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Harsh economic times? Just lost your job? 401K worth about as much as a space heater in the Sahara? It’s time to do the responsible thing. No, that doesn’t mean scrimping your savings and looking for a job! It means investing that severance package into a $6K gaming rig. Alienware’s latest desktop mothership, the M151X, has touched down and it is warp speed fast. Posting some of the fastest benchmarks we’ve ever seen on Crysis, the monstrosity is infused with some of the finest components out there. From the mind of reviewer, Christopher Null:

The centerpiece here is the new Core i7, Intel’s latest CPU. The i7-965
Extreme installed here is the fastest and most-powerful chip that Intel
currently makes, with four cores operating at 3.2GHz. Running the
64-bit version of Vista, Alienware has taken advantage of the lack of
the 32-bit 3-GB RAM cap and wedged 12 gigs of DDR3 RAM into the rig.

$6,373 (as tested), alienware.com

Read the full review of the Alienware Area-51 X-58 right here.

Americans have been waiting with bated breath for months on end for Clarion’s MiND mobile internet device to launch, and just as we were promised in September, said device is finally on sale in the month of November. Available in black, red or white hues, the MID boasts a 4.8-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, preloaded maps of the entire US and Canada, built-in RealPlayer, Linux OS, an Intel Atom CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, Firefox browser, Bluetooth 2.0 / WiFi, a microSD card slot, 2 USB ports and a battery good for around 1.5-hours of usage. Pop one under the tree for that someone special in your life for just $649.99. Or get them a full-fledged netbook for less, your call.

[Via Pocketables]

Filed under: GPS

ClarionMiND MID on sale in the US for $649.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As an open source advocate and developer with a serious love/hate relationship with my iPhone, I couldn’t wait to get my paws on a device running Google’s brand spankin’ new open-source mobile phone operating system, Android—and I haven’t been disappointed. I’ve spent the last four days using an HTC G1 phone running the first release of Android, and while it is not an iPhone-killer, it is a killer device for heavy Google users (like you and me). Let’s take a look at why Android does—and doesn’t—live up to its hype.

Note: Since the iPhone I use as my primary phone is my sole experience with a touchscreen smartphone operating system, I’m going to base my Android observations on it, even though the iPhone is not the only touchscreen OS out there. (Sorry.)

First, a quick tour around the G1 handset itself. The first thing an iPhone owner notices is that there are a helluva lot of buttons before you even flip out the keyboard: five, to be exact, plus a rubber trackball (that I have come to love, more on that later). Love affair aside, at first all those buttons are confusing and look kind of low-rent next to the iPhone’s sleek how-did-they-DO-that single button.

The phone is also fatter, and unlike the iPhone, it has a slight bend at the bottom of it (pictured right). This can become a usability problem for people who like to slide their phone into the front pocket of their jeans. The iPhone slips in there easily; the G1, on the other hand, bulks up your thigh a bit more and that rubber trackball can rub and roll on the fabric inside your pants.

However, despite its tendency to catch on the inside of my jeans pocket, I absolutely love the rubber trackball for scrolling on the G1. From a pure economy of motion standpoint, it’s much, much faster to scroll and click using the trackball versus swipe and tap using your finger on the screen. After just a few days, I love the rubber trackball in a kind of scary, illegal-in-some-states way.

The reason for the extra bulk, of course, is the flip-out full QWERTY keyboard on the G1. Having never had a Sidekick or any other phone with a full keyboard, this was a new experience for me—but one I came to enjoy pretty quickly, because with a full keyboard comes context-insensitive keyboard shortcuts and launcher combos. (More on that below.) I wasn’t so thrilled with the idea of a big hinge on my phone, but in practice, the G1’s screen flips out to display the keyboard in a really smooth, solid motion and it snaps into place with authority. The keyboard buttons actually don’t stick out as much as I expected, so pressing them doesn’t have that tactile feedback I was hoping for. Still, I make less typing mistakes on this keyboard than the iPhone’s touch keyboard.

Unlike the iPhone, the G1 screen is not multi-touch. You can only use one finger to swipe your screens or scroll up and down. This is a bummer for iPhone owners used to the two-finger pinch and expand to zoom in and out, especially during web browsing.

For a closer look at exactly what the hardware’s like, see Gizmodo’s photo-laden hands on. (Those guys try out phones for a living, so they’re assessment on the hardware is far more informed than mine.) As far as my size complaints, see Gizmodo’s “Sizemodo” post which compares the G1 to other handsets out there. In short—it’s chunky, so you’ve got to decide if the keyboard makes the bulk worth it.

But let’s talk about the main thing we care about here at Lifehacker: the software.

Android Is the Google-Lovers’ Dream

Android’s huge advantage is its tight integration with the Google services you use most—Gmail, GCal, Google Talk, Maps, and YouTube right now, though it’s still missing Google Reader, Docs, Bookmarks, and very many other GOOG apps that could come in quite handy on your phone. One can only assume as the software matures those will show up eventually.

Assuming you’re already an established Google app user, you pop in your Google Account username and password, and (as Jobs would say) BOOM!—you’ve got your email, contacts list, calendar events, the whole shebang on your phone, over the air, synced with the cloud, no contact with your computer necessary. This wasn’t even close to the experience I had with my iPhone, which has required several email account setups and re-setups, and not a small amount of tinkering with my address book and syncing to my computer to get everything as it should be.

In the course of four days, I still haven’t connected the G1 to my computer—everything I need is in the cloud at Google and on the phone, period. This is why heavy Google apps users will want Android.

The software has a lot going on in it, but instead of running through every detail of how you do things, let’s look at just a few perks Android on the G1 offers that are worth mentioning.

Android is a Gmail-reading powerhouse.

Never have I had a better experience reading email—specifically Gmail—on a mobile device as I have with Android. Android offers an interface very similar to the web front end of Gmail, with conversations threading, labels, stars, archiving—all the functions you expect from full-on, genuine Gmail. You can also specify, on a per-label basis, what gets synced real-time. To move through conversations you can roll the trackball or flick your finger; typing messages is obviously easy with the QWERTY keyboard and you can set up email signatures as well. Much to my dismay, Gmail’s web-based keyboard shortcuts do NOT work on the G1. Hopefully in a future iteration, you can hit J or K on the keyboard to move forward and back through Gmail conversations.

In addition to the Gmail client, there is a straight-up email client for your other POP and IMAP accounts.

Android offers Google Maps’ Street View—and coupled with Compass Mode, it will blow your mind. (When it can actually find your location.)

Like the iPhone, Android is location-aware, and puts Google Maps to good use. You get all the lovely touch panning, zooming, satellite-view, and pinpoint-my-current-location goodness in Google Maps on Android that the iPhone offers. The one eye-popping feature you don’t get anywhere else is Google Maps Street View—and a very cool Compass mode, that uses the phone’s accelerometer to adjust what you see on screen as you move. Here’s a quick clip of Street View + Compass Mode enabled. (The clip skips to the Compass Mode part automatically.)

The bad news is that Android was unable to determine my location from several different points in San Diego, which means that any kind of location-aware app won’t work as intended. That’s a problem—if you’re considering a G1, make sure you try it in your area first.

Android offers more options for what you can put on your home screen.

My one huge gripe about the iPhone (and my Nokia before it) was the inability to put a shortcut on the home screen to a new text message with my better half’s number filled into the To: field. Texting my spouse is the thing I do most often on my phone, so it should be a one-tap or one-click act, and it’s not in iPhone 2.0 or Symbian. It’s not quite that either in Android, but you can create a shortcut to a specific contact on your home screen, which makes texting my lady a two-tap affair.

You can also add a shortcut to a Gmail label to your home screen, as well as a Google Gadget (yuck, I know—that’s what that bigass clock is), a music playlist, and any application or folder as well.

Android puts search front and center.

The “Google phone” would be nothing if it weren’t search-centric. You can start searching in any context by hitting the Search keyboard button (it’s a magnifying glass, pictured right). From the home screen or inside the browser, you can just start typing text to invoke a Google search box and go.

Android includes a notifications bar you can drag down “window shade”-style to see more info.

When you install a new app, download a file, get a new text message, email, or voicemail, Android displays the information in a notification bar across the top of the screen. Here’s what an incoming SMS looks like:

You can tap and drag this notifications bar down to expand it and get more information (and clear the items).

Compared to the iPhone’s modal pop-up notifications, Android’s window shade definitely takes the cake.

Android offers customizable keyboard shortcuts.

The fantastic thing you get with a full QWERTY keyboard? Why, keyboard shortcuts, of course! Android lets you define keyboard combination to launch applications in the settings area.

Sadly you cannot assign a keyboard combination to anything other than an application (like a contact or Gmail label).

Android’s application offerings haven’t even begun.

We haven’t even gotten to the Android Marketplace, where developers will start offering apps that run on Android. Right now Android’s apps offerings are pretty slim pickings, but there is an app pretty familiar to iPhone users: the iTunes Remote control app. Here’s a video demo of one of our favorite iPhone apps in action on Android.

Android iTunes Remote Control from Jeffrey Sharkey on Vimeo.

Android is in desperate need of a screenshot-taking application, by the way—which is why all the screen grabs in this review are from the emulator.

You can copy and paste in Android.

Unlike Apple with the iPhone, Google figured out how to do background tasks and a clipboard in Android. Have a look at how copy and paste works on the Gphone.

Android’s web browser is (almost) just as good as Mobile Safari.

As far as I’m concerned, the best part of the iPhone software is Mobile Safari and it’s tabbed browsing and touch-zooming and panning. Android’s browser (not officially Chrome—yet) offers tabbed browsing like Mobile Safari, and it renders pages just as well (it’s based on Webkit, just like Safari). But here’s where the lack of multi-touch bites you in the ass: Android’s mechanisms for zooming in and out on a page and magnifying an area on-page just doesn’t feel as good as Safari’s two-finger pinch and expand do to me. That said, Android’s browser has hooks into Maps and the phone’s dialer mechanisms that Mobile Safari does not. Here’s a demonstration of a few neat Android browser tricks.

While Android is impressive, I’m not about to toss ye olde iPhone just yet.

Why I’m Not Trading in My iPhone for a G1

As you can see, Android on the G1 is a sweet setup, if a bit unfinished, and as my love/hate iPhone relationship veers more often into hate these days, it’s tempting to make the switch—but I’m not, just yet. Aside from the bulkiness issue mentioned above, T-Mobile’s 3G coverage in San Diego is absolutely atrocious. (I know we’re a second tier city, but really! We’re still a city!) As much as I drooled over Android’s location-awareness features (like Compass mode), no matter where I tried, in neighborhoods all over San Diego, Android was unable to pinpoint my location.

Also, while Android does a great job of bringing your Google Account info to the handset, it doesn’t handle multiple Google accounts at all. I use one for work and one for personal reasons, and there’s no way to easily switch personas in Android right now. All this on top of the fee I’d have to pay to get out of my iPhone contract means I won’t be purchasing a G1 with Android—yet. As the software matures, apps come out, and my contract comes to an end, there’s a great chance I’ll change my mind. Now the wait for 2.0 begins.

In a perfect world, it wouldn’t matter what a genius JavaScript programmer or top-flight professional looked like. In this world, though, coming across as an unkempt schlub won’t do anything good for your career, your social life, or your luck with that cute guy or gal from marketing. Luckily, it doesn’t take a lifetime of primping practice to get good at looking decent. A few clever grooming hacks can give you a new and improved look, or help you prep when you’ve got almost no time before a meeting. Read on for our list of 10 low-fuss ways to upgrade your appearance. Photo by Jaako.

10. Get rid of pet hair and sweater fuzz.

It should be your choice to talk about your adorable pet Mittens, rather than have it be obvious you two are close. If you lack a lint roller (or an over-priced refill for one), you can use the palm of your hand, or a document mailing package laying around the office. For non-mammalian trappings on your most stylish sweater, try using a disposable razor.

9. Track the time between haircuts with automatic reminders.

Nobody’s going to up and tell you that your hair’s in need of a trim, and it’s hard to make it a priority when you’ve got a packed schedule. If you’re Googler Matt Cutts, you still manage to keep up appearances by using a Google Calendar hack to track your between-cut time. Geeky? Yes. Easier to listen to than your boyfriend/girlfriend’s gentle nagging? For sure.

8. Fix your clothing choices with hangers.

We all make mistakes when it comes to clothing choices—busted gray T-shirt with khakis, huh?—but you can fight your own worst instincts with nothing but a few hangers. You can, for example, use them to weed out clothes you really don’t need any more. If you have to dress for co-workers’ scrutiny every weekday, you can arrange a left-to-right closet to avoid over-wearing outfits. Best of all, using these tricks frees up space for important stuff—like DIY projects.

7. Give your shoes a drill-instructor-approved polish.

Nice leather shoes stop looking so darned crisp with time, or after being actually worn and walked around in. Restoring their luster isn’t hard at all—you just need a can of the black stuff, a horsehair brush, a newspaper and a rag. Check out the Art of Manliness’ polishing guide and queue up the boot camp marching songs. No time for the rag routine? You can still pull off an acceptable shine in five minutes. Photo by abchbum.

6. Get a sharp-looking suit on the cheap.

Sometimes, advanced common sense can pay off big. Brazen Careerist blogger Penelope Trunk notes that for those who will only wear a three-piece once every job, spending a lot of dough just isn’t necessary. Spend your time instead looking for a good tailor; buy a passable suit, have it cut to fit, and don’t hit the Wii Fit before the interview.

5. Freshen your breath without mints.

At many white-cloth Indian restaurants, customers are given a dry assortment of herbs after the meal, or between dishes. That’s because herbs like coriander seeds and spearmint do a heck of a job destroying harsh breath. MSN Health points out that yogurt, fiber-rich fruits and veggies, sugarless gum, and snacks stocked with vitamin C are similarly potent at knocking down post-meal remainders. Photo by yoppy.

4. De-grease unwashed hair.

Maybe the alarm didn’t go off, or the night went a bit late—however you ended up with greasy hair, you can pull off some one-minute triage. Throw some baby powder (or talc, or even corn starch, if you’re out) into your palms, run it through your hair with a comb or fingers, and wipe off any excess white dust. eHow’s got the details, but our commenters have got their own bad hair how-tos.

3. Learn to shave with a straight razor.

If you want to look good, save money, and feel like an old-fashioned man’s man, learning how to shave with a straight razor is your ticket to all three. It can be a bit daunting, but it’s the closest and cleanest shave, and quite a bit greener, too. If tackling your face Sweeney-Todd-style is just a bit too intimidating, you can still avoid razor bumps and get twice as much life from disposables.

2. Get a black belt in tie-tying.

Maybe the reason so many people never quite master the art of tying a tie is because it’s embarassing to ask—it’s a total head trip in helplessness. Luckily, there are lots of ways to get your tie on without ever having to admit naivete. For straight-up, diagrammed knots, check out Tie-a-Tie.net, with a basic video tutorial at YouTube. For advice on what style and knot go with which occasion (or face structure), try the Kinowear blog’s guide. Feeling confident, grasshopper? Learn how to get it done in 10 seconds.

1. Pack for wrinkle-free clothes.

Hotel room irons—they’re small, leaky, and not very good. Avoid them altogether by packing like a pro. Travel firm Fodor’s suggests separating hanger items with bags. Then there’s the Advanced Hobo-jitsu of the bundle wrapping technique, and the mind-blowing skills of the Japanese turbo-fold for T-shirts. If you’re fearing the worst, no matter how skilled your packing, you can avoid giving Downy their pound of flesh and whip up your own wrinkle releaser.

How do you stay a sharp-dressed, neatly-coiffed, proper-looking lad or lady? What routines or last-minute tricks save your morning routine? Tell us your not-so-secrets in the comments.

Essential time management yields increased success and productivity, according to weblog QuickSprout. By eliminating distractions, getting enough sleep (especially power napping), and maintaining a balanced diet, you can maximize your productivity and get more done in the few hours you have available. One productivity killer is beating around the bush.

Tell people what’s on your mind—being honest and to the point is a great way to accomplish things quicker. When you beat around the bush things don’t get accomplished as fast. Just think about boardroom meetings, people are hesitant to say what is on their mind, which causes meetings to drag on forever.

In other words, be direct and hope that your boss won’t spend precious meeting time criticizing the feedback. What are your biggest time saving tips, and how do you make time to save time? Share your tips in the comments.

Even if you’re a hyper-organized, task-oriented worker with an expansive mind and endless ambition, you won’t get a lot done if your mind and body are demanding you curl up and doze off. Luckily, you can overcome a late night of net surfing, a rough morning, or just the post-lunch stupor without becoming an over-wired mess. We’ve put together 10 of the best ways to jumpstart your brain and get back into a productive groove, and all of them are tricks you can put to work this Monday. Photo by neps.

10. Make your own energy products.

If you’re going to resort to a brick of grains and protein to give you short-term “power” or “energy,” you may as well have it be cheap—and tastier than those foil-wrapped roofing tiles. Same goes for re-hydrating drinks, which can be easily mixed at home. Foodie extraordinaire Alton Brown has recipes for three different home-baked bars, as does About.com’s Sports Medicine section. Of course, there’s always the free stuff flowing from the tap for true replenishment.

9. Listen to brain-stretching music.

Among other tips offered up by software programmer Brad Isaac beating “brain drain,” the exhaustion that comes from sustained concentration, is working a little Mozart or Bach into your playlist. There’s no overly hook-y melody to pull your mind away, and the harmony of so many instruments together relaxes your mind. Strings and brass not your thing? Try the non-intrusive, up-tempo ambient of Groove Salad.

8. Deal with job burnout.

Even if you’re generally happy with your job, the people you work with, and the work you’re doing, small annoyances and responsibilities can build up over time, until a dark, angry cloud hangs over you seven and a half hours per day. Seriously—feeling overwhelmed by your tasks was the second most frequent response in our poll on energy zappers. The Simple Dollar blog recommends scheduling an immediate vacation to take care of piling-up home stuff and set your mind free. Web Worker Daily suggests finding a new project. However you handle burnout, keeping an even head about your job gives you a lot more energy to spend on stuff that’s a lot more fun.

7. Schedule around your energy peaks.

Writer and speaker Michelle Dunn describes herself as “very organized,” but there are times of the day she just can’t be productive. So when she’s about to hit a lull—like right after lunch—she schedules errands and tackles non-thinking tasks, and otherwise schedules around her energy. Of course, not everybody can just run off to Target whenever they’re feeling blah, so 43 Folders honcho Merlin Mann explains subtle ways to work inside your schedule.

6. Get outside—even if it’s cloudy

Even if you live in one of those areas with perma-gray skies for two-thirds of the year, getting outside every day can give you a vitamin D boost and the resulting mood and energy improvements. The National Institutes of Health recommends getting 10 to 15 minutes of sun each day, and a layer of sunscreen if you’re getting more. Even better, you get away from the screens, voicemails, and low-level humming of the office.

5. Crank out some morning exercises.

You know those mornings where you have to get right up and do something with a deadline? The groans about coffee and sleep fall away, and you usually get it done. Give yourself a now-now-now pushup cycle right after your breakfast, and you might just shake off your sluggish self-doubt and get moving. If you’re looking to get more out of your morning time, personal trainer Dan Boyle offers a two and a half minute core routine that’ll definitely leave you aware that you’re awake. Photo by whyld.

4. Eat the right nutrition mix.

Sugar and bread give you a quick jolt of energy, but ultimately result in an insulin-powered crash later in the day. Too much meat doesn’t give you enough of the quick-firing stuff. Balancing out your lunch, instead of just eating leftover pasta, can have a big impact on your day, according to the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source. As Lifehacker guest editor (and current io9 editor) Annalee Newitz puts it:

Remember, carbs come in fruits and veggies as well as grains. And you can get protein from meat, dairy, fish, eggs and beans (like soy or pinto). The perfect lunch might be a veggies with fish (mmm, nicoise salad, anyone?), and the best snack an apple with a little cheese.

It’s also not a bad idea to keep the heavy meals for morning to ensure better sleeping patterns.

3. Put your senses to work.

If you’re stuck at work after a rough night, chances are you’ll be staring at a hypnotizing screen or look-alike paperwork and finding it hard to stay awake. WikiHow suggests a multi-sensory assault on your tired self. Try scenting yourself awake with some essential oils of (or just strong scent of) peppermint or rosemary, or target the alertness-sparking stress points like your earlobes and the skin between your thumb and forefinger. Keep yourself a little chilly, and try to move around a bit—it’s your best shot at not having the boss notice you haven’t said a word since 9AM. Photo by cote.

2. Switch from venti to smaller caffeine doses.

Slamming half a carafe of coffee to get alert and productive is kind of like pounding a six-pack to get social and funny—you’re going to miss your mark , in often painful ways. Research suggests that small, frequent doses of caffeine—like tea breaks, caffeinated mints, and even chocolate—do a better job of keeping your brain from feeling fatigued than jitter-inducing java. Of course, if you’ve got the willpower and patience, you could also just drink half-cups of coffee more frequently. Photo by ToOb.

1. Master the power nap.

Taking a nap isn’t calling it quits on getting energized—it’s just running a quick defrag on your neural drive and rebooting. We’ve covered the ins and outs of napping pretty thoroughly here, but if you need a quick take-away, try the Boston Globe’s comprehensive cheat sheet. If shut-eye alone can’t bring you back, try a coffee-charged caffeine nap.

How do you keep your energy levels high and even throughout the day? What do you do when you need a recharge? Tell us your own tips and tricks in the comments.

Please welcome back ConFonz, the man who goes to technology trade conferences so Valleywag doesn’t have to. The Conference Fonzerelli, a veteran of many OpenWorld conferences, thinks Oracle has pumped up its image this year. The show is much more huggy-touchy-feely-bloggery. Despite the fact that most Oracle employees of use are hiding under rocks. Quite a change from the days when Oracle at your door meant you were either out of a job, out of memory, or simply out of your mind. If anyone in the technology industry is wondering how to run a conference, this is the one to emulate. Oracle OpenWorld pulls 45,000 people, and twice as many service workers to support it. That’s why Howard Street is closed and why you can’t get a good picnic spot in Yerba Buena Park.

For the most part, Oracle was playing nice this year. No acquisitions announced at the last minute. No wild claims about bullshit products. It was a much more subdued conference for the company.

Not quite so for Sun Microsystems, a shrinking violet at this year’s show. Sun’s made quite a business out of selling Unix and Oracle systems together. While Sun’s head of PR was in attendance, and no doubt countless underlings as well, there wasn’t much there to tie the two companies together. Rather a shame for anyone who’s been betting that Oracle would buy out Sun as a way of backing into the hardware market.

Not that that would ever have happened anyway. Really, the reason Sun’s not here is that it acquired its own database, MySQL earlier this year. Why play with the big boys when you can own something that’s really not ownable?

It should be noted that Larry Ellison is far too in love with his sail boat.

(Photo via Oracle Apps Blog)

And isn’t there something that’s just completely unagreeable about giving Oracle employees space in the press area? Even if they are paid-for bloggers.

HP’s woes don’t tie to anything more than personal illness. As a bonus blind item, which HP’er showed up late, didn’t have a badge, fainted, then vomited all over the registration desk?

Anyway, all the drunken out of town soccer moms, PeopleSoft devs and DBAs are on Treasure Island tonight watching UB40 earworm its way into their subconsiousness. Normally, the ConFonz would be all over this shwanky free food and booze event. Too bad the Fonz can’t stand to be within 5 miles of UB40. Auditorily-mandated restraining orders are a bitch.