Apple has developed an ultra-slim MacBook Air laptop computer that is dubbed as the world’s leanest laptop; Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new product on Jan 15 at the MacWorld Expo 2008 in San Fransisco.
The MacBook Air has a ‘thinness’ of 0.16 to 0.76 inches (0.4-1.94 cm); so thin that it can actually fit into a manila envelope. Besides the slimness, MacBook Air is a full size notebook (13.3-inch widescreen) with the latest tech specs, and weigh at approximately 1.36 kg.
MacBook Air (Image courtesy of
Apple)
This cool gizmo ain’t coming cheap though; it would cost the Mac enthusiasts US$1799 to enjoy the privelege of owning the world’s leanest laptop.
An interesting mug that reacts to heat…
Coffee mug reacting to the heat (hot beverage)
In its dormant state, the mug offers a black “OFF” display, but once your hot coffee or tea hits the inside, it gradually transforms to read “ON”. A heat sensitive pigment changes the color of the mug from black to white. [Technabob]
The colour-changing is nice, but the “On-off” word doesn’t really appeal to me. Perhaps they should try some other words or patterns instead.
A carbon nanotube - a hollow, tube-shaped molecule 10,000 times smaller than a human hair - can perform all the basic functions of a radio when it’s wired up to a few other simple parts, a new study shows.
The simple tube is ten carbon atoms wide and only a few hundred nanometers long.
Alex Zettl and colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley showed that a nanotube can work as an antenna, picking up radio signals from the air. [Nationalgeographic]
I am not really sure if it is useful in common life though.
For those who are wondering how small a nanometer is…
1 meter = 1,000,000,000 nanometer
The first official order for the “$100 laptop” has been placed by the government of Uruguay.
Prototype of the $100 laptop
The South American country has bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12. A further 300,000 may be purchased to provide a machine for every child in the country by 2009.
The order will be a boost for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organisation behind the project which has admitted difficulties getting concrete orders.
The XO laptop, as the machine is known, has been developed to be used primarily by children in the developing world.
It is durable, waterproof and can be powered by solar, foot-pump or pull-string powered chargers. It includes a sunlight readable display so that it can be used outside and has no moving parts.
OLPC aims to sell the laptop for US$100 or less. However, over the last year, the machine’s price has steadily increased and now costs $188. [BBC]
Yes, this is a (soon to be) personal computer…
According to the designer of this steampunk like custom-built PC, he would like to return a ‘novelty period’ for the PC like the television and radio that were “appropriately gifted with the most lavish of hand tooled, wooden scrolled cabinetry, and housings which borrowed architectural details from the grandest schools, churches and banks.”
The making of the PC is still in progress; you can check the development here.
I wonder if his idea would bring in some commercial value… sought of like a hand-made sport car that valued in millions; his hand-made PC could sold for a few extra grand perhaps.
