Cool USB gizmos – little friends for your laptop
Alexandra | 6:10 pm | November 30, 2009 | USB Stuff
Tiny mouse
Those who like mobility and don’t want to carry extra load will certainly appreciate surprising compactness and ease of the Super Slim USB optical mouse. It measures just 45 x 64 x 14 mm, and its weight is 28 grams. The mouse easily fits in your hand, while having very high resolution (1800 dpi). It works on most of surfaces, providing precise positioning. You can choose one of two models – white or black one.
High-speed scanner
The Neatdesk Scanner developed by the Neat company allows to work with most of the documents. It has three loading trays for different paper formats. The smallest one is designed for business cards, the second tray accepts cheques, and the biggest one works with the A4 paper size.
You can download up to 10 cards and 10 cheques at the same time, just press the button, and then all the documents will be scanned one by one. If you have a pack of A4 documents, you can load up to 50 sheets and they will be scanned automatically thanks to the document feeder. The maximum resolution is 600 dpi. The data can be exported to Outlook and Excel.
Special Neatdesk software allows you to automate scanning process. Just put the scanner near your laptop and enjoy a new film while this useful gadget is doing its work.
Desktop Vacuum Cleaner
A USB-powered miniature vacuum cleaner was designed expressly for fans of funny USB-toys. Despite its tiny size, it can manage its task. Use it to clean up crumbs and dust from the surface of your desk and laptop keyboard. Surely, this little helper means more power consumption for your battery, but having a spotlessly clean desk may well be worth it. 
A warm touch of bamboo
You are certainly tired of plastic that surrounds you everywhere. Do you want something natural? So you should pay your attention to Micro Innovations’ USB wooden keyboard and mouse that were made of bamboo for those who like “real” things. Quite unconventional, yet full of character.
The most reliable notebooks and netbooks — no conjectures, facts only
Alexandra | 10:08 pm | November 20, 2009 | Laptop News
According to the latest research conducted by the analytical department of the SquareTrade company, Asus laptops are the most reliable among other popular brands. It is a real surprise for many Apple fans that mobile computers from their favorite company are only on the fourth place, yielding to Toshiba and Sony laptops in reliability characteristics. SquareTrade provides after-sales warranty services for consumer electronics. The company based its new study of notebooks / netbooks reliability on the analysis of more than 30 thousand mobile computers from different manufacturers.
Result #1: HP, Gateway and Acer are the least reliable laptops
The results show that almost one of three laptops fails during the first three years of use. It’s difficult to imagine a more fragile electronic gizmo than a laptop (just imagine that every third TV set or car breaks down in 3 years after the purchase).
So the 1st place has been given to Asus laptops, problems with them occur during the first three years in 15.6% of cases. It may not sound too good, but it’s the lowest failure rate among 9 largest producers which laptops were used for the research.
Toshiba with the rate of 15.7% has taken the 2nd place, Sony laptops with 16.8% has become the 3rd. The failure rate for Apple (17.4% and the 4th place) was calculated for two popular models — MacBook and MacBook Pro.
Vince Tseng (VP of Marketing at SquareTrade) said that analytics were not surprised that Apple laptops had appeared in the middle of the list, but the victory of Asus had come as a real surprise.
Hewlett-Packard, the company, which production volume of notebooks was the biggest in the world last year, was pronounced as the most risky brand (more than a quarter of HP laptops is in danger). It may be not so bad taking into account that this company offers a 3-year guarantee for its products, it even started selling of HP laptop batteries that had a guarantee of 36 months.
Result #2: laptop users have only one year without worries and problems
The report also states that the risk of any problems with the laptop is growing rapidly after one year of usage:
- 4.7% — failure rate after the 1st year;
- 12.7% — after the 2nd year;
- 20.4% — after the 3rd year.
Mr. Tseng explained that mobile computers have high rates of usage. People often leave them running, laptops components are shock-sensitive. At the same time they are portable, and it often leads to falls and blows. And moreover, it is one of the most complex devices compared to other customer electronics.
Result #3: netbooks are characterized by a low price and a high rate of failure
The researchers also has found that netbooks break down more often than notebooks. The average rate is 23% higher than similar data for entry-level notebooks (with price from $ 400 to $ 1 000) and 38% higher than premium portable gadgets (more than $ 1 000).
Pedal Charger – Use Laptop without Battery
Alexandra | 1:06 am | November 14, 2009 | Concept Laptops, Laptop News, USB Stuff
Sometimes technologies of the past help us to go in the future. Let’s take the first pedal powered machine for XO laptops as an example. Akmal Waak and Mike Dawson, technicians working for OLPC (the One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc.) in Afghanistan, have designed such a mechanism to charge XO laptops. Of course, it is made not just for fun or health improvement, this new prototype has noble mission, it allows to use OLPC gadgets in countryside and rural areas beyond the power grid.
Developers claim that their human power machine can be used without any difficulties even by children of 3rd and 4th graders. Users can run laptop and at the same time charge it, moreover it requires no additional batteries or special adapters.
Аbout 2,500 laptops were delivered in Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad schools. Now specialists of OLPC Afghanistan’s deployment analyze impact of these educational innovations and plan to create a new pedal charger of smaller size to provide more comfort and mobility.
Such mechanisms can be helpful not only in developing and least developed countries, but also in advanced economies. Why not? Among other kinds of energy given by sun’s rays or wind we can rely on simple pedal power. And some producers have already done it. So a company from China has put on the market its Рedal Powered LED Spotlight Combo Contraption, new charger for gadgets with a USB port.
“One Laptop Per Child” – Now in Uruguay
oleg | 2:01 am | November 12, 2009 | Laptop News, New Laptops, Uncategorized
Thanks to One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit North American association, 380,000 primary school pupils in Uruguay have been issued this year with a free personal laptop.
The XO-1, (previously known as the $100 Laptop), is an inexpensive laptop model that was developed by Quanta Computer Incorporated, a well-known manufacturer of notebook computers. Its customers include ACER, Apple Inc., Cisco, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and other major brands. The XO-1 was designed and built especially for children in developing countries, considering everything from extreme environmental conditions to local language support. It is being described by its producers as “extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, and fun”.
It is about the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox. The integrated handle is kid-sized, as is the sealed, rubber keyboard. Extra-wide touchpad supports pointing, as well as drawing and writing. Its LiFePO4 or NiMH extended life battery cells contain no toxic heavy metals. It is also compatible with alternate power sources, such as car chargers. Children may also have a second battery for group charging at school while the laptop is in use. Yet, each machine costs only about $260 (including teacher-training and connection charges) plus annual maintenance of $21.
Their efficiency will be tested for the first time when Uruguayan first year pupils will take online exams later this month. The first country in Latin America to provide free, compulsory schooling, Uruguay will now become the first again to find out whether supplying a whole generation with laptops is a good investment. The government of neighbouring Peru, a bigger, but at the same time poorer country, is currently trying something similar.
But is this program really the best use of money? There have been several voices arguing its success. The first 50,000 laptops arrived in Uruguay with software in English, instead of Spanish. Many of the pupils managed to break their machines, usually by cracking the screen or snapping of the WI-FI antennas. When a poor, rural child wrecks his, he often chooses to keep his new toy rather than risk sending it by post where it could be easily stolen. Every two out of five schools in Uruguayan countryside are located in remote areas with poor internet connectivity. Moreover, many of the teachers in Uruguay are of advanced age and therefore find it difficult to cope with the new technology.
Skeptics would rather prefer the government hiring more teachers instead of introducing new technologies. But the officials’ response is that the laptops are still worth a try.”We shall see a rapid shift away from memorization to critical analysis,” says Edith Moraes, the official in charge of elementary schools. And the “One Laptop per Child” program will certainly conribute to better schooling.