ge

The latest MacBook Air masks a lot of new electronics under an old skin.

To me, the new MacBook Air (MBA) is truly a second-generation product despite its unchanged appearance. But before I explain why, let me clarify where I am coming from.

I have been using an MBA for the last eight months. Why the over-priced Air? I am a minimalist when it comes to computers (though not necessarily when it comes to spending money on computers). The more spartan the laptop is, the better. In a well-executed design this translates to more portability, which, for me, takes priority … Read more

Nvidia on Wednesday introduced its GeForce 9400M graphics chip, a direct threat to Intel's graphics silicon.

Apple's choice of the 9400M for its refreshed MacBook line heralds a much-needed infusion of competition in the market for mobile integrated graphics--a low-cost solution that is built into Intel chipsets. To date, Intel has dominated the market, with many of the top notebook vendors defaulting to Intel graphics in low-end models and ultraportables. Apple chose Intel graphics for previous versions of the MacBook and MacBook Air.

Not this time though. Apple did its homework and CEO Steve Jobs made a point Tuesday … Read more

Toshiba will begin shipping a 256GB solid-state drive, matching Samsung, its bigger, badder rival.

Another nail in the hard-disk-drive coffin? Well, not quite. But Toshiba's drive rivals magnetic drives in size while delivering better performance.

Solid-state drives are more expensive than hard-disk drives but are also generally more power efficient and faster.

Toshiba is trying to keep pace with the 800-pound SSD gorilla, South Korea-based Samsung. Samsung is the largest flash memory chip supplier in the world and has stated in the past that it would sample a 256GB SSD in September. Toshiba is ranked No. 2.

And the … Read more

A joint venture between General Electric and Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Tautung will market LCD TVs next year in the U.S. The new company, called General Displays & Technologies, plans to introduce its first GE-branded models next spring, joining the likes of Westinghouse and Polaroid that leverage well-known brands to appeal to buyers in a crowded, confusing HDTV marketplace.

The GE TVs won't mirror the bare-bones features of those other brands, however, and we presume pricing will be accordingly higher. The most-interesting feature from our perspective is Internet connectivity.

"We are developing advanced, Internet capabilities for content delivery to televisions, without the need for a PC. This includes IPTV through cable, satellite, and advanced fiber-optic television connectivity," said Mike McConnaughey, the new firm's CEO. "The long-term strategy is to allow consumers to customize their viewing experience by downloading widgets and a variety of services directly to their HDTVs."

The company will partner with NBC Universal, a subsidiary of GE, to develop an open platform for content delivery.

… Read more

General Electric and Google on Wednesday announced a collaboration to lobby for renewable energy policies and to jointly develop clean technologies.

During the Google Zeitgeist conference in Mountain View, Calif., Google CEO Eric Schmidt interviewed GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt onstage about the maturity of renewable energy technologies and current policies.

Schmidt said that the two companies will push for government programs to modernize the electrical grid, which would enable broader use of renewable energy.

"GE and Google will be advocating in Washington for the new and smarter grid," Schmidt said.

Their policy partnership will call for beefed-up transmission … Read more

We don't normally concern ourselves with what big retail stores put on sale every week--after all, they spend enough money to advertise their wares, they certainly don't need our help.

But while flipping through the Sunday sales circulars in the New York Times, we spotted the recently reviewed Gateway P-7811FX laptopin the Best Buy ad. We loved the latest version on Gateway's bargain-priced gaming rig enough to give it an Editors' Choice award--but we did grouse that at $1,450, it was about $100 more than previous versions.

For this week, at least, the P-7811FX is on sale for $1,249, which is a great deal for an Intel P8400 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 1,920x1,200 17-inch display, and Nvidia's new GeForce 9800 graphics card.

The ad even promises a free PC game (up to $49.99), so you can show off Crysis on a laptop that can actually play it. That being said, we'd avoid the PC game bundled in the newspaper circular--we probably don't need a GeForce 9800 to play James Patterson's Women's Murder Club.… Read more

General Electric's wind energy division is trying to find a "Goldilocks" turbine design, one that's not too big and not too small.

Like other wind manufacturers, GE is benefiting from booming demand for wind turbines in Europe and in the U.S., even with the possibility of a renewable-energy tax credit lapsing later this year.

Still, the rapid expansion is being throttled by high prices of steel and other commodities, making wind power more expensive.

So instead of making bigger and bigger machines, manufacturers are trying to squeeze more energy from conventionally sized wind turbines.

That … Read more

I am all about conserving space in the kitchen. My Fisher & Paykel dishdrawers let me have two separate dishwashers in the space of a single unit. My French door bottom freezer fridge holds a fairly ridiculous amount of food. And now that I've seen GE's new single/double wall oven, I'm looking at my ordinary double wall oven with a newly critical eye.

The new GE Profile 30-inch single/double wall oven fits two ovens into the space of a single standard wall oven. You could, for example, roast a 22-pound turkey in the 2.8 … Read more

We've been waiting for August 14 to roll around so we could tell you about Gateway's new budget-minded gaming rig, the P-7811FX.

After all, we're big fans of the high-power, low-price 17-inch laptops Gateway's been putting out this year as Best Buy exclusives, offering Nvidia's powerful GeForce 8800 GPU for a mere $1,350 (or less, depending on retail discounts). Even though new products like this usually leak beforehand, it was a surprise to see the new system posted on Best Buy's Web site today, a day early.

It's a good thing, too, … Read more