I’ll have to be honest and accept that I’m not always going with the trend. Though I think solar power or wind power (or other sustainable alternatives) are going to replace fossil fuels in the near future, I never though we’ll get to see those photovoltaic cells in such places.

That’s the solar powered (weatherproof) SunTable that will cost you $2,200 and should provide up to 150 watts of power and promising a full recharge in just three hours of staying in direct sunlight. As an eco-geek I am, I’d definitely buy one at least to brag to my friends that I won’t pay for electricity to power my laptop or my cellphone.

Would you buy it or you think it’s way over your budget and it wouldn’t be worth having one on the porch?

Source

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Now that’s a weird rule I’ve heard of. Apparently the US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement can and probably will search the electronics you have, no matter if you’re looking suspicious or you’ve done something wrong.

We know it for sure, from the Department of Homeland Security who disclosed today that without any suspicion of wrongdoing your belongings can be detained for a reasonable period of time. That’s where I understand that they can keep your laptop or maybe your iPhone for as long as they please.

However the worse part is that the Department of Homeland Security can also share your data with government agencies or other private entities if they need to translate, decrypt or “something else”. Does it apply to everyone? Yes, even US citizens. Does any good? So they say, preventing terrorism.

I suggest you have your backups done if you end up leaving your laptop with these guys and they find an interesting movie to watch or maybe a good game. I am sure me/you/we geeks are going to appreciate the efforts and measures taken to prevent terrorism. What do you think about it?

Reuters via Switched

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Like always, Sony managed to come up with another great piece of VAIO. This time it’s the 16.4-inch VAIO FW that really got our attention both with the design and the big/wide display. But wait, there are things that should be said about it, like the fact that it has a built-in Blu-ray drive, the design or maybe the brand new Centrino 2 platform?

The base product will start at $999 and includes a 2.26GHz Intel Core2 Duo P8400 mobile processor, 3GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM, Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW, 16.4″ WXGA LCD widescreen display with XBRITE-ECO technology and 1600 x 900 resolution, 250GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm), ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3470 graphics card with 256MB (up to 1530MB total available video memory), built in Bluetooth, i.LINK (IEEE 1394) port and 3 USB 2.0 ports and Memory Stick PRO slot.

The laptop weighs 6.4 lbs, is just 1.5-inch thin for portable power, has a lithium-ion battery and runs on Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1.

To be honest I’d definitely buy one if it wasn’t that heavy. If you want to make up your mind the guys at NotebookReview got their hands on one for a test drive.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Everyone kept telling me that this little piece from Nokia, the N95 is such a great phone and that we should do a review on DevicePedia.com. So what we did? We got one, used it for 2 weeks and now we’re ready to tell you why Nokia N95 rocks and something about those nasty things that you only find out, using one.

So I got myself a Nokia N95 8GB and used it intensly. But here are the first things that we’ll start with. The GOOD part. The specs, which are great.

• Screen 240×320 px, 2.6 inch, TFT LCD - Exceptional video quality, vivid colors and high brightness controlled by ambient light detector
• Camera 5 Megapixels (Back): it’s a 2592×1944 resolution, autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics (f/2.8, 5.6 mm, 10 cm ~ infinity focusing range) and 1/1000th ~ 1/3rd s mechanical shutter provide the best quality you can get from a camera phone.
• Second camera CIF video call (Front)
• Operating system Symbian OS v9.2, S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1
• Input Keypad
• MicroSD memory card if 8GB is not enough
• Networks HSDPA (3.5G), Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
• Connectivity: wireless LAN (802.11 b/g, up to 54 Mbit/s) and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (up to 3 Mbit/s) and USB 2.0 Full Speed (12 Mbit/s) via Mini USB with mass storage class support.
• Built-in GPS receiver and the Smart2Go software
• Exceptional video quality, vivid colors and high brightness controlled by ambient light detector
• Standard 3.5mm jack that’s great with your new pair of expensive headphones
• Runs on Symbian OS 9.2 S60 3.1 (3rd Edition Feature Pack 1)
• TV-quality video recording @ VGA resolution and 30 frames per second
• powerful ARM11-based TI OMAP2420 processor running at 330 MHz
• Form factor Slider. Slide up to reveal the keyboard, slide down to reveal the multimedia buttons.

Not all is great with our Nokia N95 8GB Review so there are things we didn’t like. The BAD.

• The battery. The specs Nokia comes gave us, are only true when you disable GPS, WiFi or if you don’t surf the Internet. Because if you do, you’ll have to recharge the battery daily. We won’t mention those that speak at least 2 hours on the phone daily (business people) which may see this as a big drawback.
• I would have enjoyed the Sirf Star III GPS chipset instead of the Sirf Star II (which is older and less precise).
• The sliding part is a tad too loose - moves and rattles. Also, I would enjoy a lock to prevent it from sliding out.
• The 22MB free RAM is just too little for this beast

All in all, that’s a great mobile phone that we’d have put a better battery inside to make it one of the best.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Big plans from British Telecom. A £1.5 billion fibre-based, broadband plan for the UK.

They plan to have it by 2012 and to hook that up with some 10 million homes (new clients). They’re already thinking of 100Mbps and maybe 1Gbps connections, if things go smooth. And they don’t aim low, they want to take communication by the balls. More power to them I say!

British Telecom wants to give new homes 100Mbps by default and to homes that still have their copper link, 40 or 60Mbps. That’s a sure step into the future.

BT declared that a “supportive and enduring regulatory environment” is needed to turn their plans into reality.

In other words it means that 2012 is a bit too optimistic and can easily turn into 2021 or maybe even later if the “regulators” and the competitors won’t let them do their job easily. What else can we say, other than wishing them luck?

WE DEMAND (MORE) SPEED!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!