Like the shambling horrors which suck out your brains and won’t die unless you cut off the head, Windows XP apparently will shuffle like the undead until 2012. This comes from Thurott’s SuperSite via a Dell representatives note to a reader. The note clearly states that Dell will continue to offer Windows XP Professional available on several of its product lines. I can’t say that I’m all that surprised, considering Steve “Lunatic” Ballmer himself stated that Vista is incomplete.

Speaking of incomplete, Microsoft’s Zune portable tribute to the color brown is apparently getting Audible audio book support before the end of the year. Okay. Maybe what I really mean is whoop dee doo! Considering how long it took to get the incomplete Vista out the door, I shouldn’t be shocked at how long it would take Microsoft to add the ability to play audio files to its “popular” media player. We’ll confirm these when we can.

written by Tyler Regas

Some tidbits for you to chew on: NotebookReview claims that ASUS has informed them that the ASUS Eee PC 900 will be available in Linux and Windows XP versions starting May 12th in the US. Prices will supposedly start at US$549.

Word on the street is that LG is starting to produce 16:9 and 16:10 ratio displays for low priced laptops. DigiTimes is suggesting that these displays will be snapped up by Acer, HP, and Asustek. The displays will be available in 8.9″, 9.4″, and 10.1″ formats for OEMs.

Finally, Electronista is reporting that they have more details on MSI’s competitor to the ASUS Eee PC line dubbed Wind. The small lappies will ship with 1.0-1.6GHz CPUs and a claimed battery life of up to 7 hours. There are no details on whether the MSI Wind will be available in the US.

written by Tyler Regas

The Mobile Internet Device, or MID, is going to be coming on like gangbusters later this year and even more so in 2009, if I am reading the writing on the wall correctly. Intel is behind this pus, having recently introduced their line of Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processors, dubbed Atom. Get it? Small and powerful. Yeah. BENQ has shown what it plans to be releasing in China soon to its partners at Intel, and Intel passed along the info. The BENQ MID will feature an 800MHz “Silverthorne” CPU, 512MBs of DDR2 RAM, a 4G PATA Solid State Drive (SSD), a 4.8″ 800×480 touchscreen display, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HSDPA, optional GPS, and voice control. The Intel blogger who posted this info says that BENQ is using the Moblin platform, which is a Linux based OS for MIDs which incorporates Hildon interface elements from Nokia’s Maemo project.

written by Tyler Regas

I’ve been mulling over this idea that has been postulated amidst the Psystar dust-up regarding the idea that Apple’s EULA restrictions could constitute a monopoly. I’ve come to the conclusion that it cannot. The definition of the word ‘Monopoly’ yields many clues to how this is possible:

mo•nop•o•ly

n. pl. mo·nop·o·lies Exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service: “Monopoly frequently … arises from government support or from collusive agreements among individuals” (Milton Friedman). Law A right granted by a government giving exclusive control over a specified commercial activity to a single party. A company or group having exclusive control over a commercial activity. A commodity or service so controlled. Exclusive possession or control: arrogantly claims to have a monopoly on the truth. Something that is exclusively possessed or controlled: showed that scientific achievement is not a male monopoly. Exclusive possession or control: arrogantly claims to have a monopoly on the truth. Something that is exclusively possessed or controlled: showed that scientific achievement is not a male monopoly

Somehow, I just don’t see how Apple’s EULA falls into this definition. Continue reading »

written by Tyler Regas

I was rummaging through the site’s log data (we use AWstats, if you’re curious) and re-discovered that there is someone or a few someones who uses a RISC OS system to read the Dojo. I must say, I’m honored. The Dojo isn’t known for its RISC OS-oriented headlines, but RISC OS-based system users are well known as tenacious technology users. Cheers to you, our mates in the UK! Read on for more statistics on who reads the Dojo! Continue reading »

written by Tyler Regas

Those feckless heathens over at Gizmodo have dug up yet more dirt on the so-called Psystar debacle. While its not yet proven without a shadow of a doubt, it seems pretty clear that Psystar is simply either some kind of gag or a very badly mis-managed attempt at legitimacy. Check out the Giz for extensive details on what they, so far, have collected.

PS: If this is fake, good job Rodolfo Pedraza! You fooled us all.

written by Tyler Regas

Got yourself a yen for a pocketable Linux device that actually works like a desktop system? Sure ya do! Therefore, the Pandora people (I can’t tell you if that’s the product name, project name, or the dog’s name, but its from the guys who brought us the GP32X) are building it for you. Word from Pandora is that they are shipping development units this month or next and general “development kits” will be available to anyone in June or July. Pricing in the States will be US$330 (£199 inc. VAT, €212 exc. VAT).

You want specs? Easy: The DS-like unit sports an ARM Cortex A8 CPU running at ~600MHz (likely 624MHz), 4.3″ 800×480 16-bit touchscreen display, PowerVR SGX 3D video chipset, integrated Wi-Fi, a USB host port, dual SDHC card slots, and even S-Video out! No decisions have yet been made on RAM or on-board storage, but the battery will be a 4000mAh LiIon monster. If you have more questions, check out the FAQ. There will be around 100 units of the developer model made and around 3,000 of the user model when it gets finalized. I’m gonna try like hell to get one!

written by Tyler Regas

No. Its not a lappy, but it is only slightly wider than a Sharpie™ is long. VIA announced their new ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit A1000, which is powered by VIA’s own C7 CPU running at 1.0GHz perched on top of their tiny Pico-ITX mainboard, when Microsoft announced their new Windows Embedded market push for hobbyists; Spark. VIA is pushing the ARTiGO as a project system for hands-on consumers, so it ships like a bare-bones. That means you need to supply the up to 1GB of RAM and 2.5″ PATA or SATA hard drive after you purchase it for US$299. You then get to assemble it. I certainly like the idea. I’m sure it will run OpenSUSE 10.3 quite well.

written by Tyler Regas

[ADDED]The lawless rogues over at Gizmodo may be onto something. They’ve apparently been trying to contact Psystar and have been having a hard time doing so. I’ve also been using Google to research their history and can find none. Very, very interesting, no?[END ADDED]

If there was ever a reason to fight, Psystar thinks it has one. Personally, I don’t know the law, but when a company makes a product it is allowed to define how it gets used. Apple stipulates, not surprisingly, that Mac OS X can only be run on Apple branded hardware. Well, Psystar doesn’t like that much, so in an interview with Information Week’s Paul McDougall, a guy named “Robert” stated that Psystar would take Apple to court and challenge their EULA on the basis that it violates Antitrust laws governing monopolies. Robert declines to identify himself personally, which either means he doesn’t speak officially for Psystar or he doesn’t want Apple to target him for a lawsuit.

Robert goes on to say that Apple marks up its products 80%. Psystar is offering what it calls the OpenMac, which relies on open source EFI (the EFI replaces the BIOS) emulator to trick the Mac OS X installer into believing that the hardware is really from Apple.

written by Tyler Regas