Netbooks News, Hacks and HowTo’s

This has been out a ‘decade’ ago, but I guess I just have to discuss about it over again because it just owns my heart. Ubuntu Eee Easy Peasy, is the new name, after some conflict with the original ‘Ubuntu’ distro. Like what I’ve said before, Ubuntu has all the rights when it comes to trademark, and my man Jon Ramvi just whole-heartedly comply with the law. In fact, the new Easy Peasy still seem to have rival brand and he has acted on it before anything against the new name arise.

Logo making contest is on-going and the nominees were already identified. Pretty cool designs they have there. I envy those who have very good imagination when it comes to such themes like that. I wish I was blessed with that talent too.

Today is the day the 2nd “Jesus Look Alike” will take home a Lenovo IdeaPad S10. The first one was last year, with a better full blown laptop.

Right now at Good Times With Mo, Magic 89.9, people are gathered on their most Jesus Look Alike costume and come judgement hour, one of them will take home the Lenovo IdeaPad S10.

That’s how easy you could win on that program, on that station. Their just the only one, the best. Good Times.

This blog was down last Saturday and was brought up just yesterday. The server had a serious problem, out of my control, and not sure what took it so long to revive it. How I wish there was a backup server that should have kept this blog and other blogs and sites hosted on the server running.

Well, that’s just one of the many downtimes this blog had. Worse thing is that my brains kind of stopped functioning already and cannot compose a good article for this blog. I need some rest I think.

This week, Acer was announced the leading netbook in 3Q08 sales, leaving the whole big family of Eee PCs behind by approximately 8% on market shares. This was rather a milestone for Acer not just because they got to the top, but getting to the top with a single model released, in 4 different colors. Way to go, Acer.

Meanwhile, to gain back what they just lost, Asustek targets 44 percent unit sales in 2009 for their netbooks. This I learned from Liliputing.

Overall, netbook shipments surge over 160% in 3Q08. Shall we expect higher numbers in 2009?

If you’re a netbook manufacturer, what feature would you add to your netbook to make it stand out among the rest that will make customers change their mind and go for your product?

Apparently, BenQ, a little late on the netbook category, wants their BenQ Joybook Lite to get a large global market share in 2009. They might have set the goals and identified the approach on how to meet it and in terms of the figures stated on their paper (read Digitimes), it’s pretty achievable. But…

Asus and Acer are currently the leading brands when it comes to netbooks and I’m pretty sure HP and MSI are way ahead of BenQ currently. If you look under the hood of each netbook, you’ll pretty much see same specs across. They might differ on screen sizes, HDD, and battery life, but in today’s competition, its still the brand that is mostly considered. Probably the product support and customer service plays a big part, though I don’t have concrete evidence on this.

Given what I’ve said, BenQ still has a lot of things to cover to achieve their target numbers in 2009. Adding extra durable substance on their Joybook Lite to withstand stress could be one big factor for customers who are not careful enough on their netbooks, but there’s still more they can do. Cheaper prices will surely attract buyers added with good warranty coverage and nice product support and customer service. They can also work on longer battery life which most of the netbook manufacturer couldn’t provide. They can also put the nicest keyboad on their Joybook, one that is spacious enough, with perfect key positioning and perfectly functional controls. Remember, keyboard is the most used component when interacting with computers and comfortability is a plus for users. The form-factor can also be considered, just to be a bit recognizable and different from the rest, that might just expand market interest.

Customizing Acer Aspire One GUI

While Acer Aspire One already has its cool user interface out of the box, it seems it still not satisfy everyone’s palates, because someone exerted efforts discovering a way to customize it. The process involves modifying an xml file, which seems to be easy if you follow the steps that are detailed on the article.

Netbooks and MIDs: How they differ?

Meanwhile, “Netbooks” and “MID” now have new definitions that pretty much define their differences. According to Intel, netbooks are “clamshells”, with 7 - 10.2 inch screens, built purposely for Internet use. While MIDs are pocketable devices with a 4 to 7-inch screen that take a clamshell, slider or tablet form and are custom built for “Internet-based targeted usages”. Seems like the Gigabyte tablet-convertible might not be considered as netbook in this sense. All these we learned from jkOnTheRun.

HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition

HP Mini 1000 now has a Vivienne Tam Edition that looks very similar to its predecessor of the same edition. Options for specs upgrade are available and prices start at $699. The latter is now available for order.

Asus Eee PC 1002HA Review

Asus Eee PC 1002HA review has been published and Laptop is pretty happy of their experience. Pros includes its sleek design, multi-touch trackpad, wide keyboard estate and good wi-fi performance. While the right shift key positioning still draws for the cons, together with shorter battery life and no option for extended battery. Third party batteries might be under way, so don’t worry too much.

The original Eee Box B202 is roughly just a half-year old, while Mother Asus is about to give birth again for a new twin. The twins B204 and B206 are very much identical to their older sibling, having same processors and network features, etc., except that they also acquired an extra gene from their new father which makes them grow an HDMI port from their rear. ATI Radeon HD 3400 series with 256MB DDR2 memory will also enhance their media decoding ability which also makes them capable of playing High Definition Videos in higher quality on High Definition TV. Apparently, the B204 inherits another gene from someone else which gives it a built-in battery which will keep it alive for a period of time when power is cut-off.

Computingwise, this might still not be the best option for a desktop alternative, but will surely satisfy your normal computing needs. And entertainmentwise, this might not be as good as dedicated home entertainment system, but will surely keep your eyes happily awake watching your favorite movies. They will also come along with a remote control, which will help you instruct them to do things they are supposed to without even landing a single finger on them.

Price and birth date is not yet confirmed, but I’m sure it wouldn’t take long. And oh, there’s also a new technology called Newborn Screening, and we hope that the new Asus babies undergo this process to prevent them from inheriting the virus their older sibling once have.

Asus News

I happened to pass by the Eee PC comparison site and noticed that there’s already a 10GB Eee Storage availble for Eee PC 701SD/701SDX. Don’t know how long this has been available but the Eee Storage Utility has been on the support site for months already. The service is still unavailable for Eee PC 4G though, and I’m trying to get some words from the engineers about this.

Some models already come along with the Eeestorage installed, but if your Eee PC doesn’t have it yet, you can easily download and install it. For more details about installation and configuration, you may refer to eeestorage.com.

UPDATE: The Support Team replied pretty quickly and there’s hope for 4G users. “We are still developing the Eee Storage vision that works on the 4G model. Thanks for your supporting and patience. -Eee Storage Support Team”