Batteries

Laptop battery shortage should be over by Q3

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:14:23 -0400

Last month, we reported on a laptop battery shortage, caused by a fire at a South Korean chemical plant owned by LG, the manufacturer of batteries for companies like Dell, HP and Asus. Well, it looks like LG is ramping up production of the batteries again and any shortages should be over by Q3 of this year. Though you might not have felt the shortage yourself, OEMs certainly have: Asus reports that it could have produced far more Eee PC units, had there been a more plentiful supply of batteries. "I think maybe the battery shortage may hurt every brand," Acer's chairman J.T. Wang said at the company's investor conference two weeks ago.

For more on the shortage:
- see this PC World article

Apple announces MacBook Air

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

Well folks, it looks like the rumors were true, though we certainly didn't expect it to be quite this thin. Say hello to the MacBook Air: what Steve Jobs is calling "the world's thinnest notebook." In many ways, this thing is a fanboy dream: a mere .16 inches thick at the bottom and .76 inches thick at the top, the laptop can easily fit into a manila folder. It sports an LED-backlit 13.3 display with ambient light sensor, full-size keyboard, a multitouch trackpad, 2GB of RAM, an optional 64GB SSD and 5 hours of battery life.

So, how did they make this thing so darn thin? First off, they removed the optical drive, though there are two options for folks who still need the old CD/DVD drive: a $100 external drive or "Remote Disk," which allows you to "borrow" another Mac or PC's optical drive wirelessly. Speaking of wireless, the MacBook Air is almost totally wireless (hence the name) save for a few ports: a headphone jack, a micro-DVI, 1 USB and a MagSafe power connector. Of course, it's got 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 on board--sorry rumormongers, no WWAN or WiMAX. Apparently, that didn't get the thing thin enough though, so they used a 1.8" hard drive for the standard model (the same hard drive found in iPods) and had Intel custom make two Core 2 Duos (1.6Ghz and 1.8Ghz) that were 60 percent thinner than existing Core 2 Duos. Apparently the MacBook Air's CPU is the width of a dime, the thickness of a nickel and so thin that Intel CEO Paul Ottellini was heard to remark ""When we started this project, we didn't think it was possible."

So there you have it folks, the latest drool-worthy notebook from Apple. The standard config with 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo and 80GB hard drive goes for $1800, while the 1.8Ghz, 64GB SSD-sporting model will run you a massive $3100. Pre-orders are available now, shipping in two weeks.

For more on the MacBook Air:
- see Apple's website
- and this Ars Technica liveblog

Intel's Classmate PC: OLPC killer?

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:59:54 -0500

We've heard the term "OLPC killer" get bandied about a few times before, usually in the context of Asus' similarly-priced Eee PC but this is the first time we've ever heard it used in conjunction with the OLPC's real competitor: the Intel Classmate PC. Wired's Gadget Lab got some hands-on time with the Classmate PC and walked away quite impressed by the machine's battery life, build quality, performance and--of course--pre-loaded Windows XP and Microsoft Office. "The ultra-small keyboard won't do grown-ups' hamfists any favors, but for a Windows-centric school environment, it's hard to imagine a more appropriate notebook." No wonder they've had no trouble selling them, eh?

For more on the Classmate PC:
- see this Gadget Lab article

Vista SP1 RC1 released to testers

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Good news for everyone who's waiting with baited breath for the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1: Microsoft released the first release candidate of SP1 to beta testers today, which means that a final release can't be that far off. As you might recall, Vista SP1 is set to deliver a whole slew of improvements to Microsoft's latest OS, including a speed boost, increased third-party application compatibility, more drivers, better encryption and improved battery life for laptops. The company has previously stated that the service pack will be available in early 2007 and as far as we can tell, they should have no problem making it happen.

For more on Vista SP1 RC1:
- see this Daily Tech article

BlackBerry nabs #1 in smartphone survey

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:59:57 -0500

If you're an enterprise IT professional, chances are that you can't live without your smartphone. But which handset manufacturer rules the school? According to a recent survey conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, the clear winner is RIM. For the study, J.D. and friends polled 1,089 business wireless customers during the month of August. Respondents were asked to rate their smartphone based on six factors: "ease of operation; operating system (OS); physical design; audio quality; battery life; and utility features." RIM's BlackBerry family of devices scored top ratings for OS speed and battery life. Second place was a tie between that perennial business favorite, the Palm and those Korean up-and-comers Samsung.

For more on the survey:
- see this PC World article

ALSO NOTED: Google claims 60 percent of all web searches; iPod Touch gets mail, maps;

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> iPhoneSIMFree releases a program for fixing bricked iPhones. Article
> U.S. Nokia N95: 9 hours of battery life on EDGE. Article
> Vonage seeks a review of the Verizon ruling. Article
> Google claims 60 percent of all web searches. Article
> iPod Touch: Now with email, Google Maps and more. Article

And Finally... Like your G4 Powerbooks charred to a crisp? Article

Microsoft releases five Vista updates

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Vista SP1 might be just around the corner but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from pushing out security and stability updates in advance of the Service Pack's early 2008 release. To that end, Microsoft has unleashed five new updates, all of which we can probably expect to show up in SP1.

KB 941649: "Comprehensive reliability, compatibility, and stability update" that addresses a number of issues including startup time and battery life
KB 941833: MSXML Reliability update, fixes bugs in Microsoft's XML Core Services toolkit for XML developers
KB 941651: Improves reliability of Windows Media Player 11
KB 941600: Resolves "reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system"
KB 941229: Windows Media Center cumulative update

If you're supporting Vista, head on over to Microsoft's website in order to download the latest fixes.

For more on the updates:
- see this Ars Technica article

Nokia's N95 gets reviewed

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:57 -0400

It's been a long time coming but Nokia's N95 is finally, officially available for use on U.S. 3G networks. Wirelessinfo got their hands on the expensive handset and put it through the paces; from the looks of it, the U.S. version of the N95 improves upon its successor in just about every conceivable way. "One of the biggest issues with the original N95 was the same problem that has plagued various Series 60 handsets for awhile now, lack of RAM," Wirelessinfo writes. Luckily, the U.S. N95 effectively quadruples the amount of available memory, making web browsing and multiple app running a much smoother experience. And what of the 3G? Wirelessinfo ran a few speed trials and found that "the new 3G N95 was over seven times faster than the older one on EDGE." While that's mighty snappy, you've got to wonder about the battery life, especially after his Steveness swore off a 3G radio in the iPhone for the time being due to battery concerns. Luckily, Nokia saw fit to pack a larger battery into the new N95; in Wirelessinfo's initial round of tests, the new version only lost an hour of battery life due to 3G. Not bad, not bad at all.

For more on the N95:
- see Wirelessinfo's review and battery test

Nokia battery hops into bed, burns two

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:59:53 -0400

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. In Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, convenience store owner Ismail Noorgat and his six month-old son suffered burns at the hands of a recalled Nokia battery that jumped into bed with them. Say what? Apparently Noorgat had left the battery inside his Nokia 6320i, which was charging on his dresser while he slept. At about 1am, the BL-5C battery (which, as you'll recall, is prone to overheating and expansion) exploded and flew out of the handset and into the bed where Noorgat, his wife and his son were sleeping. Noorgat suffered burns on his foot and his arm while his son suffered lip burns. The moral of the story? Pay attention to product recalls and don't take them lightly--especially when exploding batteries are involved.

For more on the incident:
- see this Ars Technica story

Microsoft releases Vista SP1 Beta

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Looks like Microsoft is still on track to deliver Windows Vista SP1 on time: right on schedule, the company has announced that a beta version of the service pack has been released to a select group of testers. In addition to the features that we already know about, it looks like SP1 will include upgrades for the OS's built-in Disk Defragmenter, improvements to Vista's "Hibernation" and "Sleep" modes, a faster logon process and possibly, power management updates that could improve battery life for laptop users. Additionally, Microsoft will be using the SP1 guinea pigs to test out a few new "reliability packages" like the ones that we saw before--apparently those will be out prior to Vista SP1's release in Q1 2008.

For more on the beta:
- head on over to the Windows Vista Team blog