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Google shares hit another record high, again
Reuben Lee | Oct 15, 2007
It's just amazing how Google shares keep soaring in price. I mean, just three years ago, the company stock debuted at US$85 and, at that time, many people remained skeptical about Google. But when the shares grew at a phenomenal rate to hit US$400 in 15 months, there was no longer any question about the company's growth potential. Earlier last week, the Internet search giant showed no signs of slowing down when shares soared past the US$600 barrier. Analysts are now estimating that Google shares will smash the US$700 mark by the end of 2008, though given its current growth rate (at the time of writing, it was priced at US$615), we suspect the stocks will end the year on an even higher note.
The first thing that always comes to mind when I read a report on yet another new price high for Google stocks is the lucky sods (read: Employees) with stock options. Just to do a little calculation, if they had gotten their shares when the company first started trading in 2004, their stock prices would now be worth seven times the initial value. Even for those who joined the company much later, say at the end of 2006, theirs would have risen by more than US$150 per share. That's almost a cool US$75,000 profit in the pocket if you had 500 shares to begin with.
Now if I had a time machine (DeLorean + flux capacitor + crazy scientist) to bring me back to 2004, all I would need to do is raise US$510,000 to buy 6,000 Google shares at US$85. Which safely back in 2008 would net me more than US$3.6 million in the bank when Google shares hit US$700 a piece. I'd retire and head straight for the Bahamas or Bora Bora. What a life that could have been.
Reality sucks. Which means I'll be sticking to my twice-a-week lottery buying ritual and my dreams of hitting the big payout soon.
Dell tablet PC coming soon?
Darius Chang | Oct 12, 2007
Though we didn't understand a single word on this French forum, the pictures told us what we wanted to know. According to forummer JSWeyth, Dell is coming out with its first tablet portable and even has the pictures and specifications to prove it.
With a little guesswork, we figured that this Dell will likely be based on the ATI RS600ME/SB600 chipset with a Core 2 Duo ULV processor. It's 12.1-inch display is powered by a 256MB ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics engine and will offer three USB ports and Bluetooth alongside the usual Wi-Fi radio. There are also four-, six- and nine-cell battery options.
A quick call to our Dell contact confirmed that the company does have plans to launch this product, but is unable to give a firm date for now. For more details on this, check out Jeff Clarke's (senior vice president of Dell Business Product Group) video.
New MacBooks may follow Leopard's release
Jason Parker | Oct 12, 2007
The latest news from the Mac rumor sites says that closely following the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Apple will also announce an update to the MacBook product line. Sources speculate that the update won't include major changes to the MacBook but will probably mean a small increase to processor speed. Early reports indicate this upgrade may not happen until November.
While a little extra processing power is never a bad thing, the reason we shouldn't expect a major speed boost is because Apple doesn't want the MacBook line to bite into MacBook Pro sales. Currently, top-level MacBooks run the Intel Core 2 Duo processor with speeds topping out at 2.16GHz. With the MacBook Pro processor upgrades earlier this year (featuring the Santa Rosa architecture) pushing speeds to 2.4GHz, we can't expect regular MacBooks to see much of an increase until the next generation of MacBook Pro widens the gap.
If you're in the market for a new Mac, you should definitely wait until Leopard is released on October 26. With this new info, you may want to wait just a little bit longer for the MacBook to get an extra power boost.
Via CNET Crave
A UMPC the size of a PMP
Darius Chang | Oct 10, 2007
If you think the Raon Digital Everun was the smallest, think again. Ultramobilelife was given a glimpse of a UMPC that is almost the same size as portable media players.
Based on the VIA Mobile ITX chassis, the MTube holds a 1GHz VIA processor, 2.8-inch VGA screen and 8GB of storage. All in a body which measures a mere 85 x 85 x 20mm and weighs 150g. Though it runs Linux and not the power-hogging Vista OS, battery life is none too impressive at 4 hours. The MTube will hopefully hit stores in 2009.
Picture credit: Recordcup
Power outages on MacBook Pros
Tom Krazit | Oct 10, 2007
MacBook Pro owners are apparently having trouble supplying power to their computers both from the battery and from the wall.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is getting ready to introduce new 85-watt MagSafe adapters for MacBook Pros following a litany of complaints about fraying cables on the adapters. When they were first introduced, most customers liked the idea of flexible cables that would detach from the computer if subjected to excessive stress, preventing your nice laptop from flying across the floor of the coffeeshop when somebody trips over the cord.
However, the flexibility of the power cable has caused some cables to fray at the connection point after repeated use. Reports have surfaced over the past few months of MagSafe adapters that have started to smoke or even spark in certain cases. Some of those affected have reported receiving adapters with heftier cords, which might be what Apple is getting ready to ship to all MacBook Pro customers.
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