Greg Hiltons Technology & Skiing blog

Simply click here to enter the prize draw to win an amazing week in a luxury chalet next January for 8 people worth over £12,000

So I love the size & weight of netbooks, but the battery life and CPU speed leave a fair bit to be desired. I see some newer models adding nvidia ion for better video playback, but I just hope they can evolve to 4 hour plus battery life, faster CPUs but same size and weight!!

Just timing various things on my hp mini 2140

Jolicloud boot from cold 27.33secs
Jolicloud time from login to screen display 21.91
Jolicloud time from to logon from sleep 6.01 secs

Windows 7 boot from cold 41.03 secs
Windows 7 time from login to screen display 26.03 secs
Windows 7 time from to logon from sleep 2.86 secs

“What do I get?”

When you sign up for our 12 Days of Logitech sale, you’ll get an offer each day on a Logitech product that you won’t find anywhere else except www.logitech.com.

“What’s the catch?”

There’s no catch. Sign up below and we’ll send you an e-mail every day from December 1st until December 12th featuring an exclusive offer only found on www.logitech.com. There’s no obligation to buy. (But you won’t find any partridges for sale, either.)

via 12 Days of Logitech® sale – sign up.

I’ve been watching this with interest, however I’m still sticking to Windows 7 on my netbook. Jolicloud is about to enter into Pre-Beta and we are dropping the invitations. We consider the product and its installation stable and simple enough for a broader release.At Jolicloud, we believe people should be able to switch operating system on their netbooks. Like the adoption of Firefox made the web 2.0 possible, enabling users to switch OS will accelerate the growth and benefits of open cloud computing

via Jolicloud – Blog.

Yesterday Google announced that they are open-sourcing Chromium OS.

 We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.

via Official Google Blog.

Bring it — anytime, anywhere — in the first online FPS that fits in your pocket.

Engage in multiplayer first-person combat against real players from around the world. Your goal is simple: put the most advanced weapons systems to the ultimate test against real player combatants. Earn credits based on your performance, buy upgrades and better gear and compete to be the warrior in the ELIMINATE weapons research program.

Playable over 3G or Wi-Fi, ELIMINATE invites you to join ranked competitions against other players in a variety of high fidelity arenas through the Plus+ Network. Send challenges to your friends using Push Notification and they can join your game with a press of a button — whether they’re currently in the game or not.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR ATTACK
-Earn credits, level up and tweak out your highly customizable gear including futuristic weapons, personalized armor rigs and upgradable gear characteristics.

DEATHMATCH ANYWHERE
-Experience fast, fluid, First-Person competitive combat on your iPhone and iPod Touch.
-Play ELIMINATE with ease through a seamless global matchmaking system over Wi-Fi or 3G networks.
-Stay connected with Plus+ enabled friend list invites, leader boards and awards.

BE THE BEST
-Master multiple combat arenas, each with its own unique play styles and strategies.
-Work your way to the top by leveling up and upgrading your weapons and armor.
-Exploit jet packs, berserker shields, cloaking devices and a variety of cunning power-ups.
-Track your progress with Plus+ enabled leader boards and awards.

NEXT GENERATION GAMEPLAY
-Stunning 3-D characters, environments and combat visuals including normal map rendering on 3Gs devices
-Intuitive “Touch Anywhere” controls deliver next generation FPS movement and combat control using the multi-touch capabilities of the iPhone or iPod touch.

Arsenal Megacorp is ready for you, enlist today.

HP EliteBook 2530p Notebook PC -  Download drivers and software – HP Business Support Center. HP have released Windows 7 drivers and a new BIOS for the 2530p.

Get it here. Test your reflexes in this highly addictive official remake of the 80s arcade classic! Travel from Japan to the tropical shores of Hawaii as you take up the task of saving civilisation from dangerously bouncing bubbles that threaten city landmarks across the planet.

Can you save Mount Fuji from being flattened by spherical dangers? Will your reactions be good enough to defend the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty? Or can you wear them down while saving your own skin?

Everyone’s favourite from the arcades, Pang is easy to learn but difficult to master as you progress through 17 locations saving the world’s attractions with an assortment of weapons from the grappling hook to the twin harpoon. Use various power-ups including a force field and time freeze; anything to give you the edge to avoid their fatal touch

Click here to get it. Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone.

Layar is a global application, available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands.

How do you use Layar?
By holding the phone in front of you like a camera, information is displayed on top of the camera display view.

For all points of interest which are displayed on the screen, information is shown at the bottom of the screen.

What do you see in the screen?
On top of the camera image (displaying reality) Layar adds content layers. Layers are the equivalent of webpages in normal browsers. Just like there are thousands of websites there will be thousands of layers. One can easily switch between layers by selecting another via the menu button, pressing the logobar or by swiping your finger across the screen.

Added features of Layar Reality Browser 2.0:
Layar has some cool features which include:

•Unique layer specific icons/markers

•Featured and Popular section
•Search function
•Add layer to favorites
•Map view and list view
•Enhanced AR view
•Accuracy information
•“Take me There” function
•“Share layer” and “screen shot” function in layar 2.1 update