Just in time for Back to School? $199 laptop coming in the fall.

Coolest Gadgets has been following the story of the UN working on a sub $100 notebook for kids around the world who can’t really afford to join the information age. Well, that movement has had a ripple effect for all of us, especially students. With millions of kids getting out of school this month for a well-deserved summer break, news comes that next fall, a $199 laptop will be available for students just in time for school next fall.

Unveiled at Computex this year, the Asus Eee PC 701 will come preloaded with Linux (which explains it’s low price tag) and may also include XP driver support. In addition, it’ll have a 7-inch screen LCD screen, an Intel Celeron M 800 / 900 MHz processor, 802.11 b/g WiFi, 512MB of DDR2-400 RAM, and perhaps may even be going the solid state way with SSD flash drives of 4, 8, and 16GB for storage.

And with many schools doing tests online, there will also be an Ethernet card for network connectivity, a modem (I’ve got to ask why), and even a 300K pixel webcam for chatting and video conferencing. The graphic chipset is powered by Intel’s UMA, while the sound card will be Hi-Definition audio coupled with both a built-in stereo speaker and microphone.

Battery life will be about 3 hours with a total weight of a just 2 pounds. Not bad for $199.

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Experience weightlessness, no joke!

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could go online and book a trip that will give you the experience most people only dream about, you know, being weightless? I was as shocked as you probably are right now when I found out it was entirely possible, as Sharper Image now sells a product it calls the ZERO-G Weightless Experience, which brings that dream true.

All jokes aside, this is pretty awesome.

ZERO-G is a company that is certified to give you this weightlessness experience. To do this, you take a 90 minute “G-Force One” flight which takes you through 15 different parabolic maneuvers. Although I instantly knew what that last bit meant, you might not, and I’m here for you: the flight has three stages, first you experience martian gravity (1/3 your weight), then two parabolas at Lunar gravity (1/6 your weight) and finally 12 parabolas at zero gravity, where you will truly be weightless.

The ZERO-G plane itself originates from either Kennedy Space Center, FL or Las Vegas, NV and takes off pretty much every weekend. Also, any healthy person 12+ can experience ZERO-G, so it really is mainstream.

The only disappointing part of this product is the price, while it is affordable for some, it is still wickedly expensive at $3,675 a seat. But, this is a once in a lifetime experience, and if you know a real space nut, this present would definitely mean a lot to them.

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