Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, March 21, 2008

Sony Has the Balls to Charge You $50 to Not Install Bloatware on Your New PC [PCs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/255590134/sony-has-the-balls-to-charge-you-50-to-not-install-bloatware-on-your-new-pc

We all know that bloatware, the crappy, useless software that computer manufacturers load up their new computers with, sucks. It clogs up the pipes and makes your brand new computer run slower right out of the box. Well, Sony feels you. That's why it's offering a new "Fresh Start" option that wipes all the bloatware from a new computer. And they're so generous, they'll only charge you $50 to not have all that garbage on there. Boy howdy, thanks Sony! It's only available on the TZ2000 so far, but I'm sure Sony'll be willing to take your money to not install software on your new computer for many more models in the near future. [Engadget]

Up close with Dell's Latitude E4300 and E4200 ultra-portables with DisplayPort

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/255474264/

Filed under: Laptops

Ultra-portables are by the far the sexiest class of laptops. Especially when they start at just 2.2-pounds (1kg) like Dell's upcoming 12.1-inch E4200 or 3-pounds for the 13.3-inch E4300. Both pack LED backlit displays; Centrino 2 chipsets; Firewire, eSATA, 2x audio, ExpressCard 34, and at least 2x USB ports; integrated UMA graphics; DDR3 800MHz with Intel Turbo Memory 2.0; DisplayPort; and a host of security features to keep corporate IT types happy. The E4300 differs with a higher WXGA+ resolution, modular optical bay, peppier CPU options, and a choice of beefier hard disk drives instead of the 32GB or 64GB SSD restriction of the E4200. Plenty more in the gallery including a head-to-head comparison's of each new model with the D430 they'll replace. Stay tuned as our exclusive Week o' Dell Scoops continues.

Gallery: Up close with Dell's Latitude E4300 and E4200 ultra-portables with DisplayPort

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The world's worst toaster

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/254891674/the-worlds-wors.html

We recently acquired what might be the worst toaster in the history of the world. It's pretty fancy and shiny and microprocessor controlled. And it makes toast.

But here's what I have to do to use it:

Choose the number of slices, and bagel or bread.
Remember whether it counts the slices from the left or the right (the left).
Insert the bread.
Push down the handle.
Choose toast or defrost.
Make sure the darkness level is right. (This doesn't count, because it usually is).
Press on.
Wait till it beeps.
Lift the handle I pressed in #4.
Turn it off.

Most toasters, of course, consist of steps 3 and 4 only.

I thought about this when I got a note from eBay asking me to pay my bill for an item I sold last month. It says:

To view your invoice and make a payment:
1. Go to http://www.ebay.com and click "My eBay" at the top of most eBay pages. You will need to sign in.
2. Click the "Seller Account" link (beneath "My Account" on the left side of the page).
3. Click the "View invoices" link, and then select the invoice you want to view from the pull-down menu.
4. To make a payment, click the "make a one-time payment" link in the "eBay Seller Fees" section.

It took me more than 11 clicks to send them $6.

The opportunity online is to fix your toaster. When you want to make toast, the site should get out of the way and let you make toast.

Gigayacht Actually More Like a Freaking Personal Floating Island [Boats]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/254920568/gigayacht-actually-more-like-a-freaking-personal-floating-island

How big and disgustingly opulent does a yacht have to be to be considered a private island? This big and disgusting. Gizmag has a piece today on Wally's luxury yachts and their 325 foot flagship. While Paul Allen's Octopus is bigger at 410 feet, the Wally Gigayacht can be oufitted, with pools, tennis courts, mini soccer fields, or the garden you see above. And of course, room for 40 crew, 24 guests, a helipad, and two 45-foot speedboats that deploy out the back, powered by the blood of the poor. [Gizmag]

Bout' Time: Sprint's Web-Capable Phones Getting Real Web Browsers [Sprint]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/255113181/bout-time-sprints-web+capable-phones-getting-real-web-browsers

Instead of unreadably cramming the internets into half-assed mobile browsers, Sprint's rolling out a full-fledged browser for "virtually all" of its phones that can do the web dance. They're using Openwave's OpenWeb, which supposedly will make for a more desktop-like and less crap-like internet experience, even on sites not optimized for mobile devices. It'll hit handsets in a couple weeks. [Treo Central]

Intel Sets Low Price for its Atom CPU [Atom]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/254956754/intel-sets-low-price-for-its-atom-cpu

Intel has set a price for its low-cost N270 notebook CPU: a mere $44. Now that actually does seem pretty cheap to us, so perhaps Intel's promise of much cheaper computers in the future will come true. At the same time Intel announced two 65nm Centrino CPUs, both aimed at the entry-level laptop market. The Celeron 585 is a 2.16GHz processor costing $107, and the 575 runs at 2GHz and costs $86. It's just possible Intel's "nettop" design will work out after all.[Digitimes]

Japanese Graves with QR Codes Link to Memorial Websites [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/255101082/japanese-graves-with-qr-codes-link-to-memorial-websites

In Japan, QR codes are everywhere. Little boxes of data that can be turned into web links, they're found on advertisements everywhere, allowing people to get more info by simply pointing their phone at it. Now, QR codes are being found in more unorthodox places: on graves.

Yep, now if you're interested in finding out a bit more about the dead person in question, you can simply point your phone at the grave and be automatically taken to a memorial website. The sites are generally small, simple collections of photos or videos formatted for the small screens of phones. Here's an example of one, although if I had a website address linked to my gravestone it would almost definitely link to this. It's my legacy! [J-Cast via Trends in Japan]

The Many Faces of the Tancher Transformer Concept Phone [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/255153305/the-many-faces-of-the-tancher-transformer-concept-phone

Once again we dip into the bin of impressive but implausible concepts with this Tancher Transformer phone design from Shkinder Maxim. The device can be configured in countless ways to act as a multimedia player and projector with support for holographic image projection and 3-D scanning.

If that wasn't outrageous enough, there are also ideas that involve a built in voice analyzer for lie detection and some drivel about a "present emotions" function that analyzes brain activity to record what you are feeling. Obviously, most of that is completely ridiculous, but the rotating axis design was intriguing enough to score a third place finish at this year's Tancher design awards. [Tancher via Gearfuse]