Hardware Archive

Mac Clones: Initiating the Change of Status Quo

Guest post by oso2k 2009-07-20 Hardware 42 Comments

Whenever there is a new company popping up, offering to install OSX on "Hackintoshes", everyone questions: Is this company for real? Do they think they can really take on Apple's Legal Team? What are their motivations? They're probably just in it for a quick buck or looking to be bought out once they achieve minor success. Here, I outline what I learned about Quo Computer on July 10th, 2009 and some of the things people can expect.

Geek Chic: The Clickety-clack Keyboard

David Adams 2009-07-17 Hardware 69 Comments

How does the Alpha Geek establish dominance over the other techies in the herd? With a self-consciously old fashioned, expensive, and fussy computer accessory, of course! We take a look at the Das keyboard and see if it's that much better than the mushy crap keyboard that came bundled with your Dell.

Gartner, IDC: Dell Loses, Acer Wins

Thom Holwerda 2009-07-17 Hardware 14 Comments

Both IDC and Gartner have released their preliminary figures on the state of the US and worldwide PC market, and while both companies agree that overall, the market declined about 3-5% worldwide, they differ when it comes to the figures of Apple. Quite interesting.

DisplaySearch: Netbook Sales To Double in 2009

Thom Holwerda 2009-07-13 Hardware 4 Comments

Analyst firm DisplaySearch has done a study into the notebook market, and from that study they conclude that in 2009, netbook shipments will grow to 20% of total notebook shipments. At the same time, sales of "normal" notebooks will remain flat year-over-year.

Quo Computer Opens Mac Clone Retail Store

Thom Holwerda 2009-07-09 Hardware 52 Comments

The number of Mac clone makers is growing by the week, so it seems. We have Psystar in the United States, a clone maker in Russia, another one in the UK, and PearC who now cover Germany, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. We can add a new one to the list, one that I personally thought was a fake, but is apparently very real. One that has a retail store. In California. Quo Computer (in case you're wondering, you use that thing on the right to navigate - it's weird).

CrunchPad Tablet Hopefully Set for Summer Release

weildish 2009-07-06 Hardware 7 Comments

We all remember the saliva-inducing CrunchPad whose photos were "leaked" back in April; the tablet has a yummy 12" touchscreen, boots straight into a customized Webkit browser running atop a Linux core, has an Intel Atom processor, and is designed to be sold for under $300. As it turns out, it's nigh on to be released as Michael Arrington, the one behind the idea, will be debuting the device at "an event" later in July or early in August. After that, the tablet is supposed to be available "as soon as possible," though just when and where is still unknown. Hopefully "as soon as possible" is a matter of a few weeks after the event. The sub-$300 idea is giving me itches for it to be on sale now.

PearC Mac Cloner Expands to France, The Netherlands, Belgium

Thom Holwerda 2009-07-04 Hardware 113 Comments

Now this is interesting news that hit my inbox at 2:22 AM (don't ask). It seems like the concept of selling Mac clones is more lucrative than many have anticipated, as I've just been informed via email that the German PearC has expanded its business into the BeNeLux (Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg) and France. Together with the news that Psystar emerged from chapter 11, it looks like the market for Mac clones is more lucrative than many of us had imagined.

Submitted by Adurbe 2009-07-02 Hardware 40 Comments

Well, it really seems as if Psystar is committed to continue its business, no matter what. The company entered chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, and many wondered if this meant the end of the clone maker and the legal case between Apple and Psystar. Well, today the clone maker announced that it is emerging from chapter 11, and while they're at it, they also introduce a new "Mac".

The Snow Clock

Kroc 2009-07-01 Hardware 7 Comments

"Snow days are great, but generally you still have to wake up to find out if it is a snow day. decided to make a system to solve this problem. He made an alarm clock that would automatically de activate if school is cancelled. What a pleasant surprise it would be to just wake up and find that you had been allowed to sleep in. It is using an Arduino and a python script to control the state of the alarm based off of an online school closing announcement. You can download the software from the instructable." Via Hack-a-Day

NVIDIA’s Ion Gains Traction

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-29 Hardware 20 Comments

In our latest podcast Kroc and I again talk about the trboules facing netbooks, and we solely place the blame on software not taking proper advantage of the hardware, and OEMs picking the wrong software to begin with. There's two ways to solve this: better software, or faster hardware. It seems like the industry will move to the latter.

Yale Researchers Create First Quantum Processor

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-29 Hardware 31 Comments

With all the talk about Moore's Law, and doomsday predictions of the industry hitting the ceiling of what's possible with regular transistors, you'd almost forget that a lot of people are already thinking about the next revolution in computing: quantum computers. Researchers at Yale have succeeded in producing the first working solid-state quantum processor. Highly intriguing, but way over my head.

Submitted by Moulinneuf 2009-06-27 Hardware 14 Comments

Currently the fastest supercomputer in Europe, the Jugene can process one trillion operations per second, has 294,912 cores that comprise 32-bit PowerPC 450 processors at 850 MHz, has 144 terabytes of RAM, has a bandwidth of 5.1 gigabyte/second with a mere 160 nanosecond latency, and is one heck of a machine mounted on 72 racks. I wouldn't mind having one of these in my basement regardless of the power bill. For pictures and more information, read the linked article.

Submitted by Moulinneuf 2009-06-27 Hardware 13 Comments

Tom's Hardware a takes a long look at the history of mainframe computing. Lots of beautiful photos and history snippets. It obviously starts and ends with IBM.

ASUS Eee Keyboard To Launch August

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-26 Hardware 10 Comments

The ASUS Eee Keyboard, which we drooled over before, has officially been announced - it will be released August 2009. "Asus has confirmed that its Eee keyboard, originally shown at CES, will be arriving in August. The company's marketing executive, John Swatton, revealed the news while launching a bevy of new laptops." Me? Want.

Guest post by JayDee 2009-06-25 Hardware 14 Comments

"The magnetic hard disk's tenure as a critical part of the storage technology mosaic is entering its sixth decade, and it shows no sign of ending any time soon. However, certain limitations imposed by rotating media have been coming to the fore lately, and SSDs, which can in theory resolve all these problems, have long been hailed as the eventual successor technology for mass storage. If UK-based startup Dataslide has its way, though, magnetic recording media will get at least one last hurrah, in the form of a new technology called Hard Rectangular Drive."

Top 500 List Dominated by x86, Linux

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-25 Hardware 28 Comments

It's that time of the year again: the Top 500 list of supercomputers has been published, as they do every six months. Just for fun, I decided to compare the list released this month to then-current list when OSNews launched; we started in August 1997, so let's compare the list of today to the one from June 1997.

OLPC Software To Power Aging PCs

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-24 Hardware 4 Comments

Software originally developed for the One Laptop per Child project can now be used on any old PC. Sugar on a stick, as it is known, can be run from a USB drive to give aging PCs a new interface and access to collaborative educational software. The software, designed for use by children, was launched at the LinuxTag conference in Berlin. It has been developed by Sugar Labs, a breakaway organisation from OLPC. " is a great new opportunity to breathe new life into these old machines," Walter Bender, founder of Sugar Labs, told BBC News.

Supercomputer, Heater All-In-One

weildish 2009-06-23 Hardware 13 Comments

IBM has built a new sort of supercomputer that is not only more energy-efficient than supercomputers cooled traditionally with air-conditioning, but the excess heat from the computer can be used afterwards to heat a building. Water siphons off the heat via tubes and small capillaries that take the liquid very near to the chips, cooling it at 60 degrees Celsius. IBM says that the new supercomputer design, which they call "Aquasar," will reduce overall energy consumption by 40 percent as well as 30 tons of carbon dioxide. The heating function of the system will only help reduce heating costs a little, but it has some very promising applications in the future.

Submitted by Hakime 2009-06-23 Hardware 52 Comments

The NPD group has done a study into customer satisfaction among netbook buyers, and they came to some surprisingly unsurprising results. As it turns out, people who expected a notebook when they bought a netbook were more likely to be disappointed than buyers who set out to buy a netbook from the get-go. No doodoo, Sherlock.

NVIDIA: WinCE Better for ARM Netbooks than Android, Linux

Thom Holwerda 2009-06-18 Hardware 74 Comments

Currently, there's a lot of hype around Android on ARM-based netbooks, a type of netbook arriving later this year. However, despite the obvious choice for Android and other Linux systems, NVIDIA has openly stated their preference for... Windows CE. ARM and Asus are also quite sceptical about Android on ARM netbooks.