Lenovo's dual-screen laptop is a small piece of insanity

The upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is not messing around. Not only does this monster of a laptop have a 17 inch screen, Intel Core 2 Quad processors, and the option to have up to 980GB of storage, but it has a secondary screen that slides out from the side of the main screen. That's right: a dual-screen laptop.

The W700ds is set to drop next month, but it isn't going to be cheap. It's going to be $3,600 at the very least, in fact, so unless you really, really need that extra screen you might want to just settle for a boring old one-screened laptop.

What else can I do?

Replace the battery with a living one, for a start.

[link]

I've found them locally for $5-$18 (Radio freaking Shack).

All they really are is three button batteries (LR44 I think) molded together to make a "1.2 AA".

Fuck. Major crisis at our client's office.

Anyone know Oracle SQL?

eta: I gotta convert the Oracle data type DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP to a string.

eta: OK, I figured it out. Apparently, SQL Server doesn't like it when Oracle gives it a date field of 12-22-0808.

Smart Plug Could Save You $150 in Electricity

The mCube90G smart-plug hub plays the role of a strict bartender at a bar full of heavy drinkers — only in this case, the drinkers are power-thirsty gadgets running up your tab.

Innergie_green_techResearch has shown that the average American family pays anywhere from $50 to $150 extra a year on wasted energy costs from plugged-in electronics that aren't being used, such as DVD players and TVs that are ostensibly "off" and cellphones that are fully charged but whose chargers continue to draw a trickle of electricity from the wall outlet.

It's the latter category that the upcoming plug hub from Innergie targets: It cuts off the electricity flow of gadgets at the moment they're done charging, offering a good energy efficiency option to those looking for ways to save a few bucks.

Hello, techfolks! I come bringing (Windows XP-related) questions!

I have occasionally used the "extend my computer onto this monitor" tool to use an attached projector. I just realized that the last time I did this I hadn't deselected it again when I disconnected the projector. I did it just now.

Here's the problem: I think some of my windows have been left over on the no-longer-existent second monitor. I can't open my Firefox downloads window, for example, although I can see it on my taskbar. When I click on it, nothing -- when I Alt-Tab, it's happy to select it, but nothing comes up. Any ideas?

If I had another monitor, I could hook it up, drag the windows back onto this monitor, then unhook again, and all would be fine. But I'm in an airport and have only this monitor.

You can Alt-Tab to the invisible window, then "Alt-Space M", and use the arrow keys to move the window back onto the screen. (The mouse might work too).

Whooooaaah. That totally worked! On the first answer! Tom, I bow before your awesomeness. Thank you!

This totally does not make me a Windows expert. People should definitely not come to me with their Windows problems. Please.

Daniel, I took out the old battery but then the power button wouldn't work.

Desolation...let me show you it.

I dragged the iMac out of the closet and resigned myself to the woe.

After about...and I'm not actually exaggerating here...the 50th woeful push of the button over 40 hours, it sprang to life. Not exactly spontaneous healing but I'll take it.

I quickly backed up what little needed doing so and now have just left the machine on. I also replaced the wonky mouse with a very old Microsoft one that seems just fine.

All is temporarily okay.

The friend who gave me this machine from her company's graveyard is having her tech guy look for a replacement. Probably just as old, but hopefully with a power button that works.

I have an iPod Nano! Unfortunately the first thing I did was accidently change the language into Japanese. How do I fix it?