MS Office 2008 for Macintosh will sync with the iPhone.
So you’ll be able to do a PowerPoint presentation anywhere, anytime, on a teeny screen! OK … you can plug the iPhone directly into the projector with the proper Apple AV cable.
Love or hate the iPhone, it’s the future of computing. We’ll all be carrying around something similar within the next 10 years.
“Memory is cheap.” Not really. When the kind of memory you’re using is currently being made in huge quantities, it can be cheap-er. Witness the great deals you can get at Tiger Direct or Newegg.
But when it comes to laptops — and older ones especially, not getting enough memory when you buy the damn thing can bite you in the ass.
I’m in the process of fixing up the Free Laptop, a Gateway Solo 1450 with a busted power plug. I have the part ready, and I’m going to get power to the thing soon. I pulled the memory cover and found out it shipped with 128 MB of RAM — a PC133 SODIMM.
128 MB? Were they high? This thing also shipped with Windows XP. (I pulled the drive and gave it to the laptop’s owner — I have another drive ready and waiting). How good can XP run in 128 MB?
The thing maxes out at 1 GB. How much could it be, I figured. I see 1 GB of RAM going for $40 to $50 all the time in the Fry’s ads … but that’s for CURRENT memory, and usually desktop memory.
But PC133 SODIMM memory? I’ll be lucky to get a GB for $75. 512 MB will run me about $40. Hold the f’n phone! That’s too much. I’m at the horns of a RAM dilemma.
What I really want: A full GB for $40. Ain’t gonna happen.
“Memory is cheap.” Not really. When the kind of memory you’re using is currently being made in huge quantities, it can be cheap-er. Witness the great deals you can get at Tiger Direct or Newegg.
But when it comes to laptops — and older ones especially, not getting enough memory when you buy the damn thing can bite you in the ass.
I’m in the process of fixing up the Free Laptop, a Gateway Solo 1450 with a busted power plug. I have the part ready, and I’m going to get power to the thing soon. I pulled the memory cover and found out it shipped with 128 MB of RAM — a PC133 SODIMM.
128 MB? Were they high? This thing also shipped with Windows XP. (I pulled the drive and gave it to the laptop’s owner — I have another drive ready and waiting). How good can XP run in 128 MB?
The thing maxes out at 1 GB. How much could it be, I figured. I see 1 GB of RAM going for $40 to $50 all the time in the Fry’s ads … but that’s for CURRENT memory, and usually desktop memory.
But PC133 SODIMM memory? I’ll be lucky to get a GB for $75. 512 MB will run me about $40. Hold the f’n phone! That’s too much. I’m at the horns of a RAM dilemma.
What I really want: A full GB for $40. Ain’t gonna happen.
Rumour has it that Apple Inc. is planning on introducing a cheaper, smaller version of the iPhone later this year. The rumour gained momentum last Thursday when it was made public that Apple Inc. filed a patent application last November describing “a multifunctional handheld device with a circular touch pad displaying illuminated symbols that could change depending on the mode in use,” which Apple enthusiasts are interpreting as an “iPhone Nano.”
Computer maker Dell Inc. is trying to regain the lead in the
notebook computer world (HP is the current PC market leader)
by adding a splash of color to their notebooks – faster processors?
better graphics? who needs that!?
How about a “ruby red,” “sunshine yellow” or “espresso brown” notebook?
The Universal Solar Charger from Brando is a God-sent for the gadget lover.
The device is small enough to carry around but don’t let that fool you.
It also uses good ol’ fashioned electricity to charge a variety of gizmos such
as cell phones and mp3 players
Gateway announced Tuesday a voluntary recall of some 14,000 notebook battery packs due to – surprise – overheating and scalding hazzard. The recall affects some, but not all Gateway 400VTX and 450ROG series notebooks sold between May 2003 and August 2003. The batteries were made by Samsung Electronics.
Check out Gateway’s battery website for instructions on how to know if your notebook’s battery pack needs to be replaced.
Back in the days before the Thin Puppy’s CF card died, I was running my Maxspeed Maxterm thin client with flash memory instead of a conventional hard drive. And since Puppy Linux takes great care NOT to write to flash very often, the media is supposed to last virtually forever. Why mine died is a mystery, but it wasn’t due to wear (more likely I killed it with static electricity).
Now that I’m running Puppy 2.16 (new to me this week!), I’ve been thinking about going back to flash for this thin-client box — I’m booting from CD and also have a regular-sized 14 GB hard drive connected outside the box (yes, I truly am thinking outside the box — or my PC is).
But the conventional wisdom is that for “normal” operating systems that don’t use RAM disks, you’ll kill flash quickly with the constant writes required by the OS.
But today on Low End Mac, that question didn’t come up for these guys who are running their Mac laptops from flash memory. That link was to the letters about this original article, which, in turn, refers to this article about doing it with a Powerbook 1400 (one of which I have … but which is too frustrating at this point to even contemplate using for my everyday computing for reasons that have nothing to do with flash). This final article — filled with woe about flash cards that didn’t work with the 1400 — does address longevity of the flash media, saying it should work for “years and years.”
I’m going to try it again (maybe even with Debian), but I’m also going to back up all my data …
And again, if you want to boot from flash but are nervous, give the new Puppy 2.16 a try. I’m in my first full day of use, but so far all is going very, very well.
Takectrl's Weblog 