Western Digital Ships 320GB 2.5-Inch Drives for Laptops

Paul1 Reply

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It’s official: you can now buy a 320GB drive from WD for your laptop, and for just $200. The WD Scorpio SATA drive spins at 5400rpm and has a 8MB cache. The press release says it’s “extraordinarily quiet while running at cool operating temperatures.” I hope that doesn’t mean it’s extremely loud while running at super high temperatures. The important thing is, this timing coincides with the arrival of Mac’s Time Machine and the Windows Home Server, two easy ways to offload your laptop’s entire contents, swap out the internal drive, then restore your old image without a lot of tinkering. I know some of you like tinkering, but this is the future. [WD]

Nice now we can have even more space on the Laptop!!

The Google Phone: The Story So Far, Some Launch Details & What’s Next

Paul

The Wall Street Journal has been reporting on Google’s mobile phone efforts and how it is beginning to draw some interest from carriers, especially in the United States. Sprint (S) and Verizon (VZ) are in talks with Google (GOOG), according to the Journal, and an announcement by the company is expected sometime in November. Here is what I have been able to gather from my sources:

  • An announcement will likely be made Nov. 13th or Nov. 18th.
  • Handset makers will use a Google Mobile OS platform.
  • Google Mobile OS uses a highly optimized Mobile Linux; developers will be able to use a Java Development Kit. Google is said to have developed a highly optimized Java running on top of the OS. (Read our previous post, Five Facts about Google Phone.)
  • Most major handset makers, with the exception of Nokia (NOK), have devices with Google Mobile OS under development; Samsung and Motorola (MOT) are being linked to it as well. (as are HTC and LG Electronics, according to the Journal.)
  • The operators who are likely to be part of the big announcement will be T-Mobile’s USA division and Bharti Airtel, one of India’s largest cellular carriers.

And interesting article about the Gphone, I think it is a possiblity and I believe it will happen. Go read the full article and I’ll let you decide!!

Micromanage Your Widescreen Monitor with AutoSizer

Paul

autosize.pngWindows only: Freeware application AutoSizer automatically resizes and moves application windows to specific, user-defined sizes and screen locations as soon as they’re opened. That means that if you’ve got a widescreen monitor with the perfect window layout that packs every last pixel with useful information, you can save each window size and location with AutoSizer and restore the perfect layout automatically, day after day, as soon as you launch the applications. Alternately, if you’d prefer an application to open maximized or minimized, AutoSizer can take care of that, too. AutoSizer is freeware, Windows only. For similar but manual takes on screen real estate maximization, check out Sizer and WinSplit Revolution.

AutoSizer [via CyberNet]

Nice little App for wide screen. Should check it out!!

Gmail Speeds Up, Improves Contacts

Paul

Dang, Gmail really is stepping it up these days. gmailenvelope.pngFirst IMAP support, and now a new version’s rolling out which includes message pre-fetching for speedier performance, a new contacts manager, and more keyboard shortcuts. The Official Gmail Blog writes:

Even on a fast Internet connection, it can take a second to request and render a new web page, and when you read a lot of mail, these seconds can accumulate to hours waiting for email to load. We’ve spent a lot of time profiling all parts of the application, shaving milliseconds off wherever we can.

Some of the most common actions should be faster now. For instance, we prefetch messages in the current view, so when you open an email your browser doesn’t have to talk to Google’s server; it just displays the message. These techniques really shine on newer browsers and computers. Using an alpha version of Safari 3 on a MacBook, we’re seeing sub-200ms times when opening messages–pretty quick.

While Gmail itself doesn’t look too different, the revamped contacts manager does. Here’s a screenshot of the new, much more usable layout:

Wow, they are stepping up to the plate!! Go check out the full article!!

Leopard’s Revamped Terminal Sports Tabs and More

Paul

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Mac OS X 10.5 only: Command line-lovers who’ve upgraded to Leopard will also love its new tabbed interface and fine-grained window control. To create a new tab, hit Cmd+N Cmd+T, and to cycle through tabs, use Cmd+} and Cmd+{. You can also drag and drop an existing tab into its own window, configure and save window groups, and skin Terminal windows using prefab or custom themes. After the jump, see the theme options (“Pro” pictured here.)

Go Check out the full article, I thought this was a good article to show people!!