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Posted Mar 5th 2008 11:19AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Storage
Just like fine wine, the HDD Stage Rack keeps getting better with age. On its third iteration now, the latest version of the external HDD cradle not only includes the obligatory USB and eSATA ports, but it also boasts a 6-pin FireWire 400 connector and two FireWire 800 sockets. ‘Course, this thing isn’t slated to be available for US hands until the end of this month, but that’ll give you a few weeks to swallow the lofty $165.33 price tag, at least.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

ASUS unveil today Bamboo notebook at CEBIT 2008 press conference

Even is made from bamboo is not a good idea to folding in every direction. I think it will broke …

PCNews Verdict: 8/10 I like the idea of bamboo notebook. Now next on my list is concrete notebook.

Posted Mar 5th 2008 12:58PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
We know what you’re thinking, and trust us, we’re right there with you. Nevertheless, The Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, has reportedly come to the conclusion that the reason US violent crime rose in 2005 and 2006 after declining every year since 1991 is because more iPods were on the streets. You heard right — these researchers are suggesting that the “iCrime wave” occurred primarily due to the popularity of Apple’s darling and the relatively high value of possessing one. Granted, the ipod has been the focal point of quite a few muggings in the past, but blaming a fruit-flavored PMP for a nation’s sudden urge to take up larceny? Pfft.

Posted Mar 5th 2008 1:26PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Storage
If you’ll recall, Microsoft announced that it was teaming up with SanDisk last May to conjure up a suitable U3 replacement. Not quite a year later, we’re starting to hear the first whispers of what that replacement may be. Purportedly dubbed StartKey, the so-called Windows companion would essentially allow users to “carry their Windows and Windows Live settings with them” on any sort of flash memory device — be it a USB drive, SD card, etc. Interestingly, it’s also being reported that Redmond would like to “build an end-to-end StartKey environment,” but aside from the tidbit that it should be out in at least beta form by the year’s end, pretty much everything else remains murky.

[Via ArsTechnica, image courtesy of Tom’s Hardware]

Posted Mar 5th 2008 12:29PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
Believe it or not, it wasn’t even two months ago that we laid hands on the up and coming Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 at CES, and shortly after becoming available to the masses, PC Magazine has rounded one up for review. Right out of the box, the unit was praised for feeling oh-so-light (2.8-pounds, for those counting) and including a built-in optical drive. Unfortunately, such a small footprint left little room for a full-fledged keyboard, and besides feeling “cramped,” performance was nothing to write home about either. Granted, it did boast fairly impressive battery life, but given the heightened competition in the ultraportable area of late, these editors were forced to hand out a 3 out of 5 rating and wish that the P8010 came in at a lower price point.

I must say that AMD has disappointed me over the last year or two. I used to be an AMD guy, and most of the computers in the house still run some form of Athlon chips. However, my main gaming PC and notebook both run on Intel CPUs. It seems like at every turn AMD is just playing catch-up. Did I mention that they’ve announced that they’re getting ready to switch over to a 45nm process for their new chips?

I really don’t want to talk bad about AMD, as I always secretly hope that with every new announcement they might be returning to their former glory. They are citing lower power-consumption and cooler-running chips as the two main reasons for switching over to the smaller process. It’s a logical progression for them to make this move, but once again Intel beat them to the punch.

Source: CrunchGear

Posted Mar 5th 2008 9:04AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: GPS, Laptops
While it seemed touch and go for a few months there as to whether the the Everex Cloudbook would ever hit store shelves, what’s never been in doubt is the fact that hackers are going to have a field day with the thing. The first major hack is courtesy of Azazel from the Cloudbooker forums. His “Dreambook” mod incorporates an internal four-port USB hub to add all sorts of fun stuff like GPS, Bluetooth and 4GB of flash storage. He removed the webcam for the time being, and is having some trouble getting his replacement WiFi card to work, but it’s certainly a promising hack. Next on the agenda is another small hub to support 802.11n WiFi and some 3G connectivity — we like where this is headed.

[Thanks, David]

Results of the study conducted by comScore shows that the number of U.S. Internet users accessing the web via mobile broadband increased by 154% in Q4 of 2007 as against the same period in 2006. Mobile internet is predominantly used in the work setting rather for domestic use.

The comScore report looked into the usage and characteristics of mobile broadband users from data collected by the research from Internet access using mobile broadband internet service providers (ISPs). This type of internet access is done using mobile phones subscribed through cellular networks and connected to a user’s PC. The study did not cover Internet access through Wi-Fi access which entirely a different thing from mobile broadband Internet access. Mobile broadband Internet usage is measured in terms of subscriber’s data charges from their respective cellular networks. The study also showed that Verizon and Sprint cellular network providers accounted for majority of the mobile broadband market.

comScore senior vice president Serge Matta said that the mobile broadband Internet access currently only accounts for 1 percent of the total U.S. population.

“As consumers increasingly demand and depend on portable Internet access, the demand for mobile broadband should continue to increase,” says Matta.

Analyzing the report’s data further by location of access, the study showed word-related mobile broadband Internet access accounts for 59% of the total data. Accessing the web through mobile broadband for domestic purposes account for only 41%. This would indicate that mobile broadband Internet usage is dictated more by users’ needs rather than their wants.

Read [comScore]

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Sometimes I see ideas like these and I just get angry. It’s not that that product idea is so bad. On the contrary, this idea of an opening keyboard is so good that I just want to scream “why didn’t I invent that!”

After all, the idea of a keyboard that opens up into a mini-storage bin is so very obvious. If your desk is anything like mine, then you have pens, CDs, and other office supplies littering your desk space like a landfill.

So why not have a PC keyboard that opens up and stores it all? Well, most of the little junk, anyway. This is exactly what the PS2 Keyboard was invented to do. I have to admit that I wouldn’t have called this a PS2 Keyboard, because I thought it was a keyboard for a certain console gaming system put out by Sony. I believe the PS2 actually refers to the type of connectors needed to make the product work, the PS/2.

I would highly recommend to the makers of this innovative product to make it completely wireless, but I’m sure that is more difficult that it sounds. I could totally see a useful product like this sweeping the nation.

You should be able to purchase the BNI PC PS2 Keyboard and Desktop Organizer at the BB TradeSales site for about $50 USD.

Source