Hardware

Carpal Tunnel- Laptops Better than Ergo Keyboards? 90

Posted by Cliff from the mitigating-the-pain dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I have chronic tendonitis in my wrists (I think of it as incipient carpal tunnel syndrome). I shied away from laptops for years, thinking the cramped keyboard would aggravate my condition. About six months ago, circumstances forced me to break down and get a laptop. I didn't have any major problems with the keyboard - it's only now that I've switched back to a wireless mouse and an ergonomic keyboard that I've started to have any pain. Amazingly, the laptop is more comfortable for me to use long term. Has anyone had a similar experience? What's the explanation? Is it the shorter stroke depth on the keys? The fact that you can put your hands closer together than on a standard keyboard?"
Displays

Polymer Vision Produces 5" Rollable Displays 283

Posted by CmdrTaco from the interesting-techology dept.
drquizas writes "Polymer Vision (associated with Philips) has produced a rollable display using organic electronic techniques. The display, currently measuring 5" diagonal and capable of displaying QVGA at 320x240, will eventually be targeted towards applications such as military uses (maps anyone?), newspapers and e-books."
Handhelds

Full X11-Based Distro For PDAs 155

Posted by timothy from the mostly-work-safe dept.
omin0us writes "over at http://cacko.zaurususergroup.com, we are working on a Full X11 based Linux distro for the Sharp Zaurus SL-c7x0/860 series of PDAs. The screen has a usable full VGA resolution of 640x480 and the distro uses Openbox/ROX Desktop as its Native WM. But others such as Fluxbox, Afterstep, and XFCE have been compiled for it and run nicely. You will also find a WIDE variety of compiled apps in the Feed on the Cacko website such as a native GCC Compiler, XMMS, Mplayer, prboom, Gimp, Gkrellm, Abiword and numerous others. Many different screenshots of it in action may be found here. This is truly bringing desktop linux to the PDA. Also, another project that has branched from Cacko Linux is Gentoo for Zaurus. This project, at the moment is based on the Cacko X11 environment, but will eventually become a full Gentoo environment. "It can emerge packages, sync, or create Gentoo packages using the -B switch in emerge." This should be an interesting project to watch."
Wireless Networking

15-Mile Wi-Fi Shot At 4 Mbps Up and Down 79

Posted by timothy from the special-conditions dept.
DarnComputers writes "5G Wireless (FGWC) announced that it has documented a long distance Wi-Fi shot of 15 miles at a throughput of 4Mbps upload and download speed. The shot was completed this last weekend, in a competitive Wi-Fi shootout at the Defcon convention in Las Vegas, Nev. There were many participants with both commercial-grade and homemade entries in a variety of categories at Defcon's first annual Wi-Fi shootout.http://home.earthlink.net/~wifi-shootout/"
Displays

Tablet PC's in Bright Sunlight? 37

Posted by Cliff from the it's-all-about-the-visibility dept.
chadma asks: "I'm developing a program to be used on a Tablet PC; the unit will be used outdoors >80% of the time. I've seen some tablets from ViewSonic and MotionComputing and wondered if anyone had any experience or suggestions in the best screen for high sunlight conditions. Has there been any study or anyone with experience that could suggest the colors we use in the design? Would a white background with black text be most appropriate?"
Wireless Networking

Wi-Fi Redirect Gateway Patent for Hotspots 172

Posted by timothy from the mmmm-submarine dept.
Glenn Fleishman writes "Over at WiFiNetNews.com, we just broke the story that Nomadix was issued a patent covering hotspot gateway page redirection. Nomadix makes hardware and software for the hotspot industry, and this patent would cover redirection used by community networking portals (like NoCat), sponsored free networks (like NewburyOpen.Net), and fee networks (like Wayport, T-Mobile HotSpot, and Cometa). It's unclear what terms Nomadix wants for a license, but this patent seems to take a standard way of doing business and put it under fee -- although Nomadix may have been the first firm to employ this method for proxy URL redirection."
Businesses

Dell Offers FreeDOS With New PCs 488

Posted by timothy from the on-again-off-again-baker's-man dept.
Zed writes "Showing a distancing of itself from Microsoft, Dell now offers businesses a chance to purchase computers without a Windows operating system. The N-Series computers start at $319 from Dell's website and ship with a FreeDOS CD in the box."
United States

Worst Cars Of All Time Rated 1017

Posted by simoniker from the vroom-vroom-sputter dept.
prostoalex writes "Forbes magazine complains that people nowadays do not have a real understanding of how awful a car can truly be. Hence they compiled a list of the worst cars available in the US, or 'lemons' created after World War 2. In the former Eastern Bloc, there are plenty of other choices, including this Ukrainian jewel, as well as many Soviet cars did not make it to the Forbes article."
Handhelds

Linux Headed For Smartphone Domination? 269

Posted by simoniker from the competition-is-none dept.
An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices has published a summary of research findings from Zelos Group that predicts that Linux is going dominate the smartphone market, beating out both Symbian and Microsoft. Zelos says that Linux scored highest on the two criteria that matter most to OEMs and carriers: openness and low cost. Microsoft scored lowest in these criteria. The article says Zelos believes Symbian beats Microsoft due to the flexibility of its licensing terms, and Microsoft prospects will be stymied to an extent by its desire to strictly manage how its brand is used. The conclusion: Linux will be the preferred operating system for connected devices."
Intel

Linux Centrino Driver Update 273

Posted by Hemos from the talking-more-about-it dept.
Edy52285 writes "An article on News.com talks about how Intel has been, and still is, dragging on releasing their Linux drivers for Centrino. Intel is reluctant to release its drivers as open source since doing so would reveal secrets about their wireless hardware. Linux in currently unable to take advantage of Centrino's wireless networking devices, without, that is, prying $20 from your thin wallet to buy Linuxant's DriverLoader (discussed in an earlier story). Will Swope (Intel's General Manager of Software and Solutions Group) said in an interview said "What I believe will happen is we will end up having a Linux compatibility driver that is not open source at first, then designing future drivers in such a way that they are open source but will not expose intellectual property," Intel seem to be taking its time on releasing the drivers, and even in the article, there is a lack of any commitment on a date or under what conditions the drivers will be released." Also, someone pointed out that it's worth checking out ndiswrapper for the driver.
Wireless Networking

802.16 WiMax Wireless Broadband on the Horizon 169

Posted by timothy from the certainly-not-over-it dept.
securitas writes "Products using the emerging IEEE 802.16 WiMax wireless broadband standard should be available early in 2005. WiMax's hundreds of megabits per second bandwidth looks promising to many vendors and service providers who met in San Jose at last week's Wireless Communications Association (WCA) International Technical Symposium & Business Expo. The point-to-multipoint 802.16d standard, with a 50-kilometre range, is expected to be complete by February, ratified in March and deployed in the first quarter of 2005." (Read on for more.)
AMD

Athlon64 Motherboards And Chips Compared 205

Posted by timothy from the just-us-oranges dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Just noticed that OverclockersClub has a new article (free, no reg, blah blah blah) that describes the AMD64 processors. The article talks about the differences in each processor and compares them as well as puts everything in a nice easy to read chart. Pretty nice article if you aren't familiar with all the new tech." Makes a good match for Johnny-boy's submission. He writes "HardwareZone has a 46 page article out that compares many of the Athlon64 motherboards out on the market now. If you are planning to get that Socket-754 motherboard, maybe this article is worth a look."
Desktops (Apple)

Macintosh 2004 Case Mod 378

Posted by timothy from the sincerest-form-of-modding dept.
NOTD665 writes "'On January 24 [1984], Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."' This was the pronouncement at the end of Apple's commercial, which TV Guide magazine would later deem the greatest commercial of all time. Aired during the 1983 Super Bowl, the now famous Apple Macintosh '1984' commercial informed the world that the age of modern, home PCs was coming. Get ready. Here comes the Mac... Finally, one fateful day in December, the Mac's slumber was awoken yet again. It was time for the Mac to be reborn." Too bad it doesn't run Mac OS X.
Handhelds

Mac OS X Apps on Zaurus 29

Posted by pudge from the step-this-way dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller reports progress in the mySTEP project to run Mac OS X applications on the Sharp Zaurus. Though not yet ready for production, the newest release brings more maturity and features, and Dr. Schaller invites anyone interested in integrating mobile, low-cost, handheld computers with Mac OS X-based IT applications to contact the project. In particular, Dr. Schaller would like to locate someone interested in developing and contributing a new menu system (NSMenuView, NSMenuItemCell) to the project."
Displays

Inexpensive Reading Assistance Device? 28

Posted by Cliff from the growing-eyestalks dept.
N8F8 asks: "I would like to come up with an inexpensive reading assist device for the visually impaired. Something that would give them a close-up view of things without having to stoop over. For under $500. What I would like is a method to connect a USB/Firewire webcam to a CDMA phone or PDA and display the picture in real-time. Or replace the PDA with an inexpensive eyeglass mounted display. Are there better options?"
Data Storage

Guide to Digital Preservation from NIST 190

Posted by michael from the jesus-saves dept.
Little Hamster writes "The scientists working on the Digital Preservation Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released an excellent 50 page guide on care and handling of CDs and DVDs for long term storage. It talks about the effects of light, moisture, radiation, scratches, marking, adhesive labels, and even playback on the discs. For those slashdotters who is not familiar with the physical made up of these optical discs, there is a very nice chapter explaining all the background. And if you only want to know how to care for your precious data, there is a one page summary. And yes, they agreed that glued-on labels are harmful."
Hardware

Wireless Keyboard w/o a Wireless Mouse? 61

Posted by Cliff from the keep-your-rodent-please! dept.
Pampusik asks: "I'm looking for a decent wireless keyboard, but do not need a wireless mouse. Unfortunately, it seems it is nearly impossible to buy a wireless keyboard without having a mouse bundled with it. The only wireless, mouse-less keyboard I've been able to find is an option from Logitech. It is, however, not an impressive keyboard. Are there other options available?"
Wireless Networking

Rolling Your Own Wireless Communications System? 254

Posted by Cliff from the keeping-in-touch dept.
nuggetman asks: "My high school, like most others, has a theater program. One critical element of the show is the tech crew - the group of people behind the scenes who keep it all running. Communication between the stage manager (myself) and crew members (as well as between crew members) is critical. For this job right now, we're using standard hand-held walkie-talkies. They get the job done, but they're susceptible to dead batteries, incompatibility between VOX headsets, and interference from janitors, the office, hall monitors, and even the local McDonald's. We've been wanting to invest in a theater-communication system, but they can run extremely expensive. Is there any hardware out there that could use a standard PC (Linux or Windows) and some wireless headsets to roll your own communication system that could cover a long enough range (say the theater which is the size of a gym plus a decent range outside it) at a low enough cost? Our school just installed 802.11b/g throughout the hallways, so we could tap into that if necessary and add our own router near the stage if we had to."
Links

Is Your Silver-based Thermal Paste Really Silver? 788

Posted by CowboyNeal from the critical-looks dept.
strider69666 writes "Over at Overclockers.com they have a review of several thermal compounds that claim to have 99% pure silver content. 'I decided to test Arctic Silver 5, Arctic Silver 3, OCZ Ultra II Premium Silver Compound, and CompUSA Silver Thermal Grease. This test was not conducted to test performance, but rather to determine if these compounds have Silver as an ingredient.' Using a professionally mixed testing solution, they found that several brands do not, in fact, contain any silver at all! So, are you getting what you are paying for?"
Intel

Intel to Increase Stages in Prescott 524

Posted by CowboyNeal from the massive-pipelining dept.
Alizarin Erythrosin writes "Further contributing to the MHz Myth, The Register and ZDNet are reporting that the new P4 core, codenamed Prescott, will have a longer pipeline then Northwood. No official numbers have been released, but The Reg is saying an Intel spokesman said that 30 stages seems to be a reasonable estimate. As most of us know, a longer pipeline can lead to slowdowns in the form of branch mispredictions and pipeline stalls. 'And just as the PIII proved faster than the early P4s in some applications, it's likely that Northwood will similarly prove faster than Prescott, which has clearly been designed for speeds of the order of 4GHz.'"

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