When Buying Two Computers Is Cheaper Than Buying One [Saving Money]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5950321/when-buying-two-computers-is-cheaper-than-buying-one

You can buy some pretty powerful laptops these days, and a lot of people are quick to take advantage of beasts like the MacBook Pro or big gaming laptops like the ASUS G55VW. However, what you might not realize is that it could be cheaper to get a powerful desktop and a more portable laptop. Here's why.

You might want a powerful computer for any number of reasons. Perhaps you need to do a lot of heavy photo or video editing, or maybe you're a hardcore gamer, looking for the best possible performance you can get. Most people decide they need a powerful computer, then go for a 15" MacBook Pro or other hefty, 15" laptop with a fast processor and beefy graphics card. If you need that power on-the-go, this is obviously your only choice—but a lot of people only really use that power when they're home, so why not buy a desktop and a laptop instead?

Let's look at the math for a second. The ASUS G55VW—the absolute cheapest of ASUS' Republic of Gamers line (pictured right)—costs about $1200 on Newegg. You could build a comparable, if not more powerful, desktop for about $600, and use a similarly-powered laptop, sans graphics card, for less than $500. Not only do you save $100, but your laptop is much more portable, and you get the configurability and upgradability of a desktop.

It's a bit different on the Mac side of things. 15" MacBook Pros start at $1800, whereas an iMac and MacBook Air combo starts at about $2200. However, as soon as you get into more powerful MacBook Pros, the iMac/MacBook Air combo starts to become cheaper, and the iMac is still just about as powerful as the laptop you would have gotten (and has a much bigger screen). Replace the iMac with a Hackintosh—which is easier than ever to do—and you'll save loads, while still getting that killer Mac hardware on-the-go.

Does it work out this way every time? Of course not. Especially when you're looking at Windows PCs, prices and power fluctuate so much across the board that it's impossible to make a sweeping generalization like that. But if you're in the market for a new computer, it's worth looking into the cost of a desktop/laptop setup. Unless you're editing or gaming on-the-go, you'll probably be a lot happier with a more powerful computer at home, and a more portable computer for travel, especially if you pocket a few extra bucks doing so.

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Larklife Is the Wristband to Track Your Life [Fitness]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5949773/larklife-is-the-wristband-to-track-your-life

Lark, the folks who made the wristband alarm clock to track your sleep, now has a wristband to track your life. Called Larklife, the wristband tracks your steps taken, calories burned and distance traveled and your diet and sleep too.

Think of Larklife as a slightly more ambitious take on activity measurement wristbands like the Nike Fuelband or Jawbone Up (or Fitbit). Yes, it can count how many steps you take and then translate that to a measurement but the real potential in Larklife is its personalization to each user.

Because Larklife also keeps track of both your diet—you tap the band and the Larklife app will remind you to log your meal later—and your sleep—sleep tracking is performed by another wristband that's "inspired by pajamas"—along with your activity, Larklife literally takes your entire life into account and spits out personalized recommendations on how to improve your health. That means, ideally, Larklife will give you little daily goals for you to reach to keep you on track. Specifically:

It provides advance notice or real-time suggestions via the iOS app for small changes users should make to feel better. The individualized suggestions are a results of the user's data being analyzed on the back-end by sophisticated techniques, developed by larklife's team of experts and based on the science of circadian rhythms, or how individuals' energy levels peak and dip.

The band looks significantly wider than the Fuelband or the Jawbone Up (which could be inconvenient!) but does promise a little bit more. We'll see if it works when it comes out later this year.
The Larklife will release for $150 later this year and comes with an accompanying iOS app.
[Lark]

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Stuffing a Projector in a Tablet Might Actually Be Awesome [Tablets]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5949832/stuffing-a-projector-in-a-tablet-might-actually-be-awesome

When 3M started frankensteining its pico projectors into smartphones a few years ago as a proof of concept, it was novel, but really had no practical use in the real world. (Even for the enterprise world and its infinite powerpoint presentations). But seeing a projector built into Smart Devices' SmartQ U7 Android tablet has me full of ideas on how to use it.

The 7-inch SmartQ U7 is admittedly not the exact device that would sell me on a projector tablet. Despite having a 1024x600 resolution display, the 40 lumen projector only spits out an 854x480 picture which can be blown up to 50 inches. And though a 1 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4 Chipset and a Gig of RAM seem a bit pedestrian for $300 Android tablet—$400 if you spring for the 1.5 GHz chipset—it's clear that such a device could be improved at a rapid rate and offered at a somewhat affordable price.

Obviously, the compromise that would have to be made here would be the slimness of the tablet. But imagine being able to play games on a big screen anywhere you have a blank wall. Or instead of having a TV in your bedroom, you could just project your tablet screen onto a wall and use a wireless speaker. Or yes, maybe you would be using your tablet in the office and want to project a power point presentation or something. (I dunno!)

Not only is projector technology better now, but I'd be much more willing to sacrifice some size in a tablet than I would a smartphone. If the quality of the picture was good enough, an integrated projector is definitely something I'd want in a future tablet. [SmartQ via Lilliputing via AndroidYo via Geeky Gadgets]

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Google Play Just Gave Google TV a Reason to Exist [Google]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5949922/google-play-just-gave-google-tv-a-reason-to-exist

Google TV just became a thing you might actually want to use. According to a post on the Google TV blog, starting today, you can watch and listen to Google Play Movies, Music, and TV shows from your Google TV.

Maybe you're saying, "About time." Or, more probably, "Wait, it didn't do those things already?" Either way, Apple TV, Xbox, and every other media hub service just got an actual competitor in the new and improved Google TV.

Like those services, you can buy content from any device and watch it through Google TV. Also like Apple TV and the Xbox 360, you can buy or rent stuff from the Play Store right from Google TV.

Definitely welcome and overdue additions. Now we'll just wait to see if Google's got anything up its sleeve beyond just catching up. [Google]

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Is This the Next LG Nexus Phone? [Android]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5950083/is-this-the-next-lg-nexus-phone

We've already heard that the next Nexus phone will be made by LG and be kinda, sorta similar to the powerful LG Optimus G but this might be the first time we're getting a good look at it. A gallery of photos of an LG Android phone that looks like the Optimus G and runs stock Android has popped up at XDA developers. Could this be the next Nexus?

As you can see in the LG phone's About screen, it mentions that the model number is 'Full JellyBean on Mako'. What the heck does that mean? Android Central notes that previous Nexus devices' internal names have carried a fish theme and Mako is a type of shark.

This mystery phone certainly looks a lot like the Optimus G and if it's really the next Nexus, those gnarly rumored specs running stock Android would make for a pretty awesome phone. How do you guys like it? [XDA Developers via Android Central]

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