Tech Review: HP DV2 1030us Entertainment PC

After being the owner of an HP DV2 for about a month now, I’ve decided to sit down and write the review that I wish I had read before buying this baby.

Don’t get me wrong – this is a great little machine: 12-inch screen, 4 GB of RAM, 320 GB harddrive, comes with an optical drive (Blu-ray or regular), a nice 92% keyboard (I am typing this review from the DV2) and great graphics, all in a nice, ultraportable package that’s just a little more expensive than a netbook – $600.

Here’s the problem – it weighs about a whole elephant more than a netbook, and once you get to 12-inch screen territory, you lose that netbook “form factor” (aka the cuteness).  I realized later that the reason why it weighs a metric ton is because of that bigass battery they stuck to the back of this baby – when I run the DV2 on external power, it weighs about a pound (it’s 3 pounds with the battery in there).  Also, it’s a smudge-magnet.  Although the gloss looks amazing when you first unbox the DV2, as soon as you get your hands on the thing, your prints never come off.  I was pretty anal in the beginning about using the cleaning cloth to wipe off any prints.  That phase lasted all of three days.  Why?  Because it was so utterly time-consuming and annoying as hell; it’s like trying to stop an ant infestation by plugging up the holes with sugar cubes.

Another grievance I wish I was aware of – when you buy it from Staples, even though you get an ultra-low price ($599; about a hundred cheaper than HP.com) you have 14 DAYS – not the traditional 30 day return policy.  Why?  Cause the corporate bitches at Staples are conniving a-holes and know how to get you good.  20 days after I got my DV2, HP announced the dual-core version.  I was seething with rage.

Which reminds me – the chip.  The AMD  Athlon Neo Chip is a snappy one and I’m happy with it, no doubt, but it simply cannot utilize all 4 GBs of memory on the system due to the fact that it’s only SINGLE CORE.  Still, unless you’re doing some hardcore gaming or photo-editing, I doubt the average person needs more than 2.  Throughout my one month of use, I have never seen memory usage on Task Manager go above 2.8 GB.

Another con – it runs hot, and the fan is loud.

Overall – it’s a good little machine, but needs some improvements.

“Bing” – Forget Search – it’s a Decision Engine!

Today, Microsoft released official information about “Bing”, the successor to the pathetic Windows Live Search site, which has long been beaten over the head by Google.

Bing, apparently, represents the next stage in search, and it’s purpose is to address the Achilles Heel of search as it is now – information overload.

Anyone who’s used a search engine knows what I’m talking about – you want to find the answer to something, but you can’t, because there are too many results, and too much data for you to filter through.  Bing seeks to solve that problem by being a “decision engine” – perfecting search is so 2000, is the implied message here – instead, Bing seeks to help you categorize that information with logical tabs, so that the data is easier to sift through, and instead of devoting your energies to sifting through superfluous information, you can devote your energies to a more refined, focused search that will yield results faster.

For example, take dinner. You’d like to find a good Italian restaurant nearby, so you’d go to Bing and type in the query terms “italian restaurant jonestown”, and Bing will pull up a page with a listing of local restaurants, a tab for reviews from sites like Yelp, and options of categorizing by terms like reservations taken, no pets, etc.

Pretty neat!  Will it help Microsoft beat Google?  Maybe, maybe not.  I’d say Microsoft’s odds are certainly looking up, though.  It’s coming out officially on June 3rd at bing.com

Kindle DX is here!

10:30 this morning, at Pace U’s NYC campus, Jeff Bezos confirmed the rumors (which were surprisingly accurate – maybe Amazon leaked on purpose?) by presenting the Kindle DX, a more textbook/business-oriented Kindle, mainly because of its large 9.7 inch screen (the size of a netbook screen, mind you – we’re talking fairly large here) and built-in native PDF reader. 

Apparently there were some mishaps with the presentation (I’m not surprised if heads are rolling as we speak), as bloggers (especially the live bloggers) have been commenting on the projected image of the Kindle being reversed, and then the Kindle DX image being upside-down a bit later (“I’m going to choose to find this hilarious” was what ol’ Jeffy B. said in response). 

The price – from what I’ve been reading, lots of bloggers (from FT.com, CNET, ZDnet, etc) have been citing it as the “dealbreaker”, and I’m of the same mind.  At $489, dear reader, DX costs as much as many netbooks!  The price is steep, but also one must realize that Amazon does not only create the device, but also subsidizes free 3G wireless from the Sprint Network.  That in itself is alot (cellphone data plans are pricey), and Amazon has to unfortunately pass that cost onto the consumer. 

Also, another key point – the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post, have agreed to subsidize the cost of the DX provided the consumer then agree to a long-term subscription only to customers who live outside of the range of home delivery. I know what you’re thinking – aw shucks, I get home delivery.  But here’s the beauty – folks, you can subscribe to the cheapest  of the three papers, and buy your DX on the cheap!  I think that about solves the price problem for me – I personally see no loss in this; subscribing to a prestigious paper like the W.Post and getting the benefit of having world news delivered every day AND getting a cheaper DX – how can you say no? 

My verdict?  With a gorgeous 9.7 inch screen, an upgraded battery life (DX can run for 4 days with the wireless on – my K1 can only do a day with the wireless before conking out), a native PDF reader (yay!  I can read my research articles on this baby!), text-to-voice feature, and the upcoming textbook deals (a couple major textbook companies like Wiley, Pearson, and Cengage Learning, which collectively comprise of 60% of the textbook market) = it’s perfect!  However, I would wait until the papers officially outline their subsidy plans this summer before buying one.  Unless you really must.  Post your comments!

Hot News – AT&T Selling Dirt Cheap Acers@Costco!

Previously, AT&T only sold netbooks at RadioShack, but as the competition for the rapidly-growing netbook market gets stiffer, with Verizon to join the fray next month, AT&T is taking steps to increase its customer base by selling the Acer Aspire One 10.1 inch.

YES! You have no idea how excited this news made me – my fave new tech topic, netbooks, heads to that place I hold nearest and dearest to my heart, Costco (it’s so cheap!). May 11 is the day, Costco is the place – and that’s only a week away!  I’m also pretty pleased that AT&T will be selling the 10.1 inch Acer as opposed to the 9 inch they currently sell at Radio Shack – good decision; I give props to the peeps at AT&T; y’all so smart!

Jumbo-Kindle Arriving WEDNESDAY!!

The NY Times was the first to report the news that “Jumbo-Kindle” (that’s what I’m calling it, yes, until Amazon properly christens this sucker) will be released on Wednesday, April 6th, 2009.   Why the Gray Lady, you ask?  Well, rumor has it that Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher of abovementioned venerable lady, and other newspaper bigwigs, have been working closely with Amazon to try and “revive” the tanking newspaper industry –> Arty boy has a vested interest in the success of Jumbo.

NYT quoted “people briefed on the plans” saying that “Amazon appears to be first in line to try throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies.”

“An Amazon spokesman would not comment, but some news organizations, including The New York Times, are expected to be involved in the introduction of the device, according to people briefed on the plans.”

-Channel Web reported that a WSJ article mentioned Case Western plans to give incoming freshman large-screen Kindles pre-loaded with textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar. Case Western is one of six universities involved in the project, along with Princeton University, Reed College, Darden School at the University of Virginia, Arizona State University, and Pace University, whose New York City campus will be the site of an Amazon press conference this Wednesday.

However, most articles on this topic without fail always mention the looming spector of the new Apple 9-inch Touch which, if equipped with reading capabilities, could kill the Kindle in a heartbeat.  Whaddya think?  Que te piensas?

LOTR finally on Kindle!!

At long last, LOTR (Lord of the Rings), the Hobbit, and the Children of Hurin are on the Kindle!

A word of advice – the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy is cheaper ($15.94) than buying each book (priced $9.99 each).

Wonder how the speech-to-text function on the K2 (Kindle 2) will handle the Elvish (haha)?

Post your comments, mi gente!

Geoengineering – the only hope to stopping global warming?

Long the domain of doomsday scientists, geoengineering has finally begun to gain some steam in the mainstream scientific community as a legitimate “doomsday”  option ever since Paul Crutzen in 2006, a Nobel laureate, published a controversial paper endorsing geoengineering as a legitimate option to fight global warming.  And now, the Obama Administration is taking a closer look at what could be our only hope.  In fact, John Holdren, the President’s science adviser, devoted a good chunk of time talking about it in his latest press conference.

Because global warming is a serious problem.  And we’re nearing some of the bigger milestones, like an ice-free Arctic summer sea.

Holdren said temperatures should be kept from rising more than 3.6 degrees. To get there, he said the U.S. and other industrial nations have to begin permanent dramatic cuts in carbon dioxide pollution by 2015, with developing countries following suit within a decade.

Those efforts are racing against three tipping points he cited: Earth could be as close as six years away from the loss of Arctic summer sea ice, he said, and that has the potential of altering the climate in unforeseen ways. Other elements that could dramatically speed up climate change include the release of frozen methane from thawing permafrost in Siberia, and more and bigger wildfires worldwide.

The trouble is that no one knows when these things are coming, he said.

Permanent dramatic cuts in CO2 emissions?  By 2015 – which is only 6 years away!

Basically, geoengineering uses the idea that (in the event that all other options fail us) releasing massive amounts of sulfurous dioxide into the atmosphere would screen out most of the sunlight (like volcanic ash –> think dinosaurs) reaching us, thus cooling the Earth rapidly.  And, according to a recent ABC news article, it’s a pretty small investment.

The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute has its own geoengineering project, saying it could be “feasible and cost-effective.” And Cato Institute scholar Jerry Taylor said Wednesday: “Very few people would rule out geoengineering on its face.”

However, the side effects could be deadly.  According to the aforementioned article,

Studies suggest that might include eating away a large chunk of the ozone layer above the poles and causing the Mediterranean and the Mideast to be much drier.

And those are just the predicted problems. Scientists say they worry about side effects that they don’t anticipate.

What do you think?  Is this an option we should pursue?

An HHS Special Report on…Ghetto Baby Names

Top 60 Ghetto Black Names – hilarious.

A Public Service Announcement

Great Performance by Mia Carruthers

Check out this awesome clip on MTV of an original song performance by Mia Carruthers here.  Absolutely stunning.

Short bio:

Mia Carruthers is an 18 year old on the MTV show “Taking the Stage”, a reality show set in the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio, which follows the lives of 5 high school students.  Currently, she’s recording for her new band, Mia Carruthers and the Retros.  Best of luck Mia!

Swedish Princess to marry, stimulates economy

Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria just announced last week that she is to marry Daniel Westling, a trainer, in 2010, and

There was nothing but bleak news on the schedule in Sweden yesterday morning — the carmaker Saab flailing for life, a financial meltdown in nearby Baltic states — and most Stockholm journalists were glumly turning on their desktop anti-depression lamps for another day at the coalface.

Then came the flash from the Palace: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is to marry her fitness trainer.

And all was right with the world.

A Royal wedding, it turns out, is the perfect antidote for recession blues. Outside the palace a crowd gathered and started to sing the national anthem. The Royal Court website crashed as Swedes tried to view the videoclip of King Carl Gustav XVI announcing the engagement. The tabloids set up online chat sites to allow Swedes to congratulate the couple.