journals

All-in-one desktop shootout

By Nick, November 18, 2007

All righty, it’s been a while since we’ve done a hardware comparison here.

Lately it seems that all-in-one desktop computers have seen their popularity rise. Since August, Apple has released a fairly large update to the iMac, Gateway unveiled their Gateway One PC (which is way sexier than the Profile 6), and the Dell XPS One.

In this article, I will compare one configuration of the Apple iMac, Dell XPS One, and Gateway One. And if you think you’ve seen this sort of article around here before, well, you’d be right.

First thing’s first

Before I start, I want to get a couple things out of the way. First of all, I am not framing this article to make one company look better or worse, so let’s not even go down that road. These prices are for models as configured on Sunday, November 18, 2007, and are what the manufacturers list on their US online stores (Dell/Gateway Home and Home Office and Apple’s standard pricing). All prices are in US Dollars.

Secondly, yes, I know you can buy a regular tower PC for less than you can buy an all-in-one. Yes, I know you can build a PC for less. Please don’t leave a comment telling me this. In general, all-in-ones are presented as mid-range to higher-end consumer desktops.

A method to this madness

For this little experiment, I set out with some basic specs in mind:

At least a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo processor
2 GB RAM
320 GB…
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Updated: Dell officially unveils XPS One, Latitude tablet

By Nick, November 16, 2007

Dell. They’ve always had the reputation for churning out decent PCs at good prices. But let’s face it, their products have never seen incredibly unique. That may be changing, though.

Yesterday Dell too the wraps off their XPS One all-in-one desktop, and their very first tablet PC called the Latitude XT. Dell hasn’t said much about the XPS One yet, but there is a teaser page up on Dell’s site. The XPS One is the latest all-in-one desktop to come from PC makers; other recent releases include the Gateway One (yes, I know about the name--coincidence?) the HP Touchsmart, and of course, the iMac. Perhaps PC companies are noticing that there is a market for the all-in-one desktop?

The Latitude XT is the first tablet PC out of Dell, and it’s not an ordinary tablet PC. As Engadget reports, The Latitude XT sports a multi-touch display. Dell used a painting program and photo viewer demo app to show off the XT’s multi-touch capabilities. The big question: how will Windows and applications handle multi-touch input? That remains to be seen. Still, it’s nice to see some really exciting products come from Dell.

UPDATE: The XPS One is now available to buy on dell.com Models start at $1499 for a 20” display, 2 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive.

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Security researchers warn of iPhone vulnerability

By UnnDunn, October 24, 2007

An article in Wired News today warns of a potential security hazard in the iPhone:

...every application on the device—from the calculator on up—runs as “root,” i.e., with full system privileges. As a result, a serious vulnerability in any of these applications would allow hackers to gain complete control of the device.

While there are no published exploits for this vulnerability yet, and it is unlikely any will show up soon, security experts are warning that it may be only a matter of time, and any attacks that take advantage of this could have dire consequences:

With the limited bandwidth of the iPhone, malicious code would be unlikely to slow portions of the internet. But malware could wreak creative havoc of a different kind. It might, for example, cause a phone to call numbers without the user’s knowledge, seize text messages and a list of received and sent calls, turn the phone into a listening device, track the user’s location through nearby WiFi access points, or instruct the phone to snap photos of the user’s surroundings—including any companions who may be in view of the camera lens.

Apple plans to release an SDK to allow third parties to develop applications for the iPhone, but said it was working on ways to maintain the device’s security while doing so.

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The Ultimate WinKey Compendium

By Liam, October 8, 2007

For such a huge push as the one Microsoft gave to get the Windows Logo Key included in all keyboards destined to work with Windows, it sure seems like they’ve neglected to do anything with it. Of course, it also seems like Clark Kent is a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet, but boy do I have a shocker for you.

In fact, there is a sizeable amount of shortcuts activated by the WinKey, but no definitive list from Microsoft (or anyone else that I’m aware of.) All of the WinKey shortcuts are system-wide, so you can focus the taskbar no matter what app you’re in. Many of these shortcuts were added for Windows Vista, and while some are obviously new (see: anything controlling the sidebar), some might not be so easily spotted. If I have missed any, go ahead and wave that fact around like a Special Olympics gold medal (I’m gonna get sued for that one.)

- Opens the Start Menu.
+ E - Opens an Explorer window.
+ R - Opens the Run dialog.
+ T - Focuses the taskbar.
+ U - Opens the Ease of Access control panel. (Vista)
+ D - Shows the desktop, hiding all windows. Not the same as minimizing.
+ F - Opens the Search window.
+ G - Focuses the sidebar gadgets. (Vista)
+ H - Unknown effect.
+ L - Locks the screen.
+ C - Unknown effect.
+ V - Unknown effect.
+ B - Focuses the system tray.…
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How would you improve Microsoft’s services?

By UnnDunn, October 5, 2007

Larry Hryb (AKA Major Nelson), Xbox Live’s director of programming, recently posted an interesting question on his blog about what Microsoft doesn’t ‘get’ when it comes to designing and implementing new services.

This is the comment I made in response to that question. Let me know what you think.

I think Microsoft’s main problem is they think too logically and not emotionally enough when developing new services.
I like Microsoft’s products because of this (I’m an intensely logical, pragmatic person,) but I also recognize that a lot of people don’t like them for the same reason.
Xbox Live works because one of its key aspects is the concept of “identity.” Xbox Live members even have an “identity card.” The Gamercard neatly encapsulates everything an Xbox Live member…
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