| Fujitsu LifeBook U810 UMPC
"The LifeBook U810 (known as the LifeBook U1010 or FMV-U8240 in other markets) packs quite a few features into its 1.56 pound frame. The device features a 5.6" 1024x600 LCD, 800MHz Intel A110 processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 40GB hard drive, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Atheros Super AG 802.11a/b/g wireless, 10/100 NIC, USB 2.0 port, VGA port, CompactFlash slot, Secure Digital slot, QWERTY keyboard and a Fingerprint sensor. The aforementioned 5.6" display screen can be used in a traditional "laptop" view for easy thumb-typing with the QWERTY keyboard or swiveled 180 degrees and laid flat atop of the keyboard to use the U810 in "slate" mode. Fujitsu says that its LifeBook U810 has a battery life of 5.5 hours via its 4-cell, 5200mAh lithium-ion battery. The LifeBook U810 is scheduled to hit stores in September and will be available with either Windows Vista Premium, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition."While I am still hoping to make the Asus Eee my next ultra-portable, this certainly has some advantages.
FirmTek ships SATA PCI-X port multiplier
FirmTek today began shipping its SeriTek/2SE4 PCI-X adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) controller card announced at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco earlier this year that provides connections for up to 20 hard drives. Each drive is capable of transferring at 3Gbps, making total aggregate speeds of more than 700MB/sec possible. FirmTek's established hot-swap compatibility eases the process of moving entire drives and arrays between any FirmTek-equipped systems or into secure storage. The SeriTek/2SE4 is compatible with both PCI-X and PCI bus architecture systems, offering optimal performance on PCI-X systems like Power Mac G5 desktops. FirmTek's SeriTek/2SE4 is available for $200, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. The controller offers full boot capability with RAID configurations that support system operations, and four hot-swappable external SATA II port enable individual drives or RAID arrays via RAID 0/1 software available for Mac and Windows systems.
Nat Ross' Subaru-Gary Fisher Gary Fisher HiFi 29
Twenty-four-hour endurance racing is a burgeoning segment of the competitive mountain bike scene on both the amateur and professional fronts, but Nat Ross is still among a select few who have managed to achieve true notoriety as a specialist in the discipline. 2007 will mark the Subaru-Gary Fisher veteran's seventh season with the team, racking up the 2006 US 24 Hour Solo National Series championship and winning the 24 Hours of Moab, Landahl, and Temecula in the process, along with numerous podium finishes throughout his career. "I've been doing these races since '98 and I'm on my 33rd or 34th 24 hour solo race," said Ross. "The coolest thing for me now is to explore new venues, do new races, and get some different experiences other than the same loop year after year." Naturally, the distinctive environment of 24-hour solo racing places unique demands on both rider and equipment, some of which would rarely be found in a typical shorter format XC event.
• Nokia to Recall Defective Cellphone Batteries
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has warned consumers worldwide that around 46 million batteries being used in its mobile phones could overheat, and has offered to replace them at no cost as it negotiates with battery maker Matsushita over sharing replacement costs.
The recall of the defective batteries has pushed Matsushita shares down 5 percent in Tokyo trading, its worst one-day fall in 14 months, and analyst estimate that the recall could make a big dent on the firms net profit by as much as 20 billion yen, or $170 million. Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, said that around 100 incidents of such batteries overheating have already been reported globally, though none had involved serious injuries or damage to property. "Nokia has identified that, in somehow rare cases, the BL-5C batteries could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge," its spokesman said on Tuesday.
Hey charger! OLPC gets power boost from Aussie coder
A 21-year-old Australian is playing a key part in developing the charger unit for the XO-1 -- the laptop which is the center of the One Laptop Per Child project. Joel Stanley has been working in the Boston offices of MIT, which is the home of the OLPC, as part of the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). Stanley was one of 12 Australians chosen to participate in the code program which began on May 28 and wraps up on August 31, 2007. "My project is to revolve around the power systems of the XO laptop, specifically the gang charger units - large recharging units that can replenish many laptop batteries at once, running off mains or solar power by the way of an internal battery - and also the tinderbox; a XO with it's insides hanging out, connected to a multichannel voltmeter that logs the power usage on the XO's power rails," Stanley's blog states.
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