Dell XPS 15z coming tomorrow for $999?

The thinnest 15-inch laptop "on the planet" is coming tomorrow, costing a measly $999, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a profile of Dell's recent history and forthcoming plans in the consumer electronics market, the financial paper twice makes reference to an ultrathin, $999 laptop that is set to launch on Tuesday of this week. Pairing that intel with the abundance of leaks surrounding the slinky 15.6-inch XPS 15z -- including a Michael Dell tweet promising it's "coming soon" -- leads us to the conclusion that we've finally gotten ahold of the price and date for Dell's next big thing. Interestingly enough, the WSJ article goes on to say that Dell had canned a similar set of slim laptops earlier in the year, which might give us greater hope for the quality of the 15z -- it survived where others didn't.

Other disclosures in the piece include a quote from Michael Dell, saying that he "didn't completely see" the tablet boom coming, which might explain why sales of his company's Streak tablets have been low enough to be described as "immaterial." There's also a discussion of the abortive Zing music service and related MP3 players that never were, but you'll have to hit the source link to learn more about them.

Wall Street Journal

Adding to Android's army

Android, as Andy Rubin (no relation) has pointed out on multiple occasions, plays a game of numbers. And at Google I/O, the company carrying on its development shared some large ones: 100 million activated devices with 400,000 being added each day. However, like in many games, different players can catch up or overtake each other at different points. Just ask Nokia and RIM. To stay on top, operating system vendors implement strategies that lock consumers in. The more money consumers sink into iPhone apps, for example, the more incentive they have to stay with that platform; the same is true for accessories that use Apple's 30-pin dock connector that has been around since the third-generation iPod.

With Android having become the lead operating system for every smartphone company that licenses its OS with the notable exception of Nokia (which nearly did), Google showed that it's intent not just on moving Android into other devices with sufficient computing horsepower such as tablets and, increasingly, TVs, but now has its sights set on having just about everything that can't run Android directly feed into it. Google is taking two approaches – one for things that plug into Android devices, and one for things that don't.

The Android Open Accessory platform seeks to match, if not trump, the wide range of accessories that have surfaced around Apple's 30-pin connector that began as a simple way to provide charging and audio out. On one hand, unlike Apple, Google is building its accessory platform around the nearly ubiquitous USB connector. Perhaps more importantly, without any special connector to license, it is not charging companies for use of the accessory protocols. This should bode well for adding Android support to peripherals from the traditional to the emerging such as various health monitors and the exercise bike shown at Google I/O. On the other hand, the wide variation in terms of where the connector is placed may make things difficult for peripherals that depend on a device's physical positioning such as speaker and car docks. (There have been challenges with 30-pin products too as Apple has changed the dimensions, power and authentication criteria over the years.)

Overcoming these challenges, however, is child's play compared to Android@Home, which sets out to capture one of the most elusive quests in consumer technology – mainstream adoption of home automation.

Android@Home takes Google into territory where there has been no successful mainstream model and no trailblazing model like the iPhone to reset expectations.

Using a new low-power lighting standard developed by Google, radios can be embedded inside of light bulbs themselves without adding significant cost, potentially circumventing the need to have electricians install them in wall switches. NXP Semiconductor has also shown off such a small radio. While this represents a milestone toward consumer adoption, cost, complexity, low awareness, and the notoriously fractured home automation standards market have long stood between cool and potentially money-saving technology and mass adoption. What's more, while we've been hearing about energy utilities delivering Zigbee-based automation into homes via smart meters for years, there now seems to be more interest from other service providers, with Verizon announcing that it would be using rival standard Z-Wave for smart energy and home automation service. Security service providers ADT and Vivint are also supporting Z-Wave.

While the Android Open Accessory platform is a natural extension, Android@Home takes Google into territory where there has been no successful mainstream model and no trailblazing model like the iPhone to reset expectations. Bringing home automation to the masses will require developing an ecosystem at least as strong as the one around Android itself.

NC governor will let cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law

We've repeatedly hammered Time Warner Cable (and its big-cable cronies) for crying to the North Carolina legislature about municipal broadband. TWC claims it can't compete with taxpayer-backed ISPs such as Wilson, NC's Greenlight -- and that it shouldn't have to. In fact, Greenlight and four other municipal providers came about specifically because corporate players refused to provide inexpensive, fast broadband. And now that local governments have proven they can provide it, the cable companies have cried foul, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into select political pockets all the while. That's the drama so far, and now a bill restricting municipal broadband -- mandating that providers pay taxes similar to private companies, for example -- has landed on the desk of Governor Bev Perdue. She won't veto the bill, meaning it will soon become a law; for whatever it's worth (read: not much), she also refuses to sign it. The reason? Here it is from the horse's mouth:

I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.

The legislation strikes a blow against public ISPs in a country that ranks ninth in the world for broadband adoption and download speeds. And that, apparently, is what "fair competition" looks like in the US.

[Image courtesy of IndyWeek]

The Raleigh News and Observer

Dutchman integrates a 4.5GHz water-cooled rig into his d3sk

Cooler Master's 2011 Case Mod Competition looks to be the gift that keeps on giving. After serving up a Tron lightcycle and an architectural marvel, it's now playing host to a mod that redefines the idea of an all-in-one PC. Peter from the Netherlands has managed to fit a pretty bombastic set of components -- 4.5GHz Core i7-980X, two ASUS GeForce GTX 580 graphics cards in SLI, over 12TB of storage with an SSD boot disk, and two PSUs providing 1,500W of power in total -- together with a water-cooling setup and the inevitable glowing lights inside one enclosure, which just so happens to also serve as his desk. The three-piece monitor setup is also a custom arrangement, with a 27-inch U2711 IPS panel being flanked by two 17-inchers. Admittedly, this isn't the first water-cooled and over-powered desk we've laid eyes on, but that shouldn't prevent you from giving the links below a bash and checking out the amazingly neat design of Peter's l3p d3sk.

Lifehacker, Reddit

Cooler Master Case Mod Competition

Tron lightcycle case mod is totally awesome, 100 percent 3D

So, we already have a street-legal Tron lightcycle, but why stop there? After weeks of work, Bods Mods just completed its 40-inch long lightcycle PC, complete with ATX motherboard, liquid cooling, and plenty of blue light strips. The designer started the from-scratch custom build in SketchUp, Google's 3D modeling app, followed by loads of foam shaping and Dremel work. Judging by the dozens (if not hundreds) of images posted to the Cooler Master forum, this is one of the most complex case mods we've seen, with incredible details down to the translucent Crucial and SSD logos painted on the lightcycle engine. Bods Mods entered its lightcycle case in Cooler Master's 2011 Case Mod Competition, though the entries themselves are far more exciting than the first place prize: a boring, non-modified case full of components.

Bods Mods