Una red social para el cambio social

FBI Examines Man's Computer for Clues in New York Serial Killer Investigation Authorities searched a computer belonging to a pimp linked to a dead prostitute found alongcompaq Presario C783EF CD DVD Drive a beach highway on New York's Long Island, hoping a record of her liaisons could lead them to a possible serial killer, law enforcement officials said. The FBI examined the laptop of the pimp, New York City resident Akeem Cruz, for a record of Megan Waterman's customers, the official told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Cruz, of Brooklyn, is not considered a suspect in the disappearance of Waterman and three other prostitutes who bodies were found strewn last December near the side of a remote highway leading to Long Island's Jones Beach, the official said. Cruz' attorney, Robert Napolitano,compaq Presario C783TU CD DVD Drive didn't immediately return a telephone message on Wednesday. He said earlier this week that his client -- currently imprisoned in Maine for a cocaine conviction -- would have granted permission for a search of his computer. Napolitano said his client has cooperated with investigators. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment on the investigation into Cruz's computer. Authorities say Cruz was one of the last people seen with Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine, last June when she disappeared after traveling to a hotel in Hauppauge, N.Y., to meet clients for sex. In addition to the computer search, investigators have questioned hotel guests who stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at the same time Waterman was there. Authorities believe a serial killer may be responsible for the deaths of Waterman and three other women in their 20s, whose bodies were found near hers. Police have not identified any suspects. Police have since turned upcompaq Presario C784TU CD DVD Drive six other sets of remains along the highway in recent weeks but have not definitively linked any of them to the deaths of the four prostitutes. The recent discoveries have prompted a wide-scale search along a 15-mile stretch of the highway. On Thursday, the FBI deployed a fixed-wing plane with high-resolution photo imaging to help detect possible human remains. Detective Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said in a press conference Thursday that no human bones were found during a limited air and land search, though he said it will take a week to 10 days before the FBI images are available. Police sources say the remains of the 10 victims could be the work of two serial killers, according to local press accounts. A Nassau police spokeswoman, however, would not confirm to FoxNews.com that police are hunting two killers, saying only that authorities are waiting for reports from the medical examiner on the age, sex and condition of the latest remains found. "We're still waiting for those reports," the spokeswoman said. "We can't confirm anything -- that's all speculative right now." This unprecedentedcompaq Presario C785EM CD DVD Drive service allows New York Computer Help to further personalize its technology service. Joe Silverman, CEO of New York Computer Help, explained, "iPhone users are able to customize their apps, edit their photos, and select their playlists. Why shouldn't they be able to choose the color of their phones?" Mr. Silverman also remarked that iPhone users shouldn't settle for buying bulky covers, cases, and bumpers which mask the iPhone's beautiful design. Instead, the iPhone's natural design may be enhanced with this new iPhone color service.

BlackBerry PlayBook vs. iPad You need three things to compete with Apple's iPad tablet computer: a gorgeous, easy-to-use device compaq Presario C780EL CD DVD Drivethat people will love, a bustling app store and an attractive price tag. Nobody has been able to match the iPad thus far. But the PlayBook, the first effort from BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion, has emerged as one of the strongest contenders. On the surface, the PlayBook looks similar to other iPad competitors: Its slick touch screen measures 7 inches diagonally, smaller than the iPad's but comparable with those of others. It has front and rear cameras for snapping photos and video conferencing and a black rubberized plastic back and sides. What's different is the software powering the PlayBook. Most non-iPad tabletscompaq Presario C780ES CD DVD Drive use Google's Android software; RIM developed its own -- a smart decision, yielding a device that is a pleasure to navigate and filled with cool features. Although RIM's software was built from scratch, it has hints of the BlackBerry phone's interface. When it goes on sale on Tuesday, the cheapest version will cost $499 -- the same as the cheapest iPad. It comes with Wi-Fi capabilities and 16 gigabytes of memory. A model with 32 GB will cost $599, and the 64 GB version will go for $699. Sprint plans a version that works over cellular connections this summer, rivaling the ability of different iPad models to connect to the Verizon or AT&T network. Unfortunately, the PlayBook isn't yet much of a competitor on the app front: There are just 3,000 applications currently optimized for the tablet, and during my testing it appeared unable to download App World apps available for BlackBerry smartphones. By contrast, there are more than 65,000 apps availablecompaq Presario C780LA CD DVD Drive for the iPad, which can also run iPhone apps. (Apple offers more than 350,000 apps total.) And while it's unclear exactly how many tablet-specific Apps there are for Android, Android tablets can run any of the more than 150,000 apps in the Android Market. But the PlayBook aims to catch up, in a way: Later this year, it will be able to run Android apps, too. In my hands, the PlayBook felt solid and easy to use. There are just a few buttons on the top for adjusting volume and playing or pausing music or videos. There's also a tiny button for turning on the device -- so teeny, in fact, that I regretted trimming my nails right before testing. Finding my way around the PlayBook was delightfully easy and fast because it has a speedy processor. At the top of the main page sit device settings and alerts for things such as software updates. Across the bottom, you see a scroll of apps that you can swipe through or expand to fill the screen by swiping a finger upward. In the middle of the screen are small thumbnails of your open apps; you can slide your finger left or right to sort through these and pick or dismiss them with a tap or a flick. One cool feature: Open apps remaincompaq Presario C780TU CD DVD Drive active even when you're looking at them from this view. So if you open the camera and later sort through your open apps, the viewfinder will still be working in the tiny thumbnail of the camera app. Even though the PlayBook is smaller than the iPad, its screen was bright, colors looked rich and images were sharp. I felt immersed watching videos -- a combination of the excellent display and simple frame surrounding. The PlayBook supports Flash video playback -- something the iPad doesn't do -- and HTML5 for rich video content. Thus, you can browse the Web much the way you do on a computer. There are a few annoying quirks: For example, the PlayBook took a long time when scrolling through long documents or Web pages. In general, though, the PlayBook's screen was very touch sensitive, and I especially liked how the PlayBook takes advantage of it. Instead of hitting the power button to wake up the device, you can make one long swipe upward with a finger. When using an application, a long upward swipe will bring you back to the main page that shows the settings and your applications. Make a hard swipe to the left or right to flip through your other open applications. Another neat trick: You can zoom in on Flash videos by spreading two fingers on the screen. Like so many other tablets,compaq Presario C781TU CD DVD Drive the PlayBook includes cameras for taking photos and videos and for video chatting. On the rear, the PlayBook sports a pretty simple 5-megapixel camera that took decent photos (no flash, though) and videos. The 3-megapixel front camera is probably more suited to video calls. I wasn't able to try it, though, as RIM isn't planning to roll out a video chat app until after the device is available. Of course, RIM is known for its focus on business users, and the PlayBook can do plenty of work, too. It includes word processing, spreadsheet and slideshow apps and can easily be attached to an HD TV through its Micro HDMI port (for presentations or, if you're like me, streaming online movies to a flat screen). Its onscreen virtual keyboard was surprisingly accurate and took very little time to get used to. And if you have a BlackBerry phone, a nifty feature called BlackBerry Bridge links the two devices over Bluetooth. When I tested it, it wasn't fully functional. But it promises to let you easily do things on the tablet such as using the BlackBerry Messenger app on your phone and accessing BlackBerry e-mails and calendar. For a business user who feels constrained by the BlackBerry's small screen, this could be a nice complement. RIM expects the PlayBook to get eight to 10 hours of battery life while multitasking. I got about six hours while surfing the Web, streaming Internet radio, checking e-mails and streaming videos. Maybe this was actually a hint that I should limit my music video habit. The PlayBook is an impressive tablet -- it has to be, considering the iPad's head start. And if RIM can ramp up compaq Presario C782TU CD DVD Driveits app offerings, it will be an even heartier contender.

Razer Switchblade Portable Gaming PC Heads to China The Razer Switchblade, a small portable PC with a keyboard that can be customized for gaming,compaq Presario B3827AP CD DVD Drive will first be released in China and feature games developed by one of the country's' largest Internet companies, Tencent. Razer, the U.S. company behind the gaming platform, made the announcement on Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. The company has touted the Razer Switchblade as a revolutionary product that will allow users to enjoy PC games on the fly. The netbook-like device runs Windows 7 on Intel's latest Atom processor, the Z670. While it can be used like any other PC, Razer built it for gaming. It has a 7-inch touch screen, and a programmable keyboard built over an LCD panel so that keyboard legends can be changed from a standard QWERTY layout to a gaming configuration, displaying specialized icons depending on what's being played. The Razer Switchblade was shown off in its conceptual compaq Presario B3828AP CD DVD Drivestages at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. But now the product is being localized to meet the demands of Chinese gamers, said Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan. "We think we have a phenomenal opportunity in China," he said. "I think that our focus is on China, and then we'll explore the rest of the world." The country has 457 million Internet users. This has helped support an online gaming market that reached about $4.8 billion in transaction volume last year, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. The Razer Switchblade will ship with four games installed. Tencent, China's largest online game provider and operator of the country's most popular instant-messaging client, QQ, will supply the games. They may be offered in other markets when the Razer Switchblade goes on sale elsewhere, Tan said. In developing the Razer Switchblade, the company also partnered with Intel, which wants to promote its low-power Atom processor chips. compaq Presario B3829AP CD DVD DriveIntel has been involved in optimizing the device, and will help market the product for its eventual launch, said Brad Graff, an Intel director of marketing. Razer provided no launch date for the device, saying only that more announcements will come soon over the course of the year. The device will be "affordable," Tan said.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer first-impressions If you’d asked us yesterday which Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet we were most excited about, compaq Presario B3821AP CD DVD Drivewe’d probably have said Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1, or maybe its smaller 8.9 sibling. Now we’re not so sure. SlashGear caught up with ASUS today for the official launch of the Eee Pad Transformer, the company’s 10.1-inch Tegra 2 tablet that can be optionally paired with a detachable, battery-toting keyboard dock. Announced back at CES 2011, and promptly lost amid the flurry of similar slates, it turns out that ASUS could well have a winner on its hands. Read on for our first-impressions. At 271 x 177 x 12.98 mm the Eee Pad Transformer isn’t as thin as the iPad 2 or the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and nor, at 680g, is it as light. Still, it’s a neatly portable slate in its own right, with a curved, textured back panel and brushed-metal effect sides. Ports are more comprehensive than Samsung’s, too, with mini HDMI 1.3a along with a microSD card reader, and there are stereo speakers, a microphone, headset jack and a proprietary socket for the keyboard dock (more on which in a moment). Twin cameras – 1.2-megapixels on the front and 5-megapixels on the back – along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR round out the main specs, plus of course there’s the 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of flash storage. It’s the display that’s most impressive initially, however, a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 IPS panel supporting 10-point multitouch and covered with a sheet of toughened Gorilla Glass. We can’t say scientifically how it compares to the display on the iPad 2, but with incredibly broadcompaq Presario B3825AP CD DVD Drive viewing angles – we got almost side-on without seeing any color inversion – in all four orientations, and indecently rich colors, it’s one of the best tablet displays we’ve seen to-date. Some of ASUS’ demo units were a little finicky with their touch-responsiveness, but we’re putting that down to calibration issues as it wasn’t consistent across all of the Eee Pads. A brilliant screencompaq Presario B3822AP CD DVD Drive is one thing, but we were equally impressed with the keyboard. ASUS will be offering it separately to the Eee Pad Transformer, but it’s really an essential part of the value proposition. The chiclet keys are are on a par with those on an ASUS Eee PC netbook, with a row of Android-specific media and shortcut buttons and a responsive touchpad that supports tap-to-click. The Transformer docks in neatly with a double-click, and the hinge mechanism is stiff but reassuringly solid. The keyboard adds a couple of extra USB 2.0 ports and a memory card reader, but more importantly there’s an integrated battery. This promises to boost the slate’s 9.5 hour runtime to a whopping 16 hours, automatically recharging the Transformer so that it’s as close to full as possible when you later remove it from the dock. The supplied AC adapter has two plugs, allowing you to recharge both sections simultaneously. The battery adds the necessary weight to keep the whole thing stable when clipped together, adding up to a setup we far prefer to Acer’s optional Iconia Tab W500 dock. ASUS has done a little modification to Honeycomb, with a customized homescreen that has an active desktop with weather alerts, email counter and calendar. There’s also a great Live Wallpaper which displays the Eee Pad’s remaining battery as a water level that gradually sinks down the screen (complete with some floating ice cubes). Tilt the Transformer and the water sloshes around accordingly. While it’s a visual gimmick, it also makes checking battery status far easier than peering down at the tiny icon in the Honeycomb dock. Unfortunately, ASUS tells us, Google isn’t entirely happy with it, and so there’s an ongoing battle to ensure the Eee Pad launches with it installed. There’ll also be a preloaded copy of Polaris Office 3, for creating and editing Office documents compaq Presario B3823AP CD DVD Drive– ASUS is pretty keen that the Eee Pad Transformer be seen as a content creation tool, rather than just a consumption one – as well as some of the company’s own apps. They include MyNet, a DLNA streaming client, MyLibrary, an ebook reader app, MyCloud, for accessing content stored on ASUS’ WebStorage (a year’s unlimited access to which is bundled with the Transformer) and MyDesktop, a remote log-in tool allowing you access to your PC, Mac or Android desktop. Performance was on a par with other Tegra 2 tablets we’ve used, with responsive pinch-zooming and apps flicking around neatly. The HDMI output upscales to 1080p nicely – browsing was particularly impressive on ASUS’ big demo screen, though we also played a few sneaky levels of Angry Birds – though of course there’s the DLNA support if you’d rather cut the cord. The only real omission is 3G, which will follow on in models a couple of months down the line. Pricing – ￡379 for the 16GB WiFi model – puts the Eee Pad Transformer ￡20 less than the entry-level iPad 2 in the UK. It’s arguably not as polished as the iOS slate, but that’s not to say there’s not an audience for it and Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard support isn’t as slick and solid a solution as the ASUS keyboard dock (which pushes the price up to ￡429). We’ll save our fullcompaq Presario B3826AP CD DVD Drive verdict for when we’ve had a proper chance to review the Eee Pad Transformer, but there’s undoubtedly a lot to like here. With the keyboard attached it’s a solid,compaq Presario B3824AP CD DVD Drive usable notebook alternative, while the slate alone is every bit the web-surfing experience of the Motorola XOOM or Samsung’s new Galaxy Tabs. More details in the video below. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer hands-on:

Early-Bird Registration Closing April 15 for IEEE Computer Society Software Experts Summit at the Computer History Museum The early-bird registrationCOMPAQ Presario A970EL CD DVD Drive deadline is closing on April 15 for the Software Experts Summit, scheduled for May 17 at the Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum. Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Software magazine, and AMD, the high-level, one-day summit will feature keynote speeches from leading names in the software engineering field discussing "Managing the Pace of Innovation." The early-bird registration deadline is closing on April 15 for the Software Experts Summit, scheduled for May 17 at the Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum. Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Software magazine, and AMD, the high-level, one-day summit will feature keynote speeches from leading names in the software engineering field discussing "Managing the Pace of Innovation." Registration is $90 before the early-bird deadline. To register, visit http://www.notebook-laptop-accessories.com. The summitCOMPAQ Presario A970EM CD DVD Drive will provide opportunities to network with software engineering thought leaders who will share techniques for keeping up with business innovations. Increasing globalization, evolving technologies, the economic downturn, and new regulations have led to a changing competitive landscape. To obtain the tools to keep your software engineering knowledge sharp in this environment, register for the summit at http://www.notebook-laptop-accessories.com. Gary McGraw, CTO of software security consulting firm Cigital Inc., will deliver a keynote speech on “Software Security and the Building Security in Maturity Model (BSIMM).”He is a globally recognized authority on software security and the author of “Java Security,” “Building Secure Software,” and six other best-selling books. He also edits the Addison-Wesley Software Security series and produces the Silver Bullet Security Podcast for IEEE Security & Privacy magazine. Grady Booch, who served as chief scientist of Rational Software Corp. from its founding until its acquisition by IBM, will deliver the afternoon keynote--“Everything You Know Is Wrong!”—via Second Life. An original author of Unified Modeling Language and several Rational products, Booch is an IBM Fellow whose six books include “UML Users Guide” and “Object-Oriented Analysis with Applications.” Booch is editor of IEEE Software's On Architecture column. The summit will include six information-packed sessions grouped under the themes: “Making the Right Decisions” and “Experience with Agile Development and Innovation.” Forrest Shull, editor in chief of IEEE Software and senior scientist at Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering in Maryland, will moderate. Jan Bosch, vice president of engineering process at Intuit, will address “How Speed Drives Innovation.” Independent consultant and retrospectives guru Linda Rising will hold a forum for participants to share their stories, followed by a session on making better decisions. Pekka Abrahamsson,COMPAQ Presario A970EO CD DVD Drive a computer science professor at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in Italy, will talk about 60MEUR, which lets companies combine cloud technologies with lean software processes and new business models. Grigori Melnik, a senior program manager in Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices Group, will lead a session on “Making Distributed Agile Work.” Rebecca Wirfs-Brock, a leader in developing practical design methodologies, will head a session on “Managing Project Risk and Incremental Design Innovation.” Attending the Software Experts Summit will help technology professionals gain knowledge of engaging and cutting-edge software engineering topics, such as: software security and the BSIMM initiative innovation through composition-oriented engineering software decisions under time pressures software functionality fundamentals and best-practices, and distributed agile development teams. About the IEEE Computer Society With nearly 85,000 members, COMPAQ Presario A970ES CD DVD Drivethe IEEE Computer Society is the world’s leading organization of computing professionals. Founded in 1946, and the largest of IEEE’s 38 societies, the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology. The Society serves the information and career-development needs of today’s computing researchers and practitioners with technical journals, magazines, conferences, books, conference publications, certifications, and online courses.

Local computer software-development companies are watching closelyCOMPAQ Presario A970ED CD DVD Drive as discussion at the State House starts this week on Governor Chafee’s plan to overhaul the state sales tax. At issue is whether their industry, which state leaders have identified as one of the keys to rebuilding Rhode Island’s stagnant economy, will be subject to the governor’s proposed 6-percent tax on services. State officials maintain that services provided by computer and software consultants will not be affected by the proposal, though the administration does propose collecting sales tax on mass-produced software that is distributed electronically. “Generally, we areCOMPAQ Presario A970EF CD DVD Drive trying not to tax those knowledge economy-based businesses and those professional services and consultant services businesses,” said Paul L. Dion, chief of the Office of Revenue Analysis at the state Department of Revenue. He has said that proposed language that would have imposed a 6-percent tax on services provided by “software publishers” will be struck out in future amendments. That language, Dion said, was “mistakenly” included in the governor’s proposal. “We were writing this bill under pretty tight deadlines.” But software developers and consultants — including former gubernatorial candidate and Moderate Party founder Kenneth J. Block — say they have yet to receive a definitive answer from the administration. Allan Tear, owner of The Aptus Collaborative, a Providence-based firm that helps companies launch new products and services, says the concern is that Chafee’s plan would put local companies at a “significant disadvantage” with their competitors when vying for large, out-of-state contracts. “You’re taking about potentially adding 6 percent to a $25,000 to $100,000 project,” he said. Dion said that computer-software companies would be affected by the proposed sales-tax changes only ifCOMPAQ Presario A970EE CD DVD Drive they created and sold software aimed at a broad audience. “If you write a program like Microsoft Excel and sell it to a bunch of companies, then, sure, that falls into that category,” he said, pointing to proposed language that would tax so-called “pre-written computer software.” Custom software created for a specific client would not be subject to the tax under the proposal, he said. Dion says this would bring Rhode Island in line with the majority of states. As of 2007, at least 29 states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont, taxed prewritten software that’s distributed electronically or by “load and leave,” as Chafee proposes. (All states with a sales tax, including Rhode Island, already tax prewritten software sold in a hard-copy format.) But Block, who lost toCOMPAQ Presario A970EG CD DVD Drive Chafee in a November and is president of Simpatico Software Systems, said that consultant work done by software developers and programmers could still be subject to the 6-percent sales tax if the state considers it “temporary help services,” which is another category of services that the governor proposes to tax. “I’m 99-percent sure — with the caveat that I’m not a lawyer — that that’s not the case,” Dion said in response. “That statute deals with staffing agencies, and I don’t believe [Block’s company is] a staffing agency.” Chafee proposes lowering the state sales-tax rate from 7 percent to 6 percent and adding a number of currently exempt items to the tax, including services such as landscaping, dry cleaning and haircuts. He also proposes a new 1-percent sales tax on some currently exempt goods, like clothing, water and coffins. House and Senate finance committees have scheduled hearings on the plan for Wednesday and Thursday.

36 Hours in HK IN HK, that most cosmopolitan of cities, contrasts abound. Ladies toting Gucci handbags wait two hours in dingy alleys for a coveted bowl of noodles. Incense-filled Buddhist temples fight for space with gleaming new high-rises. Cutting-edge art galleries share a block with junk shops. Always reinventing itself — a recent example being the rebirth of the former marine police headquarters as the 1881 Heritage, housing a luxury mall and boutique hotel — HK is a city of constant change. Its coiffed, work-hard-play-harder professionals attract the world’s most inventive chefs to their city, while the nonstop shoppers — soldiering on, late into the night — get first shot at the latest in fashion and design. Somehow, over seven million residents have managed to carve out a niche in this buzzing, compact, vertical city. Friday 5 p.m. 1) START WITH ART HK has lagged behind places like New York and London when it comes to the arts. But recent high-profile arrivals like Ben Brown Fine Arts and the Gagosian Gallery, coupled with the city’s plans to develop the West Kowloon Cultural District over the next decade, signal a creative awakening. Head to trendy Sheung Wan and its independent galleries to see the latest in contemporary international art. For photography, try the Upper Station (22 Upper Station Street; 852-3486-2474; theupperstation.com), ACER Travelmate 8005 CD DVD Drive known for work that examines HK’s changing identity. The nonprofit Para/Site Art Space (4 Po Yan Street; 852-2517-4620; para-site.org.hk) hosts exhibitions that often feature political or social commentary by emerging artists from places like Indonesia and Thailand. 8 p.m. 2) CULINARY RENAISSANCE Following a $65 million renovation involving designers like Colin Cowie and Charles Allem, the 50-year-old Hotel Miramar in Tsim Tsa Shui was reborn as the Mira Hotel in late 2009. Not only are the rooms getting raves, but its Cantonese restaurant,ACER Travelmate 8004LMi CD DVD Drive Cuisine Cuisine (118 Nathan Road; 852-2315-5222; themirahotel.com), scored two Michelin stars this year under Ken Yu, known for his use of fresh ingredients and exquisite homemade sauces. Dishes like honey-glazed barbecued pork (130 HK dollars, or about $17 at 7.6 HK dollars to the U.S. dollar) and pan-fried cod with pomelo sauce (240 dollars) are served under a ceiling of suspended glass balls. 10:30 p.m. 3) SING IT OUT Karaoke bars come inACER TravelMate 8004LCi CD DVD Drive all shapes and sizes on Kowloon, but to see fashionable 20- and 30-somethings in full crooner mode, head to Cloudnine on Minden Avenue’s night-life strip (No. 8; 852-2723-6383). In the dimly lighted back room, the casual cool crowd — men in designer jeans and sneakers, women with blunt bangs and in miniskirts — share bottles of Johnnie Walker and tackle syrupy Cantopop ballads while lounging on velour couches. For a breath of fresh air, head across the street for a glass of wine (66 HK dollars) on the leafy terrace at Courtney’s (No. 7, the Minden Hotel; 852-2739-7777; theminden.com). Saturday 9 a.m. 4) TRADITIONAL TRACK For over 100 years, compact double-decker trams (hktramways.com) have been rumbling back and forth across HK Island. They still provide one of the cheapest and most scenic ways to experience the city’s daily life with a bird’s-eye view. Hop on anywhere along the line, grab a seat on the upper deck and watch the colorful panorama unfold — outdoor markets spilling over with choy sum and bok choy; storefronts strung with glistening Peking duck; old-school barber shops; and high-rises budding from the hills. A one-way ride is just 2 HK dollars. 11 a.m. 5) NOODLE MANIA Disembark near the Central MTR station and walk toward D’Aguilar Street to partake of another HK obsession: Butao Ramen (11-12 Wo On Lane; bowl of soup from 75 HK dollars). HKer Meter Chen sampled more than 800 bowls of ramen during his 15 years in Japan before convincing his favorite Tokyo chef to join him in opening this tiny 15-seat dining spot last October. Devotees wait in line for up to two hours to slurp one of the day’s 200 bowls, which are filled with a salty pork-rib-based broth, thin noodles and finely sliced barbecued pork, ear mushrooms and scallions. 12:30 p.m. 6) THE BRITISH ARE COMING The British fashion designer Gareth Pugh opened his first store in the world last year on Ice House Street (No. 10; 852-2801-5332), sharing the block with Comme des Gar?ons and Ann Demeulemeester. His goth-rock designs — cropped tops made of safety pins; second-skin leather pants — are housed in a creepy, cavernous space. A short walk away is Rupert Sanderson’s first flagship outside of Britain (8 On Lan Street; 852-2530-3391; rupertsanderson.com), where you’ll find patent oxfords and sky-high python-skin platforms. 3 p.m. 7) TEA TIME Wind your way through pond- and bird-filled HK Park to reach the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (10 Cotton Tree Drive; 852-2869-0690; hk.art.museum; free), which chronicles over 3,000 years of Chinese tea drinking. Housed in a 167-year-old Greek Revival mansion that was once the residence of the commander of the British forces, the collection includes intricately designed tea services with flourishes like mother-of-pearl inlay and hand-painted fish and swallows. Afterward, sip a perfectly steeped cup (from 38 HK dollars) at the adjacent antiques-filled Lock Cha Tea House (852-2801-7177; lockcha.com). 7:30 p.m. 8) CHEF’S TABLE In response to astronomical rents and ruthless ACER TravelMate 8004LCib CD DVD Drivelandlords, chef-run private kitchens — speakeasy-like restaurants in residential buildings — have taken HK by storm. A noteworthy newcomer is TBLS (31 Hollywood Road, seventh floor; 852-2544-3433; tbls-kitchenstudio.com), where the young Vietnamese-American chef Que Vinh Dang prepares a six-course set menu (580 HK dollars) that changes monthly. The open kitchen takes center stage in the minimalist space, producing dishes like cassoulet pot pie with homemade sausage, tomato-basil alphabet soup with a wagyu beef sloppy Joe, and “instant sangría”: macerated fruit, homemade rainbow sorbet and red wine. To secure one of the 26 seats, book at least a month in advance. 10 p.m. 9) SHAKE IT UP The cocktail revolution has hit HK’s shores, led by year-old Lily & Bloom (33 Wyndham Street; 852-2810-6166; lily-bloom.com). The New York firm AvroKO (the Stanton Social, Public) designed the brasserie-meets-supper club space — black banquettes, wrought-iron chandeliers, vintage glassware — and the Milk & Honey alum Christy Pope consulted on the menu, which includes the Old Cuban (120 HK dollars), made with 23-year-old rum, mint and lime; and a blackberry-pineapple sidecar (110 dollars). At boudoir-themed Varga Lounge (36 Staunton Street; 852-2104-9697; greenflashgroup.com.hk), sip signature tipples like the absinthe-and-pineapple Green Fairy (70 dollars) among images of ’50s pinup girls and retro furniture. Sunday 10 a.m. 10) HOT BUNS Scoring a seat at the dim sum house Tim Ho Wan (2-20 Kwong Wa Street; 852-2332-2896) should be your main mission of the day. The chef Mak Pui Gor left his post at the Four Seasons’ three-star Lung King Heen in 2009 to open this crammed, hole-in-the-wall, which received its own star soon after opening. Everything is amazing here, but the sugarcoated baked barbecued pork buns (14 HK dollars) are superb. Waits can be as long as four hours and you’ll need to be pushy — don’t hesitate to repeatedly show your number to the gruff lady who runs the show and demand an update (you can ask for a wait estimate and return later). It’s worth it. 1 p.m. 11) SPIRITED GARDENS The tranquil, bonsai-filled grounds and lotus ponds at Chi Lin Nunnery (5 Chi Lin Drive; 852-2354-1888; chilin.org) are a welcome respite from the urban bustle. Founded in 1934 but rebuilt in the 1990s, the wide-eaved Tang Dynasty-style wooden pavilions that make up the elaborate temple complex were built without a single nail. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of the shorn, brown- and gray-robed nuns placing orchids and bowls of fruit at the feet of gold-cloaked deities, just as they’ve done for decades. IF YOU GO The sprawling minimalist rooms at the Upper House (88 Queensway; 852-3968-1111; upperhouse.com) in Pacific Place, by the HK interior designer Andre FuACER TravelMate 8004LM CD DVD Drive , offer commanding harbor and mountain views coupled with king-size beds, ACER Travelmate 8004LMib CD DVD Drive light wood paneling and limestone-clad baths. Doubles from 3,300 HK dollars, about $432. Cherry red and lime green Arne Jacobsen Egg chairs punctuate the muted, technologically thoughtful rooms (in-room PC, Blu-ray player, mobile phone for guests’ use) at the design-savvy Mira (118 Nathan Road; 852-2368-1111; themirahotel.com), located among Tsim Sha Tsui’s many shops and restaurants. Doubles start at 1,615 dollars. Occupying the top 16 floors of a 118-story building, the city’s tallest, the Ritz-Carlton (1 Austin Road West; 852-2263-2263; ritzcarlton.com) is making a triumphant return to HK. Introductory rates from 4,088 dollars.

Lenovo President Sees Tablets Capturing 20% Of PC Market Talk with Lenovo President and Chief Operating Officer Rory Read about business and you’re likely to see him assume a ‘Rocky’-style boxing pose, fists raised. The stance is shorthand for Lenovo’s “protect and attack” philosophy. The protect part means the PC maker plans to defend its traditional strengths, such as its China business and corporate computer Thinkpad brand. The attack part stands for the new opportunities Lenovo aims to pursue, including emerging geographical markets and mobile devices. Leading Lenovo’s attack: ACER Travelmate 8002 CD DVD Drive the company’s first tablet computers, dubbed LePad. The first LePad, a 10-inch device that runs on Google’s Android operating system, went on sale in China in March. A slightly updated LePad will hit the U.S. market in June. Though the category is still young, Read expects tablets to capture 15 to 18% of the PC market in about five years. Read compares the momentum behind tablets to the popularity that netbooks enjoyed at their peak. “Netbooks are on the wane,” said Read in an interview. “You see them blurring back into the notebook [category].” Lenovo has high expectations for the LePad, particularly because the June launch will enable the tablet to ship with a version of Android specifically built for tablets’ larger screens. Lenovo, in fact, waited for that Android build, known as 3.0 or Honeycomb, to release LePad. Read, who has publicly commented on Android’s mismatch with tablets prior to Honeycomb, stands by his earlier statements. “Android evolved from a 3.5-inch ACER Travelmate 8003 CD DVD Drivephone screen,” Read explained. Companies that applied earlier versions of Android to tablets, did so “before the right time” and were forced to “stretch” the operating system to fit the bigger displays, he contends. The emergence of Honeycomb, which Google is currently distributing to device manufacturers, marks a transition for Android. This summer, when the LePad becomes available, the “Android environment will be ready for tablets,” said Read. The LePad global launch has been a lengthy process. Lenovo first showed LePad at the January 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Read said the company is committed to “[not introducing] products before their time.” Lenovo appears to be applying that same logic to its smartphone business. Though the company sells a popular, Android-based handset in China called the LePhone, Read said Lenovo has no immediate plans to enter the U.S. smartphone market. The company’s preference is to debut new products in China and the rest of Asia, followed by emerging markets. Mature markets like the U.S. come last because they are crowded with strong competitors and cost more in terms of advertising and marketing, he added. Lenovo’s patience extends to experimental product categories like smartbooks. An early proponent of these lightweight,ACER Travelmate 8003LMi CD DVD Drive“always-on” computing devices, the company exhibited one of the first smartbooks at CES in January 2010. The device never made it to store shelves, but Read said similar gadgets may come to market in the future. “An Android tablet could be made in clamshell form,” said Read. Such a device would essentially be a smartbook, he noted, because it would share the same basic characteristics. Other PC rivals, such as Acer, have been rocked by management changes in recent weeks. Read said Lenovo should be able to avoid upheaval by sticking to its “protect and attack” plan. “We have no disagreement on strategy and what we want to do to win,” he said. To play up its mobile device business, Lenovo is preparing a global marketing campaign under its new Chief Marketing Officer, David Roman, who was recruited from HP last year. The campaign will position Lenovo devices as productivityACER Travelmate 8004 CD DVD Drive machines by emphasizing the way they fit “those who do” – meaning, people who are effective and decisive, said Read. The campaign will kick off later this year.

Nvidia, Asus put the clamps on GTX 590 voltage Apologies for being slow on the uptake with this news; I was out of the office on family business late last week. The fallout from the kinda-exploding GeForce GTX 590 cards continues, with both Nvidia and Asus taking additional steps to prevent the catastrophic release of the magic smoke sealed inside each and every card. The main cause of the problem, as we've noted,ACER TravelMate 522TXV CD DVD Drive appeared to be excessive overvolting during overclocking attempts and the failure of the card's onboard power-protection circuitry to prevent the worst. We first understood this problem to be confined to an early driver set which shipped out to reviewers—and potentially to end-users, I believe—on a CD enclosed with the card. We used slightly later drivers in our testing, prior to the GTX 590's release, and the card correctly slowed down clock speeds during our too-aggressive overclocking and overvolting attempts, saving us from fiery grief. We now understand part of the potent cocktail of smoky death may have also been a modified video BIOS shipped on Asus cards that allowed more extreme overvolting than the 1.025V peak we attempted. (Since our review unit was a reference model directly from Nvidia, we weren't able to venture much beyond that point.) Now, Nvidia and Asus have made further adjustments in order to prevent problems. The biggest news on this front,ACER TravelMate 5230 CD DVD Drive in our view, is that Nvidia has put the clamps on GTX 590 voltage in its drivers. We shot down a rumor last week that the public-release 267.91 drivers somehow reduced the performance of a stock-clocked GTX 590. They simply do not. However, we've since learned Nvidia has capped the voltage at the default 938 mV on GTX 590 cards starting in release 267.91. We've confirmed that the latest 270.51 betas will not allow us to raise our GTX 590's voltage at all using MSI's Afterburner utility. This driver-based cap means that even fairly modest overclocking may no longer be feasible with the GTX 590. Our so-called WICKED config only took the GPU core to 690MHz, and getting there required a bump to 963 mV. With Nvidia's latest drivers, a modest overclocked config like WICKED is not viable. The clock speed slider is willing, but the voltage is weak. GTX 590 owners will have to settle for whatever minor frequency increases they can achieve at stock voltages. Given the way our GTX 590 card tolerated a reasonable bump up in voltage, we think this zero-tolerance voltage cap is probably a PR-driven overreaction. Then again, our WICKED config admittedly drew quite a bit of power—enough to make us uncomfortable. Either way, unfortunately, this change means GTX 590 owners will be robbed of what little headroom their cards may have in store. We'll call it the Way-Extreme ACER TravelMate 5230 Series CD DVD Drive Amperage Kap, or WEAK. Meanwhile, Asus has released a new video BIOS for its GTX 590 cards that apparently limits its VoltageTweak overvolting feature to more manageable levels. Some folks have taken the release of this BIOS as confirmation that all GTX 590 cards have a problem, but Nvidia tells us it has not issued an official BIOS update for the GTX 590. Fuzdilla got an official statement saying the same. Asus appears to be the sole source of this updated video BIOS. Incidentally, one of the juicier rumors we've heard in this whole affair is about that Sweclockers video of a GTX 590 going poof. Some of you have wondered how the site happened to be filming that GTX 590 exactly at the point of its death. We wondered the same, until a well-placed source hinted that the card in the video was not the first to die at the hands of that particular reviewer. We hear Sweclockers may have sacrificed its second review unit, a replacement card, in order to obtain that dramatic video footage, recreating the conditions of the first card's failure with the camera rolling. If true, wow. One more bit ACER Travelmate 524 CD DVD Drive of info for you. We've run the GTX 590 (at stock clocks) through the bulk of our GPU test suite using the new 270.51 beta drivers to see whether there are any notable performance gains, and the answer is no. Nvidia has cited some frame rate gains in specific games at specific settings for several cards, including the GeForce GTX 560 and 580 in single-card and SLI configurations, but none of those scenarios overlap directly with the games and settings used in our test suite. Outside of those scenarios, pretty much nothing has changed, as far as we can tell. You'll still want to update your drivers in order to take advantage of the Dragon Age 2 optimizations, but don't expect too much beyond that.