Info Laptop

My marriage ended with a whimper, not a bang. After nine years together, my wife and I split up in a parking lot. Not that I didn’t see it coming. There had been couples counseling, crying fits and final chances. She wanted to raise kids in a seaside town. I wanted kids, too: in the city. At least that’s what we said the issue was. We were two emotional Marxists, incapable of compromise, heading toward mutually assured destruction. ‘It’s just not working,’ she said. For once in my life, I said nothing. My first thought was, A parking lot? Sitting in a 4×4? C’mon, you can do better than that. We rode home in silence. At the house, I threw some clothes into two duffel bags and laughed bitterly at the wallpaper I’d been peeling off our bedroom walls, prep work for a renovation that would never happen. I tossed my CDs into a crate and packed up my car for my move to the city. I was fine for a little while, then flopped on the kitchen floor, bawling uncontrollably. My wife wondered if she should call the paramedics. Finally, I gathered myself up and drove away. Five minutes later, she called me. ‘Aha,’ I smirked. Second thoughts already. ‘Hey, you forgot your laptop. ‘ I waited at a petrol station where I used to make goofy faces at her while filling up the 4×4. A few minutes later, she arrived, handed me my computer bag, and was gone. I threw it on the passenger side, took a breath and steeled myself for a long drive and the first day of the rest of my life. Then it hit me. ‘Damn it. ‘ I screamed. Not on account of her. I just remembered my car’s CD player had been swiped the week before. I was about to be left alone with my thoughts for hundreds of kilometres. God, being divorced was going to suck. Or maybe not. At first, I found being single again at age 36 daunting. During nearly a decade in the matrimonial cocoon, much had happened. Internet dating and instant communication had altered the way men and women paired off. Could you flirt endlessly with a pretty girl via email and text messages now? Yes. Could the same girl show up at a party with a never-before mentioned boyfriend? Yes. As Bill Murray’s character experiences in Groundhog Day, massive repetition led to gradual enlightenment. Well, ‘enlightenment’ might be the wrong word. I still give thanks to Jesus, Allah and Zeus for the moment when a spunky make up artist told me we could ‘hook up’ whenever I was in town. I thought this meant we could have a night of dinner and dancing. She set me straight ‘hooking up’ meant we could call each other whenever I was in town and have sex. But, like Murray, who is forced to relive the worst day in his life over and over again until he changes, I came to realize that as a single male I had no one to blame but myself. My character was my karma, and if I wanted to change my life, be happy or find whatever your vision of enlightenment is, the responsibility was mine. A high percentage of first marriages end in divorce, and a cottage industry has sprung up to advise men on their journey through Denial, Rage and Acceptance. My stages of grief could more aptly be described as Fear, More Fear and Ultimate Fear. So take your pick: read a namby-pamby self-help book or follow me on an X-rated journey that includes stops in the garden of earthly delights and Candy Land’s Molasses Swamp. All I ask is this: don’t judge me. Mistakes were made. Dignity was misplaced. I was flying without instruments. Count yourself lucky; at least you have a navigator. The First Date Unlike some of my pasty-white buddies who broke up with their wives and got all gangsta, constantly blasting ‘women are nothing but whores and bitches’ from their car stereos, I didn’t sour on love. Quite the contrary, I truly thought I might fall in love again soon. How soon? I didn’t know – maybe on my first date in nine years? She was an editor at a women’s magazine who seemed, via email and a brief phone chat, nice and non-threatening. We arranged to meet at a bar. And then I began a disconcerting ritual I call first-date prep. In short, Rodrick Industries closes for business the day of a first date. Gentlemen, don’t try this at work: it will get you fired. But I’m a writer; there’s rarely anything that can’t be pushed back in the service of freaking myself out. For Kelly, the troops began mobilizing the night before. I debated when to shave so I’d have enough stubble to look cool, but not enough to look like a vagrant. Unfortunately, the dull razor left a possible-suicide-attempt-gone-awry gouge on my neck. I bought condoms and debated whether to put one in my wallet; that lasted three or four hours. Eventually, I realized ‘carrying’ might give off the aura that I’m a player. That’s not me. But why did I spend the rest of the afternoon making a mix CD in case of a triumphant return? That night, I approached the rendezvous point right on time. As Coldplay played at a volume even Chris Martin would disapprove of, I saw a woman who matched the description of Kelly, my set-up girl. With the melodic mope rock strumming away in my ears, I mouthed ‘Kelly’ in her direction. She nodded yes; we embraced and agreed to head out for quieter climes. So far, I was rocking the party that rocks the party. But as we nursed a second drink and made excruciatingly awkward conversation, I gamely asked how long she had known Francis, our matchmaker. ‘I don’t know any Francis,’ she said. The room spun a bit. ‘Is your name Kelly? I asked. ‘No, it’s Karen. Are you Scott?’ On my first date in nine years, I’d managed to leave the bar with the wrong woman. I returned to the scene of the crime with Karen, hoping to make a prisoner exchange. I found Kelly and Scott drinking at the bar. He was bald and hairy. Kelly looked like a beautiful bank hostage waiting for the right moment to crawl to safety. Kelly and I ended up hanging out for a few instructive weeks. After our second or third date, she invited me back up to her flat, pulled the quilt off her bed, sat down and started showing me family pictures. She sat very close to me. Her knee collided with mine. Repeatedly. I looked at the photos for about a half hour, then got up, kissed her on the cheek, and left. She looked baffled. Later, I related the incident to a buddy. ‘She invites you up and sits on her bed?’ he asked, his eyes popping out of his head. He then spoke to me slowly, as if I was in the special class. ‘Do You Know What That Means?’ I swirled the ice in my glass and gave him a perplexed look. ‘No, what?’ ‘Uh, dude, she wanted to have sex with you. ‘ Oh. When I tried to act upon this intelligence, I learnt about the modern phenomenon known as cock blocking. The next week, I took Kelly to the cricket. My best friend, Sam, went separately with another date. Afterwards, we met up for a drink. He clamped his hand on my shoulder. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I was watching the two of you. It’s clear you don’t have chemistry. You shouldn’t waste your time on her. ‘ Sam had been my best man during my first trip down the aisle, so I took his advice and stopped seeing Kelly. Sam and I drifted apart for a few months. I then heard through a mutual friend that he was in a hot and heavy relationship with – wait for it – Kelly. A year later, they married. I was invited to the wedding but, in a final indignity, wasn’t allowed to bring a date. I never got them a present. Clearly, I had a lot to learn.

Will this help you get through the day?

If you’ve got an iPhone you’ll now that the battery is pretty awful, if you’ve got an iPhone 3GS then you’ll know that it’s even worse. So what are you to do? Well you could systematically go through the phone’s settings and turn off all the features you’ve paid extra for; the location services, the wireless, and even the 3G connectivity.

Mophie have other plans, promising to give iPhone users a new lease of life and more importantly a phone that will last longer than 4 O’clock without the battery warnings.

In steps the mophie juice pack air, a case for your iPhone that slots around the back just like any other case. The colours; white, black, and purple, (we got purple) aren’t the most designer friendly, however the hidden gem is that built with-in the case is a battery that, if you are careful, can mean that your iPhone lasts around 3 days without needing to say hello to a power socket.

I though that would get your attention.

As we’ve said the case is simple in it’s design, comes in a range of colours and slots into the docking connector. A USB cable out the bottom gives you connectivity to your Mac or PC so you can still dock it as well as providing charging capabilities for the battery itself.

Battery levels can be checked via four LED lights on the back at the press of a button and owners of a MacBook will be familiar with the design and concept.

The premise is simple. You charge the device, it then charges your iPhone throughout the day. When the mophie juice pack air runs out, the iPhone resumes using its own battery, allowing you to go thin if you want.

In practice it works just as it sounds. First we tested the juice pack air with overly heavy use of the iPhone; turning on location services and Wi-Fi, and then going to town with calls, surfing the web, and twitter. The result? It basically doubles the life of the phone and with the mophie juice pack installed we managed to get through to the following morning without needing to worry about power.

On light use, ie how we currently use our iPhone 3GS in the office, we managed a whopping 3 days of battery, yes 3 days, although it’s worth saying that this will drastically depend on how many calls you get and what you do.

In our two weeks of testing we not once had a battery warning half way through the day – or at a time in the bar where you really need to phone home to tell them you are going to be late.

So what’s the catch? There is always a catch right? Well it’s that for this need to have a phone that is capable of always being on, you have to live with the fact that the mophie juice pack air will double the thickness of your iPhone.

Then there is the case design, not exactly mind blowingly hot or exciting.

Verdict:
The mophie juice pack air does what it sets out to do – ie double the life of your iPhone battery and save you having to find a charging point at some point during the day.

However the payoff for that isn’t the cost (it’s £64/$80) but that you end up with a phone that isn’t as slinky or thin as it once was.

Leaving you with a feeling that while you’ll be able to order that late night cab home, your mates will ridicule you for having something that would look more comfortable in the 90s.

Tags:
Phones mobile phone accessories iPhone Mophie Cases

Mophie juice pack air iPhone battery case originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:28:41 +0100

… More Info

Does this netbook offer anything different?

Coming along a little late to the netbook party is Stone. Their launching of a netbook is typical of the recent move of smaller companies to get in on the act where larger organisations like Acer, MSI and Asus have lead the way. But is there any reason to pick the Neo over the others in an already saturated market?

Out of the box, you’ll find typical netbook specs here. The Neo is running the Intel Atom N270 processor at 1.6GHz, with 1GB RAM, and a 160GB hard drive and features a 10.1-inch 1240 x 600-pixel resolution display and runs Windows XP.

Adding into the mix you get the normal connection options. The chassis is carrying the Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections to hook into your networks, as well as VGA around the back to connect to a larger display or projector if you choose.

Other physical connections give you two USB connections, one on each side of the device and the front sees the mic and headphone 3.5mm jacks. It’s a good layout of connections, thoughtfully placed for real world use, unlike some models that just cram them in anywhere. It also has an SD card slot.

There is also an Express Card 34 slot, which is a less common feature on netbooks, but does add the potential to expand the netbook a little further, perhaps with a 3G modem, although you’d probably have more success in that department with a USB modem.

The screen itself is rather good. Shunning the trend towards glossy finishes, the Neo has a matte finish. It handles reflections well and is practical to use whilst on the move outdoors, but it is not unique in offering this.

The keyboard itself reasonably good too. It gives a nice firm typing action without the sort of flex to blights many small format keyboards. Stone have also been mindful of the layout, so you’ll find the likes of delete in the top right-hand corner and control in the bottom left, so it favours those moving over from a regular-sized keyboard.

The keyboard also stretches from left to right using the entire width available, which we always like to see. One oddity is a strip of foamy material along the bottom of the keyboard. At first we thought it was part of the packaging, but it seemed too firmly attached. Whatever the purpose, we couldn’t figure it out.

The trackpad is rather small however and has individual left and right click buttons underneath. To the right side of the trackpad is a scroll area, although it is not marked in any way – leave a finger in the top right-hand corner and it scrolls up, and down in the bottom corner. The trackpad is easily bettered by a portable notebook mouse for any serious work.

Stone have also included some shortcut buttons on the deck of the Neo, which will launch the webcam, email or browser. For the type of device this is, it targets your needs rather well, so it’s a good additional feature here.

The webcam is the standard bezel-mounted type, accompanied by a mic below the screen, so you are ready to rock with Skype or any other online video application. The onboard stereo speakers give a reasonable level of volume and we found them fine for watching films whilst ensconced in hotel rooms.

The performance is typical of netbooks of this class. They are great for light computing work and getting things done on the move, but it doesn’t take a step beyond this remit. Open too many windows and the machine quickly starts to drag its feet. It handles standard definition video with no problems, but it can’t handle HD content, either from a camera or of the YouTube HD variety.

So on to the design and materials, which in many cases is the only differentiator for netbooks. The Stone Neo is a bit on the chunky side it has to be said. Whilst competitors are slimming down, the Neo is quite fat at the back end at 36mm, with an otherwise regular footprint of 262 x 184mm. It weighs 1.3kg, which is a little heavier than average.

It is constructed from plastics, with a gloss lid, but a matte finish inside so you are spared the fingerprints that some other models present you. The result of the extra chunk, though, is that it feels pretty sturdy. The display doesn’t flex easily and the hinges feel solid. Yes, it’s big, but is feels more substantial with it.

It does tend to run a little hot however, with noticeable warmth under the palms as we type this, with a stream of hot exhaust blowing out the side when you start to get demanding. It’s relatively quiet to run though, with disc noise and fan noise never being excessive.

Battery life is average at around 3.5 hours. It would typically see us through a movie with some time spent browsing around this, but it simply doesn’t compare to the 6 or 7 hours that some models are now offering, albeit with a larger battery.

Verdict:
So overall this is an average spec netbook with average performance. It follows the tried and tested formula and merges together specifications that can be found from a number of manufacturers. We like the keyboard and we like the matte display, but we liked them last year on the MSI Wind too.

The Stone Neo doesn’t push the boundaries where many others in the netbook space are, so it perhaps won’t get too many people excited. The £316 price point is a little higher than some competitors like the Advent 4211c or Samsung NC10, which have similar specs in a slimmer package.

It might not be the best looking of recent netbooks, but what the Stone Neo does give you is a 3-year warranty, which let’s face it, is likely to see you through the life of the device. If you are not worried about the latest and greatest and value the security of a warranty, then it might just be for you.

Tags:
Hardware Laptops Netbooks Stone

Stone Neo notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +0100

… More Info

Looking for a 2.1 Blu-ray system?

We’ve been impressed with LG’s Blu-ray offerings of late, offering good value for money and an impressive feature set. The HB354 is the little brother of the HB954, offering a 2.1 system playing off a similar central Blu-ray player.

But what a Blu-ray player it is, typifying the move away from just being something that spins-up and churns out movies from your optical media. The main unit of the HB354 offers not only the Blu-ray drive, but also and iPod dock and a USB connection, making this a versatile player.

To the specifics of the player itself, it is something of a big beast, measuring 375mm deep (which you’ll have to add about 50mm to for all your connections), 73mm high and 428mm wide.

It is attractively designed however, with the central unit being mostly black, save for a bluish tint swiping across the bottom-front edge. There is an informative display on the front, which lets you know what is going on. A large volume is also present, which is largely superfluous, but lends itself to quick volume changes at parties and so on when playing music.

We like the design of the speakers too, with smart chrome-effect feet and main drivers paired with tweeters for left and right. They are a good size too, but are something of a feature, rather than being discrete. They do have a screw fixing on the back, so could wall-mount them too.

We’re not so sold on the looks of the subwoofer. As we found with the HB954, it’s a little cheap looking in its construction, with the MDF cabinet and cardboard vent tube a little too visible for us – it doesn’t have the same solid looks that the other speakers have, so is best tucked out of the way.

The connections around the back are where the LG HB354 exposes itself to a certain degree. You get the 2.1 connections for the speakers mentioned above, but goes no further, so in terms of future expansion, your options are limited and if you might want a 5.1 or 7.1 system in the future, you’d be better off looking elsewhere.

The HDMI output is present for connecting to your TV, as well as Component and Composite for those with older displays. An Ethernet connection is present to take advantage of DB-Live services as this is a Profile 2 compliant player. There is an FM aerial connection too for the built-in tuner.

But it is the inputs that excite us even more. Not only do you get coaxial and optical digital audio inputs (and an analogue stereo input), but you also get two HDMI inputs as you did on the HB954.

This makes the LG HB354 much more of a compelling option because it can function as a hub to a certain extent too. Sure, you don’t get the full range of connection options you would from even an entry-level AV receiver, but it does mean you can connect your other devices, such as a PS3 or Xbox 360 (or both!) through the HB354 to take advantage of the 2.1 speakers, which is something we like a lot.

The iPod dock drawer pushes neatly away with a satisfying click, so if you don’t have an iPod, it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. We like the way the iPod is handled, both charging your iPod and giving full control via the remote so you can navigate via LG’s high quality menu systems. There is no support for cover art, but that’s a point we’re willing to over-look.

The USB connection functions principally as the store for any BD-Live content you might choose to download. But it also gives you a range of further file format support, so you can play back files from a USB drive, but it music, video or photos.

The menu system is praiseworthy on the HB354. Large crisp icons on-screen allow you to choose between Movie, Photo, Music and Setup. (LG has also told us that YouTube support will be included here, but wasn’t on our test player.) Finally Setup lets you configure various settings, including the likes of engaging the 24p mode, enabling HDMI audio (for whatever reason) and so on.

These menu options apply across the range of media you connect, so if you insert a data disc it will attempt to play this back, as well as when you plug in a USB drive. Cited format support includes the most common variants, AVCHD/MPEG4, WMV, as well as DivX, with MP3 and JPEG support for audio and images.

It’s a convenient system and so long as you stick within the confines of the supported formats, you’ll have a fairly comprehensive range of options open to you, and it is well worth trying out the formats that work best for you from the start.

Blu-ray performance as you’d expect is excellent. It’s relatively fast to start-up and get playing, and the DVD upscaling performance is fairly reliable, even if it doesn’t quite match the top offerings out there.

Sound performance is very good too. It can be a little heavy on the bass at times, but this is easy enough to control. The built-in sound profiles make it easy to switch through different modes, which some will like and others will ignore. The option we found the most useful, however, was Night Mode, which suppresses the bass and dims the illumination on the front of the player, which is both thoughtful and practical.

The supplied remote is a little cluttered with buttons, but controls is simple enough. We like the fact that when you open the HB354 packaging, you’ll find everything you need inside, including the speaker wires and an HDMI, so it really is a one-box solution.

Verdict:
We’ve liked LG’s offerings lately, having been impressed by the BD370 and HB954. The HB354 follows that trend, giving an impressive feature set that’s been put together with some consideration.

As a home cinema solution out of the box, it’s a shame there is no scope for future upgrades, so if 5.1 or 7.1 is your dream, you’ll be better off with an AV receiver and building up as and when you can afford it.

If you are after a system that gives you a whole range of functions in one tidy package, this is a Blu-ray system that comes highly recommended.

Tags:
Home Cinema Home Cinema systems Blu-ray LG

LG HB354BS Blu-ray home cinema system originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +0100

… More Info

Mounts on the back of your monitor

Acer has announced the Veriton N260G, a nettop machine which mounts onto the back of your monitor, a little like the company’s Revo machine, but without the heft carried by that unit.

It’s aimed more at classrooms, offices, libraries, and other situations where you don’t need the “Ion” graphics chip that the Revo’s got. It’s got an Atom processor, Wi-Fi, upto 2GB of memory, and upto 160GB of hard disk space.

It’s got an HDMI port, though don’t expect to be pumping out lots of HD without that Ion chip, and it’s got a very low energy consumption, as well as recyclable packaging materials. It comes pre-installed with Vista, XP or Linpus Linux.

The home edition will set you back about £200, whereas the Pro version comes in at more like £290. There’s no release date just yet.

Related links:

• News – Acer AspireRevo nettop PC

Tags:
Hardware Desktop PCs Acer Nettops

Acer reveals Veriton N260G nettop originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:09:44 +0100

… More Info