Over a week since it’s announcement at akihabaranews.com, the Samsung Mini S2 USB 2.0 external hard disk line comes in “Ocean Blue”, “Sweet Pink”, and “Snow White” variants. And yes, it’’s designed for the ladies.

Slightly bigger than its predecessor the S1, the Mini S2 takes advantage of the increasingly roomy 2.5″ hard disk platform, offering capacities of up to 500GB. Keeping with the feminine theme, the casing is designed to not look out of place in a handbag, as the pic below illustrates:

The Samsung Mini S2. Courtesy Samsung

No word yet on pricing, but the S2 should be available throughout only South Korea by the end of this month. I wonder if this product was inspired by this old external hard disk design concept?

Fortunately, I’ve got a better metaphor for the current state of computer usability than the car one, which has been the Lazy IT Writer’s Friend since a “home computer” took up a large room and quintupled your power bill.

Let’s, instead, consider that weird old phrase “computer literacy”, these days seldom used except by the hardy souls teaching Windows to the elderly. Let’s compare computer literacy with ordinary literacy. Reading and writing.

Curious? Head on here for the full text.

No matter what you think of Dell, their prices still represent the highest spec-for-buck ratio I’ve ever seen.

Studio XPS 13. Courtesy Dell.

For instance, the basic Studio XPS 13 laptop costs $999. Here’s what you get for that price:

• A 2.0 GHz Processor (Intel P7350)
• Vista Home Premium
• A 13.3″ 1366 x 768 display, with an integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam
• DVD/CD burner
• 3GB DDR3 RAM
• 250GB 7200 rpm hard disk
• NVIDIA 9400M G
• Support for Wireless N (802.11n)

That setup won’t be able to run more demanding games like the notorious Crysis, but it’s powerful enough for practically any other task. Shop for an XPS Studio 13.

Other Deals

Dell’s also upped the ante by discounting their offerings further, as part of the current Dell Days of Deals promo, running until this June 25 (5:55 AM CDT). To paraphrase some writer: “Dell’s discounts depend on the phase of the moon, astronomical alignments, and the direction of the wind.” Anyways, here are some laptop promos that seem interesting:

• Studio 15 for $699
• Inspiron Minis starting at $299
• Studio XPS 16 laptop for $1199

Just remember the lower price comes at a price though; Dell’s reputation for poor customer service is in vogue right now. Though this shouldn’t be too much of a problem for computer savvy owners. Hopefully.

• Nokia E72 Debuts on Video
• 30-Minute Desktop Decluttering Solution
• 30th Anniversary Gundam Statue Almost Done
• Microsoft’s $10K Internet Explorer 8 Promo
• Star Trek Online Timeline Unnecessary
• Battery Life Estimates are Bunk—Here’s Why

Savvy laptop owners learned a long time ago that manufacture claims on laptop battery lives were essentially best-case scenarios. An XPS M1330 for instance never reaches the promised 3 hours—even with all connectivity off and the screen dimmed to minimum.

Courtesy jyrik

But why, you ask? Here’s Daniel Lyons’s theory

These battery-life numbers are based on a benchmark test called MobileMark 2007 (MM07). The test was created by a consortium called BAPCo (Business Application Performance Corp.), whose members are—you guessed it—computer makers and other tech companies.

[Read more]

Big Download claims “the success of the new Star Trek movie has made many die hard Trek fans wonder what happened to the timeline of the previous TV shows and movies”. But practically all of them already knew the whole-alternate-universe-existing-on-a-different-quantum-frequency thing long before the movie came out. Making the Star Trek Online timeline below (courtesy Atari through BD) totally unnecessary:

Heck, I’m sure savvy fans have even figured out the dissolution of the Klingon-Fed alliance, given the messy inter-galactic politics started towards the end of Deep Space Nine and continued during Picard’s final days on-screen. But it’s always good for geeks to see the niggling details their favorite mythos fleshed out by a professional graphic designer, and the timeline’s definitely whetting my appetite for the upcoming online game. Definitely a Q’apla!

Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies. Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade’s boudoir.

The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for slum children in India.

Courtesy The Uniform Project

Courtesy The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project: proving expensive fashion unnecessary, increasing funds for geeky buys!

Face it, our passion for tech usually comes at a cost: those long hours spent seated in front of the computer are fatal for waistlines, not to mention for our health. That’s why Leo Babauta’s Simple Fitness Rules are gold for gadgeteers:

A lean tummy, courtesy stock.xchng (details below)

The Two-Rule Version

• Get your body moving on a regular basis; and
• Eat a moderate amount of real, whole foods (with occasional indulgences).

The Eight-Rule, Yet Still Simple, Version

• Get moving
• Enjoy yourself
• Slowly add intensity
• Minimal equipment
• Just a few exercises
• Eat real foods
• Eat less
• Give it time

Follow the full details here, and who knows? You could end up lifting a 12-pound desktop replacement with one hand multiple times, enough to score first dibs on some cool piece of tech.

See Also: The Best Damn Healthy Gaming Tip Ever

(image courtesy ljk)

The $10,000 Internet Explorer 8 Promo: Follow clues laid down @tengrand_IE8 on Twitter, to find “a cleverly concealed webpage that only Internet Explorer 8 can view.” Seems straightforward enough, except the promo makes sure to ask you to “Ditch the web browser you’re using. If you try to find the $10,000 with Firefox, you’ll get nowhere.” The promo details are here.

Screenshot of Promo Page

Hopefully Microsoft is trying to promote how well IE8 properly displays web pages, being so faithful to existing web standards that it can reveal what competing browsers can’t. This so-called hidden website had better not be dependent on any special web rendering functionality available only through IE8. That would validate critics’ long-time assertions that Microsoft refuses to play the web standards game just to maintain their dominance of the browser market.

Case in point: Internet Explorer 6. The browser, still the most widely used today, continues to give web designers nightmares, thanks to the non-standard methods Microsoft insisted on using to display web pages.

Remember that Giant Gundam statue, under construction to meet a 30th anniversary Gundam celebration deadline? Looks like building is nearly complete, and looks like the finished statue can emit mist, do sound effects, and execute some limited head motion! Check out the video below:

Constructing an 18 meter (59 foot) tall Gundam is quite the geeky feat. And it’s funny how a mere head turn made the onlooking Japanese exclaim in delight. Imagine the crowd’s reaction if some engineer from the future secretly converted the statue into a fully-functional Gundam! Oh yes, I know you want that to happen as much as I do!

Anyone planning a trip to Tokyo’s waterfront district? Comment with links to your own pics or videos please.