Long Distance Worker Tech

Dell has launched the Adamo XPS over in the States, a laptop which the company is billing as the world’s thinnest.

Mobile phone maker Nokia is jumping into the Netbook pool with its recently announced Booklet 3G laptop (as seen in the video). We've just gotten our hands on the final version of the system, and here are our initial impressions.

The line between netbooks and laptops will continue to blur. That's according to Leila Martine, head of the Windows consumer division at Microsoft UK.

This week BBC Watchdog, that bastion of covering technology stories almost as badly as The Gadget Show does, had an item on WiFi Hotspots and how easy it is to hack into someone's sessions when using e-mail or other authenticated services:

Mobile operator Three (3) UK has cut the cost of its new Mobile Wi-Fi device (aka - MiFi). This is essentially a battery powered wireless router that has been designed to distribute the operators Mobile Broadband ( 3G ) service over a Wi-Fi link and was first revealed at the beginning of August (here).

This post is in response to a post from Euan Semple - go check it out first! I don't disagree with his main point - there's no doubt that many organisations are hindering their peoples' performance with an outdated attitude to new technologies. However, what I don't think gets nearly enough recognition is that not all individuals want to use social software or new technology, or care about why they should.

Given the popularity of netbooks, this should be a common scenario: You've got a Windows XP-based netbook and you want to upgrade to Windows 7. You certainly do qualify for the Upgrade media--any computer with a valid XP or Vista license does, remember--but there are issues.

A MiFi is a nifty little device you can get from Sprint or Verizon here in the States. It receives a cellular data signal and then rebroadcasts it as a Wi-Fi connection.

Last week Chris Guthrie at netbook Reviews ran a battery test on two virtually identical netbooks: An Asus Eee PC 1008HA with Windows 7 and one with Windows XP. He found that the Windows 7 model ran for an hour longer than the Windows XP model, which made it look like the operating system actually helped improve battery life on that netbook. I was impressed and wrote up a summary of the experiment on Liliputing.

Over the past few months, the low cost ultraportable notebook space has expanded to include a new class of device. While 10 inch and smaller netbooks are still playing an important role in the field, there’s been a new crop of devices with 11 to 12 inch displays selling for $600 or less. While these laptops including the Acer Aspire 1810T, Dell Inspiron 11z, and Asus UL20A are larger and generally more powerful than most netbooks, as well as more expensive, they’re still a lot cheaper than the ultraportables of yesteryear. And they tend to weigh less than 4 pounds, which is always a good thing.

Asus redefined the concept of thin and light notebooks when it launched the Eee PC line of netbooks in 2007. While the Asus UL30A isn’t quite as revolutionary, it’s a remarkable laptop that weighs about 3.7 pounds and gets nearly 10 hours of battery life.

58One nice feature in Windows 7 is that it gives users a bit more control over their power settings. But in some cases, even without tweaking your PC to adjust the CPU clock speed, shut down the hard drive, display, or other tweak other features Windows 7 may still help you squeeze more life out of some batteries — either that, or Asus decided to throw a higher capacity in the Windows 7 version of the Eee PC 1008HA. Either way, Chris Guthrie at Netbook Reviews decided to compare battery performance on a Windows XP version of the Eee PC 1008HA and a new model running Windows 7.

October 22nd marks another day in the history of Windows Operating Systems. Windows 7, which I honestly haven’t tried yet, is officially released for everyone and available for purchase for as low as $199.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium Edition – the cheapest and most commendable version for your netbooks. Also available are the Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate Editions for $299.99 and $319.99 respectively. The Starter Edition is not on the list, sorry.

I have heard people complain how long it use to take installing the OS on a computer. While that has largely improved from taking several hours to less than an hour in most cases, I find the lengthiest part of setting up a new computer is the never ending array of programs that need to be installed and tweaking them to my preferences.

Computer World has put together a list of 5 ways to overclock many netbooks with Intel Atom processors. I’ve covered many of these tips and tools before, including Eeectl and GMABooster. But it’s nice to find them all in one place, and more importantly, I’m a sucker for people who actually take the time to interview me before quoting me in the lead of their articles.

A new mobile phone charger that will work with any handset has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body.

Today may be Windows 7 launch day, but you know what? Not everybody wants Windows 7. Sure, the OS is streamlined to run significantly better on netbooks than Windows Vista.

Asus has officially announced its Windows 7 lineup, and that includes an updated version of practically every Eee Family product launched during the second half of 2009 as well as the company’s new thin and light UL-series notebooks.

Many of you did not upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, but are planning to upgrade to Windows 7.

Microsoft is launching Windows 7 tomorrow, and dozens of new and updated notebooks, netbooks, and other computers running the new operating system will be available. But for users who are looking to upgrade their existing netbooks from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, there’s hope. PC makers are beginning to offer Windows 7 drivers for a number of existing models through their support and download sites.

Asus is loading Windows XP Professional Edition and a 2GB RAM and called it the Business Edition.

Fudzilla is reporting that Intel’s next generation Atom processor, N450 a.k.a. Pine Trail, will launch on January 3rd. Though there are no sources for this contention, it seems a reasonable time frame given that DigiTimes reported that the chip would ship to netbook manufacturers this month. That’s also right before CES, which is a likely place to get a first look at the Pine Trail-powered netbooks on the horizon.

The new Asus Eee PC Seashell netbooks will apparently come packing Microsoft’s new Windows 7 Starter operating system the Eee PC 1005HE-WS and Eee PC 1005HR-WS and will no doubt add some extra cash to the asking price.

On Tuesday I made the following comment on Twitter- “Haven’t charged my Curve 8900 since Saturday. Has been on constantly and 30% battery left. Impressive.” It had been on constantly for over 3 days and was still going strong, and it eventually gave up two days later. Murray popped up with the following little nugget- “Yes, these primitive non 3G phones do have good battery life apparently.”

Some smartphones come with business card readers built in, but the iPhone does not. Cardreader offers the solution for £4.99 / $7.99 and appears to come with some decent functionality. Sadly it only works on the iPhone 3GS.

Waiting for Windows 7’s Launch Day to buy a new notebook? You’re not alone. We’ve been whetting your appetites with notebook reviews for weeks, and now the day has come. Which will you choose?

We already know that Asus was working on two 12 inch models, the Asus Eee PC 1201N and 1201HA. Asus hasn’t officially announced either product yet. But the first showed up on a Chinese web site, while the second is described in a series of documents and downloads on the Asus support site.

We already know that Asus was working on two 12 inch models, the Asus Eee PC 1201N and 1201HA. Asus hasn’t officially announced either product yet. But the first showed up on a Chinese web site, while the second is described in a series of documents and downloads on the Asus support site.

As someone who covers cutting-edge tools for WebWorkerDaily, it’s very tempting to think that everyone uses the kind of technology that we rave about every day. Clearly that’s not the case, but some figures in a new Forrester report, “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009,” which surveyed 2,001 U.S. information workers, in companies of 100 or more employees, really surprised me.

As someone who covers cutting-edge tools for WebWorkerDaily, it’s very tempting to think that everyone uses the kind of technology that we rave about every day. Clearly that’s not the case, but some figures in a new Forrester report, “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009,” which surveyed 2,001 U.S. information workers, in companies of 100 or more employees, really surprised me.

I’m a fan of mobile devices with keyboards and I don’t see a big hole in the market between netbooks and smartphones that needs to be filled. But we’re seeing a growing number of companies putting out 10 inch or smaller touchscreen devices that Intel likes to call Mobile Internet Devices or MIDs, although a few years ago the term was UMPC or Ultra Mobile PC.

I’m a fan of mobile devices with keyboards and I don’t see a big hole in the market between netbooks and smartphones that needs to be filled. But we’re seeing a growing number of companies putting out 10 inch or smaller touchscreen devices that Intel likes to call Mobile Internet Devices or MIDs, although a few years ago the term was UMPC or Ultra Mobile PC.

Litigation-beleaguered Skype is in negotiations to buy peer-to-peer VoIP startup Gizmo5, say multiple sources. The price tag is said to be in the $50 million range, but the deal is far from consummated. Other potential buyers may be looking at the company as well. Gizmo5, which was founded in April 2003, has raised $6 million to date, plus an unspecified amount from founder/CEO Michael Robertson.

Litigation-beleaguered Skype is in negotiations to buy peer-to-peer VoIP startup Gizmo5, say multiple sources. The price tag is said to be in the $50 million range, but the deal is far from consummated. Other potential buyers may be looking at the company as well. Gizmo5, which was founded in April 2003, has raised $6 million to date, plus an unspecified amount from founder/CEO Michael Robertson.