LESS-IS-MORE NOTEBOOK MAKES A BID FOR THE DESKTOP
The laptop’s assault on the desktop PC continues. Asus has announced it is repacking its ultra-light, ultra-cheap notebook PC, the EEE, into a slim box for the office.
The new version, named EEE Box, is only a 2.5cm thick and takes up less than 23cm by 18cm of desk space. Like the laptop, the EEE Box is missing a CD/DVD drive, but it can be purchased with a 250-gigabyte disk drive. (The smallest drive available is 80 gigabytes.) The company gives customers a choice of operating systems, either Windows XP or its stripped-down version of Linux. But customers have to find their own monitors.
The machine, with Intel’s new Atom processor, will not be appealing to gamers who need fast and powerful computers. But Asus traded computing power for miserly electricity consumption. It says the design decisions that extend battery life in its notebooks could cut the power consumption to 90 percent that of a typical desktop.
As power prices soar, the machine’s frugality coupled with its low price of US$300 may make it more appealing.
ULTRATHIN LAPTOP STARTS UP QUICKLY, CAN BE CUSTOMIZED
The Voodoo PC brand, favored by gamers, and the brothers behind it, Rahul and Ravi Sood, did not disappear when it became part of Hewlett-Packard. The latest Voodoo is the ultrathin Envy 133, which will be in stores and on Hewlett-Packard’s Web site this month.
It is only 1.8cm thick, slightly thinner than Apple’s MacBook Air, which it aims to compete with. At 1.5kg, it weighs about the same as the Air. When the combination biometric-security low-light videoconference camera recognizes your face, it lets you play.
In addition to Vista, it has a Linux alternate operating system that lets you surf, Skype, send instant messages and hear music in five seconds on the 13.3-inch display. The touchpad is gesture responsive, and the keyboard lights up when it senses fingers. The base price in the US is US$2,099 for a 1.6-gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 gigabytes of memory and an 80-gigabyte hard drive.
A separate optical drive for recording DVDs or CDs is included. And, for elevated snazziness, the black carbon-fiber-weave case can be customized with wild designs, automotive paints or, for something Apple may never match, it can be chromed.
SURROUNDED BY WATER, AND SIGHTS TO SHOOT
Camera makers have found they need to differentiate their new products by appealing to niche markets. Pentax is taking its compact Optio W60, an update of its waterproof cameras, even deeper underwater to find customers.
Serious photographers can take the 10-megapixel camera as deep as 4m. Once down there, they can use the camera’s zoom lens, which increases five times, from 28mm to 140mm, for a range of photos. Since the zooming mechanism is sealed inside the Optio W60’s diminutive body — 9.9cm by 5.6cm by 2.5cm — it is also suitable for use near a mud-covered child.
A high-sensitivity setting takes advantage of whatever light penetrates the murk, and as quarry slither by, the action can be captured on 1280- by 720-pixel video. Two images can be stitched together side by side right in the camera, useful when shooting sweeping landscapes.
A WAY TO SOLVE CROSSWORDS WITHOUT PENCIL (OR ERASER)
When should Grandma get a Nintendo DS? When it lets her work an endless supply of crossword puzzles, that’s when.
Crosswords DS (US$20 at nintendo.com/ds) puts about 1,000 crossword puzzles, as well as anagrams and word search puzzles, at the tip of your stylus.
You start by turning the DS game machine on its side, like a book, and selecting left- or right-handed display. (Lefties then flip the device upside down.) When a puzzle appears on the touch screen, you enter a letter with the stylus right on the screen, in a process that feels just like writing.
In fact, because the text entry box is magnified and hints are available, this software is an example of how technology can improve upon the traditional puzzles — as long as you remember to keep the DS’ battery charged. You can erase mistakes by tapping on the screen or writing your new answer over the old one.
The more you play, the more puzzles you can unlock; puzzles can be saved for up to four players. You’ll never miss the pencil sharpener.
FOR THINKERS OUTside OF THE BOX, SPEAKERS IN THE ROUND
Most speakers are built into large square boxes. This poses a problem for home theater buffs without much space to spare. JBL’s Control Now speakers are quarter-round, which means that four of them can fit together to make one round speaker.
The indoor speakers come in black, and the all-weather outdoor model comes in white.
But how do you mount these? They can fit on a wall or in a corner, or sit on a bookshelf. You can also suspend the speakers from the ceiling on a rod, creating a circular cone of sound with a look reminiscent of a high-quality train station announcement speaker.
The speakers have three-quarter-inch tweeters and four-inch woofers and weigh 3kg apiece.
Clearly these odd-looking speakers are not for everyone. JBL recommends them for interior designers who might want to hide speakers in places where average speakers cannot go.
Geometry buffs might like to know that the Control Now is a quarter-toroid, a shape we rarely get to enjoy.
— NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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