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Japan gets new ToughBooks

Panasonic has added four new laptops to its Let's Note line in Japan. Though they're sold under the ToughBook brand here in the States, the shiny portables aren't exactly what we'd call rugged. They are engineered to survive a drop from 30 inches--about desk height--and incorporate a spill-resistant keyboard, but we've always felt the greatest strength of the Let's Note line has been the laptops' remarkably light weight. These new models are no exception: The lightest laptop of the bunch, the 10.4-inch R7, weighs just 2.1 pounds. The 12.1-inch W7 weighs … Read more

More DemoFall: Enterprise software for small businesses

Wait, there are still more tools for small businesses to get stuff done shown here at the conference this morning.

CashView.com lets small business users see all their documents online. It's a service for sending and receiving invoices, approvals, and commenting on them. There's also a calendar that shows when money is due or to be paid to you. It lets you review and zoom in on documents. The docs get online by faxing them to CashView and they upload them for you. Some people might actually have to buy a fax machine first.

Batch Book is … Read more

A better analogy

The Macalope has very little to add to this Daring Fireball post on David Maynor's crappy prestige for the MacBook wireless trick (part of the prestige is timing, David) other than to note that Mr. Gruber's "frog that can recite the alphabet" analogy misses the mark. Because the horny one can tell you categorically there's no such frog (he's been to all of the mythical creature meetings and he's never seen one) and -- despite the blatherings of numerous silly pundits -- no one outside of Slashdot commenters was claiming that OS X … Read more

Rumor of the day: New slim MacBooks coming soon

Since we can't seem to go more than 10 minutes without some kind of Apple news, it's not surprising that another round of Mac rumors are making their way across the Interwebs this morning.

According to the Web site 9to5mac.com, which correctly called the new iPod Nano design last month, Apple is planning a new line of super slim laptops, with a sleek aluminum design. They offer the following predictions:

Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) Considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even the MacBook Pro The screen reaches much closer to the edges than … Read more

For some MacBooks, only gold will do

Perhaps chrome isn't the new gold after all, where Macs are concerned. An outfit called Computer Choppers, which has gotten some attention recently for its Digg case mod on eBay, will also customize your Macbook Pro in gold plate and a diamond-encrusted Apple logo. If that's not enough, you can also choose sapphires or other precious stones to make your statement.

Luxist says pricing for the gold plate costs $1,200 to $1,500, though the diamond logo alone can run the bill up another $2,400. But remember, all of this is a drop in the bling … Read more

Flipping through the pages of Google Books

Editor's Note: This review has been updated to include new information.

Once upon a time, there was an idea to electronically, immediately read and search major literary works online.

This is how Google Books first entered public consciousness, as a tangled controversy between publishers who feared copyright infringement and Internet enthusiasts championing Google's momentum to search everything.

Liberating information is good, those publishers said, but not at our expense. Not so, replied Google, who promised it could increase awareness for niche publishers, protect copyrights, and create opportunity for greater sales all while promoting a valuable public service.… Read more

Google to sell e-books?

This fall, Google plans to start charging visitors to access full digital versions of books in its database in partnership with publishers, according to an article published Thursday by The New York Times (subscription required). Google currently lets people read only excerpts of books online, as part of its agreements with book publishers. The story cites unnamed sources familiar with the plans, and Google did not comment on the alleged plans.

But if true, the effort will be a significant shift for Google's digital book project, Google Book Search, and likely mean renegotiated and newly formed contracts with publishers. … Read more

The Gizmo Report: Option's GT Max 3.6 Express for AT&T

You might wonder why I'm posting again so soon after that twelve-post blogging marathon at Hot Chips. Well, I got a new gizmo last night and I just had to write about it.

Two years ago yesterday, I bought a Sierra Wireless AirCard 860 (a PCMCIA cellular modem card) from Cingular for my Apple PowerBook G4. I also… Read more

BookSwim: book subscription service via Web

Last week I took a look at TextBookFlix, an invite-only service that ships loaner text books at a sizable discount to cash-strapped college students. This week I've been browsing BookSwim, a similar service that's been around a little longer, and is open to everyone.

BookSwim makes strong self-comparisons to Netflix, with its own books-by-mail turnaround service that lets you keep anywhere from 3 to 11 titles out at a time with five different subscription plans ranging from $20, all the way up to $36 per month. Like Netflix, BookSwim gives each user a queue of books, and will … Read more