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Toshiba recalls 41,000 laptops for overheating


The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday issued a recall of 41,000 Toshiba laptops after reports of some overheating and even melting.

Toshiba posted its own recall of several models of its Satellite T130 laptops on its product support forums last week.

The CPSC said 129 instances of "overheating and deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug" had been reported. Two of those reports resulted in "minor burn injuries that did not require medical attention" and two in minor property damage.

Top 10 Facebook Fixes

Top 10 Facebook Fixes
Facebook may be the de facto social network of, frankly, almost everyone, but that doesn't mean you have to use Facebook exactly the way its creators, or your Farmville-addicted friends, want you to. Here are 10 tweaks to make Facebook better.

How to Quickly Launch Programs from the Windows Start Menu

For a demo, check the following video screencast:

The Start Menu in Windows offers you an easy way to launch your favorite programs and folders without having to use the mouse.

For instance, if you want to open a program like Windows Media Player on your computer, press the Windows key windows_logo_key on your keyboard, or click the Start windows_start_button button, and type Windows Media Player in the search box.

The Start Menu is therefore a big time-saver especially for power users who prefer using the keyboard more than their mouse.

Quickly Open Programs from the Start Menu

If you already enjoy using the Windows Start Menu, here’s a tip that’ll make you love that feature even more.

Universal credit card in the palm of your hand

universal_credit_card

Do you remember the magnetic card spoofer in Terminator 2? It was a bit farfetched because apparently the device could be swiped through a reader and magically come up with working account numbers and pin numbers. We’re getting close to that kind of magic with [Jaroslaw's] card spoofer that is button-programmable.

Scrybe from Synaptics brings new life to your tired touchpad

Scrybe from Synaptics brings new life to your tired touchpad
Did your laptop maker not see fit to include any jazzy gesture support into your touchpad? Did you buy early and miss out on the multitouch revolution? Synaptics wants to fill the gap for those portables (and suitably-equipped desktops) with its Scrybe software.

Ubuntu 10.10 Beta Adds New Photo Manager, Improves Multimedia Experience


An early look at the next release of Ubuntu's Linux desktop hit the web late yesterday. What's in 10.10, or "Maverick Meerkat," for desktop users? Besides app updates, there's a new photo manager, improved multimedia controls, better Ubuntu One syncing, and more.

The full list of changes and new things is listed at the beta page, but what strikes us in a quick look at a live-booting beta (for which we recommend Unetbootin and a USB thumb drive) are the changes to Ubuntu One, the Dropbox-like syncing service that ties in Music Store purchases, personal files, settings, and other user data. There's now a single, easier sign-on for Ubuntu One, and the look and feel are much improved. Same with the Ubuntu Software Center, which makes it easier to see the apps you've installed from the Center, as well as peek at popular and recommended apps.

JayCut Is a Great Web-Based Video Editor

JayCut Is a Great Web-Based Video Editor
If you need to edit some video away from your home, free web-based video editor JayCut will likely get your project going, whether you need simple cutting and pasting or text, transitions, and impromptu audio recording.

Click on the image for a closer look.

JayCut is a remarkably full-featured video editor for the web, comparable to something like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker (as opposed to the more advanced Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut). You have two tracks, to which you can upload and add video clips, audio, and add text and transitions. You can also record audio straight from the webapp with your microphone, as well as video from a webcam. After you're done, you can publish your video to YouTube or export it to your computer as H.264 Flash video, H.264 MPEG-4, or an Xvid AVI.

HP lists Photosmart eStation C510 printer with detachable e-reading touchscreen -- is this the Zeus?

Now, we don't have any confirmation that the two are one and the same, but we just caught wind of a very intriguing printer on HP's website. The Photosmart eStation C510 is listed for $399.99 and, in addition to usual ink-plastering duties, has a detachable wireless 7-inch TouchSmart control panel for browsing content, printing (of course), and "brows[ing] the latest e-book bestsellers or old favorites."

Pranav Mistry’s cool input devices

This new video about [Pranav Mistry's] SixthSense project doesn’t bring us much that we haven’t seen before. At least, not on that project. What really caught our eye was the device he shows off at the beginning of the video. Using two old ball mice, he constructed a grip style input device. It is simple and elegant and we can definitely see using this in future hacks. Not only is it cheap and apparently effective, it seems as though it could be constructed in a very short amount of time. all you need are the wheels that spin when the ball moves, 4 springs and some string.

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