Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
When a recent fake news story claiming that
Coby Electronics would enter the netbook market with a $100 PC included a quote I had given two years ago, I smelled something fishy. But before I
questioned the validity of the article, I questioned the validity of
such a product. Because for at least those expecting some semblance of a modern PC, the fascination with a $100 notebook might turn to disappointment when they realize the considerable compromises needed to achieve that alluring price.
For as life quickly moved to imitate art, the aftermath of Cobygate saw news of the
Alpha 400, which is smaller, lighter and, at $170 at Geeks.com, about $100 less than online pricing for the Eee PC 2G Surf. With no hard drive and no fan, it runs so coolly and quietly the only noise the product makes is when you open and close its creaky hinge, which allows the screen to lay flat parallel to the keyboard. Its brand-free top surface is glossy black, but the rest of its plastic body has a finish so dull that the product could pass for one of those
plastic laptop props used in furniture stores.
Like the original
Eee, the Alpha 400 has a 7-inch screen, an SD card slot, three USB ports, and a keyboard (albeit one that is even smaller than the one on the first Eee). From there, almost all the specs take a dramatic step down. The Alpha 400 has only 128MB of RAM and 1GB of local storage. It has no webcam and supports only 802.11b although it connected consistently to my home network, something that has not been true of some other Linux-based netbooks. With the Alpha 400's extremely limited driver support, very few USB peripherals will work with the device. Some USB flash drives, for example, would not mount and USB audio is not supported.
Continue reading Switched On: Alpha 400 pays a high price for low cost
Filed under: Laptops
Switched On: Alpha 400 pays a high price for low cost originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Though not much of a looker -- feel free to insert your own beer goggles joke here -- Basil the Robot is an experiment by Jim and Louise Gunderson to train an AI to identify its surroundings symbolically. That way, the couple hopes, he can react dynamically in new environments. Basil was intended to be shown off at a Cafe Scientifique meeting by having him go to the bar and order drinks for his creators, but that proved unsuccessful when Basil's battery died. The couple did videotape a successful trial run from the night before, which you can see after the break. Basil will next receive a microphone for voice commands and be upgraded from his current sonar navigation to a video sight system. The eventual goal is to teach Basil to go to the local brewery and pick up beer. Sure, we're still terrified of the robot revolution, but let's get serious here -- who are we to deny our mechanical overlords if they keep proffering us six-packs? Hit up the read link for the full story.
[Via
Metafilter]
Continue reading Basil the Robot trained for symbolic recognition, beer toting
Filed under: Robots
Basil the Robot trained for symbolic recognition, beer toting originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Disintegrator, meet you match. The wild 'n zany hackers over at
ManaPotions have taken the Vulcan EBF-25 to heights that no one at Nerf could have ever imagined by transforming a relatively harmless foam dart gun into a bona fide chaingun. Post-hack, the weapon could fire "about as fast as a 7.62mm M60 Machine gun," which -- for those rusty on their ammunition specifications -- equates to 500 rounds-per-minute. The entire mod is laid out in dangerous detail down in the read link, though even the creators admit that you'll likely fry the motor and melt at least a few critical components after a fair amount of use. Check the vid just past the break for a scene sure to make your jaw drop.
Continue reading Nerf dart gun hacked into pulverizing chaingun
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Nerf dart gun hacked into pulverizing chaingun originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments So, you're tired of removing and replacing your
netbook each and every time you waltz through an airport (or a different terminal at Sky Harbor International -- great planning there, Phoenix), but the current crop of TSA-friendly bags are simply
too large for your
tastes. Clearly, Solo has felt your pain, as the CheckFast Netbook messenger bag is only big enough to handle netbooks 11-inchers or smaller. Our good pals over at
Gadling were able to take it for a spin, and even being avid travelers, they were mighty impressed. The build quality was top-shelf, there was plenty of extra storage room and the $35 price tag was found to be downright delectable. Still in need of a last-minute gift? You may have just found it.
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
TSA-approved Solo CheckFast messenger bag caters to netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
The last time we saw a
LaVie netbook we were seriously taken aback by the company's apparent decision to base its design on that of a ten year old Micron, so it's nice to see that NEC Japan will soon be releasing another of their (relatively) classy
L series machines. Due out Christmas Day for about ¥175,000 (about $1,950) the LL750 sports a 15.4-inch, 1280 x 800 LCD display, a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with Intel graphics, 4GB of memory, 320GB storage, HDMI out and a
FeliCa port. No sure on Stateside availability, but lucky consumers in Japan will get their choice between white, pink, black, and red -- how debonair!
[Via
Akihabara]
Filed under: Laptops
NEC's L series is back -- now in four exciting colors! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Hey guys: if you're dating the kind of girl who covets a seriously hideous $700 bag with a useless LCD, you should probably call it off.
[Via
Red Ferret]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio, Portable Video
Bag TV debuts multimedia mistake originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments 
Okay, so maybe Intel's running a bit behind schedule, but it's not like you can afford this thing anyway. The outfit has just announced that its 2.5-inch X25-M SSD is finally shipping in a 160GB flavor, though it politely declined to insult us with a presumably stratospheric sticker. Of note, the 1.8-inch X18-M counterpart should join it on select store shelves "next month." Hmm, are we feeling a joint debut with a gaming notebook and / or ultraportable at CES? Yes, yes we are.
Filed under: Storage
Intel ships 160GB X25-M SSD, 1.8-inch X18-M flavor coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Call us skeptical, but we're not so sure that Morega's Qew is anything more than a mere figment of someone's imagination. The outfit has a thing for showing up just
before CES in an apparent attempt to drum up interest, but the outfit's Qew teaser site just screams vaporware. We're never actually shown what it is, though we're told that it can stream, archive, transport and share multimedia. Hmm, sounds a lot like the abilities of
some other box we know of.
[Thanks, Mark]
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Morega's curious Qew may or may not eventually stream your media originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments It's three days until Christmas and you're looking for last-minute gift ideas for tech-inclined friends and colleagues. You decide on a USB drive, but how do figure out what's best to get --
attraction to hammers, ability to
open beer bottles, or some other, clearly inferior metric entirely? Kristofer Brozio at Test Freaks Blog took 21 drives of various sizes (5 each of 1, 2, 4 and 8GB and one 64GB Patriot Magnum) and models and tested their transfer speeds. Top marks went to the 4GB OCZ, Sandisk, Lexar, and Super Talent models, as well as the 1GB SanDIsk. Given the small sample size, we can't really say if the speeds were the result of the capacities of the drive or the company who makes them, but it's definitely some flash-based food for thought. Hit the read link for the full results.
Filed under: Storage
21 USB drives tested, 20 immediately misplaced originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments Mmm,
dual screens. Lenovo's almost too-good-to-be-true W700ds got
pretty darn official last night, and now we're being treated to the unit's first widely available video. The unit in the vid -- which is hosted up just beyond the break -- looks like it's straight out of pre-production, and the slight wobble in the pull-out panel doesn't instill the greatest amount of confidence in us. Still, we're hoping Lenovo tightens a few screws before it hits the market for real, and given the history of the rock solid
ThinkPad line, we fully anticipate that happening.
Continue reading Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds shows its second screen on video
Filed under: Laptops
Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds shows its second screen on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments We know what you're trying to do, LG. You want to see us venture outside more, and watch our pale skin burn in the ominous glare of that Big Bright Thing in the Sky. The company is bringing to CES the sunlight illuminated TFT-LCD, a 14.1-inch laptop display with the aptly-titled "Backlight Data Signal Switching Technology" that lets you switch from reflective mode for high-luminance (read: sunny) situations to transmissive mode for low-light and indoor settings. When in reflective mode, the display boasts a 75 percent reduction in power consumption and a 9:1 contrast ratio -- that's still really low, even if it is an improvement over other reflective screens. It sounds like a big version
Epson's 3.5-inch a-TFT, both of which have the advantage of a backlight over
Funai's recently-announced Dynamic ECDs, meaning it should be a perfect solution for those looking to liveblog their dog's shenanigans both at the park
and at home.
[Via
Engadget Spanish]
Filed under: Displays, Laptops
LG's sunlight illuminated LCDs work both indoors and out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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