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there are lots of actually.

trust mi5300m
trust mi5400x
anycom btm100
kensington pilotmouse mini bluetooth
level one blm3000
logitech v270
sony vgpbms30
targus amb02us
targus amb03us

shall i go on?

If you're not a total performance junky but like me just want to get on with computing (audio/music/image editing/perl/html/asm etc) then buy a thin and light or ultraportable laptop like sony T or S series. Many laptops are very quiet and the "centrino" based systems even more so (yeah, Intel's done a good job on those CPUs)

here's more info on the T series
http://vaio.sony-europe.com/view/ShowProductCatego ry.action?site=ite_en_GB&category=VN+T+Series

I can barely hear it. Failing that you will just have to spend a small fortune on low noise fans etc all of which cost more, usually due to the enormous size of the things. TBH I can't the stand drone PC's make it sends me to sleep, so does the whirr of air cons. I can't stand working in offices. Hence, I work at home! Those places literally knock me out. My old tower system has low noise components (PSU/cpu fan/fanless video card) but it is still very audible to me.

failing that this computer is deadly silent...

http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/computers/zx81/zx8 1.htm ;-)

http://www.burnttoys.co.uk/

Actually, you raise an interesting point which has got me a little baffled; why is there no TV tuner in the iMac?

The Dell comes with a LCD TV monitor, yet the iMac doesn't. Given the price of standalone LCD TVs here in the UK (400/500 UKP - i.e. over-inflated) it would make sense for Apple to have added in a TV tuner, added some nice PVR software to their iLife suite and cleaned up on the home entertainment front.

While I'm a Dell owner, I know I'd rather have an iMac sat in my front-room than a Dell box. At the moment, the nearest thing out there that I'd consider is the Sony Vaio V1.

Quoting the designtechnica article: the PCG-TR1A screams style and has a great "Wow!" factor.

My take on this is: screaming never got you anywhere.

Frankly, this notebook doesn't measure up to "good style". The proportions are all wrong, the bulbous underside looks odd, and there are small buttons and connectors all over it just shouting "this is a gadget". There are some stylish Vaios in the Sony product portfolio (e.g. the Z1), but this one is clearly targeted towards those who care more about having camcorders in their subnotebooks.

Besides, does this Vaio run Mac OS X? No? Ooooohhh... the viability factor just fell off the cliff... :-)

--Bud

It's bad enough that most so-called technology news and reviews sites don't amount to much more than a collection of regurgitated press releases and graft-driven prose -- most rampant in the games industry as discussed previously on Slashdot in two threads on fraudulent reviews and bribes, junkets and payola -- but does Slashdot have to promote them?

The item above is identical to the DSC-FX77 digital camera press release from Sony Europe's site. Could the reason for posting a press release as news be more payola from Sony?

Everyone whines and complains about the problem but they keep helping and promoting sites lacking any integrity by providing them with traffic. The question I have is why do Slashdot's editors participate and add to the problem by directing traffic to them? I'm sure that the editors are concerned by the brochure-style content of more and more sites, although that wouldn't be apparent from posting this 'story'. I've found that Tim generally does a pretty good job of separating the signal and substance from the noise and fluff, but this one got past you.

If you want to see quality Web content, vote with your clicks and posts and discourage blatant product promotion by shills for product manufacturers.

Frankly, these problems are what made us decide to start Geartest.com. We figured that there should be some place on the Internet where people can find unbiased technology product reviews that can be understood by the layperson. It's been difficult getting manufacturers to loan evaluation units because we specifically tell them that they will not necessarily receive positive coverage by virtue of sending their products -- but a few seem to be coming around to our way of thinking.

Hopefully average technology users and Slashdotters will too.

Sony have been producing Picturebooks with Bluetooth support for many months. They run Windows XP, are a fraction of the size of an I-Book, I'd even say they look better :)

Sony have been producing Picturebooks with Bluetooth support for many months. They run Windows XP, are a fraction of the size of an I-Book, I'd even say they look better :)

What does seem to be happening is that the forces that be are allowing us to copy music from CD to CD or CD to MP3, but not MP3 from a non-CD to MP3 to a non CD. What this means is that the consumer is going to be inconvenienced by having to rip cd to many different places, instead of ripping the CD once, and then piping it to different stand alone devices. One assumes that if DRM is implemented, this will also apply to the GPC.

There is really no reason why I shouldn't be able to take my portable computer, IPod, or whatever, and transfer MP3s directly to my car.

The price is too high 1600 pounds 2000 dollars but the C1VFK sony vaio looks sweet, crusoe processor 15 gig hard disk, and weights 1kg and even have bluetooth, and a 3 button mouse... just asking for linux to be installed if you ask me.

James

Trading MP3s of copyrighted music is theft. Have people forgotten that this is actually against the law?

Sony certainly appear to have..

Check out http://www.sony-europe.com/com/po pkomm/index.html.. Yes folks.. its a link to a music site.. with downloadable MP3s of Limp Bizkit..
And it gets worse.. or better.. depends..
http://206.132.60.30/ .. Whats this? Its Sony MusicClub. Sony's own download site. Ok, the files are in an odd 'OpenMG' format and only playable in LiquidPlayer (LiquidAudio).. But version 5 of Liquid Player has a nice 'Burn to CD' option.. heck, WinAmp doesn't even go as far as letting you make CDs of your downloads.
When Sony say they are anti-Napster, it seems that its only because its a competing product.

Mine does, if I want it to. It's a Sony SA3ES.

720-line, 60fps Hi-Def video is breathtaking. I shoot a lot of sports footage on DV, and my Canon camcorder can shoot either 25fps progressive-scan (no interlacing) or regular interlaced. The "look" of the two is completely different when viewed on a TV - the motion strobing of the lower frame rate isn't really noticeable by itself, but flicking between modes the interlaced footage is noticeably smoother. It's subtle.

One of the very interesting perceptual phenomena that regularly appear on the DV-L mailing list is that progressive-scan video shot on camcorders like the Canon XL1 actually looks, according to viewers, like it originated on film. Why isn't 100% clear; perhaps it's just that the lower frame rate of film is something we're trained to notice. See here for more on the film-look phenomenon. The one aspect of film look that digital video cameras generally can't provide is shallow depth of field; that takes a large imaging area - compare 35mm film versus a 1/3" CCD, and you'll see why film wins.

In fact, 24fps isn't going away despite the move to higher frame rates for HDTV systems. See here for Sony's blurb on 24fps progressive.