IT and Gadget News

Would a notebook with two screens be a new trend? Maybe because after the first Toshiba Libretto introduced with the release of his 25th birthday some time ago, now Acer was followed. In a ceremony in New York, USA, on Tuesday (23/11/2010), Acer showcased Iconia, the first ever two-screen laptop.

Iconia using the touch screen 14 inches on either side. The part that is usually the place of a keyboard, touch screens is now filled. Sturdy screen used for coated scratch resistant glass-made Gorilla Glass. Although without a keyboard, these devices can be enabled with a laptop displaying a virtual keyboard, widgets, and other menus in one screen.

Users can divide the desktop menu display on both screens. They can also use both screens to run different applications. For example, while seeing the video on the screen above and check your e-mail, browsing, or edit photos on the screen below. This device is equipped with technology to detect the palm of the hand and the screen will automatically display a virtual keyboard when the hand is placed on top of the screen.

Acer said Iconia uses the Windows 7 operating system made by Microsoft. Processor equipped with Intel Core i5 and 4 GB of RAM memory and 750 GB hard drive. Iconia will be released to the market starting early 2011.

iPad? iPad actually like the iPhone but the screen is just bigger, and this time there is a new alternative is more powerful! namely the iPhone with the screen at the table and we can use it as like the iPhone and iPhone product is a table named Table Connect. This device can be connected from the iPhone 3G / 4 and displays the User Interface Table Connect to the device that resembles a table with a screen on it.

Currently there is only a picture image mockup but there will be a prototype that can really work that will be demonstrated shortly. With this device allows the applications that match to be played ya busy-busy.

For not utilize information technology properly towards their students, a school in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, shall pay compensation of 610,000 U.S. dollars. This case was originated when The Lower Merion School District distributed 1800 laptops to students. In order to secure the laptop, the school installed secret software that can access webcam secretly. The aim was to track the presence of these laptops if at any time is lost or stolen. However, the breakthrough was never communicated with parents, even it turns out later to be misused.

In February, a student named Blake Robbins and his parents sued the school because of privacy felt spied upon. In the lawsuit, they accuse the school record thousands of photos without the permission of his home, family, Blake even when in bed. The lawsuit was filed after the school accused Blake of selling and using illegal drugs. Accusations based school photographs that recorded when Blake was at home. Not only is Blake, the school seems to spy on other students by enabling the webcam tracking system. In fact, students who were spied through their laptop have never reported that their laptop was missing. In total there are 30 000 photos taken through the school secret system.

When the counter claim of privacy violation performed by Blake’s parents, the school was absent and never admitted intentionally spying on their students to know their activity. Schools remained adamant; the system was installed to track if a laptop is lost at any time.

However, to resolve this case, the school finally agreed to end it out of court. The Lower Merion School District was willing to pay an indemnity of 185,000 U.S. dollars to students who are disadvantaged and 425,000 U.S. dollars for attorneys’ fees. Well, right, use of technology must not violate any privacy despite it was for good intentions.

Yahoo has just released the official applications for Yahoo Mail with HTML-based iPad 5. For iPad addition, Yahoo also released its newest product for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Lee Parry, product manager of Yahoo said that Yahoo Mail is only optimized for large screen which is owned by iPad. One of the features that Yahoo Mail which is owned by a local caching, allows users to access and search for messages when they are offline. There is also a feature that lets users view attachments such as photos with the look-full or as a preview of which can be viewed directly in your inbox, as well as dual-pane display used to set the picture in order to look better. Users can also do searches through your inbox using the search feature.

Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) launched an iPhone application that can detect a person’s happiness in England. Applications are expected to help researchers understand how a person feels influenced by the environment such as, the condition of air pollution, noise, and weather.

Application that is claimed to be the first application will give iPhone users questions related to their feelings today. While the user to answer then the application will search through the GPS location of the owner. Once the location is found then the owner will appear data on environmental conditions. Environmental conditions data and answer these iPhone owners will then be measured by the methods of welfare.

A researcher, George MacKerron says track happiness is an idea that has long history of emerged throughout history, in the 19th century economists imagine a hedonimeter which is a measure of perfect happiness. (more…)