Facebook instant messenger
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
Most popular social network site facebook has made an instant messenger for their users.The leader of messenger wars is Msn now but facebook will be a hard competing firm to them. Read the rest of this entry »
Four reasons why Facebook is succeeding in social networking
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
It’s no secret that Facebook is one of the hottest Silicon Valley startups. They boast over 24 million currently active users, including a stunning 85 percent of the lucrative college market share for social networking in the U.S. ComScore says that Facebook is now the sixth most popular website in the States. Obviously, it has not always been this way. In fact, Facebook’s incredible success is relatively new. So, how did they achieve this level of popularity? How did Facebook go from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard startup to being in the position to challenge News Corp’s MySpace? Read the rest of this entry »
Falcon Northwest Mach V
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
As it often does, Falcon Northwest has provided with an ultra-high-end PC as a showcase for Intel’s latest high-end desktop CPU. This $8,028 Mach V comes with the latest and greatest of everything and provides a useful benchmark of the performance we can expect to see from boutique gaming PCs for the next few months. At press time, neither Falcon Northwest nor its competition is taking orders for Core i7-based PCs, so you’ll have to wait a few weeks to make a purchase. Were you to invest in a PC such as this one when it does go on sale, you can expect it to provide a near limitless PC gaming experience.
Typically we review Falcon Northwest’s Mach V desktops unpainted, but this system showed up in our lab with a glimmering red automotive paint job. That’s typically a $500 option, so if your PC budget just has to stay under that $8,000 mark, losing the paint is a good way to shave costs. Otherwise, this system bears Falcon Northwest’s typically immaculate interior. Read the rest of this entry »
Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
We’ve known for some time that Dell was working on a Netbook-style laptop–the same kind of small, low-power, inexpensive system made popular by Asus and the Eee PC line. And even though there are not many surprises in the new Inspiron Mini 9, it’s still an excellent example of the form, without any of the deal-breakers (older CPU, not enough storage space, hard-to-use touch pad) that have kept other Netbooks from being more universally useful.
While component-wise, the Mini 9 is similar to other recent Netbooks, such as the Eee PC 901 and the Acer Aspire One (which all use Intel’s Atom CPU), in typical Dell fashion, there are more customization options than we’ve seen other Netbooks. Read the rest of this entry »
Asus Eee PC 901 (white, Windows XP)
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
We’ve been impressed by the Asus Eee PC line from the very first 7-inch model in the fall of 2007, and it seems as if every time we turn around, there’s a new version hitting store shelves. This 9-inch version, the Eee PC 901, comes mere months after the substantially similar Eee PC 900, adding a few items to features list, another $50 to the price, and, most notably, Intel’s new Netbook-focused Atom CPU. Read the rest of this entry »
Samsung LN52A650
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
Samsung’s LN52A650 dares to be different. In a world of me-too, glossy black flat-panel HDTVs, no few of which may bear the company’s own logo, this 52-inch LCD is dressed in red. Like many radical design choices, you’ll either love it or hate it, and we didn’t love it. But before you write off this red TV, we recommend you check it out in person–the product shots here and elsewhere on the Web just don’t capture the red tint of the frame properly. Aside from design, we found plenty to like about the higher-end LN52A650, and it produces arguably the best picture of any LCD TV we’ve tested so far, although it doesn’t quite beat the quality of the best plasma. Read the rest of this entry »
Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD
Posted by admin on Dec 27, 2008
Pioneer markets its Elite lineup of plasma TVs to appeal to the hard-core home theater enthusiast, and that means pricing these panels above and beyond just about anything else. The enthusiast who can afford one, however, can rest assured that the 50-inch PRO-111FD performs above and beyond anything else on the market today. This display has the best black levels (aside from OLED) and most accurate color of any HDTV we’ve ever reviewed, and it’s hard to find fault with other aspects of its picture quality. A picture mode entitled Pure is exactly that, delivering better out-of-the-box settings–before we performed any adjustments–than any preset picture mode we’ve tested, including THX on models like the Panasonic TH-50PZ800U. A stratospheric price disqualifies the Elite from consideration as our Editors’ Choice, but make no mistake: If you have the cash to burn, this plasma or its 60-inch brother is best flat-panel HDTV you can buy today, period. Read the rest of this entry »
Ford’s Bailout Plea Focuses on Energy Efficiency
Posted by admin on Dec 26, 2008
Ford Motor Company has just released its plan for surviving in the current lousy economy–the report is part of an effort this week by the Big Three automakers to get massive loans from the government. They were rebuffed last month when they came to Washington begging for money and apparently not looking apologetic enough as they climbed into their private jets. This time at least two of the executives reportedly drove to Washington.
At the heart of the plan is the use of “advanced” technology to make cars with better fuel economy, including several hybrids and an electric van. From the report: “Half of our Ford, Lincoln and Mercury light duty nameplates qualify by 2010 as ‘Advanced Technology Vehicles’ under the Energy Independence and Security Act [EISA] Read the rest of this entry »
HP’s Longer-Lasting Laptop Battery
Posted by admin on Dec 26, 2008
HP will be the first laptop maker to offer a new battery designed to maintain its energy capacity over the life of a laptop, according to an announcement from the battery maker, Boston-Power, based in Westborough, MA. The battery will be available as an option for some HP laptops starting next year.
The capacity of most batteries fades markedly after just a few months, making it hard to predict how long a laptop will last between charges. Boston-Power says that the new battery will last three years without fading and that it charges to 80 percent capacity in just 30 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
A Design for Cheaper Wind Power
Posted by admin on Dec 26, 2008
FloDesign Wind Turbine, a spin-off from the aerospace company FloDesign based in Wilbraham, MA, has developed a wind turbine that could generate electricity at half the cost of conventional turbines. The company recently raised $6 million in its first round of venture financing and has announced partnerships with wind-farm developers.
The company’s design, which draws on technology developed for jet engines, circumvents a fundamental limit to conventional wind turbines. Typically, as wind approaches a turbine, almost half of the air is forced around the blades rather than through them, and the energy in that deflected wind is lost. At best, traditional wind turbines capture only 59.3 percent of the energy in wind, a value called the Betz limit.
FloDesign surrounds its wind-turbine blades with a shroud that directs air through the blades and speeds it up, which increases power production. The new design generates as much power as a conventional wind turbine with blades twice as big in diameter. The smaller blade size and other factors allow the new turbines to be packed closer together than conventional turbines, increasing the amount of power that can be generated per acre of land. Read the rest of this entry »