Review Laptops

Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket passed a static fire test today in preparation for next month's launch.

(Credit:
SpaceX)

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its attached Dragon spacecraft exhaled flames for a few seconds today at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After pausing the first attempt at a test firing of the Falcon 9 due to a glitch just moments before the end of the countdown, SpaceX proceeded with a second attempt, which succeeded. The rocket remained stationary, but the system passed the “static fire” test with flying colors, putting Elon Musk’s commercial space venture one step closer to reaching the International Space Station for the first time.

The test firing was the height of a full dress rehearsal for SpaceX’s second demonstration launch for NASA, which has given millions of dollars to support the company’s efforts. Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off on May 7, carrying the unmanned, gumdrop-shaped Dragon craft out of the atmosphere where it will attempt to robotically approach the space station. If all goes well, it could proceed to attempt rendezvous maneuvers with the ISS, making it the first commercial craft to drop in … [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

Skype change list for version 4.0.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

A popular choice for VoIP users and those who make international and video calls, Skype (free for iPhone or iPad) received a few improvements today that tweak the interface and give you more control over your video calls.

The overall interface has been slightly tweaked to look a bit smoother with a new header and buttons that are more aesthetically pleasing and better match the colors of the rest of the interface. The contact view now shows more contacts on screen, with smaller icons that don’t take up as much space as they did in previous versions.

The most noticeable new enhancement is the ability to touch and drag your video preview (the picture in picture view where you can see yourself during a video call) so you can move it anywhere on the screen during a call.

Skype will now also relaunch if the app is unexpectedly shut down while running in the background. The folks at Skype say the app has also been upgraded with better accessibility options, and several bug fixes.

The updates in version 4.0 apply to all iOS versions of Skype, so your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch will all share these new features. Both the update and the full ap… [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

Game trailer: The Walking Dead

Image Comic’s “The Walking Dead” series has seen explosive success over the past few years even though the monthly comic book has been in production for nearly nine years with its 97th issue due out mid-May. It’s been licensed out in almost every way imaginable, highlighted by an adapted television drama that just concluded its second season on AMC.

As a longtime fan and reader of “The Walking Dead,” I’ve realized that what makes the franchise so good is that it focuses more on the human reaction to a worldwide outbreak rather than the carnage an apocalyptic zombie narrative could more easily weave. It’s not without a fair share of gore, but its black-and-white pages force you to consider emotions first and bloodlust second.

So while it’s no surprise then that “The Walking Dead” has now found its way into a video game, I was curious to see how developer Telltale Games would convert the character-driven series into a game, especially since Telltale’s story focuses on a main character not yet discovered in the comic or TV show.
(Credit:
Telltale Games)

While players not familiar with the franchise might be expecting something out of the Left4Dead series, The Walking Dead is anything but. In reality, it actually follows the pacing and seriousness of the books on an impressive level, capturing the intensity and raw emotion… [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

If you think 10 fingers feels good on your scalp, try 24.

(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

If I were near Tokyo Station right now, I’d hop on a bullet train to Osaka lickety-split. Why? To get my scalp cleansed by Panasonic’s shampoo robot, of course.

Hair salon Super Hair Seo in the nearby city of Nishinomiya is playing the lucky host to the electronics giant’s Head Care Robot, which is undergoing its first tests alongside hairdressers.

Introduced back in 2010, the device consists of a reclining chair and a mechanized washbasin. It first scans your head to get an idea of its shape, and can accommodate a variety of noggins, according to Panasonic.

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Then it releases shampoo jets and gets to work on your scalp with its 24 robotic fingers, as the promo vid below tells us. Eight of the fingers work the back of your neck while the rest knead your scalp.

… [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

Cases comes with four different sets of bumpers, each with varying slightly in size.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

There are several places where protective bumpers always belong: cars, children’s bowling parties, and electronics cases.

Rubbery corners are a trademark feature in Ballistic’s cases for a variety of smartphone makes and models. In its most recent line for the iPhone 4 and 4S, the Ballistic LifeStyle Smooth series, the case-maker brings the silicone inserts to a fairly fitted design for Apple’s iconic phone.

How does the $30 case fare? Pretty well, actually. Check out the photos, the pros, and the cons in my full review of the Ballistic LifeStyle Smooth case, which will be available to purchase very soon.

[Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

Canada's Galaxy Note getting its just desserts.

(Credit:
Samsung)

All eyes are on Samsung this week as it unveils what has arguably become the company’s most anticipated Android smartphone to date.

First, however, Sammy has a bit of software business to tend to. Indeed, Samsung Canada today announced that it is making Android 4.0 available to a number of smartphones and tablets in the Galaxy series.

Starting today and rolling out over the remainder of the quarter, Ice Cream Sandwich will deploy to notable devices north of the border, including the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Galaxy Note. Though the exact dates for the 4.0 update will vary depending… [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

The microphone includes an accelerometer and silicon chip that detect vibrations and convert them to electronic signals sent to electrodes in the inner ear’s cochlea.

(Credit:
Case Western Reserve University and University of Utah)

Cochlear implants, which help 220,000 deaf people around the world hear, come with a few unfortunate side effects.

Because the implants also consist of external parts (the mic, a speech processor, and a radio transmitter coil) worn rather conspicuously behind the ear, users are often unable to swim or wear helmets comfortably, must fully rely on a microphone exposed to the elements, and have to deal with appearing at least somewhat handicapped.

So an electrical engineer at the University of Utah has developed a prototype that moves all these external parts into the middle ear, allowing cochlear implants to fully live up to their name.

In profoundly deaf people who are candidates for these implants, there is a failure of the hair cells whose movements are supposed to trigger the release of a chemical that then carries signals to the brain. This can be due to a viral infection, birth defect, exposure to loud sounds, or the side effects of drugs.

In a cochlear implant, sound signals are sent from the external pa… [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

(Credit:
CNET/The 404 )

Our old friend Andrew Mager joins us in the studio this morning to tell us what it takes to earn the role of Hacker Advocate over at Spotify.

He’ll also give us a live demo of some of the popular apps you can download for Spotify that help you discover new music, browse music lyrics, read more about your favorite artists, scan your albums using a Web cam, and more. Somewhere during this episode, we also decide to start a four-man band, so let us know what you think our name should be.

Other stories we’ll cover after the break include Ikea’s new disposable Knappa camera, a 92-year-old bootlegger that’s sent more than … [Read more]

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

NZXT’s new Cyro E40 cooling pad fits 15-inch notebooks and features movable fans, allowing users to pinpoint laptop hotspots and cool their notebooks down more effectively. Check out our full review to see if the Cyro E40 can help.

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Posted on Tuesday, 1st May 2012 by LaptopReviewer

EUROCOM managed to fit a 2GB Nvidia GT 650M graphics card and the latest Intel ‘Ivy Bridge’ processors into its new Monster 1.0, an 11.6″ gaming notebook.

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