Recent Comments:
HTC Advantage X7510 gets unboxed, still baffles us {Engadget}
May 5th 2008 4:04PM What it does that a Laptop can't:
Always on, always connected. With a laptop, you have to turn it on or wake it up, and then open an email program to check your email. This will let you know if you have email.
Go all day on a single charge. Try carrying an OQO around with you all day, using it throughout the day, without ever plugging into an outlet. You will be doing really well if you get halfway through the day.
Be quick and responsive. All ultra-mobile PCs are fairly underpowered for a desktop OS, and tend to have disappointing performance as a result. This is quite powerful for a Windows Mobile device, and so is surprisingly fast.
Run mobile apps. Sure UMPCs have the fantastic advantage of being able to run PC apps, and that is great when you need those, however Outlook is hardly the most efficient choice for sending of a quick email while walking down the street. Google Earth is a great program as well, but it isn't going to give you turn-by-turn spoken directions as you drive to your destination. Mobile apps tend to be better designed for mobile applications, and that is where running a mobile OS makes sense.
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 overview and video {Engadget}
May 4th 2008 12:55PM You are forgetting the big difference between this and an Air.
The Ideapad has 3 USB ports, Firewire port, VGA out, 6-in-1 card reader, Express Card slot, and more importantly, a removable battery, as opposed to the Air which has a single USB port, and DVI.
That is why the Air got so much criticism. It isn't speed or storage that got it so much grief, it was that it lacked so many of the ports that other companies somehow manage to fit on smaller notebooks. It smacked of the ultimate style over substance design decision, and that rubbed reviewers the wrong way.
Sony dumping off old SIXAXIS controllers in MGS4 "Welcome Box" PS3 bundles {Engadget}
May 3rd 2008 4:14AM I just don't get why anyone cares about rumble! I have yet to sit playing a PS3 game and think "wow, you know what would make this game better? If the controller buzzed like a pager at seemingly random intervals, triggered by some interaction that makes no real sense!"
I mean, if you had a game where the main character walked around carrying a blackberry in is hands the whole game, then I suppose 'rumble' could add an amazing sense of realism, but I have just never been sold on the idea that somehow a weak vibrator going off in my hands adds a new level of realism to my character falling off a ledge.
3G iPhone to be discounted to $199 by AT&T? {Engadget}
Apr 29th 2008 9:39PM Yes, that is how every other phone is handled. The reason this is a story is because Apple was supposed to be "revolutionizing the mobile industry" by selling the phone unsubsidized, and then demanding a share of the subscription for every iPhone customer. If AT&T starts subsidizing the phone, then I think that this is a pretty clear sign that the strategy failed. I suspect that just like in Europe, Apple won't be getting a share of any new subscribers coming from the subsidized iPhones.
Final specifications for Lenovo's IdeaPad U110 revealed {Engadget}
Apr 28th 2008 4:39PM Umm... to be honest, I think this is competing more directly with the Sony and Fujitsu Windows ultraportables that have been out for many years, not the Air.
Dean Kamen aims to clean water, generate electricity with Slingshot machine {Engadget}
Apr 24th 2008 2:20AM @ A.C.E.R
If anyone is the "elitist fuck," it would be you. In typical western technocratic fashion, you think your Promethean gesture of handing technology to the poor ignorant masses is so wonderful in and of it self, that you have no obligation to question or even think about the long-term ramifications of your "gift."
The reality of the situation is that solving a technological problem a society has (like water purification) without teaching them how to do it themselves, almost always causes more problems than it solves. In reality, a good percentage of those deaths from bad water could be avoided simply by boiling the water before they drank it. The fact that they aren't doing that is a pretty clear sign that what they need is education, not a magic box that makes their water clean.
I know it is hard for the average affluent westerner to grasp, but the problems that plague most of humanity cannot be solved by buying everyone really neat gadgets. I know that donating money to give them cool tech is much easier than figuring out how to address the root causes, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice.
Dean Kamen aims to clean water, generate electricity with Slingshot machine {Engadget}
Apr 23rd 2008 9:43PM You hit on exactly the problem with all technocratic solutions to problems. They come from the point of view that if there is a problem technology can fix, then they have the duty of fixing it, without fully examining the total repercussions. Another good example of this is bio-fuels. People got the technologically clever idea of replacing fossil fuels with fuels made from crops, and set about trying to do that. What they didn't take into account was that if farmers could get more money for selling their crops for fuel, it would create a food shortage. Thus, we now have worldwide food riots, largely because someone had the clever idea of burning the food instead of letting people eat it.
You are absolutely right that if these machines were to just magically be placed all over the world, it would be an ecological and political disaster of unimaginable proportions, since the population in already overpopulated countries would explode. The best laid plans...
Microsoft turns the DRM screw on MSN Music owners {Engadget}
Apr 23rd 2008 8:01AM Wow, this will really screw all five of the people who bought music off the MSN store!
Seriously, who pays for DRMed music, and doesn't tear out the DRM first thing? Are there really people out there with huge music collections from MSN, or for that matter iTunes, or any of the other DRM services, that haven't ripped the whole collection to CD? If so, people are a lot dumber than I thought. It is bad enough to get suckered into paying a dollar for a highly compressed song, but it is just staggering stupidity to then rely on the goodwill of the provider of said rip-off compressed song for your continued ownership. What do you people do when you have exceeded the device limit, even if the service doesn't shut down? Do you buy the songs all over again every few years?
Apple officially says it's the #1 music retailer in the US {Engadget}
Apr 3rd 2008 5:32PM Actually, the funny thing is it isn't even based on that. It is an article solely based on an Apple press release. The really ironic thing is the article on this site based on the one week of sales was skeptical about the claim. However, now that Apple has made an official press release, it MUST be true, because everyone knows that whatever Apple says in their press releases is completely devoid of bias or misrepresentation, and is God's own truth.
Debunk: Apple iTunes now #1 music retailer in US? Probably not... yet. {Engadget}
Apr 3rd 2008 3:38PM Munkcy, I think that is the whole point. Sure, digital distribution has been making progress, but slowly. The thing I find the most interesting about these numbers is that you aren't in the minority. The interesting thing is that it would seem that more people like the mom-and-pop atmosphere of real music stores to the faceless experience of Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, or iTunes. I think that is fantastic, and I think a much more interesting story than which multi-national megacorp has bragging rights of taking the most sales away from real music stores, which are still the ones selling the largest share of the music.
