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All posts tagged "desktop"


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dell Simplifies Consumer Product Line-up

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 06:00 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/...ff-adamo-altog/

"We knew something was going on with Dell's branding with the resurrection of the XPS laptop line, and this morning we caught up with a few of the company's executives to learn all about the entire restructuring. As you can see above, there will now be three core brands -- Inspiron, XPS and Alienware -- all focusing on different "performance seekers."

Dell's product line up has grown bloated and out of control over the years, and this is a much-needed effort to streamline it. Will it help change the perception that people have as being Dell as a "budget" provider of computers? Maybe - but I think Dell also needs to focus more on releasing fewer, but better, products. Releasing a new laptop every month means less engineering and design effort put into each product - and Dell needs to do better in both.


Monday, June 28, 2010

Awful Looking Text Over HDMI on Your TV? Turn Down the Sharpness

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 07:00 AM

Are you seeing awful-looking text on an LCD or plasma TV after connecting your laptop or desktop to it via HDMI? Here's a tip that might help. First, some back story...

A couple of weeks ago, I swapped out video cards in the desktop PC that I use as my Windows Media Center computer. A few months earlier, I'd removed my aged Dell 26" 720p LCD TV and replaced it with an LG 32" 1080p LCD TV. I was running over DVI, using a DVI to VGA adapter since the LG TV didn't have a DVI port. Everything looked great, though I wasn't sure if I was really seeing 1080p resolution when I was watching Blu-ray movies - the NVIDIA 7950GT video card was a couple of years old, and I wasn't sure if it would support HDCP over DVI > VGA. I spent a few hours trying to determine if I had an HDCP-compliant chain of devices (computer to video card to display) and found it impossible to find anything that allowed me to easily test this. I'd already purchased the new video card - a low-end, passively cooled ATI 5000 series Radeon card - so I figured "What the hell, I'll just put it in". Read more...


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Experience Windows Phone 7 Series on your Windows Desktop with Omnimo UI

Posted by Eriq Cook in "Windows Phone Customizations & Content" @ 09:28 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/30/...h-phone-7-seri/

"Can't wait for Windows Phone 7 Series, but can't hack the emulator, either? Don't lose hope, Windows junkies -- you can still bring some semblance of WP7S order into your life with this Metro UI-inspired desktop HUD..."

Omnimo UI is an open-source Windows desktop customization tool based on Rainmeter, which will overlay your desktop with the look & feel of Windows Phone 7 Series. It's a pretty interesting tool and includes many useful widgets, shortcuts and "live" services including Gmail, Twitter, iTunes and more.

Omnimo UI is available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. There's a detailed guide over at Lifehacker with desktop preparation and installation instructions.

Personally I've never installed a desktop customization tool and have to wonder how it affects overall Windows desktop performance. But I'm tempted to find a spare workstation and test it out (this wouldn't be a bad tool to use on a slate-style device).

Are any of you currently using Omnimo UI or plan on trying it out? Give us your feedback!


Monday, October 26, 2009

Lenovo Announces New Windows 7-Equipped IdeaPad U150 And Lots of Other Stuff

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 04:00 PM

http://hothardware.com/News/Lenovo-...deaCentre-Rigs/

"The U150 is just 13.5mm thick and weighs only 1.35kg2, yet under the textured red or black cover lies a range of features designed to strike the right balance between mobility and functionality. The ultraportable U150 with an energy-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processor offers up to 8GB DDR3 memory, 11.6in HD widescreen display and long battery life. The Active Protection System on the U150 helps protect the hard drive if the laptop is dropped or gets bumped. A new version of OneKey Rescue System, Version 7.0, performs data backups up to twice as fast and includes more powerful antivirus scanning that can be run even before loading the operating system."

Lenovo has released a bunch of new Windows 7-based hardware, and Hot Hardware has the full breakdown - pictured above is the IdeaPad U150 - a slim laptop with enough power to handle most tasks. I dig that finish - HP, take notes on how to make a unisex design that doesn't repulse your male buyers.


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Get Bing, Zune, and Your Backyard On Your Windows 7 PC

Posted by Darius Wey in "Digital Home Software" @ 12:15 AM

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...ads/personalize

Today is Microsoft's big day! And what better way to kick off the launch of Windows 7 than with new themes that are free for you to download and use on your Windows 7 PC. Among the selection, there's a sample of Bing's gorgeous imagery, three Zune-flavoured themes, and twenty international themes (yes, they're different to the ones released during the beta). All of them pack high-resolution images, and some even include unique sound effects. What are you waiting for? Go get 'em!

Read more...


Friday, February 6, 2009

Stardock Lets You Fence In Your Icons

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 12:30 PM

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/...stardock-fences

"Stardock's Fences exactly addresses this issue. It allows you to organize your desktop icons and create fences. Visualize fences as blocks of icons (shaded areas) grouped together. Now it becomes very easy to organize my icons using Fences according to the categories I had arranged earlier!"

Neowin has put up a quick review of the community preview of Stardock's Fences which is available free directly from the Stardock website. Fences is for all you people out there, you know who you are, whose desktops are all a flutter with icons. Instead of your desktop being one big open free for all, Fences corrals all your pictures, documents, shortcuts and who knows what else into neat little groups. The concept is simple, but Stardock looks to have made handling fences really easy. I'll admit that I keep my desktop very spartan so Fences may not be for me, but it grinds my gears when I see friends whose desktops look like a troop of 2 year olds have gone through it. Now I have at least one program I can suggest to them to clean their act up.


Sunday, October 5, 2008

HP TouchSmart IQ506 In-Depth Review

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 09:00 AM

http://www.desktopreview.com/defaul....asp?newsID=465

"When I first opened the box containing the TouchSmart IQ506 it was obvious that HP put a lot of thought into the styling behind the IQ506. It manages to be very high-tech without looking it; there aren't a lot of buttons or cords to get in the way. In fact, HP went to significant effort to achieve just that effect. The IQ506 rests on two clear acrylic wedges which, when combined with the folding stand in the back, give the effect that the TouchSmart actually floats about an inch above your working surface. The most striking feature on the IQ506 is the really nice 22" touchscreen display. It's recessed into the surface and surrounded by a glossy black frame. A speakerbar is permanently attached on the bottom."
I've always been intrigued by the TouchSmart line, because I'm a big believer in the concept of eventually having a computer in every room. The kitchen/family room is a central gathering point for the family, so a computer like the TouchSmart fits right into that concept. The new TouchSmart series is a significant leap beyond the first-generation design - this one is much sleeker and more self-contained.


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