P.I.C.N.I.C

PICNIC (Problem In Chair Not In Computer)

Enough said...

Lenovo's Ideapad S10 Ultra-Portable Notebook PC Gets Official, Due in September

Looks like Lenovo is fully getting into the UMPC low cost laptop market.

The specs on this forthcoming machine are on par with what we have seen before: "...Windows XP pre-installed, measure 9.8 x 7.2 inches, weigh just 2.4-pounds in its lightest configuration, and pack in a LED back-lit 10-inch screen. Powered by Intel Atom N270 and 945 GSE express chipset..." [Gizmodo]

It's nice to see all the competition and such for Asus, but when will someone be able to compete price wise with them (i.e., a model that is decent, yet under $250.) Around $300 is still the bench mark. That, I believe, is still too high for most PC users. Again, I can add $100 to it and get a real PC or low end laptop.

Google vs. Cuil

I am not sure how many of you out there have tried, or heard of Cuil, pronounced "cool", the Google challenger for search engines. I have tried it and I have to tell you, it might be pretty, but it doesn't always find what you're looking for.

Example, I searched for the upcoming Sylvania MESO. Here are the links to the results pages for Google and Cuil.

Google results

Cuil results

I am not sure how else to compare the two result sets: 23,200 matches vs. 0.

I know Cuil does look impressive and has a cool (no pun intended) feel to it, but I am thinking that with over 121 BILLION pages indexed, it should have found something! Maybe it's just me!

What do you think about Cuil?

Cuil is Google Rival From Ex-Google employees

The new search engine site Cuil opened today. As the pic shows, it has over 121 BILLION pages at your disposal. I searched Google and got several thousand results.

According to Giz, this site was created by former Google employees. The site is pure black and blue loveliness. Simple, yet effective. Just like...Googles'!

Time will tell how well this venture will fly. It can't be any worse than MSN Search!

Microsofts' Pro Vista Campaign Gets Users' To Love Vista

According to a post on Gizmodo, it seems Microsoft has gone to a strange form of "Gotcha!" to prove to users that Vista isn't all that bad.

Microsoft had a focus group test drive a "new" OS called Mojave. The users seemed to love it. The punch line? The "new" OS was Vista.

My favorite part of this article is the quote "how much of the Vista hate is really just sheeple bleating what everyone else is?" This is a quote from the Giz article.

I have been beating that drum for weeks. Maybe now some people will actually try the brussel sprouts before judging them.

Spyware Fail

Because sometimes you know it's true!

Microsoft's Vista "Doesn't Suck" Campaign

Although I think this picture is not a good choice for an analogy, it still makes a direct and good point: Not everyone who told you Vista sucks knows #@*! about Vista.

Gizmodo has put this article on their site and has filled it with a lot of small snide remarks like "I can think of a lot of other future installments, like "At one point, everyone thought witches walked among us" or "At one point, people thought they could turn lead into gold," or "At one point, people thought that it was a good idea to shit into ditches alongside the city streets." " [Gizmodo.com]

I have believed for many months that Vista is a good, solid OS. I know at least one person who has had his rear saved by Vista Ultimate's Shadow Copy feature. Of course, their are bound to be some bugs and issues with an OS that can span over 17GB of disk space. To believe any Mac OS release is bug free, is arrogant and ignorant (see Mac Time Machine Bugs.)

In the end, the user's, not the press or bloggers (including myself), need to decide how well Vista meets their needs. If I had the $$$ to buy a Mac, I probably would give it heavy consideration. But I don't, so I can't buy one. Of course my opinion is one sided.

Hopefully Microsoft will work hard to separate real issues and performance bugs from rumors and mere speculation in the coming weeks.

BTW, does anyone know what this means: "The campaign basically writes itself—why don't you guys give is a whirl." [Gizmodo]

Asus Eee 1000H On Sale!

We knew it would eventually happen. The inevitable fall of Asus prices for their over priced laptops.

According to Gizmodo, Newegg has dropped the price of the Eee 1000H by $100. That's not too bad, but still not as good as a brand new Compaq or Dell.

Anton: 512-Processor Supercomputer Being Built to Simulate Molecules, Drugs

Gizmodo has posted an article on a supercomputer called "Anton." This supercomputer has 512 processors! That's a lot more than your puny dual-core or even your quad-core. Check the link for details.

Windows Vista Ready Boost vs. RAM Upgrade

Just wondering what some of your thoughts are out there on the ReadyBoost technology Microsoft has deployed in versions of Vista.

The poll closes July 31st, 2008.

Asus Eee 901 Now Available

The Asus Eee 901 is now shipping, according to Gizmodos' website. The specs are as follows:

Atom processor

1GB of RAM

12GB of SSD

Linux Distro (Have yet to see a XP version.)

This will cost you $599.99. Hmm...That seems kinda steep for such a small spec'd laptop. If you go to Amazons' website, you can find the same model minus the Linux distro, plus XP Home for the same price.

You can also get the 900 20G for $549 and the MSI Wind
MSI Wind 10" Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 3 Cell Battery) Black for $499.

I am not saying just because it has better specs and is cheaper that it is better...I am just saying shop around!

ICANN...Get My Domain Named Jacked!

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, recently got their domain named high jacked! The jacking lasted a brief period of time, around 20 minutes, before reclaiming the name.

Click here for the article link.

Windows Update Getting...an Update!

For those of you out there who are using Vista and have seen the sluggish, beastly application know as "Windows Updater," then this will be good news for you. Windows Vista updater is getting of all things...an update!

This is great news to me. I spent a good portion of the weekend getting SP1 for Visual C# Express Edition (so it will run on Vista) and it took damn near 6 hours to complete.

Slow? Snails passed the updater! Hopefully this will be better!

Link.

Pioneer Pushes Blu-Ray Discs to 16 Layers, 400GB Capacity

According to Gizmodos' site, Pioneer (Panasonic?) is working on a 16 layer, 400GB Blu Ray disc. That's a sweet thing if it ever becomes fiscally reasonable for large server backups and what not.

Click here for the link.

Microsoft Midori Is a Secret Post-Windows Operating System

I am not exactly sure why or what this is supposed to be, but someone believes that Microsoft has yet another OS in store for us.



Aside from Windows 7, Microsoft's supposed next OS, there is some secret OS called Singularity.