A brilliant industrial design (IMO) for a slimline UK power plug. The UK plug is an exceptionally chunky and large lump; a real pain in the computer satchel. This video shows what appears to be a manufacturable design that turns it into an elegant device. SLYT. [more inside]
posted by five fresh fish on Nov 4, 2009 - 103 comments

According to the Wall Street Journal, coffee shops in New York are starting to cut back on laptops -- by reducing WiFi privileges, removing outlets, or banning the machines outright. This article has spawned a vast number of spin-off pieces and conversations across the Web. [more inside]
posted by Shepherd on Aug 7, 2009 - 100 comments

60 sticker-plastered Apple laptops
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey on Jul 31, 2009 - 94 comments

Prey helps you find your stolen laptop by sending timed reports to your email with a bunch of information of its whereabouts. [more inside]
posted by signal on May 28, 2009 - 47 comments

One Velociraptor Per Child
posted by allkindsoftime on Nov 4, 2008 - 36 comments

Steal *MY* laptop, will you? Now I can track you down like the pathetic dickmonkey you are. Wish you could sneak up on the asshole who stole your laptop and beat the crap out of him/her with a baseball bat? Now you can! Thanks to the beauty and glory of open source and OpenDHT, researchers at University of California, San Diego and University of Washington have created free software that enables you to track down your missing laptop. The Mac OS version even has an option to capture photos of the aforementioned scumbag so you can know your victim before you beat him/her senseless. (Note: I'm not saying that you *should* beat someone up for stealing your stuff, I'm just saying you *could*.)
posted by Geekyblonde on Oct 3, 2008 - 40 comments

Tips for getting ahead in the increasingly competitive low cost small laptop market: When you go to Getty Images, grab some stock photography of smiling kids in a classroom and photoshop in your product, you better make sure your competitor hasn't used the exact same image.
posted by Artw on May 18, 2008 - 49 comments

Charlie Rose Suffers Black Eye to save Mac Book Air Charlie Rose fell while walking on a NYC street the other day. He tripped in a pot hole. Rose happened to be holding his new Mac Book Air. On the way to the ground he chose to protect the laptop, rather than his million dollar face. Picture on Salon link. {via salon.com}
posted by doug3505 on Mar 20, 2008 - 44 comments

Seen any OLPC news stories for christmas??
posted by jeffburdges on Dec 24, 2007 - 77 comments

One Laptop Per Child - Give 1, Get 1 Started by Nicholas Negroponte, the One Laptop Per Child project aims to put inexpensive durable laptops into the hands of millions of children in developing countries with the idea that the best weapon against poverty is education. For a limited time, people in the US can buy an OLPC laptop for themselves, and send one to a child in a developing country for $399 via the Give One, Get One program.
posted by Laen on Nov 12, 2007 - 80 comments

HOMOPHONI
posted by hama7 on Oct 7, 2007 - 37 comments

Computers get cheap. While Microsoft has seen fit to require a whole new generation of computers to run its latest operating system, a number of manufacturers have started the creation of cheap notebook computers. The list includes the infamous Palm Foleo, mentioned here previously, and the OLPC, mentioned pretty much everywhere previously. But also coming soon is the Asus EEE, a $200-300 notebook running Linux. And Intel's alternative to the OLPC, the Classmate PC. Even as the low cost alternatives to standard computer start to come on sale, the prices for traditional laptops dip ever lower. Can the digital divide, at least hardware wise, be consigned to the dustbin of history?
posted by zabuni on Aug 19, 2007 - 86 comments

Forget ink. These days you have to tattoo your laptop. See how it's made as makezine shows how they etched a very cool bunny infused Tsunami on a powerbok, also see these made by a real ink artist, and more images of the making of the tarsier Powerbook. For atari lovers, there's the Atari laptop.
posted by dabitch on Apr 4, 2007 - 28 comments

Ever wondered where your laptop's parts come from, what it's made of, or what toxins are in it?
posted by aerotive on Mar 19, 2007 - 19 comments

Following the results of a report into the foul constituents of many laptop computers, Greenpeace have decided that the sincerest form of flattery may get results. Imitating the main brand, they call on image-conscious Apple and its dedicated fanbase to push for a better product and a better world: "I love my Mac. I just wish it came in green."
[via]
posted by NinjaTadpole on Sep 26, 2006 - 21 comments

Due to recent fires, Dell is recalling over four million laptop batteries manufactured by Sony and sold worldwide in the past two years. Pictures of computers on fire (as well as their charred remains) circulated widely online, not allowing the company to easily dismiss the problem as an isolated incident. Other companies claim their products aren't affected by the same issues, but the nightmare might not be limited to Dell. The future of laptops on airplanes is not looking so good.
posted by kyleg on Aug 15, 2006 - 50 comments

Al Jazeera have the scoop on the new name for OLPC's $100 $140 dollar laptop.<via olpcnews.com>
posted by davehat on Aug 14, 2006 - 32 comments

If you are going to sell a broken laptop on ebay, make sure you wipe the harddisk first (some photos NSFW)
posted by bluefin on May 26, 2006 - 88 comments

A $100 Laptop for Every Kid. With a plan to distribute up to 15 million rugged, innovative, and very low cost laptop computers by the end of 2007, MIT Media Labs may be calling Steve Ballmer's year old bluff, in ways commercial vendors haven't. [more inside]
posted by paulsc on Sep 29, 2005 - 139 comments

Build your own walltop computer. Take the guts out of an old laptop, stuff them into a picture frame and have a slide show hanging on your wall. This is uber-geeky but cool.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jun 17, 2005 - 23 comments

I see Johnson has brought his pizza to the meeting again.
posted by angry modem on Jan 4, 2005 - 27 comments

Laptop Steering Wheel Mount - Mount your laptop on your car's steering wheel? - Accident waiting to happen... Sure you are supposed to use it while parked but we all see idiots in traffic doing everything from applying make-up to reading the newspaper. Doesn't anybody just drive their car anymore?
posted by radio_mookie on Dec 26, 2003 - 21 comments

Baked Apple. "PowerBook G4 cooked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The machine still booted, video and all..." [details at MacFixIt; no permalink]
posted by kirkaracha on Feb 4, 2003 - 22 comments

Evolution Robotics has just released the ER1 kit, which allows laptop owners to turn their machine into a robot. Users can point-and-click to link pre-defined behaviours together in order to "train" the robot for specific tasks (such as fetching a beer from the fridge) and can share these tasks with other robot owners by posting them on the company's website
posted by sanitycheck on Oct 3, 2002 - 4 comments