|
News Briefs
News Archives 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Windows 7 Battery Basher?
 In amongst the pre-launch
hype surrounding Windows 7 was the claim that it would be lighter on laptop and
netbook batteries, extending running times, compared with XP and Vista. My own
experiences have been reasonably positive, nothing dramatic mind you, but I
certainly seem to be getting a few extra minutes out of my test machines now
running Win 7. However, since the launch a growing number of users have been
reporting the opposite effect with significantly shorter running times and in
some cases, Windows 7 is telling them that their batteries need to be replaced.
Microsoft is reported to be investigating the problem, which first arose during
the pre-launch beta test and judging by the increase in complaints there does
indeed seem to be a problem. One of the possibilities seems to be the PC’s BIOS
as this is where Win 7 gets its information about the battery. If and when
Microsoft gets to the bottom of it we’ll let you know.
0402
More Disturbing Robot News
 Here’s another piece of
robot news to give you the willies. It’s a humanoid robot baby, called
Diego-San, designed by the twisted techs in the Machine Perception Lab at the
University of California and Japanese robotics company Kokoro. It’s supposed to
be modelled on a 1 year old child and is apparently designed to help
researchers study infant motor skills, so they say... If you ask me it’s all a
bit weird, why invent a robot baby when the real things are plentiful and a lot
cheaper to make. I can’t stress how important it is for all of us to be on our
guard against this kind of thing, you’ve seen the movies, it’s happening
people!
01/02/10
Wooden It Be Nice, part 5…
 If many more gadget
companies jump on the eco-green bandwagon we’ll have to add splinters and deathwatch
beetle to the list of hazards posed by these devices. Based in France, Lexon
are big on the use of sustainable materials with a growing (no pun intended) range
of products encased in wood or made using bioplastics, derived from mashed up
vegetables. It also includes a number of solar powered and wind-up widgets,
like this rather natty looking bamboo radio, called the LA 81 Safe. You might
also be interested in a bamboo clock radio, calculator and there’s even a bamboo
coffee set.
2801
| 
What I just can’t
understand is who the hell is buying all the Viagra, Rolex watches and Russian
brides? I know the theory; if you send out a few gazillion Spam emails you are
bound to catch a few mugs, but surely by now just about everyone on the planet
knows they’re all scams and not to touch this toxic stuff with a barge-pole? Oh
well, I guess we’re all having to pay the price for the few remaining idiots
and until the spammers finally shut up shop a spam filter is still needed.
Personally I’m happy with good old MailWasher and the features in Windows Mail but
this one, called 