TecCrunch is planning to create a laptop which will be used only to surf Internet and communicate with your friends using Skype. Really a nice and unique concept. I wish them luck for this.
There used to be a middle button on old mouses but later the idea was dropped by most of the companies. Laptop makers never thought about the idea of middle click functionality on touchpads but Ryan of cybernet news was smart enough to search for a AutoHotKey script which enables middle click functionality. All you need to do is to click both mouse buttons simultaneously and that emulates a middle click.
The script is only two lines of code:
~LButton & RButton::MouseClick, Middle
~RButton & LButton::MouseClick, Middle
The only downside on which Ryan could not work was if you are using Rock Mouse Gesture than it will stop working once you install this script. Now it is totally up to you to install such a script.
One can use the middle click button for special actions like close a tab with a middle click, middle click on a hyper link to open that in new tab or any other kind of function. This depends on your genius.
Download the Middle Click Simulator
Many mouse software let you setup a zone where if you click than it is equivalent to a middle click. See your touchpad’s properties for such an option.
You are lucky if your already bought the Lenovo Thinkpad recently because people at lenovo are gearing up quick to get rid of the IBM logo on there machines. It is now a well know fact that in past few “Lenovo” and “Think” have earned a huge brand value.
When Lenovo purchased the PC wing of IBM, they sought out a plan where they were allowed to use the IBM brand name so that they do not loose the IBM customer base. But with the brand Lenovo gaining fame fast Lenovo will happily give up the IBM logo off there machines before the expected time. Moreover, overall high recognition of Think brand-name may actually increase the value of Lenovo own brand.
“By making substantial progress on all of our critical priorities over the past few quarters, we’re now a stronger, healthier company. One important sign of this progress is our decision to completely transition our Think products from the IBM brand to the Lenovo brand two years earlier than planned. Concurrently, we’ve recently launched our own ‘Best Engineered PCs’ advertising campaign and global sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games to promote our brand worldwide,” said William J. Amelio, Lenovo’s president and chief executive officer.
In fact, all the software for ThinkPad notebooks is currently supplied under Lenovo and Think trademarks, whereas IBM’s brand is nowhere to be found. Modern ThinkPad laptops also carry only Lenovo name on them.
IBM is expected to continue providing services and warranty for Lenovo Think customers.
So will you buy Lenovo now?
[via]
Worldwide laptop sales are expected to surpass desktop sales by 2009, reaching the figure of 150 million. Studies show that most laptop buyers keep their hardware around for only about three years, before discarding it and buying a new one (excluding me). Here is how laptop designers plan to make laptops more eco-friendly across their entire life span, from the producer to the recycling plant.
Problem 1: Case made from plastic, plastic made from oil
Solution: Make cases from bioplastics, plant-based polymers, as this method requires less oil and energy to produce than traditional plastics do. Fujitsu made a prototype laptop with a half natural, half conventional case and now it is testing a plastic that has up to 80% bio-content.
Problem 2: Thrown away laptops go to lanfills
Solution: Upgrade your old laptop, do not buy a new one, and discard it after a few years. Soon it may be easier and cheaper to upgrade components in your laptop than completely replace it (producers should support this movement). Asus recently released a laptop that lets users upgrade most of core components like processor, video card, memory and hard drive, by simply removing one panel.
Problem 3: Power draining displays
Solution: Build laptops that use the much newer OLED( organic light-emitting diodes) technology that need only a fraction of the power used by the traditional LCD displays, as they have no backlighting.
Problem 4: Using power from the grid
Solution: Use portable solar chargers, as they already exists. The MSI Computer company developed a laptop with photovoltaic cells integrated directly into its case.
Problem 5: Laptops contain some toxic materials
Solution: Last year, the European Union enacted legal limits on toxins in electronics sold, where the U.S. introduced a similar rating system for computers.
Problem 6: Short lived hard drives
Solution: Switch to flash memories as it has no parts in motion, uses less power and it is faster. Dell produced a laptop with a 32GB solid state drive this year and Samsung appreciates that solid state drives will hold 30 times more data than they do now.
Related:
Your Laptop Might Blow Up!
India Aims At $10 Laptops
Again! Lenovo Recalls Laptop Batteries
Now Acer “Recalls” 27000 Batteries
It sounds too good to be true, but the Human Resources Development ministry in India is trying to get engineers to devise a $10 laptop.
So far, the ministry is looking at two different designs: one from an engineering student at the Vellore Institute of Technology and another from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, according to the Times of India. (The Institute of Science, by the way, is not the colleges that are part of the Indian Institute of Technology. The Institute of Science is a grad school. Out of over 100,000 annual applications, it takes about 350.)
So far, one of the laptops, even after factoring in labor charges, costs about $47.
The cost is encouraging and we are hopeful it would come down to $10. We would also look into the possibility of some Indian company manufacturing the parts,? an official said.
Even though labor is cheap in India, getting a laptop to this level will be tough. A laptop is made from components, after all, which have to be made in factories. The $100 laptop from Nicholas Negroponte has ballooned up to $175. These laptops will be made on a single board. And most likely, it will be made with old, discarded component. You and I may not want them, but a lot of old components are pretty good. A 1GHz processor is considered out-of-date these days.
Source: news.com
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