes tend to do, Garnett equated the game to a war, to preparing for a battle that might get ugly.

    Now, these kinds of quotes are tossed around a lot in the world of sports. The intensity of a rivalry can sometimes get hyped up to the point of extreme hyperbole. So a quote like Garnett’s is actually fairly generic, even if it is a little bit extreme. So the real problem with the quote wasn’t the quote itself, but the timing of the quote.

    Garnett said this in May of 2004, a time when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were at their bloodiest and most ugly.  Needless to say, soldiers and the families of soldiers that were serving in these wars were pretty ticked off that a man playing a game for a living would compare his job to that of a person being shot at in a battle. The NBA and the Timberwolves were showered in complaints.

    Soon thereafter, Garnett gave a rather lengthy apology in which he really could have just summed up with the words, “I was being an idiot, I’m sorry.” After that, the anger died down some.

    But then it got sparked all over again when the center for the Sacramento Kings, Brad Miller, decided to throw his hat in to the hyperbole ring, this time as a bit of a mocking gesture directed at Garnett. He said, “I’m bringing my shotgun, my bow and arrow, my four-wheel drive truck, and four wheelers and run over him.”

    By this point, no one really cared about the somewhat insensitive quotes that much, and Garnett and his Timberwolves eventually went on to defeat the Kings in that playoff round.


    Hilary Clinton said…

    “I’m not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.”

    Way back in 1968, there was a country singer by the name of Tammy Wynette. Tammy had quite an impressive list of musical accomplishments behind her, but nothing – NOTHING – she ever did could even compare to the popularity of her famous song “Stand By Your Man,” a song about a woman’s love for her man – a love that will allow the woman to overlook the man’s faults and mistakes.

    While soon-to-be President Bill Clinton was campaigning for the spot of Commander in Chief, he was also embroiled within one of what would eventually become many extra-marital affairs. This one involved a woman by the name of Gennifer Flowers (yes, it’s spelled correctly).

    In an effort to get their names and faces out there more than they already were, Bill and Hilary made an appearance on the news magazine show 60 Minutes. During the interview, the subject of Bill’s indiscretions popped up as was to be expected. Hilary, trying to portray herself as a modern independent woman, said the quote above. And it worked. She came off as a woman that would not stand idly by as he husband trampled all over her.

    But this didn’t fly with Mrs. Wynette. Tammy was furious that Hilary had basically degraded her hit single as nothing more than a woman devaluing herself. She said that Hilary had “offended every true country music fan and every person who has made it on their own with no one to take them to the White House.” This then sparked a flurry denouncements from country music radio station DJ all around the country who felt they needed to step in and side with one of their biggest stars. Many DJ’s even labeled the Clintons as “country music-hating liberals,” which added to the already arduous task of winning over southern voters.

    Hilary later apologized, and Wynette graciously accepted. In fact, they so patched things up that Wynette later performed “Stand By Your Man” at a Clinton fundraiser. This is all the more poignant given the later Monica Lewinsky scandal that Bill Clinton found himself in. Even through that, Hilary still stood by her man.


    President George H. W. Bush said…

    “Just as Poland had a rebellion against totalitarianism, I am rebelling against broccoli, and I refuse to give ground. I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.”

    I guess it makes sense when you think about it, but who knew there was such a thing as the “broccoli industry”? And who knew they would get so upset? Well, they do exist and they were steamed (yes, that’s a very lame steamed broccoli pun).

    When George Bush Sr. Said this somewhat amusing quote back in 1990, no one could have imagined what an impact it would have had on the popularity of this tree-like vegetable. Soon after the quote, America’s schools stopped serving broccoli, and children all across the country began to protest their broccoli servings at family dinner tables. In fact, it was reported that broccoli sales dropped significantly in 1990, all because of the president’s personal dislike of it.

    Not only was the broccoli industry upset at the quote, but they were also upset at the fact that Bush Sr. Had literally banned broccoli from being served anywhere the president happened to have been eating, especially the White House and Air Force One. This also upset nutritionists all over the country as the presidents messages basically told children that vegetables were bad for them.

    To protest the quote, broccoli growers all over the country began sending cases of the vegetable directly to the White House. President Bush then sent all of these cases to various food banks in the D.C. Area.

    It was later discovered that while broccoli may not have been on the top of everyone’s favorite foods list, it actually helps prevent certain types of cancers.

  • Brief Encounter with a Dell Latitude 2100 Kid-Friendly Netbook

    dell_lat_2100_netbook.jpg

    I had a chance to take a brief look at the touch screen…

    Dell Latitude 2100

    …aimed at the K-12 educational market with its optional touch screen, rubberized surface, optional carrying handle (I wish all netbooks had one!), and optional anti-microbial keyboard.

    It is basically a low-end kid-friendly version of the Dell Mini 10 (N270 processor and 10.1″ screen). This one was running Windows XP although Windows 7 (and Ubuntu Linux too) is available for it from Dell. Its touch screen seemed less responsive than the Asus Eee PC T91MT I’ve been using for the past week. I’m not sure if this is an artifact of the screen or because it used Windows XP instead of Windows 7.

    Its keyboard felt pretty good. And, it was nice to see actual hardware buttons for controlling sound volume and mute.

    New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • $39 Wasabi Mobile Photo Printer Works Fine with Droid – iPhone is a No Go

    dell_wasabi.jpg

    A friend of mine (hiya, Paul!) brought his…

    Wasabi Mobile Photo Printer (sold by Dell)

    …to the monthly tech-geek lunch yesterday. The tiny printer prints color photos at a 640×960 resolution. The photos have a slight “banded” look but otherwise looks quite good. The printer has a list price of $110 but Dell’s current price is a mere $39 (wow!). It requires special photo paper (the ink is embedded in the paper itself) which Dell sells for $10.99 in 48-sheet packs (regular price is $19.99).

    Phones connect to the printer using Bluetooth. Paul said that it doesn’t work with his iPhone but works fine with his new Droid.

    New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Another One Bites the Dust: Yahoo! Go Gone on Jan. 12, 2010

    Queue up Queen’s classic foot-stomping “Another One Bites the Dust” because TechCrunch says…

    Yahoo Go Is A No Go

    Yahoo! Go is a multi-smartphone-platform app that tries to bring various Yahoo! services to the smartphone’s small mobile screen. It is one of those products that I wanted to see succeed mostly because I was such a fan of Yahoo!’s original WAP (plain text) mobile friendly website. Yahoo!’s mobile web site was my primary daily mobile web destination for news for years. So, it seemed like Yahoo! Go should be its natural successor. I even it gave it a good positive spin when I wrote briefly about it in this article for Microsoft.com a few years ago…

    Plug into the wireless world: Introduction to connected applications

    And, I really tried to like the extremely sluggish 3.0 beta release last year in this personal blog note…

    Yahoo Go 3.0 Beta Earns a Tentative Thumbs Up

    If you enjoy using Yahoo! Go, you can keep using it until January 12, 2010 12am (midnight) Pacific Standard Time.

    New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Experimental Image Swirl Search Lands in Google Labs

    Google enjoys a very solid and comfortable lead in search right now and this is true for most types of searches, including image search. This doesn’t mean that it can rest on its laurels, if anything Google is the company that showed others just that, so it’s now launching a totally new way of discovering images via some interesting technologies and an experimental user interface. The new feature is called Google Image Swirl and is very similar to the Wonder Wheel view in the main search.

    “Today, we’ve launched an experimental feature in Labs called Google Image Swirl, which builds on new computer vision research to cluster similar images into representative groups in a fun, exploratory interface,” Aparna Chennapragada, product manager, and Yushi Jing, Google Research, explain the feature. “For example, if you search on Image Swirl for [washington], you’ll see 12 image thumbnails including President Washington, the Washington Monument, a map of Washington D.C. and the Capitol Building. Once you find the group of images you’re interested in, you can click on the thumbnail and a cluster of images will “swirl” into view.”

    Image Swirl is confined to Google Labs for now, but even if it doesn’t get included in the main image search in this exact form, the overall idea behind the exp… (read more)

  • Notebook Reliability is Not the Only Measure to Consider-Repair Response is Even More Important

    Interesting notebook/netbook reliability information over on Electronista.com…

    ASUS best, HP worst for notebook reliability

    Although Asus is mentioned as scoring the best with a 15.6% 3-year malfunction rate, Toshiba is breathing at its neck at 15.7%. Sony and Apple follow with 16.8% and 17.4%, respectively. Dell isn’t too far behind at 18.3%. But, Lenovo, Acer, Gateway (owned by Acer) and HP all have 20+% failure rates with HP notebooks topping the list with an expected failure of one out of every four of their notebooks. Ouch!

    However, these failure rates don’t tell the whole story. The other part of the story is just as important: What does the manufacturer do when you report a problem? In my experience, Apple and Dell have done well in dealing with my notebook problems over the years (all under extended warranty). My one experience with Acer was not a good one. A rubber foot fell off of my first generation Acer Aspire One soon after purchasing it (within 90 days). I asked what could be done (via email) expecting them to ask where to mail a replacement foot. Instead, I got what I recall to be an email run-around with no resolution. It is a good thing netbooks are cheap enough to essentially replace and upgrade on an annual basis.

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