Light up animated Pac-Man bicycle wheels

Cool.

Origami: Buzz Killer?

Gadget Web site Gizmodo seems to agree with me about the first batch of Origami products.

Intel shows Origami-like device

So this is what all the fuss was about? The leaked promotional videos looked cool, but the reality falls a little flat.

Sure, who wouldn't want a lightweight, all-in-one "lifestyle" computer? I'd sure like a portable device that could do everything from Web-surfing to e-mail to GPS-enabled driving directions to games to music.

Oh wait, I already have that. It's called a Pocket PC. OK, the Origami would have been a full-fledged PC, something my iPaq is definitely not.

But the prototype device mentioned in the Cnet story gets just three hours of battery life, making it not too much more useful than today's Tablet PCs. The coolest Origami device Intel is showing gets just fifteen minutes!

Intel predicts all-day battery life within a couple of years, but lets get real. Laptops haven't increased capacity much in the last 20 years. And for Origami to be a breakthrough device, it would have to last a long time between charges. I mean, mobility is the whole point, right?

Microsoft isn't officially revealing Origami until Thursday, so maybe there's something more to it. Let's hope so.

MercuryNews.com | 03/06/2006 | Searching for an answer to Google Desktop problem

I didn't know this, but here's another reason to pick Windows Desktop Search over Google Desktop. Basically, if you dare move a file that has been indexed, Google Desktop loses track of it.

Google's solution, according to the Merc: uninstall and reinstall the program, then wait a few hours while it re-indexes the data. Despite what the Merc says, I have a feeling that just reindexing the data would do the job. But still -- what a pain. Even then, the time theoretically saved with faster file searches goes right down the drain. As brilliant as they are, it looks like the Google folks need a little more insight into how real people use their computers.

On the other hand, I just noticed that Microsoft is still forcing users to install the worse-than-useless MSN Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search. The "enterprise" version doesn't have this requirement, but it might be complicated to install (no firsthand experience, just looking at the install page).