NEC offers an entire range of display products ranging from mobile projectors to Digital Cinema projectors. NEC has the largest range of projectors in the industry today manufacturing both LCD and DLP projectors. NEC designs all the major parts of projectors thereby having consistently developed unique technologies. A case in point is the WT 615 projector, which uses NEC's original developed mirror projection technology to achieve large screen projection with an ultra short throw distance. NEC's NP60 is the world's lightest 3000 ANSI lumens projector at 1.6 kg. At NEC it is believed that only the best will do since it is "Your image being projected!" NEC offers an entire range of display products ranging from mobile projectors to Digital Cinema projectors. NEC has the largest range of projectors in the industry today manufacturing both LCD and DLP projectors. NEC designs all the major parts of projectors thereby having consistently developed unique technologies. A case in point is the WT 615 projector, which uses NEC's original developed mirror projection technology to achieve large screen projection with an ultra short throw distance. NEC's NP60 is the world's lightest 3000 ANSI lumens projector at 1.6 kg. At NEC it is believed that only the best will do since it is "Your image being projected!"

Solar Phone Unveiled

The world's first solar-powered mobile phone was unveiled in Barcelona. The 'Blue Earth'cellphone,manufactured by Samsung,takes 10-14 hours in the sun to be launched initialy in Europe in second half of 2009 .The phone can also be plugged in to charge, with the solar panels used to top up the battery to extends its power.

Touted as an eco-friendly cellphone, the Samsung Blue Earth has a solar panel at its back, which charges the battery inside. The Samsung solar panel is not expected to keep the battery charging round the clock though. It is intended more as a support system for the Blue Earth’s battery. The Blue Earth phone will come with a regular charger, Samsung said.
Samsung says that the Blue Earth’s solar panel will make enough power in 10 minutes to make a call for 3 minutes. Some reviewers find this difficult to believe, since the Blue Earth’s touchscreen (Yes, Samsung Blue Earth sports a touch screen) can draw more power than a regular screen.
Samsung has not released any further information about how the solar panel at the back will charge the Blue Earth. However, locating the solar panel at the back means that the Blue Earth will have to be kept face down to tap sunlight. Again, the location of the solar panel means that you will have to keep the Blue Earth out of your pocket if you want to make use of its solar power capability.
Samsung Blue Earth
The name Blue Earth has been selected to pinpoint the eco-friendliness of the new solar mobile. Samsung’s Blue Earth has an eco-mode - meaning you can turn this feature on, and the solar-powered battery will consume less power. This is achieved by automatically reducing screen brightness, reducing backlight duration and turning Bluetooth off.
Blue Earth, which looks like a pebble with rounded corners, will also have a pedometer, which will tell you how much energy is saved when you walk. The Samsung Blue Earth is built from PCM a material recycled from plastic water bottles. (Samsung already sells a mobile phone made from recycled corn.) Unlike most cellphones, it does not use harmful materials like Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate. Samsung says that Blue Earth will consume just 0.03 watt of power while in standby mode, reducing its impact on the environment.
The Blue Earth has been released with the slogan: “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile”. The company said in a statement: “Samsung’s ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said JK Shin, Head of Mobile Communication at Samsung. “We are committed to achieving the highest eco-status with our customers and business partners by providing the best eco-products and promoting eco-activities.”

Ten Dollers Laptop.....

All our stuff is made of dreams, and all technological accomplishments rest on an initial imaginative leap. So tomorrow, in Tirupati, land of miracles, India will unveil a ten-dollar laptop. Developed jointly by Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science and IIT Chennai, supported by companies like Semiconductor Complex, the laptop has reportedly been fitted out with 2GB of memory, wi-fi, ethernet, and expandable memory.
If that sounds fabulous, it probably is. Even with a huge government subsidy, it is unclear how ten dollars can get you much more than a souped-up calculator. It supposedly costs twenty dollars to manufacture, but India's massive economies of scale should drive costs down to ten dollars - roughly five hundred rupees. According to a report, "It uses a cheap microprocessor (not Intel or AMD's standard PC chips) and removes the hard disk, CD/ DVD drive and other costly and problem-prone components, leaving the keyboard, screen and USB port." But even the most rudimentary netbooks cost more than ten times as much, and it is uncertain how this laptop will manage to display most internet content or really, even cover the cost of its material components. Atanu Dey, economist and tech commentator, has been scathing in his attack on the credulous press that bought the ten-dollar boast. Most tech blogs have tagged the news in the "yeah right" category.
The ten-dollar laptop was based on a dare. When MIT Media Lab founder and Old Testament-style prophet of the new media universe, Nicholas Negroponte, started his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project promising 100-dollar laptops to children in the developing world, the HRD ministry flung the offer right back, claiming that India could produce its own cheap and best laptop. It rightly claimed that funds would be better used ramping up secondary education; and then, ludicrously added that OLPC seemed "pedagogically suspect", and that rural children were probably not up to the "physical and psychological" effects of personalised computer use.
To be fair, Negroponte's scheme was based on his conviction that affordable computing for children could help developing countries "leapfrog" into the future and indeed, that this was a burning necessity given that children in the developed world are now "digital natives", having grown up in a wired world.
The OLPC laptop (closer to 200 dollars now, as some expected large contracts failed to materialise) is a small marvel of design and durability, built for rugged use and child's play. With a screen that can hold up even in direct sunlight, wireless mesh networking, and its own Linux-based Sugar platform, its green, Wall-E-like adorability is hard to resist. But the project has had a twisted trajectory, and has failed to sell in the millions Negroponte expected. It has teamed up with Microsoft for a controversial dual-boot version, and is now launching a dramatic open-source engineered XO-2 ebook for 75 dollars. OLPC has also made its way back into India through a partnership with Reliance ADAG, and runs a pilot scheme in Khairat, Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Intel, which famously broke with OLPC, provides a similar Classmates PC. And now, whatever India produces for ten dollars, it will only add to the options in educational computing.
But the entire flap over laptops is another instance of our inability to critically evaluate technology - we either fall into techno-mysticism of the Negroponte variety ("Give a laptop. Change the world" is OLPC's cheery motto) or a generalised hostility to such technology as a frippery we can't afford, instead of a substantive reflection on the ways in which computers open valuable new avenues for learning and play. For instance, it is possible to ask whether computers are really an invitation to limitless experiment, given the fact that all possibilities are inscribed into the tool itself, as opposed to the free-form creativity of a sketchboard and crayons. Or that the multiple tracks of attention demanded by digital interaction cannot replace the deep reading and deep thinking that a book encourages. The holes in traditional schooling can't be fixed with a shiny green laptop. This is not to second the HRD ministry's dark suspicions about OLPC, but a reminder that a laptop is empty and unproductive by itself, and the adoption of a technology must depend on the particular ends being aimed at, in each situation. For instance, who will maintain and support these laptops in rough conditions? Might cellphones be a more malleable tool for certain contexts? The digital divide is an important issue, but there are more painful deprivations in India and this kind of techno-euphoria is downright dangerous when it displaces public attention away from the gross inadequacies of education delivery.
But we tend to imbue digital technology with a patina of virtue (or the other way round, we impute all kinds of cultural decline to the rise of the PC). As media scholar David J. Bolter has written, if the spindle and the potter's wheel were the defining technologies to the ancient Greeks, Renaissance Europe was suffused with clockwork imagery, whether in the work of Descartes, Leibniz or Newton, and the 19th century explained itself through the steam engine - our particular moment is dominated by converging screens. But fetishising the computer ignores the social and institutional context in which it is placed. For example, if a political figure happens to wield a laptop, that is not a totem of progress, it is purely a matter of personal convenience. Positive change depends on what s/he does with it. The internet is of course, like magic potion for organisational efforts, as Barack Obama (and Howard Dean before that) demonstrated in phenomenally efficient campaigns. But the mere fact that Obama is familiar with Facebook and knows his way around a Blackberry does not automatically make his a "2.0" presidency, with all the surrounding associations of transparency, openness, and bottom-up connection.

Electric motorbike that promises 150 MPH unveiled

For all those who have a passion for bikes, here's some good news: Mission Motors is coming up with an electric motorcycle that promises a speed of almost 150 miles per hour.

The bike, dubbed as Mission One, gets its power from 3-phase AC induction motor and a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery, which the company claims, delivers 150 miles.

Moreover, it takes just two hours to get recharged at 240 volts.

The top-shelf hardware includes Ohlins suspension at both ends, four-piston Brembo brakes and Marchesini forged wheels.

The components - and the claimed 150 horsepower - put the bike on par with hardcore sportbikes like the Ducati 1198.

The motorcycle developed by former Tesla Motors engineer will begin selling them next year for 69,000 apiece dollars.

"As a motorcycle enthusiast and engineer, I knew I could combine my passion for motorcycles with my passion for innovation and create a motorcycle that truly sets a new standard in the perception of electric vehicles," Wired.com quoted company founder and CEO Forrest North as saying.

"With Mission One, we're writing the next chapter in motorcycle design, delivering a new riding experience without sacrificing performance or design in a zero emissions vehicle," he added.

New software to improve design tools developed

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed software that will let engineers design new products by simply sketching their ideas on a tablet computer.
The software, dubbed SketchCAD, is a digital pen-based computer system that can be used to design 3D products for a variety of industry sectors.
"The idea is to empower engineers and designers with tools that are already familiar to them and are the most natural for the task," said Levent Burak Kara, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon.
"Right now, our technology is being adopted by Honda designers for designing new cars in fast and cost-effective ways," said co researcher Kenji Shimada, the Theodore Ahrens Professor of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon.
As thinking about a new product shape by sketching is more expressive and more intuitive for engineers than the traditional mouse-and-menu-based design interfaces, the new system gives users more freedom to be creative.
The researchers also hope that their new software system could be used by physicians for planning surgeries or by university professors to teach basic engineering design methods.The researchers are also developing a software named SimuSketch that can recognize and simulate engineers' hand-drawn diagrams and mechanical systems.
The system enables engineers to quickly implement their ideas in the form of diagrammatic sketches and test their feasibility with real-time simulations.
"These software have the potential to greatly enhance engineering practice by allowing users to design and analyze complex engineered systems by simply sketching their ideas," said the researchers.

Supercomputing speed can worsen due to more processor cores on chips

According to experts, to increase the speed of supercomputers merely by increasing the number of processor cores on individual chips may unexpectedly be slowing the computing performance for many complex applications.
The suggestion is based on the observations made by researchers associated with a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
The researchers observed that the simulations showed a significant increase in speed going from two to four multicores, but an insignificant increase from four to eight multicores.
According to them, exceeding eight multicores causes a decrease in speed.
The team add that 16 multicores perform barely as well as two, and after that, a steep decline is registered as more cores are added.
The problem is the lack of memory bandwidth as well as contention between processors over the memory bus available to each processor-the set of wires used to carry memory addresses and data to and from the system RAM.
The researchers explained the problem with the example of a supermarket analogy, saying that where two clerks at the same checkout counter are processing one's food instead of one, the checkout process should go faster.
However, where each clerk does not have access to the groceries, he or she does not necessarily help the process, and may get in each other's way.
Similarly, according to the researchers, if one core is fast, two would be faster, four still faster, and so on.
However, say Sandia's Richard Murphy, Arun Rodrigues and former student Megan Vance, that the lack of immediate access to individualized memory caches - the "food" of each processor - would slow the process down instead of speeding it up once the number of cores exceeds eight.
"To some extent, it is pointing out the obvious - many of our applications have been memory-bandwidth-limited even on a single core. However, it is not an issue to which industry has a known solution, and the problem is often ignored," says Rodrigues.
"The difficulty is contention among modules. The cores are all asking for memory through the same pipe. It's like having one, two, four, or eight people all talking to you at the same time, saying, 'I want this information.' Then they have to wait until the answer to their request comes back. This causes delays," says James Peery, director of Sandia's Computations, Computers, Information and Mathematics Center.
"The original AMD processors in Red Storm were chosen because they had better memory performance than other processors, including other Opteron processors. One of the main reasons that AMD processors are popular in high-performance computing is that they have an integrated memory controller that, until very recently, Intel processors didn't have, " says Ron Brightwell.
Multicore technologies are considered a possible savior of Moore's Law, the prediction that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit will double approximately every two years.
"Multicore gives chip manufacturers something to do with the extra transistors successfully predicted by Moore's Law. The bottleneck now is getting the data off the chip to or from memory or the network," Rodrigues says. (ANI)

VERY SOON : Bluetooth technology that blocks talking or texting while driving

Talking or texting on a cell phone while driving is undoubtedly a deadly mix. Yet many people ignore the fatal risk and do not take precautions. Now, a Utah company is using Bluetooth technology to create a special driving mode that makes it impossible for a driver to talk or text when the car is on.
"The recent stats show that texting on the phone has overtaken drunk driving fatalities on public roads. This is all about saving lives and safer driving."
In a bid to keep drivers focused on the road, several states have banned drivers from using cell phones while driving, or require hands-free devices, such as those equipped with Bluetooth.
Yet for some people, laws are made to be broken, and even hands-free conversations can quickly become distracting.To address that problem, the scientists developed a special Bluetooth-equipped key.
In the current prototype, pushing a button both releases the key from its shell and activates the embedded Bluetooth technology, which finds the person's cell phone and puts it into driving mode.
When in driving mode, the phone automatically answers all incoming texts and voicemails with, "I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the destination safely." The only calls allowed out are to emergency services.
When the driver turns off the car, they slide the key back to an inactive mode, which returns the phone to normal operation.

Sony launches 'purse-sized' laptop

Tech-savvy girls won't have to carry the load of laptop bags anymore, for Sony has launched an ultra-portable "netbook" computer that will fit in any aspiring career woman's purse.
The Vaio P boasts most features found on a laptop, from a webcam and GPS to a built-in 3G modem, allowing users to go online by inserting a mobile phone sim card.
The new netbook is aimed at people who want to surf the Internet, edit documents and check their emails on the go.
In fact, its designers have claimed that it is the lightest eight-inch netbook in the world.
They said it does everything that equivalent models of bigger sizes would do.
And the reviewers said that its keyboard, unlike many other small laptops, is easy to use.
While a basic model is available at 849 pounds, a faster-operating netbook with more memory will cost 1,370 pounds.
However, Joshua Topolsky from the technology website Engadget is not quite sure if many consumers will pay the asking price.
"It simply costs more than other options. A cost which Sony want users to 'aspire' to pay. There are plenty of viable, less expensive options," The Telegraph quoted him as saying.

What's new in Internet Explorer 8?

The challengers keep coming, but Microsoft's Internet Explorer still holds the lion's share of the Web browser market. Most estimates put Internet Explorer's market share at around 72 percent, which means that when a new version of the browser is released, a lot of people will likely be upgrading.
Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8), the long-awaited successor to IE 7, is about to turn a lot of heads, as Microsoft nears completion of a browser upgrade that does significantly more than tack on enhancements to existing features. Here's what's in store.
Performance:
Perhaps the biggest news about IE 8 is what Microsoft has done for performance of the browser. In short, the browser is faster in almost every respect. It loads faster, switches pages faster, and renders complex graphics and videos faster than in previous versions.
No doubt Microsoft is responding, as it has in Windows 7, to users' insistence that performance is consideration number one when it comes to software. But IE now also has considerable competition from Google's recently released Chrome browser, which loads faster than any other browser on the market.
Load times, while they may seem trivial on the surface, are actually very important to most of us, since the web browser is typically called up many times during the day, and for many different reasons. Waiting for the browser to load, therefore, becomes a serious productivity issue.
With IE 8, Microsoft has recognised that performance is about more than just the speed at which the browser opens, however. A few new features of IE 8 are aimed at recognising the types of activities you perform on a regular basis and helping you to get those tasks done more quickly.
For instance, how many times have you found an address on the Web and then proceeded to Google Maps, MapQuest, or Microsoft's own Live Maps to find directions? If the answer is 'plenty', then IE 8 will be a boon to your productivity. Thanks to the browser's new 'accelerators' feature, you can highlight an address, right-click, and select Map to get almost instantaneous directions from your location, assuming you've registered your existing address with whatever mapping site you use regularly.
The same principle applies to e-mail addresses, words you'd like to define, words you'd like to translate, or e-mail addresses to which you'd like to send a message.
Features:
Beyond performance enhancements, IE 8 plays some catch-up with features that other browsers have pioneered. Among them is the new InPrivate browsing mode, which allows you to browse the web without having your browsing history stored for others to see. Google's Chrome calls this Incognito mode. In Firefox, you can achieve something close to Incognito mode by choosing to clear private date from the Edit - Preferences - Privacy dialog box.
Whatever the name, the intention is the same: to give you a way to browse the Internet without enabling others to see which sites you've visited. The ramifications of this feature are obvious, but the fact is that users want it, and browser makers are delivering. Microsoft's InPrivate mode works as well as Google's Incognito, and it means never having to worry about whether the sites you visit can be revealed to those who snoop after you.
For those who frequently visit the same web site over and over again, waiting for updates, IE 8 introduces Web Slices, a feature that allows you to be notified via IE's favourites bar when a site has been updated with new information. Sites have to be 'Web slice enabled' in order for this feature to work. When they are, a green Web slice button will appear in the upper right-hand corner of your browser window. Click it, and you are subscribed to the site and notified instantly of updates.
Enhanced security was the headline feature of IE 7, and IE 8 improves on the foundation built in its predecessor. A new SmartScreen filter is a refined version of the phishing filter found in IE 7. Even better, an impressive domain highlighting feature helps to alert you when you stumble upon a potentially unsafe site. Lots of malicious sites use spoof domain names that resemble legitimate ones.
When IE 8 detects that you're on a potentially dangerous site, the entire address bar turns red. Additional security controls help to prevent malware from being loaded onto your computer surreptitiously.
Compatibility:
The pre-release version of IE 8 is not compatible with all existing web technologies. Microsoft is aware of that and consequently has incorporated a 'compatibility mode' into IE 8, accessible by clicking a toolbar button. Unfortunately, not everyone will even know that a compatibility mode exists, so web site owners who find that their sites do not display correctly in IE 8 will want to avail themselves of code that forces IE 8 into compatibility mode. There are ample instructions on how to do this at various locations on the web.
Users, on the other hand, can only hope that Microsoft works hard to ensure that its newest browser doesn't break a number of existing web sites. If it does, that commanding market share that Microsoft enjoys just might become endangered.
Beta 2 of IE 8 is available now at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx. It works with Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Why present-day advanced robots get stuck in the sand

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory are funding a research into why present-day advanced mobile robots have difficulty traversing granular surfaces-like sand, dirt, rubble or slippery piles of leaves-despite being able to explore complex terrains across the globe, and even on Mars.

The researchers attached with the study have thus far suggested that robots attempting to move across sandy terrain should move their legs more slowly, especially if the sand is loosely packed.

"We have discovered that when a robot rotates its legs too fast or the sand is packed loosely enough, the robot transitions from a rapid walking motion to a much slower swimming motion," said Daniel Goldman, an assistant professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

A research article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that the physics of movement on granular media has been largely unexplored systematically, which is why Goldman and his colleagues decided to probe the performance of a small six-legged device called SandBot.

The report revealed that the robot was designed by Haldun Komsuoglu and Daniel Koditschek at the University of Pennsylvania. This is new territory because researchers have not examined the interaction between an animal's foot and sand like they have a whale or duck's flipper and water. Sand is a uniquely challenging terrain because it can shift quite easily from solid to fluid to solid and requires different locomotion strategies," said Goldman.

For their experiments, the researchers built a trackway for SandBot to run along, which consisted of an eight-foot-long poppy seed-filled container with tiny holes in the bottom, through which air could be blown.

The air pulses elevated the granules and caused them to settle into a loosely packed solid state, allowing the researchers to closely control the density of the material.

"We used poppy seeds as the granular material because they were large enough not to get into the SandBot motors but light enough to be manipulated with our air blowers. We have done experiments with small glass beads, which more closely approximate desert sand, and found no qualitative change in the results," said Goldman.

While typical volume fractions for granular media in the desert range from 55 to 64 percent, the researchers packed the poppy seeds to a volume fraction of 63 percent. They placed SandBot onto the surface and set its c-shaped legs to rotate five times per second.

The little robot, which could bounce quickly across hard ground, became completely stuck in the granular material after just a few steps.

The researchers found that the problem was the rotational motion of the robot's limbs. They observed that the SandBot moves its limbs in an alternating tripod gait and during a rotation, each limb moves fast while it is in the air and slow while it is in the ground.

The team further noted that the robot could walk across the sand quickly at a speed of one body length per second, if the rotation frequency was fixed and three parameters were adjusted: the durations of the slow and fast phases and the angle at which the limb changed from slow to fast. A systematic study of the motion then revealed that changes in volume fraction of less than one percent resulted in either rapid motion or slower swimming. We saw similar sensitivity when we changed the limb rotation frequency," added Goldman.

Goldman believes that this study's experiments and model describing the basic behaviour of motion on granular media will help biologists understand how animals appear to move effortlessly across a diversity of complex substrates.

He also plans to use the information to help roboticists design devices with the appropriate feet and limb motion to move well in complex terrain, including sand. (ANI)

Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls

Apple has won a US patent for touch-screen controls and gained a potential legal weapon against iPhone competitors.
US Patent 7,479,949 is awarded to "(Steve)" for a method of "detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display" to command computing devices.
A multi-page patent available online at the US Patent and Trade Office on Monday details iPhone or iPod Touch commands such as finger or thumb swiping, twisting, or spreading to flip pages, rotate views, or enlarge images.
The patent was issued last week, a day before Apple on January 21 announced record-high quarterly profits.

A smartphone from Apple that integrates cellphone, iPod, camera, text messaging, e-mail and Web browsing. Data and applications can be sent to the phone wirelessly or via Apple's iTunes software, which is used to organize music, videos, photos and applications.

Introduced in the U.S. in mid-2007, the iPhone is available exclusively from AT&T until 2012. The iPhone 3G, introduced in July 2008, adds GPS, higher data speed and an application platform that turns the iPhone into an ultra-mobile, general-purpose computer. With the 3G, the iPhone was finally introduced in Canada by Rogers Communications and its Fido subsidiary. It was also made available in many other parts of the world.

The iPhone is operated almost entirely via an innovative 3.5" touch screen. A major breakthrough in usability (see multitouch), the user interface was also carried forward in the next-generation iPod

Ford says new study shows SYNC leads to fewer distracted drivers

Ford has been winning sales with SYNC, but the infotainment interface may also save lives. We already knew that SYNC, when sync'd up with a Bluetooth-enabled phone, can call 911 for you in the event of an accident. Now, a report from the Blue Oval contends that SYNC can help prevent a collision from happening in the first place. Studies show that talking on the phone while driving can quadruple your chances of an accident, but with SYNC, drivers spend less time with their eyes off the road. The numbers speak for themselves. The SYNC user using voice commands averages two seconds with their eyes off the road, while someone interacting directly with their phone or MP3 player can be distracted for 25 seconds during a commute.

Ford tested 25 participants with typical infotainment tasks like dialing a ten-digit number, calling a specific person from the digital phone book, receiving a call while driving, playing a specific song, and reviewing and responding to text messages. Ford researchers measured total eyes-off-the-road time, deviation of lane position, speed variability, and object detection response time to identify differences in attentiveness and driving performance while using basic functions. SYNC-using drivers never swerved out of their lane, while others meandered 30% of the time. Ford's complete press release is available after the jump.

Cars.com Reviews the 2009 Audi A6

According to Cars.com’s Kelsey Mays, Audi has a winner in its compact A4. One might then think that the A4’s larger sibling, the A6, would stand a good chance of impressing him. Unfortunately, there are a few things about the A6 that don’t quite hit the peak Mays expects from a pricey luxury sedan. With heavy competition in the segment from Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar and Lexus, Mays reasonably expects Audi to bring its A game. Find out what about the A6 he found lacking by clicking below for the full review.

Ford Drops Employee Pricing, Keeps Rebates

Ford dropped its employee pricing sale when the month turned over, but that doesn’t mean the company has stopped its incentives. Now called the ’09 Quality Drive, Ford’s new incentives take a different tack, offering to cover the first three months of payments — up to $500 per payment — as well as cash back and free maintenance on certain models in some areas. Other offers include special financing or just cash back.
For example, in Chicago a 2009 Ford Focus gets three months of payments covered, free maintenance for two years and $1,000 cash back. The same car in Florida has up to $2,500 cash back, or $500 cash back and 0% financing for 36 months. Many of the deals are almost as impressive as the employee pricing program.
These new incentives run through March 2 and vary by region, so make sure to visit Ford’s site here and plug in your zip code.

Windows Mobile 6.5 leaked pictures

I'm not sure how real these leaked pictures are, but they certainly seem like a step in the right direction for a revamp of the Windows Mobile interface...

Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 to Be Unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2009

Well one of my favourite programs of recent years is due a revamp and it sounds very exciting! The new software is fitted with a flexible engine for 3D animation, clever Facebook integration, kinetic scrolling, widgets, and multiple usability innovations. Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 has gained a thrilling 'wow' factor and preserved the speed and clarity of device navigation.

Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 is scheduled to release to manufacturers in late February of 2009, with release to the consumer market expected to follow in late March. According to Spb Software upgrades policy all end-users, who purchase software within 90 days of a new version's release, are eligible for free upgrades

HP Brings First All-in-One Touch-enabled Desktop Technology to Business Customers

HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC

Building on the success of the recent HP TouchSmart PC for the home, HP today introduced the market’s first all-in-one, touch-enabled desktop PC for businesses.

Through the use of interactive technology, the HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC can transform a business’s end-customer experience, allowing customers to connect, select and interact with vendors and each other. Customers can have a hand in, for example, placing orders with a retailer, conducting virtual video service calls, using touch to teach or utilizing social networking for business.

HP is working with a variety of software partners to develop innovative touch applications for small businesses and the retail, health care, hospitality and education markets. DNA Digital Media Group, GuestMVP, Interactive Multimedia Artists and Uniguest are among the early companies using HP touch technology to enhance and create interactive applications for tomorrow’s business needs.

In addition to its easy-to-use touch screen capability, the all-in-one PC includes the hardware and monitor in one space-saving device, while offering a full suite of business-ready software applications and built-in multimedia features tailored for small to medium-sized business environments.

Pricing and availability :-

The HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC is expected to be available in North America in February at a starting U.S. street price of $1,399.

Want a Wireless Plan with Your Netbook?

Business Week

PC makers and telcos are pairing up to offer discounted devices with wireless data plans, but success could come at the expense of feature-laden phones

Stripped-down computers known as netbooks have been taking a bite out of laptop sales for the better part of a year. Now computer makers are trying to capitalize on netbooks' popularity by pushing them into a new market—the one occupied by smartphones like Apple's iPhone and Palm's upcoming Pre.

The strategy has yielded some attractive deals for consumers, who can score big discounts on Dell (DELL) and Acer netbooks that are paired with wireless data plans from AT&T (T). For PC makers, chopping hundreds of dollars off their prices and emphasizing netbooks' always-connected nature broadens the little products' appeal. Ordinarily, these machines that sport small screens and keyboards and less powerful processors than full-sized notebooks can cost $300 or $400.

Pairing netbooks with wireless plans is also a way to differentiate the machines, designed for reading e-mail and surfing the Web, from full-sized laptops that can cost three times as much. "For many people, the notion that you're not connected is almost foreign," says Michael Tatelman, a vice-president of global sales and marketing at Dell. "I don't think you'll see us exiting the model any time soon." In fact, the PC maker is exploring the possibility of selling printers and monitors bundled with 3G service, for quick transfers of photos from a camera or Web site, for example. "We're looking at all those things," says Tatelman.

Most Popular Tablet PCs of January 2009

Tablet PC Reviews
Welcome to the January 2009 Most Popular Tablet PCs list. This report is made using the total page-views each product page receives in one month; so each time someone clicks one of the product links, they are submitting a vote in our monthly rankings. This list doesn’t always show which models are the best selling, but instead the models that readers want to research the most.
HP continues to hold the number one position with the tz2500z having a strong lead and the tx2z slipping from #2 to #5. The Lenovo X200 jumped up back into the #2 spot for this month and we saw quite a few older models make there way into the list again. We guess this is from models being clearance off as manufacturers make way for the newest models.

Apple patent shows possible design for upcoming Tablet PC

On the last day of 2008, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington sparked a rumor about Apple’s plans to unveil a “large sized iPod touch with a 7 or 9 inch screen” in the fall of 2009 that will be their very first tablet PC. Arrington further revealed that, “Prototypes have been seen and handled by one of our sources, and Apple is talking to OEMs in Asia now about mass production.” Well, I’m not dreaming of ever seeing the prototypes and handling them myself, but something tells me that the device illustrated above, taken from one of Apple’s recent patent applications, shows us the exact same thing Michael Arrington is referring to: apple’s upcoming tablet PC.
Apple’s recent patent application, titled “DISPLAY HOUSING FOR COMPUTING DEVICE”, shows what looks like a mobile Internet device without a keyboard but possibly with a touchscreen display. The Apple logo is even prominently displayed in several of the illustrations, which could mean that this design is near complete.
Of course, as these designs are just found in a patent application, Apple might still come out with an entirely different device if the rumors about their upcoming tablet PC come true this year. Hopefully, more info about it surfaces in the near future. See more illustrations after the break.

Microsoft Anounces 6 versions of Windows 7

Microsoft has created a SKU line-up where each SKU is a superset of the previous SKU. This meansWindows 7 Logo that each higher edition SKU will have every feature lower edition SKUs have. We will be focusing on two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

They will continue to offer a few targeted SKUs for customers with specialized needs: for price-sensitive customers with small notebook PCs, some OEMs will offer Windows 7 Starter. For customers in emerging markets, we will make Windows 7 Home Basic available. Businesses have two recommended choices: Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise. Windows 7 Professional is recommended for small businesses and Windows 7 Enterprise is recommended for mid- and large-sized businesses that have a Software Assurance Agreement with Microsoft.

The SKU lineup for Windows 7 is: Windows® 7 Starter, Windows® 7 Home Basic (in Emerging Markets only), Windows® 7 Home Premium, Windows® 7 Professional, Windows® 7 Enterprise and Windows® 7 Ultimate.

* For Consumers, we recommend Windows 7 Home Premium for most customers and Windows 7 Professional for customers who want additional features and functionality useful for small business activities.
* For Businesses, we recommend Windows 7 Professional for most customers and Windows 7 Enterprise for medium-to-large business and enterprise customers that choose to license Windows through Software Assurance.
* The features in each version of Windows 7 build upon the one before it. As customers move up from one SKU to the next, from Windows 7 Starter through Windows 7 Ultimate, they gain additional features and lose none.

GBM InkShow: The Athena ArtPC

GBM

It is raining Netbooks in the Crocker/Savaiano household, and who better to check them out than Athena’s Art PCmy lovely wife, Thomasin. She does have an affinity for these small devices. She also seems to really like the idea behind Athena’s ArtPC. Athena has developed a process of embedding a design into the cover for their Netbooks that I think will be very attractive to some, especially kids. Thomasin seems to agree and I’m glad they also offer the more traditional skins as well.

2009 Valentines Day Gift Guide

There are all kinds of ways to express your feelings on Valentines day. For those of you looking for something a little more unique than hearts and flowers this year, I've gathered a few things to inspire you...... Flaming hot laptops, a candy apple red netbook, The finest Caramels, Chilled Champagne, the perfect martini or wine glass, the perfect accessories for the iPhone 3G, a kiss created from DNA........

Windows tablet PC resists extreme cold

Windows For Devices Roper Frozen tablet pc

Roper Mobile Technology (RMT) announced an 8.4-inch tablet PC with 500MHz AMD Geode LX 800 or 1.0GHz Intel Celeron M processors. The Duros 8404 resists shock, dust, and water, has a hot-swappable battery, and comes with solid-state storage or a hard disk drive (HDD), RMT says.

"Unlike a laptop, the Duros is designed to be carried with you," RMT says cheekily. Touting the device as "evenly balanced," the company says the Duros features a multi-directional handgrip/wrist strap, as well as an available vehicle mount (right).


According to RMT, the Duros may be operated from -4 to 122 deg. F (-20 to 50 deg. C), as the photo at the top of our story dramatizes. The device can withstand four-foot drops onto concrete, as long as its HDD is not operating, the company adds.

The Duros 8404 is equipped with an 8.4-inch resistive touchscreen display, with 800 x 600 pixel resolution and an optional "sunlight-readable" configuration. To the right of the screen, as the photograph below shows, there are membrane keys that toggle power, lock the system, control cursor movement, and may be assigned to various function keys, the company says

Netbook Tablet Exists: Asus Eee PC T91

Once again leading the charge for netbooks is Asus, the company that has just announced its new Eee PC T91 touch netbook. The outward appearance is similar to other Eee PCs already on the market, but the display can rotate and pivot to your liking. Oh, and it’s a touchscreen. That’s kind of important.
Among the notable specs on this new hotness are its 2.89-inch LED backlit touch panel, Intel Atom Z520 processor, Microsoft Windows XP Home as its operating system, and options to include GPS and a TV tuner. The whole thing tips the scales at a paltry two pounds and it measures a mere one inch in thickness.
Seeing how well the Eee PC line has performed for Asus already, I would not at all be surprised to see the Asus T91 fly off the shelves too. They’re really expanding this Eee branding beyond “regular” netbooks, adding premium netbooks, convertibletablet netbooks, and all-in-one desktops to the mix.

Toshiba Portégé M750-S7202

Toshiba has designed the M750 for the rigors of road use, employing strong magnesium alloy for Asus EPCthe shell; shock-absorbing materials for the hard drive, LCD panel, and chassis; a 3D accelerometer to protect the hard drive heads and platters in the event of a drop; and equipping the M750 with a spill-resistant keyboard. The keyboard is comfortable and has full-size letter keys, though the ancillary keys are a bit truncated. As with other business-oriented portables, the M750 has no dedicated multimedia control keys, but Toshiba does include a volume wheel on the front edge.

Using the M750 in tablet mode is intuitive and enjoyable. You can use your finger to single- and double-click onscreen menu choices and the like, and we found the sensitivity and accuracy spot-on.

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Netbooks Hurting Notebooks; Will They Also Kill the MID Market?

It’s already safe to say that netbooks are taking a bite out of notebooks. Windows XP is on the majority of netbooks and Microsoft has already seen a decline in OS revenues because they can’t sell a $300 operating system on a $300 device. Add in the worldwide economic crisis and you’re seeing some people opt for cheaper computers that can handle most everyday tasks.

What about the MID or Mobile Internet
Device market? I’m of the general opinion that the main difference between the MID and smartphone market is that one offers traditional voice calling and one doesn’t. Neither device runs a fully-scaled desktop OS and frankly, neither should. Yet both handheld devices are highly portable, offer web browsing and are in the same general price range as netbooks. So could the netbook start eating into the MID market which got off to a relatively slow start before netbooks even arrived?

Apple awarded comprehensive iPhone multi-touch patent

Apple has been awarded a United States patent covering the iPhone and its multi-touch interface. Patent no. 7,479,949, titled “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics,” details nearly every aspect of the iPhone’s graphical user interface across its 350+ pages. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is listed prominently among the patent’s inventors; the patent also gives Apple extra leverage in fighting off companies which copy iPhone features, as COO Tim Cook alluded to in last week’s Q1 2009 Conference Call. Given the breadth of the patent, however, it’s unclear how successful Apple will be in protecting specific aspects of the iPhone interface; the patent does not necessarily cover every single element disclosed therein.

Sony patent combines printer with touchscreen photo editing

A new patent filed by Sony in the U.S. points to one possible future direction for photo printers.
The new printer concept combines a large touchscreen panel with the printing unit and also seems to borrow some elements from Microsoft Surface. As the image above shows, the touchscreen would sit on top of the printer lid. Your camera is then placed on the screen and gives access to the images stored on it.
The touchscreen looks like it will act as an editing area for each image. You can scroll through the images and then view a particular one full-screen, touch up sections that need attention, select areas of a picture, and then print it.
If the printer was ever made it would form an all-in-one printing and editing unit that is small enough to carry around – like a tablet PC, while offering the ability to edit and print without the need for a PC.

Open house Feb. 12 to introduce campus community to Tablet PCs as teaching tools

Appalachian State University

Faculty, students and administrators are invited to attend an open house in the Hayes School of Music Feb. 12 to learn about the school’s pedagogy and technology classroom and tutoring lab. The open house will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. in Room 204 in Broyhill Music Center.

Jennifer Snodgrass, an assistant professor in the Hayes School of Music, will demonstrate ways she and her students use Tablet PC laptop computers in the classroom. Snodgrass uses the technology to teach music theory classes.

“We want the campus community to see what we do, how you can use Tablet PCs to deliver instruction, and how effective our tutoring center has been,” Snodgrass said.

Funding for the Tablet PCs used in the classroom was made possible by a grant from Microsoft, an Appalachian Foundation Fellows Grant, and funding from the Office of Academic Affairs and the Hayes School of Music.

Snodgrass says the technology enables her to cover more material in class, and that her students are more engaged in learning when using the Tablet PCs.

Snodgrass and graduate student Jeff Lazenby were recognized as educators of the month for January by DyKnow, a software company that specializes in interactive software used in the digital classroom. DyKnow plans to conduct a case study of ways their software is used in Snograss’s music theory classes.

In addition to the open house, Snodgrass and Lazenby will lead a workshop on using Tablet PCs Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. in Room 204 in Broyhill Music Center.

Acer Ferrari 1200

Acer Acer Ferrari 1200 Ultraportable

Acer, the third largest vendor in the global PC market (source: Gartner data, 1H 2008) today presented the new Ferrari 1200, an all-new notebook series designed to deliver mobile computing superiority in an exclusive style.

In the true spirit of the Ferrari racing team, the Acer Ferrari 1200 notebook combines powerful performance and extreme portability with the excellence of design. From the choice of materials to the smallest detail, the Ferrari 1200 conveys the look and feel of a F1 racecar. The carbon-fibre cover, a material actually used in racecars, is lighter yet stronger than magnesium alloy, making the Ferrari 1200 the perfect travel companion. Unique ventilation design echoes the exhaust pipes of F1 cars and the anodized-metal touchpad resembles the brake and acceleration pedals ofa Ferrari car. A tasteful wave pattern embellishes the cover, while the soft-touch coating and the velvety texture of the interior ensure ergonomic comfort.

Peak digital entertainment
Mobile, versatile and powerful, the Ferrari 1200 enables users to reach new levels of high-powered entertainment. Without sacrificing portability, the Ferrari 1200 includes an integrated slot-loaded DVD SuperMulti optical drive and 2nd generation Dolby Home Theater for true multimedia enjoyment. A wide-aspect 12.1 Acer CrystalBrite LCD with white LED backlight displays business and creative content with superb clarity. LED backlight technology also consumes less power than traditionally lit displays. Together with energy star compliance the Ferrari 1200 helps reduce CO2 emissions.

Exclusive peripherals
The high-tech yet classy design is mirrored in the exclusive Ferrari peripherals, that include the bundled Bluetooth™ wireless mouse and optional Xpress VoIP phone. Emblazoned with Acer and Ferrari Racing Shield logos, they are both covered with a soft-touch coating for a comfortable feel and touch.

GBM Inkshow: Fujitsu LifeBook U820

GBM Inkshow: Fujitsu LifeBook U820Gotta Be Mobile
n this Inkshow, I take a look at the Fujitsu Lifebook U820, a tablet UMPC/MID released at the end of 2008 that employs Intel’s Atom Z530 processor. Besides almost making me blind as I to tried to read the tiny 5.6″ screen supporting 1280×800 pixels upon unboxing, the U820 runs Vista Business on only 1.6GHz of a single core processor utilizing 1GB of RAM