Can it still be called a desktop if it fits in your hand? My guess is no. This “palmtop(?)” is made out of laptop parts so that its form factor remains tiny. These computers are made out of 3 components: the processor module, the primary I/O module, and the secondary module. The processor module holds the processor and the RAM, the primary I/O has the ports and coms, while the secondary module has Ethernet, video, and power connections.

These mini computers were previously made to work with Windows, Linux, Unix, Ubuntu, and other open source-based OS. Now they will support the Chrome OS. The ChromiumPC’s price will be announced later this year, and it’s supposed to be available in the second half of 2011. It will be available in different colors, and yes, there’s even a chrome-plated version.

[via Businesswire]

It’s worth noting that customers will have to sign a 3-year contract to get these machines at this monthly price. This makes it sound a lot like financing to me. At that price, the overall cost of these laptops is significantly higher than a if you just bought them outright. The only real benefit is that troubleshooting warranty is included at this price. Overall, for businesses, it depends on how many computers you’ll end up buying and if it makes sense for the bottom line. It might work well for certain types of businesses and for people who don’t want to deal with the hassle of maintaining a laptop.

The Chromebooks include the Samsung Series 5, which comes with a dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 chip, a 1MP webcam, and a 16GB SSD. There’s an SDXC card reader and VGA out via an “optional” dongle. It will cost $429 for the WiFi version and $499 for the 3G version. The Series 5 has got a 12.1-inch screen with 1280×800 resolution, an overall weight of 3.26 lbs, and an improved trackpad, which was the downfall of the Google CR-48. Battery life is supposed to be 8.5 hours. The Acer model is cheaper, starting at $349, but has a 6.5-hour battery life and an 11.6-inch screen.

Look for them both on Amazon or Best Buy starting on June 15th.

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[via Google]

As TechCrunch‘s Jason Kincaid said, you’ll only need three things to run the OS in your system. First you’ll need a Google Account ID, e.g. a Gmail account. Second, you’ll need the disk image itself, which you can either download via torrent (clicking that link will download the torrent file) or at gadget site gdgt. Finally, you’ll need VirtualBox, a free cross-platform virtualization program, although I see no reason why commercial alternatives like VMWare Fusion wouldn’t work.

If you’ve tried creating virtual machines before, the steps for installing Chrome OS are pretty straightforward. Just select Linux as the operating system and Ubuntu as the version, then choose “use existing hard disk” when asked which boot hard disk to use, next, next, next… and voila! You just installed the Chrome browser the hard way. Check out the full article at TechCrunch if you want a more detailed walkthrough.

Now I have never used any Linux OS, but even if it’s true that there are fewer major software that are compatible with the system, I am pretty damn sure that there at least 2 Linux apps that provide video chat – Skype and Pidgin. As for the printer and scanner compatibility GodofGrunts adds, “I’ve yet to see a printer that doesn’t have a driver. You might have to download it from the products website though (gasp!).” GodofGrunts also adds that there are Linux distros that offer official technical support, contrary to what the table above indicates.

I like how Microsoft lists “Free downloads” as one of Windows’ strengths when in fact people can legally own a Linux OS for free; same with Linux programs. Is Windows free? Is Microsoft Office free?

Again, I don’t have sufficient knowledge about software so I can’t comment on that claim – note that the training program doesn’t really claim that Windows is safer than Linux – but this forum lists a couple of advantages that Linux is supposed to have over Windows. If this training program is really being used to “teach” Best Buy employees, it means that Microsoft is just breeding technological ignorance.

Why can’t they just talk about how Linux systems aren’t that user-friendly? At least that’s still somewhat true. The original images that GodofGrunts posted were taken down by Photobucket because of bandwidth limits, but you can go to Electronista to see some of the other screenshots.

Without fiddling with a Leopard installer’s disk image and throwing some stuff out, you’ll need at least an 8 Gb SD card to make a portable Leopard installation.

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Wasn’t that easy? Now all you need to do is wreck your internal disk so you’ll have a reason to boot from the SD! I’m kidding. And before anyone asks, no, you can’t boot a PC with this card.

That’s the new wallpaper; you can get the full version here. But the story doesn’t stop there;  build 7260 was also leaked yesterday, just a few hours after build 7232 came out.

No word on the difference between the two builds, but according to neowin, 7260 is an “RTM escrow build meaning vigorous testing will commence to ensure this is the final code unless there are show stopper bugs.” Let’s hope everything goes smoothly.

Although I have to ask, why is it that Win 7 has been leaked to high heavens, but I’ve only seen like 3 or 4 Snow Leopard leaks? Does that mean that Microsoft is less strict with their employees? I mean, the release dates for both systems are not that far from each other, so we can’t say that Snow Leopard is still in it’s early stages. Hmmm.

[via Maximum PC]

These links point to ISO images, so once you download them you have to burn them to a DVD or mount them using a virtualization app like DAEMON tools. Also, you’ll have to get a beta product key if you want to use Windows 7 past the 30-day limit. There are probably ways to get around that restriction without the key, but you’re on your own with that one. I’m not Google you know. I can’t just blurt out links to instructions on getting beta product keys.

[via Download Squad - pictures via Gizmodo and Lifehacker]

It turns out that the folks over in Redmond might have a sense of humor after all. I was working on getting my new install of Vista Ultimate up and running on my machine this weekend, and stumbled across this awesome easter egg.

It turns out that there’s an entire functional copy of the 1995 Microsoft BOB operating system hidden inside of Windows Vista. BOB was supposed to be an easy-to-use interface for Windows 3.2, complete with fuzzy animated characters (who eventually led to “Clippy” the paper clip in Microsoft Office.)

Here’s how I managed to activate it:

First, you need to make sure you have full administrative permissions on your machine. Then, go to the Start menu and enter “W.0.w.B.0.b.” (note that those are Zeros not Os) while holding down the Alt key. Then, set your system time zone to “Cairo”. The next time you reboot, type in the same phrase backwards and you’ll be in the Windows Bob environment, complete with all of the original features. Once BOB is activated you can set your clock back to your regular time zone.

Surprisingly, the new version of BOB has been updated to include integration with Outlook 2007, so you can actually see your calendar entries and e-mails in the BOB organizer. Post back and let me know which character is your favorite. Personally, I like Scuzz the Rat.

According to this post by Ozymandias (who happens to work for Microsoft,) the Xbox 360 reserves approximately 32MB of it’s RAM for the System, including the kernel, device drivers, Xbox Guide, friends lists, voice/text messages, achievement lists, gamercards, Live Marketplace, 1-1 chat, virtual keyboard, and the music player. That leaves about 480MB of RAM for game developers use any way they want.

In contrast, the PlayStation 3 is estimated to use about 96MB for System overhead, plus an additional 9MB for friends list functionality. So right out of the gate, PlayStation 3 developers end up with 73MB less available RAM than an Xbox 360 title with the same basic features enabled. Plus, it’s reported that in-game e-commerce capability wastes another 60MB of RAM. On top of all this, Sony’s memory architecture says that 50% of all RAM is for graphics, and the other 50% is for application use, further limiting developer freedom.

These memory architecture decisions, along with the reduction in available memory could be part of why cross-platform titles are looking better on the Xbox 360 than on the PS3, especially for games that started on the 360 and were ported to the PS3.

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The menu system is a very faithful reproduction of the Wii menu system, and he’s got it all tied together with his Wii-mote to let him control some emulated console games on his PC.

I’m sure Nintendo won’t be thrilled by the blatant copyright infringement in his design, but maybe they’ll give him a break and just appreciate the fact that he’s just a really dedicated Wii fanboy.

[via GoNintendo]