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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.

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.

Purchasing a ticket to the opening and closing ceremonies to the Olympics in Beijing comes with more than just admission.  In a first-time move for the Olympics tickets will have a chip embedded in the ticket.  That chip will contain the ticket bearer’s photograph, passport details, e-mail address, regular address, and telephone numbers.

The organizers of the games say this measure is in place to keep out troublemakers to the National Stadium, which hold 91,000 people.  Terrorists, pro-Tibet protesters, and people with the wrong t-shirt on are not welcomed to the Olympics.

Identity theft is also an issue with the $720 top ticket price.  Dignitaries and friends of the Olympians make up a majority of the attendees to the ceremonies.

Opinion: Planting RFID tags in a ticket will surely fend off any evildoer with intents of destroying the peace (and freedom) the games bring to us.  Terrorists also can’t afford a $720 ticket either.  Taking away the privacy of all the attendees will be worth it.

New York, NY - May 15, 2008 - This summer, hackers from around the world will track the movements of thousands of visitors to New York City.

As part of a social experiment, attendees at a hacker conference in July will be issued badges with electronic tracking devices.  Large displays will show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often.

The tracking technology, known as RFID, is fast becoming an unseen part of everyday life.  This July, for the very first time, the general public will be able to participate in the transparent operation of a major RFID tracking program.

Conference attendees will participate in games built around the tracking system.  Players will seek ways to protect their privacy, find vulnerabilities in the tracking system, employ data mining techniques to learn more about other participants, and choose how much personal information they will disclose in order to play.

This demonstration will be open to the public at The Last HOPE conference from July 18-20 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. The first 1500 preregistrants will be guaranteed an RFID badge enabling them to participate in the game.  More information and preregistration is available at http://www.hope.net/.

If you’ve bought a Zune and a plan to do a software update you may not be able to play all of the content you’d like.

Through a round-about way it was revealed that Microsoft plans on making non-copyrighted material (specifically video) not be able to play on the Zune.

NBC has announced that they plan on not offering their programming through iTunes for two reasons: Apple’s demand to keep the price of the video at $1.99 and Apple does not plan on building filtering software to not allow pirated videos to be played.

There is one company that does have the rights of these companies in mind.  NBC has decided to work with a “broader” base of customers by going with Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace.

NBC plans on offering older shows at a lower price than the new retail price for play on the Zune.  As of now the Microsoft filtering software is not in place or fully developed.  With the dollars it has behind it with this new NBC deal Microsoft will soon have this available in a software update.

In the Zune Insider Blog, Cesar Menendez, a member Microsoft’s Zune team mentioned…

We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC.

Perhaps it’s purely coincidence, the tradition of Microsoft’s copyright “protection”, and this NBC deal that could cause Mr. Menendez to respond like this.  It would be safe to assume that Microsoft already had plans in place to “protect” companies from pirated material.

It has been quite a number of months since I explained the issues with my laptop (see this entry).  For a quick summary the Toshiba A135-S4656 is a nice computer for the price. .  The major reason why I’m not totally happy with it is Vista.  Microsoft’s new operating system is still filled with bugs.  Even after I upgraded to 1.5GB of RAM the computer is still slow.  When I tried to install Ubuntu I was disappointed with that the sound card would not work.  That was a few months ago.

I had heard that Ubuntu has a new version of their Linux distrobution.  I thought, “What do I have to loose?”.  Vista (in my mind) was terrible and the current version of Ubuntu was unused becuase of the the lack of sound.  So I downloaded the lastest version of Ubuntu from their website.  The latest version, as of today is 8.0.4 LTS for desktop computers.  While on the site I noticed their are 6 versions of Ubuntu, which might seem daunting to someone not familiar to Linux.  All you need to be concered with is the desktop version.

After the download I burned the .iso to a CD and proceeded to run the installer.  The CD is a live CD, which enables people to try the operating system out without doing anything permanant to the computer (nothing gets wrtitten to the hard drive).  The menu in the latest CD asks if you want to run in live mode or go directly to the installer.  Since I was already familiar with Ubuntu I went right to the installer.

I also want add that I did this while on my way home from work the other day.  I had to make two stops and entered through the prompts then.  I DID NOT use the keyboard while driving.  I wanted to state this to show how easy it is to install Ubuntu.

By the time I got home the OS was installed onto my computer.  I sat down on my sofa and started the boot for the first time.  Ubuntu will install a GRUB boot menu.  This menu is a non-graphic interface which appears after the computer is powered on and asks what OS you want to load.  So I login and hear the Ubuntu welcome sound.  IT WORKS!

So version 8.04 LTS has the proper drivers to run sound on my Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656.  I will use Ubuntu now over Vista, but still have the Microsoft OS in place when I need to.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has let the private information of nearly 11,000 people be leaked out to the public. The information comes from a federally mandated registry of sex offenders in the state.
A smart hacker was able to use a database exploit in Sexual and Violent Offender Registry to get the name, address, race, social security number, and more personal from the registry. By typing in certain information into a browser URL would pull this data from the database and be available for download.
This hacker did what any good hacker would do.  Before going public he wrote a message to the people who programmed the site.  The person he contacted was appreciative for pointing out the flaw and would then pass this information to the developers.

The day after the phone call was made the site was taken down for “routine maintenance”.  It looked as if the flaw was fixed…except the “printer friendly page” still was not fixed.  After another e-mail to the person in charge of the developers the site again went under “routine maintenance” and the flaws were fixed.
Say what you will about the people on this registery, no one should have there personal information up on a web page that can easily be viewed.  In this case by changing the URL anyone could have viewed this data.  I would also like to add that the “hacker” featured in this article would not be the type of person getting into the IRS database or stealing you identity.  That type of person is called a thief.

I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories about the guy getting arrested for sitting in his truck using someone’s wifi or another web surfer getting nailed for using a coffee shop’s wifi outside the cafe.  Now in Maryland that type of thing can land you in jail and set you back a few.

If you do purposely steal someone’s wifi you can be subject to three years in jail and a $1,000 fine.
A new bill introduced by Del. LeRoy E. Myers has been drawn up to clarify what a wifi connection is and specifically what it means to use someone else’s wifi without their permission.  Meyers claims this is meant to show what is intentional theft of the signal and accidental use.
Many cases can be citied when a politician champions a cause due to the fact that they are directly affected or it happened to them and they want to stop it.  Case in point: Meyers’ neighbor bought a laptop with wireless and was using Meyers home wifi connection thinking it was his through his cable TV.  Meyers says accidental use, like this one, should not be prosecuted.

What does accidental use mean?  Who’s fault is it that common users leave default settings on their routers to enable anyone to get online?  Could that neglegance mean the want people to use their signal?

Read the bill here.

If you’re a subscriber to the Dish Network on you were chomping at the bit to get those HD Channels, you’ll have to wait a little longer.
Dish Network planned on using a new satellite to provide it’s customers with new HD Channels. Shortly after launch on Friday the AMC-14 satellite fell back to Earth.

The new Ku-band satellite is owned by SES Americom and was under contract by EchoStar the provider of Dish Network services.  The Launch went as planned from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on top of a Proton rocket.  According to statements from International Launch Services the vendor of the project, the payload failed to reach it’s planned orbit.
The new satellite was to add more than 70 channels to compete with DirectTV.  Some of these channels would have been locally based for a specific geographic market.  Industry analysts are now seriously looking into the future of the satellite television market place.  This is a huge set back for Dish Network.

Be aware: This is the same unit sold at Radio Shack under a different name (Zenith DTT900 Digital-to-Analog Converter Box)

I like many Americans use over-the-air television. In 2009, analog signals will go away and a digital TV will be the only way to get OTA TV. A week or two ago I received 2 coupons for a DTV converter box which will allow my analog tuner TV to get those digital signals. I was able to get the Insignia DTV converter box at Best Buy for $20 after the coupon. Here are my first impressions:

Signal Reception:
I’m not entirely sure how digital TV signals get sent out, but I was able to get much better reception on channels that were fuzzy/snowed in the analog world. Sounds great, right?
Signals that I was able to get (enough to watch the channel enough) I cannot with this box. When I tune to the channel I get a “no signal” message on screen. One of those channels (WNET-Thirteen) was what I watched the most. My local Channel 13 is sending out their signal on DT60, which I still cannot get.
Anticipating this change over, I bought a new antenna and placed it in the attic of my house. I have gone to some lengths to get these TV signals. It is a disappointment that I cannot get those signals.
Unlike analog TV, which comes in fuzzy (but watchable) when the signal is bad, DTV will become pixelated during bad weather or at random times.

The Box:
One of the major reasons why I got this box as opposed to the other one out there was that there was some control on the unit itself. Although basic, if you loose the remote, the controls will allow you to turn the power on and change channels.
The remote control feels cheap, but still functions. It would be helpful if the remote controlled the TV volume. Instead it controls the volume of the audio coming out of the box. Seems OK until you change your input to watch a DVD and get blown away by the noise.

The software:
I was surprised to see a menu that deep for a $60 TV box. An autoscan tuner function helped with the setup and programming of channels. A basic programming guide is available that was akin to my digital cable box. A concerned parent will be glad to know you can block programs with a parental control function in one menu screen.

Overall impressions:
It would seem that the maker of the unit brushed aside the needs of people who truly need to purchase a converter box or go without TV in 2009. Knowing people will easily spend $60 on a “need” when they’re really spending $20 makers of these units will take the cheap way out.
With the major component of the unit, reception, being as poor as it is I would not recommend this unit to anyone.
In my area there are 3 units available (including this one) and one of them is the same box under a different name. The return policy at Best Buy does not cover the $40 coupon, which now leaves me with a brick in my living room.