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I may not live in the ghetto side of my NY-suburban town, but somedays I take a hike to the other side of town -- the heart of the 'ghetto side' of town, you know, roaches (*shudder*), peeling paint, shotty living conditions, etc... -- to my friend (and fellow =Tech9= squad member)'s house. Now, instead of using his shotty FiOS connection, I use my ISP's town-wide free Wifi hotspot -- which is only allowed to be used by it's customers. Woohoo!

Speed could be better, but hey, free Wifi for me!

Kevin Rose's Apple crystal ball has been wrong more often than not (he was sorta right about $199 iPhone), but this time he's seen pictures people! ("It looks pretty cool.") He says that not only will the new iPod nano be tall and skinny and giant-screened like we've heard, he says it'll be rounded (like iPhone 3G's ass-side, but all the way around), and even provides this handy rendering. His other rumorage, like a huge iTunes update with for-real new features, is all way more reasonable than his past forecasting, so they're actually possible too!

- Revamp of entire iPod line.
- Small cosmetic changes to Touch, Nano to see significant redesign (see pic below).
- iPods to see fairly large price drops to distance itself from the $199 iPhone.
- iPod touch 2.1 software, iPhone to get update very soon after. - iTunes 8.0 ("it's a big update w/new features").
- All of this coming in the next 2-3 weeks.

In a way I kinda miss the crazier predictions even if he is more correct now—I liked hoping that at least one of his more outlandish ones was true. And he says more info—with pictures—is coming. Has Kevin finally gotten a rock solid source? [Kevin Rose]

I sure as hell hope I'm not the only one that finds that Nano (?) hideous.

Sometimes one damning statistic can put it all into perspective. Through a survey of 3,000 computers, it was found that 35% of those systems built to run Vista had been downgraded (by computer vendors or users) to run XP. Keep in mind, this metric wouldn't include systems like mini-laptops that are only able to load XP because of their frail, low-grade hardware. So, uhhh, who's pumped for Windows 7?

Muffled by the cacophony of like a million netbooks and the wireless power that'll power our cyborg brains at the Intel Developer Forum was the low-key introduction of Intel's next-gen 45nm dual core chips for ultra-thin notebooks—i.e., the dwarven chips that made the MacBook Air possible. Now that everybody can snag them, expect a surge of similarly limber notebooks that can suck in their gut to fit into narrow pockets of ugly paper.

Lenovo's X301 and HP's 2530p already use the new chips. The SL9400 and SL9300 running at 1.8Ghz and 1.6GHz, respectively, both have a 1066MHz FSB and appear to be the Core 2 Duo Low Voltage (LV) chips with a TDP of 17W, while the SU9400 and SU9300 are the ULV variants, clocked at 1.4GHz and 1.2GHz with a 10W TDP.

While the clock speeds of the LV chips are the same as the MBA's, the switch to the 45nm process and faster front-side bus should yield both performance gains and power savings. More importantly, their ready availability for all-comers could make the ultra-thin market a lot more interesting, though we're kind of afraid at this point of what Asus will do with them. 

 

Credit: Gizmodo$post/story

Tens year ago today, the original Bondi blue iMac went on sale. In more ways than one, it marked the rebirth of Apple into the one we know today and the dawn of the Jobs + Ive era. Not a bad legacy.

Personally, I loved the white iMacs, and the Aluminum ones are gorgeous too.

Lenovo is following up on their solid X300 notebook with the Thinkpad X301, which will have the Centrino 2 chipset and the option for a 64 or 128 GB SSD. Set for official announcement next week, the notebook will support DisplayPort, Ultra-Wideband and models with integrated mobile broadband will have GPS navigation capability. The notebook will be available for order on August 26, and pricing starts at $2600. No word on how expensive the SSD upgrade will be.

[Gizmodo]

Lenovo Expands Ultra-Thin, Ultra-Light ThinkPad X300 Notebook PC Family Delivers Next-Generation Processing, Greater SSD Storage and Enhanced Multimedia Experience.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – August 18, 2008 – Lenovo today announced the ThinkPad X301 notebook PC, taking the thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class1, to new heights in performance. Like its predecessor, the industry-acclaimed ThinkPad X300 notebook, the ThinkPad X301 notebook offers cutting-edge features and technologies in a thin and light form starting at less than three pounds and one-inch thin. The notebook offers even greater storage capacity with choices of either 64 GB or new 128 GB solid state drive storage available in September. The ThinkPad X301 notebook provides on average nearly 20 percent better performance over the ThinkPad X300 notebook due to the latest DDR3 memory and the latest Intel Core 2 Duo ultra low volt processor. "Lenovo continues to push the technology envelope by giving road warriors the latest enhancements in solid state drive storage and digital display technologies with the new ThinkPad X301 notebook PC," said Sam Dusi, vice president, worldwide notebook product marketing, Lenovo. "This announcement extends our commitment to blending ultraportability and functionality, and equipping today's business users with the most advanced, highest-performing computing tools." New support for DisplayPort makes viewing high definition content easy and ideal for models with the ultra-thin DVD burner. With support for both DisplayPort and VGA, users can even watch high definition content on multiple displays. Designed for maximum options for wireless connectivity, the ThinkPad X301 notebook offers models with high-speed mobile broadband and WiFi to connect wirelessly to the Internet, and also with Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband technology to connect wirelessly to other devices. Lenovo offers improved uplink performance by up to 250 percent for models with AT&T mobile broadband over previous ThinkPad notebooks with AT&T mobile broadband. Models supporting WiMAX will be available later this year. Additionally, GPS on notebook models with high speed mobile broadband5 allow travelers to more easily navigate to the office or airport.

The notebook also includes Lenovo's ThinkVantage Technologies, unique hardware-software tools designed to maximize user productivity. With Lenovo's improved Access Connections tool, users can navigate a user-friendly interface to easily find and access Internet and network connections. Also, Lenovo's improved Power Manager gives users more control over notebook functions to enable longer battery life.

The ThinkPad X301 notebook also continues Lenovo's focus on environmentally-responsible design. Its 13.3-inch LED backlit display, solid state drive storage and other energy-efficient technologies help make it rated Gold by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. This designation adds to Lenovo's portfolio of Gold-rated ThinkPad notebook and ThinkCentre desktop PCs.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for models of the ThinkPad X301 notebook starts at approximately $2,599. The notebook will be available on August 26 through Lenovo Business Partners and www.lenovo.com

The TeamSpeak and CoD4 servers MIGHT have to go down to protect itself from the crazy weather we're having here on Long Island.

-Storms accumulating over Pennsylvania
-Storms moving less than 5mph! They're practically not moving!!
-over 50 lightning strikes a minute!

So be warned!

Dell is releasing seven—yes, seven—new Latitude business notebooks today. Rather than recount each model in detail and scrambling your brain since they (and their accompanying options) go in a million directions from ultraportable to semi-rugged, here's the basic list of new features:

•Ridiculous battery life—some configs will go to 19 hours.
•Wireless N, Bluetooth, Ultra-wideband, mobile broadband, WiMax and GPS options
•Hardware disk encryption, Dell ControlVault, fingerprint readers and other security stuff
•Full-frame magnesium alloy construction
•Backlit keyboards, USB Powershare, DisplayPort
•E4200 and E4300 have Dell Latitude ON, an instant boot mode for email, contacts, internet, etc., that supposedly will give you multi-day battery life via a dedicated low-voltage sub-processor

Get the full monty on every model here: Direct2Dell

[~Credit: Gizmodo#(Story) | Direct2Dell#(Dell$Topic)]

Could these be images of the upcoming MacBook (or completely 'shopped)? Possibly, if you believe information leaked from a Taiwanese website. Despite falling in line with rumors that the new MacBooks would be decked out in aluminum like the Pros, these images are confusing and could be Photoshopped so, as always, take rumors like this with a grain of salt.

Yeap, 2.0.1 is out. Just fire up your iTunes and click the old update button and you'll be able to grab it. We're updating now and will let you know what's different. Right now all we see is "Bug Fixes" listed under the changelog, but there's a security update info link in the update screen as well, so it might be that.

- It's a 249MB Download, so this will take a few minutes. (Not on my connection, though ^__^) (Yes, I *am* that thicknosed.)
- iPod Touch users can also update.
- The doesn't wipe out media (pics, vids, tunes) on the iPhone 3G. Awesome.
- Is it me, or does flipping pages on the home screen seem faster and smoother?
- !!! Doesn't work with Pwnage tool just yet. !!!