reservations

We're admittedly confused by the press release for Lenovo's ThinkPad Reserve that went across the wires this morning. We already wrote about the leather case, the white-glove service and support, and the (ahem) $5,000 price tag in June. The formerly secretive marketing Web site has had plenty of specs available for months. But today, it seems, marks the official unveiling of the fancy-pants limited-edition laptop, which was created to celebrate the ThinkPad's 15th anniversary.

The specs--Centrino Pro with a Core 2 Duo L7500 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive--are fairly typical for … Read more

One of our favorite sites, the airfare prediction site Farecast, is spreading its wings today and launching a beta pricing service for hotels as well. The service works for the top 30 U.S. travel destinations.

Using hotel inventory data from partner sites Orbitz, Cheaptickets, and ReserveTravel, as well as from its own historical database, Farecast can now tell you which hotels in the area you're looking to book are good deals, and which are not. And, just as it does with airfares, Farecast can tell you which hotels' prices are likely to be better if you change the … Read more

The ThinkPad may be produced in China, but the hype surrounding the laptop's secretive "Reserve Edition" has had all the markings of a classic U.S. marketing campaign. First, word of a mysterious Web site featuring nothing but a teaser ad for the leather-bound notebook began circulating a few weeks ago. Then a few details were carefully leaked, like drops of water in a digital desert.

Now, the specs have finally come out--and, as PClaunches notes, they're decidedly underwhelming for a computer with a $5,000 price tag. Among the particulars: a 12.1-inch screen, an … Read more