Intel could give Windows 8 break it has been waiting for

What will it take to help give stagnating PC sales a bit of a boost? Intel hopes that Windows 8-powered notebooks with a $200 to $300 price tag might do the trick.

I think that it's fair to say that Windows 8 hasn't been the rip-roaring success that Microsoft hoped it would be. All data seems to suggest that it hasn't jump-started the stalling PC industry. But that could all change thanks to Intel.

The chip giant is planning to work with hardware makers and Microsoft to bring to market cheap, touch-enabled Windows 8 notebooks powered by the companies upcoming Bay Trail Atom silicon.

CEO Paul Otellini hopes that "touch-enabled Intel based notebooks that are ultrathin and light using non-core processors" could come to market "as low as $200 probably."

And it's not just the cheap end of the market that Intel is interested in. Otellini also sees devices that offer "really good performance" that are going to be "hitting kind of $300 price points."

Read more at source:
How Intel could give Windows 8 the break it has been waiting for | ZDNet

 

[revmike]

I turn my car off in the fast food drive through, if the line is slow, also when waiting for a train.

 

[Coke Robot]

Ray, nah, none of that. That was a brand new car. The temps were excellent, I sat in our car myself with the window rolled down. It was 7PM and 70F. The guy just did not care about the pollution.

I do that on a regular basis walking up to cars that are running forever with someone sitting in it waiting for the wife who is e.g. shopping in the supermarket. People always look at me as if I came from Mars. They have absolutely no appreciation of the problem.

Once in front of my own house a neighbor left the car running for a whole hour babbling with another neighbor until I went out and asked her to stop the car.

This is Florida in the winter where temps are very moderate. I would understand if it were in the summer with 90F, but not when the temps are around 70F. It is just the wrong attitude.

My car in Europe stops the engine automatically when I come to a halt, e.g. at a traffic light, and resumes when I release the brake or step on the gas. That is the kind of feature which should be put into all cars.

:thumb: I agree!

 

[Coke Robot]

OK, that's different. Personally, I never leave my car running when not necessary, it just wastes fuel.

This is why I'm going to be putting a hydrogen gas generator on my car this summer. I'm sicko and tired of gas prices fluctuating EVERY bloody day and doing nothing but going up.

Although I kind of wish there was a third party device that can be installed on later model cars to shut the engine off and turn it back on instantly like newer ones...

 

[whs]

This is why I'm going to be putting a hydrogen gas generator on my car this summer

Hmm, that's adventurous. You think that is going to work. I have heard of fuel cells running on hydrogen. But can you convert a gas engine to run on it.

 

[startas]

Ray, nah, none of that. That was a brand new car. The temps were excellent, I sat in our car myself with the window rolled down. It was 7PM and 70F. The guy just did not care about the pollution.

I do that on a regular basis walking up to cars that are running forever with someone sitting in it waiting for the wife who is e.g. shopping in the supermarket. People always look at me as if I came from Mars. They have absolutely no appreciation of the problem.

Once in front of my own house a neighbor left the car running for a whole hour babbling with another neighbor until I went out and asked her to stop the car.

This is Florida in the winter where temps are very moderate. I would understand if it were in the summer with 90F, but not when the temps are around 70F. It is just the wrong attitude.

My car in Europe stops the engine automatically when I come to a halt, e.g. at a traffic light, and resumes when I release the brake or step on the gas. That is the kind of feature which should be put into all cars.

:thumb: I agree!

And how your car knows if its a traffic light or something else ? I mean, there is hundreds of situations when you have to fully stop your car, but in those situations it would be terrible to turn off the engine

 

[Coke Robot]

This is why I'm going to be putting a hydrogen gas generator on my car this summer

Hmm, that's adventurous. You think that is going to work. I have heard of fuel cells running on hydrogen. But can you convert a gas engine to run on it.

You don't actually convert the engine onto hydrogen gas, that can't be done "yet." Apparently decades ago some guy was able to do so but conveniently died. There is a video on youtube of someone using a Dodge Ram truck to power the process to run a little Geo Metro solely on hydrogen gas.

The hydrogen generator in this situation just converts your standard petrol based engine to a hybrid fuel engine. Basically, you run electrolysis on distilled water, which breaks it into two parts hydrogen gas and one part oxygen gas. The hydrogen gas gets piped into the air intake (past the O2 sensor and air filter) and can be piped to a different part in the engine. I forget where...two places are ideal as when you're at idle, the vacuum will pipe in hydrogen through one line more than the other.

The fuel cells with hydrogen I believe break up water molecules to release the electrons to run an electric motor. Hydrogen gas can be ignited like petrol, which oddly enough isn't used as an alternative fuel in the US as far as I know. I think in some European countries, there are actual hydrogen gas powered vehicles. If you ask me, it's odd why here in the US we look at electric cars as alternative transportation over gas engines even though hydrogen is the MOST abundant element in the galaxy and is rather renewable. The current internal combustion engine can easily be converted over to hydrogen gas, manufacturers can more easily retrofit their factories for hydrogen gas powered cars than electric, and the infrastructure support can be easily converted over to hydrogen gas. Why that hasn't been done? That I don't know.

Anyways, you can actually build a small little electrolysis system for about 40 dollars. I know a guy who knows several gearheads that have done that and get about 3-5 miles to the gallon more with such a simple setup. There is a company that builds hybrid hydrogen generating cells that claim very efficient and abundant hydrogen gas production. On their site with my engine type, I can theoretically gain about a good 50% increase in fuel mileage from 30 to about 43. It's a VERY pricy kit though, but if it does work, VERY worth it.

 

[whs]

Ray, nah, none of that. That was a brand new car. The temps were excellent, I sat in our car myself with the window rolled down. It was 7PM and 70F. The guy just did not care about the pollution.

I do that on a regular basis walking up to cars that are running forever with someone sitting in it waiting for the wife who is e.g. shopping in the supermarket. People always look at me as if I came from Mars. They have absolutely no appreciation of the problem.

Once in front of my own house a neighbor left the car running for a whole hour babbling with another neighbor until I went out and asked her to stop the car.

This is Florida in the winter where temps are very moderate. I would understand if it were in the summer with 90F, but not when the temps are around 70F. It is just the wrong attitude.

My car in Europe stops the engine automatically when I come to a halt, e.g. at a traffic light, and resumes when I release the brake or step on the gas. That is the kind of feature which should be put into all cars.

:thumb: I agree!

And how your car knows if its a traffic light or something else ? I mean, there is hundreds of situations when you have to fully stop your car, but in those situations it would be terrible to turn off the engine

It seems to know when to stop. E.g. when I maneuver in a parking going back and forth or when I then drive out of the parking at slow speed stopping for a pedestrian, the engine does not stop. You have to first drive at a certain speed before the system activates.

But you are right, it does not only stop at traffic lights. E.g. in stop and go traffic, it stops the first time you halt, but then when you crawl and stop all the time, it keeps running. And anyhow, there is a switch on the dash to turn it off and keep the engine running at all times. But I have never used that yet. The engine resumes instantly when you release the brake pedal ot push the accelerator. There is really little difference to an engine running all the time.

Another big gas saver the car has is a 7 speed DSG automatic transmission. That is the ultimate. Gas mileage is better than with a stick shift.

 

[whs]

I think in some European countries, there are actual hydrogen gas powered vehicles

That is true. In Germany we even have a few hydrogen gas stations. But the cars are all fuel cell technology. Those are test vehicles from Mercedes, BMW and others.

It would be interesting to hear how you are doing when you are done. Maybe you can give us an update then.

My new car I bought in Germany does about 45MpG on a regular gas engine. Would be 55MpG on a turbo diesel but I don't drive enough to make up for the price difference of a turbo diesel. They are the ultimate engine though - more power, especially torque, very quiet and last 3 times longet than a gas engine. But there is an appr. $2000 price difference for the same class engine.