Posts in Notebooks
Racing your laptop
Darius Chang | Nov 28, 2005
From Acer's Ferrari notebook to the upcoming Intel-Lamborghini laptop, Nascar has joined the free-for-all by branding the Cisnet-made laptop with its distinctive trademark. Powering on an AMD Turion 64 ML-30 chip and 80GB hard drive, the two partners have jointly designed the first Nascar notebook.
Available only to the US market, the laptop was launched in October and can be purchased through CompUSA and Target.com. It costs US$899.99 (S$1523.81) after rebate and comes with a Nascar-themed Logitech mouse, customized Media Player and Nascar-inspired screensaver. If fans are hoping to race virtually with Nascar 2005 on this system, they will probably not get past the starting line. Unlike its namesake, the Nascar laptop has to depend on the poky and slow integrated graphics card to render animations. Gaming on this system is about as fast and as enjoyable as watching a race with the safety car on the track.
And unlike the cutting-edge technologies found in racing vehicles, this mobile makes do with yesterday's specifications. 80GB of storage, integrated graphics and PCMCIA slots may still allow it to make it past the qualifying round this year, but we expect the Nascar notebook to be retired in short notice with next year's lineup. We hope to see better systems from the other 200
licensees bearing the stock car auto race logo.
Pimping your notebook
Darius Chang | Nov 25, 2005
Sony's FJ series bucked the trend with its rainbow range of colors. Now, Hollywood stars try their hand at funking up their VAIO notebooks with their very own personal design. Are A-listers like Jessica Alba and Elijah Woods considering a switch from the hectic world of acting? Should we be ready for another reality TV a.k.a. Project Runway?
Apparently, these mobiles are not just for show. Currently displayed in different US states, they--the notebooks, not the stars--will be "pimping" for bids on eBay from January 9 next year for 15 days. Fans of Alba, Wood, Wilmer Valderrama and cool couple DJ AM and Nicole Richie will be glad to know that by inflating the prices of these laptops, they are doing their bit for charity as the proceeds will go to America's Second Harvest--the Nation's Food Bank Network for raising funds to eliminate hunger in the US.
We applaud the social consciousness of the celebrities while wondering, in a nation where 34 percent of the population is overweight, if hunger is still a major social issue there. Perhaps a "Lose weight by donating your food" campaign would be more appropriate by killing two birds with one fat stone?
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Compaq Presario B2800 launch
Darius Chang | Nov 22, 2005
It's understandable if you get a sense of deja vu when seeing the Compaq Presario B2800 for the first time, as the white minimalist exterior is reminiscent of Apple notebooks. Targeting at students and executives, HP has kept the price low with an affordable starting price of S$2,599.
Running on the latest Centrino platform, the 533MHz mainboard can be coupled with a Pentium M 770 chip running at 2.13GHz and an ATI Mobility Radeon X600SE with 256MB video memory for an intense gaming experience on its 14.1-inch display. Standard connectivity are provided, with nice additional touches like the generous four USB 2.0 ports and optical audio output. Wireless connectivity to 802.11b, 802.11g and Bluetooth are available, though infrared is left out. This notebook comes bundled with an optical mouse and will be available across Asia-Pacific markets by end November.
Gaming for a million dollars
Darius Chang | Nov 15, 2005
Ever wondered where the time went after playing addictive games such as Bejewled? Curious just how much more productive you could have been if only you had uninstalled
Solitaire from you PC? Now you don't have to find an answer.
SkillJam,
a subsidiary of Fun Technologies, is giving away US$1 million (S$1,706,000) to the top players of casual games.
Casual games are addictive yet simple to learn. Despite being repetitive, Bejeweled 2, Zuma and Solitaire stimulate the mind instead of your trigger finger. And you do not even need an incredibly high-end system to run these game titles. The simple gameplay hides the strategic efforts needed to reach the elite levels. Players will be competing online and the top scorers will be playing in the finals to be held live at Los Angeles.
And the best part? The winner of this event can thumb his nose at those who had to endure being backstabbed on remote islands or having to travel around the world with a whining partner for the same prize money.
Sony CD protection sparks security concerns
Darius Chang | Nov 14, 2005
Mark Russinovich was doing a routine test this week of computer security software he'd co-written, when he made a surprising discovery: Something new was hiding itself deep inside his PC's guts.
It took some time for Russinovich, an experienced programmer who has written a book on the Windows operating system for Microsoft, to track down exactly what was happening, but he ultimately traced it to code left behind by a recent CD he'd bought and played on his computer.
The SonyBMG-produced Van Zant album had been advertised as copy-protected when he'd bought it on Amazon.com, and he'd clicked through an installation agreement when he put the disc in his computer. What he later found is that the software had used a sophisticated cloaking technique that involves a "root kit"--something not dangerous in itself, but a tool often used by virus writers to hide all traces of their work on a computer.
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