Posts for 'Books' Category

Taiwanese PC maker MSI has recently announced a new addition to its G Series of gaming notebooks with the 15.4-inch GT640. It ships with Intel's mobile quad-core Core i7 processor, though which models aren't known. The portable represents one of MSI's first Windows 7 systems and will have relatively quick visuals through a GeForce GTS 250M for graphics. Hard drives can be had in 250GB, 320GB or 500GB capacities, but MSI only promises up to 4GB of RAM.

Draft-N Wi-Fi comes standard, as does an HDMI output, though Bluetooth is only an option. Including its standard six-cell battery, the GT640 weighs just under 6lbs. A 9-cell battery is offered as an option. For energy consumption management, the GT640 comes with MSI's ECO Engine found in its other computers, which allows users to pick from several energy presets to strike a balance between battery life and speed.  MSI has not revealed prices or ship dates for the GT640.

Super-small, low-powered netbook computers are about the only segment of the computing market that seeing any growth at all during the economic downturn—and apparently that business has been robust enough to lure the world's top phone maker, Nokia, in the netbook game. Today the company expanded out from its portable "Internet Tablet" devices and announced its Booklet 3G, a full-featured Intel Atom-powered netbook computer.

But it's by no means a run-of-the-mill netbook: as befitting a Nokia product, it sports 3G mobile broadband networking and a swappable SIM card; the system also sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking, assisted GPS, HDMI output, up to 12 hours of battery life…and did we mention it will be running Windows?

"A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility," said Nokia's executive VP for devices Kai Oistamo, in a statement. "Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design, and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful, and more personal."

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Yesterday the tech wire was abuzz with rumors about a new Apple netbook, according to Chinese newspaper, the Commercial Times, Taiwan-based company Wintek is in the process of manufacturing touch-panel displays for a forthcoming Apple netbook, and Quanta Computer, Inc. has been charged with assembling the computers. Naturally, this isn't the first time we've heard talk of an Apple-branded netbook, but given market conditions, the timing might be right for an uber-compact and affordable Apple notebook.

With a fresh new batch of seemingly viable rumors circulating, we felt now would be the perfect time to issue our wish list for an Apple netbook, whether one is currently in production or not. We based our wish list on the assumption that the aforementioned rumors are true, and Apple is indeed considering a touch screen interface. Additionally, we assumed that an Apple-branded netbook would use mid-to-high ranged components, and thus be more expensive than your average netbook.

Design- While many mockups of the rumored netbook have pointed to an all touch-screen, tablet-style design, Apple has been pretty vocal in the past about their complete lack of interest in tablet structure. Our guess would be that an Apple netbook would use a traditional fold up screen and keyboard design. Our dream netbook would incorporate dual touch screen displays with the bottom displaying a virtual control interface and keyboard, however, a more realistic, cost-efficient design would use a physical keyboard.

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This photo book depicts Westerners' lives during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) from the 1880s to 1930s and includes stories such as that of an American cowboy who shot the topknot off a man's head. Robert Neff, historian and long-time resident of Seoul, co-wrote the title with Cheong Sung-hwa and used many of his own personal photographs.

In the late Joseon period, foreigners of various nationalities lived in Korea largely isolated from the public.The book, written in Korean, sheds light on the daily lives of missionaries, diplomats and their communities. Among their concerns were Seoul's high cost of living and living a very different environment. Unlike similar books, Lives of Westerners in Joseon was written by foreigners and offers vivid and realistic depictions to Korean readers.

B.F. Skinner; Translated by Jung Myung-jin from English to Korean; Boogle Books: 320 pp., 15,000 won

This book is a landmark of 20th century thought originally published in 1971 by experimental psychologist B. F. Skinner, and deals with the problems of the world today through examining human behavior, mankind and society.

Skinner argues that freedom and dignity people believe should be transformed as the environment affects both negative and positive factors of the human behaviors. The book reexamines the ideals we have taken for granted to consider the possibility of a radically behaviorist approach to human problems.

One of Skinner's most successful but controversial works, it deals with objective, measurable behavior rather than motivations, drives and dreams.

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Why are we asking this now? Because we are about to see a big step forward in the development of an electronic book that might actually rival the traditional way in which we consume literature. From today Waterstone's is to offer Sony's e-book reader for pre-order from its stores.

While Borders UK became the first UK retailer to start selling the rival iLiad e-book in May, the Waterstone's launch of the Sony Reader will test UK consumer's true appetite for reading books on an electronic device. Every business on which the development will have an impact – from booksellers, publishers and e-tailers – will be watching how UK consumers take to e-book readers, following their launch in the US last year. But after years of anticipation, the e-book has arrived and it looks set to stay. Waterstone's will start selling the books in stores in September, while WHSmith already sells e-readers online.

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The Calgary Book Drive and Sale is poised to shatter another record.

As it heads into its second weekend, already more books have been collected than during any other year, more volunteers are helping than in the past and record numbers of people have checked out the sale.

In fact, if it does even half the business it did last weekend, the sale will be well on its way to raising more money than any previous book sale and will also tip the event's six-year sales tally to more than $1 million.

"It's very exciting to think that we are probably going to raise that much money," said organizer Bob Poole. "It makes you realize how much your work goes to helping others."

Last weekend, the sale raised more than $138,000 for the Servants Anonymous Society and Calgary Herald literacy projects, and Poole hopes to raise an additional $42,000 by Sunday.

Things were looking up Friday morning as more than 200 people lined up before the doors opened, waiting to get their hands on literary treasures.

Die-hard book collectors arrived early, toting empty boxes and holding Thermoses of coffee.

Andrew Ryan, a used bookstore owner from Edmonton, made the trip early Friday to get his hands on hard-to-find books requested by his clients.

"It's not glamorous, but it's fun," he said of the hard work and keen eye needed to stay afloat in the book business.

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It's a good thing this novel is short enough for me to read in one long day. I couldn't put it down. I love Ken Bruen's Irish books with detective Jack Taylor, but this one, set in Galway, is simply the best yet.

Taylor is convinced that everything he touches dies, and that could be true. At this point, his surrogate son, Cody, is lying in a hospital in a coma that may be permanent. There is nothing Taylor can do for Cody except wait.
Waiting, of course, is not something Jack Taylor does well. When his former partner, Ridge, asks for help on a murder case, he figures it will at least keep him occupied. And the murder is strange, a boy who's been crucified.

Back in Galway, Taylor is faced with his past, too much of it. All the places he went, the people he lost, the roads he didn't take. But the killer strikes again, burning a woman alive. Ridge and Jack have to find this one soon.

As always, Bruen doesn't use a single extraneous word. His style is as clear and crisp as his mood is dark and clouded. The end of this one comes with a snap that left me wanting more, lots more.

THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

By Donna Leon, Atlantic Monthly, 288 pages, $26.50

Most series get flabby as they age. That's not the case for the Donna Leon novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. The Girl of His Dreams, the 17th Brunetti book, is the tightest story yet. Coming on top of two brilliant novels, it is definitely one of Leon's best.

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Asus intended its little Eee PC laptop for classrooms and kids at home but it's become a surprise hit with grown-ups. No one expects this super compact subnotebook to replace a full-blown laptop but the tiny footprint (the screen is a mere 18cm) and weight (900 grams) makes it hard to resist as a second PC for use when you're travelling or just out and about.

That mainstream appeal is certain to grow now that the Eee PC is available running Windows XP instead of the Linux operating system. This gives you the familiar face of Windows and the ability to run most of your the Windows software you'd use on your regular desktop or laptop.

There are a few catches, of course. The XP version of the Eee PC costs $80 more than the Linux model because Asus must pay a licence fee to Microsoft.

Windows also swallows up half of this little laptop's 4GB solid-state drive, leaving you with barely 2GB to install other programs such as Microsoft Office as well as adding music tracks, movies or other downloads. On the bright side, that solid-state drive - which uses fast "flash" memory rather than a spinning mechanical disk - sees Windows runs quicker than you'd expect. It starts up in 25 seconds while taking just three seconds to drop into, or wake from, low-power standby mode.

You'll need to customise the XP interface (or have a tech-savvy friend do this) because the screen is simply too small for running Microsoft's default settings: XP's big blue Start menu runs almost to the top of the screen and a quarter of the way across.

Further, performance drags once you load Office and the mandatory security software because the notebook comes with a mere 512MB of memory. When buying the Eee PC get the dealer to boost this to 1GB.

his is the new Creative ZEN at a glance. Decked out in an all-black suit, the Creative ZEN is smaller than your average credit card and sits snugly right in your palm. With an attractive 11.3mm thickness, this sleek player weighs a mere 65g, allowing you to carry it around easily.It is also one of the lightest players around that is able to boast a capacity of up to 16GB while supporting different popular media formats. What's more, you can add as much capacity as you want with its SD memory expansion slot. With its patented ZEN user interface which offers more information to be viewed on the screen, navigating through mass content is simply a breeze. You can even accessorize this pint-sized dynamo with optional accessories such as the ZEN Leather Case or the ZEN Skin Pack.

Celebrate the arrival of the latest revolution on the portable player scene. Welcome the Creative ZEN.
 
Manufacturer: Creative Labs