Posted Apr 05, 2007 at 11:15AM by Chris C. Listed in: Laptop Reviews, Laptops & Notebooks Tags: Toshiba, speaker system, chrome, Fingerprint Scanner, IEEE, Starbucks
Ó

Big Image - Image 1  Toshiba might not be the first name that pops into your head when you think about high end PC gaming (much less high end laptop PC gaming) but having recently given its latest Satellite gaming laptop a drive around the block, I think it's safe to say that's about to change.

The Design and Chassis: It's pretty darn classy, if you're a little bit more mature about your gaming and would rather not be seen walking around with a laptop that looks like it's a leftover prop from some bad 90's B-movie, you'll appreciate the P105's simple sleek curves and distinct lack of gaming bling. If it needs to it can actually look surprisingly normal, you can whip it out at the local Starbucks and manage not to look like the ultimate geek. There's no ugly chrome, no weird and extraneous cheap plastic attachments, just an understated sense of verve in the form of a soft blue glow from the systems front mounted speakers. Keys and shortcuts are conveniently and intelligently laid out with ample space so things rarely feel cramped. I say rarely because the touchpad is perhaps just a little small to be completely comfortable, and because it's offset to the left which kind of gets a little inconvenient during a heated gaming session. That said, the special tap activated backlight is quite useful, as well as the quick access provided to a number of software driven shortcuts, with options to quick-launch the web browser, volume control as well as activate various applications and multimedia functionality.

Read the rest of the review, after the jump!

Email this  |  Digg It!   |   Comments [4] read more ...
Posted Dec 18, 2006 at 02:31PM by Jex H. Listed in: Laptop News Tags: Boeing, Starbucks
Ó

laptop securityWanna hear some shocking news? Okay, here's one: in light of recent events, it seems that Boeing is following in Starbucks' footsteps.

But wait, before you start thinking that Boeing is shifting into the coffee industry, let us clear things up. Remember when we told you guys about the incident at Starbucks Corp. where they lost four laptops which had employees' info? Well, Boeing has suffered the same fate.

Apparently, one Boeing employee has lost his laptop which contained personal information about nearly 400,000 retired and current company employees.

The files stored on the laptop included salary information, Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and birth dates. Might seem like harmless stuff to be leaked out, but when placed in the hands of the wrong person, this could yield very alarming results. Unfortunately for the employee, this was a breach of company policy which requires that data should be encrypted once it has been downloaded.

Jim McNerney, Boeing's chairman, president, and chief executive, reportedly sent out an email to all employees saying that:

"We have very strict and clear policies and procedures about how employee information is handled. An employee, despite proper training, failed to comply with those requirements and as a result is being dismissed from the company."


Needless to say, the major bummer news for the employee with the lost laptop is that not only has he suffered a laptop loss, now he's also lost his job. McNerney also said that this breach of company policy is of serious gravity that some Boeing managers will also be disciplined. There have been a lot of similar reported laptop theft which have endangered tons of people (remember the one with the YWCA program administrators?) Perhaps more companies should be looking into having company-owned computers and laptops installed with data theft recovery programs, don't you think?

Email this  |  Digg It!   |   Comments [0] read more ...
Posted Nov 05, 2006 at 05:24AM by Mabie A. Listed in: Security, Laptop News Tags: Seattle, Starbucks
Ó

Sbux What should Starbucks do if they lose four laptops containing vital information on about 600,000 current and former U. S. employees, along with no more than 80 Canadian workers and contractors? Give them a compensation package of free Starbucks for life, that's what.

Unfortunately, that's not how they run things over there, so that's but wishful thinking. What is fact is that the coffee giant indeed lost track of four laptop computers from a closet in their corporate support center over at its south Seattle headquarters. Spokesperson Valerie O'Neil explained that they have been looking for them laptops since early September, but that it is only now that they are notifying those who may be potentially affected. She says it was because "we wanted to make sure we were thorough before we notified people."

Remaining optimistic (or probably just on a caffeine-high), she further says, "We have no reason to believe those laptops are in the hands of someone who wants to misuse them..We just want to make every effort to protect our partners." The data from two of the missing laptops contain names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and is about three years old (since prior December 2003).

Notifying those whose information are in the laptops, Starbucks urged them to be on alert for any suspicious activity in their accounts. Add to that, they also promised free credit protection services to enable them with the tracking down of their accounts. Starbucks is now "reinforcing its corporate policies and updating procedures on protecting the personal information of its employees to prevent such data loss from happening again".

I'll take that to go.

Email this  |  Digg It!   |   Comments [0] read more ...
  Page 1   
QJ.NET Blog Network RSS Feeds
MyQJ Feed / PDA
MyQJ RSS / PDA
Blog of Blogs Feed / PDA
QJ.NET RSS / PDA
Gaming Consoles Feed / PDA
Nintendo DS RSS / PDA
PlayStation 3 RSS / PDA
PSP Updates RSS / PDA
Wii RSS / PDA
Xbox 360 RSS / PDA
PC Gaming Feed / PDA
Age of Conan RSS / PDA
Games for Windows RSS / PDA
MMORPG RSS / PDA
Tabula Rasa RSS / PDA
World of Warcraft RSS / PDA
Science Feed / PDA
Science RSS / PDA
Technology Feed / PDA
Apple RSS / PDA
Gadgets RSS / PDA
Mobile RSS / PDA
Photography RSS / PDA
Add QJ.NET
Add to My Yahoo!
Google Reader Subscribe with Bloglines
Add  to your Kinja digest Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Subscribe with Pluck RSS reader Add 'www.qj.net' to Newsburst from CNET News.com
Subscribe with SearchFox RSS del.icio.us www.qj.net
Add to Technorati Favorite! Add to My AOL
furl! it Stumble for Treehugger!