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Toshiba can now claim to have the thinnest and lightest of ultraportable laptops as they launched the  Portégé R500-S5007V.  Here are the specs to back that up:
This laptop weighs in at 2.4lbs, which is lighter than the MacBook Air (3lbs) and Lenovo Thinkpad X300 (2.93lbs).  One of the things that makes these ultraportables so light is the use of solid state hard drives. which are much lighter than traditional “spinning platter” drives.  The Toshiba sports a single 128GB solid state drive.  Apple and Lenovo use two 64GB modules to get 128GB of storage.
With no moving parts the hard drive not only makes the whole laptop lighter, it also increases battery life as well.  The 12.1-inch display uses a transreflective screen, which shuts off the LED backlighting to reflect the sun’s rays to light the screen up, when available.

With the standard package users can enjoy the speed of the 1.33ghz Core Duo processor with 2GB of RAM.  The system comes with Vista, however customers can upgrade to Windows XP.  Wireless, Bluetooth, and a CD/DVD R are also standard.

Get ready to spend about $3,000 on this laptop when it’s ready to ship later in the year.

written by tom

Microsoft has extended the life of its older operating system days before PC makers are forced to stop selling it.

June 30th (2008) would have been the day that PC manufacturers would have to stop selling Windows XP, Microsoft’s older operating system, and be forced to sell its new operating system on all new units.  That date has now been extended to June of 2010.  There is one catch.

The computer that XP is installed on must be an “entry level” laptop.  Major PC makes such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo have said that Vista cannot run on their lower-end machines.  Also, in a market dominated by price, makers have started to install Linux distributions on these computers.  The Linux operating system is free and that can be passed on to consumers.
In the statement at a trade show in Taiwan, Microsoft has stated that this extension is only good on laptops with less than 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, a 10 in screen, and 1GHz processor.

written by tom

At The Last HOPE conference, hackers will broadcast their minds  and their iPods.

In the center of the summer’s top hacker event will be a small isolation booth. “Radio Statler!” as the station is called, will send out a three day broadcast of all-original material. From the center of Manhattan, around the clock, discussions of the past, present, and future of technology, creativity, and humanity itself will be transmitted.

The first night of the conference, July 18th, the station will carry a program called Digital Music Night, hosted by Peter Kirn, editor of createdigitalmusic.com. The three hour live concert will feature a convergence of artists and musicians using custom, original tools for performing live in new and bizarre ways, including:

* Houseplants hooked up to live computer visuals and music
* A mutant trumpet, halfway between the digital and acoustic worlds
* Packets of data visualized as three-dimensional eye candy
* An animated digital art sketchpad controlled by Wii remote
* A set of digital gloves for gestural DJing
* A robotic drummer
* Computer-generated vocals that sing your spam folder to you
* Live digital art made from vintage game consoles and computers

The station will give additional talk and interview time to the conference’s speakers, broadcast the keynotes and other popular seminars, and offer attendees who don’t speak at the podium a chance to share their ideas. Many hackers who already do their own podcasts are being asked to contribute and do special programs for the conference.

Program and content submissions are still being taken, volunteers are being sought, and the organizers are looking for promotional sponsors to help cover the cost of broadcasting. More information can be found at http://radio.hope.net/ or by emailing projects@hope.net.

For more information on The Last HOPE, visit http://www.hope.net.

written by tom