Do You Know Anyone Still on MySpace?

The challenge for Owen Van Natta and his boss Jonathan Miller is outlined in an article in Monday’s Times, summarized neatly by this chart showing that the country’s leading social networking service is now losing users.

The article points out that Mr. Van Natta, a former executive of Amazon and Facebook, has only six friends on MySpace. And in my experience in talking to technology executives, journalists and suburban parents, Facebook comes up frequently and MySpace never does. The only exceptions are my friends in the music industry, where every band still seems to have a MySpace page.

Clearly, my social set is hardly representative. ComScore finds MySpace has younger users with lower incomes than Facebook. When I spoke last fall at Ferris State University in western Michigan, a school that focuses on career training, the students I asked were split about evenly between Facebook and MySpace. (No one used Twitter.)

When I reread the article I wrote in 2006 about the high hopes News Corporation had for MySpace, I see a litany of ideas that didn’t pan out. The company wanted to make the site a portal for its own video; Hulu fills that need. It wanted to create a marketplace for person-to-person commerce, a more social eBay. There’s little sign of that outside of some music sales. And it’s not so clear that the site has continued to weave itself into the communications patterns of people.

So let’s bring the Bits readers into a bit of crowdsourced reporting. Do you use MySpace? Do you know anyone who does? Why? Please post your experience in the comments below.

We asked a similar question about AOL in September, and we learned that the service has quite a following, but the biggest reason is that people don’t want to change their e-mail addresses. “Inertia Rocks,” one reader wrote.

Clearly there is some inertia in social networking. You’ll be lonely if you are the first one of your friends to move to a new site (unless you live within 20 miles of University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., in which case you might be cool). But MySpace always had a bit of a disco feel to it, and I wonder if it is simply vulnerable to changing fashion.

Three years ago, I quoted Heather Candella, a college student from Sloatsburg, N.Y., saying “When you meet someone, the question is not ‘What’s your number? It’s ‘What’s your MySpace?’ ”

Do any of you ask people any more “What’s your MySpace?”

Source: The New York Times

Samsung R610-64G

This middle-of-the-pack all-purpose notebook hits the spot for everyday use, but disappoints with some display shortcomings.

Yet another notebook trend is on the rise: Laptops that try to straddle the fine line between portable media player and desktop replacement. They sport comparatively large displays (and footprints) with lower price tags than one would assume for the privilege. Take Samsung's R610. This notebook shows promise--but also may be a source of mobile frustration. It's attractive enough on the outside, and the $899 asking price is appealing enough, but unfortunately the underwhelming quality of its 16-inch-diagonal screen makes the R610 a tough sell.

The model makes a fair showing in its components, though it's nowhere near the top of the line: It has an Intel T7250 2.0GHz processor, 3GB of DDR2800 RAM, and a 220GB hard drive. The review unit also came equipped with an nVidia GeForce Go 9200GS 512MB video card. But does that discrete card translate into performance that'll keep you even remotely entertained?

Well, the laptop didn't do too shabbily in PC WorldBench 6 tests. No speedster by any means (it scored a modest 84), the R610 is perfectly suited for everyday use. That puts it in a dead heat with Gateway's smaller, spunkier UC7807u. You might be tempted to try your hand at entertaining yourself with it as well, but you'll get mixed results. In games, the R610 is a bit of a dud, running Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and UT 3 at around 16 frames per second (flip books have more fluid animation). I also loaded up one of my current standbys, Valve's Left 4 Dead, a great-looking game. But even at 720 by 480 resolution and medium settings, the R610 stumbled when action got too busy. The 9200GS video card is clearly geared more toward video decoding duties for HD content (which the R610 handled perfectly well with various HD video files) than for action games.

In battery life tests, the R610 wins back a couple of points, lasting approximately 3 hours on a charge. For a larger all-purpose machine, that's fairly average.

Stylistically, the R610 is attractive but it's far from a standout. While the high-gloss surface looks nice, that style invariably attracts scratches, smudges, and fingerprints that take constant polishing to remove. Otherwise, it seems okay. Samsung: Please consider moving forward aesthetically--just look at what Lenovo does with its IdeaPad Y650, a similarly equipped system.

The R610's keyboard is comfortable and easy to use. Unlike most other recent large notebooks, the R610 avoids dedicated media controls or extraneous function keys, for a cleaner, more elegant surface. It also makes room for a good-sized 10-key number pad, offsetting the alphabet portion of the keyboard to the left to do so, an alignment that takes some getting used to. But while the left Ctrl key is at half-size to accommodate the Function modifier key (a pet peeve of mine), it sits in the lower left corner as it should, so touch-typing skills from standard QWERTY keyboards still apply.

By far the biggest--and most surprising--disappointment is the screen. The native display resolution is a comparatively low 1366 by 768, which makes it difficult to manage multiple tasks effectively. This isn't always fatal, as the Lenovo Y650's similar display still managed to look sharp enough with good colors, brightness, and viewing angles. The R610, on the other hand, looks bad. And it comes from a company that's delivered several notebooks whose screens we saluted, such as the X460.

The R610's image quality is slightly blurry, the colors seem washed out, and the vertical viewing angles are much worse than on comparable notebooks. You need to adjust the screen to the correct angle, or you're going to have a tough time seeing colors accurately. While the brightness is high, the glossy screen doesn't become noticeably less viewable in moderate sunlight. The R610 can handle video without any noticeable problems, but the quality of the screen may convince you to avoid media on it entirely. Samsung does offer a version of the R610 with a 1080p display (along with a Blu-ray drive), so if you're absolutely set on this model, I would strongly advise ponying up for the upgraded display if you can afford it.

At least the R610 has a reasonable layout. The easily-removable battery has an LED indicator for how much juice is left. The hard drive and the RAM are located under separate, easily removed panels that are accessible with a minimum of fuss, but the plastic tabs in place mean you must pry a bit to get at each expansion area.

The R610 also has a reasonable selection of inputs bristling around its sides. On the right is a USB port and the DVD-RW drive; on the left, an ExpressCard slot, another USB port, VGA and HDMI outputs, and headphone and microphone jacks. On the back are a pair of USB ports, a gigabit ethernet connection, and a modem port. And an SD card slot juts from the front. While the hookups would look a little ridiculous if you had to use most or all of the ports at once, the array does make quick plug-ins of your USB devices convenient (since ports are almost anywhere you could conceivably reach). However, I'm disappointed by the lack of eSATA ports. Though still considered slightly higher-end, hybrid USB/eSATA ports are appearing in a growing number of notebooks these days, and the absence of one here is a shame.

Things perk up a little with the included speakers. Apart from the usual issues with notebook audio--namely, no bass to speak of and slightly muddy middle and upper ranges--the speakers provide otherwise clean sound and good volume. The audio hardware also seems to be well shielded, with no perceivable buzz or hum over the headphone, even at high volume.

The backup software suite gets the job done, with the now-standard recovery utilities allowing you to easily create backup images with a minimum of stress. I won't ding Samsung for it, but seeing a driver-level backup option in a future version would be welcome--Acer's software does that. The interactive user guide is a nice touch, and a good replacement for the confusing multilanguage nightmares that ship with most laptops.

The Samsung R610 at first sounds like a great deal: For around 900 dollars (list), you're getting a huge screen and dedicated video capability with a reasonably attractive exterior. Unfortunately, the screen quality greatly erodes that value proposition. Still, if your bank account can handle a little more strain (for an upgraded display), the R610 could be worth a second look. After all, it costs less than the likes of Dell's XPS Studio 16 and HP's HDX16.

Source: PC World

Mini-Links to Web Sites Are Multiplying

If you have spent any time on the Internet in the last few months, chances are you have clicked on a shortened link Web address.

URL shorteners, which abbreviate unwieldy Web addresses into bite-size links, have been around for years. The most popular service, TinyURL.com, was started in 2002 by a unicyclist named Kevin Gilbertson.

But the tools have soared in popularity recently, in part because of microblogging sites like Twitter and Facebook, where messages are limited in length and every character counts.

URL shorteners are easy to build, and dozens of competitors have proliferated, with minimalist, character-conserving names like Bit.ly, Is.gd and Tr.im. Most of them are simple tools created as a labor of love with no real business model behind them.

Shorteners, however, could have real value beyond making Web addresses more manageable, said Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land.

They have the ability to keep track of use — how many times a particular link was clicked and the geographic location of the clickers — which could be valuable to marketers, news outlets and companies looking to measure the impact of a link, tweet or mention online.

“The tracking element is very important,” said Mr. Sullivan. Some tools even highlight comments posted to Facebook or FriendFeed about a particular link — features that standard tools like Google Analytics may not be able to provide.

One popular link shortening service, Bit.ly, is trying to build a business around that kind of data.

Betaworks Studios is a New York technology incubator that has invested in Tumblr, a microblogging tool; OMGPOP, a social gaming site; and Outside.in, a hyperlocal news aggregator. It developed Bit.ly as an internal tool for its portfolio of companies to use.

“It emerged as much more than that,” said John Borthwick, the chief executive of Betaworks. “Everyone from Dell to Demi Moore is on Twitter and could want to track their emerging social system.”

Since Bit.ly was introduced last year, its volume has soared. The company says that now 50 million Bit.ly links are clicked each week — more than double the rate of early April. “And next week, we’re expecting to hit 60 million,” said Andrew Weissman, the chief operating officer of Betaworks.

The growth has attracted venture financing. Bit.ly recently announced that it had raised $2 million from investors that included Alpha Tech Ventures, the software industry pioneer Mitch Kapor and the early Google investor Ron Conway.

“The Web has been devoid of a feedback loop for a while,” said Christopher Sacca, an investor who has financed several Web start-ups, including Bit.ly, Twitter and Photobucket.

Because Bit.ly tracks its clipped URLs in real time, no matter where they are posted — instant messages, Twitter, Facebook, blogs or e-mail — the service could become “a real source for extracting information about how people are using the Web,” Mr. Sacca said.

In addition to tracking links, Bit.ly uses a service called Calais, developed by Thomson Reuters, that can extract semantic terms from the Web pages that Bit.ly users are redirected to. This allows Bit.ly track the most popular topics being shared across the Web, as well as zero in on a specific category like finance or health care and retrieve the most popular Web sites shared on that subject in the last 24 hours.

The company hopes that being able to track the “social distribution of information in real-time,” as Mr. Borthwick describes it, could potentially be relevant to the future of Web search.

Although Bit.ly is not yet sure how to make money from all this data, “there’s a business model here,” Mr. Borthwick said. “We can smell it.”

For all the convenience of short URLs, some Internet security experts worry that they could be used to camouflage spam and phishing attacks and redirect people to malicious Web sites.

“People have no way to know where they’re going,” said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor at F-Secure Security Labs, a maker of security software. “These services are great and they serve a purpose, but at the same time, there is a darker side.”

And if a shortening site shuts down, any links funneled through it would be lost forever, Mr. Runald said.

Bit.ly says it is developing an archive system to keep links from decaying and employs several filters and a preview function in Firefox and TweetDeck, a desktop application for Twitter, to help cut back on spam.

Given the ease of use, the bigger threat to start-up companies like Bit.ly is that major corporations will create their own custom URL shorteners to bolster their brands. Digg, StumbleUpon and FriendFeed recently unveiled shortening services, and it would be easy for the big social networks, like Facebook or Twitter, to create their own. And there is always the chance that a heavyweight like Google will step in and obliterate the competition.

“That’s always a risk, but we’re racing to establish ourselves in the market,” said Mr. Weissman. “We’re willing to bet that innovation comes from weird little corners of the Internet, like this.”

Source: New York Times

Runco Sticking with Plasmas, LCDs

Despite other manufacturers dropping from the market, high-end company says it's sticking around.

High-performance display manufacturer Runco says it is reaffirming “its unyielding commitment” to high-end plasmas and LCDs, despite manufacturers who have recently dropped TV lines.

In the past few months, we’ve seen Pioneer drop completely out of the display business, while manufacturers like Vizio aren’t manufacturing plasmas at all.

“Unlike other brands that proved unsuccessful in providing flat panel solutions for dealers within the custom installation channel, Runco continues to provide LCDs and plasmas that are demonstrably superior to the ubiquitous big-brand panels,” says Matt Christensen, Runco’s manager of product marketing.

We’ve documented the evolution of TV technologies, from the fattest CRTs to super-slim OLEDs, but it’s tough to think that flat panels are going anywhere, anytime soon.

Despite talk of banning plasmas in Europe and California considering prohibiting retailers from selling non-energy efficient TVs, it seems more likely that sales of displays will slow because of the economy—not because of the technology.

So, if you’re looking to get a Runco display, check with your local dealer: they’ll still have them.

Of course, the alternative is to win one on The Price is Right.

Source: Electronic House

RIM to Bind BlackBerry to Cisco Phones

Research In Motion and Cisco Systems are teaming up to let enterprises integrate their BlackBerrys with Cisco IP phones, providing single-number capability and other features.

The integration, announced Monday, comes in the form of RIM's BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS) Server for Cisco Unified Communications Manager. It brings together the top enterprise mobile platform with the dominant networking vendor's IP (Internet Protocol) voice and messaging system. Unified communications, a concept Cisco has aggressively pushed, is aimed in part at making individuals reachable anywhere, so mobile devices are a key element of the picture.

RIM introduced the MVS Server last year after developing it from technology it acquired through the purchase of Ascendent Systems in 2007. It developed BlackBerry MVS Server for Cisco Unified Communications Manager through Cisco's Technology Developer Program.

RIM announced the deal as it geared up to meet customers Tuesday through Thursday at its Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Florida. Also on Monday, the company announced a business software partnership with Hewlett-Packard, a push API (application programming interface) for consumer application developers and the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.

By bringing together their BlackBerry and Cisco infrastructures, enterprises can make users reachable with one number, one caller ID and one voicemail box for both their mobile and desk phones. When calls come in, they may ring simultaneously on as many as four devices, including BlackBerrys and Cisco IP desk phones, or ring one device after another in a sequence. Alternatively, employees can make calls out from the BlackBerry using either the smartphone's own number or an enterprise line.

The deal also brings to BlackBerrys the functions that workers are used to on their desk phones, including extension calling and transfers. In addition, they can also move a call from the mobile to the desk phone while it's in progress, according to RIM.

Administrators also get new capabilities with the combined Cisco and RIM technology. Using BlackBerry MVS Server, they can set up tightly defined calling policies that can be the same for both desk and mobile phones, or different for each. For example, an administrator could block incoming or outgoing international calls or 411 calls to rein in telecommunications expenses.

RIM and Cisco also will help enterprises move beyond the traditional system of mobile-phone numbers being assigned to individuals. Their integrated system allows employers to assign a phone number to the employee's BlackBerry and keep the number after the employee leaves. That means, for example, that the contact point for a sales representative won't automatically go with them to a competing company, RIM said.

BlackBerry MVS for Cisco Unified Communications Manager will be available for North American customers in the third quarter of this year and require BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1.5 or later and Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.1 or later. The MVS client software will run on phones with BlackBerry Device Software 4.5 or later. Other versions of BlackBerry MVS Server are already available for a variety of enterprise voice systems, including hybrid circuit-switched and IP systems.

Source: PC World

Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts

Soaring online demand stretching companies' ability to deliver content as net uses more power and raises costs.

The internet's increasing appetite for electricity poses a major threat to companies such as Google, according to scientists and industry executives.

Leading figures have told the Guardian that many internet companies are struggling to manage the costs of delivering billions of web pages, videos and files online – in a "perfect storm" that could even threaten the future of the internet itself.

"In an energy-constrained world, we cannot continue to grow the footprint of the internet … we need to rein in the energy consumption," said Subodh Bapat, vice-president at Sun Microsystems, one of the world's largest manufacturers of web servers.

Bapat said the network of web servers and data centres that store online information is becoming more expensive, while profits come under pressure as a result of the recession.

"We need more data centres, we need more servers. Each server burns more watts than the previous generation and each watt costs more," he said. "If you compound all of these trends, you have the perfect storm."

With more than 1.5 billion people online around the world, scientists estimate that the energy footprint of the net is growing by more than 10% each year. This leaves many internet companies caught in a bind: energy costs are escalating because of their increasing popularity, while at the same time their advertising revenues come under pressure from the recession.

One site under particular scrutiny is YouTube — now the world's third-biggest website, but one that requires a heavy subsidy from Google, its owner. Although the site's financial details are kept under wraps, a recent analysis by Credit Suisse suggested that it could lose as much as $470m (£317m) this year, as it succumbs to the high price of delivering power-intensive videos over the internet.

And while the demand for electricity is a primary concern, a secondary result of the explosion of internet use is that the computer industry's carbon debt is increasing drastically. From having a relatively small impact just a few years ago, it is now leapfrogging other sectors like the airline industry that are more widely known for their negative environmental impact.

However, tracking the growth of the internet's energy use is difficult, since internal company estimates of power consumption are rarely made public.

"A lot of this internet stuff is fairly secretive," Rich Brown, an energy analyst at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, told the Guardian.

"Google is probably the best example: they see it as a trade secret: how many data centres they have, how big they are, how many servers they have."

One study by Brown, commissioned by the US environmental protection agency, suggested that US data centres used 61bn kilowatt hours of energy in 2006. That is enough to supply the whole of the UK for two months, and 1.5% of the entire electricity usage of the US.

Brown said that despite efforts to achieve greater efficiency, internet use is growing at such a rate that it is outstripping technical improvements – meaning that American data centres could account for as much as 80bn kWh this year.

"Efficiency is being more than overwhelmed by continued growth and demand for new services," he said. "It's a common story … technical improvements are often taken back by increased demand."

Among the problems that could result from the internet's voracious hunger for electricity are website failures and communications disruption costing millions in lost business every hour – as well as power cuts and brownouts at plants which supply data centres with electricity.

To combat this, initiatives are taking place across the industry to cope with the problem, including new designs for data centres, innovative cooling methods and more investment in renewable energy.

Researchers at Microsoft's £50m research lab in Cambridge are even turning to older technology in an attempt to turn the clock back – by replacing energy-hungry new machines with the systems used in older, less powerful laptops.

"It turns out that those processors have been designed to be very energy efficient, basically to make batteries last," said Andrew Herbert, the director of Microsoft Research Cambridge.

"We found we can build more energy-efficient data centres with those than with the kind of high performance processors you find in a typical server."

Google was among the first internet companies to take action to reduce its footprint by developing its own data centres — but even though it pumped an estimated $2.3bn into infrastructure projects last year, it remains unclear whether it is winning the battle.

The company's vice-president of operations, Urs Hölzle, told the Guardian that it was struggling to contain energy costs. "You have exponential growth in demand from users, and many of these services are free so you don't have exponential growth of revenue to go with it," he said.

"With good engineering we're trying to make those two even out … but the power bill is going up."

Despite mounting evidence that the internet's energy footprint is in danger of running out of control, however, Hölzle dismissed concerns about the environmental impact of using the web as "overblown".

"One mile of driving completely dwarfs the cost of a search," he said. "Internet usage is part of our consumption, just like TV is, or driving. There is consumption there, but in the grand scheme of things I think it is not the problem."

Source: Guardian

ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Netbook

For many netbook fans, the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbook is the top netbook: it’s the bestselling netbook on the market.

It’s odd that Asustek, having kicked off the netbook trend in 2007, still holds its grip on the top spot. You’d think that a bigger vendor – one that’s a household name in the U.S., unlike Asustek – would have pulled out all the stops to offer a better selling unit.

But no. In the same way that Honda and Toyota own the car market, and Nike says “athletic shoes,” ASUS sits supreme in netbooks, as this very hot 1000HE attests.

Major plus: this version of the Eee PC has an improved keyboard, 92 percent of full size, with keys more comfortably spaced. And the all-important right-shift key is moved to an ergonomic position. Plus, a series of function buttons above the keyboard helps you make changes quickly. Unlike some small units, the 1000HE has a decently sized touchpad.

This unit’s 10.1-inch screen is among the widest in the netbook world.

Another major plus: the ASUS 1000HE is known for its long battery life. The six-cell unit runs for more than six hours. Given that netbook life is all about on-the-go, this is a key factor.

The 1000HE comes with the Intel Atom N280 processor, which is marginally faster – though perhaps hardly noticeable – than the N270 chip in most netbooks.

If getting the smallest of the small units is your fondest netbook desire, the 1000HE isn’t your top choice. The Asus Eee PC has traditional been a bit tubbier. The HP Mini 1000 is lighter, and the high-priced Sony Lifestyle PC is the smallest of them all.

Another popular ASUS Eee PC choice is the 900HA, which has a 8.9-inch screen and shaves about $90 off the price.

Or, you might consider the hottest member of the Asus line. If you’re willing to pay for it, look the ASUS N10J-A1. It has high-end (for a netbook) descrete graphics, allowing you to be a gamer anywhere you have your netbook. Plus it’s got an Expresscard slot to hook in cool peripherals. Its current base price is in the hefty $675 range.

The Asus 1000HE narrowly won Laptop magazine’s Netbook madness readers poll, besting ultra-hot competitor Samsung NC10. Mainly because “it’s cheaper and last more than a whooping hour longer on [battery] charge,” wrote Laptop.

CNET’s netbook review pronounces the ASUS 1000HE “very good,” noting that it’s “an overdue overhaul that offers a new CPU and great battery life.”

Specs: Intel Atom N280; 160 GB hard drive; comes with 10 GB of file-encrypted Eee Online Storage; 1 GM RAM: 1024 x 600 resolution; keyboard is 92% the size of full-size notebooks; six cell battery; Wi-Fi 802.11n (2.4GHz only); Eee Connect for an easy way to connect two or more users through a remote desktop feature for easy troubleshooting; 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x VGA port, 2 x Audio input/output ports, 1 x RJ-45 port; built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and Digital Array microphones.

Base price: $389

Check prices:

Google: ASUS Eee PC 1000HE

Amazon: ASUS Eee PC 1000HE

Product page: ASUS Eee PC 1000HE

HP Probook 4510S

Get a peek at HP's attempt to create a stylish business laptop that watches your bottom line.

HP is giving its business laptops a facelift. The results: The HP ProBook S-series--a budget-minded little brother to the EliteBooks.

What happens when HP sheds the "Elite" status? You get a minimalist working solution that costs as little as $529. You'll find a fairly large, comfortable keyboard with cut-out chiclet keys and a choice of colors beyond black ("Merlot" and "Noir" finishes). HP could be onto something. We don't put pre-production models through the PC WorldBench 6 test suite, so here's the skinny after a quick hands-on with the all-purpose wunderkind.

The 1366-by-768-resolution screen seems a little on the tiny side considering that it could (and if you ask me, should) go higher, but it can at least handle 720p video. Since the resolution is kept moderately low, the standard GPU will be a gimpy integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD. Of course, you'll be able to up the video ante with ATI's 512MB Mobility Radeon HD 4330 GPU for a few dollars more.

What really impresses is the spacious keyboard. The cut-out keys create enough of a gap between buttons and HP even manages to fit in a 10-key keyboard without it feeling too squeezed. Also, the final models come with a textured coating that makes the buttons more scratch-resistant. The mouse is slightly off-center and the buttons have a solid, lush feel.

Mobile travelers will welcome the option for built-in Gobi wireless broadband. And just about everyone else should welcome the option for a discrete GPU (highly recommended) because this machine probably won't exactly rock PC WorldBench 6 tests. The starter configuration (which sells for $529) ships with an Intel Celeron 1.83-GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB HDD. Model prices jump to $699 when you pop in a Core 2 Duo CPU.

And if you ask me, that "s" in the name is all about software. HP is pushing its business-friendly security features such as Drive Encryption, File Sanitizer, and Credential Manager (a one-stop sign-on for securely stashing credentials) into these value-proposition notebooks. Me? I'm more interested in the QuickLook 2 software. It provides access to basic contact info and e-mail without having to jump into the operating system. Just tap the shortcut button and you don't need to bother with Windows when you're in a hurry.

So, is this model right for you? Look for a full review as soon as we get a final unit.

Source: PC World

Samsung NC10 NetBook

Samsung's first dip into the netbook market has its flaws, but it still manages to deliver good battery life and a somewhat stylish case.

Samsung's NC10 isn't just a netbook--it's a series of interesting choices. It scores a couple points with a good screen, great battery life, and keys sized appropriately for human hands. However, before we rip into this review, you should be aware that a better, more satisfying model--the Samsung N110--is on the scene as well.

Back to the netbook at hand. When I first laid hands on the NC10, my gut reaction was that it seemed an awful lot like the original Lenovo IdeaPad S10. Measuring 10.3 by 7.3 by 1.5 inches and weighing 2.9 pounds, it has similar lines and a similar layout to that machine. And it has a similar price--it sells for about $440. But after shaking off that creeping sense of déjà vu, I grew to love--and hate--the NC10 for a couple of reasons.

Let's stick with the positives for now. The matte screen is an unusual choice, but the 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-pixel panel works fairly well in all sorts of lighting conditions. It's also reasonably bright, given how matte displays don't pop as well as glossy screens.

The buttons are satisfying, too, and the firm, solid keys give a little as you push down; the experience is, again, reminiscent of what you have on the S10. Lacking any extra shortcut buttons (like the S10), it comes across as a somewhat stylish but ordinary netbook. It's a matter of personal taste, of course. I happen to think that the HP Mini 1000, for example, makes better use of its space with its wide, flat keyboard.

Where things really start going south is when you try to use the NC10's touchpad. The touchpad's surface is relatively problem-free, but the second you push the mouse button, the thing feels like it's going to fall apart. You have to push the single-button bar down below the surface for the press to register; press the left side of the bar, say, and the right side of the bar juts up. I'd be more than a little let down if I saw that happen on my new netbook--it makes the machine feel a little chintzy overall. I blame the boxy design: Its layout effectively makes mousing more difficult. Design shouldn't get in the way of navigation.

Otherwise, in this machine you get the standard-issue assortment of features, namely an SD Card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA, ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, headphone and microphone jacks, and a Webcam. Don't forget the tinny speakers--all too common on netbooks. It also packs a 160GB hard drive.

Like other netbooks, the NC10 is no speed demon: Its 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and 1GB of RAM helped it complete our WorldBench 6 tests about as successfully as the initial batch of netbooks using the same processor did. It scored a 35, landing in the middle of the pack. Where it did shine, though, was in battery life, as it hung on for just under 7 hours before giving out. That counts as one of the brighter spots of this netbook.

The best features are found in the software package. The handy Samsung Recovery Solution III backup and system-restore program even throws in a couple of suggestions regarding the possible causes of your machine's problems, giving you a recommended course of backup action to resolve the matter. Easy Network Manager lets you quickly and effortlessly connect to networks; it's a superfluous bit of software for anyone remotely savvy enough, but it puts a pretty face on the standard Windows XP option. I even like the well-annotated and easily navigable digital user guide. I'm not kidding--I wish every netbook came this well prepared for battle.

Obviously, a near-7-hour battery life is important for long-haul trips, but if you're spending half that time wondering whether you'll break the mouse button, you might be a little down on this netbook. That said, the NC10 gets more than enough right to make it a worthy option. My advice: Take a look at the N110. It costs only $30 more, it improves on the biggest complaint I've lodged here, and it has a longer battery life. Tough call.

Source: PC World

Asus Eee PC 1008HA Manual appears, non-replaceable battery confirmed

The manual for Asus’ slender Eee PC 1008HA Seashell netbook has appeared on its official support page. The manual confirms that the battery will not be user-replaceable, which means that if you do need the battery changed you will have to send it back to Asus. The 1008HA Seashell should last for around 6 hours according to the company. Apart from that, there’s not too much we didn’t already know. Asus has made strange port placement decisions, where we find the VGA port under a flap on the bottom of the chassis. To maintain the sexy image, Asus has also placed ports on the left and right side of the chassis under flaps too. However, in another strange move, it has placed the battery and power charge indicators towards the rear of the chassis. This means you’ll have to keep turning the Seashell around to see the lights. The manual can be downloaded here. Check out some pictures after the break.




Source: NetBook Choice

Looking to Big-Screen E-Readers to Help Save the Daily Press

The iPod stemmed losses in the music industry. The Kindle gave beleaguered book publishers a reason for optimism.

Now the recession-ravaged newspaper and magazine industries are hoping for their own knight in shining digital armor, in the form of portable reading devices with big screens.

Unlike tiny mobile phones and devices like the Kindle that are made to display text from books, these new gadgets, with screens roughly the size of a standard sheet of paper, could present much of the editorial and advertising content of traditional periodicals in generally the same format as they appear in print. And they might be a way to get readers to pay for those periodicals — something they have been reluctant to do on the Web.

Such e-reading devices are due in the next year from a range of companies, including the News Corporation, the magazine publisher Hearst and Plastic Logic, a well-financed start-up company that expects to start making digital newspaper readers by the end of the year at a plant in Dresden, Germany.

But it is Amazon, maker of the Kindle, that appears to be first in line to try throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies. As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer’s plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks.

An Amazon spokesman would not comment, but some news organizations, including The New York Times, are expected to be involved in the introduction of the device, according to people briefed on the plans. A spokeswoman for The Times, Catherine J. Mathis, said she could not comment on the company’s relationship with Amazon.

These devices from Amazon and other manufacturers offer an almost irresistible proposition to newspaper and magazine industries. They would allow publishers to save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time when their businesses are under historic levels of pressure.

“We are looking at this with a great deal of interest,” said John Ridding, the chief executive of the 121-year-old, salmon-colored British newspaper The Financial Times. “The severe double whammy of the recession and the structural shift to the Internet has created an urgency that has rightly focused attention on these devices.”

Perhaps most appealing about this new class of reading gadgets is the opportunity they offer publishers to rethink their strategy in a rapidly evolving digital world. The move by newspapers and magazines to make their material freely available on the Web is now viewed by many as a critical blunder that encouraged readers to stop paying for the print versions. And publishers have found that they were not prepared to deal with the recent rapid decline of print advertising revenue.

Publishers could possibly use these new mobile reading devices to hit the reset button and return in some form to their original business model: selling subscriptions, and supporting their articles with ads.

The current version of the Kindle has proved in a limited way that this is possible. Even though its six-inch black-and-white screen is made for reading books, Amazon offers Kindle owners subscriptions to more than 58 newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. (The Journal subscription costs $9.99 a month, The Times is $13.99 a month and The New Yorker is $2.99 a month.)

Subscribers get updates once a day over a cellular network. Amazon and other participating publishers say they are satisfied with the results, although they have not released data on the number of subscriptions that have been sold.

For the all the hope publishers are placing in dedicated electronic reading devices, they will be encumbered at the start with some serious shortcomings. Most use display technology from E Ink, a company in Cambridge, Mass., that was founded in 1997 based on research started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. Media Lab to develop thin electronic displays capable of mimicking the readability of regular paper, while using a minimum amount of battery power.

The screens, which are currently in the Kindle and Sony Reader, display no color or video and update images at a slower rate than traditional computer screens. That has some people in the magazine industry, in particular, keeping their hopes in check until E Ink evolves.

“I don’t think we would be anywhere near as excited about anything in black and white as we would about high-definition color,” said Tom Wallace, the editorial director of Condé Nast, publisher of glossy magazines like Vogue and Wired. “But technology changes at a pretty high clip these days, and if we are now in the Farmer Gray days, it will be only a very short while until we are in the video game era.”

Another hitch is that some makers of reading devices, like Amazon, want to set their own subscription prices for publications and control the relationship with the subscriber — something media companies like Condé Nast object to. Plastic Logic and Hearst have said publicly that they will take a more open approach and let media companies deal directly with readers and set their own prices.

Then there is the looming presence of Apple, which seems likely to introduce a multipurpose tablet computer later this year, according to rumor and speculation by Apple observers. Such a device, with a screen that is said to be about three or four times as large as the iPhone’s, would have an LCD screen capable of showing rich color and video, and people could use it to browse the Web.

Even if such a device has limited battery life and strains readers’ eyes, for many buyers it could be a more appealing alternative to devices dedicated to reading books, newspapers and magazines.

Such a Web-connected tablet would also pose a problem for any print publications that hope to try charging for content that is tailored for mobile devices, since users could just visit their free sites on the Internet. One way to counter this might be to borrow from the cellphone model and offer specialized reading devices free or at a discount to people who commit to, say, a one-year subscription.

Then there is the possibility that all these devices from Amazon, Apple and the rest have simply not appeared in time to save many players in the troubled realm of print media.

“If these devices had been ready for the general consumer market five years ago, we probably could have taken advantage of them quickly,” said Roger Fidler, the program director for digital publishing at the University of Missouri, Columbia. “Now the earliest we might see large-scale consumer adoption is next year, and unlike the iPod it’s going to be a slower process migrating people from print to the device.”

“And all of us are very worried about how newspapers are going to survive in the next few years if we don’t see any turnaround in the economy,” Mr. Fidler said.

Whether or not the situation is hopeless, newspapers and magazines now find themselves weighing offers of aid from outsiders. When asked at the debut of the Kindle 2 in February whether the Kindle could help the print media, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, said he thought there were “genuine opportunities” to save journalism.

“And we’re excited about helping with that,” he added.

Sources: The new York Times

Survey: iPhone ranks highest among smartphone buyers

Apple is tops when it comes to consumer satisfaction among smartphone manufacturers, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study and the 2009 Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study. Apple managed to score a 791 on a 1,000 point scale, performing well in areas of ease of use, operating system, features, and physical design.

The two studies examined consumer satisfaction from a wide variety of categories, with all of the aforementioned categories (plus "battery function") holding particular importance to smartphone users. Apple managed to get the highest ranking among smartphone consumers, though LG and Samsung didn't fare too poorly either—they got scores of 772 and 759, respectively. When it came to traditional phones, LG ranked the highest with an overall score of 733.

"As consumers continuously upgrade to mobile phones that allow a full mobile-Web experience, advanced multimedia programs and 3G data downloads, overall handset satisfaction should continue to rise, as these devices tend to make our lives more convenient and prove entertaining," J.D. Power and Associates' Kirk Parsons said in a statement. "It is crucial, however, that manufacturers ensure these features are intuitive and that wireless carriers educate customers to maximize their wireless experience. While manufacturers continue to develop advanced features, they must also continue to provide a high-quality calling experience for their users."

Though some of us wouldn't exactly categorize the iPhone's calling experience as "high quality," the rest of the iPhone certainly delivers in ways that many other phones do not. Previous surveys have shown the iPhone rocking the satisfaction charts thanks to ease of use, expandability provided by the App Store, and Apple's responsiveness to fixing problems with frequent firmware updates. It's clear that—despite its problems—the iPhone has managed to win many fans among mobile buyers.

Source: Ars Technica

How To Buy Computer Hardware For Your Business

Many small and mid-size businesses are struggling, but they still need to invest in hardware. The challenge is knowing what you need and getting good bang for the buck. BMighty talked to some experts about when to upgrade your equipment and what to consider during the purchasing process.

Amid the paid of recession, the stimulus bill presents a silver lining: Section 179 of the tax code. It lets businesses deduct the costs of certain purchases, such as computer equipment. Congress doubled the amount businesses can write off, to $250,000--but only through Dec. 31, 2009. That leaves companies 10 months to figure out how to make wise hardware investments.

While 78% of mid-size companies and 82% of large ones aim to purchase hardware in the next six months, just 32% of small plan to, according to a recent CDW IT Monitor study. Trepidation is understandable in this economic climate, but it shouldn't preclude action for those needing new iron to stay competitive.

What To Buy

A study from Cisco (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), the networking giant, found that businesses want three things from new hardware: customer engagement, employee connectivity and security. The menu includes mobile devices, networking equipment, virus protection and storage.

What should small and mid-size companies be buying? Bandwidth, says Rick Moran, VP of Cisco's SMB solutions marketing. "A broadband connection is needed to connect to the network," he said. "You might choose to use wireless, but you need the combination of both." On the telephony side, Moran said businesses need some sort of mobile device and plenty of storage capacity. To a certain extent, you get what you pay for, in terms of the ability to reduce costs, manage risks and improve customer service.

Ron Kline, director of global marketing for IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) general business, reminds entrepreneurs to keep in mind that we're living in a time of "tremendous connectivity." His advice: "Small and mid-size businesses are going to be overwhelmed with the data available, and they need an infrastructure to help them sort through it all."

Because of the interconnectedness, it's important to have a system based on open architecture, Kline adds, which effectively extends the life of whatever machinery you have. Another trend is virtualization, which involves partitioning the hardware's memory to simulate multiple machines within one physical piece of equipment. "There are servers out there that are less than 15% utilized," said Kline. "So if you can virtualize your hardware, you can save a lot of money." An extra benefit of virtualization is that it's a cheap, easy way to be green, mainly through the decrease in power consumption.

Ask, too, what functioned can be outsourced. Too scared to let your data reside outside your own internal servers? Says Kline: "We've got hardened data centers that are partitioned off to particular clients, and the risk of losing that data is less than a smaller company getting corrupted."

When to Buy

Small companies often replace equipment on a schedule--no matter if the stuff is broken, antiquated or in fine shape. Bad move. "Maybe you still want to upgrade, but more holistically rather than automatically," says Kris Barker, chief executive of Express Metrix, which makes software that facilitates tech-buying decisions. "You want to understand ways of providing machine upgrades without throwing one out and bringing another in."

Kline recommends noting what hardware is interrelated--meaning that upgrading one item may involve touching up something else. Example: New switchers and routers can take advantage of improved broadband. However, if the connections aren't compatible, your Web service won't improve. Not that you should buy everything all at once, either.

How to Buy

Believe it or not, there are quite a number of financing options for smaller companies, if not always through traditional banks. "There's a point of ignorance in that small and mid-size businesses don't realize they don't have to go near their bank," said Maryann Von Seggern, senior director at Cisco Capital. "They have other, alternate sources of capital that are available to them."

IBM has its own financing program, too, while Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) and Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) are gunning for the small- and mid-size-business market by offering special programs, some of which offer 0% financing.

There are even financial rewards for going green. Here are a few ways the government can help:

Loans, Grants and Incentives for Energy-Efficient Projects. Find information about the various programs here.

Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency. Home builders, manufacturers and commercial building owners are among the small businesses that can benefit from federal tax credits available for making energy-efficiency upgrades. Find out more here.

State Government. State, local and regional programs help small businesses become more energy efficient through financial assistance programs that aid small-business owners in conducting energy audits and implementing energy-efficient technology. Find out more here.

The financial crisis has changed the way entrepreneurs invest precious cash--and that means being even savvier consumers of computer hardware. "There are two ways to approach this," says Kline. "Hunker down and wait out the recession, or try to adjust and make sure you're embracing what this new world looks like. You'll emerge stronger and better able to compete."

Source: Forbes

How to import DVD to iTunes to play on iPod iPhone？

This guide is designed to help you rip DVD and import DVD videos to iTunes for iPod or iPhone, so that you can watch your favorite DVD movies on your iPod/ iPhone as you like.

This contains 3 parts:
1. How to rip DVD files into MP4/MOV/AAC formats for playback on iPhone/iPod?

2. How to make perfect video editing by cropping, trimming, effect adjusting and watermark designing?

3. How to import converted files to iPod/ iPhone?

Part 1: How to rip DVD files into MP4/MOV/AAC formats for playback on iPhone/iPod ?

Please download Daniusoft DVD ripper(http://www.convert-video-dvd.com/dvd-ripper.html#141), install and run it. It is one of the best DVD Converter, which can help you rip DVD to almost all video and audio formats. Then we can finish the conversion in 4 simple steps:

Step 1: Import DVD files.
You can either click Add button to insert the files you want to convert，or easily drag & drop the DVD files into ‘Getting started’ table. You are allowed to load DVD Rom, DVD folders, ISO files or IFO files respectively.

Step 2: Customize output settings.
Click the "Convert to" drop-down menu to select the output format. You can choose WMV or AVI format. Also, you are allowed to customize the output parameters by clicking “Settings” button .Then click the "Target Path" button to find the destination folder for saving output format, or the files will be saved as default. A regular DVD movie has multiple subtitles and audio tracks, and you can select the right one for you.

Step 3: Edit video files.(optional)
Click “Edit” button, you are allowed to make wonderful video editing by cropping, trimming, adjusting effect and editing watermark.

Step 4: Start conversion.
Click “Start” button on right bottom of the main interface, you are allowed to start conversion. All the tasks of conversion will be finished at fast speed and high output quality. You can view your converted files by press the browse button, or you can choose to turn off computer after conversion.

Part 2: How to make perfect video editing by cropping, trimming, effect adjusting and watermark designing?
Daniusoft DVD Ripper offers you powerful editing functions which allow you to crop, trim, adjust video effect, design watermark and customize output parameters.

Crop video size
If you want to get appropriate video size designed for your player, you can adjust video size by clicking "crop" after entering the edit page.

2. Adjust video effect
If you want to make special effect to your video, you can click "Effect" to adjust video effect.

3. Trim video clips
If you want to split your video into segment, you can click "Trim" to make trimming of video.

4. Design watermark
If you want to color your video by adding some text or image information as watermark, you can click "watermark" to realize it.

Part 3: How to import converted files to iPod/ iPhone?
After conversion, now we can import the converted files to iPod/ iPhone.

First, you need to launch iTunes, click File option on menu, and add your converted files to iTunes library. Then，connect your iPod/ iPhone to computer via USB cable, iTunes will detect your iPod/ iPhone. After that, click iTunes “File -> Sync iPod/ iPhone”, and the files will be transferred to your iPod/ iPhone from iTunes library. When updating completed, you will find the videos on you iPod/ iPhone.

Sources: PRLog

MSI's 14-inch Ultra-thin Notebook Launched

MSI has officially launched its MSI X-Slim series of ultra-thin notebooks for the Asia Pacific region in Japan. At the CeBIT 2009 expo in January, MSI had shown its X-Slim X340 and X600 models. Along with these two X-Slim models, another new 14-inch MSI X-Slim X400 model was also launched.

MSI's new X-Slim series ultra-thin notebooks are equipped with Intel's Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors. MSI X-Slim 400 was the one that caught the attention since, X340 and X400 had already been announced earlier in January.

As we previously mentioned, MSI X-Slim X340's ultra-thin form factor reminds us of Apple MacBook Air. Andy Tung, MSI's director of U.S. Sales, mentioned that MSI would be using Intel Montevina platform based CULV processors for better battery life and lower thermal power ratings.

Tung stated that X340 is expected to be priced around $750 (Rs. 37,500 approx.) and hence we expect the new 14-inch X400 and 16-inch X600 to be somewhere above Rs. 40,000 price point. Unfortunately, no further details about the pricing have yet been disclosed.

Amongst the line up of notebooks, we'll find a new sub-segment of slim and ultra-thin notebooks with Intel CULV processors. This is just the beginning and it would be interesting to see the competition when MSI's rival OEMs launch their respective models.

Sources: Tech Tree

Podio MP3 Player Speaker

Love cycling with your favorite tunes in tow? Instead of listening with a pair of headphones, why not get the Podio MP3 Player Speaker that not only comes with a built-in MP3 player, it also boasts a speaker and amp in a single device? All of the innards are stored in an 88mm long metal tube which can be attached to a bike’s handlebars. The Podio is powered by an internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can last for up to 20 hours, tipping the scales at just 139 grams. 2GB of internal storage space ought to be able to last you for quite some time during your workout, as long as you keep your file formats to WMA and MP3 territory. We have no word on pricing and availability at press time.
Sources: Ubergizmo

Microsoft may soon drop VISTA

Software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) may stop selling its Windows Vista operating system as soon as an upgraded version is available, a company manager said.

The company is "still not sure if (computer manufacturers) will be able to ship Vista once Windows 7 is made available," General Manager Richard Francis wrote in a recent e-mail, IDG News reported Monday.

Microsoft customers complained that the Vista system was slow and included cumbersome prompts that required granting permission for various tasks.

Last week, Microsoft released the beta version of Windows 7, in effect allowing customers to test-drive the system. It is the final stage of development before the company padlocks the code that will be shipped to computer companies, IDG reported.

Microsoft, meanwhile, appears ready to allow Vista to fade into obscurity.

"It's been a long time since we've had a version of Windows that will actually run better (than the previous version) on the hardware that most customers have," said Mike Nash, vice president of the Windows product management group at Microsoft, during a recent conference call.

Customers who purchasea PC with Windows 7 pre-installed will be allowed to downgrade to Vista," Francis said.

Sources: UPI

Cyber chief needs to be in White House: experts

WASHINGTON - The cybersecurity chief named to battle Internet viruses and larger challenges facing the information technology networks used by U.S. companies and national defense should be based in the White House, experts told a congressional panel on Friday.

Cybersecurity is important enough to warrant a White House staffer with real authority and a real budget, said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance and one of those who made recommendations to the Obama team.

"It can't be just a figurehead," he told an Energy and Commerce subcommittee. "We tend to think it should be somewhere in the White House structure."

No date has been set for when, or if, such an appointment would be made.

Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, said his group had urged that the task of ensuring cybersecurity be given to the Department of Homeland Security, not the National Security Agency, or NSA, which is responsible for breaking codes and electronic spying.

The NSA, he argued, was ill-suited for the job of ensuring that the lightly regulated Internet was kept up and running. "I think it's a very difficult thing for them to handle," he said.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, noted that no witnesses from the Obama administration attended the hearing. "The obvious reason is I don't think they know yet what their policies are," he said.

A White House team prepared a still-secret study on cybersecurity for President Barack Obama which was completed last month.

The study addressed problems ranging from cyber-spying to fighting hackers organized enough to break into 130 automated teller machines worldwide in 30 minutes last November.

The cybersecurity review, led by Melissa Hathaway, a top advisor to the former director of national intelligence, was ordered by the White House in early February.

The report's importance was driven home earlier this month when the Wall Street Journal reported that cyber-spies had penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system.

A current concern is the worm Conficker, whose authors appear to have used it to spread another worm, Waledac, which offers fake anti-spyware for sale. Purchasers lose their money and download software that turns their computer into a spam machine.

Conficker seems to be spreading Waledac but for two weeks only, said Rodney Joffe, a technology expert with Neustar.

The Conficker virus was also found on 300 critical medical devices from a single manufacturer, Joffe told the panel. The devices, whose manufacturer was not named, were used for tasks like viewing MRIs.

The United States for several years has accused the Chinese and Russians, among others, of using cyber-attacks to try to steal American trade and military secrets.

5 Tips for Nabbing Tech on the Cheap

By KI MAE HEUSSNER (ABC News)

If only the recession didn't have to come between you and your future iPhone. Or BlackBerry. Or the latest bantamweight laptop.

Even in good times, consumer electronics can seem painfully pricey. Now, as we all try to scrimp and save, they can feel even more out of reach.

But there are cheaper options for those willing to do a bit of research and exercise some flexibility.

Refurbished goods, so-called "deal of the day" Web sites and online auctions are just a few alternatives for the budget-conscious consumer.

Just be wary of deals that look too good to be true and check out the return policy and warranty before you make a purchase.

1. Give second-hand a chance.

Not only are refurbished electronics easier on your wallet, they also keep electronic waste out of landfills.

Refurbished goods run the gamut from TVs, digital cameras, laptops and phones that have been returned to the retailer or manufacturer and then restored to look and work like new. Sometimes the products have been returned without having been opened.

Once the manufacturers receive a used product, they test it, clear the data off of it and then return the item to the original specifications.

Big Box Stores and Manufacturers Offer Refurbished Electronics

The big box stores, such as Best Buy and Target, sell refurbished products at bargain prices. As do manufacturers, such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony Epson and others.

At Apple's Special Deals section, for example, the MacBook Air, which starts at $1799 for a brand-new laptop, can be had for $999 and up.

Best Buy also sells refurbished goods. For example, used iPhone 3Gs are on sale for $50 less than the price of new ones ($99 for the 8GB version and $149 for the 16GB version).

On its Web site, Best Buy said that prices on refurbished items are, on average, 15 percent to 20 percent lower than brand new products. But they still come with the manufacturer's 90-day limited hardware warranty.

E-commerce king Amazon.com also sells a range of refurbished electronics on both its flaghip site and its sister site WarehouseDeals.com.

Stick With Vendors With Vested Interests in Protecting Their Brands

"When you're buying refurbished stuff, we think it's safest to do it from the manufacturer or sites like Warehousedeals.com," said Paul Reynolds, the electronics editor for Consumer Reports.

Amazon-related sites are recommended, he said, as they have long histories running reliable e-commerce operations.

Overall, a good rule of thumb, experts say, is sticking with retailers and manufacturers that have a vested interested in protecting their reputation.

2. Watch for discounts of the day.

Woot.com was one of the first in 2004. But now a whole crop of Web sites feature a new deal every single day. Similar sites aggregate daily deals so that online shoppers can browse several bargains in one place.

The products are discounted for a variety of reasons. Some are manufacturer surpluses or closeouts, others are refurbished or part of a promotional or marketing push.

Consumer Reports' Reynolds emphasizes that these sites aren't made for everyone.

'Deal of the Day' Sites Best for Those Who Can Be Flexible

"They're best suited for people who are not looking for something specific," he said.

Those who aren't too fussy about models and brands will be most satisfied with these sites, as will those "who insanely love deals," he added.

The range of available items is very wide, encompassing all kinds of gadgets and accessories.

On Woot.com, for example, a digital nutrition scale (that weighs and calculates the calories, fat, etc. in a given portion of food) could be discounted to $19.99 from nearly $50 for 24 hours.

Amazon.com and Buy.com also offer deals of the day. Other bargain sites include TechBargains.com, ZeroDayDeals.com and DODTracker.com.

Yung Trang, vice president for TechBargains, said his team works with a range of manufacturers and retailers to find and bring great deals to its customers.

Recently, he said his team found a stock of PlayStation 3 gaming consoles on sale at Home Depot for $60 off. A couple of weeks ago, when Disney's "Earth" was released in conjunction with Earth Day, TechBargains.com worked with the Discovery Channel to offer its customers the Planet Earth Blu-Ray DVD set for $29.99 instead of the $99.99 list price.

Make Money on the Tech You Already Have

"We're a highlighting service," Trang said about his 10-year-old company. "What we're known for is featuring the lowest price out there at the right time."

Consumer Reports advises that as consumers use sites like TechBargains they read the reviews and comments of other users to get a feel for the site and cautions that return and refund policies can be limited.

3. Turn a profit on your current technology.

YouRenew.com is an option for those who desperately want the newest toy but feel guilty upgrading when an older model still works perfectly well.

Launched just six weeks ago, the site makes it easy and potentially profitable to recycle electronics.

"The goal of the site is to inspire reuse in general," said president and co-founder Rich Littlehale, a 22-year-old Yale University senior who took a year off from school to work on the site.

After users search for their devices, they fill out a brief survey about the products' condition (i.e. "Does this device turn on?," "Is there water damage?"). Then the Web site calculates the value of the product.

Recycle or Sell Old Gadgets

If the device is beyond economic repair, YouRenew makes it easy for the owner to mail it in to be recycled.

If the device is in working condition, it tells the user how much they'll pay for the device and walks them through the process of mailing it in (for example, it helps download a free shipping label).

A more recent Blackberry Curve could pull $105. A Motorola Razr could fetch between $14 and $61 (depending on the age, condition and model).

While other Web sites let users sell devices for cash, Littlehale said he wants his site to be the "green option" and donates a portion of each transaction to two environmental non-profit partners, CarbonFund.org and AmericanForests.org.

"Why wouldn't you get $100 for an old BlackBerry and put it towards a new iPhone," he asked. "It's a solution we know people are using us for."

Of course, eBay is also an option for those familiar with the world of online auctions.

'Open-Box' Electronics Also Sold at Bargain Prices

4. Consider "open-box" options.

Similar to refurbished items, "open-box" electronics are those that have been returned by customers and then re-sold at discounted prices.

Consumer Reports recommends them, but not without limitation.

Unlike refurbished items, they are not returned to the manufacturer and restored in a factory-authorized facility. The most a retailer will do is quickly make sure it works and then clear the memory so that a previous user's information is erased.

Consumers can find open box items in-store and online at JR.com, TigerDirect.com, Amazon.com and WarehouseDeals.com.

By one estimate, Consumer Reports says only 5 percent of retail returns are actually defective, so the chances of getting a reliable open-box product are quite high.

Pay Attention to Warranty and Return Policies

But the publication's electronics editor, Reynolds, cautions that the products are checked quickly and sometimes have minor bumps scratches and other cosmetic blemishes.

As with purchasing refurbished items, it's important to note whether it comes with a warranty or return option.

5. Be informed.

Most of all, consumer advocates warn that it's important to do your homework.

For starters, don't fall for prices that are too low. If the discounts are more than 50 percent, Consumer Reports warns that the items could be counterfeit (unless they're coming straight from the manufacturer).

If you're selling an item, check out other Web sites to get a sense of your product's value to prevent being taken for a ride.

And, keep in mind that buying a refurbished or open-box item is most worth it if the savings are substantial (about 20 percent), so know the marketplace before you hand over your credit card number.

"You need to be highly informed about what the going market is for the things you're bidding on or buying and don't automatically assume you're going to get a deal," Reynolds said.

Apple expected to release cheaper Mac laptops in Spring

New York - Contrary to what Steve Jobs once said that any laptop under $500 is a "piece of junk", it appears that Apple is now actually considering lowering its prices on its most popular Mac models.

The computer maker in the coming months is expected to release lower-priced models of the 13-inch MacBook and iMac, AppleInsider reported Friday, according to people who they say has "proven extremely reliable in predicting Apple's future business direction." The MacBook currently retails for around $999, and the iMac starts at $1,199.

It's not clear how much of a cut Apple has in mind, or whether it plans to offer more value at current prices, but Apple has apparently decided that it wants to hedge its bets against a proliferation of cheap Netbooks over the last year or so, according to the report.

"It's believed that the first batch of more affordable Macs could turn up as early as this spring," the site reported.

Overall sales of Mac computers in the first quarter of the year fell 3 percent from a year ago, the company reported this month. Apple's profits in the quarter were driven by iPhone and iPod sales. Meanwhile, certain PC vendors--such as Asus and Acer--improved their shipment as a result of selling cheaper Netbooks.

Mac pricing has certainly been a big topic over the last several months, with Microsoft rolling out ads that boast the fact that PC's are cheaper than Macs, a key selling point given today's current economic tough times.

The first ad featured a girl named Laurenand the second was of a guy named Giampolo who try to buy the most feature-filled laptop they could for a given amount of money—$2,000 for Giampolo, $1,000 for Lauren. Both chose PC's over Mac's as they are cheaper and "has more features," they say.

Sources: International Business Times

HCL Leaptop Z39 comes with 8GB RAM and 500GB hard disk

HCL has announced the launch of their latest notebook model in the Indian market which is designed for the power users.

The HCL Leaptop Z39 model comes loaded with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk, and a battery backup of around 4 hours.

The laptop features a 14.1 inch screen which makes it pretty portable for day to day use.

The company has loaded this laptop with Indian specific technologies like the Advanced Thermal Engineering which keeps an eye on the temperature of the device.

The company is offering this machine at an attractive price tag of Rs. 59, 990.

Sources: Tech Whack