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The Windy31 is about the size of a USB thumbdrive and can be plugged directly into a computer’s USB port.

The Windy31 Wireless Broadband router supports the 802.11g standard and can work in one of three modes: as a router (by default), an access point, or as a regular USB Wireless adapter. The best part is it costs about the same as a regular USB wireless adapter. At only $60, you can’t go wrong with it. Check back on CNET’s Web site for a review of the product once I am done putting it through our performance tests. Normally, starting in 2008, only routers supporting the Draft N or later standard are reviewed by CNET, but I’ll make an exception this time. That’s how cool this little device is.

(Credit:
Dong Ngo)

You are sitting at the airport and hooked up to the Internet via T-Mobile’s Hotspot service that you’ve been paying $39.99/month for. It’s great, and you can afford it. Well, good for you! What about your traveling companions though? You know, the ones who can’t afford an extra Internet service and just sit there trying to make conversation with you while you surf through the latest stories at TMZ? Now there’s a solution to the guilt of not talking to your companions, and it comes in a tiny package called the Windy31 Wireless Broadband router.

(Credit:
Dong Ngo)

The Windy31 hooks up to a Windows PC’s USB port and can create a wireless network by sharing the computer’s existing Internet connection with up to 32 other wireless users. There’s virtually no set-up involved. The little router, which is about the size of a regular thumbdrive, also has a small built-in storage that contains all the software necessary for it to work. The software launches itself when inserted into a USB port and does the entire configuration process. You then can choose to customize it further, adding encryption, changing the SSID, etc.

(Credit:
Dong Ngo)

Even when there’s no need for the Internet, the Windy31 allows for creating a wireless LANs instantly on the go. There is so much you can do with a network, including playing games between friends and sharing documents.

Windy31 configuration application allows for customizing a variety of wireless networking options

Personally, I really like the idea. Even when I travel alone, I always have other devices that could use Internet access: PDAs, VoIP phones, smartphones, portable game consoles, etc. The Windy31 allows for customizing the connection so that it works with any of these devices, especially my Vonage portable IP phone because it doesn’t support Wi-Fi services that require logging in via a Web browser.

The Windy31 also comes with a USB docking cradle.

Shucu war intensified, MP4 rapid growth of the market volume, while the sudden emergence in recent years, the Owen Digital is particularly eye-catching, new V11 has just launched on the advantages of cost-effective by virtue of many consumers, so many times a shortage of . So, what reason is it selling so well? Let us work together to reveal the mystery of Owen V11 so popular.

One popular reason: to support 1280p high-definition playback smoother

As we all know, most high-definition video coding using variable-rate mode, the playback time, the hardware resource utilization is always changing. Therefore, the market known to support 1080p, MP4, most just barely able to play it, the face of numerous and full high-definition network resources, the actual application can not prevent jams, blocks of color phenomena, which are not smooth.

Owen V11 unprecedented support for 1280p (1920 × 1280p) ultra-high definition standards for full HD playback to provide sufficient redundancy performance, fluency improved significantly compared to previous products. It uses 4.3-inch high-quality Toppoly screen resolution up to 800 × 480, the HD picture superiority demonstrated fullest out of the viewing angle up to 170 degrees, from any point of view in the picture quality as good.

Support for 1280p decoding Owen V11, 1080p model performance than the more powerful market

Popular second reason: the appearance of simple elegant design of the new human Favorites

Uncontested top dog in the HD side, the appearance Owen V11 also impeccable. It is front and back of a “black and white with” design, mediocre compared to similar products appear more fashionable colors. 114 × 78 × 11.5mm measurements for portable and strong, 4.3-inch screen, wide vision, the young family to his side and so is not a fashionable jewelry it?

Fashion design, so Owen V11 win the favor of many young people

Popular third reason: USB-OTG function allows capacity is no longer a problem

Since the support of high definition, the capacity will have to keep up, you ever noticed that the network 720p, 1080p video frequently several, a dozen GB, MP4 alone, self-limited memory is clearly not enough. Owen V11 built-in 4GB capacity, also provides support TF memory card, if you still feel not enough, it can use its USB-OTG function to read the external U disk, mobile hard disk audio and video files, MP4 own limited capacity of the problems have been ingeniously solved.

OTG function, volume and body to solve the HD capacity of the contradiction between

Popular because of the four: Lossless Music + PDF eBook additional feature is the color

For high-definition MP4 users, music functionality is actually very high frequency, so the time of purchase, must not only pay attention to its video performance at the expense of quality performance. Owen V11 support the common MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC music format, supports lossless FLAC, APE format, from the roots to ensure the sound quality pristine. It also integrates a loud speaker horn, easy to be with friends and enjoy the wonderful music.

In the bus on the phone often see people staring at the screen to read the novel, in fact, this vision is very bad, why not try the big screen, Owen V11 then? It supports PDF and TXT format, compatible with the network 80% of the e-book resources, in 4.3-inch, 800 × 480 resolution screen to watch high-definition, of course, than the phone’s small screen much more cool!

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Has eBay about had it with Skype?

New eBay CEO John Donahoe told the Financial Times the online auctioneer will consider selling Skype if it can’t find a way to make the service better help eBay’s e-commerce business.

“What we’re testing this year are the synergies,” Donahoe told the Financial Times. “If the synergies are strong, we’ll keep it in our portfolio. If not, we’ll reassess it.”

Donahoe did say Skype is doing well. It generated $126 million in the first quarter, up 61 percent from a year ago. This year, it’s expected to generate $500 million in revenue and be profitable. Overall, first-quarter eBay revenues reported Wednesday were up 24 percent from a year ago to $2.19 billion. Profit was $460 million, up 22 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

But the question about Skype, which eBay acquired for $2.5 billion in 2005, has never been whether it’s a decent business, it’s whether it’s a good fit for eBay. By the end of the year, the company will finally be closer to that answer.

The results seem to reflect the move by traditional IT and biotech venture capital firms into the clean-tech area over the past three years. The bulk of the respondents said they expect that the level of investment to be the same as 2007 or higher.

With so much money going into green tech, observers are expecting that there might be an uptake in mergers and acquisitions, something that investors and entrepreneurs are certainly hoping for as well. Investing in Asia is also projected to increase over the next two years, with China and it being the most attractive destinations.

Competition among investors is also going up as private-equity firms enter the field typically occupied by VCs, according to a statement by Brian Hughes, a KPMG partner and co-leader of the venture capital practice.

The results of a KPMG survey project continued investment in the
green-tech sector this year and a wave of acquisitions.

KPMG is scheduled to publish the results of its annual venture capital survey on Thursday, which show that green-tech investing, already a torrent, will keep flowing.

Investing in Asia is also projected to increase over the next two years, with China and India being the most attractive destinations.

Ever optimists, more than 80 percent of investors in the survey said they believe that merger-and-acquisition activity will increase. Only 26 percent of respondents think that the number of initial public offerings will increase this year.

Twenty-four percent of respondents to the survey said the green tech, or clean tech, area will receive the most capital over the next two years, followed by biotech and pharmaceuticals, attracting 15 percent of respondents. Thirteen percent picked Internet services, and 11 percent said mobile technology.

The university has appealed to The Coloradoan to outline the advantages such a relationship would provide to its students and the school itself, but I think it’s far more important to assess what’s in it for the Gannett corporation and The Coloradoan. If The Collegian is already profitable, why share the profits with a major corporation when they can be spent on the university’s students? If the paper is relying on money from the school, what would be lost in the transformation toward a profitable enterprise?

While some may contend that the primary role of college newspapers is to prepare students for work in the establishment press, school newspapers also serve a vital role in keeping the community informed. In fact, college newspapers have broken stories on many occasions that resonated in the mainstream press. Some of these stories may have never seen the light of day if it weren’t for the bold actions of determined college students and the newspapers these students control.

I won’t speculate what changes the paper might undergo in the process, but it seems safe to say that both the paper’s independence and integrity may be compromised in the process, perhaps even the integrity of the school itself. The Rocky Mountain Collegian has operated as a part of the school for more than 100 years. Why change things now?

Not surprisingly, students at Colorado University have expressed concern and outrage over the news that their paper may become affiliated with Gannett. Jeremy Trujillo, the paper’s newsroom manager, expressed concern that students were not invited to participate in Tuesday’s meeting, he told the Student Press Law Center, “I think the way it went down was somewhat shady. They should’ve had a representative from student media or the Collegian to at least provide insight about how this place operates on a daily basis.”

In Wednesday’s edition of the school paper, an editorial titled “Collegian is not for sale,” explains in no uncertain terms that the staff of the newspaper is opposed to any potential partnership with the corporate media outlet. “The Collegian is not for sale, not interested in a “strategic partnership,” a one-night stand or any other form of fraternization with corporate media. We prefer independence, and we’ll fight for it.”

While it’s unclear at this time what a strategic partnership would look like, this isn’t the first time that Gannett has involved itself with a student newspaper. In August of 2006, a Gannett newspaper purchased FSView & Florida Flambeau, an independent publication that serves the student body at Florida State University. A year later, the University of Central Florida’s newspaper was also sold to a Gannett publication. Unlike those instances, the Collegian is run by the university and, as The Student Newspaper Survival Blog points out, “if a deal goes through with Colorado State University, it would be the first time Gannett gets involved in a student paper that had been run by a public university.”

It’s comforts me knowing that the students at the Rocky Mountain Collegian will not take this advance by Gannett lying down, but their determination may not be enough to stave off the corporate interests.

For students at Colorado State University, it appears the keys to their student-run paper, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, may soon be wrestled away and handed over to newspaper giant Gannett. According to a recent AP story, “Officials with The Coloradoan in Fort Collins met Tuesday with Colorado State University leaders to discuss a ’strategic partnership’ to run the campus paper.”

The column also questions the college president’s willingness to contemplate such a venture. “Amid the secrecy, mistruths and rumors, one thing is certain: To our president, a businessman by trade, the CSU student voice has a price. And it’s a dish best served mum, in the final hour and while students are still trying to find their classes. … We’re students, representing students, working for students. Who do you work for?”

The Rocky Mountain Collegian last made headlines in September of last year when the editorial board published a four word column that read, “Taser this - FUCK BUSH.” While the editorial may not have been particularly insightful, and certainly wasn’t nuanced, it is absolutely essential that the students be able to publish what they see fit. Despite any forthcoming promises not to interfere with the students’ editorial control, it seems doubtful that they’d allow such an incendiary column to run without any form of response.

The X300 is here! The X300 is here! The last few days at CNET Laptop HQ have been consumed with Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad, which first popped up last week. The verdict? It’s the sleekest ThinkPad yet, and quite possibly the perfect balance between portability and usability. Check out our full review on the ThinkPad X300 page and, if you missed it, the photo slide show here on Crave.

Changing gears: Remember the Foleo, Palm’s mercilessly mocked laptop-thing? Well, turns out it was simply an idea before its time, according to CNET News.com’s Erica Ogg. Then again, CNET News.com’s Tom Krazit disagrees: “If the race to develop The Next Mobile Computer really centers around the Eee PC and its offspring, it won’t be because of the Foleo,” he writes. I say they settle this disagreement like adults, with a thumb wrestling match. But that’s just a suggestion.

If the only thing holding you back from buying an Air is its silver case, you’ll be glad to know that custom
Mac painter Colorware added the MacBook Air to its lineup this week.

Have a great weekend!

Though the ThinkPad X300 is totally my new BFF favorite ultraportable, it’s not the only alternative to the MacBook Air, as Dan Ackerman points out. Among his suggestions is the Asus U6S, which we reviewed this week.

Other tidbits this week: A company in the UK plans to launch a $195 laptop for students; Alienware and Gateway updated their models with Penryn; Dell expanded its line of Inspirons running Ubuntu Linux; and Apple filed a patent for a multitouch touch pad that recognizes complex gestures. Checking in with Cravers around the world, we learned that a colleague in Asia found a clever laptop station to keep his desk tidy, while colleagues in the UK rounded up some of their favorite tech for travel.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

ThinkPad has slimmed down considerably–just in time for the Oscars!

(Credit:
Tom Krazit/CNET News)

For the first time in a long time, even die-hard Apple fans may be thinking twice about being the first on their block to snap up Apple’s latest offering.

Those products aren’t quite as ambitious as the
iPhone 3G, or the MobileMe service, the launches of which went somewhat awry this July. But in a way, perhaps they are more important, because the iPod represents Apple to more people around the world than any other Apple product by far.

Apple employees and customers mill about during the iPhone 3G's glitch-filled launch. Apple needs a problem-free rollout from the expected new lineup of iPods.

In any event, it’s not like there is any other company pushing Apple in the personal-music player market these days. Microsoft’s new Zune player made an appearance last week without provoking a stampede to Best Buy. While some old foes have made a little noise in recent months, few other competitors seem all that interested in taking down the 800-pound gorilla of the MP3 player market.

Apple will look to put the last six weeks behind it with the expected launch of new iPods this week during one of its trademark media events in San Francisco on Tuesday. This summer, the company received a stark reminder that while its singular ability to produce a technology event still generates buzz, the products must match that hype.

So if the new iPods live up to Apple’s usual standard for its products, Apple should be able to shrug off the months of July and August, and get ready for the last quarter of the calendar year, which is usually a blowout one for the company.

A chink in Apple’s armor has surfaced: its secretive nature creates a mystique around the company when the products are excellent, but that same communications strategy makes it appear aloof and indifferent when customers are angry over product glitches.

The rumors regarding this particular launch event, Apple’s fourth September
iPod-related event in as many years, have been fairly consistent and sensible. We expect new iPod Nanos that do away with the ugly squat design, a revamped iPod Touch at a lower price, a higher-capacity iPod Shuffle, and a possible grab-bag item from the MacBook/Beatles/iTablet bin.

(Credit:
Ina Fried/CNET News)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils a redesigned iPod Nano at last year's September iPod event. This year's is Tuesday.

Apple has been forced to give away two months worth of MobileMe subscriptions in order to try to make up for the debacle that was the migration from .Mac to MobileMe, an Internet service that’s designed to let you share data between Macs, PCs, and iPhones. And it’s scrambling to patch perhaps its buggiest software release in years, the iPhone 2.0 software, which has produced a laundry list of problems, such as fuzzy reception, persistent application crashes, a laggy keyboard, and the bizarre “iPhone cubism” camera issue.

Other than football fans, there are probably few people in America happier to see the month of September than Apple executives.

Ever since CEO Steve Jobs stunned a September 2005 crowd with the unveiling of the super-slim iPod Nano, Apple’s ability to (mostly) follow through on the hype generated by its events has turned the company into a tech powerhouse.

Expect the usual dog-and-pony show on Tuesday as Apple shows off its latest batch of iPods, perhaps augmented by some hip cool rock band all the rage with the kids these days. But watch the pace of iPod sales following the event to see if Apple has truly moved past its summer of woe and regained its launch event magic.

Thankfully for Apple, none of these issues seem to have really affected sales as of yet. Mac sales are growing at a rapid pace, and new notebooks arriving in relatively short order should help that trend continue. And despite all its glitches, the iPhone 3G is selling briskly; expect Jobs to reveal just how many Apple has sold to date during a week in which the mobile industry is gathering in San Francisco for the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Show.

More than any of its rivals, Apple has managed to continuously release products that are hip, stylish, easy to use, and functional (we’ll forget about the iPod Hi-Fi for the purposes of this discussion). It’s why Apple has the best consumer satisfaction scores by far in its industry, and why the
Mac and the iPhone are hot sellers.

But for a company so skilled at one form of communication–the carefully orchestrated product release–Apple has had a hard time this summer connecting with disgruntled customers.

All these negatives add up to a cruel market that is forcing some companies to either merge or perish. “This is leading to a new wave of forced consolidations and partnerships. This industry will look very different a year from now with very few players controlling much larger market shares and with a much better ability to control production and pricing,” said Cohen.

This consolidation is not only affecting manufacturers but players in the retail channel too. SanDisk–which does not manufacture flash chips but sources them from a Japan-based joint venture with Toshiba–has seen its stock price plunge more than $60 per share over the last two years. This has made it vulnerable. SanDisk’s chairman and CEO, Eli Harari, said last month that the $26-a-share bid from Samsung was “opportunistically timed at the trough of an industry-wide downturn.”

The PC market has also turned bleak. “The PC business was plugging along pretty well and then all of sudden in the last months the demand profile has just really dropped off,” according to Foster.

“The DRAM business–it just doesn’t feel like that, for many companies, it’s sustainable,” said Ron Foster, chief financial officer at Micron, speaking during the company’s earnings conference call on Wednesday.

Memory chipmakers are fighting for their life.

Currently, two major memory chip manufacturers are seeking investment lifelines. Hynix, the world’s second largest maker of memory, is trying to scare up cash by seeking buyers for a 36 percent stake in the company. So far, the only likely bidder to emerge is Samsung–which has also made a play for struggling SanDisk, the largest supplier of retail flash memory cards.

Pricing has fallen off a cliff in the last few months, making a bad situation worse. Micron said Wednesday that the average selling prices of DRAM chips–the main memory used in PCs–was down between 15 percent and 20 percent from last quarter. NAND flash prices were down between 30 percent and 35 percent. (NAND flash is used as storage in portable music players, digital cameras, and the nascent solid-state drive market.)

(Credit:
Micron Technology)

“Overall, the NAND market continues to be in an oversupply condition,” said Micron’s Foster.

The average selling price for NAND and DRAM has dropped sharply since May.

Companies are now in survival mode, according to Cohen. “It is a matter of survival and everyone needs to figure out how to stay in business over the next year or how to scavenge something if one (company) decides it cannot survive,” said Cohen.

The memory chip market–and industry–is caught in a particularly brutal downward price spiral that is threatening the viability of even the largest players.

Ultraportable laptops, such as the ThinkPad X301 and Dell Latitude E4200, are also beginning to use SSDs as a storage replacement for hard disk drives.

The other ailing memory maker is Qimonda AG–an Infineon Technologies subsidiary. Rumors have been rife
that the manufacturing assets of the loss-ridden company will be snapped up.

This is affecting investment. “The capital expenditure for the NAND market in 2008 is going to be down sequentially (year-to-year), which is the first time that’s happened since the inception of the market,” said Steven Appleton, chairman and CEO of Micron on Wednesday.

The price decline for solid-state drives over the last quarter makes these drives “more attractive from an end user’s perspective,” Micron said Wednesday, adding that “NAND far exceeds DRAM growth demand rates.”

The NAND price crash has forced Micron and Intel to delay the “build out” of manufacturing capacity in Singapore, which is part of their joint flash memory venture, IM Flash Technologies, Micron said Wednesday.

Not everything is doom and gloom. The market for solid-state drives–which use NAND flash–is poised to grow. Appleton cited the burgeoning netbook market as an opportunity for SSDs. The enterprise is a target market too: SSDs based on single-level cell (SLC) technology can offer many times the performance of hard disk drives for customers such as credit card companies and airlines.

“Memory manufacturers who have already been losing money for several quarters are now looking at another six months to a year of absolutely ominous conditions,” said Avi Cohen, managing partner at Avian Securities.

All of this turmoil was underscored this week when Micron Technology, the largest U.S. maker of memory, announced that it had lost $1.6 billion in fiscal 2008.

(Credit:
MetaCarta)

MetaCarta indexes more than 1,400 sources, including stories from the Associated Press, Reuters, and other news sites and blogs.

MetaCarta lets you search for news using a map.

You can search for a place name or zoom into the map to a specific location, and articles related to that spot will be displayed. Repositioning the map refines the search. You can also browse by category, such as health, politics, sports, and world news.

The AP and Reuters stories are displayed in a window on the site, while clicking on other items sends you to the source site.

A Cambridge, Mass.-based company is launching a free Web site that maps news articles to their location on a map.

There are no ads right now, but eventually there may be classified listings and ads associated with businesses, says Rick Hutton, vice president of content at MetaCarta.

Calls to cell phones abroad are allowed under the $9.95 price only to Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

More details on the calling plans
The company’s Monday morning announcement laid out three new subscription plans for consumers in the U.S. and Canada, as follows:

•Unlimited Mexico: Unlimited calls to landline and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada, and to landlines in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey; up to 80 percent off normal SkypeOut rates to landlines in the rest of Mexico and up to 40 percent off normal SkypeOut rates to all Mexico cell phones. ($5.95 per month)

•Unlimited U.S. and Canada: Unlimited calls to landline and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada. ($2.95 per month)

Updated April 21, 5:36 AM PDT to reflect the actual announcement by Skype.

Skype on Monday said it is now offering unlimited calls from the U.S. to phones in a wide range of international locations.

•Unlimited World: Unlimited calls to landline and cell phones in 34 countries (see the cell-phone exception noted earlier in the story), including the U.S. and Canada, as well as to Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey; up to 80 percent off normal SkypeOut rates to the rest of Mexico landlines and up to 40 percent off normal SkypeOut rates to all Mexico cell phones. ($9.95 per month)

For $9.95 per month, callers will be able to ring folks abroad in 34 countries, including many in Europe, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. (The details of the new flat-rate subscriptions were first published in an Associated Press story Sunday evening.) There is one limit–in most of those countries, the calls must be to a landline.

Skype, a unit of e-commerce giant eBay, expects to hit $500 million in revenue this year, and profits have been strong. Still, eBay is giving the service a hard look and may consider selling it, if the “synergies” don’t work out favorably.

Skype notes that calls to premium, nongeographic, and other special numbers are excluded. The company continues to offer Skype-to-Skype calls free of charge.

In December 2006, Skype began offering unlimited calls to cell phones and landlines in the U.S. and Canada at $29.95 per year.

The plan also allows unlimited domestic calls in the U.S., via Skype’s Internet-based phone service, to both landline phones and mobile phones.