mini

USB drives are simple to carry, but easy to misplace, and that can be risky when it comes to sensitive information. Rohos Mini Drive is a freeware app that safeguards personal documents by creating a password-protected partition on your flash drive. The download actually installs two programs: one, Rohos Mini Drive, is the partition manager that self-installs as a portable app on the drive when you create the partition; the second, Rohos Disk Browser, is a portable file manager, which can be useful when the encrypted partition can't be read by the host computer.

Operating Rohos Mini Drive is … Read more

We've been following the tale of Dell's quasi-Netbook, the Mini 12, for some time now -- from its first behind-closed-doors appearance over the Summer to the official late-October announcement, with actual availability and price TBA, as they say.

Dell was closed-mouthed as recently as a few days ago when we asked when the system would be available for order and, more importantly, when it would be shipping.

Dell is now taking orders for the Mini 12, essentially a Netbook in a slightly bigger case, on its Web site, with an estimated ship date of December 8 -- a … Read more

With so much energy and progress in the mobile browser space these past two months (see here and here), you would expect the makers of the venerable Opera Mini browser to release an update that makes real progress on its free browser for Java phones.

Instead, on Tuesday, Norway-based Opera Software pushed a mini update (download) that tacks on one syncing function, an assortment of skins worthy of Apple's iPod bonanza, and a wobbly kluge for introducing video playback.

Opera Mini's video playback is the biggest news here. It's in such high demand in the mobile world, … Read more

Looking for signs that netbooks are catching on? And even morphing into notebooks? Here's a few.

Netbooks were the big end-user gadget on display at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference that ended Friday.

And all the Netbooks at a Microsoft booth were running Windows 7, Microsoft's next-generation operating system due next year.

A Microsoft person on the floor said that a lite version of Windows 7 will run on 1GB of memory and 16GB of (solid-state drive) storage. Higher-end Netbooks will have a 160GB hard disk drive, according to Microsoft "guidance."

This person also said something … Read more

USB drives are simple to carry, but easy to misplace and that can be risky with sensitive information. Rohos Mini Drive is a freeware app that safeguards personal documents by creating a password-protected partition on your flash drive. The download actually installs two programs. One, Rohos Mini Drive, is the partition manager that self-installs as a portable app on the drive when you create the partition. The second, Rohos Disk Browser, is a portable file manager, which can be useful when the encrypted partition can't be read by the host computer.

Operating Rohos Mini Drive is fairly straightforward. Plug … Read more

Mini is recruiting 500 drivers in California, New York, and New Jersey to lease its electric car for a year.

In the two weeks that MiniUSA.com has been offering a peek at the Mini E, 9,500 people have signed up for more information, says Trudy Hardy, Mini USA's manager of marketing communications. Although the Mini E will take over the site in mid-November, marketing will still be low-key because "we don't want to turn too many people away," Hardy says.

The Mini E debuts this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show as a … Read more

Apple customers awaiting their new MacBook Airs may have to wait a little longer than they had thought, but potential Mac Mini customers should sit tight.

That seems to the state of the Mac this Wednesday, according to AppleInsider. The site notes that customers who ordered the new MacBook Airs with the 120GB hard drive option are receiving notices from Apple apologizing for a shipping delay.

The systems were expected to go out this week, but now won't go out until the end of November. Those who ordered the more expensive solid-state drive option have already started getting their … Read more

Forecasters see 2010 as the big year for Europe's manufacturers of stop-start systems, which turn the engine off when a vehicle stops and restarts it when the driver's foot leaves the brake.

An estimated 2.8 million vehicles with stop-start will be made globally that year. About 2.5 million of those vehicles will be made in Europe and the rest in Asia, according to consultancy IHS Global Insight. That's up dramatically from last year, when about 54,000 stop-stop-equipped vehicles were made, an estimated 53,350 in Europe.

Stop-start maker Valeo SA is looking forward to the surge because it does not make a profit on the system at current volumes. "Today we manufacture 1,000 a month, so it doesn't make sense. But we knew that," Valeo CEO Thierry Morin told Automotive News Europe earlier this year. "It will be a profitable business by 2011, when we have the volumes, in particular from PSA."

The French supplier has a contract with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen to equip more than 1 million vehicles with a stop-start system by 2011. Valeo says the contract is worth 700 million euros, or $897.4 million at current exchange rates. Valeo now supplies stop-start for Citroen, Mercedes, and Smart vehicles.… Read more

Apple has quashed the rumor mill's latest obsession, declaring that no new Macs will be released before the holidays.

Earlier Monday, reports surfaced that Apple was getting ready to release an updated version of the iMac and the Mac Mini next week. But a company representative told Macworld, "our holiday lineup is set," in a rare move to dampen the speculation regarding the new products.

As Macworld's Jim Dalrymple points out, the iMac and Mac Mini seem overdue for a hardware update, making it quite plausible that new versions would be along some time soon. But … Read more