Have Laptop Will Travel

Firefox 3.5 beta 4 now available for download

Originally posted on April 27, 2009 @ 10:29 pm

Mozilla has finally released the newest iteration of its popular Firefox web browser. Firefox 3.5 beta 4 is filled with new improvements that will significantly improve performance and compatibility with web sites.

The new version is available across the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. The Beta 4 released is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering engine that promises faster performance through speculative parsing.

The Beta 4 release also includes other improvements like location based browsing with the help of geolocation, native JSON and web worker threads support, and also an additional support for new technologies like HTML 5 and elements. There is also new support for downloadable fonts and other CSS properties.

Language support has also been extended to 70 with the addition of six new languages.

General Dynamics releases new rugged laptop

Originally posted on March 16, 2009 @ 11:29 pm

General Dynamics Itronix has released another new entry to the rugged laptop market sector. The GD8000 is a small laptop that is being marketed towards military use, law enforcement and other professions that will require a heavy duty laptop like construction oil exploration and transportation.

The GD8000 m has a 13.3 inch screen and weighs 7.9 pounds. The touch screen equipped display has been configured for daylight viewing. the 120 GB hard drive has been shock mounted for extra stability. It has 802.11 a/g/n connectivity, an integrated Gobi 2000 WWAN, and Bluetooth. The battery life is pegged at a respectable 10 hours. It sports a 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 and could be equipped with up to 4 GB of DDR 3 memory. The integrated graphics is an Intel GMA 4500MHD. There’s also a super password utility and a trusted platform module.

The GD8000 has passed the US military’s MIL-STE 810F ruggedness standard, which means it can withstand drops from up to 42 inches, simulated rainstorms, extreme heat and cold, and also extreme dust and vibration.

The GD8000 will sell from $3,800 upwards.

Dell to discontinue 12-inch Mini, revive Mini 9

Originally posted on August 11, 2009 @ 9:54 am

Dell can’t seem to make up its mind. The computer manufacturing giant, in a recent blog post, announced that it will stop producing its 12 inch netbooks. But it also announced that the Mini 9 (which has a 10 inch display) has been revived — after it was retired last June.

According to the same blog post, Dell’s move can be seen as a realization that in the netbook market the 10 inch display is where the money is.

Dell is selling the Mini 9 for $299 while the Mini 12 is sold at the Dell factory outlets for about $569.

Opera 10 is a good browser

Originally posted on June 27, 2009 @ 10:12 pm

With the Opera browser’s version 10 already released as a public beta, users are now experiencing for themselves the additions and new features of what is considered “the greatest browser no one uses.”

The new browser has a new darker interface and and the tabs can be dragged down to show thumbnails of the site in the said tabs. One of Opera’s nifty features, the Speed Dial, is now customizable to take advantage of bigger screens (Google actually copied this feature for their Chrome browser).

Opera CEO Jon Tetzchner said that Opera 10 also has faster performance. Coupled with the new features, he said that both long time users of the browser and new users will be impressed with it.

For torrent users, it should be noted that Opera remains the only browser that has a built in torrent client. Other browsers do not incorporate it mainly because of fears of getting the attention of the copyright hounds. At just a lean 6.5 MB, you guys should really try Opera 10.

Expect Windows 7 on netbooks

Originally posted on April 9, 2009 @ 11:44 pm

Expect to see Windows 7 on netbooks when it is released.

Microsoft claimed that it whatever netbook PC hardware “evolves” Windows 7 will work perfectly with it. The company reported that it is testing Windows 7 on various netbook PCs since before the upcoming OS was “feature complete”.Microsoft’s plan is to ensure that small notebook PCs will run perfectly with any edition of Windows 7.

This is a good move on Microsoft’s part. It is a firm acknowledgement that netbooks is probably one of the strongest laptop market segment today. With the world economy slowing down, it’s pretty much sure that netbooks will become a more attractive purchase option for people who want to upgrade or add a new laptop for their homes or office. Ensuring that Windows 7 will work perfectly with these units will definitely help in selling the new OS when it finally arrives. The upside here is that Windows 7 will probably be not as bloated if it really wants to target netbooks.

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