Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, December 08, 2008

Zepto takes the wraps off its 12.1-inch Notus A12 ultraportable

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/zepto-takes-the-wraps-off-its-12-1-inch-notus-a12-ultraportable/

Zepto's been progressively taking its notebooks down in size for a little bit now, and while the 14-inch Nox A14 is certainly portable, the Notus A12 takes things a step or two further by squeezing a full-fledged computer into a chassis barely bigger than... an ink pen, or something like that. Anywho, the 12.1-inch machine packs a WXGA (1,280 x 800) panel, 800MHz Intel processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, an 80GB 4,200RPM hard drive, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and the usual array of ports for €1068.59 ($1,360). Those scouting for a bit more oomph can certainly get that for a few more bills, but the real kicker here is the five to ten hours of battery life. 'Course, actually achieving those figures could be a challenge.

[Thanks, Jamil]

Filed under: Laptops

Zepto takes the wraps off its 12.1-inch Notus A12 ultraportable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audioengine puts wires out of work with AW2 wireless iPod adapter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/audioengine-puts-wires-out-of-work-with-aw2-wireless-ipod-adapte/

Earlier this year, Audioengine rolled out the practically universal AW1 wireless audio adapter, and we certainly enjoyed our time with it. Now, the outfit is making the anticipated leap to iPod-dom with the sequentially named AW2. Put simply, the kit contains two main pieces: a transmitter that plugs easily into your dock-connecting 'Pod and a USB-based receiver with a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack. The system operates on the WiFi frequency band and promises no dropouts, static or interference from CB radios whizzing by your domicile. We should mention, however, that you'll pay quite dearly for the privilege of beaming your tunes sans cables, though it's available now for those who don't mind at $169.

[Via GadgetReview]

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Wireless

Audioengine puts wires out of work with AW2 wireless iPod adapter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Chrome Extensions On the Way, Adblock Imminent [Google Chrome]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/pSiZJ47pLYQ/chrome-extensions-on-the-way-adblock-imminent

Google has published official documentation detailing their plans to bring extensions to their beta web browser Chrome. When we asked you a few months back whether Chrome with extensions would convince you to switch, 28% said yes, while a whopping 22% of you said that as long as an Adblock extension never reached Chrome, you wouldn't use it. A previous announcement should have already satisfied the first group, but if you were in the Adblock crowd, you'll be happy to know that one of the highlighted uses for Google Chrome extensions is content filtering, including "Adblock, Flashblock, Privacy control, and Parental control." Sounds like Google's moving in the right direction if they want to snag more early adopters. Now we just need to see more progress for the Mac and Linux crowd.

Extensions (Chromium Developer Documentation) [via CNET]

Songbird 1.0 Release Official, Fixes Bugs, Plays iTunes Purchases [Featured Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Mosm8HqQgsU/songbird-10-release-official-fixes-bugs-plays-itunes-purchases

Windows/Mac/Linux: The long-awaited cross-platform media player Songbird officially reaches its 1.0 release today. The open-source application—built on the same platform as Firefox—promises to bring exciting new innovations to a software jukebox market that has become arguably quite stale. Like Firefox, Songbird is extensible, meaning that users can customize the look, feel, and features of Songbird to their heart's content. We took you on a screenshot tour of Songbird last month, and from a feature standpoint, not much has changed. From a functionality standpoint, Songbird has gotten much, much better.

The first release candidate had a lot to be excited about, but unfortunately it was rife with errors in my tests. The official 1.0 release fixes most if not all of the bugs I came across in my initial review, which is very promising. The footprint is still a little unwieldy, weighing in at just over 100MB of RAM on the Windows PC I tested it on.

The default installation also suggests installing a new add-on (new in the sense that it wasn't suggested in the release candidate I tested) called QuickTime Playback that supports playing back music you've purchased from the iTunes Music Store—a killer feature that, in conjunction with the iPod sync add-on, would allow even the hardcore iTunes user to switch.

If you want a closer look at what you can do with Songbird and what sets it apart from your stock media player, check out our previous screenshot tour and Songbir! d's demo screencasts. Whether you're a regular Songbird user or you're trying it out for the first time today, share your Songbird experience in the comments.

Songbird

gOS Cloud Brings a Web-Based Operating System to Your Browser [Cloud Computing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/mQTfDiGk8XU/gos-cloud-brings-a-web+based-operating-system-to-your-browser

Last year we showed you a new, lightweight Linux-based operating system called gOS (aka Good OS) with an emphasis on integrating web-based applications with your desktop. gOS first gained notoriety as the operating system on Walmart's $199 PC, and now the good folks at gOS have put together a new, super-lightweight operating system for netbooks called gOS Cloud that runs entirely inside a web browser (which looks like it's probably a tweaked version of Google Chrome). Details are scant, and there doesn't seem to be an available download yet, but gOS Cloud looks like it could be the perfect OS for your netbook or aging computer. Until then, the original version of gOS is already available for download and works great.