Laptop

It's bright green and yellow. It's foldable in different ways. You have to crank it by hand to power it up. And it just might help bring millions of impoverished, isolated children around the globe into the 21st Century. We're talking about one of the better ideas to be unveiled in years: the $100 laptop, a novel experiment in the power of technology to transform lives. The ultra-low-cost device is no mere toy; it reportedly will offer wireless connectivity and many of the key features of $1,000 laptops.

Abell Avenue 3200 block, between 6 p.m. April 17 and 4:10 p./m. April 19. Side window screen removed in unsuccessful attempt to enter residence. Bellona Avenue 6000 block, between 2 and 9 a.m. April 15. iPod, iPlayer stolen from vehicle. Greenway 3800 block, between 10 a.m. April 17 and 10:45 a.m. April 18. 26-inch Fuji 24-speed bicycle stolen from unlocked garage. Kernwood Avenue 4600 block, between 6:50 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. April 16. Green, 2004 Buick Park Avenue with Maryland tags 88AN1230 stolen.

West Belvedere Avenue 2400 block, between 8:05 a.m. and 5:54 p.m. Nov. 3. Maroon, 1993 Dodge Caravan with Maryland tags M259357 stolen. East Belvedere Avenue 1100 block at 12:50 a.m. Nov. 4. Stolen 1997 Nissan Maxima with Maryland tags MEC870 recovered. North Edgecombe Circle 2500 block at 10 p.m. Oct. 31. Acer laptop stolen from residence. Entry gained by breaking rear sliding door. Falls Road 4200 block at 10:09 a.m. Nov. 1. 1999 Ford F-250 with Maryland tags 57S233 recovered.

Harford County sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police report: Aberdeen Lawrence Kenneth Standiford, 52, of the 1900 block of Bennett Road, was charged Tuesday with second-degree assault. A window at a church was broken Tuesday in the 700 block of North Post Road. Aberdeen police report : Jeanette Theresa McKinney, 46, of the 600 block of Charles Avenue in Deale, was charged Tuesday with theft less than $100. Donald Carl Turner, 37, of the 700 block of Masons Beach Road in Deale, was charged Tuesday with theft less than $100.

A judiciary rules committee has postponed adopting a statewide policy on whether communications devices - including cell phones and laptops - will be allowed in Maryland courts. The group was set to vote on a rule banning such devices last week, but the issue has been held over until next month's meeting, said Sandra F. Haines, the reporter for the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, which is appointed by the Maryland Court of Appeals. Opponents of a ban argue that it amounts to backward thinking and extreme inconvenience, while proponents say it would protect witness identities by preventing cell phone pictures of them, and minimize disruptions.

Taking a trip? Don't forget to bring your office.What's this? Lug around your desktop PC, copier, fax machine, Rolodex and filing cabinet? Of course not. Leave all that stuff at home and carry a portable laptop computer.A laptop computer can be every bit as powerful and capable as a desktop PC. But everything is crammed into a space only slightly larger than a three-ring notebook. With batteries, a typical laptop weighs about 5 pounds -- light enough for most travel, even everyday commutes.

If there's a recent grad in your house, or you're one of the many buyers who think they can get a better deal at midyear than during the holidays, chances are good that you're looking for a computer. And your chances of finding a good one for a reasonable price are good indeed. In fact, you'd have to work pretty hard to find a bad one. For that we can thank Moore's Law - which should more accurately be called Moore's Bubble. Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, predicted decades ago that the number of transistors that engineers could cram onto a wafer of silicon would double every 18 months for the foreseeable future.

I got mail this week from a man who's shopping for a laptop computer and wants to know which one has the best pointing device.The answer is simple: none of them. They're all bad. In fact, the first guy who comes up with a really good replacement for the mouse will retire very young and very rich.There's a good reason for this. The mouse is very good at what it does. It works the way we do. We all know how to point at something and we all know how to push a button. That's exactly what a mouse does -- it translates natural movements into instructions that the computer can understand.

The Laptop of LuxuryKensington has answered the call of road warriors everywhere with the Sky Runner, a roomy, lightweight computer case, available in vinyl and a snazzy leather version. The Sky Runner has oodles of pockets for all of your computer gear (laptop, Zip drive, modem, cables, etc.), plus a cell phone pocket, pen and business card holders, a key clip and a padded leather grip on the handle. The case has 1,168 cubic inches of storage and weighs 2.4 pounds (3.5 pounds for the leather version)

With their newly minted high school graduates headed off to college this fall, millions of parents face two agonizing prospects. One is coming up with the first tuition check. The other is buying their freshman a computer. After all these years, you'd think the PC part would be easy. Most of this fall's freshmen were born in 1989 and can't remember life without a computer, just as mom and dad have only vague recollections - if any - of life without TV. But for some reason, buying a computer remains one of life's agonizing experiences.

A Sykesville man has been indicted on charges that he burglarized his neighbors' homes in Howard County, committing two break-ins at a residence whose owner told police his computer was taken and a third where a bottle of Viagra was stolen. A grand jury handed up indictments last week charging James Taylor Bell, 21, of the 1100 block of Underwood Road of multiple counts of burglary and theft. Police said in charging documents last month that he confessed and was charged Dec. 28. Charging documents say that county investigators linked Bell to burglaries committed Dec. 8 and Dec. 13 at a home in the 1100 block of Underwood Road through a laptop stolen from there.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crime. City of Laurel Seventh Street, 900 block, Dec. 3. Laurel man, 36, reported two males grabbed him and ripped his pants pocket. After his wallet fell out, he was dragged down and punched in face before males fled with wallet. Washington Boulevard, 100 block, Dec. 2. Entry gained through door. Money taken. Spring House Lane, 9400 block, Dec. 2. No signs of forced entry.

North Charles Street 4500 block at 5 p.m. Nov. 29. Bank card, cash stolen. Women left bank card in ATM machine and someone used it to withdraw money from her account. 4900 block, between 4:50 and 5:20 p.m. Nov. 28. Clothing, ID, credit cards stolen from vehicle. West Cold Spring Lane 2300 block at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 30. Man robbed of Black Boost flip phone by two assailants, one armed with handgun. 600 block at 1:34 p.m. Nov. 29. Cash stolen from vehicle.

- Judy Gross stood outside Cuba's diplomatic mission to the United States, microphone in hand, and described her family's Thanksgiving. "There was once again an empty seat for Alan," she told sign-wielding supporters Monday in front of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. "That huge void, the pain, and the anguish are worse this year, as no one thought that we would be celebrating another holiday without Alan. " "Free Alan Gross now!" supporter Les Ulanow shouted. The demonstration reflected a new approach in the long campaign to win the release of the Maryland man, who was sentenced in March to 15 years in a Cuban prison for crimes against the state.

West Belvedere Avenue 2400 block, between 8:05 a.m. and 5:54 p.m. Nov. 3. Maroon, 1993 Dodge Caravan with Maryland tags M259357 stolen. East Belvedere Avenue 1100 block at 12:50 a.m. Nov. 4. Stolen 1997 Nissan Maxima with Maryland tags MEC870 recovered. North Edgecombe Circle 2500 block at 10 p.m. Oct. 31. Acer laptop stolen from residence. Entry gained by breaking rear sliding door. Falls Road 4200 block at 10:09 a.m. Nov. 1. 1999 Ford F-250 with Maryland tags 57S233 recovered.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crime. Howard County police report major crimes, break-ins and car thefts. City of Laurel East Arbory Court , 7600 block, Nov. 2. Entry gained through door. Jewelry, Nintendo DS Lite, PlayStation 3 console, gym bag, Vizio DVD player, PS 3 game controller and headphones taken. Second Street , 300 block, Nov. 1. Tail lights and third brake light stolen from trucks at automotive store parking lot. Contee Road , 7800 block, Oct. 30. Entry gained through window.

A FEW YEARS ago, a laptop computer was a compromise you toted on the road when you needed a PC-to-go, but hardly a substitute for the real thing. That's not the case today. The design of notebook-size PCs has improved to the point where a laptop can be your only computer. Although laptops still cost 30 percent to 50 percent more than comparable desktop PCs, the overall cost of computing has dropped so far that a good laptop is finally affordable. Figure $1,000 for a bare-bones machine and $1,500 to $2,500 for a true desktop replacement.

In the computing world, smaller is always better.At the recent Comdex exhibition in Las Vegas (the Super Bowl of TTC computer shows), most of the excitement was generated by machines small enough to fit in a briefcase but powerful enough to rival all but industrial-strength desktop computers.The techno-freaks' attention focused on a new generation of "pentop" computers that let users "write" on the screen with an electronic stylus instead of pounding a keyboard.But the real news may be the sheer number of standard notebook-sized computers on display.