Laptop Computer News

Using Calling Cards to Call Abroad

2011-05-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

If you are disappointed in what cell phone plans have to offer, then you should consider using calling cards instead! One of the best features calling cards have is the fact that you don’t need to pay a monthly fee. You practically choose how much you pay and when you pay. Usually, a cell phone calling card has at $20 on it. However, you can choose to get more dollars on it, to get more minutes to chat from it. Depending on what plan you choose for the calling card, you will have personalized benefits, to fit your daily phone call routine.
If you live in the United States and you have to make phone calls to Argentina either from a cell phone or from a landline, then you can always choose online calling cards. They will enable you to make phone calls to any Argentinean phone number for affordable prices. Depending on how much you want to talk on the phone, you can choose different plans. If you simply want to check on someone in Argentina, you won’t have to get plans that will charge you by three or five minutes, but cheap plans that charge you by the minute. Of course, the rounding depends on what company provides the calling cards and the calling card itself. It may also depend on the city you’re calling and also if you’re calling to a cellphone. Call Plus from PhoneCardsCentral will charge 1.9 cents to call a landline in Cordoba and the same calling card will charge 10.4 cents to call a cell phone. You simply need to select the card and the amount of dollars you want to have on it and order it online. You will receive the pin code in an e-mail and you will be able to use it either on a house phone or on a cell phone.
Start taking advantage of the really good offers that include online calling cards. You pay whenever you want and talk how much you want, keeping in touch with people abroad.

All to Get Laptop Accessories

2011-03-06T07:02:00.003-08:00

When you have a laptop, you will surely realize soon that if you want to take it anywhere outside of the house, you will need some laptop accessories. Mainly what you will need is either a sleeve or a case for your laptop to protect it from being damaged in a variety of ways. There are various materials that these things can be made of which are good to know about.

Laptop sleeves are thin and more flexible than laptop cases. They are usually made of neoprene, which is a type of rubber. Neoprene has flexibility in a wide variety of temperatures, making it fine for taking out into the winter or the summer because it will not get too stiff or start melting in high heat. Sometimes they are also made from LRPu, which is low-resilience polyurethane. This material can return to its original shape, much like memory foam. The ones that are made out of LRPu are sturdier than the more flexible sleeves.

Sometimes laptop accessories such as the cases have ballistic nylon on the outside. This kind of nylon is thick and synthetic and was originally made to protect the wearer of a ballistic nylon jacket from flying debris. It resists tearing and abrasion but is hard to dye, so it is often seen in black or other dark colors. If you plan on taking your laptop through lots of bumps and hectic activity on a long walk or ride to work, it may be good to make sure that your laptop case has this sort of covering to absorb shock and protect your computer.

Once you find the right case or sleeve for your laptop, you will want to make sure you have an adequate charger. You want to find one that keeps a charge long enough for you to be able to do your work. Always make sure that you sit near a plug so that if you need to charge your laptop while you are at a café or library, you will be able to without losing your work. There are a variety of chargers and aesthetic appeal is not such a factor because nobody ever sees it!

When you invest in a laptop computer, you definitely want to make it last as long as possible. Proper laptop accessories such as durable sleeves, resistant cases and healthy chargers can help in this process. If you try to make your own case out of fabric, you should make sure that there is adequate cushioning and protection. Many people prefer to trust the experts since it is so important to keep your laptop safe no matter what life throws your way while you are getting from your home to the place you want to work!
Visit us -- http://www.serviceyourlaptop.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kostov_Konstantin

10 Reasons For Buying Dell Batteries

2010-10-03T08:34:00.001-07:00

Where would you be without your computer? If you are like most people, your computer is a part of your life and being without it is a nightmare. For laptop owners, it is important to have a reliable battery with a health meter so you know when to recharge it. If you are someone who is always on the go, you would benefit from a supplemental battery. Fortunately Dell makes high quality primary and supplemental batteries that you can rely on to keep your computer from dying on you. The following article gives ten reasons why you should buy Dell Batteries.

1- Health Indicators - Almost worse than having your computer die on you in the middle of an important task, is having to worry about it. Most Dells come with a simple to read LED indicator to represent its health so you will never have to worry about unexpected disasters.

2- Dell Technical Support - Dell is known for is great technical support team. Their technicians are experts and are promptly there to assist customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All of Dell's technicians speak English in addition to the regional language of the callers location.

3- Dell's Innovation - In addition to the primary batteries Dell makes for laptops, they create innovative supplemental ones that offer extended life to a computer's operating time so you never have to worry about running out of power.

4- Fast Charge Time - Most Dell Batteries have a feature called Express Charge that can have them charged up to 80 percent in an hour and have them fully charged in two hours.

5- The Online Support Community - Due to the fact that Dell is one of the world's largest computer manufacturers it has a substantial online user community that shares experiences and expertise regarding not only Dell computers but all Dell related accessories and products, including Dell Batteries.

6- The Calibration Utility - A properly calibrated battery allows for optimal battery performance and life. An uncalibrated battery can lead to rapid deterioration of battery power. Dell offers a freeware calibration utility that enables users to easily address calibration issues that might be occurring with their computers battery. Running the Calibration Utility will drain the battery and recharge it to determine if there are any problems with it.

7- They Can't Be Overcharged - If you have ever overcharged a car battery, you probably know that overcharging batteries can destroy them and potentially be dangerous. Dell Batteries have a built in chip that prevents users from ever having to worry about that!

8- The Slice - One of Dell's most innovative products is the Dell Battery Slice. The Slice is a large flat battery tray that sits underneath the laptop and is easily mounted and unmounted using the docking connector and the release trigger. This supplemental power adds up to 19 hours of life making it ideal for people who are always on the go.

9- The Warranty - Dell Batteries come with a limited warranty that insure against battery failures within the first year of use. With the extended warranty, users can add an additional three years of coverage to it.

10- The Recycling Program - As time goes on, we learn more about our environment and what affects it. Certain things that we used to throw away are now recycled. The Dell Recycling Program has joined forces with Call2Recycle of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) for proper battery disposal. This partnership makes it super convenient for users to recycle their batteries. Finding one of more than 30,000 recycling drop-off locations is as easy as calling the free number that is listed on all Dell Batteries or by visiting the website
We invite you to use these tips to make the most of your Dell batteries, improve the performance of your computer and to discover the fantastic prices we have available right now on Dell batteries.

Calling Cards - Call All Over the World Freely

2010-08-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

There was a time when an individual living abroad was not able to communicate with his loved ones due to high call rates.

Then various networking companies came up with international calling cards as the solution to this problem so that a person can make international calls without thinking of the bills। There are many networking companies that provide the customer with these type of cards. More information about these phone cards can be gained from various sites. These plans help in reducing the phone bills and help you to save your hard earned money and can be stay connected to his loved ones.

These calling cards are of a great help to those people who travel abroad very frequently. There mainly two types of calling cards available in the market that are prepaid phone cards and post-paid calling cards. These cards have their own benefits and losses. In prepaid card the user has to pay in advance for the network usage, in this plan the user can get his card recharged with the desired amount on the other hand in postpaid calling card the user gets a bill on the end of the month for the network usage. There is a loss in post paid card that the user is unaware of the bill that he is going to get on the month end and if the bill amount goes higher then expected then it can create problems. This card is activated through a PIN Code that has to be inserted and then after that the card is ready to make calls. The user gets these PIN number and the access number through e-mail. The user is supposed to dial the access number and the destination number to start communication.
Almost all the network providing companies in UK such as are Vodafone, T-Mobile, Virgin, Three, O2, Orange etc. are providing their customers with international calling cards. The user can go for phone cards of any networking company which he thinks is giving better facilities and services.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com

Pilot program gives ninth-graders laptops

2009-05-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Alan Youngblood

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A small laptop shows a Web page that is part of a Lake Weir High School English class project at the Candler school on Thursday. Student Brittany Moyer is shown in the background. The laptops are part of mobile computing labs in the pilot program

Tucked in a classroom on Lake Weir High's campus, a group of ninth-graders is just completing a pilot program that is considered the future of learning.

In rolling cabinets, more than two dozen, 9-inch laptop computers sit in charging stations. Each one can hold every book a student needs for a school year, which means students in this freshman English class have been doing almost all their reading on a computer screen.
Jaquan Newmones, next year's sophomore class president, said the laptop experiment has made a difference in how he views English class.
"I do read more now," he said.
The pilot program, which is being used in the freshman English combination classrooms of teachers Christopher Roy and Laura Martin, is the future of education.
Roy believes every student in the future will carry one small laptop, which will have textbooks downloaded on the hard drive.
"It's better to get the kids to carry this than a backpack filled with six textbooks," he said. "And they would have access to their books 24-7."
Principal Cynthia Saunders said students have become accustomed to using computers at home, listening to music on an mp3 player, sending a text message on a phone and looking up information online.
"That is their world," she said.
"The way we were taught is not acceptable anymore," she said, noting that chalkboards and projectors have given way to white boards and DVD players.
Education officials agree that to really educate today's student, more technology is needed.
Scott Hanson, director of technology and information systems, said the pilot program is about trying to find a cheaper way to provide more computers at middle schools and high schools
By August, all of Marion's middle and high schools will be upgraded with campus wireless Internet. The last to join the club will be Lake Weir High, Fort King Middle and West Port High, which will all get wireless for the 2009-10 school year.
At the schools that have had the wireless Internet, the School District supplied laptop computer carts that can be checked out by a teacher for a period.
Students usually use these laptops for research purposes, and some instructors tailor lesson plans so the students can use the computers periodically.
A 30-laptop computer cart costs about $30,000 for regular-size laptops, while 30 of the mini-laptops, which have 10-inch screens, cost about $12,000.
"We're experimenting with the smaller computers to see how teachers and students like them," Hanson said.
The drawbacks to the smaller versions are that the keyboards are too small and there's not much storage, usually between 4 and 8 gigabytes.
To combat storage issues, Hanson hopes that by August all secondary students will be able to access school computer projects from home.
Hanson is hoping that, through Microsoft Live@edu, every middle and high school child will have 5 gigabytes of free storage on the Microsoft storage site.
That will mean children can work on a project at school, store it on the secured Web storage site, and then access it again from their home computer.
Lake Weir's pilot program, which has been testing the cheaper, smaller machines, has allowed a class for the first time to incorporate a lesson plan using laptops every day.
The Lake Weir experiment is unique because the freshman English students have been using the computers every day for nine weeks. The results have been promising.
Martin and Roy say improvement among the students has been phenomenal.
Last fall, all Lake Weir High freshmen averaged 40 on a state English assessment test that reviewed setting, character and plot.
Before computers, the pilot classroom - which includes students who scored less than 3.0 on state reading tests - averaged 25 points.
Just a few weeks ago, scores of ninth-graders schoolwide rose by 24 points, while pilot computer student scores rose by 36 points on average.
And every student agreed that the modern technology is the reason. Jordan Lind and Sierra Johnson, both 14, said the computers made English fun to learn.
The students in the pilot program are completing a Pirate Adventure research project. The students read Treasure Island and then had to start a pirate blog.
They had to choose a pirate name and write blogs about life on the ship. Some even added video blogs about their fictional life on the high seas.
These types of projects, Roy said, are important to making learning fun in a very digital, electronic way.
School District officials say that students may one day be issued laptops, with all books installed, by the School District. Just like books, the laptops would be returned at the end of the school year.
Beginning in August, students will be given information about how to purchase one. Officials had hoped the cost would be less than $300. However, Hanson said since Dell is upgrading to 10-inch screens, the cost may be about $400.
Roy said the pilot program only means that the high school has been upgraded.

Cheap Ways to Upgrade Your Laptop

2009-05-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

My laptop is starting to get a little long in the tooth. But while sometime soon I’ll need to buy a replacement, in the meantime, with a few dollars and some relatively inexpensive and easy-to-install upgrades, I’ve managed to keep the old machine humming along.
Here are some cheap ways to put off the day you’ll need to buy a new laptop.
More Memory

My machine was originally fitted with 1 GB of RAM, which seemed like plenty at the time (and fitting more would have been hideously expensive when I bought it). It was really starting to creak under the strain of running multiple web apps, AIR widgets, and apps like Photoshop, all of which demand huge amounts of RAM. If your machine is constantly having to use its swap space, performance will be notably impacted.
Maxing out the memory on my laptop cost just $50, and the difference in performance is huge, especially when switching between applications. Fitting the memory was easy and took no more than five minutes, although on my machine the second module is hidden under the keyboard, which proved a little fiddly to remove.
The Crucial Memory Advisor tool is useful for figuring out which memory upgrades might be available for your machine.
Larger Hard Drive
If you’re running out of space, you have a couple of options. You can either buy a replacement drive, or buy an external one.
I opted for an external portable drive for a couple of reasons. First, it meant that I wouldn’t have to reinstall my OS and all of my apps. Second, a portable drive gives me some additional flexibility. Now I can easily copy large amounts of data between machines and if I need to transport my files, I can just slip the drive into my pocket. The drive I bought was a 320 GB Seagate Freeagent Go, which looks sleek and works well. You can get a drive like this for around $75 (you pay a little more for higher capacities).
New, Higher Capacity Battery
If your laptop is getting on a bit, chances are that its battery life is notably diminished. Rather than buy an expensive replacement from the manufacturer (Dell charge more than $150 for a replacement battery for my machine) look for compatible versions on eBay. While you’re at it, why not look at getting a higher-capacity battery? I picked up a 9-cell unit on eBay for just $50 that lasts much longer than the original did.
Bluetooth
If your laptop didn’t come with with Bluetooth installed (mine didn’t), you might still be able to purchase an inexpensive Bluetooth adapter for it; check with your manufacturer. Bluetooth opens up communication with whole host of useful gadgets such as mice, keyboards, headsets, cameras, printers and mobile phones. I’ll do anything to reduce the amount of wires cluttering up my desk, so buying a Bluetooth adapter that cost less than $20 was a no-brainer.
Note: Upgrading components on a laptop is not always as straightforward as it is on a desktop. Make sure to consult your owner’s manual before buying any upgrades, unplug your machine and remove the battery before starting work, and take precautions to avoid damaging your equipment with static electricity (use an antistatic wrist strap, or ground yourself periodically on an unpainted metal surface).
How have you upgraded your laptop?
Source: webworkerdaily.com

Refurbished Laptop Parts

2009-04-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

While new laptops are quite expensive, most refurbished laptop computers usually cost very less, and often less than $500. In most cases, they are as good as new and recently, most refurbished laptops come with warranties, just like a new product. A refurbished laptop can satisfy your basic computing needs, such as word processing, Internet and e-mail, creating spreadsheets, playing CDs, and more.

Laptop manufacturers across the world offer refurbished laptops, including major brands like Sony, Dell, IBM, Toshiba, and HP. The prices of laptops are related to the type of processor, operating system, modem, and network card; size of the hard drive and RAM; and whether there is a CD/DVD-ROM/RW, a video card, a sound card, and zip drive. Prices are also affected by screen size and type of chassis. And consequently, the spares of these laptops also vary from brand to brand.
Of the major items that can be termed as spare parts or accessories of laptops, batteries come first. There is a big market for laptop batteries. Other spares include car/air power adapters, AC power adapters, laptop floppy drives, laptop hard drives, modems, PCMCIA cards, CD-ROM drives, laptop DVD ROM drives, CDRW and combo drives, LCD screens etc. For bulk volume purchases, as in all businesses, laptop parts get a big discount.
For buyers of laptop spares, most suppliers provide many service options like warranty. These can be a 90 day warranty on all parts, personalized service, support for all brands and parts purchased through them etc. The suppliers? business policy of fast and efficient service will promote customer satisfaction and build loyalty amongst repair and service shops and individuals who need their spare parts on time. Spares are readily available for brands including Sony, Acer, NEC, Dell, IBM, Gateway, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, and Armada.

Dell's $2,000 Adamo laptop spotted

2009-03-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

ADAMO MAY MEAN 'let's fall in love' in Latin, but getting to lay our hands all over Dell's new luxury laptop at SXSW last week, we discovered it was more a case of passing fancy.
The Dell Adamo is apparently the world's most anorexic laptop to date, weighing in at just 1.81 kg (4.0 lb), with a 13.4-inch, high definition, edge-to-edge 16:9 glass display all cased in a gleaming aluminum chassis. But when you wipe the drool from your mouth and pop the hood... well, it's a little disappointing.

At a whopping $2,000, the Adamo is more Wimpy than Big Mac, sporting clunky Vista Home Premium, a processor which falls short of the Mac Air (1.2 GHz or 1.4 GHz) and (wait for it) Intel integrated graphics. Yes, that's right, $2,000 sMACaroonies and no discrete graphics.

"I doubt anyone buying the Adamo intends to play Crysis on it," said an Intel spinner defending the laptop's GS45 chipset adding, "how would you make it so thin and light if you added a great big GPU into it?"
And here lies the crux of the problem. The Adamo may be sexy with its slim body and Spiderman-fonted keyboard, but Dell is supposed to be the Volvo of laptops; sturdy, functional, feature rich. The pretentiously-named Adamo Onxy, Desire and Admire models are akin to Volvo attempting to make flashy sports cars for rich old men hoping to pick up girls half their age. And makng them pay top dollar for the privilege.

Dell boasts its equivalent of a knock-off Louis Vitton handbag has "Five plus hours of battery life using Lithium-Polymer cells; and 40 Whr". 40Whr?! Really? C'mon Dell, pull the other one.
Also, if a person was style (rather than substance) conscious, why not just go for a $1,800 MacBook Air with faster Nvidia integrated graphics and a hipster-coveted Apple logo? It could just be because we're poor, but it eludes us why anyone would shell out $2,000 for a laptop whose graphical capabilities stretch to using Microsoft Powerpoint and Solitaire, even if it is outwardly gorgeous.

In short, Dell's Adamo makes us want to quote West Side Story: "I feel pretty and witty and gay".
And we'll have to give it an overall "meh" out of ten. And yes, "meh" is a technical term.

Article Source: www.theinquirer.net

Dell’s top secret cellphone? A netbook

2009-03-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

It’s a mixed up crazy world. Just as we digest news that Nokia wants to release a laptop, Michael Dell says his company could give away netbooks with built-in 3G, pocketing a slice of the data plan.

Rumours had Dell on the verge of announcing a smartphone.

Laptops with built-in 3G chips are nothing new. HP, Toshiba and Lenovo have been selling them in New Zealand for a while on selected models.

But up until now, built-in cellular broadband has been restricted to a small number of high-end notebooks, providing wealthier laptop owners with a more convenient internet connectivity option than jamming in a dongle, piggy-backing on a 3G phone.

Dell wants to extend built-in cellular smarts to the mass market, fast-growing netbook category. Models in the class, which includes Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 (pictured), sell for between $NZ700 and $NZ900, and are little larger than a videocassette (kids, ask your parents).

Speaking after Dell’s disappointing results on Friday, chief executive Michael Dell said 3G services were a growth opportunity, and that his eponymous company was in talks with several carriers. He told the conference call: “We have been particularly focused on 3G and agreements with carriers embedding 3G and using our own sales engines as well to sell 3G netbooks.”

With PC sales slowing, and computers of all kinds selling for less than ever before, Mr Dell wants to start making some money from Dell’s sizeable installed base (the company is the world’s second largest PC seller after HP).

An expanding services division is one way. Grabbing a slice of recurring 3G revenue is another.

Under Mr Dell’s plan, a Dell netbook would be sold for next to nothing or even given away, providing the customer signed a long-term contract with a partner telco like Vodafone or Telecom. It’s a model that’s familiar enough in the cellphone world.

If a user signs onto, say, an $80 a month, three-year data plan, then $2400 could be coming through the door; more for those months when the owner goes a little video crazy.

But whose door? Dell will have to cut some sharp revenue-sharing deals with telcos.

The problem is, however, that netbooks are heavily commoditised. Dell will not have the bargaining power of, say, Apple, backed by the iPhone’s unique brand cachet.

Linux is OK
Mr Dell also defended Linux against a recent Microsoft comments that the OS is less stable on netbooks.
Dell sells around one third of its Inspiron 9 netbooks with Linux, and around two-thirds with Windows. Mr Dell said return rates were similar for both.

Profit halved
Certainly, Dell could do with striking out in a new direction.

Although it stayed in the black for its quarter ended January 30, Dell’s net profit dropped 48% to $US351 million from the year-ago period, while revenue was down 16% to $US13.4 billion.

The lower net profit included one-time charges totalling $US277 million related to a revamp of manufacturing systems, and stock compensation charges.

Buoyed by an alliance with EMC, Dell’s storage business was the star, with sales growing 7% to $692 million.

Desktop PC sales fell 27% year-on-year to tally $US3.5 billion for the quarter; notebook sales fell 17% to $US4 billion, and servier business was down 16% to $US1.3 billion. All regions shared the pain.

Article source: http://www.nbr.co.nz

Stop thief! Software lets stolen laptops yell for help

2009-03-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer

SEATTLE (AP) — Stolen laptop? Now you can tell those thieves exactly what you think of them.

Front Door Software Corp.'s Retriever program displays your contact information as your computer boots up. There's even space for a plea to a Good Samaritan — "$50 for my safe return," maybe.

In most cases, that's enough to help an honest person return the machine, said Carrie Hafeman, chief executive of the five-person company based in Evergreen, Colo.

But in the darkest scenarios, Retriever takes off the kid gloves.

You can log on to a Web site and check a box indicating the computer is missing. Now during start-up, a big yellow and red banner appears on the screen, boldly declaring the laptop lost or stolen. This message is set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the thief closes the window.

You can remotely switch on a second password prompt if you fear the thief has also stolen your regular Windows, Macintosh or Linux login.

Behind the scenes, Retriever uses built-in Wi-Fi to sniff out nearby networks, then suss out what Internet service providers power them. With that information in hand, Hafeman said, you can file a police report and get help locating the criminal.

While waiting for law enforcement to come through, you can even let off steam by sending new messages to the nagging "Stolen Computer!" screen.

"You are being tracked. I am right at your door" was one, Hafeman said, adding that she could not bring herself to say others that came to mind. Customers have also tried to induce fear or guilt by switching their contact info to "Secret Service" and "Catholic church."

The latest version of Retriever, which costs $29.95 for three years of use, is even more aggressive.

Now, when the "stolen" screen pops up, the laptop cries for help. Use a canned message ("Help, this laptop is reported lost or stolen. If you are not my owner, please report me now.") or record your own.

"You can say, 'Get your hands off me, you S.O.B.'" Hafeman said.

Article Source: www.keprtv.com

Sony recalls PC batteries

2009-02-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO - Sony Corp said five PC makers including Hewlett-Packard Co and Toshiba Corp will recall 100,000 computer battery packs made by the Japanese electronics maker due to a fire hazard.

Sony said the recall is expected to have limited impact on its earnings, and its shares outperformed a falling Tokyo stock market on Friday.

The recall is a fraction of a much bigger recall of 9.6 million Sony PC batteries in 2006, which cost the company around 35.5 billion yen ($360 million).

The U.S. government issued on Thursday a recall of 35,000 Sony batteries and the Tokyo-based company said it would recall a further 65,000 batteries worldwide.

PC makers have reported 40 cases of overheating, including four cases where users suffered minor burns, and 21 cases of minor damage from fires and overheating, a Sony spokeswoman said.

The recall affects around 74,000 notebook PCs sold by HP and 14,400 from Toshiba.

The faulty batteries are also used in laptop PCs from Dell Inc, Acer Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd, Sony said.

Sony blamed the faulty batteries on factory changes dating back up to four years, which it believes may have affected the quality of some battery cells.

Other incidents of overheating may have involved a problem with raw materials, the company said.

Sony recalled last month 438,000 of its Vaio laptops due to concerns about overheating batteries.

Article source: http://www.canada.com

Retailer to ship laptops with Intel's Core i7 chips

2009-02-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

In an unlikely union of technologies, PC retailer Eurocom has said it will ship laptops powered by Intel's Core i7 processor, which the chip maker has dubbed the "fastest processor on this planet."

The Eurocom D900F Phantom i7 will include Intel's Nehalem-based quad-core Core i7 chips, which are typically put in servers and high-end gaming desktops. The laptops will ship on May 1, according to the Canadian PC retailer's Web site.

The laptop's Core i7 920, 940 and 965 processors will run at speeds from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz and include 8MB of L2 cache. Intel launched the Core i7 chips in November and since then the chip has been praised for its speedy performance.

Calling it the "world's first notebook with i7 processor," Eurocom is targeting the laptop workstation as a desktop workstation replacement. It will include the X58 chipset and an Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) to boost graphics performance.

It will have a 17-inch screen and support up to 1.5TB of storage, 8GB of DDR3 memory and 1GB of graphics memory. It will also include wireless 802.11a/b/g/n technology and a webcam. It will ship with either the Windows Vista or Linux OS.

The laptop will weigh a whopping 11.9 pounds (5.4 kilograms), and it will come with a 12-cell battery. Pricing was not immediately available, though users can expect to dig deep into their wallets considering the use of new technologies in the laptop.

If Eurocom indeed ships the laptop, it could be the fastest Intel-based x86 laptop on the planet. Core i7 chips are built on the Nehalem microarchitecture, which includes the QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology. QPI integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for the CPU to communicate with system components like a graphics card and other chips.

Each core will be able to execute two software threads simultaneously, so a laptop with four processor cores could simultaneously run eight threads for quicker application performance.

Nehalem chips are a significant upgrade over Intel's Core 2 chips, which are currently used in desktops and laptops. The new chips cut bottlenecks of Intel's earlier Core microarchitecture to improve system speed and performance-per-watt.

Though Core i7 isn't targeted at laptops, Intel intends to scale down the Nehalem architecture for other chips that will go in mainstream desktops and laptops. Intel will also integrate graphics capabilities in the CPU down the line, which should bring more power-efficiency to laptops. However, gamers might need a separate graphics card for better graphics performance.

Intel has said it will release laptop-specific Nehalem chips in the second half of this year.

Many companies including Lenovo and Dell offer laptop workstations. Last month Lenovo launched the ThinkPad W700DS mobile workstation that has two LCD screens.

Article source: www.nytimes.com

Prepaid Calling Card - Affordable and Accessible Way of Communicating

2009-02-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

A prepaid card makes communication with relatives and friends who live far away possible. Despite the introduction of wide online tools used for communication such as Skype, Yahoo Messenger or Dial Ring, the prepaid calling card is still here to stay.

True that these online tools provide more options and added access to users, but the prepaid card gives you the assurance that you can communicate with someone even though he or she does not have a computer unit. Majority of people these days own a mobile phone, and this device makes it more dependable and easier to contact than the typical online tools.

Calling overseas proves to be very expensive be it done using a mobile or a landline phone. This gets most people think twice about placing that call, especially the damage which it may cause on your pocket. International calls result in expensive bills of course.

There is an option however should you still want to hear a common voice to you from someone far away. This is when a prepaid calling card comes in. It allows you to make communication possible at a very affordable price. This in effect makes you save money while staying connected to your loved ones.

There are numerous companies which offer a prepaid calling card. You can easily use your internet connection to look at possible vendors. The type of prepaid calling card that you choose would of course very much depend on your budget and the specific features which you are looking for.

A prepaid calling card directory is even available online. With this type of service, you may get more information about companies who sell these cards. Extra information which you may well gather here too is features, prices and add-ons which come with the prepaid calling card. You may avail of existing offers and promos which these companies offer along with the purchase of the card. All of these things are very helpful in deciding which card to pick.

As for any purchase, it is important for you to read details regarding these cards so you may get your money's worth and to ensure that your expectations are met. We often fall into lazy habits of skipping information and later on resenting it once we are told so by after inquiring. Any investment for you money requires careful consideration of course.

Once you start your search, you may very well find out that there is a lot of competition going around these companies to offer prepaid calling cards. You end up feeling that this makes selection difficult for us. On the contrary, this is actually something beneficial to us consumers. This ensures that we get more chances of getting the best service as any company would go that extra mile just to get more customers. This assures that we have more options to choose from.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com

Apple Reinvents the Laptop Battery for its MacBook

2009-02-03T01:47:00.000-08:00

The most frustrating issue with portable computing devices, such as laptops, is the poor battery run time and overall short battery life. This is the reason why many laptop owners keep additional battery packs with them while on the move. They can also be seen hunting for a new battery pack when their old battery crashes after just a few recharges. In response to such issues, Apple has come up with a new technology that, it claims, not only enhances the battery run time, but also offers a huge increase in the number of recharges.

The company has developed a new non-removable battery for laptops that offers 8 hours of juice to run the device on a single charge, even when the display size is 17 inches and some power hungry goodies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are turned on. Apple has installed the new mighty battery in its Apple MacBook Pro 17. According to the company, the new battery has got 40 percent more capacity than the legacy batteries and can be recharged 1000 times (3 times more than the current standard).

How Apple made this possible is simple. The company is now using lithium polymers to make the new batteries that offer many advantages over conventional batteries. Besides this, the company has also introduced the concept of ‘Adaptive Charging’ that incredible improves the battery life. Instead of charging the battery at a constant rate the adaptive charging charge the battery after calculating how much recharge each individual cell needs. This directly prevents premature death of the battery.

Source: www.mobile-computing-news.co.uk

IBM computer will have power of 2 million laptops

2009-02-03T01:45:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Seven months after IBM delivered the world's fastest supercomputer, it has announced an even speedier one with the computing power of 2 million laptops.

IBM said on Tuesday it is developing the technology for its new Sequoia computer, with delivery scheduled in 2011 to the Department of Energy for use at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Sequoia will chug along at 20 petaflops per second and is one order of magnitude quicker than its predecessor. The earlier machine, delivered in June to the Energy Department, broke the 1 petaflop barrier.

Peta is a term for quadrillion and FLOP stands for floating point operations per second.

Sequoia, and a smaller computer called Dawn, are being built in Rochester, Minnesota, for use in simulating nuclear tests. IBM says they can also be used for complex tasks like weather forecasting or oil exploration.

IBM says Sequoia will be highly energy-efficient for the job it does but even so will occupy 96 refigerator-sized racks in an area the size of a big house -- 3,422 square feet.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Laptop's Hard Drives- Speed Also Matters

2008-12-28T03:27:00.000-08:00

Buying a laptop? Want to upgrade your old one with a new hard drive? Besides hard drive's space size for storing your applications, documents, music, movies and other data, you should also pay attention to its speed performance. If you want fast access to stored data on your laptop's hard disk, you should purchase hard disk with SATA interface, higher rotational speed and larger buffer cache size.
Buy Laptop with SATA Drive
Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives use less power, so they save your laptop's battery. But, they also enchase your laptop's speed performance. Most hard drives usually support ATA/66 (66 MB/sec), Ultra ATA/100 (100 MB/sec), or SATA (150 MB/sec) interfaces. The numbers refer to the maximum burst rate at which the drive can pass data to the system (66, 100, or 150 megabytes per second). SATA transmit data in a serially (in a single stream) as opposed to PATA or Parallel ATA which is commonly referred to as an IDE hard drive.
Check the Hard Drive Rotational Speed
Don't forget to check the hard drive rotational speed!
The hard drive rotational speed tells you how fast the drive spins its disks in revolutions per minute (rpm). A higher rpm means higher drive performance. A 7,200 rpm hard drive is faster than a 5,400 rpm or 4,200 rpm and gives better performance.
Larger Buffer Cache Size - Better Performance
Buffer Cache Size is a temporary data storage area used to enhance drive performance. When the computer requests data from the hard disk if that data is in the cache, there is a performance boost directly related to the speed of the cache. Larger buffer cache size usually results in better hard drive performance. Buffer cache size on the most of laptop's hard drives is usually 2 MB, 4 MB or 8 MB.

Article source: ezinearticles.com

Laptop Keyboard Repair

2008-12-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Laptops have become an integral part of our lives. However, the sad fact remains that all the laptops available in the market are not standardized. Each manufacturer has different sizes of laptops to offer and sometimes the size of the parts differ. This fact is not a problem, at least not until the laptop starts needing repairs or replacement parts. Since one laptop is quite different from the other, it is very difficult to repair them in the first place, or in case of a replacement, find a part for the specific type of laptop. Even a simple thing like a laptop keyboard, is different for different makes and models of laptops on the market.

The main problem that arises due to rigorous usage of laptop keyboards is of damaged keys. Sometimes, the port that connects the keyboard to the laptop inside also gets damaged. If the damage is of the connecting cable inside the laptop, there is not much repair work required. Repair is surely possible if there is a problem with some of the keys.

Every key in any keyboard has a spring like arrangement that allows the key to press the sensor below and show the typed words on the screen. Most of the problems with keyboards and their keys occur when it refuses to press the sensor below and the typed alphabet will not show on the screen. This can be rectified easily and does not need the help of a repair person. One can find an online guide and find out how to take the key out of its main body. Once you do that, you can see for your self what's wrong with the keyboard. If you find that it is damaged below, you can try and fix it on your own or if you are unable to do so, you can go in for a new key to put in its place. This is where the problem starts. It is not easy to find as small a spare part as a few damaged keys. However, the possibility of finding them increases in a used laptop store. Laptops that are damaged that they cannot be repaired are disassembled and their parts sold separately in the market. You are sure to find your keys there.

If a keyboard is damaged beyond repair then one has to go in for the replacement of the keyboard which proves to be quite expensive. Another option is to use a new external keyboard with a USB or PS2 port and can use that keyboard for laptop computers.

Source: ezinearticles.com

Dell Laptop Hard Drive Diagnostics

2008-12-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

Most Dell laptop and desktop computers will come with a handy utility already built into them for performing at least some form of basic diagnostics when you need to do a little bit of preliminary troubleshooting. This article will show you how to test the hard drive which is installed in your Dell laptop or desktop computer.

Some symptoms which should make you suspect that your hard drive is either going bad or has gone bad to some extent include:

No POST - your laptop or desktop computer just hangs and does nothing when you turn it on. It may sit with the lights on, but do nothing more. It may come on for a couple of seconds and then shut itself back off.

Errors - instead of seeing the Windows splash screen after your laptop completes it's POST you get an error which may mention that there is no boot device, or that maybe there is no mountable volume on the drive.

Sluggish Performance - Often when a hard drive is failing you will be able to have some form of a heads up about this unfortunate fact by witnessing a noticeable decline in your systems performance when you are actually in the laptop's OS (Operating System).

Windows Warning - Microsoft Windows does have the ability to actually warn you through a message which will pop up on your screen letting you know that you should save, then backup all important data immediately because a hard drive failure is imminent. Now, it is not necessarily a good idea to wait until this message is displayed because often times a hard drive will go completely bad, unusable, without this warning message ever showing up on your display screen at all.

On your Dell laptop or desktop computer you will likely find a handy utility which will run a quick test on your hard drive for you. This test is very reliable, at least for determining if your hard drive has actually gone bad.

The way you can access this test is as follows:
Power on your Dell computer, you will see the Dell splash screen, then very briefly you will see a message referring to F2 and F12 in the upper right hand corner of your laptop or desktop screen. The trick is to press the F12 key on your keyboard right when you see the message about F2 and F12 show up in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

This will bring up a BIOS boot menu and you will simply choose the one which refers to the hard drive diagnostics. Different Dell laptop or desktop models will offer different choices based on the hard drive being IDE or SATA. Once you have selected your drive the testing will begin. After around two to five minutes or so, depending on the size of your hard drive, you will see the results of the test. The results will either be a PASS, or a fail error code. The thing to remember with the Dell hard drive diagnostics is that a return error code 7 means that your hard drive does indeed need to be replaced. Backup any important data which you may have on your laptop or desktop computer and replace your hard drive.

Learn alternative ways to run Dell hard drive diagnostics already built into your Dell computer.

Toby Barns is a computer and networking consultant with over ten years experience as an independent representative of many major computer manufactures and retailers. Toby has worked in tech support call centers, led teams of advanced technicians in the computer manufacturing industry, done consulting for retail computer outlets, and as a field representative for many major computer warranty service providers.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com

AMD to lose notebook share for lack of netbooks

2008-12-06T04:15:00.000-08:00

THERE MAY BE some debate about whether netbooks are an important growth opportunity for chipmakers, or if they’re taking a significant bite out of laptop sales, but the fact is that Intel has its Atom processor up and running, while AMD has yet to come up with a netbook chip of its own.

The fact AMD doesn’t have a netbook processor in the pipeline could be problematic for the firm. Its share of the global notebook market might well be in for a drop from the current 12-13 per cent to below 10 per cent share in 2009.

After all, entry level notebook PCs are not exactly the same thing as netbooks, and even if AMD does come out with its Yukon (Huron processor and RS690 chipset) and Congo (Conesus processor and RS780M chipset) platforms next year, both will target the entry-level and mid-range notebook segments rather than the cheap and cheerful netbook market that is seeing such a boom of late.

The problem for AMD now, however, is that the cost of developing all new netbook targeted parts will be costly and it will have a tough, if not impossible, time trying to compete with Chipzilla’s already super selling Atom.

After Yukon is launched in the first quarter of 2009 and Congo is launched in the second half of the year, AMD says it will follow up with its Nile series in 2010 and Ontario, with a dual-core Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) based on the Bobcat core, in 2011.

All well and good, but it still looks like little netbooks will continue packing Intel inside for a while to come.

Source: www.theinquirer.net

U.S. agents can seize travelers' laptops: report

2008-08-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued on July 16 by two DHS agencies.

Agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons, the newspaper said.

DHS officials said the policies applied to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens, and were needed to prevent terrorism.

The measures have long been in place but were only disclosed in July, under pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups acting on reports that increasing numbers of international travelers had had their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices removed and examined.

The policies cover hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes -- as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said.

The policies require federal agents to take measures to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material. They stipulate that any copies of the data must be destroyed when a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information.

Source: www.sciam.com

Intel vs. AMD: Better computer chips raise laptops' abilities

2008-07-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO - The hot laptop market has sparked a war among computer chip companies - and they're not just fighting over who can build the fastest processor.

Intel (INTC) on Monday rolled out Centrino 2, its next-generation laptop chips. Centrino 2 laptops are faster than their predecessors. But their biggest benefits are other features, such as better graphics and battery life.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel's chief rival, released a similar set of laptop chips last month. Graphics-chipmaker Nvidia, best known for desktop components, also rolled out a laptop line.

"It's a big shift," says AMD Vice President Patrick Moorhead. The number of laptops sold will outpace desktops by 2009, Intel CEO Paul Otellini predicts. (Laptop revenue already exceeds desktops, because laptops are usually more expensive.) That's prompting chipmakers to put new emphasis on the problems that arise in small, portable computers.

They include:

•Battery life. The best laptop in the world isn't worth much when its battery dies. Intel's new chip line features an ultra-low-power processor and other energy-saving tools. AMD's chips can detect whether a computer is plugged in and adjust power levels accordingly. (Other features also help.)

•Graphics. Laptops traditionally used low-end graphics chips that piggyback off other components. But now 26% have powerful stand-alone graphics chips, says semiconductor analyst Dean McCarron at Mercury Research. Demand has risen as more people watch movies, play games and use graphics-intensive programs such as Google Earth on their laptops, he says.

Nvidia (NVDA) now makes so many laptop chips that when a problem developed in some of them last month, the company said it must take a charge of at least $150 million. AMD's new chip line has a vastly improved graphics processor.

•Wireless Internet. Intel's new chip line features the latest version of Wi-Fi, known as 802.11n. Later this year it plans to roll out chips using a new wireless Internet standard, WiMax, which can send a signal over several miles. Chipmaker Atheros Communications and others are also pushing new wireless standards.

Chipmakers "are putting an awful lot of effort into their (laptop) solutions," says semiconductor analyst Matthew Wilkins at researcher iSuppli. An emphasis on features, instead of just processing power, is a way to stand out, he says.

source: news.yahoo.com

Toshiba Unveils Laptop With Cell-derived Chip

2008-07-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

The first laptops to make use of the SpursEngine, a multimedia co-processor derived from the Cell chip that powers the PlayStation 3, will go on sale in Japan in July.

Toshiba will launch its Qosmio G50 and F40 machines with the chip, which contains four of the "Synergistic Processing Elements" from the Cell Broadband Engine processor. The Cell chip used in the PlayStation 3 has eight of the SPE cores plus a Power PC main processor. The SPE cores perform the heavy number-crunching that makes the console's graphics so stunning.

The SpursEngine SE1000 will work in much the same way in the laptops.

The operating system will run on an Intel Core 2 Duo chip and the SpursEngine will be called on to handle processor-intensive tasks, such as processing of high-definition video. This arrangement means the laptop should be capable of some tricks that haven't been seen on machines until now.

Among them, Toshiba said the two computers will be able to upscale standard-definition video to high definition; transcode in realtime digital TV to MPEG4 so that the resulting files are cut down in size by one-eighth and burn video to DVD in half the time of current machines.

A novel feature is face navigation. Faces that appear in video are recognized and displayed as thumbnail images to create a visual index to the video. Users can find the person or scene they want by glancing at the thumbnails and then click on the respective one to watch that portion of video. The computer can also divide up the scenes in user-shot video so they can be viewed one-by-one and analyze and display the volume or the clip across its entire length so, for example, excitement in a sports event can be more easily found.

Finally, by analyzing images from the computer's built-in camera it's possible to control video playback with hand gestures.

The Qosmio G50 is a multimedia laptop and has an 18.4-inch high-definition screen, 500G bytes of hard-disk space, NVidia GeForce 9600M graphics processor, dual digital TV tuners and wireless LAN including 802.11n. It weighs 4.9 kilograms and measures 45 centimeters by 31cms by 4.8cms. Battery life is about 4 hours.

The Qosmio G50 will be cost from ¥290,000 (US$2,700) and the F50, which has a 15-inch screen and 250G byte hard-disk drive, from ¥250,000. Toshiba plans to put the machines on sale overseas but has yet to announce launch details.

Source:news.yahoo.com

No Laptop Like Asus Laptops

2008-04-26T05:41:00.000-07:00

There is so much we can talk about when we are speaking of Asus laptops, so why don't we start from the top. First of all, the things that people pretend to know about but really do not, the specifics. There are many different Asus laptops out there, but the one I looked at had an Intel Core Duo processor. It also had about 1 GB of RAM already installed onto the Asus laptops. The weight of the Asus laptops was actually pretty light when you think about it. In fact, the one I got to use was about 3.3 pounds.

Now you may say that is all good in gravy, but what about the stuff you care about? Well we are getting to that. The LCD screen was amazing and looked better than most HDTV's I have seen. Also, for having such a big screen on it, I was amazed to see at how long the battery lasted. Most of the Asus laptops come with leather lids and a matching mouse as well. Depending on the model of Asus laptops you choose to get, most come with a great built in DVD burner, which, even if you are not going to use it, is still a nice plus.

However, if you are not into that kind of thing, I would look for one that does not have a burner, because that would just save you money. Even so, like all great things, you have to take the good with the bad.

Not everything about Asus laptops are the best. First of all, I have to say most are some what expensive for most people. For the same price that you can get one of the Asus laptops, you can get a super powerful desk top PC that would eat one of these Asus laptops alive. You could even choose not to spend so much and get a different laptop for about the same price. Unlike a few of the other keyboards I have seen, the Asus laptops seem to have a cramped space for these keyboards. If you have big hands, this could become a problem. Although the screen is nice, it does have a glossy coat on it. This can cause it to be a little bit to reflective and hard to see at times.

When all is said and done, all Asus laptops are great, and you are going to get your money out of them. However, if you do not have a lot of money to spend on a laptop then you may want to go with a different brand. These are super nice, but now-a-days you can get a laptop that does the same thing for less money. Keep in mind, however, that this is a very powerful laptop. Unlike other super powerful laptops, the Asus laptops are very portable. It seems like other laptops weigh a lot, and you have to stay close to a wall so you can plug it back up when the battery runs down.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com Mike Stone

Amazing History Of Notebook Batteries

2008-04-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

The laptop is a great thing. It allows you to use your computer without having to be plugged up to a wall. However, back in the day you could not run your laptop off the batteries alone for too long. Thanks to people always looking to improve what we already have, we have made great jumps in the history of the batteries. When we think of laptop batteries many of us think about the rechargeable ones that we use today.

However, did you know that they used to make laptops that ran off AA batteries? Not only did it take a lot of AA batteries to run a laptop, but they could not run it for long. Many people today remember the laptops running off the very heavy lead acid based batteries. Not only did these batteries not last long, but it made your laptop very heavy. You might as well been carrying around a desktop. Since then the history of laptop batteries have kept improving. In fact, after we turned in the old lead acid batteries we moved on to the nickel cadmium batteries.

If you do not remember ever hearing of nickel cadmium batteries, that is because some people called them NiCD. However, these batteries were not around too long because we soon left those for nickel metal hydribe batteries (also called NiMH). As you can guess both of these batteries lasted a lot longer than the old acid ones, however, we were not done making great batteries just yet. After that we moved on to the lithium ion batteries as well as the lithium polymer. These are the batteries that most laptops use today. However, we are not done making great batteries, and you can bet that the history of laptop batteries is going to move on from here. As more and more people get laptops every year the demand for a longer lasting batter is ever growing. Until we can make a battery that never dies, we are always going to see more improvements in the life of batteries.

People use there laptops for many different things. Some use it for school, and others use it for work. However, no matter what you use your laptop for, you know that you need a long last battery. You have to know that you are going to be able to count on the battery when you need your laptop the most. Because of that, we should be happy that batteries keep improving.

The history of laptop batteries is a long one, and it's going to just keep getting longer. All that means is that we are going to end up with some great batteries over the course of a few years. As companies jump at the chance to improve their laptops you are going to see some of the worlds best batteries come to be. What that means for us is the fact that we can have great running computers that do not die after a few hours.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com Mike Stone

More on MacBook Air... Laptop power connectors...

2008-01-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Letters, we get letters, stacks and stacks of letters.

Q: I read your review of the MacBook Air and it's pretty clear you just don't get it. You've always been a Windows and Microsoft fanboy and some things just never change. The Air wasn't made for you and you are just not the target market. So why can't you say something positive about an Apple?

A: Well, as I write this on my Apple Powerbook, I can pause to reflect that I was positive about many parts of the MacBook Air in the review. And I do believe I am the target market for the MacBook. My current business laptop has a 14-inch screen (and no optical drive) by choice; my current pleasure laptop is an Apple with a 12-inch screen.

I have logged, at last count, more than 400,000 frequent-flyer miles, a lot of that on business, so I think I am exactly the market for the Air. I do think they got a lot of it right. But they got a lot of it wrong, especially for business travelers, who need a removable battery. (I even missed one downside that Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal reminded me of; there's no PC card slot so I can't use my cellular card to connect. It's either Wi-Fi or nothing.)

I think you misread the review if you thought I slammed the thing. I liked it. I just think they took too many things out so it would fit in an inter-office mail envelope. Put some things back so it fits in a FedEx pouch.

We'll still be happy.

Q: I heard that some laptop power connectors are so faulty that class-action lawsuits are filed and the makers have to fix them for free. Mine you have to hold a certain way or the laptop battery won't charge. How can I tell if they will fix it? I have called and called the manufacturer and they won't do anything about it.

A: You are correct. Some models are so prone to this issue that lawsuits or other consumer initiatives have forced warranty extensions, repairs or other actions. In your case, Google (extensively) your model and the terms "warranty extension," "power jack" and "class action" and you will be interested in what you find. Several current models are under recall or warranty extension for power-jack issues like you describe. You will find several repair companies on the Web that specialize in these repairs and will fix these for a reasonable flat rate.

Q: I heard that I can keep my AOL dial-up account for free now. I don't plan to use it much but would like to keep it in force when I travel or for emergencies. How do I keep it in force?

A: You can keep your AOL account but not your dial-up account. AOL is doing this to encourage Web traffic among people who switch to high-speed Internet.

Basically, you can connect to the Internet via your high-speed connection, and then fire up AOL via a TCP/IP connection. However, AOL has some basic dial-up plans that you can consider for emergencies if you wish. Contact AOL for details.

(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer-repair firm, and tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service.)

Source: shns.com

Wake EMS laptop is missing

2008-01-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sam LaGrone, Staff Writer
Wake County Emergency Medical Services officials waited eight days to file a formal report on the suspected theft of a laptop containing names, addresses and Social Security numbers of as many as 850 patients transported by county ambulances.

A Panasonic Toughbook used by county paramedics to store patient information on ambulance runs went missing from the WakeMed emergency department Jan. 17 and now is thought to have been stolen, according to a WakeMed Campus Police report dated Friday.

The patient information was not cloaked by encryption, said Jeff Hammerstein, Wake EMS district chief. Computer experts say the lack of encryption makes it easier for identity thieves to access patient data from the laptop's hard drive.

On Monday, county officials were preparing letters with news of the potential risk to be sent to patients whose confidential information was stored in the laptop. County officials tracked down those patients from a central database.

"We regard this as a pretty serious thing," said Wake EMS Chief Skip Kirkwood. "It's far more annoying than I'd like the situation to be."

Annie Ant-n, a N.C. State University computer science professor who specializes in data theft, said county EMS officials waited too long to report the missing computer to hospital police. She said they should have reported the theft as soon as they discovered the laptop was missing and should have notified patients whose confidential information was stored inside.

"It's concerning that eight days passed before they filed their police report," Ant-n said.

Because the laptop went missing from WakeMed's campus, the hospital could be exposed to legal action if the personal information is used fraudulently, Ant-n said. The potential theft of patient information could be seen as a violation of the hospital's privacy policy, she said.

"If they violated that policy, they're liable," Ant-n said.

The $4,000 computer was left unattended in a battery charger at a work station used by paramedics to file reports, according to the hospital police report, and was last seen around 5 p.m. on Jan. 17.

Wake EMS conducted an extensive search of WakeMed and the Wake EMS facilities, hoping to find the missing Toughbook. They asked hospital police to check security cameras to aid the search, but waited until Friday to file a formal theft complaint.

While the sensitive patient data was not encrypted, Wake EMS officials said it was protected by several lesser layers of security.

For the last several years, Wake County paramedics have used laptops to quickly process patient information from the scene of a call or while en route to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, the laptops are connected to a docking station to download diagnostic information to a hospitalwide database. The laptop also connects to a separate database the county uses to store insurance and billing information. That's the information identity thieves covet.

N.C. State's Ant-n said patients whose information was stored in the missing laptop should ask their bank and credit card companies to place a fraud alert on their accounts.

Meanwhile, Wake County will cross its fingers and continue to look for the laptop at WakeMed and at other EMS organizations.

"I remain hopeful that its been put in a drawer somewhere," Kirkwood said.

Source: newsobserver.com

MSI adding green features to laptops

2008-01-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

San Francisco - Taiwanese laptop maker Micro-Star International plans to add Turbo-battery mode to a laptop PC aimed at computer gamers later this year in a bid to increase laptop battery life and put out a more environmentally friendly product.

The notebook will be the next generation of its G-series, which includes the GX600, a laptop with a button users can press to overclock the microprocessor. The Turbo-overclocking button on the current GX600 will gain a new use on the next generation laptop, Turbo-battery mode. Turbo battery mode will add 20 percent more life to the battery, said Sam Chem, director of notebook computer sales at MSI, in an interview. The battery on the MSI GX600 lasts for around two hours, so the addition of Turbo-battery mode would increase its power to two and a half hours.

Turbo-battery mode only kicks in when a user hits the overclocking button while the battery is being used. When the laptop is plugged in, Turbo-battery mode will not come on.

MSI's GX600 was one of the first laptop PCs to include a button for overclocking. Mobile devices in general aren't ideal for overclocking because of heat issues. When the microprocessor is prompted to work harder, it gives off far more heat. Desktop PCs are bigger and have more open space, as well as cooling devices such as bigger fans, making them more suitable for overclocking. But mobile devices encase the microprocessor and other hot-running chips and components into a much smaller area. Too much heat from one component can damage other parts.

But MSI included new thermal technology in the GX600 to ensure its laptops wouldn't have a meltdown,

Chem said.

The result is that computer gamers using the laptop can get more performance for their money out of the microprocessor, which is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop. Overclocking can make a 2GHz microprocessor perform like a 2.4GHz or 2.5GHz microprocessor,

he said.

The GX600 weighs 2.7 kilograms and carries an Intel microprocessor, Nvidia 8600 graphics, 512MB GDRAM, has a 15.4-inch screen and includes a number keypad along with the QWERTY keypad. MSI has been making laptop computers for three years. The company is also known for its motherboards and graphics cards.

Source: news.yahoo.com

Laptop to be top dog

2008-01-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

The desktop PC is being pushed to the scrap heap by its smaller, nimbler sibling, the laptop. They've been around since the early 1980s, but portable computers are finally taking over. Last year, U.S. laptop sales rose 21 per cent to 31.6 million, while desktop sales slumped nearly four per cent to 35 million. Overall, laptops are still underdogs, but they're expected to account for the majority of U.S. computer sales in 2008 and of worldwide sales in 2009.

By 2011, research company IDC expects portable computers to comprise 66 per cent of all corporate PCs sold, up from 40 per cent in 2006, and 71 per cent of all consumer PCs sold, up from 44 per cent.

Meanwhile laptops are creating new social norms and rules of etiquette. At Ritual Coffee Roasters cafe, a mecca for laptop users in San Francisco, owner Eileen Hassi hired an electrician last spring to disable the electrical outlets. Regulars were spending so much time riding the free wireless network -- as many as eight hours at a stretch -- that patrons who wanted simply to sip their lattes couldn't find seats. You're welcome to work on your laptop here, Hassi explained, "until your battery dies."

Source: canada.com

Former OLPC C.T.O. Aims to Create $75 Laptop

2008-01-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

A laptop under US$100 could reach desks if a new venture formed by former chief technology officer of One Laptop Per Child, Mary Lou Jepsen, can deliver on its promises.

A "spin-out" from OLPC, the company, Pixel Qi is looking to create a $75 laptop and trying to advance low-cost computers and power-efficient laptops, mobile phones and other consumer electronics that are sunlight readable, Jepsen wrote on the company's Web site.

Jepsen left OLPC two weeks ago to commercialize technologies she invented with OLPC, she said in an e-mail to the IDG News Service at the time. A patent lists Jepsen as one of the inventors of a display system optimized for low-power operation.

"Spinning out from OLPC enables the development of a new machine, beyond the XO [laptop], while leveraging a larger market for new technologies," Jepsen wrote.There is a big commercial market for technology spawned by OLPC, Jepsen wrote. Prices for next-generation hardware can be brought down by allowing multiple uses of key technology advances, she wrote.

The company will continue to work with OLPC by providing products at cost, and it will sell devices at a profit to commercial organizations.

A similar promise to introduce a low-cost laptop came from OLPC, when it launched the $100 XO laptop in 2005. Since then, the effort has been afflicted by production delays and rising costs, which caused the laptop's estimated price to rise to $200. It is now beset by waning orders and competition from commercial vendors that threaten to sideline the nonprofit effort.

As CTO, Jepsen was responsible for hardware development for the rugged and power-saving XO laptop, designed for use by children in developing countries. Though the laptop has struggled to find buyers, it has been praised for its environmentally friendly design and innovative display, hardware and networking features.

Her departure from OLPC spawned a debate, with critics charging that Jepsen was taking advantage of OLPC's nonprofit inventions for personal gains, but supporters shot back, saying it was the right time for her to leave a sinking ship. Jepsen, who is attending the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, was not available for comment.

Source: heraldtribune.com

Laptop supplanting desktop as computer of preference

2008-01-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO - After decades as the computer of choice for homes and businesses, the desktop PC is being pushed to the scrap heap by its smaller, nimbler sibling: the laptop.

They've been around since the early 1980s, but portable computers are finally taking over. Last year, for the first time, American consumers bought more of them than desktops. Sixteen of the 20 bestselling PCs on Amazon.com this holiday season were laptops.

U.S. corporations are expected to make laptops the majority of their computer purchases in 2008. BNSF Railway Co. already has. Of the 4,000 Dell Inc. computers it bought last year, 60 percent were laptops, so rail inspectors could file reports from their trucks and other employees could work from home.

'They were in a totally tethered world, and now they have no tethering at all,'

said Jeff Campbell, the Fort Worth, Texas, company's chief information officer.

Faster, cheaper technology is behind the most sweeping change the computer industry has seen in a generation. Buying a computer that can be spirited away in a briefcase or backpack no longer requires a big sacrifice in performance, storage or money.

Through docking stations, users can connect laptops to external monitors, keyboards and mice while seated at a desk, then quickly move to a coffeehouse, library, airplane or living room.

The surge in laptop sales is also fueled by the pervasiveness of wireless networks in homes and public hangouts. Having ubiquitous Internet connections makes laptops much more useful.
And sales are expected to accelerate, as devices such as the iPhone and tablet PCs pack more power and utility into ever-smaller packages.

The notebook is propping up the computing industry. Analysts say U.S. laptop sales rose 21 percent in 2007 to 31.6 million, while desktop sales slumped nearly 4 percent to 35 million. Overall, laptops are still underdogs, but they're expected to account for the majority of U.S. computer sales in 2008 and of worldwide sales in 2009.

Article Source: sltrib.com

Great Neck teacher donates computers to the needy

2007-12-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

Ruthie Rivas smiled a wide, gaptoothed grin when she heard the news: She was getting her very own computer.

The 8-year-old from Hempstead received the desktop computer and a printer Wednesday night at her Freeport church, Centro Cristiano Renacer, a Christian congregation composed primarily of Latinos.

"I'm excited," said Ruthie, who wants to be a doctor and said she would use the computer for reading and writing, especially fairy tales.

The computer was something of an early Christmas present for Ruthie, but instead of Santa, the gifter was a Port Washington man with a holiday spirit that lasts all year.

Jon Zimmerman, 47, a science teacher at Great Neck North Middle School, has been collecting discarded computers, printers and electronics for several years. His word-of-mouth campaign has yielded about 30 machines, most of which their owners replaced with newer models.

When Zimmerman receives a computer, he wipes clean all personal information and makes whatever repairs are necessary to ensure it is in working order before handing it off to a needy recipient. The process takes two to three hours barring any major malfunctions, he said.

"When some kids have access to a computer and some don't, they're not at a level playing field," he said. "You've got to find the charity you think you can make the most amount of difference with."

He donated about 20 machines to needy children in the Port Washington school district and recently teamed up with Centro Cristiano Renacer, which has handed out several of Zimmerman's refurbished devices.

Congregants have gratefully accepted the gifts, said church secretary Anna Martinez. "They get overwhelmed and they start to cry," she said. "There are a lot of needy people here."

Rebecca Arrevillaga, 15, of Freeport, said her grades have gone up since she received a computer. "There are a lot of other students I know that need computers," she said. "For someone to be able to donate them and fix them up, I think it's really cool."

Angelica Elvir, 13, of Elmont, said a refurbished printer saved her from frequent 30-minute walks to the public library. "I thank God for that," she said.

Martinez said the church's goal is to collect enough machines to set up a computer lab for congregants.

Nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next five years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of discarded computers are donated to schools, charities and nonprofit organizations.

Keith Bresowsky, the owner of Computer Port, a repair center in Port Washington, donates computer components to Zimmerman. "If they're going to something good," he said, "then why wouldn't I give them to him?"

source: www.newsday.com

Now the personal details of 14,000 building society customers go missing after laptop is stolen

2007-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

A laptop containing the details of 14,000 building society customers has been stolen. The information about the Skipton Financial Services customers included names, addresses, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and how much they had invested. It did not, however, include bank or building society account details.

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Stolen ... The laptop contained the details of 14,000 building society customers

A security block has been put on all accounts concerned and no evidence of fraud has so far come to light.The laptop, which belonged to an external IT systems supplier, was stolen on December 11, reportedly from a locker being used by a staff member of the IT consultancy.

The customers affected are those with investments in Fidelity Funds Network. They have been issued with new account numbers and are also being offered 12 months' free credit checks and alert services through a credit reference agency. The security lapse follows the loss of two computer discs containing sensitive information on 25million people receiving child benefits. It comes days after the details of three million British learner drivers were lost in the U.S.

Souruce: dailymail.co.uk