Lenovo Notebooks Include Sony Batteries; Co. Says They're Safe

This article is a couple of days old, but it gives some interesting insight into the laptop battery business. It is not just the battery, but the battery design and the computer design that go into the blazing laptop equation.

The Vista Domino Effect On Tech - Forbes.com

Here's an interesting analysis of whether a Vista delay will be good or bad and for which businesses. If Microsoft is reading this they will not rush the release.

AT&T turns back on Chicago suburb over franchise agreement

This concerns Naperville, IL, a large and generally very affluent suburb. Evidently not all of it is affluent enough for AT&T. They want to cherry pick where to put their fiber and Naperville said no. Go Naperville!

Why do I dislike AT&T (which is really SBC in sheep's clothing) more and more each day?

Writely registration is now open!

Google has put Writely up for users to try. Remember when you sign up that it is a beta and you're supposed to be hunting bugs.

I've used it. It works better than any previous version and I think it approaching the level of usefulness that will be demanded by most folks. You power users of word processors are going to wait for a while to get all the features you need.

If you don't mind a little bug documentation, this is a good thing to check out. It's also a fine demonstration of an AJAX web app and as such it really does fire up my imagination..

Jack

Philips contemplating LCD sell off - report

Everyone who had the dough to invest in LCD panel manufacture did just that. After all, weren't they going to be THE NEXT BIG THING?

It turned out that they were and they weren't. Sales amount to billions. Consumers love them. But the whole world can't buy enough to match the manufacturer's capacity. They simply over-estimated how fast they would fly off the shelves or there were simply too many outfits making them. Accounts differ.

Anyway; prices fell to insanely low levels for a while and will remain near those lows for the foreseeable future. So, LCD Panels have become NEXT BIG THING TO GET OUT OF. (Sorry. I just couldn't resist the emphatic statement.) The margins are thinner than the number of people who dare to go hunting with Dick Cheney. Phillips is just the first in a line of foundrys who will be selling off or dismantling their flat panel operations.

I guess I am crowing a bit. I've been telling you this would happen. Not Phillips in specific, but the over-supply was so dramatic that it was plain some of the manufacturers would have to bail.

Jack

Boing Boing: Commodore Amiga playing-cards

I thought this might interest some people who read the blog

These retro-tech playing cards feature images from the sadly departed Commodore Amiga personal computer, a dead media competitor to Windows and Mac OS machines from the GUI Cambrian Era. I owned an Amiga 1000 in 1984 1985, which was a stupendously promising, but underperforming, piece of shit. I later had lots of fun video-editing with the Amiga Toasters, but eventually gave up on the platform a little before the company itself croaked. Link (via Gizmodo)

Boing Boing: Commodore Amiga playing-cards
--MissM

Boeing to End In-Flight Internet Service

The good news is that this incarnation of the service is dead. The idea is not dead.

In the meantime I can think of 2 reasons why only a handful of people used the service each flight. The first being price. I might buy an hour for $10, but a whole flight for $26.95 adds up pretty fast. The second? A lack of a power outlet in coach seats (some airlines do supply power to first class and possibly to business class -- so far I've never seen power at a coach seat). Continuous use of WiFi eats batteries pretty fast so to really make this fly, it would include power at the seat of the subscriber.

I believe them when they said the terror alert wasn't inrelated. I see that as a little disingenuous though it certainly may not have been the main reason. There is a clear relationship. If passengers can't bring their laptops into the cabin, there are no customers, period.

Dell Battery Recall Web site

Dell’s response has been to set up a hotline, in a bid to drive the battery callers away from its already beleagured customer support teams. However the average waiting time, listening to classical music, to get to a human is now 30 minutes.
A spokesDell has admitted to Business Week that there are long telephone delays, saying the company had already received 90,000 orders for new batteries. She suggested using the Dell battery programme site for a faster service.
If you have a Dell Laptop and want to order a new battery go to their battery recal web site.
AlaskaJoe

Oh No I think I'm in trouble!!

They are having a woot off day, where they keep changing the item rather then just selling on item the whole day They take paypal, I already bought and espresso/cappucino maker for $15 and a 1 gig flash drive for $15.99 to pickup at microcenter.
Please put it on the blog so others can share in my pain.

This is from hally from our chat

Microsoft patch can cause IE trouble

Microsoft's security update from Aug. 8 to Internet Explorer is causing browser trouble for some systems.

After people apply the MS06-042 update, rated "critical" by Microsoft, IE may crash when certain Web sites are viewed.

Sounds like another patch for a patch is coming out soon.
AlaskaJoe

CNN.com - With shovels, AOL looks for retribution - Aug 15, 2006

I can't wait to see the results from this.....

Dell recalls 4m laptop batteries

From the BBC:

The world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, Dell, is to recall 4.1 million of its notebook computer batteries because of a fire risk.
Most batteries are in computers sold in the US but more than 1 million are thought to be elsewhere.

TechTV Reborn as 'UndoTV'

This is great news for those of us who miss our daily dose of The ScreenSavers or Call for Help. Though by now most of us already listen to at least some of Chris's and Leo's podcasts, and also watch or listen to dl.tv. Anything that will feed the need for quality tech programming is a plus in my opinion.

P.S. For those of us in the US who can't get the Canadian version of Call for help, it is available via Google video. Sadly, at at $.99 per episode, and that is a little expensive to watch on a regular basis.

Laptop batteries on planes are an accident waiting to happen

Even thought this article was in the Inquirer, it provides a poor man's glimps of an article that was in the Wall Street Journal (I don't have a paid subscription). Since we have discussed this, especially with Peter, on the show it is interesting to have the figures and details of incidents that this article provides.

powered by Ubuntu stickers :: free stuff

Since we have so many Ubuntu fans that read this blog.... Right??? :)
I thought I'd pass this on, I know nothing about the company or anything,
but a SASE for stickers seems like a good deal. Enjoy!

Show your Ubuntu pride !!
FREE strip of four 'powered by Ubuntu' stickers


Send a self addressed stamped envelope to:

System76, Inc. (Free Sticker)
875 S. Colorado Blvd. #765
Denver, Colorado 80246

powered by Ubuntu stickers :: system76 :

--MissM

Doubts dog anonymous Thinkpad code for Linux kernel

I thought this merited posting because it illustrates well the processes of open development in the Linux kernel. Contrary to SCO's claims, everything is documented and the various developers insist on it. There is nothing haphazard at all about the processes or the documentation.

As I understand it; the code in question is directly related to Lenovo's decision to ship at least one model of Thinkpad (the T60) with pre-installed Linux. The anonymous coder could be a Lenovo employee. Or not. The worry is that the code violates someone's intellectual property and, while the coder may well be allowed to remain anonymous, she/he will be forced to come clean to the kernel maintainers in order to assure one and all they are not infringing on someone else's claim.

Jack

Microsoft Photography Blog : Photosynth Technology Preview

This is not released yet, but I thought it might interest some of the photographers and travelers, the video is neat, I hear. [h/t CrankyGeeks]

Photosynth collections start with a set of photographs of roughly the same subject, such as a place, object, or monument. The photographs might have been taken all at once by the same photographer, or they might be a disparate set of pictures collected from different photographers at different times. The images are then processed by a preprocessor program that identifies “features” in the photographs – identifiable points in each image. (This picture shows a photo with some of its feature points superimposed.)

Microsoft Photography Blog : Photosynth Technology Preview
Video of Notre Dame and how Photosynth works here. The concept is to be able to check the ambience of a restaurant via photos accumulated and placed relative to each other to create a 3D world. Interesting idea, I think.

--MissM

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 08-13-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 08-13-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Network Security | IT Security | Vulnerability Assessment | Intrusion Prevention

If you aren't sure you were patched against the recent MS06-040 exploit (the one in the news) you can download and run this scanner.

Colleges enrol more open source software

Silicon.com has a nice 1 page article about increasing usage of free and/or open source software in colleges and Universities. Use of FOSS products is widespread and still growing fast.

The article points out some interesting and probably troubling disconnects between software acquisition policies and reality. It seems that while IT departments are well aware of FOSS products and use them, management and policy makers are not.

Jack