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I did my taxes recently, and this is the first year that I actually bothered to deduct for all those things that I buy over the year for my job. It was confusing frankly, and I wish I’d read this article before I did it. Hopefully you’ll read this in time to do your deductions correctly, and not make the same mistakes I did (which caused me to miss out on several things I could have claimed). I’m not going to go into all the grisly details, I’ll leave that to the person who actually wrote the article at PCWorld , but the gist of it is this: be careful what you deduct, and how you deduct it. And yes, you can deduct your internet connection (at least part of it) if you are a blogger. Be careful not to write off 100% value on items like computers or phones, as the IRS won’t believe you that you use those things strictly for business purposes.

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CrunchGear PSA: Tech tax deductions

Everyone’s favorite Dances With Wolves remake, Avatar, is coming soon to Blu-ray and DVD. Just don’t expect many extras. Or 3-D. As reported by the great TheDigitalBits.com , 20th Century Fox will shortly announce a 4/22 release date for Avatar on Blu-ray and DVD. But be aware that if you want some bonus features, or 3D , you might have to double or even triple dip. According to the article: “Don’t expect any extras, however, because you won’t get any – just a menu…that’s being done to maximize the video and audio quality by devoting all the available disc space to it. Here’s the thing though: The studio obviously already knows its going to be double-dipping on the title later this year with a more elaborate multi-disc special edition…which shouldn’t come as any surprise to you. But neither this round, nor the November version, will be 3D. That’ll likely come in a third dip a year or two from now. You see, in order to sell more than a few dozen copies in 3D, Fox needs the market for 3D on Blu-ray (meaning capable players and displays) to… well, frankly EXIST… first. So for now, it’s movie-only versions on Earth Day, more elaborate versions in November and no 3D this year.” Personally, I’m hoping for a Kevin Costner audio commentary. He’s not too busy these days, and I think he’d probably do it for a hot sandwich at this point. Image from here, but I don’t know what it is.

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Gimped “Avatar” Blu-ray coming soon

Let me catch you up. We received a tip back on Monday indicating that the Adamo XPS had disappeared from Dell.com. This of course caught our attention as the super-thin Dell was just announced back in late October and only available for purchase since December. We of course checked it out and found that the XPS model wasn’t found on the Adamo microsite (www.AdamoByDell.Com), which just so happens to be the first site listed on Google for that model. The Adamo XPS also wasn’t listed alongside the other Adamo models or on Dell.com’s master notebook list that also includes Alienware models. The only way you can find it on Dell.com is if you use the search tool and even then the purchase link on the product page is dead . We then reached out to our Dell contacts, but they didn’t respond in a timely manner. I then asked two separate Dell chat agents who both clearly stated that the Adamo XPS was discontinued. Satisfied with the conclusion that the XPS was in fact gone, I ran the post not thinking anything of it. It was just another news story to me. But not to dell apparently. Several other sites ran similar stories on Monday except they simply asked the question whether or not the Adamo XPS was discontinued rather than stating my conclusion that it was dead. Throughout the day, these stories were updated, quoting an official dell spokesmen that stated that the model was in fact still around and not discontinued. Dell finally emailed us and commented on our story nearly six hours later. The comment : Hi Mark. I saw your article and thought I’d drop a quick comment to clarify the issue. The first point I’d like to make is that the Adamo XPS is still available in the U.S. at select Best Buy Stores and on bestbuy.com, still starting at $1,999.00. It has not been “discontinued” as such, but was meant to be a proof point to Dell’s design and engineer capabilities. Because of this, it was similar to a “limited edition”, and most of the original supply has since been accounted for. Those who want one can still get it from the aforementioned sources. Also of note: the original Adamo is still available on adamobydell.com with a starting price point of $999. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions JohnBatDell First, my name is Matt, not Mark. But that comment just confirmed my post. It states that most of the Adamo XPS’s limited supply have nearly been exhausted and the model is currently only available from Best Buy. Right? That’s what it says. Ok, so maybe calling the Adamo XPS discontinued is a wrong choice of words, because apparently it was only intended to be a limited edition model anyway. But it’s a fact that the model has reached the end of its life and therefore deserves the R.I.P sentiment I gave it in the post’s picture. This brings us to today as Gizmodo finally ran its Adamo XPS R.I.P. post . (they later pulled it from the front page) Dell quickly sent us an email asking when were we going to update our post because apparently we got it all wrong and Gizmodo ousted us as their source — even though they didn’t in the post, but I still love Rosa. Dell’s request didn’t sit very well with me so I pulled out my Sherlock Holmes pipe and went to work reconfirming my original post. Once again I confirmed that the Adamo XPS is no longer on Dell.com. It’s still not listed as a current model or available to purchase. The only way you can pull up the model is still by searching for it. AdamoByDell.com , Adamo models , master list . Then John Biggs and I both contacted Dell Chat Support and were told that the model was “discontinued” and “reached its end of life.” Check the gallery below for transcripts. Fair enough, Dell told us that Best Buy still had it online and in stores so I checked that out, too. The only thing is we can’t find it in any store besides one in New Jersey. It’s not at any location in Detroit, Flint, San Francisco, SoCal, Denver, Phoenix, Philidelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, upstate New York, or New York City proving that it’s in very limited supply. Once again, check the pics below. I then called my local Best Buy location where I was told that yes, I could still order it, but I better hurry because it was discontinued. What it seems we have here is a company trying to save face. You see, the Adamo XPS only hit retail shelves back in December and people just started to get their hands on the product. Laptop Magazine posted their review of it the same day I wrote its obituary. It could be true that the Adamo XPS was just a limited-time product, but it was never marketed as such. Even if it was a Halo project of sorts, why remove nearly every instance from Dell.com and the Adamo microsite? It’s an amazing piece of modern technology that Dell should display for the whole world to see — even if it’s at the end of its intended life. It’s true that you can still buy the Adamo XPS brand new in the box from a few retailers. It’s just like how you can still buy 2009 model year cars even though they are really discontinued. Except you don’t get a discount on the Adamo XPS.

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The Dell Adamo XPS really is discontinued even though it’s still available for purchase

Just so you know, I’m not making light of warfare — it’s just that virtual training like this, while valuable, does remind one simultaneously of Modern Warfare and Ender’s Game . Of course, as this article notes , the current generation of potential soldiers has grown up in a digital age and expects a little Xbox with their ammo box. Training has, since the introduction of America’s Army in 2002 (remember, everyone thought it was going to suck, and it really didn’t at all), incorporated more and more virtual or simulated training, though admittedly the technology used is decidedly last-generation still. But when you can save a million rounds of ammo by having your recruits shooting pixelated guys in a 360-degree combat room like this one, the benefits are clear. I wish we didn’t have to send 19-year-olds into a war zone, but every advantage we can give them is helpful. And for the record, if I had to have someone watching my back while bullets whiz past, I wouldn’t mind if it was one of my old Counter-Strike clanmates.

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360-degree virtual combat room is like Iraq: The Arcade Game

Touchscreen keyboard sentiment can be divided into two camps: those who don’t mind it and those who can’t do without a physical keyboard. If you’re part of the first camp, you may be excited to hear that Acer might just be working on a notebook so thin that it uses a frameless screen and touch keyboard, according to DigiTimes. It’s apparently expected sometime in the second half of this year. According to the article: “Acer is expected to adopt Corning’s reinforced glass substrate and simply print color on its back to allow the substrate to function like a notebook cover for a frameless design. The design will help reduce the thickness of the ultra-thin notebook and can also reduce material costs.” In order to keep everything as svelte as possible, DigiTimes’ sources mentioned that “Acer will also adopt a touch keyboard to allow the notebook to be even thinner.” And judging by Acer’s relatively aggressive pricing strategy, I’d guess that the whole thing might cost less than you’d expect. Details are pretty scant at the moment, though, so let’s take this all with a grain of salt until we get some more concrete information. Acer to launch a frameless-screen ultra-thin notebook with touch keyboard in 2H10 [DigiTimes]

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Acer looking to launch super thin laptop with ‘touch keyboard’ this year?

Bam. If you’ve ever had to sit through a modern educational kids movie, you’ve realized they’re garbage. Junk like Diego and Baby Einstein are useless educationally and, in comparison to Looney Tunes and the like, absolute pablum. Now parents won’t feel guilty because little Mason and Kirsten aren’t learning how to say “monito” through video watching. It is written that 12- to 24-month olds get no language-learning benefits from garbage educational videos. Among 12- to 24-month old children who view educational baby videos, there does not appear to be evidence that overall general language learning improves or that words featured in the programming are learned, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Children age 2 and younger spend an estimated two hours per day exposed to media on a screen, and the average age at which infants begin watching programming designed for their age group is five months, according to background information in the article. Manufacturers’ claims that these infant-directed media can teach children specific vocabulary words have not been substantiated. Seriously. Just throw that junk away and watch some Tom and Jerry, people. They teach more about life in five minutes than you can ever learn from Dora and friends.

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Throw away those Baby Einstein DVDs

The infinity pools of the computing industry, frameless laptop screens are expected in the second or third quarter of this year, according to DigiTimes. They’ll be a little more expensive than standard laptop screens, but those costs are expected to decline as production increases. According to the article: “The frameless LCD screens are made using reinforced glass substrates fitted onto magnesium-alloy or plastic lids, the sources said. Although a reinforced glass substrate is more expensive than a conventional one (US$19-21 for the former compared to US$12-15 for the latter in a 15.6-inch model), the cost of frame materials and assembly can be reduced, the sources said.” Apparently there are some manufacturers developing frameless screens without using lids at all, opting to instead “conduct electroplating and coating processes directly on the back of display panels.” Frameless-screen notebooks expected to hit market in 2Q10 or 3Q10, say Taiwan makers [DigiTimes.com]

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Frameless laptop screens expected soon