Top Laptops Comparison: Lenovo vs. HP vs. Dell.com

With three companies enjoying longstanding reputations for success, warranties which are largely equal to each other save for occasional deals, and an almost equally spotty record for service and complaints from customers across the board, these are three companies whose laptops just about beg you to get out there and kick some tires to find out which products are best for you. In this case we thought it best to do a more in-depth look at the laptops each company offered at each level, low-end, mid-level and high-end. Read on for an in-depth comparison at all places along that spectrum.

Low End Laptops

HP Pavilion

Features
Cost: $467
Display: 15.6 inches, 1366 x 768 pixels
Processor: 1.9 Gigahertz Advanced Micro Devices A4-3305M, 4 Gigabytes Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
Graphics: Advanced Micro Devices Radeon HD 6480G
Pros
fair display quality
processing speed adequate for low-level software
processing speed mostly adequate for mid-level software
smooth browsing
Cons
no backlit keyboard
no 1080p display
no heavy gaming

Dell Inspiron

Features
Cost : $471
Display : 15.6 inches, 1366x768 pixels
Processor : 2.4 Gigahertz Core i3-2370Megabytes, 6 Gigabytes double data rate 3 random access memory
Graphics : Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SB)
Pros
display quality is good
processing speed is fast enough to use low-and-mid-level software
speed seems somewhat faster than other two reviewed here
smoothest browsing
Cons
no backlit keyboard
no 1080p display
no heavy gaming

Lenovo IdeaPad

Features
Cost : $600
Display : 15.6 inches, 1366 x 768 pixels
Processor : 2.5 gigahertz A110 with 6 gigabites dual in-line memory module random access memory
Graphics : Integrated Intel HD 3000 Graphics
Pros
display quality is adequate
processing speed is fast enough to use low-level software
comes with its own fingerprint and face recognition software, along with passive
surveillance
Cons
no backlit keyboard
no 1080p display
no heavy gaming

Twitter now supports Emoji characters on the web

Twitter has added Emoji characters on desktop and web versions of the service.
Twitter now supports Emoji characters on the web

Twitter has designed its own set of characters for web tweets, allowing a much improved experience across platforms. Earlier emoji characters were supported on Android and iOS devices only.

Though It appears that the emojis aren’t supported in tweets that are embedded on websites. On Windows, each character appears as a blank square unless you click through to the tweet, while other platforms display their regular set. Still, the addition of emoji, will make sure that the tweets don't appear devoid of emotion for those who use Twitter on the web on a regular basis.

Facebook to use drones, satellites to provide Internet everywhere

Facebook wants to connect remote areas of the world to the Internet with drones, lasers and satellites.
Facebook to use drones, satellites to provide Internet everywhere

Facebook Inc is harnessing drone, satellite and other technology in an effort to spread Internet to under-developed regions. The social networking giant stated that it has hired aerospace and communications experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and its Ames Research Center for its new "Connectivity Lab" project.

Facebook had started Internet.org in partnership with some other companies, last year to spread the internet. The company is working experimenting with drones that are capable of beaming internet from the sky. The organization aims to bring down the cost of internet connectivity.

"In our effort to connect the whole world with Internet.org, we've been working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky," Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.

"Our team has many of the world's leading experts in aerospace and communications technology, including from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and Ames Research Center. Today we are also bringing on key members of the team from Ascenta, a small UK-based company whose founders created early versions of Zephyr, which became the world's longest flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft. They will join our team working on connectivity aircraft."

The announcement comes a day after Facebook announced the acquisition of Oculus Rift, a company that specializes in virtual reality products for $ 2 Billion. Mark Zuckerberg, stated that it plans to use Oculus' technologies to expand in "communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas".

Last year Google announced plans to use solar-powered balloons to deliver Internet access to remote regions of the globe. Google's Project Loon, supported Internet-beaming antennas on top of giant helium balloons placed in the stratosphere, that can create a wireless network with 3G like speeds.

New algorithm predicts which photos go viral on Facebook

A team of computer researchers from Stanford have created an algorithm which can measure the chances of a photo going viral on Facebook based on how shares play out. The team will explain how the algorithm works in the upcoming World Wide Web Conference.

The scientists studied 150,000 Facebook photos, and found that 1 in 20 photos posted on the social network gets shared once only. And just 1 in 4,000 photos gets more than 500 shares.

Stanford researchers said that the clues to predicting which of the photos on Facebook go viral, lie in ‘cascades’. The term cascades is used to describe photos or videos being shared multiple times. The team was able to predict (with 80% accuracy) as to when a photo cascade could double in shares.

The scientists looked at different variables that might help them predict doubling events more accurately, including the speed and rate at which photos were shared, and the structure of sharing. They found that photos re-posted on multiple networks proved to create a stronger cascade.

“It wasn’t clear whether information cascades could be predicted because they happen so rarely,” said Jure Leskovec, assistant professor of computer science. “Slow, persistent cascades don’t really double in size,” he added.

Facebook had recently revealed that it reached 1 billion active monthly users milestone for mobile phones and its subsidiary, Instagram also reached 200 million users milestone. The numbers were revealed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during an investor conference to discuss its latest acquisition of virtual reality firm Oculus Rift.