After only available for pre-order, Amazon.com now ships all four models of the new 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One D150 in the colors Diamond Black, Seashell White, Sapphire Blue and Ruby Red.

The Aspire One D150 is Acer’s first 10-inch netbook after building the popular 8.9 Acer Aspire One series. Like similar netbooks in its class, the D150 features the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB storage and Windows XP Home. The affordable Acer Aspire One weighs just under 3 pounds and has a 6-cell battery that provides up to 5 hours of battery life. Unlike some netbooks from Asus, the D150 comes with a glossy 10.1-inch CrystalBrite display.

The netbook is available with the same specifications in four different colors: Diamond Black, Seashell White, Sapphire Blue and Ruby Red. All netbooks are now in stock and ship at Amazon.com for actually $349.99

Do you already received the new 10-inch Acer Aspire One? It would be great if you could submit a review to NotebookNotes.com and help other readers to make a solid buying decision.

Although Amazon is advertising the new Samsung NC10 Special Edition netbook to have a “anti-reflection gloss coating display”, customers report it doesn’t. The netbook comes with a matte, non-glossy display like the original NC10.

Did Amazon misadvertise big time on the NC10 Special Edition netbook? There has been some rumor about a glossy display and it says on the official product page that the netbook features a “anti-reflection gloss coating display”. Apparently, customers who received the product confirm that it doesn’t have a glossy display.

Proof can be found on Amazon’s NC10 SE product page itself and in the support forums.

First, take a look at the official product picture. Doesn’t look glossy to me. Of course, it’s just a promotional image, so one can’t be 100% sure.

Second, customers who received the Samsung NC10 Special Edition reported back:

The screen is vivid and bright compared to my T43. I thought the screen would be glossy from what I had read but it’s not! Definitely a big plus for anyone who wants to use this device a lot and in different lighting conditions. I’m not a fan of glossy screens and I was apprehensive about it so this was a very pleasant surprise.

So, no glossy display. Still, the information about the new 6 cell 5900mAh high capacity battery is true. The new battery provides over 9 hours of continuous run time, the big plus of the improved NC10.

Should we be happy now? Well, some customers don’t like glossy displays, especially in netbooks. But Amazon should absolutely improve their product description about the NC10 Special Edition. Since it’s a netbook only sold on Amazon, I don’t understand why they don’t promote it better. After all it seems like a pretty cool netbook.

Take a look at the NC10 Special Edition product page and check out if it could be something for you. According to Amazon it ships within 2 to 5 weeks.

After a disappointing first video, we now have a new teaser for the Dell Adamo notebook which shows how the laptop will actually look like. In the video, two robots are building the Adamo from single parts. It seems like an aluminum case is used for the device, as well as a glossy screen which is build up to the edges of the Adamo. The ports including USB are located at the back of the laptop and is also has keyboard backlit.

All in all, the Dell Adamo in this video looks pretty beautiful and solid. It’s definitely not just a rip-off of the Apple Macbook Air because of it’s unique look. However, there are still no specifications attached. Dell is sure building suspense around its new Adamo notebook. Let’s hope they don’t overplay it and we get something official soon.

By the way, as people keep asking this, the song is Come to Nothing by Car Stereo Wars.

via SlashGear

In times when notebooks sales decline and netbooks are the bestselling devices, the tech world is looking at Apple and is desperately waiting for a netbook. Well, the rumors are back again. According to a report by Commercial Times, the Taiwan-based company Wintek is going to supply touch panels for an Apple netbook which could be expected in Q3 2009, right before the holiday season.

What will it look like?

As described in my previous article about alternative operating systems on netbooks, it’s possible to run the actual Mac OS X operating system on netbooks with the low performance Intel Atom processor. Apple could have released a netbook just like the Acer or Asus devices with a stripped down Mac OS version. Apple didn’t and if they are really building a netbook now, it will be an innovative computer with a touchscreen. The question is, will the rumored Apple netbook be closer to an iPhone or a Macbook?

Netbook or tablet?

Also, considering it’s Apple we are talking about, will it have the typical Apple premium price? Netbooks usually have a price limit at $500 and Apple would sure attract costumers to finally buy an Apple computer if it would be cheaper. Considering this, the Apple netbook is likely to have limited capabilities to justify the price. But maybe Apple isn’t so fond with the whole netbook concept after all and is instead building a tablet with an interface like the iPhone or the iPod touch?

All in all, it’s just a rumor. We will have to wait for more facts to prove a Macbook Mini or Macbook touch or whatever an Apple netbook would be called.
Also, if you want a Mac OS X netbook right now, go buy a netbook like the Eee PC and install the Apple operating system on it. It works with a little hacking!

Update: According to Engadget, “two people close to the situation” confirmed the rumor. Also, the screen size is now said to be between 9.7 and 10-inches.

via Liliputing, Gizmodo

Backing up your files is a very important task as pointed out in another blog article of mine about backups. It also often comes in handy to be able to synchronize files between different computers. That’s exactly what Dropbox is about, easy sync and back up of your files online.

The main features of Dropbox are 2 GB of online storage for any kind of files, online synchronization, synchronization across computers & operating systems, deleted files recovery and access to previous file versions via the web interface. It also gives you the possibility to make folders public and share them with friends or coworkers. The storage is upgradeable to 50 GB at actually $9.99 per month or $99 per year.

Easy to use and free

If you are looking for an easy to use and simple backup/sync app then Dropbox is for you. It is handy for synchronization between different computers, like your home computer and your netbook, an ASUS Eee PC, for example. After downloading, installing the software and registering an account, Dropbox adds a “My Dropbox” folder on your computer in which you can start putting files. That’s basically it. Next time you put a file in this folder, it will be automatically synchronized via your Internet connection.

Dropbox is great for personal use as well as for work. Just consider the advantages of just moving project files in a shared folder with your coworkers instead of sending it around per e-mail. Additionally, Dropbox keeps a history of changes made to your files. You can return to a previous version of a file and even undelete it using the web interface. From personal experience I can recommend the service for home use and university, just like described by Adrian Thomas in his College Collaboration Tools article.

Solid synchronization service

After using the sync service for several months, I identified two little downsides. First, it constantly takes up between 30 to 50 MB of memory. For low end computers this might be too much. Simplest solution is to switch the program off and only activate it when you want to sync files.

The second downside is the one folder limit. In order to sync files and folders that live outside the My Dropbox folder, you need to create a symbolic link between the My Dropbox folder and the folder on your drive you want to sync. On Mac OS X and Linux it’s easy to set up and it is also possible on Windows. Follow the instructions in the article “Sync Files and Folders Outside Your My Dropbox Folder” at Lifehacker.

Keeping in mind that Dropbox is a young start-up, the team is very committed and the service gets regular improvments based on user input. The team is working constantly on the application, you can get in touch in the Dropbox forums.

Get more storage for free

So, all in all, great service, I recommend it it from personal usage, check it out. You can get an extra 250 MB of space registering via my referral link and try out the service. There are versions available for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can download Dropbox at www.getdropbox.com

When you buy a new notebook, you usually know what hardware is inside because of the printed specifications on the box. If you really want to know what hardware is build in your computer, you either need to open the case to take a direct look on the computer components, or you run a software utility that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

Use CPU-Z and GPU-Z

CPU-Z is a lightweight program that detects your main device and returns information about them. It can gather information from the CPU (processor, core voltage, cache levels, etc.), mainboard (vendor, model, BIOS, chipset, etc.), memory (model specifications, etc.) and the system (Windows and DirectX version) itself.
CPU-Z comes as an .exe file and doesn’t need to be installed, just run the program.

GPU-Z is a similar tool, but for gathering all information about your video card and GPU. It supports NVIDIA and ATI cards, displays adapter, GPU and display information and also doesn’t require an installation.

Know what’s inside

Finding out what hardware your computer is running is not only interesting, it is quite handy sometimes. To begin with, you know your hardware in case something gets broken and needs to be replaced. If you need to give information to tech support, you have the information ready with two mouse clicks. It also comes in handy if you want to sell you computer on eBay.

Every now and then you are in the situation that you’re not on your own computer. In this cases, portable apps on an USB drive come in very handy.

What is a portable app?

A portable app is a computer program which you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any other computer. Portable devices are, for example, USB flash drives, portable external hard drives, iPods/MP3 players and SD flash cards. When a portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. When you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.
A portable app can be a single portable program up to a fully functional operating system on a Live CD or bootable drive.

What do I get?

Portable apps are awesome if you have to work on other peoples PCs a lot. The big advantage is that you can carry all your usual stuff with you. Instead of using Internet Explorer 6 you can fire up Firefox Portable. You can check your emails and calendar with Mozilla Thunderbird or chat with buddies on your regular instant messenger. You can also get a lot of work done with OpenOffice Portable, graphic programs and server programs. There are a lot of open source programs available as portable apps.

Where to get portable apps?

Most portable apps are for Windows users, an excellent site is PortableApps.com. It features regular updates and all major programs, including the PortableApps.com Suite.

Check out the following list of portable app sources:

The Portable Freeware Collection

App-Stick Free Portable Applications

Downloadpedia: Portable Freeware Software

Wikipedia: List of portable software

100 Portable Apps for your USB Stick (for Mac and Win)

Pendriveapps.com

35 Portable Applications that Every Tech Needs

Feel free to write a comment with additional sources.

Security issues

While it’s true that portable applications on USB drives are incredibly useful, security is a major downside, if you are not careful with the data you store. As long you don’t save sensitive, personal data, you are fine. But if your USB drive gets lost or stolen, you might have a problem. A good solution to secure a flash drive is encrypting it with TrueCrypt, which is free and also available as a portable application. Using encryption and a strong master password should keep your drive safe.

Your Windows PC is broken and all your important documents are stored on the hard drive? Don’t panic! Even if your computer won’t boot anymore, there is still a chance to get access to your data - an Ubuntu Live CD. As long as no critical hardware is broken, this might be the solution for you and it’s totally free.

What is a Live CD?

A Linux Live CD is a bootable disk which loads a Linux operating system from the disk into RAM, in our case Ubuntu. The system running on a Live CD doesn’t require an installation and is mostly used for demonstration, system recovery and testing system compatibility. Running a Live CD will not modify any data on your computer unless you choose to. Alternatively, a bootable USB flash drive can be used which often has the added functionality of writing changes back to the bootable medium.
We will use an Ubuntu Live CD in this How-to. According to DistroWatch, a website which tracks the popularity of Linux distributions, Ubuntu has been the most popular Linux distribution in 2008.

How to access my Windows data?

After downloading and burning the ISO file, you boot from the Live CD on your broken computer. When the Ubuntu menu shows up, you select the first entry which should be something like “Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer”, depending on the system version. Once the operating system is loaded, you go to Places -> Computer which will show you all available drives. Now, try to open your Windows drive with a double click. If you can access the drive, congratulations! You can now backup your data.

In case you get an error message and the file system of the drive is NTFS, try to force to mount the drive like described at How-To Geek or install ntfs-config, a GUI configuration tool.

Once you can access the Windows drive, you can either copy all files or a selection of your documents. For example, on Windows XP you copy the “Documents and Settings” folder, on Vista you copy the “Users” folder.

Can a Live CD repair my system?

In this How-to, I just wanted to show you how to save your data as a last resort. But Live CDs can do more. For example, an Ubuntu Live CD can also fix your Windows MBR (Master Boot Record), if it’s broken.
If you want to get advanced, check out this list of Rescue and Repair Live CDs. Live systems like the Trinity Rescue Kit can be a huge life saver. They include programs which are able to reset Windows passwords, scan & remove viruses, recover deleted files and save lost partitions.

Conclusion

You see, even if your Windows computer crashes, there is still hope called Linux Live CD. Even if you don’t use Linux as your primary operating system, it’s always handy to have an Ubuntu Live CD, just in case something bad happens to your computer. And while you at it, you could give the Ubuntu operating system a try and take a look at one of the most advanced Linux distributions. It’s worth it.
Also, remember the importance of making regular backups. All you need is an external hard drive and a backup software to handle the process and you are safe.

Buying a new Mac can have various reasons. For example, your computer might be old and you get low performance on modern applications, or you just need a new Apple laptop because you travel a lot and need mobility which a desktop computer can’t provide. In any case, if you finally made the decision to get a new Apple computer there is one last thing to consider: the Apple product cycle.

The Apple product cycle

By Apple product cycle I mean, that Macs have a certain release cycle which seem to run a certain pattern and therefore it is possible to estimate when a Mac will be upgraded. Of course, the exact release dates can’t be calculated precisely. However, based on the last release and historical dates of updates, you can calculate the average product cycle in days and see if your desired product ranks above or below this number. Above the average means wait and below means buy. It is also an indicator to give you an idea, when it is definitely a bad time to buy a new Mac because a new upgrade or replacement product should come up soon.
So, if you can wait e.g. 3 months before buying, you might have the chance to get a improved product plus a lower price, because upgraded products often get a price cut.

So, when is the best time to buy a new Mac? Certainly, the best time is when your product has just been upgraded recently or if it is in a early phase of its product cycle. As you may know, Apple tends to release new products at special events, so it might be a good idea to wait for that, too. Also keep an eye on rumors, but don’t overrate them, because most Apple rumors are speculation or Apple fan fantasies.

All in all, if you do your research I’m sure you will make a good purchase decision. Now check out the site below to find out in which phase your desired Mac is at this moment and get the most out of your money:

Mac Buyer’s Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac

If you know sites with similar information feel free to write a comment with the link.

Check out this funny ad for the Lenovo W700ds, the notebook with the extra mini screen. Will this really work? :)