Generic laptop case?

It wasn't even a decade ago when most people who needed a new computer went out to their local electronics store and bought one. That was in the day where companies like HP and Compaq began to rise in the retail market, and Dell and IBM machines could be purchased directly from the manufacturers. They used to be the ones dominating the market, but what happened? Why is their business slipping so much and they are forced to lower their prices and profit margins just to be able to compete? This is for one simple reason, and that's the fact that computers are now easier to build. So, in turn, hundreds, to even thousands of companies (including my own) have become wise as to how to build a computer, and have started to compete with the larger companies, and even with individuals, they think “Why buy from them? I'll just build my own.” In the new era of computing, one of the biggest revolutions is the laptop computer in which a computer can be taken easily from place to place with keyboard, mouse, speakers and screen all built in, along with a battery so it doesn't have to be plugged in all the time. They can only be manufactured by large corporations. Why? Because unlike desktops, laptops are very compact, and therefore, very precise and specific as to what goes into them and how it is laid out, and a person wanting their own laptop cannot say “I'll just build my own”. Being a natural engineer, I have had thoughts as to making a laptop on desktop based hardware. This could work with a flat heatsink, low profile RAM, a slim disk drive and hard drive, with a micro ATX motherboard holding them together. This would require intense modification, though. Since everything is centralized to the back, the ports have to be spread out to some degree, right? So the best possible solution could be to desolder usb and audio ports, and use a raw wire and move them elsewhere on the casing of the laptop, or just remove pointless ports (like the serial and parallel ports), because those won't break the circuit (I've tried it myself), and will save a lot of vertical height. As shown below, this layout IS possible. The desoldering of the onboard components is basic, and low profile ram, low heatsinks, slim hard drives, and slim cd drives are all manufactured, only problem is, though, the most vital thing is not manufactured. The case.

In this situation, a case is a vital thing to have. It keeps the laptop together, keeps the parts safe from static electricity, ventilates the parts from heat,and provides a power button, touchpad and keyboard, as well as the screen. Generic ones like these are not manufactured yet, but variations have been made, as seen in the following pictures:

A weekend job - made entirely from desktop hardware... the whole project can be seen here

The making of the XBOX 360 Laptop... with an above average case... this is a better example of a self made case, though.

Ok... maybe the first one isn't such a good example. Seven letters describe how that looks. BOOTLEG. I would never consider doing this as a case for a very good reason; when I took a course on laptop hardware with a local merchant, and I was to take apart a laptop and put it back together again, when I was having trouble putting it back, he said to me “The key with putting together any laptop; make it look beautiful” But, how can you make it beautiful, when you only have coping saws, exacto knives, soldering irons, and pliers? Or, if you go to a specialized place, CNC machines, welding torches, angle cutters, power saws, riveting machines, etc.? This is why generic laptop cases should be mass produced. It's not like they need to be specialized or anything, I mean, if it can fit a micro atx motherboard, as well as a slim hard drive and disk drive, and is just the right height to accommodate each one, the user can supply the drives, the motherboard, the low profile ram, the CPU, and the heatsink could probably be built in, as well as the power supply/battery, and the display could have a VGA cable extending into the case, to be easily plugged in. And then for the keyboard, the user could solder the PS/2 ports somewhere on the case where a built in PS/2 keyboard could be plugged in... this comes together in a patchy kind of sense, but it's a start, don't you think? I mean, it's been a long time since they first introduced generic desktop cases, and bare bones parts available to the public, so with the right hardware, this COULD be practical, don't you think? Could I please get some thoughts on this? We may have something in terms of a business idea or getting a case manufacturer like Diablotek and ThermalTake to make one.

Windows Live OneCare Review

Windows Live OneCare - Microsoft becomes a monopoly once again!

The new generation of Microsoft software (Vista and Office 2007) was accompanied into the technology world with the necessary entourage for every computer: antivirus software. Norton and Symantec have established themselves so much in the industry that this is another example where Microsoft has underestimated certain software. A previous example, and probably the most infamous of all time, was when the internet was first developed in the early 90's, and, quote Bill Gates himself; “An internet browser is a trivial piece of software”, and that's when Netscape came in with their browser Netscape Explorer, and charged people $36.00 per download. This was probably Microsoft's biggest mistake of all time, and, unfortunately, in today's hacker/virus/spyware flooded internet environment, Microsoft, the people who know the operating system that's being hacked best, has not taken the initiative to make specialized software for protection from these threats. Norton, like Netscape in this case, has already established a system in which people pay for the software (which comes to around $100), they get one free year of coverage, but then must renew yearly at a cost of about $60. They have been making very good money off this, because, apparently, the whole protection industry was free of all competition. They had it made. So, naturally, having to be the best at everything to do with computers and software (perhaps becoming a monopoly again?), they developed the Windows Live OneCare software.

OneCare performs much like its competitor, Norton Antivirus, in a “backstage” kind of sense, so that they protect against the same kind of things, and provide upgrades and such. The differences, however, are that a system's status must be checked upon by the user by opening up a window, and going to a different part of the window, and check all the different sections for what part of their computer needs what action. In OneCare, it is much more user friendly, in the sense that you just need to take a quick glimpse at the taskbar, and a simple coloured dot will dictate the OVERALL status of your machine, rather than having to investigate each sector individually. Green means that everything is great – backups have been made, no suspicious software is in your computer, you've performed a system scan recently, all recent Microsoft recommended updates have been installed, and that all firewalls and such are active. Yellow means that you may have gone a little too long without having performed a virus scan, internet browser hasn't been updated yet, firewall is disabled, backups haven't been made recently, etc. This doesn't require immediate action, but should still be looked into soon. Red means that something very bad is going on such as your firewall being inactive, suspicious software attempting to attack your machine, etc., and this means that these things must be solved immediately.

So far, for the past month or so of my use of OneCare, it has done a great job as a protector of my PC.

Miscellaneous Points:
- Simpler interface than previous software. Much like most of Microsoft's other recent software. Who originated the simple interface? Macintosh. This just shows that Microsoft is giving in to the market-based pressures around what Macintosh is doing right, and are just copying everything they do.
- Doesn't intrude into your internet browser like Norton does. I remember when I installed it for my mom on her computer, she shrieked when she saw a message at the top of the browser that said “Anti-Fraud filter on”. Although you can turn this off, it's best just not to have to deal with it in the first place (and it would be nice if they asked before installing any toolbars or shortcuts).
- Final point about relevancy to macs: this is only available to PCs, so if this DOES prove to be a lot better than Norton, it becomes a plus to the PC market.

Wired: Slick, simple interface allows you to check out your PC's status with a quick glimpse at your taskbar. Also very straightforward in the sense that on the front page, all common tasks such as virus scans, updates and backups are ready at the click of one button. About time that you can get all PC essentials from one reliable provider. Doesn't put icons galore everywhere on your computer, nor on your internet browser.
Tired: When there's somebody so established in an industry doing the exact same thing you're trying to do (namely, in this case, Norton), it's very hard to get people to trust you, especially when you're dealing with something as serious as virus protection. Hasn't been 100% proven yet, doesn't automatically prompt for system scans and backups enough.

Bottom line:

Although it is hard to be the new big thing in a serious industry like virus protection, when it's coming from the person who makes the operating system that is trying to be protected, what is there really to worry about? The simple interface makes things easier for less advanced users to use.

Overall rating: 4.25/5 85%

Next steps: For Vista, there should be a “gadget” dedicated especially for this so that the control centre is even simpler. Should be advertised a little more, and be endorsed by large corporations as their official protectors (school boards too... the TDSB, Canada's largest school board uses McCafee... MCAFEE!! WTF!!!)

OneCare's simple way of telling you your computer's status.

There it is, in less than 100,000 Pixels - all the information you need, and all the options you need

Nokia N80 Review

Nokia N80
I came home one day to see this phone in its box sitting in my room with a note that said “Max... Please try this out”. An all too familiar situation for me. Open up the packaging, find the phone and the battery, take apart my current phone, switch the SIM card, place SIM card in new phone, place in battery, replace cover, throw European power adapter over my shoulder in knowledge of the fact that I have a perfectly competent Nokia charger as well, plug in, turn on, charge, configure, examine. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Other than the N70, this is the first phone I've tried that has a second lens to it. I must say, though, this is the worst idea ever. I tried taking a few pictures of myself with it... first of all it doesn't even have flash, and I'm stuck in a shadier location at the time, so I come up with silhouettes of me, rather than what I would expect from the regular lens; Quality Photographs. The second lens is 0.3 Megapixels, whereas the main one has 3 megapixels, as well as flash and a distance toggle (the switch where one side is a mountain and one side is a flower... I don't know the proper term for that) all put together so that the phone is held sideways by default, with a button on top so it feels even more like a regular camera (that 16:9 view always helps for taking better photos!). I found the button a bit of a pain, though. Although it has the benefit of being able to hold it down from anywhere in the phone to turn on the camera, this can work to your disadvantage, especially if you talk with your right hand. If you're talking on the phone and just repositioning or have too tight of a grip, you can accidentally hold down the camera button, and hold it down long enough, and you will hear a nice, obnoxious shutter sound followed by a big booming flash in the palm of your hand while talking on the phone, so now, once you get off you get a picture looking something like this:

However, this brings up a good point with the phone's operating system. It can multitask on voice calls. So if you need to check a text message for what someone said while you are talking to someone who wants to know, you can do it without hanging up (a relief for those who use per-minute billing carriers, who get 4 seconds into a call realizing they may need to hang up for that very reason). You can even play a game like the included Snake and Card deck while on a call, so suppose you are on hold waiting for a customer service representative during bottleneck hour, or your Mother-in-law decides to call again, at least you have something to do while you say “uh-huh” and “interesting! I'm sure glad i have you to inform me about this!” into the mic every five seconds while feeding the snake and looking for that final ace to win the game.

Like all phones in the N-Series, it takes a long time to boot up. Thirty seconds! My Nokia 6103 can start up and shut down twice in that time! But good things do come to those who wait, remember... The battery life, I must say is pretty decent. I use this phone as a “weekend phone” because I do not wish to be taking this phone to school, as I would be jumped in a minute (or two start-up/shut downs for this phone... however you want to translate that into time), and I can last an entire weekend on one charge with it being on from about 5:00 PM Friday to about 6:30 AM Monday. The call quality was “meh” on this one. MUCH better than the N93's (read my rant about that one! Jon's soon to come...), it's just that there are two excruciatingly bad negatives. One is that there is only one small hole for the audio to come out. So small that I could barely get 2mm past the tip of a push pin through it. And two is that there is a bit of a metallic transition around the earpiece, and they weren't welded or soldered together in the manufacturing plant, so there is a bit of a gap there, that is vertically uneven, and during phone calls can get a good grip on the hairs on your ears, and sometimes the skin too, and then when you pull it away, you feel a sharp pain up on your listening ear. YEOWTCH! One more thing I dislike about the operating system, is that every time you slide the flap closed, it will ALWAYS prompt you whether or not you want to lock the keypad. This REALLY annoys me in the sense that I am constantly opening or closing the flap and must constantly choose “no” or “yes” if I'm putting it back in my pocket. A couple more miscellaneous items, the pencil key I find handy because that changes the writing mode (regular, capital, numbers, predictive), as well as the Clear key to act as backspace, which saves having to do a button sequence to go back, and finally, a Mini SD card slot, which makes file transfers a lot easier.

Wired: Bluetooth, Infrared and WiFi make this a versatile wireless communications tool. Camera feature emphasized – maybe a little too much. Two lenses – yet flash on only one. Battery life good. Big, bright display. Has option to connect wireless keyboard via bluetooth for marathon typists on their cell phones, and have never heard the word “Palm Pilot”. Mini SD card slot allows you to expand memory to as much as you want.

Tired: “Meh” voice quality, casing around earpiece catches on to ear skin and hair easily. Secondary lens very low quality, camera button badly positioned, intolerable start-up time, closing the flap brings up annoying prompt every time.

Bottom line: Make the casing all out of one material, so we can spare our ears, make the earpiece bigger, improve it or lose it with the second lens (i.e. Get flash), use the middle button on the navigation pad to take pictures, i mean, that's how it works on most other phones, doesn't it? Speed up the boot-up time, and find a more convenient way to place the keypad, or just don't use the stupid prompt for whether or not to lock it.

Overall rating:3/5 - 60%

Oh yeah, here are some photographs from the main camera... the flash IS a little light-drenching but what can you do?

My cat, Iggy

Windows Vista Ultimate. Hey, I may have given a bad review about it, but if I got it for free, I'll make use of it sooner or later!

One of the buildings in the IBM complex