PowerBook Updated

Apple has just updated their PowerBook line of laptop computers! What's the deal?

Higher resulution: 1440x960 on the 15-inch and 1680x1050 on the 17-inch PowerBook.

Longer battery life: added 1 more hour accross the line to 5.5 hours!

Lower prices: prices start at $1999 and $2499

Super drives: for all models at 8x

Larger Hard Drives: the lowest 100GB (12") and 120GB (17" only)

The most popular among the three models, the 15" PowerBook comes standard with specifications previously available only on 17" models: double the graphics memory (128MB), dual-link DVI support for use with a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, and optical digital output/input.

Apple has done it again!

Notebook or Desktop Computer -- Which Should You Choose?

By Reid Neubert | Published Today | Hobby , Hardware , Personal Tech | Unrated

On TV and in the movies, we see a lot of portable computers being used in homes and offices. Does that mean that's the trend? Is that what you should get?

Portable computers cost more, so unless you really have the need for one, you get a lot more computer for your money with a regular desktop PC. The main thing is portability. If you need a portable computer, get a laptop. ("Laptop," "portable," and "notebook" all refer to the same thing, by the way). Otherwise, a desktop computer is a better buy, and better ergonomically.

The Price Difference
You might wonder why laptops cost more than desktop computers with comparable features and power. That is largely because it is more expensive to manufacture laptops and their parts. For portable computer components, factors such as compactness, the amount of heat they generate, their weight, and power consumption are more important than they are for desktops. Those factors add to their manufacturing costs.

Space Requirements
While laptops are certainly compact, a desktop computer with a flat panel monitor can take up almost as little space. While called a "desktop" computer, the computer itself is most often kept on the floor. That leaves just the monitor, keyboard and mouse on the desk, which is really very similar in footprint to a notebook computer.

A great way to further reduce the space taken up on the desktop computer is get a keyboard drawer to hold the keyboard and mouse. That way, they slide out of the way under the top of the desk when they aren't needed.

Be Mindful of Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the science of designing and arranging things so that people can interact with them more comfortably and safely. The basic ergonomic principals for computer use tell us that, 1) the keyboard should be as close to your lap level as possible (assuming you touch-type), 2) the monitor should be about arm's length in front of you, and 3) the top of the monitor should be at about your eye level. Try achieving that with a laptop computer! Two words: im-possible.

It is obvious then, that a desktop computer is much better ergonomically than a laptop is. For prolonged use, especially, you're much better off with a desktop computer.

And Don't Forget Usability
Another aspect of ergonomics is usability. Because of size constraints, laptops also are lower on the usability scale than desktop PCs are. For one thing, laptop keyboards lack the separate groupings of the different sets of keys with space between them. For another, there are fewer keys on a laptop's keyboard, so some of them have to perform double duty. On a standard keyboard, you don't have to deal with that.

Screen Resolution
Computer monitors -- the bulky ones, anyway -- can be set at different resolutions. In other words, you can change the fineness of the image on the screen. The range is typically 640x480 -- that is 640 pixel across and 480 pixels up and down -- to 800x600, 1024x768, or even higher. At 640x480, the icons and such appear quite large; at 1024x768, they are substantially smaller. The most common resolutions today for desktop computers are 800x600 and 1024x768.

Something They Don't Tell You
Laptop displays, on the other hand, have a fixed, or native, resolution. You can change the setting, but then the images and text don't look good. While people tend to think that bigger numbers are better, a higher screen resolution may not work as well for you. It may make everything too small to see comfortably.

Remember, the laptop's screen is smaller that a desktop's. While a typical desktop computer screen is 17" or so a laptop's is usually in the range of 12" to 15." That is a big difference. Make sure you can see everything clearly before choosing a high-resolution laptop.

Choosing the right printer for your needs

By hollys hs | Published 08/19/2005 | Hardware | Unrated

It is a daunting task to choose a printer without deciding what type you really require. You have to choose between an ink jet and a laser printer. After that you have to decide on the printer size essential for the tasks you require it to accomplish. You have to consider factors such as printer type, size, running costs and price and service availability.

There are mainly two types of printers in the market. The laser printers and inkjet printers are the only two choices available in the market. In the laser printer a laser beam is used to print the picture on the drum which is then transferred on to the paper. In the inkjet printer, however, ink is sprayed through tiny jets on to the page forming the image on the page. The difference between the two types of printers is the basic difference in the technology involved in them.

Inkjets can print anything from spreadsheets, brochures toword documents and photos. They are considered optimum for printing professional and inexpensive documents on a small scale. Hence they could cope only with small print volumes, the chief advantage being that they are far more affordable than laser printers. That is to say, such printers have lesser running costs than laser printers.

Inkjet printers are light weight and small in size. Many of them are sold with their carry cases to make it convenient to carry them from one place to another. Naturally they become perfect partners for laptops and PDAs or any other devices that need printing facilities.

But, in case your requirement is for more advanced print jobs then you should think of buying a laser printer. Laser printers are made to take voluminous workloads and print at a much faster speed. And the quality of the print is far superior to that of the inkjet printer. That is why not only the laser printers cost more but even the consumables of the laser printer are more expensive. Laser printers are portable and can be carried from one place to another. Sometimes they come with their own hard cover carry cases for convenience in shifting them around.

If you own a laptop, you would be well advised to consider purchasing an all in one solution. These systems have the advantage of being lightweight, small and would answer all your printing, scanning and photocopying needs. That is, all in one device. These low cost all in one systems are usually ink jet printers, hence their running costs is quite low as compared to the laser printers. They usually come with their own hard carry cases, so you could carry them wherever you travel. Keeping these factors in mind, you could surely find a printer suitable for yourself.

Carla Inchiostrona is the owner and webmaster of FTP http://ftpprinter.com, a leadingInternet directory for printer information. For more printer information and resources, please stop by: http://www.ftpprinter.com

My iBook experience

I own a 12" G4 iBook, 1.2 GHz, 512MB DDR SDRAM, which I bought in April of this year. The memory upgrade is essential. My friend had given me a Kingston 256MB RAM upgrade. It sure boosted the performance by heaps.

It just keeps going and going
The best thing I would say about the iBook is the battery power! It just keeps going and going. I have used it on a low power mode for up to 5 hours! And that is just perfect for traveling which I have been doing a lot of this year. Watching DVDs, listening to music, reading, writing, accounting, you name it and all while on the road. In a single journey (that lasts 7 hours) and on a single battery charge! Now that's living the life! Of course I don't use it the whole time, but its more than what I need on a journey that long. The latest experience I had was watching a 2 CSI DVD episodes and it only took up 20% of my battery life.

There's really no point having all that technology when it doesn't last the time you need it. My iBook has been the envy of some of my friends who run PC based notebooks with only 30% of the battery life I have.

Sync your PSP to your Mac

I know of a person who have used this developers sync software to sync his iPaq with his Macs for years and has had no problems with it.

For those who are looking to get a PSP for whatever reason like games, watching movies and now to use as a PDA, then PocketMac's new sync software is the tools to have. Just another reason to own a Mac, more connectivity and sync capabilities than Windows.

The New iPod is out!

What's new in the New iPod:
> It plays videos!
> Its got a larger 2.5 inch screen (260 000 colors)
> It plays Podcasts & audio books
> Extras: Stopwatch & a world clock for four time zones
> Games: Solitare, Brick & Parachute
> Contacts & calendar

Its available in black too! It comes with 30 or 60 GB storage.

The iPod Nano

Are you looking for a portable light-weigth music player? Something that just doesn't get in the way? The new iPod Nano is exactly what you need. At just 43g 7mm thin and 14 hours of battery life! Better yet, it works with PCs and Macs (as do all the other iPods).

Still hot from the oven. The iPod Nano was launched just 5 weeks before the new iPod. Its smaller and lighter than the iPod mini. It comes in two colors. The new one being black which is just absolutely gorgeous. The 2GB model holds about 500 songs while the 4GB model holds 1000. It plays the above the usual: podcasts, audio books. It stores your schedule and contacts and even plays games What could be a better Christmas gift than this at just $199.00. Just got to have one!

Other Specs:

Audio formats: AAC, MP3, audible format (2,3 and 4), Wav, Apple lossless, AIFF.

Stores photos: in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only) and PNG formats.

1.5" vivid backlit colour display

Look out PDA, here comes TDA!

By Chris Fernando | Published 08/19/2005 | Personal Tech | Unrated

What's it all about? Novinit a French company has developed the worlds first TDA or Tactile Digital Assistant.

The TDA is based on touch-screen technology and relies entirely on your thumbs for input, which are harder to lose than a stylus.

The TDA is named Jackito and comes with two simultaneous touch points so you can operate it with your thumbs at the same time and so no need for a stylus.

Using the TDA is very easy, since you can search a database or a large address book, with just your thumbs. Using the device with your thumbs is actually much faster than a stylus well at least thats what the company claims. The device comes with a variety of features like finger-touch control, battery life, fast graphics, multitasking, real-time processing, interchangeable skins and much more.

The idea of a device like Jackito was conceived from the fact that the worlds first touch screen based PDA was already developed by a US company called Litton in 1978 for the US and German armies.

After some years Novinit pondered, "If there's a touch screen based PDA for the armies, why not for the gizmo lovers? " Arnaud de la Fouchardire of Jackito says, "The architecture chosen for Jackito focuses on user friendliness. Fingertips (as opposed to a stylus) are used as a natural device for touching the options displayed by the LCD touch screen. About 200 engineers from 10 countries for over 10 years, have worked on making this device better and $50 million has been invested in these efforts."

Seven Processors and a larger screen The Jackito runs on seven processors with full parallel-processing capabilities (two micro-controllers and five accompanying reconfigurable cores), a large 4.5 color QVGA LCD fingertip touch-screen that offers resolution of 320x240 dpi, display with landscape orientation and two SD/MMC card slots.

The TDA runs on an operating system called 3ActilOS, has 2.5 MB SRAM and 16 MB NOR Flash memory. The Jackito measures 140 x 80 x 16 mm and weighs just 150 g. It feeds on a single AA battery, which according to the company, can sustain for several weeks.

Using the touch-screen with your thumbs or index fingers means that you dont have to carry or use a stylus, keyboard or any other input device. Also Novinit says that the finger's contact area is hundred times larger than that of a stylus and a stylus exerts hundred times more pressure on the screen than a finger.

Arnaud goes on to say that, "The Jackito is not only an electronic device, but also a personal companion, supporting the three essential ingredients of a well-balanced lifestyle works productivity, personal life and edutainment. The Jackito will also come preloaded with about twenty applications, which includes games, puzzles, address book, clock, to-do list, synchronization feature, backup application, etc."

Want to buy it? Novinit hasn't yet appointed any dealers for Jackito, though as of now they plan to make all the transactions through their website. The Jackito is available for sale on www.jackito.com at a list price of 600. Novinit says that if you are interested in buying the product, you will have to order it online through their website by remitting $100 and then wait for about 90 days for the product to be delivered to you.

However, you can choose the screen type (color or monochrome), user interface, removable front cover and changeable stick-on strips of your choice.

The Jackito is entirely customizable you can choose between add-ons like internal MP3 player, FM radio, microphone, headset, Bluetooth, solar battery charger and much more at an extra cost.

According to Arnaud, they will target at "early adopters" for this product, but the product is destined for everybody because the product has all the facilities that we lack as human beings gigantic memory, vast capabilities for computation, learning, games and communications.

TDAs the way to go (or is it not?) The development of the TDA doesnt stop here in fact this is just the beginning. Novinit expects that by April 2005 it will be able to make available innovative accessories for the TDA you will be able to choose from WiFi modules, GPS, digital camera (CMOS based), micro-printer, micro-scanner, barcode reader, smart-card reader, TV module and much more.

Though TDA seems to be an in thing with all the features it talks about, there are certain things that work against the very concept of digital assistant. The Jackito doesnt come with character recognition software built-in. It means that you will have to type through the virtual keyboard on the TDAs screen if you want to enter a few important data. This is far more tedious than just scribbling a few notes on a PDA screen with the stylus and leaving the conversion part to the handwriting recognition software.

The TDA runs on an operating system called the ActilOS, which no one has even heard of before. This means that there wont be any third party applications for the TDA, at least immediately.

Moreover the product is similar to a PDA its just that the TDA can be used with the fingers / thumbs and supports landscape orientation too. Though the TDA seems promising enough, time will only tell whether it remains stable in the market. So if you want to experience the magic of TDA, logon to the Jackito's website and click on buy! * This article first appeared in www.TheCheers.org

What revolutionalized the PC

It was a revolutionary experience for me that I believe also changed the way we used and perceived computing. That computers were no longer a tool to get the job done, but the very extension of our lives at work and play. From pictures, to music, video to producing my very own movies. It was exhilarating!

You guessed it! The Mac experience (no offense PC users! :D). But we have to hand it to them, Steve Jobs did change desktop computing. It all started when I bought my own Mac, that was 5 years ago. It was the classic G3 iMac that catapulted Apple back into the personal computing scene. Well, at least that's the way I see it.

Like they say, once you have had the Mac experience you will never turn back. It's not about brand loyalty, its just the better computer.

How many megapixels do I need?

As camera technology improve and megapixels get higher and higher, sometimes we ask ourselves, how much megapixels do we really need. The first digital camera I bought 6 years ago was 1 megapixel and that was one of the top of the line consumer camera. So for the same price today I could have gotten one at 5 megapixels. So you can get a low-end branded digital camera, lets say a Kodak EasyShare CX7330 for just under $100.00! And low-end today is 3 megapixels! It just makes no sense paying more for something you will never use.

It all depends what you intend to do with the pictures you take. So this are a few points to know whether you should go for higher resolution:

You intend to print the pictures large

You intend to crop the image

You intend to print the pictures large

In a nut shell:

For web and email, photos 1 - 3 megapixels are good enough.

For any images you plan to print or retouch, you should stick to 3 megapixel resolution or higher

For prints 8x10 or larger, 4-megapixel resolution or higher is a must.