Via Releases Laptop Design as Open Source

Via Technologies released the hardware design for a low-cost laptop with WiMax support under an open-source license on Tuesday, a move intended to make customization easier and shorten design cycles for system makers. The CAD (computer-assisted design) files for the OpenBook reference design can be downloaded for free and made available to anyone under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license. The terms of this license allow the CAD files to be freely copied, shared and modified.

The only requirements are that use of the design is attributed to Via and changes made to the design can only be distributed under the same license or one that has similar terms.

"We're hoping we'll get some interesting feedback, and look forward to seeing what the community thinks about this concept"

vice president of marketing at Via, Richard Brown said.

PCWorld

Lenovo ThinkPad X300

A slim notebook that almost matches that of the Air, but with slightly more functions and features, this new ThinkPad is aimed squarely at its core group of users - executives of the well-heeled variety.

As the first ThinkPad to bear the Lenovo logo, the X300 spent one and a half long years in development and was originally conceived as a 10-inch notebook, though things didn't quite work out when the engineering team started to put parts together. While it could be done, the consensus by the Lenovo team then was that a 13.3-inch screen was better for watching movies and as such, prototypes were then manufactured accordingly. Despite that, one characteristic that stayed unchanged was the portability of the X300.

The X300 also has more connectivity options compared to the Air in the form of a LAN port with native WiMax available in the later part of 2008 and HSDPA support via USB dongle.

via HardwareZone

AMD Readies Puma Laptops for Launch

AMD is preparing to show its Puma Laptop Platform to the world, with the launch penned for June during the Computex trade show. Around 100 laptops based around the Puma platform are being readied in time for the launch

The Puma platform highlights includes:

* AMD Turion X2 Ultra CPU (Griffin)
* Both Intergrated Graphics & HD3400 Discrete GPU (Using Hybrid technology to switch between the two to save power)
* WIFI a/b/g/n

AMD won’t be alone in introducing a new laptop platform though; their main rival Intel is also set to release its Atom low power CPU and its Centrino 2 platform at the same event.

VIA is also set to try to take some market share releasing its Isaiah processor, which is scheduled to be available during the middle of this year.

HP Releases its First Linux-powered Laptop

At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the University of Texas Supercomputing Center April 8, Hewlett-Packard announced the release of its first Linux-powered computer to be sold in the United States, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1.

HP was expected to offer a Linux desktop, and now it has finally done so. It’s not, however, the Linux desktop that many users expected. Instead of being a general-purpose consumer system or business PC, the Mini-Note is meant for the education market.

TechaChino

Dell's Blu-ray Laptop For Under $900 !

Dell is jumping on Sony's Blu-ray bandwagon by offering an optional Blu-ray disc drive on its Inspiron 1525 notebook, with a sale price starting at $879.

Dell has been a backer of Blu-ray from the beginning, and we've actually been offering Blu-ray notebooks for close to 18 months now.

said Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden.

The big news now is we are actually able to offer it at a price that puts it at a mainstream user's reach.

A company release said the disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. The company is also offering consumers a Blu-ray burner drive, which Dell recommends for backing up and storing files like digital photos, videos, financial records. Blu-ray discs have a significant advantage over standard DVDs, with 50 GB of data available versus 8.5 GB available on a typical DVD disc.

CRN.com

Lenovo unwraps Reserve Edition ThinkPad

It's been 15 years since IBM first unveiled the ThinkPad laptop and about two years since Lenovo acquired it as part of a $1.25bn spending spree. So, in an attempt to capitalise on its purchase, Lenovo has unveiled a leather-bound, 5000-unit limited edition ThinkPad.

Dubbed the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, the machine is clad in hand-stitched, ahem, saddle-grade premium French leather, no less. Each machine is individually numbered and comes with all-hours executive-class service and support.

This, Lenovo claimed, means users receive access to specially trained, dedicated support staff. So if you spill your Martini on it, they might just tell you how to best clean the leather without spoiling it. However, Lenovo didn't mention how documents will be retrieved if you accidentally wipe your hard drive or how to restore the display if you accidentally drop gold bullion on it.

Lenovo did claims calls will always be answered within four rings and in the owner's native language.

Unfortunately, the laptop itself is nothing special - aside from the outer skin. It features a 12.1in LCD screen, 160GB hard drive and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi connectivity. It also hides a low-voltage 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 CPU under its cowhide, with 2GB of memory. It runs Windows Vista - Ultimate Edition, of course.

The notebook does come with a CD and DVD burner, but given the $5000/£2950/€4990 price tag, Lenovo could have offered the option of a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive. The Lenovo ThinkPad Reserve Edition is available now in the UK, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and the US.

RegHardware

Sony's 'Bio Battery' Generates Electricity from Sugar

Sony today announced the development of a bio battery that generates electricity from carbohydrates (sugar) utilizing enzymes as its catalyst, through the application of power generation principles found in living organisms. Test cells of this bio battery have achieved power output of 50 mW, currently the world's highest level for passive-type bio batteries. The output of these test cells is sufficient to power music play back on a memory-type Walkman. In order to realize the world's highest power output, Sony developed a system of breaking down sugar to generate electricity that involves efficiently immobilizing enzymes and the mediator (electronic conduction materials) while retaining the activity of the enzymes at the anode.

Sony also developed a new cathode structure which efficiently supplies oxygen to the electrode while ensuring that the appropriate water content is maintained. Optimizing the electrolyte for these two technologies has enabled these power output levels to be reached. Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis. It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based bio batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future. Sony is going to continue its development of immobilization systems, electrode composition and other technologies in order to further enhance power output and durability, with the aim of realizing practical applications for these bio batteries in the future.

Physorg

Vista Battery Saver

Vista Battery Saver can help you save up to 70% of your battery life by disabling the Aero effects and the Windows Sidebar whenever your laptop runs on batteries, or is reaching a certain battery capacity. The features are automatically re-enabled when you plug your notebook into a power source.

HomePage

Dell : Free laptops with broadband subscription

Dell has signed a deal with a U.K. mobile phone retailer to distribute free laptops with the purchase of a broadband Internet access subscription, continuing the company's push into the retail market. Starting in September, consumers who buy a two-year contract for America Online's broadband service through the Carphone Warehouse Group will get a coupon for a free base-model Inspiron notebook from Dell. AOL broadband costs £19.99 ($41) per month.

A similar free laptop offering was unveiled this week by mobile provider Orange UK, a move designed to get consumers who may have never owned a computer or bought broadband service using the Internet in order to grow subscriber numbers, said Jonathan Coham, an analyst at Ovum. Those customers tend to be older and are more loyal. But it won't come cheap for those operators.

Full Story @ InfoWorld

Efficient WMA MP3 Converter 0.98

Efficient WMA MP3 Converter supports the most popular audio files formats as MP3, MP2, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, WAV, RealAudio, AAC, AC3, M4A, M4B,MPC, NUT and converts them into MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, monkeys audio (APE) or WAV format. The most modern and fast audio codecs are used in this converter, so you may compress your files with maximum quality. The program supports ID3 Tag v2. It gives you ability to transfer all of the most useful tag fields from from source file. Program supports batch conversion mode. It makes (the process of conversion) the conversion of great amount of files all at once much easier. Just add files for conversion, choose an appropriate audio format and press Start. You can also add the whole folder of/with audio files (including all its subfolders). At the same time, you have an opportunity to choose which formats to add and which not. After adding, all the files in batch will be classified according to the format. Thus, you can convert all the files into one format at once or to convert each source type of files separately. All the necessary settings can be easily changed, as they are located in the main window. It makes the process of parameter setting easier, as you don’t need to start lots of dialogs for setting. All the recent settings are memorized, so that in most cases you are only to choose the output format and start conversion. The program supports Drag&drop, so you can just add files from Windows Explorer. So, this program is an ideal way out for those who want to convert audio files in order to listen to them in mobiles and players and don’t want to go through the hassle of settings.

Key features of Efficient WMA MP3 Converter:

*It supports the wide range of popular input formats (like MP3, MP2,WMA,OGG, APE, FLAC, WAV, RealAudio, AAC, AC3, M4A, M4B,VQF, NUT),
*Batch Processing is supported, it can process an unlimited number of files at one time. Simply add file(s) to convert and press"Start conversion" button,
* Simple to use interface without bunch of graphics,
* Easily accessible settings. All settings can be changed in the main window of program,
* ID3 Tag can be derived from the input files automatically,
* It uses up-to-date and high quality audio encoders,
* It's stable and fast,
* It's clean and free, without any adware or spyware,
* The installing and uninstalling process is very easy.

Change log:

- Added extraction and conversion of audio from video files (avi, mpeg, mp4, mov, rv,rmvb, 3gp, 3g2, swf, flv, mp4, m4v, wmv, asf, mpg, vob)

Home Page

Dell's New Mobile Workstation

Dell is revamping its high-end workstation line with a notebook that will include Intel's new Centrino Pro platform and enhanced graphics technology from Nvidia. The Dell Precision M4300, which debuted on the Round Rock, Texas, company's Web site June 27, is immediately available and is the eventual replacement for the M65 workstation notebook. In addition to the Centrino Pro platform and the latest Core 2 Duo processors, the M4300 will take advantage of Intel's TurboMemory, a feature that allows applications and data to be stored in a NAND-based flash memory cache, which enables the laptop to boot faster. The notebook also uses Intel's vPro technology—a series of management and security features that are built into the platform.

In addition, Nvidia's Quadro FX 360M graphics chip set gives the notebook 100 percent better graphics performance than previous offerings, said Mano Gialusis, a product marking manager for Dell's workstations. The enhanced graphics ability will allow Dell to pursue high-end customers and creative professionals.

eWeek

Laptop HDDs with 320GB Capacities

Two makers of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) platters for hard disk drives (HDDs) said recently they had started to produce platters with leading capacities that enable creation of 1TB hard drives for desktops as well as up to 320GB drives for mobile computers.

Both Fuji Electric Group and Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) this week said they had begin shipments of 334GB platters for 3.5” hard drives as well as 160GB platters for 2.5” HDDs to their customers. The 334GB platters are already utilized by Samsung’s SpinPoint F1 hard disk drives, but unfortunately it is unclear whether 160GB platters are already used by the companies’ customers.

The full story

Toshiba - HD DVD Drive into All Its Laptops

Toshiba may push its HD DVD format by installing appropriate optical drives into its notebooks. Toshiba’s senior vice president Hisatsugu Nonaka said that the company would integrate HD DVD optical drives into “all” of its laptops next year: “The demand is there: people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road.” According to Gartner market researcher, Toshiba commanded 4.1% of the global PC market in Q1 2007, up 0.3 points year-over-year and increasing its shipments by 15.3% annually. The total available market of personal computers (which includes desktop PCs, mobile PCs and x86 servers) was approximately 62.719 million, which means that Toshiba supplied about 2.57 million of computers in Q1 2007.

HD DVD supporters like Acer and HP, the world’s third (6.8% with 4.26 million systems shipped in Q1) and first (17.6% with 11 million machines supplied) makers of computers, have much larger market shares and have not announced support of HD DVD for all of their systems next year. The only computer maker who supports only Blu-ray among the Top 5 makers is Dell (13.9% market share, shipped 8.7 million of systems in Q1 2007). Given that HD DVD drives are more expensive compared to typical DVD/CD devices, installing them into all systems may increase prices and eventually decrease their market share.

Xbit Laboratories

Intel, Asus Announce $199 'Eee PC'

Asus and Intel have teamed up to develop a cheap notebook PC – the "Eee PC," an inexpensive laptop designed to help spread computing to poorer regions. Two models were demonstrated: a $199 and $299 model, both representing Intel’s "World Ahead" market initiative. A shipping date was not announced for the new device. The Eee PC will apparently connect to the Internet, as it will allow users to make VOIP calls. Chairman and chief executive of Asus, Jonney Shih, said the computer weighs about 900 grams – a working model of the Eee PC booted in about fifteen seconds to what was clearly not a Microsoft OS.

PCMAG

Lenovo Thinkpads - x61 and x61s

XYZ Computing checks out the Lenovo Thinkpad X61 and X61s. HotHardware has a comparison between the Asus P5B-E and the MSI P965 Platinum motherboards. Virtual Hideout takes a 2GB set of OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC memory out for review. Hardware Secrets wraps things up with its look at the MSI Overclocked GeForce 8600GTS.

GeForce 8600 GTS is the fastest mid-range video card from the new GeForce 8 family from nVidia, targeted for users that want a performance higher than GeForce 8600 GT and are willing to pay more for this performance gain. This model from MSI, NX8600GTS-T2D256E OC, comes factory-overclocked, meaning that it will achieve a performance higher than the standard GeForce 8600 GTS, and also supports HDMI. Check it out.

XYZComputing

Dell announces convertible tablet PC

Dell is to make its first forray into the convertible tablet PC market. Dell will release its first convertible tablet PC later this year.

Dell anounced that it is working on the machine on a company blog. In the same blog Dell showed a prototype of the tablet PC.

"We are entering the [tablet PC] market and we will enter the market later this year," said Jeff Clarke, senior vice president of Dell's business product group, during the minute-long video.

"The technology and customer and usage models have evolved to the point where it makes it right for Dell to enter the marketplace," he said. "We're excited and everybody, we're coming."

Dell's tablet PC will be targeted at the education, healthcare and corporate markets, said Clarke. Dell didn't offer any technical specifications of the machine but Clrke said it will be "one of the lightest weight" tablet PCs in the market. The version shown in the video was running Windows Vista.

PC Advisor

Apple Updates MacBook

Apple today updated its MacBook consumer notebooks with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model. Here's a quick breakdown of the new models with prices listed in US funds:

$1099: 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, 1GB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive
$1299: 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, 1GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive
$1499: 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook, 1GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive

Upgrade options available on the refreshed MacBook's include a 120GB/160GB (5400 rpm) or 200GB (4200 rpm) hard drive and up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM.

Apple.com

India To Produce World's First $10 Laptop

Forget the one hundred dollar laptop. India has bigger, but cheaper, plans. Ten times cheaper to be exact: India's Ministry of Human Resource Development is spearheading the project, with help from Semiconductor Complex, a state-sponsored designer and manufacturer of integrated circuits. Officials from those organizations are presently weighing system designs submitted by an engineering student from India's Vellore Institute of Technology and a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The Times of India on Friday reported that the efforts thus far have yielded designs for a laptop that would cost about $47, while a $10 system remains the ultimate goal.

Last year, Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child Organization submitted a proposal to the Indian government under which the group would have worked to produce laptops for Indian students starting at $100. Indian officials at the time criticized the proposal as insufficiently mature to be taken seriously and rejected it.

InformationWeek.com

$US100 laptop now $US175

THE founder of the ambitious $US100 ($121) laptop project, which plans to give inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, has revealed the machine now costs $US175. It will also be able to run Windows in addition to its home-grown, open-source interface.

Nicholas Negroponte, the former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab who now heads the non-profit One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, updated analysts and journalists on where the effort stands, saying "we are perhaps at the most critical stage of OLPC's life". At least seven nations have expressed interest in being in the initial wave to buy the little green-and-white XO computers: Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Thailand, Nigeria and Libya. But it remains unclear which ones will be first to pay up

AustralianIT

Acer recalls 27,000 laptop batteries

Just when you thought the faulty Sony-made lithium-ion overheating batteries fiasco was over, Acer Incorporated, one of the largest computer makers in the world, has recalled of about 27,000 laptop batteries. More than 10 million notebook batteries have been recalled worldwide since the problem was traced to Sony Corporation last year. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has logged dozens of reports of lithium-ion batteries overheating. Taiwan-based Acer said none of the known incidents involved its laptop models but the company still worked with the consumer agency to conduct the voluntary recall.

The laptops possibly containing the recalled batteries were the TravelMate series with 4-digit model numbers beginning with 242, 320, 321, 330, 422, 467, 561, C20, and the Aspire series beginning with model numbers 556, 560, 567, 930, 941, 980. Acer, whose U.S. division is based in San Jose, says consumers should immediately stop using the recalled batteries and contact the company for a free battery replacement. The laptops could still be safely used if powered by the AC adapter, the company said.

MSNBC.MSN.COM