Haibane.info

Category: Geek service

  • the story of EEE

    11-2-07-eee.jpgForbes has a fantastic, fascinating article about the road to development for the EEE. Lots of interesting tidbits, including how ASUS leveraged its role as a supplier for all the major vendors to get deals on components, how CEO Jonny Shih insisted on perfection rather than allow the device to be rushed out the door, and even how Microsoft came begging hat in hand to be a part of it, offering Windows for an unheard-of price discount (under $40 per license, so if the XP version is more expensive than $449, cry foul!). But I find the most interesting part to be how the machine is aimed at the “next billion” market:

    Shih says Asustek will tap into a new market–consumers unable to buy computers because they’re too expensive or just too intimidating. Indeed, the Eee name comes from easy to learn, easy to play and easy to work. That new market has been nicknamed the second billion. An estimated 1 billion people now have access to computers and the Internet, but even in developed countries, computers are just out of reach for millions. In the developing world that number is in the hundreds of millions.

    But Asustek clearly wants to connect with the first billion, too. For instance, the 2- to 8-gigabyte memory cards can be upgraded to 32 gigabytes and the RAM from 256 megabyte to 1 gigabyte by simply taking out two screws on the back of the machine, something that Shen demonstrates but isn’t including in the marketing materials. Asustek is also linking with mobile telecom companies to provide a 3g attachment, so users can be connected when Wi-Fi isn’t available.

  • hacking the eee for xp

    Notebook Review already has an article on hacking the eee – and getting it to run Windows XP. There’s a step-by-step install guide in the forums. They’ve got a helpful video to compare boot times for XP on the eee vs a standard laptop:

    That’s just awesome. Performance running XP isn’t exactly gamer godbox but it will get the job done. The thing costs $399, remember. That’s less than any Blu-Ray drive 🙂

    Note that Asus will sell a Windows version of the eee next year, but that will probably be more expensive. This is the way to do it on the cheap!

    If you still want to run the thing in Linux, there’s also advice on how to add any program you want beyond the initial app list, as well as add a standard start menu and other tweaks. This thing is going to be the ultimate hacker’s guide. In a lot of ways it’s the Mac Mini done right.

    (presently out of stock at New Egg. big surprise. reminds me of another hot product, that even rhymes…)

  • HD-DVD just won the format war

    yes I know that combined sales of HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs are a negligible fraction of DVD sales; yes I know that high-profile retailers and studios are choosing (and switching) sides; yes I know that the format war will continue well into 2009, and most consumers don’t even care.

    All of that is true, and yet, consider this: Wal-Mart will sell the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player tomorrow for $98:

    hd dvd toshiba HD A2 at walmart for 98 dollars

    Game over. You heard it here first.

    (not much point in buying one unless you already have an HD-DVD. Conveniently, Walmart is also advertising a Sanyo 50-inch plasma for under a grand.)

  • Asus G2

    (Steven asked for information about Asus notebooks, but for some reason I couldn’t log into the system to leave a comment, even though I am supposedly a registered user. So, I’ll just respond here.)

    Asus is well-known for excellent notebooks. It’s one of those OEM brands, like Sager, that don’t have a lot of retail presence but to which notebook aficionados often turn, for build quality equal to or exceeding that of the majors like HP/Dell, but with better components and lower price. In the case of Sager, Dell literally just slaps their logo on the case and resells as their own brand.

    There’s no better resource for notebook reviews than, of course, NotebookReview.com. They have a typically detailed and thorough review of the base Asus G2 model (which differs from Steven’s choice in a few components but is otherwise the same). That’s the best place to get an idea of the real performance, aesthetics, build quality, screen, etc – all the intangibles that you can’t get off a spec sheet.

    ASUS G Series G2S-B1 Intel Core 2 Duo 17.1The model Steven is interested in, the ASUS G Series G2S-B1 Intel Core 2 Duo 17.1″ Wide UXGA, is available all over the place online: at NewEgg for $2300, at Buy.com for $2064, and at Amazon for $2200. (I am an affiliate for each of these retailers).

    I don’t think you can go wrong with this machine if you’re in the market for a serious desktop replacement (as long as you don’t intend to lug it around).

  • Asus EEE PC

    ASUS Eee PC 4G - Pearl White Intel processor 7
    One of the more surprising products to come down the pike of late has been the Asus EEE PC. Here are the basic specs:

    • Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHz processor
    • Storage: 4 GB of flash-based storage (solid state)
    • RAM: 512 MB
    • Screen: 7 inches, 800×480, with speakers on both sides
    • Ports: 3 USB, 1 VGA out, headphone/mic, SD card reader, Ethernet
    • Extras: 0.3 MP webcam, 802.11 b/g wireless

    Thats’s almost a perfect distillation of the most-used hardware features. Note that there’s no hard drive, just a 4GB SSD disk. That cuts down on power and weight, at the obvious expense of storage capacity (but 4GB is plenty for basic office documents and such. You can’t expect to drop your Picasa or iTunes folders on here).

    The software stack is also strong – Asus worked with Xandros for a customized distribution and window interface, that comes preloaded with a very well-thought out list of preloaded apps, grouped into tabbed categories: Internet, Work, Learn, and Play (and Settings). The apps include Skype, Firefox, a universal Messenger client, Open Office, a media player, and shortcuts to Wikipedia and Youtube. If this isn’t enough, Asus does plan to introduce a Windows version in 2008 (presumably at a higher price point).

    The review at Notebook Review was gushing:

    In the end, the Eee PC is the single most impressive notebook we’ve seen priced below $400. The technical specs might look sub par, but the usability and overall performance of the Eee PC rivals notebooks costing several thousand dollars more. Granted, you can’t install Photoshop on this little notebook and you can forget about playing Bioshock on this thing, but the Eee PC can do just about everything you “need” to do with a notebook while on the go.
    […]
    As it stands now, the Eee PC is a truly impressive ultraportable with a value much higher than the sale price suggests. The Eee PC can’t replace a full-featured desktop or notebook, but it makes the perfect choice if you are in the market for an ultraportable notebook for school, work, or vacation.

    Note however that with three USB ports (more than I have on my Thinkpad T42, note) you can basically extend the machine’s capability in true flex computing fashion. In fact it makes sense for the PC to be as”light” as possible in a flex computing environment; just add a external graphics card, disk drive, DVD player, and a few other bells and whistles and you’ve got a complete workstation.

    tiny asus eeeThe bottom line is that this little PC pretty much suffices for the vast majority of casual users who need a PC for travel, wireless internet access, basic office work, and managing media. And it’s tiny (2lbs) and cheap: $399 retail at Best Buy or online at New Egg.

  • Eye-Fi wireless SD card


    eye-fi    This is just too perfect a convergence to ignore. Imagine a SD storage card, with 2GB capacity, that also houses a Wi-Fi transmitter. It’s real, and apart from the corniest name ever (Eye-Fi) it’s probably the single coolest product I’ve seen in a while (yeah, including the iPhone). Here’s what it does:

    • Uploads photos automatically from Eye-Fi Card inside your camera. Built-in Wi-Fi connects to your home network.
    • Provides free and unlimited photo uploads to your computer and your favorite photo or social networking website via the Eye-Fi Service. Photo transmission is secure and private.
    • Supports sharing and printing websites, including KODAK Gallery, Shutterfly, Wal-Mart, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Webshots, Picasa Web Albums, SmugMug, Flickr, Fotki, TypePad, VOX, dotPhoto, Phanfare, Sharpcast and Gallery.
    • Handles full-resolution jpeg images and intelligently re-sizes photos if limited by your chosen photo or social networking website.

    As long as you’re within range of a hotspot, you can upload your pics for effectively infinite storage. And if you’re out of range, you’ve still got a respectable 2GB of storage on board. For someone like me who does a lot of family photos and videos at home, this is basically a godsend (esp considering that I am presently relying on a mere 256 MB card for storage).

  • Toshiba HD-A2 for $199

    The price keeps dropping on HD-DVD; the Toshiba A2 is probably the best known player out there, and it currently sells at Amazon for $227; now comes word that on Nov. 3rd, Walmart will sell it just under the $200 mark. Still, not much point in going for it unless you’ve got an HDTV, but if you do, then the price difference means you’ve effectively got half off the Planet Earth HD-DVD box set (which is probably the single most essential title on HD-DVD to buy).

    I’m probably at least a year away from buying an HDTV, let alone a HD-format DVD player. By the time I’m in the market, Samsung will be selling it’s dual-format player and the laser HDTVs should be out.

  • the Redwood in their eyes

    Brian approvingly quotes Evariste’s sneering disdain for Microsoft’s Zune campaign:

    This is sooo pathetic. Can you bear it? It’s unbearable. The contempt oozing from every pore of Microsoft for their customers, that not only would the marketing team think of this, but that Gates would approve the idea. “Sure, go ahead and put a fake profile of me on Zune Social, and have me pretend I like whatever…horrible bands you think the kids are into these days.” Authenticity? Not in Microsoft’s DNA, I guess. How can anyone participate in such dishonest fakery and feel good about themselves? For crying out loud.

    The supreme irony of Apple/Jobs diehards lambasting Microsoft/Gates for contempt of their userbase aside, what is the obsession with the Zune that I’m seeing here and elsewhere among the iPod faithful? The truth is, the first iteration of the Zune sucked, but the new ones don’t look all that bad. And the changes are driven by user feature requests. Let’s not weep for the early adopters; they are few and have willingly chosen their path, and the software upgrades aren’t bad either.

    It’s not like the Zune is going to displace the iPod anytime soon. However, there does seem to be a sense of desperation in the air. With the opening of the DRM gates, especially Amazon’s new MP3 store and some of the big labels and networks openly renouncing iTunes (NBC, Universal), the ground game is shifting. This is a good thing; the shift is towards more user choice and less content restrictions, rather than the vertical silo of the iTunes-iPod ecosystem. And that’s probably what has Apple, and the more fervent devotees who have bought into the One True Path, so freaked out about.

    No one is going to pry anyone’s iPod from anyone else’s fingers, ok? calm down about the Zune.

    It’s worth mentioning that in the NYT article about Microsoft’s music ambitions, Gates again emphasizes the idea of music subscription rather than per-track pricing. The truth is that $15/month is a pretty good pricepoint, especially if that means unlimited DRM-free downloads. Such a scheme would indeed make it very affordable for someone to try out new music on whim rather than be locked into the labels’ preferred paradigm of songs as items you purchase. Given that Netflix costs about the same, and cable TV costs four times as much, $15/month is a bargain. Couple that with the emphasis on social sharing of favorites and there’s potential for true viral marketing of music. Think of the way Facebook applications spread; you are tapped into the sphere of what your friends like and want to share with you rather than what the executives on Madison Avenue want to foist upon you this month. I can see where the Zune is trying to go and there really is the potential for a “revolution” here.

    The idea that users freely access and share music is of course anathema to the music industry. But Apple deserves credit for building a system that assuaged the industry’s concerns while simultaneously legitimizing the idea that digital music was a viable business. That was step one; now it’s time to break free. Pay attention to Zune. There’s something there worth looking at.

  • no snarl

    Shamus has a familiar lament, the tangled nest of power cables, USB, and other assorted cables lurking beneath the average GeekDesk. He names it the Snarl, an apt name indeed. However, I recently managed to defeat the Snarl. I am now Snarl-free – behold:

    I haven’t solved the miracle of wireless electricity. The secret to beating the Snarl is simple: cable management. Here’s a peek beneath the “hood”:

    That’s the SIGNUM cable guide from Ikea that was designed to work with my JERKER model desk. Even if you don’t have that specific combo, you can achieve much the same thing with generic cable guides available from Radio Shack or Fry’s, or roll your own solution. I got the idea from Lifehacker, though I dispensed with the zip ties. It’s worked like a charm.

    Of course there are people who take this sort of thing to another level entirely. But my ambition is far less; for my next act I’ll settle for adding a 4ft power strip to simplify things a bit more (inspiration from Gina). I’ve also got two more Snarls lurking behind the file cabinet on the left to tackle, but for now, out of sight, out of mind…

    It’s worth noting that the Snarl is bad enough with a desktop environment, but it can only get worse with flex computing (ie, using a laptop as your main PC and externalizing everything). As the number of peripherals multiplies, the Snarl will become more powerful. However, in addition to physical cable management there are also technological solutions, like Bluetooth and Wireless USB that you can leverage.

    A closeup and my gadget inventory below the fold: (more…)

  • flex computing

    I’ve been sounding on a theme for a while about how I believe laptop computers are displacing desktops for the majority of personal (and business) applications. My view is that desktops will eventually be relegated solely to the workstation, server, and the high-end gamer markets, with some variation of laptops or “thin” desktops based on a laptop platform accounting for everything else. The key to this is using USB hubs and bluetooth to externalize the major computing components, including external graphics cards, storage, DVD. audio hubs, etc. When wireless USB goes mainstream this process will be even more accelerated. When going mobile however, you leave all that behind and run off the integrated graphics, sound, etc in a minimalist, lightweight configuration. Hence one box gives you the best of both worlds.

    Along these lines there are some new technology developments worth mentioning. First, new external audio cards by ASUS, the Xonar U1, which

    uses high-quality digital to analog convertors for crisp and clear music, games and movies. Gamers will like the fact that it supports EAX and DirectSound HW acceleration for gaming in Windows Vista and XP.

    A headphone amplifier is built-in and other system specs include 96dB SNR and a frequency response of 20~20KHz at 32 ohms. ASUS claims the device can convert stereo audio to 5.1 virtual surround sound to give gamers positional audio cues. This sort of thing has been claimed before, but is rarely pulled off well.

    An array microphone is bundled with the Xonar U1 and those wanting real surround sound will appreciate the SPDIF output with Dolby Digital Encoding.

    xonar u1

    Meanwhile, ATI has launched a new external TV card, the TV Wonder 650, which:

    acts as a DVR tuner in order to record high-definition, digital, and analog content. Users can then use ATI’s Catalyst Media Center software to record television shows “for viewing on portable media devices such as the Apple iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Zune, Palm Treo, and Sony PSP,” an AMD spokesperson told Ars.

    Features include support for Windows XP and Vista, as well as inputs for analog TV, FM radio, S-video, ATSC or ClearQAM F-type Coax for HDTV, stereo, and composite video.

    ATI TV wonder 650

    So, now video editing and media center functionality can be added to the home station. Of course, that requires more storage, so it’s also worth mentioning that recent advances in hard drive technology – for which a Nobel Prize was recently awarded – mean we will be looking at 1TB hard drives for laptops in the very near future.

    The intriguing thing is that the trend is already in full swing; notebooks are already outselling desktops and have been for some time. I think that the change ahead is in how people use their computers, not what type they buy. It’s still very hard to predict what the typical consumer’s computing model will look like in 5 years’ time, especially with WiMax on the horizon. The ability to reconfigure your computing space, coupled with immediate and universal broadband access, is going to lead to a flexibility that we’ve simply never had before.