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More then Just Chips – Intel Youth Rock Stars Summit February 10, 2010

Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, Teen Info , add a comment
Shiny.
So I, along with some other really smart bloggers, (was great to meet everyone, by the way), were at Intel HQ a few days back at the Intel Youth Rock Star Summit. Here’s a brief summary of what we’ve been up to:
We first had a discussion on netbooks, particularly in the role they provide in a school space as opposed to a full size laptop, particularly in regard to the Atom Processor. Basically, the idea there is that the netbook is meant to be an accessory to your main laptop – something portable for use on the go. Due to its high portability and low price points, it’s becoming an ideal option as a single laptop for note taking, provided nothing too heavy needs to run.
Next, we had a discussion and Q/A session with Intel Fellow and Engeneer Mario Paccania, regarding the new Intel Light Peak technology – basically, a new form of computer connection that is based on optical (fiber optic, or light-based) cables to transmit data. The cool thing? 10 GB per SECOND transfer speed – or insanely, insanely, fast. This is going to be huge when it launches. Also, it’s based on USB, so it’s fully backwards compatible with USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.0 as well.
We heard about the new tech in the latest Intel laptops, particurly the Core i3, i5, and i7 devices; we saw the Dell XPS Adamo, the thinnest computer in the world – mind blowingly thin (seriously, you could cut carrots with this one). We also got to see WiDi – wireless display stuff: hook up box to TV. Press button on laptop. And magically the TV now wirelessly displays the laptop’s output. Sweet for watching stuff with friends. Just worked simply and easily, and was seriously cool to see.
Lunch was fun, with an interesting debate on Apple’s latest iPad – and the role of it, if any, in the student life, particularly related to content creation vs. consumption. Interesting to see different takes on that, and to discuss the role of content creation vs. consumption, and even the levels of it.
After lunch, we got to see two seriously, seriously cool things: Intel Dispute Finder, and Home Energy Management. Dispute Finder, designed as a plug-in, is meant to counteract the unfortunate problem  that among wealth of media that now people on the internet (like this blog, for instance), some of it is not true. Dispute Finder would highlight disputed information and point you towards a site that you trust to help you understand opinions and perspectives to that information. Quite cool.
Home Energy Management was also seriously impressive. Through one integrated box located on your wall, you can monitor numerous aspects of your home – heating, AC, security — in a simple, organized fashion. Trust me, this is cool – like sci-fi movie cool. It monitors energy use, makes suggestions to save you money, lets you turn on and off stuff, set up profiles for your HOUSE for different times, like you can with a phone.
Afterwards, we had an interesting discussion about marketing and outreach to teens and college students, concluding that Google and Apple are considered the best at getting the market attention of teens. How to get teens to notice stuff was the question, which got some interesting answers and ideas on.
Next, we visited Intel’s Tera-Scale computing lab, hidden deep in the Intel Headquarters. This place was insane – you’ve probably heard of dual core chips. Or quad core. The newest stuff right now has 8-core chips. In this lap – try 80-cores. That’s effectively 80 computers. On one chip. We saw some stuff running on the smaller 48-core chips, and it was sweet – stuff like automatically enhancing pixalated pictures – enough to read far away, blurry text, as well as smoothing jitterey cell phone videos, to digital 3D scanning and rendering for use in a game – from a dozen still webcam images. Live traffic tracking.
And of course, everyone’s favorite, the awesome augmented reality ball game – which took a bunch of bouncing Intel balls that you could interact with on webcam, in real time.
After that, we went over to the Gaming Benchmarking Lab, where they do benchmarking for the latest Intel chips. Pictures speak louder then words on this one – that’s a LOT of computers…
So, that’s it. All in all, an incredible experience. Got to see some seriously cool stuff, meet some seriously cool people, and if there’s one message I can give you guys that I took away from this, it’s that there’s a LOT more to Intel than just the chips.
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TeuxDeux Reveuxw! January 19, 2010

Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , 2comments

How Deux Yoeux Keep Together?

This one’s a new one, but it’s real good. I promise.

Those of you who follow the site know that I’m a big fan of online stuff that lets me stay sane and together across multiple computers and devices (especially in school). So… here’s my new favorite tool for doing that: TeuxDeux (pronounced “ToDo” – you can probably guess where this is going…)

TeuxDeux is an online ToDo list. (Yup. You guessed it.) As if happens, a very, very, very, nice one. As you can see above – it looks fantastic. The interface is clean, simple, and easy to understand. It’s broken down into two groups – stuff that has a date, and stuff that doesn’t. You just type into the text box, either for a specific date or as a “Someday” item, and it adds it. Once there, it’s there until you cross it off or delete it.

Need more time for something? Items are easily dragged and dropped across days. And since everything is online, you can get to your list anytime, anywhere. Which is an obvious plus.

Finally, TeuxDeux comes at the finest of prices – it’s completely free. Not free-but-you-have-to-pay-subscription-fees-if-you-want-more-features free, not free-but-has-annoying-ads-every-5-seconds, just free. And in its current state – it’ll stay that way (they are considering a paid version in the future). They also have an iPhone app being worked on as well.

So – wrap up. There are plenty of great ToDo applications out there – but TeuxDeux isn’t reinventing the wheel. It’s taking the idea and doing it in the best possible way. Which is perfect. For students looking to organize themselves a week at a time, in what is a beautiful and simple manner, from anywhere – try TeuxDeux.

So far, it’s helping me keep track of myself and my crazy amount of work for midterm week, and it’s doing it well. Check it out here.

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Lenovo Shows Off 2 New Touchscreen PCs January 14, 2010

Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : CES and Macworld, Computers , add a comment

The Lenovo U1 Hybrid, in laptop mode

The Slate PC by Microsoft wasn’t the only touchscreen computer shown off at CES (not by a long shot), and while at CES, Lenovo announced two really cool touchscreen PC’s of their own– the S10-3t netbook, and the U1 which, is… well you’ll see–think of it as a regular laptop mixed with a tablet. Read on for all the info.

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Lenovo Introduces the Skylight smartbook January 5, 2010

Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : CES and Macworld, Computers , add a comment

The Lenovo Skylight

Just because CES starts on Wednesday doesn’t mean companies cant get a head start on announcing a bunch of new products. Lenovo has really taken full use of this, today officially unveiling a whole new line of computer called the Skylight smartbook. So what is the Skylight and what’s different about it than your normal netbook or laptop?

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Five Different Versions of Windows 7–Which Is Right for You October 25, 2009

Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , 1 comment so far

windows 7 logo 3

So let’s begin our Windows 7 coverage with trying to simplify the many different versions of the OS. Unlike with Apple’s Snow Leopard, where it’s more of a one-size fits-all approach, with Windows 7 you got a nice selection of editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Happy-Go-Lucky… Ok, fine, we just made up the happy go lucky part, but as you can see, there are a whole lot of different versions, and so let’s try to simplify that into what you should looking for when getting a Windows 7 upgrade or when looking for a new PC, and what you should be looking for specs wise to make sure whatever version of 7 you get works well.

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Windows 7 Out Now! October 22, 2009

Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , add a comment

windows 7 logo

Today is October 22nd, and you know what that means: Windows 7 is out! This is the day anyone using Vista has been waiting for. Microsoft has officially made Windows 7 available for purchase. In the coming days we’ll be doing a ton of coverage of Microsoft’s awesome new OS (it is truly awesome– I’ve been using it on a couple different PC’s for a few months now, and am really loving  it. It’s just so fast and easy, and not Vista) and how it relates to you.

In the meantime however, go on and check out our first thoughts that we posted a few months back, and if anyone out there already got 7 and wants to share their thoughts on the OS, or if anyone has any questions about 7, feel free to post them in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them in the coming days.

You can get Windows 7 now from your local Best Buy, Walmart, or other local computer store now, or order it online from Amazon and Microsoft’s own sites among many other online retailers.

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Recap from IDF: Hands on with 2 New HP Laptops, the Pavilion d8 and Envy 15, and Intel's Core i7 for Laptops October 20, 2009

Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, IDF , add a comment

HP Pavilion dv8 and Envy 15

HP’s Core i7 packing Pavilion dv8 and Envy 15

While at IDF we got to see a bunch of sick new laptops coming to the Best Buy’s and Walmart’s near you very, very soon. We’re talking about some insane new stuff, and HP and Intel really pulled out all the stops here—sleek designs, incredible amount of features, and previously unheard of power for laptops. Wanna learn more? Who we kidding, of course you do—and we got a bunch of pix and more info on both of these major bad boys after the break.

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A Windows-Mac Alternative: Moblin by Linux October 14, 2009

Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews, IDF , add a comment

moblin hometop

RUN! IT’S A MOBLIN!


Alright, so chances are, if you’ve used a computer in the past few years, you’ve heard of the basic factions of operating systems – Mac, and Windows. Chances are you’ve used both over the years. But, there is a third major OS – Linux, which I for one, and I’m guessing that many of you as well, haven’t had a chance to use. Now, unlike the Mac or Windows, Linux comes in tons of varieties. But the one I’ll be focusing on here is Moblin, which Intel is involved in, and we had the chance to see at IDF this year.

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