Sunday, January 20, 2008
Computers
Macbook Air and The Usual Suspects
5:03PM Haroon Malik | We already gave you a spec-wise comparison of the Macbook Air and its prominent competitors, but The Usual Suspects—the Lenovo X300 (recently leaked), Sony TZ and Dell XPS m1330—are all back for a photo shoot. Jump for the fantastic line-up of the laptop bad boys bearing it all. More »
Vehicles
Plasma Thruster Powered, Cigarette Sized, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Take to the Skies
2:00PM Haroon Malik | Cigarette-sized unmanned aircraft, utilising plasma thrusters for power, may sound like something out of the pits of science fiction’s B-rate movie bin to us, but we aren’t DARPA. That’s right the guys at DARPA are actually working with boffins at Oklahoma State University to make the vision a reality. More »
Gadgets
Cool&Hot Comfort Pad Keeps Your Bitch Warm
1:00PM Haroon Malik | If your dog is crap at thermoregulation, you are going to need to give the little tyke a hand. The Cool&Hot comfort pad not only comes with a fantastic PR image, but it will also allow your pet to get all cuddled up and warm in the winter, or remain as cool as a corpse throughout the summer. More »
Computers
Fujitsu Announces 8.9-Inch Tablet PC
12:00PM Adrian Covert | Fujitsu began taking orders Friday for their 8.9-inch Lifebook P1620 convertible tablet PC. The computer weighs only 2.2 pounds, comes with a 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 60 GB HDD and 512 MB of RAM for $US1749. The high-end model comes with 2GB RAM, an 80 GB HDD and Bluetooth for $US2224. This announcement comes on the heels of Fujitsu’s upgrade of previous tablets with HSUPA technology. [Electronista] More »
Computers
Inventec UMPCs Bring Curvaceous Contours to Mobile Computing
11:00AM Haroon Malik | Inventec has just released images of two new UMPC units that it has set for the production line. The UMPC 7-A and the UMPC 5-D walked home with iF Design Awards honours, and from the images it is clear why. The curved construction of the UMPC 7-A is not done for looks alone; apparently, it will improve the viewing angle and give the keyboard a more ergonomic build than is usually permitted with a flat design. Jump for a shot of the more orthodox UMPC 5-D. More »
Phones
iPhone Sales Fall 5% Below Expectations in the UK
10:20AM Adrian Covert | The Financial Times reports that UK sales of the Apple iPhone weren’t quite up to par, selling 190,000 phones against a target of 200,000 in the first two months. Some analysts even projected sales in the range of 350,000-400,000. Many cite the high price of the phone, saying the average phone is free and the average plan is under £30. In the UK the iPhone goes for £269 and the plan is £899 over 18 months. That’s almost $529 for the phone and $110/month for the plan. Ouch. [Financial Times via The Inquirer] More »
Online
Hackers Are Going After Power Grids
9:30AM Mark Wilson | According to Tom Donahue, a CIA official, hackers have recently infiltrated various power grids outside the US, and in at least one instance, caused a power outage in multiple cities. We don’t know much else: the when, where, how and who were all left for guessing only. But we know that the attacks were done remotely (through the internet) and that current Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems (that, as we understand it, represent many of the world’s infrastructural networks, software and databases) are sadly out of date. More »
Gadgets
New Xbox 360 Failure Rates Still Around 10%?
8:22AM Mark Wilson | Site 8bitjoystick, the same people who seem to have broken the news that Bungie was splitting from Microsoft, claim to have scored an exclusive tell-all interview with an Xbox 360 designer regarding the console’s notorious stability. Most of the piece really just confirms that which was already suspected (reasons for the RRoDs, early Xboxes failed around 30% of the time, etc) but what caught our eye was the insider’s estimated failure rates on new, smaller and cooler-chipped Xbox 360s seem to still be around 10%. More »
Software
iPhone 1.1.3 Firmware Jailbroken (Wee!) but Not Available (Boo!)
8:15AM Haroon Malik | Well, that was quick. It appears firmware 1.1.3 has already been Jailbroken. The solution is not available to the mainstream yet, as both teams are holding back until the iPhone SDK launches in April. Nevertheless, there is video proof; jump to catch some shaky evidence of installer.app playing nice with 1.1.3. More »
Computers
