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You posted a message

“Initial impressions of the Asus Eee PC 1000H.”

2 hours ago – Comment – Like – Hide – More

Michael W. May and MiniMage liked this

Keyboard is great. Slightly smaller than the Samsung Q1 external keyboard. Even then, the keys are relatively large and has a nice feel. – You (edit | delete)

Touchpad buttons are stiff. I’m beginning to tap the touch pad for a left click more since it causes less strain on my wrists. Multitouch scrolling in the browser is fantastic. Very much like a MacBook. – You (edit | delete)

How’s your spacebar? – Lora Heiny

Display is bright thanks to LED backlight. I’m using the 4th notch from the left to save battery life. The bezel is a bit large. Probably could have fit an 11″ screen. Would still like 1280×768 resolution but at 1024×600, reading text is nice. – You (edit | delete)

Battery life so far is fantastic. Under normal usage, can probably get around 4-5 hours. With intense CPU/LAN/hard drive usage, probably around 3-4 hours. – You (edit | delete)

Performance is ok. It’s faster than the Intel A110 800Mhz chip in the previous generation of UMPC’s, but not by much. I’m assuming most of the performance gains are coming from the faster RAM and 5400 RPM SATA2 hard drive. I ran an initial benchmark with CrystalMark. I will run another test when I replace the memory with a 2GB CAS 4 stick and 320GB 5400RPM WD Scorpio drive when they arrive tomorrow. – You (edit | delete)

Boot up time.. It’s ok. It’s not much of a factor to me since I use Sleep Mode all the time. Time to sleep when closing the lid is very fast. Within a few seconds. It’s disappointing it doesn’t come out of sleep when opening the lid. You have have to press the power button to wake. It’s fast coming out of sleep. – You (edit | delete)

@Lora: The spacebar feels very nice. There is a little bit of travel on all the keys, but overall, it’s very very comfortable. There’s no real difference clicking the spacebar from the left or right side.. The construction is solid. – You (edit | delete)

Audio. The speaker volume is low. It’s kind of cool that is has environmental effects, but I usually ignore them. – You (edit | delete)

plug in a headphones and it works fine. You will get prompted for how you want the plug to be used BTW. – Christopher Welle

I’m still not sure what the ‘Super Hybrid Engine’ does. I assume it reduces or overclocks the CPU but I haven’t noticed any changes when observing the CPU speed and power usage with Notebook Hardware Control. – You (edit | delete)

The dedicated resolution switching button is very handy. There will be times when an app will require minimum 1024×768. – You (edit | delete)

The webcam quality is not bad at all. I’m not totally convinced this chipset can handle full 30fps 1.3 megapixel video, but for streaming through Ustream/Seesmic/etc, it should be fine. – You (edit | delete)

Love that you fit a whole review here. Keep it coming. – Andrew Warner

So if you review here on FriendFeed, what will you have for the blog? Will you capture everything you reviewed and post it on your blog? Using FriendFeed to answer any questions that are added to the blog? – Christopher Welle

Just asking because its a interesting thought to do posts with instant feedback that you can add to the blog post later. – Christopher Welle

The power drain is interesting. It hovers around -10-12W drain. Up to around -15W when plugging in USB devices. I would think the Atom processor would account for a lot more battery saving but it doesn’t seem significantly more efficient than the A110. The 10″ display and 5400RPM hard drive are the main factors for relatively high power drain. I’m sure running Vista will gain more battery life since its power management is much better. – You (edit | delete)

Haha thanks for answering the question for me. I’ll most likely, copy/paste this post to my blog instead. I find it more comfortable to write in spurts rather than stress out on a whole post. – You (edit | delete)

Kind of like taking notes with a live audience then edit it into something else afterwards. – Christopher Welle

Wheres the pictures? – Christopher Welle

Pictures will come later. I’ll do some comparison shots with a MacBook, Fujitsu U810, Samsung Q1, and any other devices that are around. – You (edit | delete)

Heat. Not bad at all. The only real warm spot is where the hard drive sits. I have no problems with this sitting on my bed without a laptop cooler thingy. NHC shows the HD around 50 degrees C. CPU at around 55-60 C. – You (edit | delete)

I’m missing the touchscreen. Sometimes it’s a pain to try to be accurate with the touchpad. I’m catching myself wanting to just click the screen or move the scroll bars with my finger. – You (edit | delete)

Well, I’m sure I’ll post more comments later. For now, at around $450 + shipping, this little Netbook is a great deal. – You (edit | delete)

link to where you bought it. – Christopher Welle

http://www.amazon.com/1000H-10… – You (edit | delete)

I bought it off Amazon and TigerDirect was the lowest priced seller at the time at $469. I paid $30 for 2 days shipping. They are out of state so no sales tax. It came in 2 days . I also recommend buying from Newegg . The only reason I didn’t go there was because they were out of stock at the time. The one I have has an 80GB hard drive. It doesn’t matter to me since I’m replacing the hard drive. If you want to run it out of the box, the new ones come with a 160 GB hard drive. http://www.amazon.com/1000H-Di… – You (edit | delete)

Utterz is teaming up with SOBCon (Business School for Bloggers) by hosting a contest to create a commercial for your blog. The winner will receive a spanking new Nokia N95 phone.

SOBCon attendees and all website owners alike are invited to submit a commercial for your blog or webpage to the SOBCon Utterz “GET MY MESSAGE” contest. Entries will be reviewed and judged by SOBCon (Business School for Bloggers) attendees on Sunday May 4, 2008 in Chicago and one lucky website owner will win a Nokia N95 mobile phone.

Why Make Your Commercial
This is your opportunity to tell people why they should visit your site AND you’ll get unbiased advice on how to improve your message and drive more traffic. That, and you’ll get a lot of free promotion by being a featured participant in the GET MY MESSAGE Contest.

How Do I Participate?
Make a short commercial for your blog or webpage using Utterz – no longer than 60 seconds and 1,000 characters. Create your commercial using any combination of audio, video, pictures and text. Then, submit your commercial by tagging it “GET MY MESSAGE Contest” on Utterz.

Some suggestions:
- This is your value proposition. In other words, why do people care about visiting your website?
- Use a combination of media. Record some audio, make a video and upload an image – anything goes!
- Keep it short
- Get creative

What Then?
Commercials will be posted on Utterz.com and published to
http://getmymessage.blogspot.com/ so everyone has one place to view them. Before, during and after the event, people are invited to leave replies to each others’ commercials with words of encouragement, praise, or advise. User submissions can be edited based on this feedback right up to SOBCon on May 3 and 4. Please note, only one submission per person!

On Sunday, May 4, SOBCon attendees will have a chance to view everyone’s commercials in work groups. They will narrow the field to a set of 5 finalists based on the lessons learned during SOBCon ‘08. Then, we’ll ask everyone online and at SOBCon to vote on their favorite commercials in real time! The winner walks away with a brand spankin’ new Nokia N95.

For more information or questions about the SOBCon Utterz GET MY MESSAGE Contest or for questions about the Utterz service, email lizsun2@gmail.com and/or sim@utterz.com.

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I’m not sure if I will be entering. It’s good timing since I’ve been messing with video.. but what am I suppose to present? Visit this site so you can watch fishing videos and possibly win a pair of blue nuts?

Link

Engadget is giving away a HTC Shift.

TabletBlog is pairing paired up with Dynamism to give away a Nokia N810.

UMPC Portal likes the idea too and is pairing up with Mobilx to give away a WiBrain B1 UMPC.

GottaBeMobile is even jumping on the bandwagon and giving away its own Matt Faulkner.. if they let him out of the cube.

So how about here? I’m not so sure about buying readers.. but I don’t want to leave my current awesome readers in the dust.. So I’ll try something. If this post receives 30 comments by midnight tonight, I will purchase the item below, probably do an unboxing video and first impressions, then do a give-a-way contest.

Damn straight! Again, if this post gets 30 comments by midnight tonight, I will order a pair of Bumper Nuts Blue Balls edition and run a give-a-way contest. No joke!

I’ve compiled a list of links for cheaper alternatives to expensive solutions.  I’ll try to keep adding to the list as I find them.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/ – $14 Steadicam “The Poor Man’s Steadicam”.  The most popular DIY Steadycam by Johnny Chung Lee.

http://www7.taosnet.com/f10/steadycam/ – More elegant looking steadicam/monopod using a cheap Walmart tripod.

http://www.cartala.com/diy.html – Modification of the $14 Steadicam.  Uses a longer cross bar with additional weight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTR5EYO0rLc – Another variant of the $14 Steadicam.  Most interesting part is the there’s no drilling for the camera mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7TMa-v03aE – Another project by cinepegger.  Using a bicycle wheel for a Fig Rig.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shygantic/129121710/ – PVC FigRig.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=T1aPbwcqquk – Zero Cost Steadicam.  This is what I’m using in the meantime.   All you have to do is extend a tripod and hold it in the right place.  It’s not perfect but the result is a lot better than normal handheld.

http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/greyhandheld.htm – List of DIY stabilizers for handheld cameras.

For those who didn’t get a chance to get one there, I have a few to give out.

The first 10 to leave a comment will receive an Evernote Beta invite.  Make sure to submit the email address you wish me to send the invite to.

Nice call but I think it should be lower at around $300.

Wonder which forces are pushing Nokia to lower the price of the N810 at this time.

• The MID’s coming around the corner with the Gigabyte M528 appearing to be very competitive?
• iPhone/iPod Touch SDK released?
• WiMax enabled N830 coming?

Nokia has a lot to worry about in a few months.  Hope they can respond with something.

At the campus bookstore, I can get the following deals for the previous versions of the MacBook:

Here are the prices for the new MacBooks I can get with an educational discount:

Looking at the new version, I’m not sure if the deals on the older MacBooks are worth it except maybe the black MacBook.
The major differences for the new MacBooks are the multitouch touchpad and the Penryn chip.
The major difference is the Penryn chip.

Not sure if those changes are worth it either.

Which one would you choose?

Home on a Tricycle : TreeHugger

You can participate by going to www.laptopgiving.org.  Orders are being handled through PayPal.

I’m ordering one right after I hit the publish button.

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From all of us at One Laptop per Child, thank you for your interest in our mission. Today marks the first day of our limited-time "Give One Get One" program. Starting today, when you donate an XO laptop to a child in the developing world, you’ll receive one for the child in your life. The price for the two laptops will be $399, $200 of which is tax-deductible. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.

Please visit www.laptopgiving.org to participate in Give One Get One and discover more about the revolutionary XO laptop. You can also donate by calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP (1-877-705-2786). This is the only time we’re making the XO laptop available to the public and quantities are limited, so early purchasers have a better chance of receiving their XO laptops by the holidays.

Once again, thank you. We sincerely hope you’ll join our growing community of people working to create a connected, educated, enlightened future for the world’s most essential resource – it’s children.

David Pogue of the NY Times got a hold of the OLPC XO and created a video expressing his views.  No there’s no singing and dancing in this one.  Instead he highlights the main features that set it apart to show why this is such an amazing device.

It should be available in November through the OLPC Foundation’s Give 1 Get 1 promotion.

I’ve made it clear I’m definitely getting one of these.  Can’t wait.

NY Times via Engadget

Well, not me..

Robert of The Student Tablet PC has just replaced his old, dying Acer C300 with a Toshiba Portege M400.  As a student in training, you have to make careful decisions on every purchase.  I remember those days of eating top ramen and macaroni cheese.  Fun times but didn’t have the luxury to upgrade any devices during my time.

It’s nice to hear about tablets that aren’t in the limelight like the Fujitsu T2010, Lenovo X61t, and HP 2710p.  He lists his likes and dislikes and hopefully it works out for him.

Link

First off, is the BlackBerry Curve 8310. Yes, the one with GPS. We’ve got a feeling AT&T is going to pull a BlackBerry 8820 with that one and put the current BlackBerry Curve on EOL as soon as the BlackBerry 8310 launches. In addition, we’ve got another confirmation of the AT&T Tilt, along with an AT&T Tilt with no camera for you business folks. The SMT5700 is rumored to launch at a super low price point and that will also be available in a no camera flavor. Everything else is mostly gravy, including the Motorola Q9 Global, Pantech Duo, and BlackBerry 8820.

What caught my eye is the inclusion of the Sierra Wireless 881U.  It’s the updated version of the 875U with HSUPA support.  If I go with AT&T for my WWAN solution, I’ll definitely try that modem.

Link

Aiptek released the A-HD 720p (1280×720) SD based camcorder for $170. Wow. I thought their GO-HD was cheap since you can find them for around $230 these days.

I’ve been a fan of Aiptek since I bought the MPVR a while back for $80. I know, the quality isn’t all that great.. but for that price, it was a steal. A really small, flash based, no-moving parts, beat up camera you can take anywhere is super handy. When going surf fishing, the only device I take with me is the Aiptek since I really don’t care if it gets thrashed. I don’t how many times I’ve dropped it with no sign of damage.

The design if this new model looks very similar to the Sanyo SD camcorders. It definitely looks more compact and slimmer than the MPVR or GO-HD.

I don’t think you can call these new Aiptek HD camcorders hybrids anymore though. The MPVR is a camera, digital camera, webcam, video recorder, video player, and MP3 player. The A-HD and GO-HD are just digital cameras and camcorders now.

Here are the specs taken from Amazon Aiptek. (EDIT: Amazon’s specs are for the GO-HD) The main difference from the GO-HD is the removal of optical zoom and LED light. It encodes to h.264 at around 4Mbps. With an 8GB card, you should be able to record around 4 hours of footage. I hope the battery life is better than GO-HD’s 30 minutes.

Via Engadget
Review by fishycomics @ Steve’s Digicams Hybrid Digicams forum
Amazon.com product page
Aiptek product page
UPDATE: $149.99 @
Circuit City

I personally haven’t use WebGuide4 but have heard good things about it. It’s similar to Orb, SlingBox, or Sony’s LocationFree in that you can placeshift live TV. WebGuide connects with your Media Center PC so you can schedule, view live or recorded TV straight from your browser.
The developer is moving on to the Media Center team so future development of WebGuide will be discontinued.

I’ll check it out and possibly replace Orb as a way to stream media from home.

Mobility Site via the unwired

Found a nice deal on Ben’s Bargains. Enter the code USXNARTRIPLE at checkout and you get 10% off.
I just tried it on a X61T Tablet PC and it worked.

Link

Even if you don’t have an iPhone, it could be an easy way to create mpeg4 video.

• Add your photos or videos. With a single click, you can touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures and videos. It’s that easy!
• Choose from variety of transition & ken-burns styled effects. Add soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Then, personalize them with titles and captions.
• Generate to MPEG-4 format and share your home videos on iPhone anytime, anywhere!

Link

Here’s a nice deal on a solid MP3 player. It’s refurbished, but for $50, still sounds like a nice pick up.

Features:

• Sleek, thin design with large 1.8” TFT color screen for easy viewing
• Strong alloy metal casing provides excellent durability and scratch resistance
• Simple to use, back-lit controls for fast device interface navigation
• User replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery for up to 20 hours of battery life
• Features microSD expansion slot for additional memory capacity
• Supports SanDisk TrustedFlash and Gruvi content cards
• Digital FM tuner, on-the-fly FM recording, and voice recording
• Supports Subscription Music Stores

Specifications:

• Memory capacity: 2GB
• Memory type: Flash memory
• External memory: MicroSD card slot
• Audio file format: MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10 (PlaysForSure), WAV
• Hours of music content: 32 hours
• Still image file format: JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF
• Video format: AVI, MPEG, MPE/VOB (unprotected), DAT, ASF, QuickTime MOV (6.5 or higher), WMV (Media Player 10 required) all must be converted by Sansa Media Converter
• Tuner type: Digital FM tuner
• Tuner memory: 20
• Display: 1.8-inch TFT color LCD display
• Power supply: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, user replaceable (included), USB charging
• Battery life: Up to 20 hours
• Connectors: Headdphone jack, USB 2.0 port
• Microphone: Built-in microphone
• FM recording
• Voice recording
• Microsoft PlaysFor Sure
• Dimension: 3.5×1.74×0.56 inches (WxHxD)
• Weight: 2.7 ounces

Link