Filed under: Robots

While it’s not quite on the level of NASA’s or DARPA’s ongoing challenges, iRobot’s Create Challenge contest nonetheless looks to have at least given some incentive to a few homebrew enthusiasts / would-be mad scientists, one of whom has now taken home a cool $5,000 for his troubles. Snagging that cash was Danh Trinh of Towson, Md, who’s “Personal Home Robot” won over the judges with its ability to water plants, control lights, play music, and remind owners to take their medication, among other less-than-strenuous activities. Helping it manage all that is iRobot’s DIY-friendly Create platform which, as you can see above, went under a pretty extensive transformation on its way to first place. Be sure to hit up the Instructables link below for the complete rundown.

Read - iRobot, “iRobot Selects Create Challenge Contest Winner”
Read - Instructables, “iRobot Create Personal Home Robot”

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Filed under: Desktops, Features, Laptops, Networking

It’s pretty clear that Apple left no stone unturned in Leopard, making changes and fixes throughout the new operating system. Unfortunately, that also included an upgrade to its crucial smugness subsystem: the image you see above of an old school CRT monitor with a blue screen of death is actually the not-so-subtle gag icon Leopard uses to represent Windows machines on your local network. (Is it any wonder why PC and Mac fanboys tend to get in so many fights?) Granted, many Leopard beta users have seen this icon since the early releases, but we didn’t actually think the shipping version would include something so pompous and galling to the other 90%.

We’ll save the missive on the subject (although if that’s what you’re looking for, Anil Dash wrote a pretty good one), and skip straight to the problem solving: hidden away deep within the recesses of Leopard, far, far away from the reaches of Spotlight, is an unassuming icon file that’s doing a great job at perpetuating the myth of Mac users’ disdainful sense of self-superiority. Luckily it’s an easy fix, and we’ll show you the three easy steps necessary to get rid of the BSOD and make your Mac a little less condescending.

Continue reading Mini How-To: Remove the Windows BSOD icon in Leopard, make OS X a little less smug

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Leopard is on track to be Apple’s most successful OS ever. According to Apple, Leopard sold two million copies in its first weekend, “far outpacing” Tiger — Apple’s previous best selling OS. Anyone have Vista’s first 2.5 days sales numbers available? Come on, it’s always fun to compare.

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Filed under: Laptops

The OLPC XO found itself in a couple different headlines today, first with the Laboratorio Tecnológico de Uruguay stepping up to become the first official government purchaser of the “$100” laptop, committing to buy 100,000 of the green machines, with the potential to buy a further 200,000 by 2009. The deal’s been coming for a while but was just made official today, marking the first major order for NickNeg’s baby — and a big win over Intel’s Classmate PC, which was also in the running. Speaking of NickNeg, the man with the plan also made the news today by saying that OLPC has been working with Microsoft from the start, saying “It would be hard for OLPC to say it was ‘open’ and then be closed to Microsoft. Open means open.” Apparently, OLPC has been earmarking some of the first engineering models from each developer build for Microsoft, and Redmond has pushed for and gotten changes in the device, particularly the inclusion of an SD slot. There’s still no word on if we might see an XO preloaded with XP, but from the looks of things, it’s going to happen sooner or later.

[Thanks, Wayan]

Read — Uruguay places the first official OLPC XO order
Read — NickNeg says OLPC is working with Microsoft

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Asus has finally settled down on pricing and release details for the US launch of its low-cost Eee PC. According to NotebookReview, a sales kit sent out to retailers by Asus confirms the $300 to $400 prices we heard about recently, with a $350 model squeezed in there as well. The same sales kit also reveals that the top-end $400 model, dubbed the Eee PC 4G, will be the first one available, with it set to drop on November 1st. While there’s no firm details on the other two models, they’ll apparently both also be available sometime before the end of the year. Conspicuously absent, however, is the much-touted $199 model, which we’re guessing will be released around the same time as the $100 OLPC.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Laptops

US netizens can now call dibs on Lenovo’s 3000 Y410 laptop for the home. That’s right, a consumer laptop — their first for the US market. Released without fanfare, the new 14.1-inch glossy 1,280 x 800 model starts at about $700 depending upon the configuration you track down at your local big box — another first for Lenovo. That gets you a 1.46GHz Pentium Dual Core T2310 proc, 1GB of memory, 160GB 5400rpm disk, dual-layer DVD writer, 6-in-1 media card reader, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, ExpressCard, and Intel X3100 graphics with 1.3 megapixel camera, Dolby Home Theater speakers with sub-woofer running atop a Vista Home Premium OS. The 1.02-1.45-inch thick / 5.5-pound sled doesn’t look half bad either… for Lenovo. Now we’re just wondering if the build quality and support matches that of their ThinkPad lineup. If so, then Lenovo’s got themselves a winner here.

[Via c|net news]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

While there’s no easy way to account for everybody Leopard user’s crashing, Unsanity’s Application Enhancer is apparently the cause of many a BSOD turning up on a range of user’s systems during a system update to Mac OS X 10.5. If, after selecting “update,” you’re getting a perpetual blue screen, follow Apple’s instructions for booting into single-user mode to remove the offending software. If you haven’t updated yet, make sure you get rid of the software before you do: alternatively, do a fresh install and it’ll overwrite any of the conflicts you would encounter otherwise. And remember to backup, backup, and backup.

[Thanks, Dilan J.]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

We’ve come to expect our Apple-related hacks early and user friendly these days, but we’ve still got mad respect for the folks at OSx86 Scene who’ve managed to get Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard up and running on Intel PCs on launch day — the day before if you felt like being a bit less upright about it. The hack requires a minimum of trickery on your part: just a burnable DVD, USB thumb drive and a bit of luck. Not everything’s super tested just yet, and OSx86 Scene will be expanding support and simplifying the process as time goes on, but this is sure a promising start.

[Via dailyApps, image courtesy of mac.nub]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It’s not enough to have your Leopard questions answered, to hear all about what the new system is like, or to know that it’ll run on your nearly decade-old Mac. Now it’s time for the Mac fanboys and Apple early adopters to put the latest version of OS X to the test. We want to know, will it blend? In other words:

• Is your software still compatible?
• Do all of your peripherals still function perfectly? And system hardware?
• How’s it playing with Windows boxes on your network?
• Did you encounter any problems installing / upgrading?
• What kinds of bugs are you seeing?

Go ahead, cry into the comfy pillow that is our comments. Tell us what’s not working so that others may benefit from your knowledge. We’re all here for you. And us? Well, already we’ve had to give up a few applications that weren’t compatible (RapidoWrite and Onyx, to name a couple), and we’ve seen Time Machine crash enough to give Doc Brown an aneurysm, but how are things on your end?

P.S. -PCs, please sit this one out. The Macs are on a mission, and you already had your chance to whine with your brethren in a (relatively) fanboy-free environment.

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Filed under: Desktops, Features, Laptops

We’ve been poring over Leopard since getting our copy, and no doubt about it, there’s just way too much to say. The number of fixes, updates, and new features in this release is astounding. Granted, many aren’t major (and some aren’t even easily immediately noticeable), but the marquee apps like Spaces and Time Machine are instantly indispensable, while the finer details (like revamped Bluetooth and network connections preferences) leave little to be desired. Looking at Leopard’s gestalt, it’s plain to see that this by far the best version of OS X to date.

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Read on for a long list of changes, updates, additions, and impressions, and don’t forget to check out the gallery.

Continue reading All about Leopard: gallery, apps, impressions

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