paperboutique.net

That said, the IdeaPad U110’s power brick is the smallest I’ve ever seen for a laptop–almost identical in size and thickness to my fourth-generation
iPod–so it won’t take up too much room in your bag. And Lenovo smartly ships a larger seven-cell battery with the IdeaPad U110, though using it adds to the laptop’s weight and detracts from its sleek appearance. We tested both batteries in the Labs, so expect the official battery numbers–and the full IdeaPad U110 review–tomorrow.

The four-cell battery (left) and seven-cell battery (right) for the Lenovo IdeaPad U110.

(Credit:
Michelle Thatcher/CNET Networks)

One of my key questions was whether the keyboard, which is slightly compact, would be usable. The unusual key design added to my concern: the keys themselves are made of the same glossy material as the keyboard deck, they look flat (though closer inspection reveals a slightly concave surface), and there’s no space between them. The keyboard did take some time to get used to, but less time than I thought. I’ve typed a day’s worth of work on it, including this post, with few keyboard-induced errors.

My other concern rests with the IdeaPad U110’s battery. The sleek package that inspires oohs and aahs among even CNET editors depends in part on a tiny four-cell battery. It’s been just more than an hour since I unplugged the fully charged laptop, and the battery indicator is warning me that I have six minutes’ worth of juice left–and all I’ve done is type some documents and surf the Web. It’s tough to accept that such a mobile design needs to be tethered to a wall so frequently.

When the much-awaited Lenovo IdeaPad U110 arrived in our offices on Monday, it went straight to the Labs for benchmark testing (the typical order of operations for a laptop review). I finally got my hands on the review unit this morning, and I’ve spent the day putting it through my own usage tests to see how this little laptop stands up to the demands of everyday computing.

(Credit:
Michelle Thatcher/CNET Networks)

For comparison's sake: the IdeaPad U110 next to Lenovo's other ultraportable laptop, the ThinkPad X300.

WWF

The researchers painted a sober picture of the changes wrought by deforestation. Here’s the link to the full report (PDF).

I was poring through a university research paper Tuesday afternoon on the connection between the use of corn-based ethanol in the U.S. and greenhouse gas levels. That was just a grim appetizer for the big eco-news du jour later in the afternoon.

The report was jointly published under the auspices of Hokkaido University, the World Wildlife Fund, and Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH.

Because of the ongoing forest clearance projects in areas with deep peat soils, experts warn that the region’s carbon emissions will likely climb. (In the last quarter century, companies working in the province have cleared about 10.5 million acres of tropical forests and peat swamp.)

Turns out that Riau, Sumatra, a province in Indonesia, has the dubious honor of producing more average annual greenhouse gas emissions “from deforestation, forest degradation, peat decomposition, and peat fires between 1990 and 2007″ than does the Netherlands. That’s due to the local practice of supplying global paper giants and palm oil plantation with raw materials processed from forests and peat swamps.

Blinkx is bringing the world of TV and DVD entertainment to the PC, but incorporating the interactivity of the Web to make it a richer experience. The service, which requires a small software download, is free of charge and free of ads, for now. Ads will come later, says Suranga Chandratillake, chief executive of Blinkx.

I could have used this service this weekend when I became completely obsessed with The Beales of Grey Gardens, a cinema verite film about Little Edie and Big Edie Beale, an eccentric mother and daughter who, despite being aristrocratic relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, ended up living in abject poverty with a gang of cats and raccoons in what was left of the family estate in East Hampton, N.Y.

(Credit:
blinkx)

I’ll definitely be trying this service out.

Imagine being able to watch movies or TV shows in high-quality, full-screen glory on your computer and being able to jump directly to a particular place in the video based on the transcript and click on a word in the transcript to pull up more information.

Even more helpful would have been the ability to quickly search for a word in the speech track that automatically transcribes the content and goes directly to the spot in the film where those words were uttered. Little Edie was so mesmerizing and quotable that I found myself rewatching the scenes, but I was limited to searching for them by chapter on the DVD. Clicking on any word in the speech track also brings up a Google search, where I could have gotten quick answers to the many mysteries in the film.

Now the question is what kind of content will be available on Blinkx BBTV? Hard to say, but the company says it has about 250 content partners, including Dogwoof Pictures, a U.K. film distributor specializing in independent films.

If I had been watching the film via Blinkx BBTV I would have been able to quickly get more information about the cast and directors by clicking on an information button. And had I not known where East Hampton was I could have instantly located it on a Google map by clicking on a pop-up location tab.

Blinkx BBTV offers transcripts, or speech tracks, of all content so that you can easily search for specific places in the story and get more information by clicking on the words.

The content is all high-quality, except for clips that were designed for viewing on the Web.

That’s what Blinkx BBTV (Broadband TV) promises when it launches on Wednesday.

From the Apple Support Doc:

The System Management Controller is an integrated circuit (computer chip) that is on the logic board of the computer. As the name implies, it is responsible for power management of the computer. It controls backlighting, hard disk spin down, sleep and wake, some charging aspects, trackpad control, and some input/output as it relates to the computer sleeping.

Over time, the settings in the System Management Controller may become unusable, which can result in operational anomalies with the computer. Examples include not turning on, not waking from sleep, not charging the battery, or not recognizing the AC Adapter, among others.

On another note I have seen this machine do some weird things with the memory usage. There have been several times when I quit all my apps and the MBA is still using 90% of the memory.

My MacBook Air has been down to about 2 hours of battery life and I finally looked into what the problem might be. At the same my friend who had the same issue took her MBA to the Apple Store and the guy there “fixed” hers. He didn’t explain what he did but after some digging we figured out that he reset the System Management Controller.

After doing a full backup I reset mine and now the machine says I have 3 hours 40 minutes of battery life available, though I do have wifi turned off, which seems to really eat up the charge.

The rise, which beat expectations, was attributed to strong sales and margins in flat screens and mobile phones, which helped counter weaknesses in chips, Reuters said.

Just days after Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee stepped down following his indictment on tax evasion charges, the world’s top maker of memory chips on Friday posted a 37 percent rise in quarterly profit, its biggest gain in more than two years, according to news accounts and a company report.

The South Korean company on Friday posted a net profit of 2.19 trillion won, or $2.2 billion. For more details on the quarter, see Samsung’s detailed slides (PDF).

And given that I am here in the nation’s capital this week for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association annual conference, I thought it a fitting subject for this page as well.

In the unique world of Wikipedia, an article’s contents can be changed repeatedly. That means that on matters that are in contention (and apparently my gender is one of those), things don’t get settled but remain in flux. There’s only one person who absolutely can’t weigh in–the subject themselves.

Unlike in the journalism world, where the Associated Press Stylebook has a concrete answer on how to handle these sorts of things, there is no official “style” on gender matters or many other issues on Wikipedia. (Until a few years ago, one’s anatomy or legal status dictated AP’s assignment of pronouns. In recent years, though, the AP and other news organizations have adopted policies that transgender individuals should be referred to with the pronouns with which they themselves identify.)

(Credit:
Wikipedia/CNET News)

In the last few weeks, there’s been a debate as to whether “he” or “she” should be used on my page with different volunteer editors taking opposite positions on whether I am entitled to use female pronouns.

Update at 12 p.m. PDT: Well, now the entry has had pronouns removed alltogether–a reasonable compromise in my opinion. However, the post is now up for deletion. If it’s being deleted because I am not important enough for Wikipedia, that’s something I can deal with. But I’d hate to think it’s a matter of having a complicated gender.

WASHINGTON, D.C.–In the real world, I changed my gender from male to female a few years back and haven’t looked back. But on Wikipedia, my pronouns seem to be changing all the time.

While I find it somewhat confusing to have to log in each day to see what gender I am supposed to be, I have found the debate interesting.

Updated at 12 p.m. PDT with news that the entry is now up for deletion.

After several days of being “he” on Wikipedia, I was pleased Thursday to see that my pronouns had reverted back to the gender with which I identify.

It’s too bad AmazonMP3 doesn’t have an RSS feed for the MP3 Daily Deal (meaning you have to visit the site every day to see what’s on sale), but there is a Twitter feed. (Look, Twitter is finally useful for something!)

(Credit:
Amazon)

This “MP3 Daily Deal” is a new thing at AmazonMP3. Lest you think it’s a clearinghouse for crummy albums no one wants, I give you Exhibit A: Synchronicity (arguably The Police’s best album). Exhibit B: Coldplay’s Parachutes (one of last week’s deals). Exhibit C: The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away (which was $3.99, still a killer deal).

I’ve gushed before about AmazonMP3, the online music store that sells DRM-free MP3s at reasonable prices. Head there today and you can get The Police’s Synchronicity–not just the song, but the complete album–for only $1.99. Head there tomorrow and you’ll find another album on sale for around the same price. Wowza.

Find more deals, coupon codes, and bargains on CNET’s Shopper.com.

Prices notwithstanding, the big draw of AmazonMP3 is right in the name: MP3. No DRM-soiled AAC or WMA files here–just universally compatible MP3s. If you’re an
iPod user, the AmazonMP3 download client can automatically add new purchases to your iTunes library, ready for syncing. Which begs the question: Is anyone still buying music from iTunes? Unless you can give me a good reason why, I may have to kick you out of the Cheapskate club. (Oh, who am I kidding… I would never kick anyone out of a club that would have me as a member.)

Those devices won’t be available to U.S. consumers, but given the global gadget economy, Blu-ray followers outside of Japan might want to take a gander, anyway. SonyInsider has lots of pics of the players, so head on over and see what you think.

(Credit:
SonyInsider)

Sony unveils Blu-ray products for the Japanese market at a press event in Tokyo.

In addition to the two new Blu-ray players Panasonic unveiled at CEDIA, and Sony’s high-end BDP S5000ES, announced at the same show, Sony also unveiled its fall lineup of players and recorders for the Japanese market on Wednesday.

Given all the Blu-ray players announced this week, it’s clear not everyone got the memo with Samsung’s prediction that it’ll be just five years before the next-gen format gets bumped by another technology.

This is not the first time T-Mobile has won accolades from J.D. Power. Earlier this year the carrier held the number one ranking in a customer service satisfaction survey. That’s the seventh consecutive time T-Mobile won that prize. As I’ve said before, T-Mobile must be doing something right.

OK, now it really is getting boring. T-Mobile announced today that it won yet another title from J.D. Power and Associates. This time the carrier took top honors in a survey of wireless retail sales satisfaction by hitting top marks in the four considered categories: sales staff, store display, store facility, and price/promotion. But T-Mobile wasn’t alone at the top. Alltel trailed by two points to take second place while Verizon Wireless came in third. AT&T was rated as average and Sprint Nextel came in last with a below average rating in all four categories.

So what’s your story with T-Mobile? Is the carrier as hot as J.D. Power thinks? I welcome your comments and experiences. You get bonus points if you’re T-Mobile’s 30 millionth customer. The carrier announced it had reached that milestone yesterday. And considering T-Mobile launched its 3G network on Monday, it’s been a big week. Congratulations to T-Mobile.

Pictured from top to bottom are the Multimedia Station Premier ($119.95), Elite ($99.95), Basic ($39.95), and E-Z ($29.95). The E-Z is a simple USB IR receiver that includes Antec’s standard remote with the advantage being that it’s portable, making it a good notebook accessory. The Basic kit slips into a 3.5-inch drive bay and again, is just a simple IR receiver with a standard remote. The Elite package adds a VFD display, volume control, and a deluxe remote and fits into a single 5.25-inch bay. Lastly, the Premier–which fits in two 5.25-inch drive bays–has an LCD, front media control panel with menu navigation, a volume control wheel, and media playback buttons.

(Credit:
Antec)

(Credit:
Antec)

Home theater PCs are all the rage. OK, well maybe not all the rage, but there are people who have them and I’m sure there are people who want to have them. These kits from Antec are for the have-nots. Called Multimedia Stations, the adapters allow even technically inept people to add a little or a lot of HTPC functionality to a standard desktop (though they require a couple of open 5.25-inch drive bays or at least a free USB port for the most basic adapter).

All of the modules include iMedian HD software that supports playback of nearly all media formats and supports full HD 1080p resolution and is compatible with Windows Media Center Edition,
Windows Vista, and XP.

(Credit:
Antec)

(Credit:
Antec)