Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It’s no secret that there’s quite a few folks hesitant (to say the least) to upgrade to Windows Vista, and Microsoft has somewhat accommodated them by extending sales of the tried-and-true Windows XP until June of 2008. That has unsurprisingly done little to satisfy most people, however, and some 75,000 of ‘em have even signed a petition started by Infoworld that’s attempting to “Save XP.” After a couple of weeks, that now seems to have caught Microsoft’s attention, although the company’s response likely isn’t what they were looking for. As Computerworld Australia reports, Microsoft says it’s aware of the petition but that it’s “listening first and foremost to feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs.” As Slashdot points out, that statement’s a little odd considering that most of the folks signing the petition are Microsoft customers, but either way it seems pretty clear that Microsoft is intent on showing XP the door as soon as possible.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Laptops

The last Dells we saw with a slot-loading Blu-ray drive were the XPS One and monster XPS M2010, but it looks like Round Rock’s taking it mainstream soon — the latest BIOS update for the popular XPS M1330 lists support for an unspecified “Blu-ray / DVD +/- RW Combo Drive.” No word on when we’ll see these actually for order, but if you were in the market for an M1330, you might consider holding off until these become available.

[Thanks, Rupert]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Although Intel’s mighty proud of the Core 2 Duo, it looks like the chip wasn’t all home-grown — a lawsuit filed today by the University of Wisconsin claims that the processor infringes on patented technology developed by one of its professors. Back in 1998, CS department chair Gurindar Sohi presented some of his developments relating to instruction level parallelism to Intel and offered to license them, but got nowhere — yet the same tech is in the Core 2 Duo, according to the lawsuit. For its part, Intel says it’s been talking to the Badgers for over a year now, and that it hasn’t evaluated the complaint — which it might want to do in short order, since UW’s asking for the court to halt shipments of the Core 2 Duo in addition to monetary damages and legal fees.

[Thanks, Matt G.]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Adding injury to insult, then pouring salt in the wound, and finally kicking mud in Microsoft’s eye, NEC has launched an official Vista downgrade product, FlexLoad. The company debuted a two-DVD package on Tuesday priced at an affordable

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

For those of you who simply can’t wait one more second to get your hands on one of the more hyped updates in recent memory, Vista SP1, you’re in luck. According to a report (and our BitTorrent client, chugging along in the background), the new service pack has been leaked, then promptly made available for your forbidden downloading pleasure. Apparently, the full install doesn’t provide you with an upgrade option, so make sure you backup necessary files (like those pictures of Mom, apple pie, etc.). PC World offers a highly detailed report on how many seeders and / or leechers were available at the time its article was written, but we’ll spare you. Suffice to say, it’s there for the taking.

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Filed under: Laptops

While Everex continues to bungle the launch of the CloudBook, Paul C. Kim is already spilling details on the next iteration, providing an already troubled launch with problems of Osborne proportions. Due to be released later this year, the upcoming CloudBooks should feature an SSD option, “female colors,” and possibly even a 22-inch option. Also under consideration is mobile broadband. Already announced were the touchscreen and 9-inch versions which we should be seeing in a couple months — leaving you absolutely zero reason to buy a CloudBook now unless you’ve already been suckered into pre-ordering one; which it seems everyone has already done, so we suppose the point is moot.

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Filed under: Laptops

Dell’s Penryn update has finally made its way around the globe to Gee Dubya land. The XPS M1330 is at the front of the queue with $400, 2.5GHz T9300 or $675, 2.6GHz T9500 processor options above the wimpiest CPU config. Not exactly free but then we don’t have to deal with Big Red droppings on the lawn either. We should see the rest of Dell’s XPS and Inspiron laptops go Penryn before the day is done.

[Thanks, Chris W. and Matthias B.]

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Filed under: Laptops

In the most mangled product launch in current memory, the Everex Cloudbook has managed to sell out. This according to Zareason who claim to have sold their ‘initial allotment” — however many that might be. Of course, to the ideal of our knowledge the CloudBook has never actually been on sale with Everex’s own site once again showing a Feb 15th launch. So if these in fact shipped then we ask you dear readers, where are the unboxing photos, reviews, and head-to-head comparisons with the Eee for us to fawn over? Bueller?

[Thanks, Jamerican]

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Put simply, this Super Mario World hack is “a puzzle game that gives you a series of seemingly impossible situations, leaving you to figure out how to get past them.” Video after the break.

So what’s this about quantum physics? Oh, right. Well, I kind of identify the branching-paths effect in the video with the Everett-Wheeler “Many Worlds Interpretation” of quantum physics

[via Kotaku]

Via Techeblog

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Unlike other cell phone concepts, the Chanel “works by integrating an optical fiber system that display image between two glass parts.” Click here for one more picture.

There are 12 micro lighter fibers, that throw image components to the glass, that offer a quite good luminosity, and keep the mobile phone concept as light as possible. All lights only appear when you open the phone, by pushing removable part on the side of it

[via Gizmodo]

Via Techeblog

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