Product Central
Dispatches from the Reviews Editor's desk
Tuesday 13 May 2008, 2:39 PM
Telescopic oversight
Microsoft Research's new WorldWide Telescope, in the brief time we've had to play with the beta, looks wonderful. A real productivity-killer, in fact -- especially as I'm lucky enough to have a powerful PC and a 30in. screen to view it on. So it would be churlish to poke fun at a typo we found in the 'Many worlds' guided tour wouldn't it?
Ah well, here it is:
Eruopa eh? Those Amreicans could sure use a spelling lesson!
More sensible stuff on the WWT soon.
Friday 11 April 2008, 11:02 AM
Fujitsu goes wooden
Fed up with plastic or magnesium alloy notebooks? How about a wooden one? That's what Fujitsu is showing at the 'Japan Design 2008 - Innovation' show, which runs from April 16 to 20 in Milan as part of of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, an interior design trade show (the world's largest, it says here).
Pity the keyboard isn't wooden too, but the system does use environmentally friendly bio-based plastics, as seen in the slightly more conventional FMV-BIBLO NX95Y/D:
It may not be quite so green, but what we'd like is a perspex laptop honeycombed with tubes filled with a selection of transparent brightly coloured liquids that move around as the system heats up — a sort of Liquid Len-top, for those of a certain vintage. Oh dear, it must be nearly the weekend...
Tuesday 8 April 2008, 4:18 PM
HP's Mini-Note is official
HP's much-rumoured 2133 Mini-Note PC is now official in the UK. This attempt to exploit the market tapped so successfully by the ASUS Eee will cost from £299 (ex. VAT) for a Linux-based configuration.
The 1.27kg Mini-Note has an 8.9in. display and a webcam, is powered by a VIA C7-M processor (not Intel's new Atom), and comes with either 1GB or 2GB of RAM, 802.11b/g or a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (optional), a shock-protected 120GB hard disk (not an SSD), a 3-cell (2h 15m claimed life) or 6-cell (4h 30m claimed) Li-ion battery and runs Linux.
We'll post a full review of this ultramobile system just as soon as we can get our hot little hands on it.
Tuesday 1 April 2008, 9:51 AM
Nehalem sighted at IDF
Hot off the press from our Shanghai correspondent at IDF — a picture of Nehalem, Intel's next-generation processor:
Pressed into Rupert Goodwins' eager hands literally minutes ago, this chip represents the 'tock' part of Intel's 'tick-tock' development cycle, building a new and improved architecture on top of the 45nm fabrication process introduced last year with the Penryn chips.
Rupert's keyboard seems to bear a few battle scars too — more from our man at IDF later.
Wednesday 12 March 2008, 10:20 AM
Work yourself fit
I've often wondered where the gym with which CNET Networks UK has a membership deal is located. People head off looking purposeful, and return looking knackered — it's never appealed, really. Now, if US company Steelcase gets its way, the gym, or something that looks like it, might make a disturbing appearance right here in the office.
Enter the Walkstation, which is basically a treadmill with a desk attached.
Reassuringly, the Walkstation's inventor, one Dr James Levine, claims "its purpose is not to cause users to raise their heart rates or work up a sweat" — just as well, as an approaching deadline does that quite nicely.
Now if this contraption could be wired up to generate electricity, it could be a handy addition to the 'green' office. Perhaps it could directly power the computer on the desk: stop walking, computer dies, no work done, no job...no, let's not go there.
The picture speaks for itself really, but if readers fancy coming up with captions, be my guest!
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