It's Alive Again

Back in March, the nation's 2nd largest electronics retailer went under. Everyone though Circuit City was out after the liquidation of all of its merchandise and closed all of there stores. Well Circuit City's website is back up and running again. It seems that Systemax has bought the Circuit City name and has relaunched the said website above on May 19th, but Systemax bought the rights on May 13th for roughly $14 million.

It seems that Systemax is looking to snatch up any failing electronics retailers (such as CompUSA and TigerDirect). If this keeps up, who knows, maybe Fry's will be next on the list if they are starting to strugle.

Let's see how long this lasts after millions of people were outraged by the "low" prices that the original Circuit City had during their original closing. Personally, when CompUSA went under, I continued on with my life with either NewEgg or BestBuy. When CompUSA was bought by Systemax it couldn't convince me to think about where I go to get my electronics. Only time will tell if the consumers trust can be regained! Though something tells me that this may take a while to regain that trust.

Anime Convention Coming Up!

This post is just to inform those who attend these kind of things! Next week (April 3rd to 5th), Tekkoshocon 7 is hitting up the convention center in Pittsburgh. This will probably be my last Tekko for some time, but I will be posting pictures as throughout the convention. So stay here for the madness that is an anime convention.

The True Meaning of ‘netbook’

After browsing Slashdot today, I ran across this article http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/02/1135208. This article points out how a company called Psion had the term ‘netbook’ trademarked in the late ‘90s. Though it seems with the popularity of netbooks (internet notebook computers) thanks to companies like Intel and ASUS, Psion would like to cash in on this now.

After visiting Save the Netbooks, I’ve realized that it seemed the Psion left their trademark dormant  with their discontinued NetBook line. It was until recently that they ‘started’ to sell these NetBooks according to Psion at least. I browsed their website (http://www.psionteklogix.com/) and I could only find these NetBooks on their discontinued products section of the website.

Intel, Dell, HP, ASUS, and other companies didn’t coin the term netbook, but instead tried to market notebooks that were only for the sole use of the internet and email. As it stands, it seems that the term netbook is generic and should be that way as it describes a group of specific notebook computers.

If one even goes to Wikipedia definition of Netbook, one will see what makes a netbook a netbook. As you can see, consumers adopted the term ‘netbook’ as a generic term. Hopeful the courts will see this and Psion will be forced to relinquish their trademark on this because it is obvious that the term netbook is already known by the masses out in the world.

Windows 7 Beta Brief Recap

As with my previous 2 posts, Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) is looking very promising for those who either are still running Windows XP (Home or Professional) or for those who have had no choice other than Windows Vista (any flavor of Vista). Windows 7 has introduced some features that I feel that the user needs to experience 1st hand and is why I didn’t include them in my last 2 posts. Below I have included a link (click the Windows Orb) to a short 3 minute video (1280x800 resolution) I took with HyperCam showing off some of the features that are within Windows 7.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FILE IS 117MB, SO BROADBAND CONNECTIONS ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Questions or comments about anything or about Windows 7, leave them here or at deggert@calucabana.com.

Windows 7 Beta Review Part 2

Yes, I know there has been some time between this post and the last one about Windows 7, but it has been a little busy for me with exams any everything. So, lets just move on to the juicy stuff that is Windows 7 Beta.

Windows 7 takes devices like printers and cameras to a whole new simplified platform of its own. Certain printers and cameras and even other devices. Microsoft is calling this the ‘Device Stage’ and it really does look promising.

From a first glance it doesn’t look like anything special but one you select a device here (if your device is supported for Device Stage) then a you’ll get a must more user friendly set of options. In my case, the Canon PowerShot SX100 IS is not compatible with Device Stage, but my HP Photosmart C5280 is compatible.

Upon looking at this screen, all of your basic options are grouped together for easy access. In my case, printer and scanner options are grouped into their own categories. I can even buy ink through HP (which I wouldn’t to begin with) and if I wanted to I could even buy a warranty through HP right through HP’s link in their Device Stage.

Now every device will vary of course, but after seeing what Device Stage can do things do look very promising. If more devices adapted this feature of Windows 7, then installed addition programs from the manufacturer will no longer be needed which is always nice since you won’t have to use valuable system resources.

Between these 2 posts are only 3 major things that caught my attention right off the bat. There are other features though that I’m sure that others will enjoy. Microsoft has added some mouse gestures that allow you to manipulate other windows on the screen (try shake a window at the top with other windows open to minimize all the windows). Also with Windows 7, I’ve noticed on my HP Pavilion DV5220us, that Windows 7 boots much faster than what Windows Vista Ultimate did on this system and this system is no slouch (Intel Core Duo 1.6GHZ, 2GB of DDR2 667, 250GB Seagate HD…). If Microsoft can make push this out to retailers in this condition (working out the bugs before hand though), then I would like to believe that Microsoft will be right on track again and we won’t have to see any more of those Mac commercials. 

Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) Part 1

I’ve stated this countless times already, but it is finally time for my thoughts on the current beta of Windows 7 Build 7000.

The first major thing that you’ll see when you start Windows 7 for the 1st time is the new taskbar.

http://calucabana.com/windows7/taskbar.png

As you can see, the taskbar is a mix of Windows Vista (the Start Orb) and a mix of OSX (the dockbar). The default Windows 7 install puts IE 8, Windows Explorer, and WMP as the 1st 3 icons. This new taskbar is a blend of the old Windows taskbar and the Quick Launch that was introduced with IE 4. All related windows are grouped with that application. So multiple Firefox windows will show up as one Firefox icon on the taskbar.

One major change is when one right clicks on an item in the taskbar. Gone is the basic context menu, and is replace with a new feature called the Jumplist.

http://calucabana.com/windows7/jumplist.png

The Jumplist will give your history from IE 8 right at your fingertips and give you common commands for an application if it supports the Jumplist feature.

This is just a little taste of the changes in Windows 7. Stay tuned for the next part of my Windows 7 breakdown.

Motivation Of The Day

Also my thoughts on Windows 7 will be posted later today!