Dell opens Design Studio: Custom lids

To be honest, I've never thought Dell's new Studio laptops did much to befit the Studio name. Dell trumpeted personalization when it launched the Studio line earlier this year, but aside from the standard rainbow of solid colors also found on lunch-pail Inspiron models, the Studio line offered only a handful of graphics patterns from Mike Ming (one of which, Sea Sky, is also an Inspiron option). Expanded feature set aside, Dell's Studio laptops looked like slightly more stylish versions of Inspiron laptops.

Recently, the Dell Studio line further distinguished itself from Dell's other laptop lines with the introduction of the Dell Design Studio. There, you'll currently find 58 options for personalizing the lid of your Studio 15 or 17 laptop. (Dell states its Design Studio "offers more than 100 exclusive and original works of art", so expect more to be added soon. Featured artists include Joseph Amedokpo, Jason Bacon, Tristan Eaton, Siobhan Gunning, Bruce Mau, Mike Ming, Brittany Waldner, Derek Welch, and Guillaume Wolf.
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Lenovo announces Netbook with Splashtop instant-on technology

Lenovo will soon release a second version of its IdeaPad S10 Netbook, which it will sell to schools. The IdeaPad S10e will be sold through Lenovo's Government & Education channel and is scheduled to start shipping on November 25. When it does, it will be the first Netbook to feature instant-on software that will let you access various apps without first booting to Windows.

The S10e will feature DeviceVM's Splashtop app, which ASUS offers on some of its laptops (but, curiously, not on any of its Eee PC Netbooks). Lenovo dubs Splashtop QuickStart for its Netbook and will offer the app on models that feature Windows and a spinning hard drive. (Presumably, your boot times will be so quick with Linux/SSD models that you won't need it.) Quick Start grants you access to email, Web browser, IM, Skype, and your photos and music.

The IdeaPad S10e will feature an Intel Atom processor, a 80GB hard drive or 4GB SSD, and either Windows XP Home or Novell's Suse Linux , and either a three- or a six-cell battery. You won't find an SSD or six-cell battery offered on the S10 right now. The S10e will be available in only one color--dark gray (the S10 is currently available in white, black, and red).

Lenovo told me that it will be bringing QuickStart to its regular IdeaPad S10, too.

Via Crave CNET

CherryPal PC still in the clouds, not ready for landing

The CherryPal PC is in a holding pattern. The US$249, 10-ounce, 2-watt-drawing, cloud-computing PC we first spied in July is still at least a couple weeks away from materializing. The company tells TG Daily that problems with the graphics hardware has pushed back its ship date at least two weeks. This follows on the heels of the company delaying the original August release due to a software conflict with the system's solid-state storage.

The irony here is that hardware and software issues have delayed this tiny PC that has only the bare minimum of hardware and software. The CherryPal C100 desktop has no moving parts--the company claims it "uses 80 percent fewer components than a traditional PC". There's not even an operating system; you're meant to store your data in the cloud, which you access via Firefox--the system's main interface.

On the company's Web site, its shopping page simply states that the CherryPal is "on hold" (from August 6) and offers a refund for those who have pre-ordered the system.

Via Crave CNET

Hey, little Buddy: Averatec announces Netbook

This week's Netbook entrant? The Averatec Buddy.
Announced today, the 10.2-inch laptop costs US$449 and features the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP. It's not yet listed on the Averatec Web site, but upon first glance, it looks like the MSI Wind with a VAIO-like round hinge. While the press release is light on product details (size of battery? Screen resolution? Draft-N Wi-Fi? Solid-state drive options? Bluetooth? ExpressCard slot?), the Averatec Buddy on the surface serves up a larger hard drive than the MSI Wind for less.

Via Crave CNET

Ion Audio delivers nonaudio product, Slides 2 PC film scanner

At this point, it's safe to assume that most of your photo collection is digital and stored on your computer and (hopefully) a backup disk or two. But what about those boxes of slides sitting at the bottom of your closet (or in your parents' basement) that are slowly but surely fading and yellowing as the years progress? Now, you could go out and easily drop a US$1,000 on a film scanner from Nikon, or you could go out and grab Ion Audio's Slides 2 PC scanner for US$100.

Its 5-megapixel (1800dpi) scanner will leave you with 2,592 x 1,680-pixel files. Ion Audio (you know, the PC turntable and miscellaneous audio peripheral maker) touts the scanner's four-glass optical element along with automatic exposure and color balance to deliver accurate scans. It throws in a photo editing app from ArcSoft in case you still want to make tweaks. Included in the kit are two slide trays, each of which holds three slides at a time, and a negative tray. With a single USB connection and one-touch scanning, you might be able to set your folks up with this thing with the expectation of fielding only a minimal amount of tech support calls.

Via Crave CNET | Source: Everything USB

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