A week after being "late" for part of my report, I am a day later than
usual with this report. In case you thought it was because I was
celebrating Canada Day, no, actually, I got caught up in testing a
new piece of equipment, which unfortunately had problems, and it took
me all the day to resolve that situation. In retrospect, I am amazed
I have not been late more often in the past. However, hopefully, it
will not happen often in the future.
[2009/07/02]
July 2, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that the GSMA claims that
development of the AWS band, which is "90 MHz of spectrum in the 1.7 - 2.1
GHz range" will follow a growth pattern of about 80% per year from 2009
through to 2013, with device sales of about 114.5 million units in 2013.
[2009/07/02]
July 1, 2009, Business Wire reports that a study published in "The
Columbia Science and Technology Law Review" says that "patents may
harm new technology, economic activity, and societal wealth."
[I do not find this surprising. -- JO]
[2009/07/02]
June 30, 2009, Business Wire reports that Dell has announced that its
Vostro 1220 laptop computer features a 12.1" display, Intel(R) Core(TM)
2 Duo processor, weighs 3.36 lbs. and gets up to 9 hours of battery life
on a 6-cell battery pack. It is now available at prices starting at
$799 US.
[2009/07/02]
Yes, I did get around to checking for announcements back to June 20 for
Canada Newswire and PR Newswire. No difference.
[2009/08/28]
June 25, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that Underwriters Laboratories
(UL) has announced that the USB AC/DC Adapter named "AC-DC Adapter,
Model: SCP0500300P, Input: 100-240 V AC, Output: 5.0VDC 350 mA,
c (UL) us" has no authorization to use the "UL" marking.
[2009/06/28]
June 24, 2009, PR Newswire reports that RealNetworks(R) new Beta
application "RealPlayer SP" "eliminates the complexity of
downloading, converting and transferring video files, so
consumers can simply enjoey their video anywhere, on any device."
A beta version is currently freely downloadable. However, h.264
video conversion, DVD playback and DVD burning are only available
by upgrading to RealPlayer SP Plus which costs $39.99 US.
[2009/06/28]
Due to an unusual overload of work, I have only had time to check
for Business Wire updates. If possible I will complete the rest of
my usual searches later in the week.
[2009/06/24]
June 24, 2009, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that its
Mini 5101 series portable computers featuring metal chassis, 10.1"
widescreen displays and Intel Atom processors will be available
from late July 2009 at estimated street prices starting from $449 US.
[2009/06/24]
June 24, 2009, Business Wire reports that SanDisk claims that its latest
SanDisk Extreme(R) 32 GB Class 10 SDHC card is the fastest in the world with
read/write speeds up to 30 megabytes per second. It will be available in
August this year. The new "Extreme" series cards will replace current
"Extreme III" series. In August, the current 4, 8 and 16 GB Class 6
cards will also be replaced with Class 10 versions. [Pricing was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2009/06/24]
June 23, 2009, Business Wire reports that Gateway has announced that
its LT3100 netbooks will feature an 11.3" widescreen display, an AMD
Athlon 64-bit processor, ATi Radeon(TM) X1270 graphics, and will weigh
3.14 lbs. The announcement was not entirely clear, but it seems to
be immediately available at MSR prices starting at $399.99 US.
[2009/06/24]
June 19, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Sony has announced that its
latest VAIO(R) NW laptop computer series includes models as low as
$880 US equipped with Blu-ray Disc(TM) technology. The series will
be available later this month (which means within a week or two).
[2009/06/21]
June 17, 2009, Business Wire reports that Corel Corporation has
announced that its new "Corel(R) Home Office" which is aimed at
consumers and "home-based businesses" is also suited for netbooks.
It is immediately available for $69.99 US.
Corel(R) Home Office
[software] http://www.corelhomeoffice.com/
[2009/06/17]
June 16, 2009, PR Newswire reports that ThinkFree, Inc. has announced
that its "ThinkFree Mobile Netbook for Windows, Linux and Mac ESD
(electronic software download) version is now available for
purchase and download at the company's website.
ThinkFree, Inc.
[office software for Windows, Linux and Mac]
http://product.thinkfree.com/mobile/netbook/
[2009/06/17]
June 11, 2009, Business Wire reports that according to IDC, worldwide
sales of mobile computers (including laptops and netbooks) fell 6.8%
in 2009 Q1, which was better than expected. However, detailed
analysis also shows that the growth of netbook sales offset a
dramatic decline in traditional notebook sales, leading to a much
greater decline in revenue.
[2009/06/14]
June 11, 2009, Business Wire reports that according to ABI Research,
2009 Q1 sales of mobile phones (255.6 million shipped worldwide)
has declined ~12% year over year. ABI Research projects that sales
will be down year over year for the whole of 2009.
[2009/06/14]
June 9, 2009, Business Wire reports that Strategy Analytics has
criticized the iPhone 3G S as being too big, and needing a
real physical QWERTY keyboard for the wider public -- going
beyond its original target market.
[I do not know exactly what the original target market was.
I am not sure that I would agree that it needs a full QWERTY
keyboard, but I do agree that some physical buttons would help.
This is exactly the same problem we found back with the Newton.
The Palm was better because it was focussed on real-world
functionality and usability rather than gimmicky features
like "look Ma, no buttons!" -- JO]
[2009/06/10]
June 8, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has announced
that its iPhone(TM) 3G S has increased speed over previous models,
longer battery life and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera built in,
all at new lower prices, such as $99 US for an 8GB model.
It will be available in the US June 19, 2009.
[2009/06/10]
The computer industry is digesting the announcements from the early
part of last week, so I have nothing to add right now.
[2009/06/07]
The attempt to grow home based technology companies in China
is not working well. There is a perception that Chinese product
are all to be approached with suspicion. The result is that the
few better companies that are trying to develop good reputations
are having a more difficult time than they deserve to be
given.
[2009/06/07]
June 3, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Phoenix Technologies Ltd. has
announced that its HyperSpace(TM) for second generation AMD ultrathin
notebook platform is available for consumer downloads at "www.hyperspace.com".
[NOTE: There is no mention of price, but neither does it say that this is
free. -- JO]
[2009/06/03]
June 2, 2009, Business Wire reports that Toshiba has announced that its
NB205 series minis feature 10.1" -diagonal widescreen LED backlit display
and keyboards and touchpads more like standard size notebook computers.
Prices start at $349.00 US MSRP for the NB205-N210.
[2009/06/03]
June 2, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Broadcom Corporation has
announced that models of Acer's Aspire One netbook computers will
come with Broadcom's Crystal HD technology to provide HD TV capabilities.
In another announcement provided by PR Newswire the same day, Broadcom
also announced that the HP Mini 110 mentioned earlier will also have this
technology.
[2009/06/03]
June 1, 2009, PR Newswire reports that MIPS Technologies, Inc. has announced
that Android is now available on the MIPS platform and the company will
make source code available within the next 60 days.
[2009/06/03]
Due to a recent problem with my primary laptop computer, I had to substitute
my HP-2133 as the research tool for this Webpage. It takes about 3 - 4 hours
per update, to go through the reports to prepare this page. I never
intended to do this work with a Netbook. It is difficult enough on the
ideal form-factor 14" laptops I usually use. Still, I found that the HP
along with the Firefox 3 browser, worked reasonably well for the task.
I could say more, but it is getting near 1:00 AM and I am exhausted.
[2009/06/03]
May 29, 2009, PR Newswire reports that ThinkFree, Inc. claims that its
ThinkFree Mobile for Android is the "first complete office productivity
suite . . . for Android-based mobile devices." The justify this claim
because their suite includes ability to create view and edit PowerPoint
files as well as the typical Microsoft Word and Excel compatibility.
ThinkFree, Inc. (software for Android)
http://www.thinkfree.com/
[2009/05/31]
May 28, 2009, Business Wire reports that HDMI Licensing, LLC has announced
that the HDMI 1.4 specification will be released on or before June 30, 2009.
[The 1.4 spec is of particular interest for mobile devices because it
includes a new "Micro HDMI Connector" specification, which will be about
1/2 the size of the current connector, specifically for "portable devices." -- JO]
HDMI Licensing, LLC http://www.hdmi.org/
[2009/05/31]
May 27, 2009, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that its HP
Mini 110 XP Edition and HP Mini 110 Mobile Internet (Mi) Edition
consumer netbooks, and Mini 1101 "companion PC for small and medium-
size businesses . . . ." feature 10.1" diagonal "standard" or
options "high-definition" LED widescreen displays, and Intel(R) Atom
N270 1.6 GHz., or N280 1.66 GHz processors. The HP Mini 1101 will
be available June 1, 2009, at prices starting at $329 US. The
Mini 110 will be available in the US on June 10 at prices
starting at $279.99 US. Special colour versions of the Mini 110 XP
will be available from July 8, 2009, at yet to be decided prices.
[2009/05/27]
May 26, 2009, Business Wire reports Lenovo has announced that it's
new IdeaPad S12 "small laptop" computer will feature nVidia(R)'s
ION(TM) graphics processor. It will be available in June at
prices starting at $449 US.
[2009/05/27]
May 20, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Purple Communications(TM), Inc. has
announced that its new "P3 optimized Purple Netbook," designed specifically
for the Deaf community, is now available. [Pricing was not provided in
the announcement. -- JO]
Purple Communications(TM), Inc.
http://www.purple.us/
[2009/05/24]
May 20, 2009, Business Wire reports that Acer has debuted its
Acer Aspire One AO751h netbook in Canada, featuring an 11.6"
1366 x 768 resolution display, Intel Atom Z520 processor
(1.20 GHz, 490 MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache) and a "full-size"
keyboard. The display is LED-backlit. It is now available
at an MSRP starting at $429.99 Cdn.
[2009/05/20]
May 19, 2009, PR Newswire reports that AT&T has announced that it
is expanding availability of "3G mini laptops" (aka Netbooks)
to all its stores throughout the US, and broadening the range
of models offered (to include Acer, Dell and Lenovo).
[2009/05/20]
May 19, 2009, Business Wire reports that Dell has claimed that its
Latitude 2100 is the first "purpose-built education netbook that focuses
on what's most important -- learning." They are nowa available at
prices starting at $369 US.
[2009/05/20]
May 14, 2009, Business Wire reports that MSI has announced
new X-Slim X400 and X-Slim X600 laptops available in 2009 Q2.
Its previously announced X-Slim X340 features an Intel(R)
Core(TM)2 processor.
[While the X340 series has been out in the US since April, I
have not seen one in Canada yet. There is no indication of a
Canadian price on their Website, nor any specific announcement
regardin availability -- though I would presume availability
and pricing correspond with the US dates and converted prices.
-- JO]
[2009/05/17]
May 12, 2009, Business Wire reports that Lenovo has announced that its new
IdeaPad S10-2 netbook features optional 3G connectivity, Dolby headphone
technology and "long" battery life. It will be available at the end of
May 2009 at prices starting at $349 US.
[2009/05/13]
May 7, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that Sony Canada has announced that
its PRS-505 and PRS0700 digital book readers are now available at
Best Buy Canada and Future Shop.
[I do not usually report on the simple availability of a previously
announced product, but I have had doubts whether these book reading
devices would be distributed in any "popular" manner in Canada, so I
think it is justifiably "news" that these particular stores have
picked up these products. -- JO]
[2009/05/10]
May 6, 2009, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc. has announced that
Bell Mobility will have the Palm Pre available in the 2nd half of 2009.
Price has not been determined.
[2009/05/06]
May 5, 2009, PR Newswire reports that LogMein Ignition for the BlackBerry
Storm provides remote control over a Windows PC or Mac desk computer
running an appropriate corresponding LogMein program.
LogMein, Inc. BlackBerry Software
http://secure.logmein.com/
[2009/05/06]
May 4, 2009, Business Wire reports that E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp. has announced
that is E*TRADE Mobile Pro for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch are available
at no extra cost for E*TRADE Securities customers. It is obtainable through
the Apple App Store.
[This is odd. I am curious why a special program is necessary to emulate their
Web pages? -- JO]
[2009/05/06]
I dislike this report more most because at the least I should be able to
say "I have nothing to report." Instead, I have to report that I was
unable to search PR Newswire because it was not working today. However,
I do not expect that I would have found anything of significance even if
I had been able to complete that search.
[2009/05/03]
Apr. 28, 2009, Business Wire reports that HP has announced a new brand
series of laptop computers. The "HP ProBook" series of laptop computers
with a simpler appearance. Among the new series there will be the
HP ProBook 4410s and HP ProBook 4415s which feature 14" diagonal 16:9
HD widescreen displays with LED backlighting. Prices start at
$529 US for the lowest priced products of this line.
[2009/04/29]
Apr. 26, 2009, At some point in the last week, HP has made available
its "dv2-1000" laptop computer. I have looked for an announcement but
I have been unable to find one. The Canadian MSRP is $719.99.
It measures 29.2 cm x 24.0 cm x 3.27 cm, and weighs 1.70 kg. [US
dv2-1030us model is 11.5" * 9.45" * 1.29" and weighs 3.95 lbs.]
[2009/04/26]
Apr. 24, 2009, Business Wire reports that according to ABI Research,
cellphone handset sales for 2009 Q1 were 258 million [NOTE: the
announcement is not clear whether these are worldwide or US only
sales, but I believe they are worldwide. -- JO] which is down
11% year over year, but better than expected.
[2009/04/26]
Apr. 23, 2009, Business Wire reports tha Samsung Electronics America
has announced that its N110 and N120 Mini Notebook computers are now
availabel for (MRSP) $469 and $459 US respectively. The N110, measuring
10.27" * 7.3" * 1.19" * and weighing 2.78 lbs., is on the larger, heavier
end of the first year's netbooks product range, and the N120 is even
more-so, but still give greater portability than the latest 12"
variants.
[2009/04/26]
This week has not been a busy week in this industry. Check back later,
or next week.
[2009/04/22]
Apr. 17, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Verizon Wireless has "released
its initial set of technical specifications for devices that will run on
its Long Term Evolution (LTE) fourth generation (4G) wireless network."
Verizon Wireless
Open Deveopment (LTE Wireless Network Device Specs)
http://www.verizonwirelessopendevelopment.com/
[2009/04/19]
Apr. 17, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Shepherd, Finelman, Miller and Shah, LLP,
a law firm with offices in California, and some other states, has announced
a certification of a class action for the law suit "Martin Hapner v. Sony
Electronics, Inc." (Case No. GIC 839244 in the Superior Court of California,
San Diego County, regarding some Sony GRX500 and 600 series laptop computers
manufactured in the Spring and Summer of 2002.
[2009/04/19]
Apr. 15, 2009, Business Wire reports that Acer America has announced that its
Aspire 3935-6504 laptop computer "features a 13.3-inch frameless, widescreen
CineCrystal(TM) LED display. . . " with 1366 x 768 resolution, and a
"Multi-Gesture Touchpad." It is now available at an MSRP of $899.99 US.
[2009/04/15]
Apr. 15, 2009, Business Wire reports that IDC says that Desktop and
Portable PCs (not including x86 Servers) were down 7.1% compared to
last year, but portable computer sales (including laptop and netbooks)
remained solid with only a 3% drop. HP has taken the lead in US
unit sales.
[2009/04/15]
Apr. 15, 2009, Business Wire reports that In-Stat has projected that
cellphone handset sales will drop about 20.5% in 2009 compared to 2008.
In-Stat also projects that service subscription growth will be about
8.9% in 2009.
[2009/04/15]
Apr. 10, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Morgan Kaufmann Publishers (Elsevier)
has announced the release of a book by Allison Druin regarding "Mobile Technology
for Children".
Elsevier http://www.elsevierdirect.com/
[2009/04/12]
Apr. 3, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that Best Buy Canada Ltd. has announced
a voluntary recall of "Rocketfish Model RF-INV80 Universal AC/DC/USB Portable
Power Sources" About 90 units were distributed. "While charging the battery,
the power source can unexpectedly ignite, posing a fire hazard to consumers."
[2009/04/12]
Again, it appears that this is to be a slower than usual season and
I find I have nothing to report.
[2009/04/08]
On February 19, 2009, Meizu Released its M8 smart phone, limited to
the local Chinese market. There is no word on a release of this
device to the North American market yet. The "M8" is currently
considered "the Chinese Apple iPhone". It is based on Personal
Media Player (PMP) design concepts.
[2009/03/05]
Apr. 1, 2009, Business Wire reports that Palm Inc. has announced that its
Mojo SDK will be available to a limited number of Palm Developers initially,
until tools are in a better state. General availability is scheduled for
later this year.
[2009/04/01]
Mar. 31, 2009, Business Wire reports that Samsung Telecommunications America
has announced that its "Mondi(TM)" WiMAX enabled handheld device will be
available in the US to be used on the Clearwire "Clear(TM)" network.
[2009/04/01]
Mar. 30, 2009, PR Newswire reports that the CDMA Certification Forum(R)
(CCF) has announced that it expects certification testing of CDMA2000(R)/
LTE multimode devices to begin as early as mid-2010, with some test
cases available in 2009 Q3.
[2009/04/01]
Mar. 30, 2009, Bango stats rank the top phones used for browsing and
buying on Web as 1st Nokia 3110c, 2nd Samsung M800 and 3rd Nokia 6300.
The iPhone is 24th.
[2009/04/01]
Mar. 26, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Spreadtrum Communications,
Inc. has announced that Samsung has chosen to use Spreadtrum's GSM/GPRS
and EDGE technology chipsets for some of its products.
[The announcement did not list any particular handsets. -- JO]
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. Cell Phone Chipsets
href=http://www.spreadtrum.com/
[2009/03/29]
Mar. 23, 2009, BusinessWire reports that Mirics claims that its FlexiTV(TM)
software reeceiver and CyberLink's TVEnhance combine to provide modern
laptop computers with viable HDTV with minimal CPU usage.
[2009/03/25]
There is not much I can say about this. Last week proved slow and this
week looks like it could be pretty much the same.
[2009/03/22]
I am not sure why there has been such a shortage of worthwhile product
announcements or other related news, but it is continuing. Check
back later in the week.
[2009/03/18]
Lately I have been looking at consumer electronics and where it comes close to, and sometimes overlaps business information technology. Here are three more areas of interest.
An area of overlap is that computer related mobile consumer electronics
are often using USB charging circuits, as are business side products.
One would think that these all work about the same and that the
charging adapters are all interchangeable. I was not entirely surprised
to find that this is not true. There seem to be 2 types of AC adapters
for these devices and some products will work on one and not the
other, or the opposite way around, or sometimes, can work on both,
but with some issues. I keep 2 chargers to charge all my devices of
these types. So far, the 2 chargers cover all my equipment, but I am
ready to find that a 3rd might even be necessary.
[2009/03/22] (corrected last line) [2009/03/18]
I recently saw that Palm has changed the colour of its TX. This is
very "not impressive". As far as their non-phone products are
concerned, the TX and the TE are both still around, and without
any real changes in specifications. On the other hand, starting
around last year, there are some "Portable Media Players" (MP-4/MP-5
devices) that are more compact, use the same touch screen technology
and are cheaper than Palm TX, yet are more powerful than the Palm
TE. It would seem that they could produce a Palm TE just by adding
software.
[2009/03/18]
I have been commenting about the consumer market lately because in the long run, we are all "consumers" and a company's business practices are part of their products, or if the company is a retailer and not a manufacturer, then really the business practice is its product.
Looking at Sandisk's Sansa product line, a recent product termination has brought to light a consumer's problem. What is the "Sansa Connect?" Oh yes, it was "SDMX8N-4096K-EA70", their hot product back in 2007. Less than 2 years on the market, and one of their prestige products at that. Well, it is gone. In fact it is FAR gone. So far in fact, that it is no longer mentioned as even a "discontinued" product. The only reference I could find on Sandisk's Website was in their original press release when the product was introduced, and I wonder if they even know that that document is still on their Website.
This is a very disgusting practice which I have run into before. In
fact, I am not sure if it is even legal to abandon consumers to this
degree. It makes one wonder to what degree any company can be counted
on to stand by their products.
[2009/03/18]
As seems to be a trend for the year, there was nothing interesting
announced towards the end of this week.
[2009/03/15]
I have been buying some consumer electronics lately and there are a number of things I could say about the experiences. I think the thing that sticks out in my mind though, is that it seems to be getting harder to find sales people who know what they should know.
For example, I bought an SD-Card camcorder. The salesman tried to make an "add-on sale" of a flash card. That was a good idea. But then he tried to sell me a "Class 2" card. If he had known his products better, he would have known that a "Class 2" card is not really fast enough for full usage of these camcorders. I was lucky because I naturally wanted at least a "Class 4" card, just to speed up moving files. It turns out that the manual clearly states that you need the "Class 4" card for the highest quality recording for my device. Other camcorders make it even simpler by saying you need a "Class 4" card without mentioning that a "Class 2" will work for some uses. But he clearly did not know that.
I am surprised at how much poor quality stuff is being sold. I
think we have lived through a golden age from around 1970 - 2000
when most of the consumer grade stuff we bought was reasonably
well done. Lately, particularly in the smaller brands, there are
a lot of poorly finished products (buggy firmware, etc.) -- junk.
I found this last year when I was interested in digital picture
frames. I found it again this year looking at portable media
players, and the above mentioned camcorders. The major brands
(usually the Japanese brands) are still usually reliable, but
there is so much junk on the market. It is very disappointing.
[2009/03/15]
Mar. 10, 2009, Business Wire reports that Wizzard Software has announced the
availability of Version 4.2 of its AT&T Natural Voices Text-to-Speech (TTS)
for Windows. [Pricing was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2009/03/11]
Mar. 10, 2009, Business Wire reports that MPEG LA, LLC has announced that it
has filed patent enforcement actions in the US District Court for the Southern
District of New York against Lenovo Group Limited, et al. in regard to its
MPEG-2 patent portfolio, in regard to laptop computers (among other devices).
[2009/03/11]
Mar. 5, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Linksys has announced the availability
in the US market, of its WET610N bridge at $99.99 US, and its WRT400N dual
simultaneous band router at $149.99 US, and its WRT320N switchable dual band
Gigabyte router for $129.99 US.
[2009/03/08]
Mar. 3, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that NetMotion Wireless has announced
that it has been granted Canadian Patent No. 2303987 for its Mobile Virtual
Private Network software. Mobility XE(TM).
[2009/03/08]
According to IEEE802.org, TGn Draft 7.0 passed in November 2008. But more significantly, it also unchanged in January 2009, and passed a sponsor ballot in this form. Comments are still being reviewed, but the fact that it was not changed in January was very significant. It appears that this will likely be the version that will be eventually adopted. While it is still only a Draft standard, it appears that this might well be the final specification. It will be "recirculated" again in May and is expected to be passed in November.
[2009/03/08]
There were no announcement reported by PR Newswire. I expect this was a
server problem. I will probably try to redo the search later in the week.
[2009/03/04]
Mar. 3, 2009, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced that its
ATi Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4860 and HD 4830 graphics processors use
40nm process.
[2009/03/04]
Feb. 27, 2009, PR Newswire reports that VIA Technologies, Inc.,
has announced that Samsung will use the VIA Nano(TM) processor
and VIA VX800 chipset in its NC20 mini-notebook computer.
The computer also features a 1280 x 800, 12.1" display.
[2009/03/01]
Feb. 23, 2009, Business Wire reports that ARM has announced that its
ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-M0 processor is "its smallest, lowest power and most
energy efficient ... ARM processor available." It is available for
licensing.
[2009/02/25]
Feb. 22, 2009, Business Wire reports that Dell has announced that its
Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook will be available from Feb. 26, 2009. Tech
specs are, as usual, "typical", featuring an Intel(R) Atom(TM) Z520
(1.33 GHz) or Z530 (1.60 GHz)., 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Intel(R) IGMA500
graphics (Poulsbo US15WGraphics Chipset), 10.1" (1024 x 576) WSVGA
display, at prices starting at $399 US. More notably, it has an
HDMI output, and pictures indicate that the keyboard is like the
Compaq Mininote, and includes separate Function keys.
[2009/02/22]
Feb. 16, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that the SD Association has announced
that its coming SDXC (eXtended Capacity) specification will take the SD-Card
devices up to 2 terabytes capacity and 300 megabytes/sec. data rates.
SD Association http://www.sdcard.org/
[2009/02/18]
Feb. 16, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.
has announced that its MB86K23 mobile WiMAX baseband IC is a low power, small
footprint device using 65 nm low-leakage CMOS with a USB, SPI and SDIO interfaces.
It is expected to be used in MIDs and netbooks. The device will be available in
April. [No price was provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2009/02/18]
Feb. 16, 2009, Sequans Communications has claimed that its SQN1210 chip is
the first to integrate baseband and triple band RF. [Pricing and availability
were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
Sequans Communications http://www.sequans.com/
[2009/02/18]
Feb. 13, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Stantum Technologies claims
that its patented PMatrix(TM) resistive touch sensing technology
now supports finger-pressure detection. Three levels are differentiated
(soft, medium and hard).
Stantum Technologies touchscreens http://www.stantum.com/
[2009/02/15]
A day or so after I posted my last comment regarding the Via Chipset on the HP-2133 MiniNote, I was looking at the Ubuntu Website to find out more about their new Via support in 8.4.2 LTS (Hardy Heron) and I ran across instructions for turning on automatic CPU speed adjustment. It turned out to be a kernel option switch setting. Since the kernel version is the same on OpenSuSE 11.1, I decided to try the switch, and it works. So now I have contemporary 2D and 3D acceleration and CPU speed control, which is about all the changes I am interested in from the 2.6.28 kernel for that particular computer. That much, plus some recent debugging patches for OpenSuSE 11.1 have given me pretty much all I want from a current Linux OS.
About all I could hope for now might be a faster boot time, which I
could accomplish, if I wanted to optimize the kernel myself. I will
not bother doing so right now, but I believe I have sufficient
information to do so if I wanted to. As such, there is a good chance
that I might not bother changing that OS installation for a fairly
long time -- possible till 11.1 support ends. Ironically, this means
that for my own use, I will now be able to get down to fairly heavy
usage of that computer, as I intended it to be used. And that means
I will no longer be using it to test software in the near future, and
I will no longer have much to write about it "here". So my gain is
sort of "your loss." Sorry about that. Well, not really. . . .
[2009/02/15]
Feb. 11, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Ericsson will demonstrate
a peak downlink data rate of 42Mbps at Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona Spain. The speed is achieved by combining two
frequency channels capable of 21Mbps when used independently.
[2009/02/11]
Feb. 9, 2009, Business Wire reports that ECS EliteGroup Computer
Systems and Comsys Communications & Signal Processing Ltd., have
announced that ECS' U170 eMAX device is a WiMAX USB modem that
also functions as a cellphone, using Comsys Mobile ComMAX CM1125
baseband processor.
[2009/02/11]
It will probably not surprise anyone to know that I did not find
anything worth reporting for the end of this week. Things seem to
be picking up again, slowly, so check back later in the week.
[2009/02/08]
Ubuntu 8.4.2 LTS now has Via support, though I cannot say how much.
Using OpenSuSE 11.1 and "community" RPMs, I now have some 2D/3D
acceleration. I still lack power adjustment, which is necessary for
using the HP-2133 on battery power. Ironically, I cannot report how
I did it, because I am not sure. There are 3 packages that purport
to add acceleration, but they do not work with "sax2". So I applied
all 3 and thought they were not working. Then I checked some "old
notes" and apparently, at least one of them works by patching the
"vesa" driver module. I checked the capabilities of the "vesa"
module and found I had 3D support active. I then tried some benchmarks
to be sure, and the numbers look right. So it did work. I just
do not know which of the 3 packages actually did this.
[2009/02/08]
Feb. 4, 2009, Business Wire reports that Insyde Software has announced
that Sony Corporation is using InsydeH20 firmware in its BZ, CS, G, P,
TT and Z Series VAIO(R) mobile computers.
[2009/02/04]
Feb. 3, 2009, Business Wire reports that Samsung Electronics Co.,
Ltd., has announced the development and validation of 40nm DRAM
chips which will be used in 1 Gigabyte 800Mbps DDR2 SODIMM modules.
[2009/02/04]
I am starting to think the recession has something to do with this. I have not checked back, but I do not think I have gone this long through the beginning of the year without more to report. Again, there was nothing really notable. I could mention that I have finally seen the HP dv3 laptop in Staples. The version in Staples in Toronto has a French keyboard making it less desirable for people like me who are Anglophones and who touchtype quickly.
In case you were wondering whether I would have much to say about this
buzzword, I do, and I do not. Every time I think about it, I come
to the same conclusion. This will be a relatively slow evolutionary
development. It is a continuation of the trends that have been
on-going since the beginning of the Web browser, which began the
mass popularization of the Internet, and the coming of wireless internet
connectivity. Beyond that is minor details -- lots of minor details,
but none the less, minor.
[2009/02/01]
There is one idea that I have had which I deliberately did not include previously because it is really not a "mobile" product in the traditional sense. It is an idea for a "desk" computer that bridges the one-piece computer and the component computer. At best one can consider it a good design idea of a "moveable" computer:
Flat screen TVs came out with a standardized mounting system on
the back of the screens. This can be added to computer screens as
well. In fact, some flat screen TVs are designed for both uses and
so these already exist. It is therefore possible to create computer
cases that can mount on the back of flat screen displays with standard
mounts. A case system with a balanced stand and a "basket" under the
screen to hold an optical drive would make possible a "one-piece-like"
computer system but based on user selectable components.
[2009/02/01]
Jan. 28, 2009, Business Wire reports that knfb Reading Technology, Inc.
will demonstrate its "kReader Mobile" software which allows a mobile
phone user to take a picture and have text in the image read it
aloud.
knfb Reading Technology, Inc.
http://www.knfbreader.com/
[2009/01/28]
Jan. 27, 2009, Canada Newswire reports that LG Electronics Canada Inc.
has been notified that its "LG 150 mobile phone is not longer certified
as meeting the Radio Standards Specification 102 (RSS 102), Radio
Frequency Exposure Compliance of Radio Communication Apparatus."
If you have one of these phones, check LG's website for details of
the recall.
[It would not surprise me if there are further such recalls in the
future by LG or other companies in this field. There are a lot of
conflicting goals in designing cell phones, and sometimes the designs
are close to the edge in one direction or another. Unless a company
has a substantially greater number of such recalls over time, or a
very bad design is evident, I would not assume the worst of these
companies based on this much. -- JO]
[2009/01/28]
Still nothing worth reporting. I have a couple of thoughts
which might motivate companies to produce better products.
[2009/01/25]
Again, do not expect this stuff to show up. I just wish they would:
I have a 2.4 GHz Draft-N router with a Gigabit switch. Someday, when the standard is finalized, I would like to move into 5 GHz. I do not need another 2.4 GHz radio set, so a dual-band extender is really overkill. Also, I believe that separating 2.4 GHz station from the 5 GHz station could result in better performance from both. So a separate box sounds like a good idea to me. Since this would take up 1 of my 4 LAN ports, I would appreciate the extra box having some more LAN ports, and all running at my maximum 1 GHz. A 3-4 (outbound) port switch would suit my needs well.
A lot of people are buying Netbooks with big hard drives. This
is not a really good idea. It is better to keep data off the
Netbooks. So a NAS is a good thing to add to a network. But if
there are a lot of Netbooks out in the world, there should be a
good market for a combination WiFi router and NAS. This and a
Netbook (and a connection to the Internet) is all some people
would really need.
[2009/01/25]
I have to admit that I was surprised today, that there was nothing worth
reporting. However, I should not have been surprised. I suppose that
after the Martin Luthor King holiday and the Inauguration, there were
a lot of people off work, and there was no incentive to try to overcome
the focus of the day on the new President. I expect more news in the
coming weeks.
[2009/01/21]
Over the last few days I have begun converting to my D-Link DIR-655 Gigabyte Ethernet / WiFi Draft-N router. I will not say that everything went smoothly, but so far, the only computer that has failed to connect using the Ethernet connection is my Windows XP computer, which is my E-Mail computer, printout computer, and the computer on which I do my research for this Website. Ironically, I found out just as I started work on the webpage changes for today. I wasted a few hours trying to understand the problem and fix it, but eventually had to abandon the idea, for now, and use another computer for the research.
One particular point to remember is that I will still eventually get my
EMail done because it is not on my HS Internet. It can be accessed through
dial-up. Do you have an alternative route to your EMail?
[2009/01/18]
There were a few borderline announcements, such as new Seagate Cheetah 3.5"
hard drives (we have not used 3.5" hard drives much in mobile computers in
the last 10 years) and summaries of 2008 PC sales (do I need to tell you that
income is down but laptop and mobile sales have continued to grow, but slowly?).
Next week might be better.
[2009/01/14]
Do not expect this stuff to show up. I just wish they would:
There have not been many cards for PC Cards or Xpress Cards lately. Most are very industrial in concept, except for some wireless broadband stuff. What I would like to see are things like:
Is it really so hard to understand that built in "multi-card" slots are a bad idea? They may seem convenient at first, but eventually you will end up with lack of BIOS support for some card format in the future. That leaves "system level" support, which will probably keep up, but you still end up paying for more slot types than you will probably ever need. An Xpress Card based adapter should be buyable for upgrading the controller in the future.
Here is a VERY radical thought: I have measured the small slot (34mm) and it is large enough to make a 2 - SD-Card slot adapter. How about a removable "SD-Card RAID" adapter?
I would also like an FM radio receiver card. There might still be one in an SD-Card format. There used to be one which was used by some people in Palm devices, but I think that company is gone now.
Those consumer picture frames are selling as a novelty, but it seems they have limited user popularity. People buy them, use them for a while, and then get annoyed by them and turn them off. How about having an external display that can be used as a stand alone picture frame? You could hook it up to your computer if you want more display space.
The same idea goes for portable DVD Players and coming Portable Blue-Ray players. Why not have computer input ports so the displays can be used as extensions for computer displays?
The new Via Chips (CPU and VX800 chipset) are very interesting. For Netbook use, encryption is a problem because it slows down data transmission. I do not know how much slowdown is unavoidable, but some of it seems to be caused by the WiFi encryption. It is unclear how much speed or battery savings might result from the CPU hardware encryption in the new VIA 64-bit CPU. However, it could be significant. Businesses and government offices should be using this technology. Actually, everybody should be using this technology.
VIA messed themselves up by not supporting Linux early enough. Despite the fact that VIA C7-M based Netbooks beat the Intel Atom "onto the shelves" Linux support for Intel Atom Netbooks is now available in the 3 most important Linux distributions (Fedora 10, Ubuntu 8.10 and OpenSuSE 11.1) which are based on the 2.6.27 Linux Kernel. Where is VIA support? It is in the 2.6.28 Kernel, which will come in the *next* Linux OSes. Far too late for C7-M Netbook users. However, VIA support for the next generation chips is already in this Kernel too (although it might not be complete yet) -- a result of VIA realizing last year that Linux support was going to be important for their products.
The industry is following the market and not understanding it. The SSDs and "near instant booting" is more important then the companies realize. The reason is that right now a lot of people are looking at the Atom based Netbooks as cheap laptop replacements. However, the current market is largely made up of people who have no ability to guage their needs nor the limits of the products they are buying. Mass disillusionment will be the result, and that will cause a return to higher priced product sales, leaving the Netbook sales to the smaller market of people who will use it for "limited purposes" -- which was the target of the original specs. In other words, when you get past the near-term boom sales, the remaining market will be people who just want to use them to surf the Web briefly, but without delay -- like me. That and the fact that SSDs are getting bigger in capacity, faster and/or cheaper (depending on how you look at it), means that the market for SSD based Netbooks will, in the long term be the real winner.
[2009/01/14]
Jan. 9, 2009, PR Newswire reports that SRS Labs has announced that HP
now uses SRS Premium Sound(TM) on all its current laptops, including
the dv2 - dv7 lines and the TouchSmart Tx2.
[2009/01/11]
Jan. 8, 2009, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc. has unveiled its
"Palm(R) WebOS" mobile platform which is used on its "Palm Pre(TM)"
mobile phone. It integrates various "Web-connected applications" by
using its "Palm Synergy(TM)" feature to, for example, unite contact
information from Outlook, Google and Facebook.
[2009/01/11]
Jan. 8, 2009, Business Wire reports that ViewSonic Corp. has introduced
new computer products including its VieBook(TM) Netbooks computer.
At 2.6 lbs., with a 10.2" screen and Intel(R) Atom, etc. at $429 US,
it will be available in February 2009.
[2009/01/11]
"Lenovo S9/S10 Regulatory Notice V1.0" Page 7 (for Canada)
"The Lenovo computer contains an authentication mechanism. You can install or remove each wireless feature by yourself. If you install an unauthorized wireless adapter that is not approved for use in the Lenovo computer, the computer will not start, but only display an error message and emits audible beeps."
I have heard about this sort of limitation on upgradeability before. I
do not think any of my other computers are designed to "lock up" like this.
It is an interesting issue. If I have time, I will look into it further.
-- JO]
[2009/01/11]
Jan. 7, 2009, PR Newswire reports that Sony has unveiled its
"VAIO(R) P Series Pocket Style PC". It features an 8" diagonal
"ultra-wide" [very short] display with 1600 x 768 resolution
and LED backlight technology. According to Sony, at "just 1.4
pounds . . . [it is] "small enough to slip into a jacket
pocket or handbad while integrating full-PC features." Sony
claims a 4 hour standard battery life with an 8 hour battery
option, 802.11n wi-fi [which is quite a claim since there is
no such thing as 802.11n -- yet] and Bluetooth technologies,
and available later this month at a retail price of about
$1,000 Cdn.
[It is nice to be able to claim long battery life, but at
what speed? -- JO]
[2009/01/07]
Jan. 7, 2009, PR Newswire reports that NETGEAR(R), Inc. has
announced a few new products, lead by its RangeMax(TM) Dual
Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNDR3700), which features
simultaneous Dual Band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz datacomm with Gigabit
ethernet ports, a port for an external USB storage device and
a 680 MHz MIPS processor, wrapped up in the company's "fifth
generation industrial design." Availability is expected 2009
Q1 for $179 US.
[2009/01/07]
Jan. 7, 2009, Business Wire reports that Toshiba AIS has
announced that its Portege R600-ST520W will be its first ultra-
portable laptop to get combined Wi-Fi (including a/g/draft-N)
and WiMAX. The 12" screen (short format) portable weighs
about 2.4 pounds and will be available in late January 2009
for $2,149.99 US MRSP.
[2009/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2009, Business Wire reports that SanDisk Corporation has
unveiled its latest SanDisk pSSD-P2 and S2 SSD devices will
be competitive in price with Hard Disc Drives. Its 32 GB device
is priced at 2.5" HDD level in OEM quantities. The company
claims that booting and launching software is twice as fast
as on an HDD.
[2009/01/07]
Jan. 6, 2009, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that
its latest HP Mini 2140 series computers come in aluminum cases
and feature a 10.1" diagonal LED screen in standard 1024 x 576
resolution or high definition 1366 x 768 resolution. Based on
the Intel Atom processor for cooler and longer running, they will
be available later this month at prices starting at an estimated
street price of about $499 US.
[2009/01/07]
As is typical this time of the year, there was nothing announced worth
reporting. I expect the coming week will be very full.
[2009/01/04]
It is not news to say that it has been a very bad year. With the news that banks and the auto companies have been granted assistance in the US and Canada, other industries have been lining up for handouts. I do not expect those to come. The point of the bank money was to make money available throughout the the countries covering the other industries. The automotive industry was a special case.
The irony is that the computer industry was in the process of bringing out inexpensive products called "Netbooks". The problem is that there are people who thing they get some thing for nothing -- expecting the Netbooks to be wonderful computers "just like an expensive laptop". They are, and they are not. The first round of products has already run its course, and when I look around, I get a sense of disillusionment.
When the excitement of unboxing a "new toy" is over, some people are
left wondering what it is good for? If they have to ask that, they
probably should not have bought one. So this may become a "flash in
the pan" sales year while people try to understand what products they
actually want.
[2009/01/04]
Dec. 18, 2008, Axiotron(R) announced that Steve Wozniak had joined
the company's "Board of Advisors". The company's main product is its
"Modbook" which is a "pen-based tablet Mac(R) solution." A pen based
version of a Macbook-like computer. Prices start at $2,249 US.
The computers are already available.
Axiotron(R) tablet computer
http://www.axiotron.com/
[2008/12/31]
If you expected that I would have any announcements to
report, all I can say is, "You have got to be kidding!"
Seriously, the week from Christmas to New Year's Day has
rarely seen anything in the way of significant announcements.
I am half expecting some company like AMD or Intel or
Nvidia to try to get something out on the last day of
the year just to "one up" the competition, but this year
such antics might not be appreciated. How would your
customers feel if they just bought something and you are
saying, "Hey if you had waited another month, we would
have saved you some money!" In any other year, people would
take that with a little annoyance, but this year?
[2008/12/28]
As long time readers will know, I will NOT announce awards for "Best Products for 2008", or such, before 2008 is actually over. The main reason for that is the possibility of that last minute announcement. On the other hand, I will also not give awards for Vapourware (announced products that never became available within 2008). My announcement policy also gives companies a chance to make good on such announcements of theirs. However, the generally irresponsible behavior of others in this field has made it appropriate for me to at least give some Nominations, or thoughts of what I might consider for such awards, at this time.
Best Products I have Used:
The "best products I have used" is a slim selection this year. I have simply been too busy with other matters to get around to testing much. If I were writing on assignments right now, I would have done more. I literally have stuff in boxes I have not even opened. Of the stuff I have been using, I would say that the Palm TX is (Surprise!) still one of the most useful. I do not like the quality level of the product. It is not as durable as it should be. There are more issues I could raise as well. But it is still in my pocket, and in fact, I have just recently bought another one as a "backup" unit.
The Nokia N800 was proving to be quite nice, right up until it was stolen. I have bought an N810 -- which is still in its box (see?) to replace it, and I am looking forward to getting around to using it, but I have not had the time. I suppose I would have made the time if it were another N800 though. The fact is, I do not like the Spec of the N810 as much as the N800. The N800 had the FM radio circuitry which the N810 lacks. Yes, I did use it as an FM radio. On the other hand, I have no use for a GPS. I had a GPS before. I did try it, and now it sits unused.
The ASUS EeePC 701 has been a good product and I still use it fairly often. It has replaced the Nokia N800 for a lot of what I had been doing before -- quick Web searches at odd times of the day, when I am at home. Someday I will say why the later Netbook products do not do this job as well as the EeePC 701.
The HP2133 has been quite good so far. I will eventually say
more about it.
[2008/12/28]
The Acer Aspire One was retired when I bought the HP2133, but
has seen use as a "test-bed" for software. I loaded it with
pre-release versions of OpenSuSE 11.1 and reported bugs. When
Novell SuSE and OpenSuSE 11.1 and eventually 11.2 become good
Netbook operating systems (which I expect will happen eventually)
users of other Netbooks will, ironically, thank their fortune,
that I had such a bad time with this particular computer,
because it meant that there was nothing else I was doing with
this it, making beta testing its only viable occupation. You
can be assured that I will NOT give it a "best product" award.
On the other hand, I could also say that it is not really that
bad a design. It just had a couple of bad points. The problem
was that the bad points were really significant.
[2009/01/04 edited for style]
Best Product I Have Not Used This Year:
Vast legions of products! The Toshiba NB100 and the new Compaq 1000 series look like a good Netbook computers. I tried out the mouse buttons on them in a store and they were both very quiet. The same can be said for the LG X110 (version of the MSI u100 Wind). There were some very nice laptops that I felt were very good buys (and an even bigger number of laptops I thought were really silly -- mainly with 15.4" displays and larger). I would have liked to have tried out a number of Gigabit Ethernet based routers. They were all "WiFi Draft N" of course, but it was the Ethernet speed that was the big attraction. I would also liked to have tested some of the cheaper NAS products.
All I can say about this last group really is, maybe I will get
to use them next year.
[2008/12/28]
I doubt if anyone will be surprised to learn that I did not find
any announcements of any significance to post here. . . .
[2008/12/24]
Regarding OpenSuSE 11.1, it is still short of 1 week since it has been release, so the information I have is still subject to error. However, the situation is clear enough that I feel I should give this much advice:
The GNOME LiveCD's for i686 and x86_64 are not trustworth, and may cause corruption of your hard drive. As such, do not attempt to create a hard drive with multiple operating systems unless you have a good set of backups of anything you want to keep on that drive, and be especially certain that you will not need that computer and that information within the time it takes to re-build that drive (or those drives) from your backups. It is unclear if all computers are affected by the problems I know of, or only some computers. I cannot give any indication of the probability of these problems, so you are best to assume that you will probably have problems, at least until someone says otherwise.
I have verified that a computer that suffered a corrupted hard drive using the GNOME LiveCD for i686 was able to be loaded using the "NET" installation system. If you are like me (using cheap, slow Internet, about 60 KB/sec.) this may be small comfort. It took me over a half hour to download the ISO for the NET installer, about 5.5 hours to install the software, and then another hour to finish the configuration. Adding some "padding" time to cover possible inefficiencies, and you should assume roughly an 8 hour day's work to get it all done, or perhaps even 9 - 10 hours if you want to eat meals.
I installed the KDE4, i686 LiveCD on a different computer -- the Acer Aspire One. Downloading the ISO file took about 3 hours, burning the CD-ROM took about a half hour, and installing through a Philips USB DVD drive took about an hour. Installation is not straight forward on a 600 line display, but it can be done (I might post some tips about that later). It appears that the problems which can cause disc corruption on the GNOME disc do not affect this version. In theory, it should be fairly simple to add the GNOME software through "Software Manager" and then, if you wish, you can remove the KDE4 software. Some people keep both installed. I am currently trying out the KDE4 software to see if I like it. Unless I see something in KDE4 that is significantly better than GNOME, I will eventually install GNOME and remove KDE4. This is because I would rather have consistent operation among my computers.
Another problem I found on the KDE4 installation is that the regular wired LAN has not worked reliably. It appears that I need to delete the setup and re-do it every time I boot the computer. On the other hand, the WEP based WiFi does work. So I am mainly using WiFi to connect to the Internet for now. I have not filed a bug report on the LAN problem yet. Someone else will probably do it before me.
I have seen reports of problems with the main DVD version, but not
enough to indicate a significant general problem. In other words,
the reliability of the installation seems to be about the same as
the KDE4 LiveCD.
[2008/12/24]
Happy Holidays To All. . .
and a Happy, and Prosperous New Year!
Dec. 21, 2008, PR Newswire reports that according to "obsnews.com",
Praetorian Key, Inc. claims their encryption system would take
"nine trillion years" to be broken.
[2008/12/21]
OpenSuSE 11.1 was released, as per their last schedule, on December
18, 2008. I have been aware of some potential problems regarding
installation for about a week now, but I was hoping that it would be
avoided in the final distribution. Unfortunately, I must report
that the problems are as evident as they were a week ago. For now,
I can only advise that the GNOME LiveCD has shown to have problems
regarding its partitioner and also the GRUB boot software installation.
The problems are bad enough that I must advise against attempting to
use these methods when trying to install the software. So far, it
appears that other methods of installation are not having any
unusual degree of problems. However, since it has been less than
a week that the software has been available, I have decided to give
no advice at all at this time.
[2008/12/21]
Actually, it is not really "black". It is very, very dark grey. If you saw the Lenovo website over the past months, introducing the Ideapad S10, a number of colours were brought out early and some came along later. The early ones were mainly two-tone. They had some colour covering most of the outer parts, and some white parts. The sole exception was an all white model. But the common theme was white. In one picture, they showed a "black" model in the background, saying that it would be out in December, but there was no indication that it would depart from the "white plus another colour" pattern.
And now it is December, and the "black" model is out -- on schedule. The only remarkable thing is that it is the first model without any white. It is almost entirely the same colour throughout, giving it the "classic" look of a lot of the business laptops that have come out in recent years (say, 2000 - 2005 for example). And of course, the "classics" of all "classic black computers" are those in the long line of ThinkPad computers.
Depending on your opinion about such fashions, it is either the model
you were waiting for, just another Netbook, or the refuge of those
who need to get a personality. But maybe, more than any other
Netbook so far, it is the milestone recognition, that this is going to
be a significant class of tools for the corporate world.
[2008/12/17]
Dec. 17, 2008, Business Wire reports that Sprint has announced that its
"Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300 combines its 3G network with WiMAX Sprint
4G network acess.
[2008/12/17
Dec. 17, 2008, PR Newswire reports that nVidia(R) has announced that
its "Ion Platform" combines its GeForce 9400 GPU with the Intel Atom
processors.
[There is no clear mention of price, availability, nor power consumption.
-- JO]
[2008/12/17]
Dec. 11, 2008 PR Newswire reports that RadioShack Corporation claims
that it is the 1st major US Retailer "to offer an ultra-lightweight,
mobile netbook . . . with integrated 3G wireless technology." The
Acer Aspire One (Black, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, Windows XP) is included
at an extra $99.99 US on a 2 year AT&T DataConnect contract at $60
US per month. The offer is available within "continental U.S." up
to Dec. 24. 2008.
[2008/12/14]
Dec. 10, 2008, Business Wire reports that Boston-Power(R) has announced
that HP will make Boston-Power(R)'s "Sonata(TM)" Lithium-Ion batteries
available as an upgrade for some of its consumer laptop computers in
early 2009. The batteries will carry a 3 year warranty.
[2008/12/10]
According to the report of the IEEE P802.11, Task Group N, its Nov.
2008 meeting in Dallas Texas, US resulted in Draft 7.0 of 802.11n.
[2008/12/10]
[New Change: My HP-2133 Desktop "Applications" font has been changed from "serif 12" to "serif 10" for better balance of screen usage. -- JO]
[This file previously only included my short pieces on the Acer
Aspire One and ASUS EeePC. I included my comments on the HP-2133
and Font settings for system and Web browsers. If you have read the
file before, there is no point in re-reading it.]
Netbook Summary nwa_aspireone.html
[2008/12/11], [2008/12/10], [2008/10/19], . . . [2008/10/01]
Dec. 5, 2008, Business Wire reports that DisplayLink and Acer have
announced that Acer's B223 display is a 22" 1680 x 1050 resolution
in 32-bit "True Colour" computer monitor which includes DisplayLink
DL-160 technology which allows it to be used via a USB 2.0 connection,
achieving "smooth DVD video playback."
[I find the significance of this dubvious. I have previous numbers
that indicate that USB 2.0 is not really sufficient for full HD
TV, though good enough for most broadcast HD TV. And computer
displays can even surpass full HD TV. HDMI is becoming more widely
supported, so that is probably a better bet. -- JO]
[2008/12/07]
Dec. 3, 2008, Business Wire reports that Kyocera has announced that
mass production has begun on its THG057VGLAH-H000 transflective
5.7" VGA LCD display. It is powered by 3.3 V. or 5.0 V DC and
measures 135mm x 104.8mm x 8.85mm. [Pricing and availability were
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[Transflective displays are still one of the Holy Grails of display
technology since the reduced need for a backlight makes them among
the most energy efficient. -- JO]
[2008/12/03]
Dec. 1, 2008, Business Wire reports that Good OS has announced that
its latest "Cloud" OS boots directly into a browser and optionally
into Windows. GIGABYTE will preload it into Netbooks with Windows
XP early next year.
["Cloud" is it? They can call it that if they want as long as it is
not "vapourware". . . . -- JO]
[2008/12/03]
Nov. 29, 2008 PR Newswire reports that PriceGrabber.Com has announced its "Black Friday" stats.
The top 10 categories were: Women's Boots, Watches, Blu-ray/HD-DVD Players, Women's Sleep & Lounge Wear, Games & Puzzles, Music, Headphones, Woemen's Dresses and Women's Casual Shoes.
The most popular products were: Nintendo Wii Console, Ugg Autrialia
"Classic Short" Boot, Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player, Samsung
LN52A650 52" LCD TV, Nintendo Wii Fit, Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42" Plasma
TV, Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones, Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital
Camera Kit, Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 computer, Canon
PowerShot A590 IS Black Digital Camera.
[On the one hand, this store is a general merchandiser, but on the
other hand, it is an Internet store, thus being accessed only by computer
users. I wonder about the significance of the Acer Aspire One sales. -- JO]
2008/11/30]
Nov. 24, 2008, Business Wire reports that EMG Technology, LLC has sued Apple
Inc. in the "District Court of the the Eastern District of Texas in the Tyler
Division" accusing Apple of infringing U.S. Patent No. 7,441,196 regarding the
way the iPhone navigates the Internet.
[2008/11/26]
Nov. 21, 2008, Business Wire reports that Samsung has announced that it
has begun production of 256GB solid state drives, and that the new drives
feature "sequential read reates of 220MB/s (megabytes per second) . . . [and]
sequential write rates of 200MB/s. . . . [and] erase cycles [of] 100GBs
per minute." [Pricing and availability were not provided in the announcement.
-- JO]
[2008/11/23]
Nov. 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Kingston Technology Company, Inc.
has announced that its DataTraveler(R) 150 (DT150) USB Flash drives are
available in 32GB and 64GB capacities. The feature 5 year warranties and
24/7 tech support. The US MSRPs for these products are $177 for the DT150/64GB
and $115 for the DT150/32GB.
[2008/11/19]
Nov. 18, 2008 PR Newswire reports that Tekkeon has announced that its
myPowerTM) ALL Plus MP3700 external laptop battery features automatic
voltage detection and 50 Watt-hour (Lithium polymer technology)
capacity, and weighs 15.4 oz. The MSRP is $179.95 US, including a
1 year warranty.
Tekkeon, Inc. mobile computing accessories
http://www.tekkeon.com/
[2008/11/19]
Nov. 17, 2008, PR Newswire reports that the PCMCIA has announced its
release of the ExpressCard(R) 2.0 standard which supports 5Gbps data
transfers, doubling the speed of the 1.2 standard, and "SuperSpeed USB"
(3.0) transfers at 10x the speed of "Hi-Speed USB" (2.0).
[2008/11/19]
Nov. 17, 2008, Business Wire reports that the "USB 3.0 Promoter Group"
has announced the completion and release of the USB 3.0 standard.
[Note: This specification is free, unlike some others. -- JO]
USB 3.0 Specification
http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/
[2008/11/19]
Nov. 11, 2008, PR Newswire reports that SiliconSystems, Inc. has announced
that its latest SiliconDrive II 1.8" PATA SSDs feature read/write speeds
up to 34 MB/s and come in sizes up to 32 GB. [Pricing and availability
were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
SiliconSystems, Inc.
http://www.siliconsystems.com/ solidstate drives
[2008/11/16]
Nov. 16, 2008, Toshiba has entered the Netbook field in Canada with
a surprisingly unique product. This should come as no surprise since
Toshiba has had small computers of this type for many years in Japan,
and on occasion, even in North America. What makes the Netbook
NB100-01G unique is that it is the only current product using a
"taller" format screen. Toshiba has gone back to an 800 x 600 pixel
display, allowing for a form factor closer to the ASUS EeePC 701, but
with greater usability. It is available now at prices starting at
$479.00 Cdn.
[2008/11/16]
I have used standard settings on many applications, on many computers over the years, but occasionally I will make a change. Fairly recently I decided to change my font settings for Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3 (On OpenSuSE 10.3 and 11.0). So far, these settings are on my desk computer, which is displayed on a 17" 1280 * 1024 LCD screen. If they work out well, I expect to switch my laptops over to the same settings:
- Advanced Settings:
- Fonts for "Western":
- Proportional: "Serif", 16 point [was 15 point]
- Serif: "URW Bookman L"
- Sans-Serif: "Lucida Sans"
- Monospace: "monospace" 12 [no change]
[I found that the smaller mobile displays worked much better with
16 point than 15 point, and it was still a reasonable size for my desk
computers. So I have consolidated all my OpenSuSE computers to these
settings.]
[2008/11/12] revised [2008/11/16]
My very good friend Emru Townsend passed away peacefully 10:00 PM
yesterday, in the company of his family, whom he loved. We are all
poorer for his passing, but those of us who were fortunate enough
to have known him, have our memories. The rest of you would wish
you were as fortunate. . . .
[2008/11/12]
Nov. 12, 2008, PR Newswire reports that LG, Sharp and Chunghwa have pleaded
guilty to charges of price fixing in regard to certain LCD panels and will
pay $585 million US in fines.
[2008/11/12]
Nov. 6, 2008, PR Newswire, nVidia has announced that Toshiba's
latest Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706 laptop computers use
two GeForce 9800M GTS GPUs connected through SLI for high performance
computing and also a GeForce 9400M GPU for low power graphics with
the high powered GPUs shut down to save power. Both are now
available from Toshiba's online store, at prices starting at
$1,999 US.
[2008/11/09]
With the election in the US, I was not surprised to see that there
was little in the way of announcements, and really, none that I felt
worth reporting. Congratulations to the United States of America on
the occasion of a significant step in its history. The common
notation is that Mr. Obama is the first African-American President
Elect. May he also be remembered for acts of real significance
which will make that a minor footnote in his resume.
[2008/11/05]
Nov. 2, 2008, I have been contacted by McKesson Corp. regarding their being added to the list of sources. I do not usually do this on a request basis. I have a set procedure for adding information which ensures some degree of reliability -- at least when it is added. Unfortunately, as you are probably aware, I have not had the time to keep up with subsequent changes. However, I performed a brief background check on McKesson and am satisfied that they provide products in the mobile field, particularly in the health care industry. I will place them under PDAs for now, however, they appear to be a comprehensive hardware/software provider.
McKesson Corp. Health care products
PDAs http://www.mckesson.com/
[2008/11/02]
Oct. 30, 2008, Business Wire reports that eMachines(R) has announced that
its model "eMD620-5777" laptop is a minimum "notebook" computer priced
at $429.99. It features an AMD Athlon(TM) 2650e processor (1.6 GHz, 512KB L2
cache, 800 MHz FSB), ATi Radeon X1200 graphics, 1 GB of DDR2 memory, a 14.1"
widescreen 1280 x 800 display, 802.11b/g WiFi, a 160 GB HD, and Windows
Vista Home Basic software.
[I expect there will be other computers similarly priced. But it is
noteworthy that, what appears to be a fairly comprehensive specification low
end mobile computer -- not just a "netbook" has come out below $450 US. --
JO]
eMachines (Acer) laptops
http://www.emachines.com/
[2008/11/02]
Oct. 30, 2008, Business Wire reports that Dell has revised its recall of
batteries provided with certain mobile computers. The batteries were
manufactured from Nov. 9, 2004 to April 11, 2005. Check Dell's website
for more details.
[2008/11/02]
I had to take time to chase down the culprit of my bad Internet response. It got so bad that I was considering using dial-up on a daily basis. After a lot of testing on a number of computer setups, it became apparent that even Firefox 3.0.3 was not the problem. It appears to be Computer Associates Anti-Virus ("ca Anti-Virus"). I only use this on the one computer. It has a different technology for live anti-virus protection. It is hard for me to say whether it is actually superior protection because I really do not explore the Internet like some people do. I mainly look at business related websites, which tend to be the safest on the Internet. However, because the software works in "real-time" analyzing every file that is received, it does tend to slow things down. I had not realized how much this was affecting things lately. But combined with the slowness on Rogers, and on certain sites, and the (needless) complexity of some web pages, the computer must have been overwhelmed. The odd thing is that it was disc accesses more than actual CPU work.
Unfortunately, during all this thrashing around in my system, I managed
to mess things up badly, and I will have to re-load the OS on that
computer and start re-building the software on it from scratch. I will
not go into details, but the only positive thing I can say about this is I
learned something. . . .
[2008/11/02]
Oct. 29, 2008, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that its
new Mini 1000 line. A number of configurations will be available
featuring the Intel(R) Atom N270 1.6 GHz CPU. Available screens
will be 8.9" and 10.2" (all 1024 x 600 LCD with LED backlighting).
A Linux version will feature a new interface called "Mobile Internet
Experience". Connectivity announced is LAN, 2 USB ports, Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth. It is immediately available in the US at prices
starting from $399 US.
[Note: According to the HP webpage, there is only support for
SD-Card/MMC. There is no mention of card expansions such as
ExpressCard. Also, the first versions only seem to have a
60 GB hard drive, though SSDs and other options will be available.
This is a far less capable device than the Mini-Note 2133,
leaving room for both products, at least for now. -- JO]
[2008/10/29]
Oct. 28, 2008, Business Wire reports that Lenovo has introduced its
"IdeaPad S10e" which is the educational market version.
[From the description, it does not sound different from the
S10, but is available "to order" instead of in fixed configurations,
and is bought through the educational channel. -- JO]
[2008/10/29]
Oct. 27, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Atheros Communications, Inc.
has annouced that its Align(TM) product family supports the IEEE
802.11n 1-stream specification which brings some of the advantages
of full multi-stream "11n" to a lower cost and lower power consumption
model. Atheros is claiming up to 5x the throughput of "11g". A
specifically mentioned market is the low cost "netbook" market.
[They also mention full compatibility with future "11n" products, but
that is a somewhat misleading statement since it seems to imply that
"11g" might not be compatible, which is wrong because it is part of
the "11n" specification to be compatible with "11g". -- JO]
[2008/10/29]
Oct. 27, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp. has announced
its Windows Azure Services Platform. This is their platform for the
"cloud computing" model.
[2008/10/29]
I have been investigating the problems I have had with the Internet
lately. I do not have the time nor the resources to do such a
study thoroughly, but it appear that although Rogers was certainly
part of the problem, it was probably exacerbated by a flaw in the
latest Firefox 3.0.3 Web Browser. Apparently, if the Internet is
performing badly, Firefox might add to the problem, at least for
some Websites. I am still investigating this, as best as I can.
we will see. . . .
[2008/10/29]
Oct. 26, 2008, Business Wire reports that Dell has introduced its
"Inspiron(TM) Mini 12." It is currently available only in Japan
and will launch globally online by "late November". Prices start
at $600 US. It features a 12.1" WXGA display, Windows Vista(R)
Home Basic (with Ubuntu and XP available later), 1 GB RAM and
60 GB or 80 GB HD.
[2008/10/26]
First, I have to say that I am sorry for people who rely solely
on Rogers High Speed Internet. Their poor service has continued
for this past week and today I had to use dial-up to post a message
on a Forum. Pathetic. The only bright spot was that I did not
get around to preparing this update till around 21:00, and by then
Rogers performance was picking up.
[2008/10/26]
Oct. 22, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Atmel(R) Corporation has
announced that its latest capacitive touchscreen controllers can
support "Two Touch(TM)" gestures for more complex controls.
[2008/10/22]
Oct. 21, 2008, Business Wire reports that Toshiba America IS, Inc. has announced that its A605 laptop features a 12.1" screen and weighs as little as 3.3 pounds. It is now available at prices starting at $1,399.99 (estimated single unit price).
[The reason I have included this announcement is due to
this statement: "The Portege A605 was uniquely designed,
engineered and manufactured by Toshiba. . . ." This is very
interesting since the bulk of laptops today are produced by a
small handful of Chinese companies like FIC, ASUS, and others.
-- JO]
[2008/10/22]
For the last week, my Rogers' High Speed Internet connection has been terrible. I confirmed that it was in fact Rogers that was giving me problems by "tracert" and "ping". Getting, in some cases, 2 "time-out" returns from the front door server at Rogers tells me that at least part of the problem is "last mile" to "front door" and cannot be blamed on outside performance. There were some other problems too, beyond Rogers.
There are a couple of points that occur to me. First, Rogers has recently put a series of rather annoying commercials on their 680 News radio depicting their High Speed Internet as a better way to access audio media than their competition. In fact, in some instances, even my dial-up account was giving better performance than Rogers this week. And this is not the first time Rogers' performance has not lived up to their advertising.
Coming up to this report I was wondering if I would need to use my dial up to complete it. I am starting my report using Rogers. If I feel the need to switch, I will mention it. Now it will be interesting to see if "680 News" reports anything about this problem.
The other point is one which I have raised before: One cannot rely
entirely on the Internet for critical information. This is true even
for fixed computer usage. The problem is generally worse for mobile
usage. The only way in which mobile Internet is better than a fixed
location connection is that if there is a problem with a particular
access point, one might be able to solve the problem by simply moving
to another. In every other way, mobile worse, being less secure, less
stable, slower and sometimes non-existing. As such, one must seek a
good balance between carrying critical data and accessing freshest
data through available connectivity.
[2008/10/22]
There was nothing worth reporting in the usual release distributions. However, there are a few interesting issues of which I am aware:
The Sylvania Netbook G Meso that I mentioned on October 5 is available in Canada through TigerDirect.ca for $463.99 Cdn. (+ shipping and taxes) featuring an 80 GB HD and Ubuntu Netbook Remix software.
I do not think that I mentioned previously whether the Intel Atom
N270 which is used in many of the Netbooks is 64-bit or 32-bit.
I had the mistaken impression that it was a 64-bit processor.
This was due to items that I had read that only mentioned that
it would be "Core 2" compatible. In fact, not all Atom series
processors are 64-bit, and the N270 is only a 32-bit processor.
This was quite disappointing for me because the primary reason
I bought the Acer Aspire One was for the processor. Otherwise,
I might have waited for the HP Mini-Note 2133. I am again
re-thinking my set of computer equipment.
[2008/10/19]
Oct. 15, 2008, PR Newswire reports that nVidia(R) has announced that
its GeForce(R) 9400M GPU features 16 parallel processor cores which
provide up to 54 GFLOPs of processing power, resulting in 5x faster
graphics than Intel Centrino 2. And that Apple has used it in its
latest refresh of its MacBook product line.
[2008/10/15]
There were a number of announcements over the last few days regarding
new laptop products by Toshiba, Lenovo and others. If you have a
favorite manufacturer, and are in the market, you should do some
browsing. Even if there was not announcement, sometimes you will find
new products.
[2008/10/15]
Oct. 8, 2008, PR Newswire reports that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission has announced a voluntary recall by Coby Electronics for certain
rechargeable batteries sold with DVD, CD and MP3 players. About 13,000
batteries are affected, which were sold between May 2007 and July 2008.
"The rechargeable batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to
consumers."
[2008/10/12]
Oct. 7, 2008, PR Newswire reports that NETGEAR(R), Inc. claims that
its "ProSafe(R) Wireless-N VPN Firewall" is "the first product to
combine dual-band Wireless-N with SSL and IPsec VPN." It is
available for $485 US. [This announcement annoys me for the usual
reason. They do bury an acknowledgement that it complies with
"Draft-N" deep within the text, but the title and early part of
the announcement makes it sound like it is "Wireless-N", which of
course is false, because "N" does not exist yet. -- JO]
[2008/10/12]
Oct. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that Toshiba AIS, Inc. unveiled
its Satellite(R) E105 laptop computer which will be sold exclusively
at Best Buy stores in the US. It features a 14.1", an Intel processor,
and a long 5.5 hour battery life. It is now available at prices
starting from $1,249.99 US.
[Is someone reading this Website? I think I have been saying that
computers with 14.1" screens are generally preferable over 15.4" screens
for about 3 years now. It looks like someone has finally listened. -- JO]
[2008/10/08]
Oct. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that Acer has announced that its
4930-6862 and 6930-6771 laptop computers feature WiMAX connectivity.
The 4930-6862 in particular features a 14" widescreen display and is
currently available at an MSRP of $899.99 US.
[There were also a similar announcement by Lenovo and Toshiba
regarding immediate availability of WiMAX enabled laptops. There
may be other brands also available. -- JO]
[2008/10/08]
Oct. 8, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
is notifying consumers that an AC adapter is being sold with a UL Mark that
has not been tested by UL. See the UL website for information. The
following is part of the markings on the product:
"AC Adapter, Model HF-01, Input: AC 100-240 V 0.07A 50-60Hz, Output:
DC 5.0V. 600Ma, Made in China"
[2008/10/08]
Oct. 2, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Sony has announced that its
3rd generation digital book, the "PRS-700" will be available in November
for about $400 Cdn. The PRS-505 will still be available as well.
[2008/10/05]
With the current interest in the netbook field, I thought that I might post a couple of recent developments which occurred without announcements. Also, it is clear that Linux and Netbook markets have, at least for the moment become strongly associated, I thought I would also provide some information on the current state of some key Linux distributions.
Lenovo has begun shipping its IdeaPad(TM) S10 (4231) Netbook. The only announcement I have seen so far was in the US, but they are in stores as of today in Canada. The announced price is $439.00 US, which is a bit higher than originally intended (previously estimated at $399 US). It is shipping with Windows XP Home Edition and a 10.2" screen.
Although I did not see a formal announcement, I have seen the Sylvania "Netbook G MESO" advertised for sale in Canada. I believe the first shipment has sold out already. The price was around $400 Cdn. The MESO features an 8.9" screen, and it came with Ubuntu Netbook Remix software.
Most of the latest Netbooks are being built with the Intel Atom N270 CPU and the Intel 945GSE Express Chipset. These, along with new wireless support are included in the Linux 2.6.27 Kernel. So the distributions based on the "27" Kernel will be the ones that one would expect to work best on most Netbooks. Put simply, they are not ready yet. In fact, the expected delivery dates are, for Ubuntu 8.10, probably the end of October. For Fedora 10, probably late December, and OpenSuSE, also probably late December. My current expectation is that all will be a bit later. Or, if they are not late, then I probably would recommend waiting a week or two before trying them anyway.
I do NOT recommend trying out Beta versions of any of these future distributions. If you do not know what a Beta version is like, then you do not know enough to use one safely. However, if you are familiar with such development project, then the following will give you an idea of their current state.
Fedora 10 Beta was released a few days ago. I am not sure of the distribution, but I believe a CD ISO is available.
Ubuntu 8.10 Beta was release, apparently on the same day. Again, I am not sure of the distribution, but I believe a CD ISO is available.
OpenSuSE 11.1 Beta 1 was actually release a while back. This past Friday saw the launch of Beta 2 on DVD ISO. They plan to release the first LiveCD ISO on Monday October 6.
[2008/10/05]
Sept. 29, 2008, PR Newswire reports that NETGEAR(R), Inc. has announced
that its latest generation WiFi Draft-N products are now available.
The WNR2000 Wireless-N-Router, along with other new products, features
"green" thinking with power switches to easily turn off the router or
just the WiFi section. The WNR2000 is priced at $89 US.
[2008/10/01]
Sept. 25, 2008, PR Newswire reports that according to MetaFacts, Inc.,
53% of adult computer users use a "notebook or tablet PC". Of the
mobile PCs used 40 hours or more per week, 44% are owned by households,
31% are owned by large businesses, and 25% by small or medium businesses,
education or government. ". . . 43% are used in only one location,
13% are used in two locations, and 44% are used in three or more
locations." [NOTE: The definition for a "location" was not provided
in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/09/28]
Sept. 23, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc. has announced
that its WiMAX USB adaptor "USBw 100" will be available in 3 versions
each to cover one of the 3 bands approved around the world (2.3 GHz.,
2.5 GHz. and 3.5 GHz.). They are expected to be available in 2008
Q4. [Prices were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/09/28]
Sept. 24, 2008, Business Wire reports that Dell has projected its
transition to LED backlighted computer screens, expecting to complete
its laptop computers transition within the next year. Dell
estimates that power savings for customers will be about 43% at
maximum brightness for a 15" screen. Specific projections were that
80% of its laptops would be delivered with LED screens as standard
equipment by the end of 2009 and 100% in 2010.
[This was a strangely internally contradictory announcement which
claimed at the top that the displays would be changed "in the next
12 months" and then specifically saying later that this was not
so. Very odd. -- JO]
[2008/09/24]
Sept. 23, 2008, Business Wire reports that USRobotics has announced that
its USR2980-OEM and USR802981-OEM embedded dial-up modems are now
compatible with Linux 2.4 and 2.6 Kernels as well as Microsoft(TM) Windows.
[Note: The announcement specifically mentions 64-bit operating systems,
but does not clearly say Linux 64-bit operating systems. However, I believe
that supporting 64-bit Linux was part of the point of the announcement. -- JO.]
[2008/09/24]
Sept. 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Trapeze Networks' has
commented on the upcoming IEEE 802.11v standard, which will
have new energy saving features. The work on the standard began
in 2004 and is expected to finish in 2010.
[IEEE is still working on "n". However, if the standards are
compatible, which one would expect that they should be, there may
be "v" features showing up even before "n" is done. -- JO]
[2008/09/21]
Sept. 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Trigem USA has announced that
its "Averatec Buddy" netbook will feature an Intel(R) Atom(TM) N270,
1.6 GHz CPU, 10.2" LCD screen, 160 GB storage, and Windows XP Home
software. Price and availability were not clearly provided, but the
announcement seemed to imply that it is now available.
[2008/09/21]
Sept. 18, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Best Buy Canada has announced
that its first Best Buy Mobile store opened. on Sept. 19, 2008 at
Vaughan Mills. Other stores will follow later this Fall.
[2008/09/21]
On the one hand, I found nothing announced for the first part of this week worth reporting. However, that does not mean that there is no news:
On the one hand, apparently Lenovo has removed pre-loaded Linux from its offerings on directly purchased laptop computers for the US. I have not checked if this is also true of Canada. Apparently, they feel that it is enough if pre-loaded Linux is available through their channel partners. It appears that their coming Netbook product will not have Linux pre-loaded either.
On the other hand, I have just seen reports in Forums that some people
have recently bought MSI's Wind with pre-loaded Novell SuSE 10.0 desktop.
I double checked MSI's US Website and there is no announcement of such a
product -- only the same old announcements of their Windows XP versions.
[2008/09/17]
Sept. 14, 2008, Business Wire reports that "Shalov Stone Bonner & Rocco LLP"
have announced that they "filed a securities fraud class action on behalf of
all investors who purchased . . . common stock of NVIDIA Corp. . . . between
November 8, 2007, and July 2, 2008, inclusive. . . .
that the defendants "made a series of misrepresentations and omissions that
actively concealed and failed to disclose the unusually high failure rates
of NVIDIA's mobile video adapters. . . ."
[2008/09/14]
Sept. 12, 2008, Business Wire reports that Acer America announced its
participation Chicago Elementary Schools' United Nations Foundation's
"Nothing But Nets" fundraising campaign. They will supply prizes of
Acer Aspire One computers.
[2008/09/14]
Sept. 11, 2008, PR Newswire reports that nVidia is claiming to
have "pioneered" the ability to switch between integrated graphics
and descrete graphics in laptop computers, for the sake of power
optimizing.
[I try not to editorialize directly in my news reports, but in this
case, I find this announcement embarassing. This idea came from ATi/AMD,
I think last year. It can be a good idea. No doubt nVidia and Intel and
the various companies worked hard to accomplish this. But it is still
little more than a copy of ATi/AMD technological thinking and achievements.
It is hard to decide whether to congratulate them or censure them for
trying to claim originality. -- JO]
[2008/09/14]
If I seem a bit testy in my postings today, it is because I seem to be faced with a number is issues which show this industry at its worst. Actually, there is usually some good and some bad going on all the time. And generally on balance, I feel things are getting better. But there are times when a number of issues arise that combine to bring out the cynical side of me. Here goes:
On April 16, 2008, I wrote that I had heard that Microsoft had extended support for XP Home beyond Jan. 31, 2009. But I did not see it on their Webpage. Looking at the page again, it seems that on April 3, 2008, it was modified with the addition of a footnote (superscript 3) which mentions that support had been extended ONLY for "XP Home OEM", to June 30, 2010. Why did they do it in fine print? Because it is embarrassing for them to admit that Vista was already being seen as a failure, and that Linux was becoming a major challenger, particularly in the "very small system" market, embodied by the "XO" laptop of "OLPC" and the "ASUS EeePC", and with more coming.
I apologize to you readers for my inaccurate earlier report. I make no apology
to Microsoft. They wanted it to be hard for us to read, and by golly, it was.
If they wanted us to "miss it", then why should I apologize to them for having
done so?
[2008/09/14]
Sept. 10, 2008, PRNewswire reports that Texas Instruments has announced
that the ARCHOS Internet tablets ARCHOS 5, 5G and 7, are based on its
OMAP 3 processors, which are, in turn, based on ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A8
processors, rated for 600 MHz. The devices are "Internet" tablets.
[The announcement is interesting because Nokia's N810 has not become
available in Canada, which is unfortunate. It appears that most people
in the industry feel that that Intel-like processors are going to
dominate in the Internet device field. Having used the most current
products, I do not see any real advantage to them. But then again,
"real" advantage is not the only basis for success. -- JO]
[2008/09/10]
Sept. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that Intel has announced that it has
begun shipping its "intel(R) X18-M and X24-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State
Drives (SSDs). The price for 80 GB versions is $595 each in quantities of
1,000.
[2008/09/10]
Sept. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that HP announced that its
"EliteBook 6930p", in a configuration that will be available October, 2008,
using an optional "ultra-capacity" battery had delivered a 24 hour battery
runtime on a single charge, in an industry standard test.
[Finally, a company that is getting the message. Ok, well, one of the
messages. -- JO]
[2008/09/10]
[I have somewhat conflicting information about the upcoming Everex CloudBook
MAX. If you look at the Everex website, it is announced as a product expected
to be shipped in Q1 or Q2 in 2009. I had previously heard that it might be
released in September 2008 -- right about now. However, for some companies,
Q1 2009 can actually mean "right about now". So until I have some clarification,
I do not really know what is going on. What I can say is that it appears, that
with its 8.9", 1024 x 600 screen, and general size and features, it seems to
be aimed at the Acer Aspire One, ASUS EeePC 1000H range of products. Also, it
features a 1.6 GHz VIA C7(R)-M Processor ULV, like the upper priced HP's, but
with the VIA VX800 Chipset. This is a new chipset, and might make this a
competitive product. -- JO]
[2008/09/10]
Sept. 4, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Sony has recalled about
73,000 CAIO TZ-series laptop computers due to a possible "burn
hazard to consumers." Recalled computers are certain units from
the VAIO VGN-TZ100, VGN-TZ200, VGN-TZ300 and VGN-TZ2000 series.
Check Sony's Website for more information.
[2008/09/07]
Sept. 4, 2008, Business Wire reports that Dell has announced that its
"Inspiron Mini 9" is now available with Windows XP at prices starting
at $399.00 US. A version using Ubuntu (Linux) 8.04 (Hardy Heron) will
be available "in a few weeks" at prices starting at $349.00 US. This
computer features a 1024 * 600, 8.9" "glossy LED display" and weighs
2.28 lbs.
[Dell's webpage for this device refers to the screen as LCD and LED.
It is probably an LCD screen with LED backlighting, which is typical
these days, but it is not clearly stated. The CPU is an Intel(R) Atom(TM)
1.6 GHz, and it appears that it can only handle up to 1 GB of RAM, of which
some will be used for the integrated graphics. All current systems use
SSD's. -- JO]
[2008/09/07]
Sept. 3, 2008, Business Wire reports that its ultra low-latency
modules are now available in 4GB memory kits. The "HyperX(R)
PC2-6400 CL4 SO-DIMMs" include "Serial Presence Detect" (SPD)
to support a wider array of computers. Part number
KHX6400S2ULK2/4G is a kit of 2 DDR2 modules which can be
used for 800MHz CL4-4-4-12 @ 1.8V and 667MHz CL3-4-4-10 @
1.8V (a 533MHz-CL3 configuration is also supported). The
current MSRP is $257 US.
[2008/09/03]
Sept. 3, 2008, Business Wire reports that the CompactFlash Association
has announced that its new CFast specification revision 1.0 is now
available for downloading at its website. The new specification includes
SATA interfacing for faster data transfers. The download is free for
CFA members (there is a cost of $100 US for non-members).
CompactFlash Association
http://www.compactflash.org/
[2008/09/03]
It will not make any difference to the content of this Website, but today marks the first day that I am editing this page on OpenSuSE 10.3 64-bit -- but not on a laptop computer. I use a laptop to do the actual research, but the page is still written on a desk computer. However, I have been running OpenSuSE 10.3 64-bit on a laptop for quite a while now, testing it for stability. I must report that it has not been quite up to a really acceptable level of stability quite yet on the laptop, but it I felt it would be probably be acceptable for my desk computer. I already rejected the newer 11.0 which was even less stable, and there was probably just enough time to test another operating system before making the final upgrade, if it had been necessary.
The interesting issue, however, is that I have recently been saying that really, there is no inherent need for 64-bit software on laptops at this time. However, the reason that most people will want to use a 64-bit OS on a laptop is "consistency of code." What I mean by this is that it can be helpful if you can run the same software on your laptop that you run on a desk computer. In big organizations, this consistency can mean that dozens or even hundreds of computers run the same programs, which makes it simply for their IT departments.
In my case, having the ability to run the 64-bit OS testing on one of my laptop computers meant that I was able to pre-approve the software before loading it onto my main computer. In fact, I have already submitted bug reports for this software, and the eventual debugging should be done sooner than if I had only begun running this software on my main computer first. I have noted before that 64-bit Vista is now being deployed on laptop computers in most local stores.
It is expected that, eventually, most laptops, as well as most desk computers will be running 64-bit operating systems. Having used OpenSuSE Linux 10.2 64-bit for over a year now, I can say that it has been slowly progressing through that grey area between bad and good, and can be classed in either way, depending on your needs and preferences.
I have said that I expected that by the end of this calendar year, all my computers that are capable of 64-bit software would be running a 64-bit OS. The only exception to this expectation is that my new Acer Aspire One should be capable of running a 64-bit OS, but since that computer is new, and its use will probably be so limited that it will not warrant any change in software at all this year.
In at least one case, I will be running a dual-boot computer (two
operating systems on the same computer) and one of the operating
systems will be a 32-bit OS. This will make it possible for me to
continue testing 32-bit software on that computer, as well as on
computers which are limited to 32-bit software. However, for most
people such a wide array of systems is unnecessary, and really,
just annoying.
[2008/09/03]
While I have never said that I would keep a firm schedule for these reports, I
expect that most people expect me to do so. As such, I should say that I am
sorry for being a day later than usual. I did not take a holiday yesterday. Quite
the contrary, I just ended up so busy in the later part of the day that I did not
get around to doing it. However, because today is a common holiday, it did not
make any difference. It turns out that there was nothing to report anyway.
[2008/09/01]
I am actually a bit surprised to say that I did not find anything worth
reporting in the early part of this week. We are coming up on the start
of school and there should be a lot of stuff to report "right about now."
I know that the retail stores are already converting their shelves to
Fall line-ups.
[2008/08/27]
Aug. 22, 2008, Business Wire reports that Acer America has announced immediate
price drops for its still-new Aspire One. The AOA150-1570 Windows XP Home(R)
version with 1 GB RAM and 120GB HD is now priced at $349.00 US and the AOA110-1722
with Linpus(TM) Lite is now priced at $329.00 US.
[Acer seems to have a handle on why these products are selling. To paraphase
the first Clinton presidential campaign "It's the PRICE stupid!" Then again,
it is also wise to remember that as of today, the "end of life" for Windows
XP Home is still expected January 2009, which means that the software has only
about 5 months left before you will want to replace it. If you will replace
it with Vista, you will have to expand from 1 GB (which has proven to be
just a bit too small) to 1.5 GB, and you will pay for the usual upgrade price
for Vista. This is true for ALL computers currently being sold with any version
of XP (and less than 1.5 GB of RAM). -- JO]
[2008/08/24]
Aug. 21, 2008, Canada NewsWire reports that Best Buy Canada has announced
that it plans to open new "Best Buy Mobile" stores which will be located
in shopping centers and limited to mobile phones. The first will open
in Toronto "before the end of 2008."
[2008/08/24]
Aug. 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that RealNetworks(R), Inc. has
announced that "Real plans to publish a standard API in the Helix
Community to provide third-party Linux application developers . . .
[to use] the functionality available in the RealPlayer."
[2008/08/20]
Aug. 18, 2008, PR Newswire reports that MPC Computers has announced the
availability of its TXTbook(TM) PC designed for the K-6 educational
market. Based on an Intel(R) Atom(TM) 1.6 GHx processor, it features
battery life up to 5 hours and a highly reliable hard drive. Prices
start at $499 US.
MPC Computers http://www.mpccorp.com/
[2008/08/20]
Aug. 14, 2008, Business Wire reports that Indilinx, a faabless
semicon company has unveiled its "Barefoot(TM)" solid state
drive (SSD) controller, which uses 90 nm technology which
features read speeds up to 230MB/s.
[2008/08/17]
Aug. 12, 2008, PR Newswire reports that nVidia has announced that its
new Quadro(R) FX 3700M GPU for mobile computers features 128 CUDA
Parallel Computing Processor cores and supports 1 GB of dedicated
graphics memory. The new Quadro FX370M GPU (8 cores) and Quadro FX 770M
GPU (32 cores) will be more commonly found in popular laptops.
[2008/08/13]
As you might have expected, there was nothing to report in the later
part of last week. In fact, with the attention on the Olympics, I have
some doubts about whether there will be much for the next week or so.
[2008/08/10]
Aug. 6, 2008, Business Wire reports that "Good OS" (gOS) has announced
"details" of its upcoming "gOS 3 Gadgts" operating system.
[A beta version of this new OS is currently downloadable from its Website.
-- JO]
The new OS features Google Gadgets, WINE 1.0 and LXDE.
Good OS (LINUX based)
http://www.thinkgos.com/
[2008/08/06]
Aug. 4, 2008, Business Wire reports that Lenovo has announced that its
IdeaPad S10 netbook PC will feature a 10.2" and a keyboard 85% size of
a full size keyboard. Prices will start at $399 US with availability
in early October.
[2008/08/06]
It appears that this is a holiday weekend in the US as well as in
Canada. I have not seen anything worth reporting. However, I did
revise and expand my earlier comments about the RBC giveaway of the
ASUS EeePC, which follows this comment:
[2008/08/03]
On May 6, 2008, RBC announced that it would give away a free ASUS Eee PC to new clients in Canada "who sign up for a Signature No Limit Banking account." . . . "To qualify for an Eee PC, individuals have from May 1, 2008 until September 12, 2008 to switch their non-RBC personal chequing account to an RBC Signature No Limit Banking account using RBC's CustomSwitch service."
There is a lot that can be said about the confidence expressed
by RBC in this product. I have checked their web pages (see below)
and the giveaway product is the lowest cost version -- the 2GB "Surf"
versions of the EeePC. Having used an Eee PC for a few months now,
I can say that I think their confidence is justified. Although my
own experience is on a 4 GB full Webcam version, the software will
clearly do the job of basic Web use, including secure connectivity,
expected by today's computer users -- yet not running Windows.
RBC Promo EeePC Giveaway
http://www.rbc.com/bankbetter/
[2008/07/23] revised [2008/08/03]
July 30, 2008, PR Newswire reports that NETGEAR(R) has announced that
its "Wireless-N Upgrade Kit" (WNEB3100) consists of its NETGEAR(R)
5GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point (WNHDE111) and a RangeMax(TM) Dual-Band
Wireless-N USB Adapter (WNDA3100). The cost retail price is $149 US.
[NOTE: Netgear does not state the speed of the Ethernet connection
supporting this product. Since it is called an "Ethernet" connection,
then you can only assume 10 Mb/sec. If it were 100 Mb/sec, then it
should have been called "Fast Ethernet". -- JO]
[2008/07/30]
July 29, 2008, Business Wire reports that IEEE has approved the
"1394-2008" standard which "updates and revises all prior 1394
standards . . . [and] also incorporates the complete specifications
for S1600 (1.6 Gigabit/second bandwidth) and for S3200, which
provides 3.2 Gigabit/second speeds.
The standard is expected to be available this October."
[2008/07/30]
My usual research turned up no news worth reporting. Check back
later in the week.
[2008/07/27]
I have lately been interested in buying a new wireless router. There is some irony in this. The reason for the new router is because I am preparing to build a new desk computer. I already have a desk computer with a 1 Gb LAN. If I make another with a 1 Gb LAN and connect them to my current router, I will be restricting them to 100 Mb data transfers between them. As such, it is the switch that I am interested in more than the wireless router capabilities.
In fact, I do not have a computer or device that can use 802.11n yet, and I probably not have one before the end of the year. I could buy a free standing 1 Gb switch cheaply enough, but that would add more clutter, and would waste energy, which is becoming more of an issue with me.
Regarding timing, I do not feel this is a bad time for me to buy a new wireless router. The reason is actually odd. The fact is that "Wi-Fi Draft N 2.0" has become a reasonable standard on its own. This was borne out of necessity of the industry. The manufacturers had rushed ahead with product anticipating good profits, but "hit the wall" of the IEEE working group (who are mainly the very people in the industry that rush ahead into production) who, for their own reasons have resisted finalizing "n" until they each got their own pet technology accepted.
"Draft N (2.0)" has enough interoperability and improvement in throughput, that if you can get it at a good price, then it can be worth it. And in fact that is the case, though care must be taken. I have already seen early "Draft N" devices which have been abandonned even before complying with "2.0". The most surprising "big name" product is Linksys' WRT150N. The last firmwware update for this device was "1.01.9" which Linksys claimed was Draft 2.0 compliant, and though it was tested and certified, it is well known that it fails to default to 20 Mhz bandwidth, which is actually a failure to comply. Linksys has no intention of providing a further firmware update. And of course there are others, but I will not canvas them here.
There is another more important point. If the "Wi-Fi Alliance" were truly interested in following IEEE, then consider this:
On March 2008 Draft 3.0 was approved and May 2008, Draft 4.0 was approved. The current work of "Task Group N" is on Draft 5.0, and final acceptance for "n" is loosely projected as December 2009.
So why is the "Wi-Fi Alliance" not catching up? Why are we not seeing testing for, at the least, 3.0? The answer is simply that the "Wi-Fi Alliance" is not as interested in the welfare of the end user as it is in its member companies who produce the hardware.
But looking at the work of the IEEE, do I feel safe enough
buying a product today, knowing that it might also fall into
the category of abandoned products which will never make the
grade of "full N"? Well that is where price comes into play
again. If you look at the products in the $100 - $150 price
range, I think that if one includes the Gigabit Switch, then
yes, for me, it is worth it.
[2008/07/27]
July 23, 2008, PR Newswire reports that WD(R) has announced that
its VelociRaptor(TM) 2.5" SATA hard drive is intended for enterprise
blade servies in 1U and 2U rack mountings, and features 10,000 RPM
speed, up to 300 GB capacity and 1.4 million hours MTBF. They will
be available through commercial distributors by the end of the
month.
[Pricing was not provided in this announcement. I report this
annoucement for two reasons. First, the 10,000 RPM mechanism is
new to this size product. Second, I see reason to doubt whether
one would want to use it in a mobile computer. The design
characteristics might be inappropriate -- particularly in
regard to temperature range and impact resistance. It might
be wise to avoid them for mobile appications. -- JO]
July 21, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that "Spiro Lab Telecom" has
announced that Toshiba Corporation has joined the G.729 Consortium
which controls patents related to this ITU-T standard for digital
voice encoding.
[2008/07/23]
July 18, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Hagens Berman has announced
that the "Marco Zaldivar v. T-Mobile USA, Inc." case has been allowed
to proceed. The action filed Oct. 19, 2007 in a US District Court
claims that the company forces them to pay for unsolicited text
messages.
[2008/07/20]
I am writing this on a Compaq V2000 series laptop computer running OpenSuSE 10.3 -- not very well.
The first computer I ran 64-bit on was my MSI K9A Platinum (based on the AMD 580 chipset) which is running a 1.6 GHz Sempron 64 CPU with ATi X1600 Pro graphics card, a Sony DVD writer. That was OpenSuSE 10.2 64-bit from around March 2007. It is still running that OS and apart from the graphics driver which I find barely acceptable for now, it has been quite reliable. It started off well and I think it has improved a bit. The workload is mainly text editing and Internet with Flash and RealPlayer. However, come the end of November, support for 10.2 is scheduled to end, so I decided to pre-test 10.3 and 11.0 to see what I will use next.
My pre-testing has been done on this upgraded Compaq V2570ca laptop. On the one hand, one expects some added issues on laptops (such as the support of Trackpointers and Touchpads, Wireless LAN support, modem etc.), but this chipset is ATi 480, which is about 2 years older than the 580 used by my desk computer, so given the extra time I felt it was a fair testbed.
I was disappointed to find that the 64-bit versions of 10.3 and 11.0 have fallen down badly in terms of reliability. I do not know exactly what happened, but particularly in 11.0, there are many bugs "right up front" that you could see within the first hour of use. I opened a couple of bug reports within the first week and watched as almost nothing happened to address the problems -- not necessarily because of any lack of effort, but from what I can tell, the guys are probably swamped with some very serious issued. MANY applications were, and still are, losing configuration settings across re-boots, including the Touchpad adjustment program, the clock/calendar and sound system. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Ironically, as I have said elsewhere, when 11.0 gets reliable it will be a very nice system. As expected, a lot of issues have been addressed, and particularly, there is a very good driver for ATi video cards. Unfortunately, the "Pulse Audio" packages, which in the long run will make OpenSuSE a nice home entertainment system with audio stream redirection, has, for now, only added to the difficulty of debugging the poorly written sound system.
On a rough estimate, I felt that it would take them too long to get 11.0 into shape for me to start preparing for migrating my 10.2 box to 11.0, so I dropped this computer back to 10.3. And that is when I found that quite a few bugs I saw in 11.0 actually had started in 10.3. The sound system in particular has been flakey across reboots, and I suspect that there is a fairly serious problem with what exactly happens during "shutdown".
Considering that most of the code is shared between Linux systems, I expect that the same situation is occuring in the other 64-bit systems. I have not checked, but that is my current guess. I would be interested in hearing whether my guess is right.
NOTE: Within the last week or so, 10.2 had a fairly large number of updates, all labelled "security". Most "security" updates have to do with bug fixes which allow "root access" in the case of crashes, so in fact, most of the patches will probably add to overall system stability. So it is quite nice right now. Unfortunately, as I said, support will be ending in a few months, so I cannot recommend people start using it at this late date. However, since 10.2 got its updates recently, I expect to see a batch of updates come out for 10.3 fairly soon, so that might result in some of the problems getting fixed.
Still, I will have to revise my estimate and project now that even
10.3 will not be ready to use before the end of August, and 11.0
will probably be suspect till at least the end of September.
[2008/07/20]
July 15, 2008, Business Wire reports that Toshiba DPD has announced
that its Qosmio(R) G55-Q802 laptop computer features a Quad Core HD
Cell Processor along with Intel's Core(TM) 2 Duo processor and
nVidia GeForce(R) 9600M(2) GT graphics. Prices start at $1,299.99 US.
[2008/07/16]
July 14, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Sony has announced that
their VAIO(R) BZ Series laptop computers are intended for
business use and will be available through value added resellers.
and direct market resellers at prices starting as low as $1,000 US.
[2008/07/16]
July 10, 2008, Business Wire reports that Belkin has announced that
its Wireless Travel Mouse (F5L017-USB) and Retractable Mouse (F5L016-USB)
are currently available at $19.99 US and $14.99 US respectively, and
3 cases will be available in September 2008 for the Eee PC and
other 7-inch slze laptops. The Mini Laptop Quilted Case (F8N085)
will cost $19.99 US, the Mini Laptop Carrying Case (F8N084) will cost
$24.99 US and the Neoprene Sleeve (F8N082) will cost $12.99 US.
[2008/07/13]
July 10, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) announced that its
iPhone(TM) 3G, using iPhone 2.0 software, would be available on July 11,
2008. Suggested retail prices were $199 US for the 8GB version and
$299 US for the 16GB version.
[2008/07/13]
July 10, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Seagate has unveiled
half-terabyte 2.5" disc size hard drives for laptop computers.
The Momentus(R) 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4 drives are 5400 RPM
and 7200 RPM drives respectively are available in up to 500 GB
capacities and SATA interfacing. Shipping is expected in 2008 Q4.
[Pricing was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/07/13]
July 9, 2008, Business Wire reports that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.,
has announced that it has begun mass production of its 1.8" and 2.5"
form factor multi-level cell based SSDs in 128 GB capacity, following
closely the recent start of mass production of its 64 GB SSD.
[Pricing and availability were not provided in this announcement. -- JO]
[2008/07/09]
July 3, 2008, PRNewswire reports that Cisco's Linksys division has
announced that its Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router WRT6010N
allows use of both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz bands at the same time
at full speed. It is available now at an estimated street price
of $199.99 US.
[2008/07/06]
July 2, 2008, PR Newswire reports that in a Dell sponsored study
conducted by the Ponemon Institute, there are more than 12,000
laptop comptuers lost in large US airports each week, and nearly
70% are never reclaimed.
[2008/07/02]
June 30, 2008, PR Newswire reports that the Wi-Fi Alliance has announced
that it has developed a "certification program for voice-enabled
Wi-Fi devices in home and small office environments."
[2008/07/02]
If you have followed this website for long you might have been surprised
that I did not post an update yesterday. So was I. Put simply, I got
so busy that I did not have time to complete my usual review of announcements.
Then again, the more useful report is the one covering the early part of
the week, so I think the late report today will not have been sorely
missed.
[2008/06/30]
To continue my remarks about operating systems, I have found that
Microsoft Vista 64-bit is already being pre-loaded on laptop and
desk computers for general (home and business) use. Two of the
earliest were the "HP Pavilion dv2808ca", KP005UA, which currently
costs $999.99 Cdn. on HP's Canadian website (Vista Home Premium
64-bit with SP1, AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2 GHz, nVidia GeForce Go
7150M, 14.1" WXGA screen), and also the "HP Pavilion dv2854ca",
KP040UA -- available via retailers (Vista Home Premium 64-bit with
SP1, Intel Core2 Duo T5750 2 GHz, Intel X3100 graphics, 14.1" WXGA
screen).
[Note: I believe these were the first products in Canada, but I
am not certain. There have been others announced, and perhaps some
not announced. -- JO]
[2008/06/30]
June 30, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Netgear(R), Inc. has announced
that its "Open Source Wireless-G Router" (WGR614L) is intended "to
support a wide variety of applications created by the open source
community." It features a 240 MHz MIPS32(R) CPU, 4 MB of flash
memory and 16 MB of RAM, a 10/100 WAN prot and a 4-port 10/100 WAN
switch. Support is via "http://www.myopenrouter.com/". It is
now available at a retail price of $69.00 US.
[2008/06/30]
This is anti-climatic for me. For weeks now, I have been working on a report about the current state of new operating systems for laptops, and particularly the current state of 64-bit operating systems. Unfortunately, due to my lack of time, each time I get moving on it, I have to put it off. Then the situation changes and I have to re-think what I am writing.
I do not know if I will ever finish my report. So here are some of
the key points:
1. Vista 32-bit has been a surprising failure. While you can be
sure that if you buy a new computer with it pre-loaded, with SP1,
it will generally work, upgrading XP generation laptops to Vista,
even those which were advertised as "Vista Ready" has only recently
become a reality. And there may still be "Vista Ready" laptops which
are not properly supported.
2. Vista 64-bit is even worse for driver support than 32-bit.
3. Linux, is generally working in 32-bit and even in 64-bit. However,
if you look specifically at OpenSuSE, I would have to suggest that
rather than the latest version 11.0, which has just been released on
June 21, 2008, you should load version 10.3 right now. Version 11.0
will probably be a better bet in about a month.
[2008/06/25]
June 25, 2008, Business Wire reports that Panasonic has unveiled its handheld
"Toughbook CF-U1" rugged Ultra Mobile PC. Powered by an Intel(R) Atom(TM)
it features a 5.6" WSVGA sunlight viewable 1024 x 600 touchscreen using LED
backlighting and MIL-STD-810F and IP54 compliance. It is expected to be
available August 2008 at a US estimated street price of $2,499 US.
[2008/06/25]
June 24, 2008, Business Wire reports that Toshiba DPD has annouced that
its latest Satellite laptops (including P300D, A300D, M300D, U400D, L300D and
L350D series) are offered with various AMD processors.
[Note: The announcement implies that these new products are immediately
available and researchable, however, 1 day after the announcement, I have
checked the provided links to their web pages, and no further information
has been provided. This is a case of the left hand not co-ordinating with
the right hand. -- JO]
[Also Note: The M300D series probably features a 14.1" Widescreen display,
which combined with a fairly typical form factor and features for laptops
that size is what I generally recommend for most people. Unfortunately,
this is only a guess at this point, since there is no such information on
Toshiba's Webpage. -- JO]
[2008/06/25]
As happens frequently over the summer, there was nothing worth reporting
in the later part of last week. Check back later this week.
[2008/06/22]
June 18, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Novell(R) has announced that Micro-Star
International (MSI) is pre-installing SuSE(R) Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on
its new "Wind Notebook". Running a 1.6 GHz Intel(R) "Atom(TM)" processor,
it features a 10" screen and weighs 2.6 lbs. A Microsoft Windows version will
be sold from June 16, 2008 for $499 US and the SuSE Enterprise Linux version
will be available later this summer for $399 US.
[Information was also taken from MSI's website. It will be interesting to
see whether the low cost (comparing inital announcements) and more capable
features of this device is more important to purchasers than the smaller
size and lighter weight of the ASUS 901 EeePC. -- JO]
[2008/06/18]
June 12, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Hop-on, Inc. unveiled a
new series of phones including its HOP1809, which the company
claims is a true 3G phone for under $125 which is capable of
"facilitating true video conference calls" which the company
claims is better than Apples iPhone(TM).
[2008/06/15]
June 10, 2008, Business Wire reports that HP has announced new laptop
computers, most of which will arrive in July, depending on the region.
[The main reason I am mentioning this "roll-out" is because I was
interested in seeing if HP would start pre-loading 64-bit Vista yet.
It appears that these are still coming with 32-bit software. Also,
it will be interesting to see if HP tries to re-focus on 14.1"
screens instead of 15.4" screens, and lower pricing. -- JO]
[2008/06/11]
June 9, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has introduced its
new iPhone(TM) 3G. It claims that its 3G networking is "twice as
fast" (if you have EDGE support). Cost is as low as $199 US for an
8GB version. [NOTE: Availability is dependent on your service
provider. -- JO]
[2008/06/11]
As is common this time of the year, there was nothing to report
for the latter part of last week. Check back later this week.
[2008/06/08]
June 4, 2008, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced that its
ATI XGP(TM) (External Graphics Platform) technology is based on
a new external PCI Express(R) 2.0 link providing 4.0 GB/sec in each
direction.
[2008/06/04]
June 2, 2008, PR Newswire reports that NVIDIA Corporation has
introduced its Tegra family of processors including its
Tegra APX2500 processor being used in Windows Mobile smartphones
and Tegra 650 which features HD video playback capability.
The primary processor is an 800 MHz ARM CPU, but the architecture
features multiple processor capability to offload functions.
[2008/06/04]
If this is a bit redundant please accept my apology, but
PR Newswire has, again, failed to provide news releases upon
my search request. However, there was nothing worth reporting
from my other two sources, and indications are that there was
probably nothing to report at PRN either. Anyway, check back
later this week.
[2008/06/01]
May 28, 2008, Business Wire reports that 3K Computers, LLC has announced the
release of its "3K RazorBook 400 Mini Notebook Ultra Mobile PC". The MSRP is
now $299 US. Resellers can purchase them through Ingram Micro. [This
product was previously referred to as the "Longitude". -- JO]
[2008/05/28]
May 25, 2008, BusinessWire reports that Samsung Electronics has
announced that it has developed a SATA II interfaced 2.5", 256 GB
SSD based on "multi-level cell" technology with a 200 MB/s sequential
read speed and 160 MB/s sequential write speed, and power
consumption of 0.9 W in active mode. Samples will be available
in September with mass production by the end of the year.
[Prices was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/05/25]
May 20, 2008, Business Wire reports that One Laptop per Child (OLPC)
has announced its future plans. The first overall goal is to reduced
the production cost of its units from the current $188 US down to $75 US.
In the spring of 2009, the "XO-1.5" will be released, which will have
the same design as the "XO" but by using fewer parts, will cost
less. In 2010, the "XO-2" will introduce a smaller form factor with
more appropriate specifications.
[2008/05/21]
May 20, 2008, PRNewswire reports that AVerMedia(R) Technologies, Inc. has
announced the release of its "AverTV Hybrid NanoExpress" ExpressCard
TV tuner. The card can receive HDTV (both ATSC and "Clear" QAM Digital
Cable TV), analog TV and FM radio., running under Windows XP or Vista.
The 54mm card is now available at a suggested retail price of $89.99 US.
[2008/05/21]
May 15, 2008, PRNewswire reports that Microsoft Corp. and One Laptop
per Child (OLPC) have announced that they have agreed to make Microsoft
Windows available on the OLPC XO computer from around June 2008.
[The interesting thing about this announcement is that it does not
name the version of Windows which will run on the XO laptop. It was
my understanding or belief that this would be a version of Windows XP.
I thought that was what I read before, but I should check again sometime.
If it is to be XP, then why not say so? -- JO]
[2008/05/18]
May 14, 2008, Business Wire reports that OCZ Technology Group, Inc. has
announced that their "Do-It-Youself(DIY) Gaming Notebook Program" will
allow a purchaser to buy "an unconfigured notebook and . . . customize
the system . . . with the help of guides and direct support."
The first platform is an Intel(R) based laptop with nVidia(R) GeForce(TM)
8600M GT graphics.
OCZ Technology Group, Inc.
(laptop computers) http://www.ocztechnology.com/
[2008/05/14]
As I write this, late in the evening of "a hard day," I have to admit
that I have not had time to think about how to present this request.
A friend of mine, who works in my field (writing about computers), has
been diagnosed with Lukemia and to state this shortly, he will need a
bone marrow transplant. However, as a Black Canadian, living in
Montreal, his odds of finding a compatible doner are not really
great. All I can say right now is that if you volunteer to be a
bone marrow doner, his family will thank you. This is particularly
true of you are Black, and I think, fairly young. You may not realize
that in general, bone marrow must be very specifically genetically
compatible. So all the "non-Black" doners generally do not help
him. It is likely that you will not be compatible with him
specifically anyway, but there are others who you might end up
giving bone marrow too. So please give this your consideration.
[2008/05/14]
May 6, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Super Talent Technology has
announced that its new line of "MasterDrive" SSDs use a SATA-II (3Gbps)
interface and a standard 2.5" form factor are now available. The
lowest price version is FTM30GK25H (30GB MLC 120/40 MB/sec) at MSRP
$299 US.
[2008/05/11]
May 6, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Microsoft Corp. has announced that
its Zune music player will be released in Canada as follows:
May 6, 2008 Zune software will be available at "www.zune.ca"
June 13, 2008 the Zune players will become available
Prices start at $139.99 Cdn for 4GB.
[2008/05/07]
May 5, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
claims that its "PowerBlock(TM)50 system can provide over 100
GFLOPS in a computer 4" x 5" x 6" and weighing less than 10 pounds.
It is immediately available. [Price was not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
[PowerBlock(TM)50 Embedded Computer] http://www.mc.com/
[2008/05/07]
I have again found nothing worth reporting in the latter part of
the past week. Unfortunately, I had hoped to have a special report
completed for today, but time did not allow for that project.
I expect to have something to report later this week.
[2008/05/04]
Apr. 30, 2008, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that its
HP Labs has "proven the existance of . . . . [the] theorized . . .
"memristor" -- a blend of "memory resistor" -- which has the
unique property of retaining a history of the information it has
acquired." The company calls it "the fourth fundamental circuit
element, along with the resistor, capacitor and inductor. . . ."
[I apologize for the extensive quoting, but I saw no way to
put it into my own words. -- JO]
[2008/04/30]
Apr. 28, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Netgear, Inc. has claimed that
its "ProSafe 802.11n Dual Band Wireless Access Point (WNDAP330)" is the
first to provide full 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz support of a/b/g and draft 2.0
n 802.11 specifications, based on a Gigabit Ethernet port. It is
now available at a list price of $475 US.
[2008/04/30]
I completed all my usual research, and there was nothing worth reporting
at this time. I expect something later this week -- which I suppose is
no surprise.
[2008/04/27]
3k Computers Longitude 400-Mini-Notebook PC
Apr. 22, 2008, Business Wire reports that 3K Computers, LLC has announced
that its "Longitude 400 Mini Notebook Ultra Mobile PC" computer weighs
under 2 lbs. and includes a 7" LCD TFT display, a "Windows-friendly Linux
Operating System" and a 400MHz CPU at an MSRP of $399 US. It will be
in stock "late May."
[I did not recognize this company, and the announcement had some odd claims,
so I looked at the Website. What they are calling a "full size keyboard" is
not. The pictures show a keyboard about the same as the ASUS EeePC. In
fact, the whole outer case resembles the EeePC, which is no surprise. But
the CPU is a "Low Power Consumption Ingenic 400 MHz 32-bit Single Core
Mobile Process." I do not know this processor, so I have no opinion
about its significance. Oddly, the Website quotes the MSRP as $499 US.
-- JO]
3K Computers, LLC [mini-laptop]
http://www.3kcomputers.com/
[2008/04/23]
As the title says, nothing came through from PR Newswire on me latest
research. Perhaps later this week. . . .
[2008/04/20]
Apr. 17, 2008, Business Wire reports that Kingston Technology Company,
Inc. has announced that it is the first company in the world "to offer
high-performance, low-latency 667 MHz DDR2 SO-DIMM . . ." memory
modules. Their "HyperX(R) 667MHz CL4 SO-DIMM kits will first be
available in paired kits of 2GB and 4GB as follows:
KHX5300S2LLK2/2G 2GB 667MHz Low-Latency DDR2 (CL4-4-4-12 @ 1.8v) SO-DIMMs, kit of 2 MSRP $84.00 US.
KHX5300S2LLK2/4G 4GB 667MHz Low-Latency DDR2 (CL4-4-4-12 @ 1.8v) SO-DIMMs, kit of 2 MSRP $132.00 US.
[2008/04/20]
Apr. 15, 2008, CompactFlash Association will display CFast(TM) cards
and connectors at the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley.
The CFast(TM) card spec defines a CompactFlash card with a SATA
interface capable of supporting up to 3Gb/sec data rates, compared
to current PATA 133MB/sec. data rates.
[2008/04/16]
Apr. 15, 2008, PR Newswire reports that NextComputing has introduced
its "Vigor Evo HD" which gives the versatility and power of workstation
style computers in a portable form factor. About the size of a
briefcase it can weigh as little as 13.5 lbs. [NOTE: These are
basically custom ordered systems, so delivery and prices are quoted
on negotiation. -- JO]
NextComputing http://www.nextcomputing.com/
[2008/04/16]
Apr. 14, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Renaissance Learning, Inc. has announced
that it has collected nearly 5,000 of its devices in its "AlphaSmarts for
Africa" campaign which concluded on March 31. Returning an older AlphaSmart
device resulted in a $50 US discount towards a new AlphaSmart NEO or NEO2.
The returned devices were donated to "Generation for Change and Growth" to
be distributed in Kenya. [NOTE: "One Laptop per Child" did not invent
the idea of the cheap portable computer for education. There have been
a few, and still are others. AlphaSmart's Dana devices are based on Palm
software. I do not know what the NEO devices are based on, though I expect
they are the same technology. -- JO]
Renaissence Learning, Inc. (AlphaSmart)
http://renlearn.com/
[2008/04/16]
Apr. 14, 2008, Canada Newswire reports that Sony will offer its
"Reader Digital Book (PRS-505)" for sale in Canada at the end of
April for MSRP $299 Cdn.
[2008/04/16]
According to websites I have read reviewing the latest small laptops (the
ASUS EeePC etc.), Microsoft has extended its support for Windows XP to
some time in 2010. However, as of today, I checked Microsoft's website
and the last extension date for support for all versions of Windows XP
is January 31, 2009. See
Microsoft Windows Life-Cycle Policy page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx.
Maybe by the time you read it, a change will have been posted.
[2008/04/16]
Apr. 12, 2008, Business Wire reports that Gateway has announced a number of
new laptop computers, and some of them come with Microsoft Windows Vista Home
Premium 64-bit Edition with SP1. The least expensive will be the Gateway
T-Series (5.55 pound, 14.1" display) T-1628 which has a manufacturer's
suggested retail price of $749.99 US (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon
x1270 graphics, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, etc.).
[NOTE: I believe this is the first time any major laptop company has
announced a standard installation of 64-bit Vista. It makes me feel
just a bit cheated that I have 2 Vista laptops, both which came with the
32-bit version. As far as I know, I will have to pay extra to upgrade
them. -- JO]
[2008/04/13]
Apr. 10, 2008, Business Wire reports that according to One Laptop per Child,
more than 100,000 XO laptops were delivered in 2007.
[On Apr. 6, 2008, I announced my award to OLPC for their XO computer
having been the "Most Significant Mobile Device of 2007." I did not
have a firm number of delivered units, so I was interested in this
particular number. -- JO]
[2008/04/13]
Apr. 9, 2008, Business Wire reports that DenneD, LLC has begun
distribution of Zepto laptop computers in Canada and the US.
DenneD, LLC (Zepto laptops)
http://www.zeptousa.com/
[2008/04/09]
Apr. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that Toshiba DPD has announced that
its new Satellite(R) P300 series laptops have begun shipping. Featuring
both Intel and AMD versions, they are built on a 17" wide-screen diplay
chassis for a 1440 * 900 WXGA+ display. Prices start at $949.99 for
the Satellite P305D-S8818 (AMD Turion(TM) X2, 2.1 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache,
DVD SuperMulti drive with Labelflash(TM).
[I was particularly interested in seeing what kind of drives these
laptops would have. I am a bit disappointed that they are not coming
out with HD-DVD reading drives, since there is no particular reason not
to have them, even knowing that the future is somewhat limited. -- JO]
[2008/04/09]
Apr. 8, 2008, Business Wire reports that HP has announced that its
"HP 2133 Mini-Note PC" will be a "full-function" computer
with prices starting under $500 US. Features include an anodized
aluminum shell, hard drive guard to shut down the drive upon
accelerometer detected shock or sudden move, an 8.9" diagonal
WXGA display and a delivery date "later this month."
[This is almost surreal. The product looks quite good, and I
might end up getting one, but if you look at the brochure on
their website, they are trying to make this an "edu" product.
But then you look at the software options and they are mainly
business. The processor is a Via C7(R)-M ULV with clocking up
to 1.6 GHz and 128 KB L2 cache. -- JO]
[2008/04/08]
As the title states, I did not find any announcements worth reporting
in the later part of the week. I find this sad because I expected more
in the wake of CTIA. Anyway, check back later this week.
[2008/04/06]
After long consideration, there was only one award I felt I could name for 2007. It was not a "best" award because nothing stood out in my mind that I could call clearly "best" in any category I felt that was worth having an award. However, there was little doubt in my mind what was the most significant release in that year. See if you agree. Sorry if it does not format properly in your browser. I hope to convert it to HTML later.
The 2007 Most Significant Mobile Device Award
Apr. 2, 2008, PR Newswire reports that UTStarcom has announced new GSM
handsets for Latin America and the Caribbean. The GSM1218 covers 850 and
1900 MHz and the GSM1219 covers the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
Pricing and availability are subject to the carriers. [There was also a
CDMA announcement. Actually, I just wanted to give UTStarcom a mention
because they are often ignored, but have a long history of providing
good products. -- JO]
UTStarcom Personal Communications
[Cell Phone Handsets] http://www.utstar.com/
[2008/04/02]
Apr. 1, 2008, USRobotics introduced its Model 5637 controller based
56K USB Modem. In the announcement, USR's Bruce Swail noted that
"the truth is that 35 percent of U.S. Internet users alone still
rely on dial-up for either their primary or secondary Internet
connection." The modem is currently available for $49.99 U.S.,
MSRP. [I believe the accuracy of his number. I use dial-up
myself to connect to the Internet on a regular basis. In fact,
my "high speed" is "Ultra-light" which is only about twice as
fast as dial-up. -- JO]
[2008/04/01]
I debated this quite a bit. There have been a number of
announcements regarding the wireless industry, however, they
were primarily industrial. Instead of summarizing them, I
will suggest that if you are interested, search for "CTIA",
"Wireless", "2008". The show is held April 1, (which is
unfortunate if you want your announcements to be taken
seriously).
[2008/03/30]
I have said this before, but due in part to the coming CTIA show, and advertising I have seen in the industry, I think it bears repeating at this time. The only Wi-Fi (wireless LAN networking) standards are "a", "b" and "g". There is NO SUCH THING as a "Certified Wi-Fi n" product because the current state of the standard is still a draft. As of January, 2008, the current IEEE Draft standard was 3.02 and work had begun on Draft 4.0.
The current "Certified Draft n" testing is a set of tests based on Draft 2.0 (which is thus, already outdated). It is hoped that devices that are passing the current tests will be upgradeable to "Wi-Fi n" standards with a software upgrade later. However, there is no guarantee of this. In fact, it appears that some companies have already abandoned upgrades for some early "Draft N" (pre-certification) products because, as the standard has evolved, some of the early hardware was not sufficient.
Personally, I have bought a very very cheap "Draft n" router, which I hope to run some tests on. It is cheap enough for me to throw away later if it does not meet the eventual standard. Let me say that clearly. I has considered and accepted that this product might end up in the garbage can, perhaps within a year or so, before I paid for it. If you cannot accept such a contingency, then you should not bother to buy such a product yet. "Wi-Fi g" products are even cheaper, and are now "bullet proof". That should be your choice.
As for companies that advertise having "n" products and not being
clear that they are only "Draft n" products. I think they should
be charged with business fraud.
[2008/03/30] edited [2008/03/31] re-edited [2008/04/02]
Mar. 24, 2008, PR Newswire reports that ECTACO Inc. has announced the "release"
of its jetBook(R) "e-book Reader". According to the company it has a 5" screen
and weighs 7 ounces.
[If the above seems very short it is because very little detail was provided in
the announcement. In particular, there was no mention of cost or delivery.
Moreover, I do not look favorably when I see a company that I have never heard
of call itself "the NY-based electronics giant." The product may be good and the
company respectable, but this announcement was poorly conceived. -- JO]
ECTACO Inc. [jetBook(R) e-book reader]
http://www.ectaco.com/
[2008/03/26]
Unfortunately, Business Wire's Website was not completely working, so
research was truncated. I hope to try to re-do my research later this
week.
[2008/03/26]
Mar. 20, 2008, Business Wire reports that HTC Corp. has announced that its
"HTC Shift(TM)" computer is a Windows Vista portable computer with CDMA-EVDO
connectivity with a 7" touch screen and 40 GB HD, and weighing about 1.8 lbs.,
can now be pre-ordered for shipping beginning Mar. 24, 2008 at a retail cost
of about $1,499 US.
HTC Corp. UM computer
[2008/03/23]
Mar. 20, 2008, Business Wire reports that Lexar Media has anounced that some
of its premium JumpDrive USB drive products will be protected by RedCannon
Security management technologies.
[2008/03/23]
Mar 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Iridium(R) Satellite has announced
that it has agreed with 3 companies to begin "concept development" for its
"NEXT" satellite communications system. There are a few goals in this
development, but the most obvious and I think, most significant, is that it
will integrate Internet Protocol (though IP will not replace its current
system).
[2008/03/19]
Mar 17, 2008, PR Newswire reports that General Dynamics C4 Systems has
announced the availability of its Tadpole M1400 mobile ultra-thin client
computer. This is essentially a laptop-like terminal which does not
run programs locally, which is easier to keep secure, and updated, and
also is cheaper. [Cost was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/03/19]
As I said last week, this is "March break" season, so I was
not surprised to find that there was nothing to report this week.
Check back later this week.
[2008/03/16]
Mar. 12, 2008, Business Wire reports that Acer has announced that its
8920G "notebook PC" will feature an 18.4" 1920 x 1080 display powered
by either an nVidia GeForce 9650M GS or 9500M GS graphics processor, and
Intel PM965 Express chipset.
[Note: Price and availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/03/12]
I had no expectations whether there would be much to report at this
time, and so am not particularly surprised to find that there was
nothing of interest. This being the "March break" season, I think
that next week will probably be more fruitful. Anyway, for those
in the Northern US and Eastern Canada, you have my sympathy for having
to dig out of "the white stuff".
[2008/03/09]
Mar. 5, 2008, PR Newswire reports that the PCMCIA has announced that
the current ExpressCard 1.2 Standard is being updated to version 2.0
which will be 2 - 10 times faster than the current ExpressCard Standard
1.2. The main force behind the upgrade is to support the new 5Gbps
data rate of the PCI Express 2.0 bus -- double the data rate of
the previous PCI Express standard. It will also support SuperSpeed
USB which is expected to be released this year as USB 3.0 (which is
up to 10 times faster than Hi-Speed USB).
[2008/03/05]
Mar. 4, 2008, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced that its
AMD 780 chipsets for desk and laptop computers are now available.
Produced on a 55nm process they support DirectX 10.
[2008/03/05]
Mar. 02, 2008, Business Wire reports that Intel has announced that
its new "Atom(TM)" brand processors are a new family of low-power
processor specifically designed for "mobile internet devices" (MIDs).
They support the "Core(TM) 2 Duo" instruction set and will be made
on Intel's 45nm process with hi-k metal gate technology. The thermal
design power (TDP) range is 0.6-2.5 watts running up to 1.8GHz.
[2008/03/02]
Feb. 26, 2008, Business Wire reports that Lenovo has unveiled its
"ThinkPad X300" laptop computer, which comes in configurations weighing
as little as 2.9 lbs. Unlike the Apple Airbook, this product includes
a DVD burner. It is now available at prices starting at $2,799 US.
[If you are interested in reading some background about how the X300
was developed, see the cover story in Business Week for February 25, 2008.
-- JO]
[2008/02/27]
There was nothing of significance announced in the latter part of this
past week. Check back later in the week.
[2008/02/24]
When I dropped into a computer store on Feb. 15, 2008, I was surprised to be "informed" by a generally knowledgeable salesman that support for Windows XP had "ended" and that only Vista was being supported. I assure you, that this much is certainly not true. In fact, the latest update that I had seen up until that day was released Feb. 14, 2008. Vista SP 1 is entering its release cycle. It is past "Beta" and is in the early part of distribution. Manufacturers in particular have it and should be installing it on new computers at this minute. It will become part of the regular update system shortly. However, Windows XP "SP 3" is "on its way". It is currently still in what I would call "late Beta" stage. When it comes out, we should see support for XP for at least another year (to cover some debugging).
I have not done proper research enough to say how long XP support will last.
I believe the last announcement had said something like mid-2009 would be
the cut-off date. Do not quote this as an official position either for
Microsoft, or even for me. But the point is, that support for XP has
certainly not ended yet. If you are planning on buying an XP computer
and are concerned about this, I suggest you do further research.
[2008/02/24]
Feb. 19, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba America
Consumer Products, L.L.C. has announced that the company has
stopped sales and marketing of HD DVD players.
[The implications for the mobile computer field are interesting.
HD-DVD disc format could still be used in computers as a data
storage format. I do not know whether Blue Ray is better or
worse in such applications. A number of laptops have been sold
including HD-DVD drives, including, of course, upper end Toshiba
laptops, and some of the Acer Ferrari line products. The full
story is not quite over yet. -- JO]
[2008/02/20]
Feb. 17, 2008, Business Wire reports that Mtronstorage Technology
Co., Ltd. has announced that it has developed a "1.8 Inch ZIF-type
SSD for [laptops] . . . and will begin production in April."
[NOTE: Price was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
Mtronstorage Technology Co., Ltd.
http://www.mtron.net/
[2008/02/17]
Feb. 14, 2008, Business Wire reports that Samsung Electronics Co.
has announced that it has begun mass producing 64 GB SATA II
solid state drives and that they will be an option on some
Dell and Alienware laptop computers. [NOTE: Price was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/02/17]
Feb. 13, 2008, Business Wire reports that Samsung has introduced its
"See'N'Search" technology which they believe will bring integration
of TV and Internet. By using channel guide and closed caption text
content and natural language technology to create search keys which
can be used for Internet searches without the use of keyboards, related
Internet material can be searched automatically. A set top box using
this technology could then link the search capabilities to mobile
devices.
[2008/02/13]
Feb. 11, 2008, Business Wire reports that Tangent Inc. has begun selling
its "ePC" ultra-mini computer for $299 US and are warrantied by ASUS.
[NOTE: These units appear to be variations of the ASUS EEE-PC, which
is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the processor is not clearly
identified in the advertising, making the deal somewhat risky. -- JO]
Tangent Inc. Ultra-Mini Computers
http://www.tangent.com/
[2008/02/13]
To start with, as mentioned in the above title, PR Newswire did not respond at all to my Web search attempts. Hopefully, I will have time to repeat my search of their site again later in the week.
I am a bit surprised to say that despite the GSM world conference and
trade show, I found nothing worth reporting at this time. Oddly, the
most important announcement I found was that Sony has begun marketing
their first 11" OLED TV set in North America. The significance being
that OLED has the potential to take over, at the very least, a chunk
of the small laptop display market in the computer field.
[2008/02/10]
I am a bit surprised that I found nothing worth reporting this week.
Then again, it gives me a chance to expand on what I began writing
in my last report.
[2008/02/06]
You will notice that I make no pretense of having any respect for these
computers at all. Put simply, most of the common 15" laptops sold in
2007 (and in fact going back to before 2006) had equivalent models in
14" versions. Those equivalent versions general had the same number of
exactly the same ports as the 15" versions (ie. if the 14" version only
had 3 USB 2.0 connectors, the manufacturer still only supplied 3 on
the 15" version, despite the fact that the chipset supported more,
and despite the fact that there was extra room on the 15" laptop to
put an extra port). The circuitry was so similar that I expect they
were probably the same motherboards etc., simply repackaged.
But aren't the 15" screens better because they are bigger? Of course
not. Your laptop screen is going to be about 2'-3' from your eyes. Unless
you are legally blind, you will be able to see every pixel. So there is
no more detail to see just because the screen is bigger. In fact, if
you want to see exactly the same picture, just move your face about
an inch closer to a 14" screen. Yes, that is all the visual difference
there is. You can do the math and prove it to yourself. A 15" screen
may look more impressive in the store, but unless you are going to
buy both and carry the 14" computer around as well, just to sit
them side by side to compare them every day, you will forget the
difference the first time you actually use your computer. Moreover,
for the rest of your days, you will carry around the extra weight,
and pay for the gas when you carry it in your car. You will be
annoyed every time you sit in an armchair and accidentally bang
the computer on the chair's arms. Silly. No other word for it.
And you will also pay extra for the privilege. The only reason I
bought a 15" Toshiba laptop last year was because they did not make
an equivalent 14" laptop at the time. This year, it is becoming more
difficult to actually buy the 14" version equivalent products. This
is because the 15" versions have been selling.
I mentioned the Compaq optional WSXGA+ 15" screens available for about
$50 more (which some other vendor probably also have available), and
the resolution for this screen is 1680 x 1050, which is enough to show
the same image as some of the lower end (26" range) HDTV sets. The
17" laptops, however, still have a reason to exist because they support
a keyboard closer to what one uses on a desk computer.
But the coming year, so far, appears to be heading in another
direction. Toshiba, rather than bringing out 14" screen laptops,
seems to be testing the market acceptance of 13" screen laptops.
I have also seen brochures for 12" laptops from ASUS. So this year
might be a year of somewhat greater variety in terms of configurations.
[2008/02/06]
Jan. 31, 2008, Business Wire reports that SanDisk Corporation has announced
that its Ultra(R) II line now contains 32 GB and 16 GB SDHC(TM) cards,
and an 8 GB SDHC Plus card. These latest cards have read and write
speeds of 15 MB/sec. which is up from 10 MB/sec read and 9 MB/sec write
speeds. The 32GB card, including USB 2.0 Reader has and MSRP of $349.99
US, the 16 GB card with reader has an MSRP of $179.99 US and the 8 GB
Ultra II SDHC Plus card has an MSRP of $99.99 US.
[2008/02/03]
Jan. 31, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Kingston has announced that their
Line of SDHC memory cards has been expanded with a 16 GB SDHC Flash memory
card with 4 GB/sec ("Class 4") minimum data transfer rate (DTR). Availability
was not made clear in the announcement, but the MSRP is $231 US.
[2008/02/03]
I was hoping to make some comments on 2007 in January, but I have been too busy. And in fact, I am still too busy, but I thought I would at least get a start into it:
I was disappointed to see that the majority of laptop computers in the "15-inch Wide screen" size were still 1280 x 800 resolution. I felt that 14-inch screens worked well with 1280 x 800, but really, 15-inch screens, and the resulting computers were just silly. Compaq currently prices their WSXGA+ screen only $50 Cdn. more on 15" screen size computers (not available on all such computers, but when they are available, that is the price). Moreover, they also offer WXGA+ on 14" laptops for only $30 Cdn. more. I am not certain how people would feel about the 14" screen versions, but I think if they were to put the WXGA+ screens on their higher priced 15" models as a general feature, they would get a positive response.
Hopefully, I will say more in the future.
[2008/02/03] corrected [2008/02/06]
Jan. 30, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has announced that its
MacBook Air(TM) is now shipping. The first versions will use 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHx
Intel Core 2 Duo processors with 4MB L2 cache. Prices start at $1,799 US.
[2008/01/30]
Jan. 24, 2008, Busines Wire reports that HP has introduced its first
mobile "Thin Client" product, its HP 6720t. This laptop-like device
has a 15" screen and will be available "later this month" at a list
price of $725 US.
[I like laptops and I like think clients, but I am not certain that
they go together well -- at least not such a pure form of "thin client"
where the apps are even remote. -- JO]
[2008/01/27]
Jan. 22, 2008, Business Wire reports that Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
has announced "the validation per Intel procedures and specifications,
of the 1 GB (HMP112U6DFR8C), and 2GB (HMP125U6DFR8C), DDR2, 800MHz Un-buffered
DIMMs (UDIMM) both assembled with 54nm 1 Gb DRAM components." Hynix claims
a 40% die size reduction from 60nm-class process technology resulting in
"significantly" improved power and speed characteristics.
[I apologize for the largely quoted text but there was not much point
in re-wording it. I am not currently tracking the technology for DRAM
closely, but I expect that this is will result in further improvement in
the performance/cost ratio for all using DDR2 memory, particularly where
reduction in energy consumption is part of the performance calculation. -- JO]
[2008/01/23]
Because this is the "week after" ICES I am not surprised that there is
nothing to report. Most of the significant announcements were made early
in ICES. However, there is likely to be more later in the week.
[2008/01/20]
I am starting to accumulate some basic information regarding video on
mobile devices, and for now, specifically on laptops. There has been a
substantial divide between non-graphics oriented laptops and graphics
oriented laptops. The presumption is that the graphics oriented laptops
are primarily used by "gamers". However, even the most seriously business
oriented laptops sold today support video rendering capabilities
sufficient to cover most video DVDs.
On the Toshiba Satellite A210 series with AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, the
combination of the 2 GHz cores with the ATi X1200 graphics covers DVD
display on its 1280 * 800 screen with power to spare. "X-Men III"
("Last Stand") chapters 5 and 6 is a particularly demanding test piece
which is sometimes beyond the capabilities of some early dedicated
consumer DVD players. When viewed under 32-bit Vista Home, all the
good and bad characteristics of using a laptop for DVD viewing, are
visible.
First, for RAM my test unit is fully expanded to 4 GB of best quality
Kingston RAM. Under 32-bit Vista Home, with wireless Internet
connected, RAM in use was around 1.2 - 1.3 GB (Note: I presume that
this does not include the shared graphics RAM), or about 30%. According
to Vista, both cores were fairly evenly used, with observed CPU usage
peaks of 66% in chapter 5 and 58% in chapter 6, and generally around 31 -
40% CPU usage through most of the viewing. However, when background
tasks ran, these numbers could jump. During one run of this test, the
CPU usage jumped as high as 87% (actually observed) in chapter 5.
Although DVD playing has been done with far less powerful processors,
XP and Vista usage also presume the usage of preset timed processing,
which may even include Internet accessing, and some newer DVDs simply
tax the CPU more than older discs. So ironically, a 2 GHz single core
version of this setup would probably be the least power system that
one could reliably view this DVD on -- and even then one would expect
some frame droppage depending on the current background tasks.
[2008/01/20]
Jan. 16, 2008, Business Wire reports that DivX, Inc. and AMD have
agreed that AMD will be allowed "to include DivX(R) video technology
with specific AMD Xilleon(TM) processors. . . ."
[At this time it is unclear whether this will include mobile devices,
however, so far, DivX has not had good penetration into such mobile
devices, and these were mentioned in the announcement. -- JO]
[2008/01/16]
I have been using a Nokia N800 with the new 2008 software for about a
week now and I have a few early comments. First, I was disappointed to
find that although Real Media is supported for Internet Radio, there is
still no browser plug-in. This was last included on the Nokia 770.
This is unfortunate since I have found that for low bandwidth use, Real
Media works better than Macromedia Flash format. Also, I was using
the Gnumeric Spreadsheet on the N800 for a while under the 2007 software
and it was quite good. Unfortunately, this is an independent port
and I can only hope that whomever ported it before will provide a
new version.
Regarding the difference between the N800 and N810, I do not
find the N810 GPS particularly attractive. I am rarely lost while in
my own city, and I can buy a good street map set for about $20 every
year, which in itself is not really necessary. Moreover, for out-of-
town trips, I can print out Google maps in advance. On the other
hand, I like the N800 FM radio because it does not interfere with
Internet usage. In fact, from a processor usage standpoint, it is
a "freebee". That is to say, it should require no processor power
at all while in normal use -- only during channel changes and other
usage of controls. Even in regard to electrical usage it is very
low power compared to the Internet Radio.
I am undecided about the built in camera in the N800. Apparently,
some people think such cameras are really good. Personally, I
usually carry a better camera anyway.
PR Newswire failed to provide releases for my search. I hope to
re-try my search later in the week.
[2008/01/13]
Jan. 8, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Everex has announced that its
"CloudBook CE1200V" Ultra-Mobile PC features an open source "gOS V2
Rocket" operating system. It is 9" long, with a 7" WVGA TFT Widescreen,
and weighs 2 lbs., and is powered by a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M ULV mobile
processor. It will be available from Walmart.com for $399 US.
[2008/01/09]
Jan. 07, 2008, Business Wire reports that Intel Corporation has unveiled
16 products, including its first 45 nanometer (NM) Intel(R) Centrino(R)
processors.
[Note: In a remarkable display of silliness, just about
nothing is made clear in this announcement. Not even the names of the
processors or their speeds, let alone prices or dates of availability.
I almost decided to omit any mention of it. It is disgusting. -- JO]
[2008/01/09]
Jan. 6, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Netgear has announced that its
latest WNDR3300 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router features new
patented technology internal "metamaterial" antenna arrays for superior
performance. It is available now at an MSRP of $129.99 US. The WNR3500
Gigabit Ethernet version is $159.99.
[2008/01/06]
Jan. 6, 2008, Business Wire reports that Amiga, Inc. has announced the
availability of "AmigaAnywhere(TM) version 2. It claims "a device-independent,
single, ubiquitous Virtual Environment (VEN)".
Amiga, Inc. http://www.amiga.com/
[2008/01/06]
Jan. 6, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Panasonic has announced that its
"Link to Cell KX-TH1211" integrates a Bluetooth enabled cell phone to
cordless phone handsets. It will be available March, 2008 at an MSRP of
$99.95 US with additional handsets at $39.95 US.
[2008/01/06]
Jan. 2, 2008, Business Wire reports that "Research and Markets" claims that
their survey information Symbian and Linux based OSes dominate the Japanese
smartphone market. Moreover, although 3/4 of respondents had multimedia
capabilities, most do not use them, and only 10% would be willing to pay for
the capabilities in their next phone.
[2008/01/02]
As is typical for time of year, there was nothing worth reporting this past few days. So all I have to say is . . . .
Dec. 25, 2007, Business Wire reports that Canon Inc., Hitachi, Ltd. and Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. have reached a "basic agreement" to partner
in the LCD panel businesses. Canon and Matsushita will each own 24.9% of
Hitachi Displays Co, Ltd. leaving Hitachi, Ltd. with 50.2%.
[2007/12/26]
Dec. 20, 2007, Business Wire reports that Acer America Corporation has announced
that its Extensa 4620 series laptop computers are now available in the North
America commercial channel. These Intel powered laptops are based on the
TravelMate "Acer Profile" chassis in 14.1" form factor, in the lower cost
business computer segment. The Extensa series have been available in North
America since October of this year. Prices start at $699 US for the Extensa
4620-4054 (Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2310).
[2007/12/23]
Dec. 19. 2007, PR Newswire reports that WidowPC(R) has announced
that its Sting 517D2 laptop which features an nVidia 8800M GTX
graphics card is now in stock. Prices start at $2,799 US.
[2007/12/19]
Dec. 18, 2007, Nokia released a firmware image file upgrade
for their N800 Internet tablet giving it essentially the same
software as their new N810 Internet tablet. The file is freely
downloadable, and means that the two products can now share
future 3rd party software.
[When Nokia replaced their 770 Internet tablet with the N800
they made no real attempt to provide the same software for the older
770. They only released an essentially "empty" port of the basic
system level programs. This time, the N800 is being brought up
to date which increases the user base for software developers.
Still, I do not know of any attempt to bring the software to the
770, which is still only a 2 year old product. -- JO]
[2007/12/19]
Dec. 13, 2007, Business Wire reports that the 1394 Trade Association has
announced that a new specification for FireWire (IEEE 1394b) has been
drafted which extends throughput to 3.2 gigabits per second, which is
4x the speed of FireWire 800. The new specification, called S3200, is
expected to be used for such applications as external hard drives (in
place of eSATA). The new standard is expected to be ratified in early
February, 2008.
[Note: My latest laptop computer, like many others, has a FireWire 800
port. I had thought that a future laptop might be better off with an
eSATA port, but if S3200 is supported for external drives, then I agree
that I would prefer to have FireWire S3200, because that would reduce
the number of different types of cables I would have to keep. -- JO]
[2007/12/16]
Dec. 13, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Telsima has announced that its
lower frequency 450/700MHz WiMAX will have superior propagation
characteristic, saving infrastructure cost when compared to greater
than 1 GHz systems.
[Prices and availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2007/12/16]
Dec. 12, 2007, Micron Technology, Inc. has announced that it has
achieved "production sampling" of 68-nanometer (nm) technology
1 Gb DDR2 DRAM chips. Micron claims that the 56mm^2 chip is the
world's smallest production 1 Gb DDR2 memory device. Mass
production is expected early in 2008, and the new technology
is expected to give about 20% less power consumption compared
to the previous generation.
[2007/12/12]
Dec. 12, 2007, Business Wire reports that Kingston Technology Company,
Inc. has announced that its "Kingston(R) Media Reader" is "an external
hi-speed reader designed to support 19 popular types of Flash memory
cards, is now shipping." Speed is rated as up to 480 Mbps (USB 2.0).
The Kingston part number is "FCR-HS219/1" and the MSRP is $17.00 US.
[Note: The main reason I am including this is not because it is
necessarily the best product of its type, or particularly innovative,
but because it provides a good baseline for comparison. -- JO]
[2007/12/12]
It has been an uneventful week from the technology side of the mobile
info tech industry. All I can say is that it will probably be slow now
till next year, though there might be some late announcements by
companies trying to make the records books. For example, Intel likes
to make end of year announcements so they can top AMD.
[2007/12/09]
As long time readers of this Website will know, I have avoided giving "product of the year" awards. Sometimes I have named products in classes but deliberately left commonly awarded classes without awards because I did not feel there were any outstanding products.
This year, I am considering naming the "Acer Travelmate 5520" series
laptops a "Laptop of the year" and specifically the "5424" version.
I am looking at its balance of leading edge features such as Draft N
Wi-Fi and 1 Gb LAN and 2GB DDR2 RAM, and particularly because I expect
that it is likely superior in power efficiency due to its AMD chipset,
I have not made a final decision about this yet, but this is my
current front-runner.
[2007/11/05]
Aside from the above, I have nothing to report that looked significant.
Nokia announced a firmware upgrade for their N95 phone, but I feel that
smartphones are overrated in overall significance, so by definition, a
firmware upgrade to an low significance product is what? PR Newswire
provided a full listing from Dec. 1, so I only missed the releases
from the last couple of days of November. That is not good in itself,
but it could have been worse.
[2007/11/05
Nov. 29, 2007, Business Wire reports that Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd.
has announced that new LED backlighted LCD screens in 40" up to 57"
are available for the HD TV market. [I expect this technology to
eventually become common in many LCD type screen applications,
particularly for upper end laptop computers. -- JO]
[2007/12/02]
As has been typical for PR Newswire, today's search resulted in no
reported press releases. This bug in their search system has been there
for years now and is disappointing. It is unlikely I will be able do a
corrective search later -- JO.
[2007/12/02]
Nov. 28, 2007, Business Wire reports that Micron Technology, Inc. has
announced its line of "RealSSD" solid state drives based on NAND
technology. Samples are now available for 32 GB and 64 GB devices
with mass production expected in 2008 Q1. Prices were not provided
in the announcement.
[2007/11/28]
Unfortunately, PR Newswire failed at about 21:30 eastern time, while I was
updating my searches. I will probably not be able to complete them later
in the week. A trace indicated that this was probably a problem at
PR Newswire's server. The Internet seems ok.
[2007/11/28]
I have just recently found out that Reuters will not longer be
supplying news releases to the "Addit" program on Palm device.
I am not sure when it stopped, but it is no longer being
updated.
[2007/11/25]
Nov. 22, 2007, Business Wire reports that "One Laptop per Child" has
extended its gifting program to Dec. 31, 2007. For $399 US, the
foundation will give 1 laptop to the buyer and 1 laptop (as a gift)
to a child in a developing country.
[2007/11/25]
Nov. 19, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has announced that its
Nokia N810 Internet Tablet has begun shipping in the US. Current
capacity is 2GB internal memory and up to 8GB on memory card.
The MSRP is $479 US. [NOTE: I have been using the Nokia N800 for
some time now and it has been quite nice. The only significant missing
feature for me is a "RealPlayer" plug-in for the Opera browser, which
was previously available on the Nokia 770. Hopefully it will reappear
someday on the N800 and N810. -- JO]
[2007/11/21]
It is possible that the lack of significant announcements were due
in part by the up-coming US Thanksgivings Day. At any rate, check back later in the week.
[2007/11/18]
Nov. 13, 2007, PR Newswire reports that ACCESS CO., LTD. has announced
that a free "beta" version of Garnet(TM) OS (formerly Palm OS(R)) will
be available for download by the end of this year, for the Nokia N770,
N800 and N810 handheld devices.
[2007/11/14]
Nov. 13, 2007, PR Newswire reports that User Centric, Inc., claims that
their studies show that iPhone users make more errors using iPhone
text entry than users of phones with "hard-key QWERTY" phones.
[2007/11/14]
Nov. 1, 2007, LinuxDevices.com reports that the Asus Eee PC 4G is now
available in the US at Newegg and other online retailers. It is priced
at around $400 US.
[2007/11/11]
Oct. 17, 2007, LinuxDevices.com reports that Nokia has announced that
its latest N810 Internet Tablet handheld device is similar to the
N800 but. among other changes, with a faster (400 MHz) processor and
GPS built-in GPS receiver. For software, significantly, the Opera
browser is replaced with a Mozilla-based browser. It is expected to
ship in November at around $500 US.
[2007/11/11]
Nov. 6, 2007, Business Wire reports that SMC Networks has announced that its
SMCWBR14S-N2 is a Draft 11n Wireless 4-Port (10/100Mbps) Broadband Router
with a suggested list price of $59.99 US and its EZ(TM) Connect N Draft 11n
SMCWUSBS-N Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter (suggested retail price $39.99 US)
are now available.
[2007/11/07]
Nov. 2, 2007, Business Wire reports that DataWind has announced that
it has partnered with Zoho, offering Zoho's online productivity
applications through its "PocketSurfer2". [No pricing or
availability information was in the announcement. -- JO]
[2007/11/04]
Oct. 31, 2007, Business Wire reports that HP has announced a number
of new products including its "df750" digital picture frame. It features
a 7" diagonal 800 x 480 resolution screen with 400:1 contrast and
200 cd/m2 brightness. Supported formats include "MPEG1, MP4" and
"JPEG - (Baseline, extended-sequential and progressive JPEG)". Estimated
retail price is $149 US.
[Availability was not clearly stated in the announcement, but it seems to
say that this is available now. I have looked at a few similar frames
and have not found one that I like. Despite long lists of capabilities,
often they do not even support what they claim to support. I hope HP has
done better than the rest. -- JO]
[2007/10/31]
Oct. 26, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has announced that its
"N810 Internet Tablet" has been awarded "LAPTOP's Best of CTIA Award
in the Best Overall Product category." It will be available November
2007 for $479 US. [I do not agree with the practice of calling an
announced future product a "Product of the Year." It is not a "product"
at all until it has been bought and delivered, in working condition.
Until then, it is "vapourware" -- JO]
[2007/10/28]
Oct. 16, 2007, ASUSTeK Computer Inc. announced that their "Eee PC" "ultra portable" device would be available in north america "within a few weeks" at prices from $299 to $399 US. [This small clamshell device was announced with vague specifications and has not shown up yet. However, there seems to be some interest in it, so I decided to include it today. -- JO]
Oct. 22, 2007, Business Wire reports that Trolltech(R) has announced that
it has sold out of its "Qtopia(R) Greenphone" and will not be ordering
further units. The company hopes that developers will migrate to new,
compatible reference platforms. "Trolltech recommends the Neo1973 from
FIC and OpenMoko."
[2007/10/24]
PR Newswire has not provided any news releases for the last few days. I might
re-do my search again later in the week.
[2007/10/24]
As usually, there was nothing exciting reported in the latter part of last
week. Try again next week.
[2007/10/21]
Oct. 16, 2007, Business Wire reports that Toshiba AIS, Inc. has annouced that
its new "Satellite Pro(R)" A200 and A210 laptop computers re-introduce the "Satellite
Pro(R)" brand name. The A210 are Toshiba's first business laptops to use AMD dual
core processors. The Satellite Pro laptops are now available at prices starting
as low as $699 US,
[2007/10/17]
Oct. 16, 2007, Business Wire reports that Samsung has announced the development
of two 16:9 aspect ratio screens with and also announced a 15.4" 1440 * 900
LCD screen with "Active White LED Backlighting" which the company claims has
10 times the contrast of a typical LED backlighted display (10,000:1) and a
brightness of 300 nits.
[2007/10/17]
Oct. 15, 2007, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced that it has
released a number of TV Tuner products including its new ""ATI TV
Wonder(TM) 650 Combo USB" device. The MSRP is $149 US. [Note: It is
not entirely clear in the announcement, but the devices seem to be
available now. -- JO]
[2007/10/17]
Oct. 11, 2007, Business Wire reports that Avid Technology, Inc. has announced
that its Consumer Division, Pinnacle Systems, Inc. will be releasing a
number of new HD TV support devices including "Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick"
which is a USB 2.0 TV tuner which provides "plug-and-watch TV viewing on a
PC without any installation." It is expected to be available in mid October
2007 at a retail price of $129.99 US.
[2007/10/14]
I am not surprised that I found nothing worth reporting at this time.
Holidays and the time of year did not indicate a higher expectation.
Check back later in the week.
[2007/10/10]
Oct. 4, 2007, Business Wire reports that AT&T has announced that its new
Windows Mobile 6 based "Tilt" handset features UMTS/HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS
support with a slide out QWERTY keypad that tilts for better visibility.
It will be available Oct. 5, 2007 at a special prices of $299.99 US with
a 2 year contract and mail-in rebate. [Note: The real price was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2007/10/07]
First, I should report that PR Newswire failed to provide me with any press releases today, so it seems that their site still has a "change of month" problem in their software. It is unlikely I will have the time to re-do the searches missed this week.
I am disappointed to report that there have not been any really notable announcements so far this week. Toshiba America did announce a number of new laptop computers, particularly in the Satellite A205 and P205 lines with HD-DVD drives which would have been worth mentioning, but I am disappointed that they have not moved beyond 1280 resolution in the 15.x" size range screen versions, so I have skipped those announcements.
I feel that a 15.x" screen is about as small as I would like for an HD TV
resolution screen, and the minimum H resolution would be 1366 pixels,
which would match the mainstream low end HDTV screens (26" - 32" range
screens). So that would be the minimum screen that I would like to
see in a "mainstream" laptop computer. In fact, I find the larger laptops
are too clumsy, so this seems to be the best trade-off size for general
laptop usage.
[2007/10/03]
I must admit that I am surprised to say that I have nothing to
report at this time. There was an announcement by Toshiba about a gamer
laptop, but even that is hardly news these days. I was unable to
complete research of PR Newswire which apparently has not been
fixed after all. No releases were available on the website. Check
back late this week.
[2007/09/30]
Sept. 26, 2007, Business Wire reports that MontaVista Software, Inc. has announced
the release of its MontaVista(R) Mobilinux version 5.0, which will be available
worldwide in November, 2007. Supported processors will include the TI OMAP 2430.
[Pricing was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2007/09/26]
Sept. 20, 2007, Business Wire reports that SMC(R) Networks has announced that
a number of its products have received certification by the Wi-Fi Alliance
proving compliance with the current 802.11n Draft 2.0 specification.
Among the products is the SMC Barricade N Draft 11n Gigabit Broadband
Router (SMCWGBR14-N). [NOTE: Not mentioned in the press release, but
mentioned on the company website is that this particular router includes
a USB 2.0 based printer server. I have previously bought and used this
line of products in its original Wi-Fi B and Wi-Fi G forms, and I am
considering buying this latest version. -- JO]
[2007/09/23]
Sept. 20, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Linksys has announced that its
RangePlus family of products extends Wi-Fi coverage by using
Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology and eases setup
by supporting "Wi-Fi Protected Setup(TM)". The WRT100 router and
WPC100 laptop adapter are now available at $99.99 US (street price).
[Note: The release does not state if the WPC100 is PC-Card technology
or ExpressCard, or something else. -- JO]
[2007/09/23]
Sept. 17, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Fingertip Formulary has announced
that its Fingertip Formulary Mobile (a free formulary service for healthcare
providers) is now available for download onto Palm or Pocket PC devices.
Fingertip Formulary
http://www.FingertipFormulary.com/
[2007/09/19]
I am not surprised to say that I have nothing worth reporting at this
time. I am expecting news in the next few days.
[2007/09/16]
Sept. 12, 2007, Business Wire reports that TRENDnet has announced that its
TEW-633GR Wireless N Gigabit Router is now available. [Price was
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2007/09/12]
There were a couple of announcements by Toshiba and Seagate regarding
new hard drives, but in the end, that just boils down to more data space
per drive, in a continuing progression that has been going on for years.
I have not been reporting such announcements lately because the
continuation of the trend is hardly news now. You will see the
new drives in laptops shortly.
[2007/09/09]
Sept. 5, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Tele Atlas has announced that
HP' s iPaq 310 Travel Companion will feature the company's digital
maps and navigation content.
Tele Atlas http://www.teleatlas.com/
[2007/09/05]
Aug. 31, 2007, Canada Newswire reports that SanDisk has announced that its
"Multi Card ExpressCard Adapter" allows transfer of data from six memory
card formats through an ExpressCard slot. It will be available in North
America in "September" at an MSRP of $29.99 US.
[2007/09/02]
Aug. 28, 2007, Business Wire reports that Samsung Electronics America, Inc. has
announced that it has added 3 new UMPC computers to its lineup. There are the
Q1U-SSDXP, the Q1U-ELXP and the Q1U-XP. All are immediately available and
prices start at $999.00 US for the Q1U-ELXP with 600MHz A100 processor and
40GB HD.
[2007/08/29]
Not surprisingly, there was nothing really significant to report for the
later part of this past week. With the Fall coming, I expect things to
start getting interesting again fairly soon.
[2007/08/26]
Aug. 22, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Nokia and Microsoft Corp. have announced that
they have joined to bring Windows Live Hotmaio(R), Windows Live Messenger, Windows
Live Contacts and Windows Live Spaces to Nokia S60 devices, and to future Series
40 handsets.
[2007/08/22]
Aug. 21, 2007, Business Wire reports that Telos Corporation has announced that it will
market the OQO model 02 Windows XP/Vista based UMPC through government contract.
[2007/08/22]
Aug. 16, 2007, PR Newswire reports that according to "User Centric,
Inc.", the iPhone's touch keyboard takes about double the time
for text input than phones with a "full QWERTY keypad."
[2007/08/19]
Aug. 15, 2007, PR Newswire reports that XtremeNotebooks has
announced that its Xtreme 917V features a new Intel(R)
Core(TM)2 Quad processor.
XtremeNotebooks
http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/
[2007/08/15] updated [2007/08/19]
[This annoucement was reported in brief on PR Newswire for Aug. 15, 2007,
Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain the actual press release from PR
Newswire's website to read the details. Moreover, checking Extreme
Notebook's website I did not find any such announcement. This is not
unusual. So all I can recommend is that you check the company's website
later some time. -- JO]
[2007/08/15]
Aug. 11, 2007, Business Wire reports that Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
has claimed it has developed "the industry's smallest 1 Gigabit mobile
DRAM." Made using a 66 nm process, it operates at 200 MHz with a
1.6 Gbytes/sec. throughput in a 32-bit I/O
configuration.
Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
http://www.hynix.com/
[2007/08/12]
Aug. 7, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Datalight, Inc. claims
that its Datalight Reliance(TM) and FlashFX(R) Pro used
together can boost Flash memory usage performance by as
much as 200%.
Datalight, Inc.
http://www.datalight.com/
[2007/08/08]
Aug. 1, 2007, PR Newswire reports that AVerMedia(R) Technologies, Inc.
has announced the release of its AVerTV Hybrid ExpressCard
High Definition and Analog ExpressCard TV Tuner for laptop
computers. This 54mm Express Card includes a "mini-antenna"
and remote control, and is immediately available for $129.99 MSRP US.
AVerMedia(R) Technologies, Inc.
http://www.avermedia-usa.com/
[2007/08/05]
I was expecting PR Newswire to fail at the change of month as has
been happening for quite a while now, but my last research session
and this session were successful. Hopefully, this means that they
have fixed their software.
[2007/08/05]
Aug. 1, 2007, Business Wire reports that Acer has announced that its
latest consumer laptop computers feature design work by BMW
Group DesignworksUSA. The Aspire 5920 begins at $1999 US and
the Aspire 4710 starts at $599 US.
[2007/08/01]
July 31, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Nokia "applauds the FCC's
decision to implement rules requiring a portion of the 700MHz spectrum
. . . to be made available for 'open access' for devices and
service."
[2007/08/01]
As happens during the slow periods, I did not find anything worth reporting
for the later part of the past week. Check back next week.
[2007/07/29]
July 24, 2007, Business Wire reports that Toshiba Digital Products Division
has announced the availability of its Qosmio G45-AV680 which features a
HD DVD-R Drive. The "estimated single unit price" is $3,199.99 US.
[2007/07/25]
July 23, 2007, Business Wire reports that "One Laptop per Child" has
announced that it has "authorized mass production of the XO laptop,
based on the release of the final Beta-4 (B4) engineering model."
[2007/07/25]
July 20, 2007, Business Wire reports that DataWind has launched its
"PocketSurfer2" handheld GPRS internet device. It features s 640
x 240 screen and QWERTY keyboard. The price is L(UK) 179,99 and
will be available in the UK Aug. 16, 2007.
DataWind PocketSurfer2
http://www.pocketsurfer.co.uk/
[2007/07/22]
July 16, 2007, PR Newswire reports that D-Link claims that according
to an octoScope test (June 19, 2007), D-Link's DIR-655 Xtreme N(R) Gigabit
Router was the top performer in 3x3 (antenna) class and overall, with 20
megabits throughput at 150 feet, beating Linksys(R) WRT350N and Netgear(R)
WNR854T.
[2007/07/22]
Due to unavoidable circumstances, I missed my mid-week update.
This has rarely happened. However, I have completed the research.
[2007/07/22]
July 13, 2007, Business Wire reports that Duel Systems (Methode Electronics, Inc.)
has announced that its DuelAdapter Cradle is an ExpressCard to PCMCIA and
CardBus adapter. Data transfers are at the full PCMCIA or CardBus
transfer rates of the host computer. Advance orders prior to July
31, 2007 will cost $45.95 US, with the price from Aug. 1, 2007 being
$49.95 US.
Duel Systems
http://www.duel-systemsadapters.com/
[2007/07/15]
July 11, 2007, Canada Newswire reports that Sony Canada has announced
that "all 79 Sony stores across Canada" will now collect old
laptop computers as trade-ins towards purchases of new Sony laptop
computers. [Value of the trade-in was not provided in the
announcement. Moreover, I checked the Sony Canada websites
as directed in the announcement and could not find any mention
of the trade-in program. -- JO]
[2007/07/15]
July 11, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Sony Computer Entertainment
Inc. (SCEI) has announced that its Playstation Portable PSP-2000
will be available in Japan, North America and Europe in
September. The system clock is variable up to 333 MHz and
the main memory is 64MB.
[Note: The original PSP did not prove to be a satisfactory
general purpose Internet device, and Sony seems to be
resisting the desires of end users to allow 3rd part programs
to be developed. As such, I almost decided not to include
this report. The 64MB main memory should make a big
difference in its usability as a general purpose Web page
reader. Still, without any ability to use memory from an
expansion card to supplement the 64 MB, it will not be
anywhere near the freer usability of the Nokia N800, and the
Wi-Fi B speed will still be a bottleneck. So it is a borderline
device. -- JO]
[2007/07/11]
July 9, 2007, AMD introduced 2 HDTV adapters for computers.
One, a PCIe bus tuner/capture card is intended for desk computers,
but the ATI TV Wonder(TM) 600 USB can be used for desk computers
or laptop (mobile) computers. Pricing was not announced, but
they will both be available in September.
[2007/07/11]
Still nothing really significant to report. AMD has invested in
Transmeta, but that is not really the type of news I report. It
does have some significance, because Transmeta is a significant
developer of low power technology, which is always important in the
mobile field. But it is not really an end user issue.
[2007/07/08]
My mistake. On July 1 I recommended checking back later in the
week, but I forgot that the July 4 holiday was today. As I should
have expected, there has been little in the way of announcements up
till today. Toshiba has announced a few new laptops, and if you are
interested, I can recommend that you look up the Toshiba websites.
Also, there has been a lot written about the Apple iPhone. However,
since there was not Canadian phone offering, I have decided to put
off coverage for now. Otherwise, it has been fairly quiet. Sorry. My
next update should have more.
[2007/07/04]
As is usual on the change of a month, PR Newswire failed to
provide me with anything for today's review. I have no idea why this
bug has been allowed to persist. Check back later in the week. For
those companies who pay PR Newswire to provide journalists with press
releases at the end of a month, you really should ask about a refund.
[2007/07/01]
Before I go further, my review of press releases found nothing to
post. That is not to say that the news was completely devoid of
anything literally, but that there is nothing to report at this time.
[2007/07/1]
I have come to the point where I find the Nokia 770 a significant
part of my lifestyle. It is nice to be able to think of something in
the late night which I would like to look up in some webpage, and to
actually do a quick bit of research. Unfortunately, within this past
week, my Nokia 770 crashed in a bad way. The display screen is not
working. It is primarily just light grey without any real images. I
will be sending it for repair shortly. The actual cause of the crash
seems to have been somewhere in the Wi-Fi stack. I hope that Nokia
will release one more update memory image correcting this major flaw.
It appears that the problems could, in time, make all existing
devices become unusable. This would not be acceptable as a consumer
product.
[2007/07/01]
June 27, 2007 Business Wire reports that Devon IT has
announced the availability of its upgraded "SafeBook" thin
client laptop computer. Prices start at $599 US with no hard drive.
Applications must be run from servers.
Devon
IT http://www.devonit.com/
[2007/06/27]
June 26, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Earthlink has
announced that "Nokia N800 Internet Tablets[sic] customers can
now access EarthLink's Wi-Fi service, at no additional charge, on its
municipal wireless networks in select[sic] cities throughout the
United States." Maximum speeds are 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps
upload.
[2007/06/27]
Unfortunately, my first report for the summer has
turned up empty. This is not surprising. Check back later in the
week.
[2007/06/24]
June 19, 2007, Canada Newswire reports that Toshiba
Canada has announced that despite an earlier battery recall effort, a
Toshiba portable computer with an original battery pack which had not
been replaced, caught fire on May 24, 2007. Be sure to check the
Toshiba website to see if your battery is affected. The replacement
is free of charge.
[2007/06/20]
June 15, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Highway
Safety & Technology has announced that they have developed
detection system based on electronic sensing equipment "which
can either be pole-mounted or installed on a mobile unit." The
company has applied for a patent.
Highway
Safety & Technology http://www.hwstusa.com/
[2007/06/17]
June 12, 2007, PR Newswire reports that nVidia(R)
Corporation has announced that its GeForce 8700M GT GPU is the
fastest of its GeForce 8M graphics processors and its "NVIDIA
PowerMizer(R)" technology "intelligently balances teh
user's need for longer battery life and performance."
[2007/06/17]
Despite hours of reviewing press releases, I found
nothing worth reporting at this time. Check back later in the week.
[2007/06/13]
June 7, 2007, Business Wire reports that Pepper
Computer, Inc. has announced that "Pepper Linux" will be
available for OEMs and ODMs developing Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)
on "Intel low-power processors and chipsets" in the Fall of
2007.
[2007/06/10]
June 4, 2007, Canada NewsWire reports that SanDisk(R)
Corporation has announced that it will market 64 GB solid state
drives in laptop computer configurations. The company expects them to
be available in the "3rd quarter". Prices were not provided
in the announcement.
[2007/06/06]
May 31, 2007, Business Wire reports that Lenovo
introduced its X61 series laptops and Tablet PCs, which the company
claims has improvements in battery life, "wireless performance"
and security. an X61 series "notebook" computer can be
bought for as little as $1,474 US. The computers will be available in
June, 2007.
[2007/06/03]
May 30, 2007, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that its "Palm(R) Foleo(TM)" is "its
first smartphone companion product." Weighing about 2.5 lbs., it
is similar to a small folding laptop computer (it is said to have a
"10-inch screen"). Linux based software synchronizes with a
Palm Treo. Other smart phones might be supported in the future. The
expected price will be about $600 US, and it is expected to be
available sometime this summer.
[2007/05/30]
PR Newswire failed to provide any press releases for
Mar 26 - 29. Also, I had a problem with Business Wire and only
finished about half my research for Tuesday and failed to research
Monday. I might try to redo that work later in the week.
[2007/05/30]
May 29, 2007, Business Wire reports that Toshiba AIS,
Inc. has announced that in the 3rd quarter of 2007, Toshiba will
market laptop computers with AMD processors. No specific products
were announced.
[2007/05/30]
As will not come as a surprise, especially to people
in the US, there was nothing worth reporting for the end of this
week. The US Memorial Day holiday dominating the agenda for the
weekend, it is not really a surprise. Have a good holiday!
[2007/05/27]
May 21, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Western
Digital Corp. claims that its 250 GB WD Scorpio(TM) 2.5" Serial
ATA HD is currently the highest capacity drive in its form factor. It
is currently available at $199.99 US from the company's online store.
[2007/05/23]
May 17, 2007, Business Wire reports that FreshBattery
claims that their "UberPower(R)" line of batteries give up
to 75% longer run times and longer overall battery life than OEM
batteries.
FreshBattery
http://www.freshbattery.com/
[2007/05/20]
May 17, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Alcatel-Lucent
has been informed that a computer disc containing personal
information of its employees and retirees, prepared by Hewitt
Associates, to be delivered by UPS, has gone missing.
[Note:
There is no description of the type of disc. One assumes that it
would be some sort of optical disc. At any rate, it shows once again
that we are all at risk of identity theft, even if we are careful. If
someone else has the info, they have to be careful too, as well as
others who are entrusted by them, and so on. And that is not
necessarily something we can count on. -- JO]
[2007/05/20]
First, I should state that having looked through a surprisingly large pile of announcements, I did not feel that there was anything worth reporting. However, I will take this opportunity to clarify the situation regarding "Wi-Fi 802.11N". There are a number of announcements regarding Wi-Fi 802.11n ["N"] products. One of them claimed to be compliant with "N". It cannot be compliant with "N" because "N" does not exist. Only "Draft N 2.0" exists. That is to say "N" still has NOT been finalized. It has come a lot closer to becoming finalized, but that is all.
Does the "2.0" version of "Draft N"
mark a good time to buy into this technology? I would say that it
does indeed seem to be a good time to start using it. From what I
have read, if you are reasonably careful, you can buy a product with
good enough hardware that a minor upgrade will be all that is needed
to have a full "real N" device later. And from what I have
seen of the prices, even a complete replacement of some of the
devices will not cost all that much. So why not?
[2007/05/16]
The end of this week saw a few announcements of new
laptops, but nothing I felt was startling, so if you are in the
market then check your favorite brands. . . .
[2007/05/13]
May 9, 2007, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has
announced the immediate availability of Draft 802.11n firmware
upgrades to 2.0 level for its Xtreme N(TM) product line.
[2007/05/09]
May 8, 2007, Business Wire reports that HP is running
a special 2 day event in Shanghai, focused on its mobile computing
technology. [This appears to be bigger than most single company
events, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I do not normally
report such events. -- JO]
HP
Mobility Summit 2007 http://www.hpmobility.com/
HP
Mobility Summit 2007 Press Kit
http://www.hp.com/go/MobilitySummit2007
[2007/05/09]
May 7, 2007, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics America, Inc. has announced that its Q1 Ultra "Ultra
Mobile PC" ("UMPC") features a split QWERTY keyboard
and 1024 x 600 screen in a 1.5 pound device. It is immediately
available at an MSRP of $799 US.
[2007/05/09]
May 3, 2007, Business Wire reports that AMD has
announced that its latest AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile processors feature
65nm Silicon-on-Insulator technology which combined with the new AMD
M690 chipset gives superior battery life.
[2007/05/06]
May 2, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Lexar has
announced that its "ExpressCard(TM) SSD" (solidstate disc)
cards come with "auto-backup" software. The cards come in
4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. Prices were not provided in the
announcement.
[2007/05/02]
I am not really certain when I bought my first flourescent light. It was probably around 25 years ago. I still use it, so I might be able to find out roughly when it was bought. It was a long time ago. Likewise, I am not exactly certain when my father converted some of the family home to flourescent. It was probably also around 20 years ago. He did not really finish the job, so I ended up buying a lot of those spiral bulbs over the last 10 years. In my own new home, I am looking over the situation and trying to convert completely over. The point is that in all the households that I know well, a lot of the easy conversion has already been done. The bad news is that if my experiences are at all typical, then there is a lot less room for electrical saving than what some conservationists seem to be saying.
The current Federal government wants to ban
incadescent lamps. Here is the problem that I see immediately. Your
oven light has an incadescent lamp. It is specially designed to
withstand a lot more heat than most lights, because it sits inside an
oven. The current spiral lights will not be able to take that kind of
heat. So will we all have to buy new ovens because we cannot buy oven
lights for current ovens? I expect that the Feds will be able to
correct that problem, hopefully before the legislation is tabled. In
fact, I would rather just see a tax put on incadescent lamps. This
would be in the range of a 100% tax (because the lamps are usually
very cheap in the first place).
What does all this have to do with "mobile
information technology"? The concerns of mobile technology and
"green" overlap a lot. They are not completely harmonious,
but they can get along fairly well. As I have pointed out above, I
have personally had "green" concerns going back to perhaps
25 years. So I am very aware of many aspects of these concerns, and
as the above shows, I can sometimes see things that others miss. I
have been considering raising them occasionally in these reports. So
do not be surprised if I start mentioning such things in the future.
[2007/05/02]
Apr. 25, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Acer America
Corporation has recalled about 27,000 Lithium-Ion batteries used in
various products sold from May 2004 through November 2006. If you
bought an Acer product during this period, see the company Website
for further details. [NOTE: No Acer product has caught fire so far.
-- JO]
[2007/04/29]
I have been making short reports about the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet for about a week and a half now, and even my first comments were after some time to think about it. So I have little left to say about the unit as sold (and having the lastest software upgrade).
There are some minor shortcomings that should be addressed:
There are 3 groups of system and application sounds with only 2 preset levels or "off" for options. Specific applications can fine tune sound output. The System "alerts" are a single group and depending on specific programming would likely include alarms such as telephone and alarm clock ringing. I would like to be able to set an alarm clock some day, so I tried leaving the "alerts" at "level 1". This is fairly quiet, but it is annoying that there are a panoply of noises that I do not want to hear. There are the usual GUI related sounds when the screen is shut down, or comes up, or even if the battery is charging. I do not think my neighbours can actually hear them, but then again, they are polite and would probably not mention it unless it became a regular event. There may be a way to turn off individual alerts, but I think as a group they should be separated from real "alarms" so I can shut them off.
I would like to have a display of the real time clock on the general display. It is a bit of a quirk of my home right now that I do not have may clocks around. So I found that I had to pull out my Palm TX from my pocket or get up and walk about looking for a clock, while using the Nokia 770.
The above are the only changes that I would request which would affect immediate usability for me. And the advantages would be common enough that I think Nokia should address them, even at this late a stage. A less important change for the immediate needs of users, which might also be addressed is the ability to play MP4 format video files. I never did get around to trying MP4 streaming. I do not currently look at any sites that support it. However, I do have a couple of MP4 video clips that came from different sources. Both play on my Playstation Portable (PSP). As far as I know, they should also play on the iPod series devices as well. I do not have an iPod so I cannot confirm it. However, both the PSP and the iPod represent very common technology, so one can expect that the MP4 video format is going to be significant for a very long time. Since Nokia has claimed MP4 capability (though with a warning that there would be versions of MP4 which would not work), I think that an effort to increase the MP4 support to cover common versions which are supported on either the PSP or iPod, would be worthwhile. This would enhance Nokia's reputation for producing well developed products.
Lastly, on the happier side, I can say that I
appreciated the ability to use Linux with Virtual Memory. This is a
much better experience than trying Web browsing on a Palm device, or
Windows Mobile or PSP. Full caching is supported, as is the ability
to open links in new windows, and bringing covered windows to the
foreground. I have a 2 GB MMC card, which is largely empty, and the
ability is claimed to enlarge the VM buffer beyond the default 64 MB.
[2007/04/29]
Nothing new worth reporting crossed my screens so far
this week. Check back next week.
[2007/04/25]
In my first post regarding the Nokia 770 I wrote that
it did not support BBC Radio2 "Real Audio" streaming media.
While reading other messages, I found one person who said it did
support this format. So I decided to try it again. It does in fact
work. The reason I was mistaken was because on most desk computers
(Windows and Linux), the stream starts immediately when the page is
loaded. On the Nokia, one has to click a button to call up the
special Real Audio screen and then click again on the Play button.
The player is quite good. It supports audio streams and multimedia
streams. I saw a Eurovision music video that was streamed in a low
resolution but with good motion and sound. I also saw a CBC-TV news
report in high resolution, but with a very slow frame rate (about 1
frame per second). Each of the 3 test streams were acceptable for me.
So Nokia's 770 has proven to be quite a nice device, and
fills a useful purpose.
[2007/04/22]
Apr. 19, 2007, Business Wire reports that Mozilla
Thunderbird(TM) 2 became available worldwide as a free downloadable
program.
[2007/04/22]
I have been disappointed by Thunderbird since its
beginning. I downloaded 1.5.0.9 and evaluated it as a replacement for
Eudora and Agent. It did not convert Eudora data very well. Some
"folders" were ignored, leaving the contained messages in
the main "inbox", which became huge. My addressbook did not
convert properly, which left it pretty much unusable. Regarding the
News reader function, (and this is a particular problem for laptop
users), as far as I can tell, there is no practical way to use it as
an "offline" News reader. A laptop user, like me, might
want to download a bunch of messages on a regular basis to read later
"offline", then write replies, and then upload them later
when a connection is available. Nothing mentioned in the way of
improvements seems to address these issues.
[2007/04/22]
I have been trying to test various formats of video
files on the Nokia 770. There does not seem to be much working. In
particular, I tried viewing an MPEG-4 demo video from Sony, which
runs on my Playstation Portable. It failed on the Nokia.
[2007/04/22]
I have been using a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet for a while now and this has been one of the most satisfactory pieces of technology I have tried in the past few years. I believe that it is now a discontinued product, replaced by the Nokia N800. Although I have not had an opportunity to try them, I would suggest that the PepperPad 3 and Nokia N800 Internet tablets are probably well worth their respective prices. The PepperPad 3, in particular, appears to be what would have been the perfect product for my needs and preferences. Unfortunately, it is currently not being sold in Canada. The screen size, device size and weight, and capabilities are all just about right. Unfortunately, its sales are hampered by one of the worst Websites I have seen on the Internet. After wasting time loading the site files, there is actually not much real information about the device. The better way to get information is from the "Linux Devices" website.
The Nokia N800 generally seems to be a fairly
straight forward upgrade of the 770, with the exception of the
addition of a built in camera. I am no fan of built-in cameras on
cell phones, but at least on this device, you should be able to
offload your photos without paying an extra charge on your cell phone
bill. The other problem of built-in cameras is that most people who
like to take pictures probably have a better camera that was bought
separately, and those with little interest in photography rarely use
these cameras beyond one or two pictures for the life of the device.
The two issues on the Nokia 770, which appear to still be a problem
on the N800 are:
1. The small screen. While the 800 pixel
resolution is adequate, many people would find the larger websites
illegible when viewed as if on a larger screen.
2. The short
battery life. I would have doubled the capacity of the battery. A
battery that starts off with only 3 hours life will eventually only
be worth 2 hours, and then eventually 1.5 hours. And even still, I
can see myself using the device over 3 hours within one day,
requiring mid-day recharging.
A Third issue is that it really needs more plug-in
support. The BBC Radio 2 broadcast that I occasionally listen to does
not work (Real Audio). Nor do most of the currently popular Flash
streaming video websites such as "MySpace" or "YouTube".
This might be corrected in the N800. I expect that the PepperPad 3
probably supports all these capabilities. And then again, maybe it is
better not to have them. One can waste a lot of time viewing such
distracting site.
[2007/04/18]
This week, I have to complain about Business Wire.
Performance during my searches was so poor, that I abandonned by
research after the first page. I will try again later in the week.
However, I see no reason to expect that I will find any significant
announcements. There might be, but do not know of anything special
happening at the moment.
[2007/07/18]
Apr. 15, 2007, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America Information Systems, Inc. has announced that its Satellite(R)
A205 laptop computers can now be bought with Intel Wireless Wi-Fi
Link 4965AGN supporting draft 802.11n. Without Draft-N support, the
series can be bought for as little as $999.99 US, with Intel(R)
Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T5300 (1.73 GHz).
[2007/04/15]
Apr. 9, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has
announced its Nokia N95 Multimedia Computer is now available in the
US. This Symbian based device features WLAN, EDGE/GSM and WCDMA/HSDPA
connectivity at a MSRP $749 US.
[2007/04/10]
Due to a slow-down of my Pathway Internet connection,
I had to abort my research. Luckily, I did not miss much -- only
about the last 10 - 20% of Apr. 8. I might try to complete the
research later.
[2007/04/11]
Apr. 8, 2007, Business Wire reports that Toshiba has
announced that its Satellite A135-S4527 laptop computer with 15.4"
diagonal "wide screen" computer is now available and
depending on configuration, priced under $800 US.
[2007/04/08]
Apr. 4, 2007, PR Newswire reports that D-Link(R) has
announced that its DWA-643 card is a WiFi Draft N device in an
ExpressCard(TM) package. It is now available for $119.99 US (MSRP)
online or at retail stores.
[2007/04/04]
Feb. 28, 2007, LinuxDevices.Com reports that Nokia
began shipping its replacement for the Nokia 770 Internet tablet in
January. The new Nokia N800 was shown at CES on January 8, 2007.
Software will not be compatible with the 770 device, but both are
Linux based devices and thus, much of the same software will be
available for both, simply by being compiled for each.
[2007/04/04]
It looks as though PR Newswire has a fairly
consistent problem at the change of a month. Yet again, I cannot
complete any research from their Website because they are not
reporting any items. If any company feels they have an announcement
that they want to have available to us reporters, well, you might
want to mention this problem to PR Newswire. Anyway, I was tight for
time this evening, so it does relieve that problem for me.
[2007/04/01]
Putting the above into perspective, I did not find
anything worth reporting from Business Wire, nor Canada NewsWire. I
do not expect that I missed anything significant from PR Newswire.
This does not make their failure to provide anything more acceptable
from the point of view of the people who write such releases
expecting those like me to read them, but from my point of view at
least I do not feel that we have missed anything this time.
[2007/04/01]
Mar. 28, 2007, Business Wire reports that AMD has
announced the availability of its AMD M690 chipset which features ATI
Radeon(TM) X1200 graphics and an significant reduction in power
requirements for longer battery life.
[2007/03/28]
Mar. 27, 2007, PRNewswire reports that Qualcomm
Incorporated has announced that its MSM7525 chipset for CDMA(R)
1xEV-DO Rev. A devices will be sampling in 2007 Q3 and that handsets
based on the chipset should be in production by the end of 2008.
[2007/03/28]
Mar. 22, 2007, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation has announced that the "Intel-powered classmate PCs
are shipping in volume to emerging market."
[I was surprised
to find that the processor in these laptop style computers was a 900
MHz device (no L2 cache) with 400 MHz FSB, which is quite fast. Then
again, there is no mention of a graphics processor, which would
really slow it back down again. -- JO]
Classmate
PC http://www.classmatepc.com/
[2007/03/25]
Mar. 19, 2007, Business Wire reports that IT Mill has
announced the release of its "IT Mill Toolkit 4.0" which is
a Java based server side development toolkit which supports devices
such as Nokia's "E series" phones. It is immediately
available and the price is 4000 Euros/server.
IT
Mill (Java based mobile application programming)
http://www.itmill.com/
[2007/03/21]
There was a report that PCMCIA showed new cards for
ExpressCard sockets at CeBIT, but I did not have time to look into
that further. I expect there will be more later in this week.
[2007/03/18]
Mar. 13, 2007, Canada NewsWire reports that SanDisk
has announced that its 2.5" format 32-gigabyte Serial ATA, solid
state drive is now available to comptuer manufacturers at a cost of
$350 US in large quantities.
[2007/03/14]
This week, there were some borderline interesting
annoucements from the big 3 Flash Card makers (Lexar, Kingston and
SanDisk) mainly in the range of 4GB cards. I could have noted them
individually, but I think I might as well simply say that if you are
interested, go check out their websites.
[2007/03/11]
Mar. 7, 2007, Business Wire reports that Socket
Mobile, Inc. has announced that its new Socket SoMo(TM) 650 is
intended to fill a gap between a consumer-oriented PDA and heavy duty
industrial devices. Running Windows Mobile 5.0, it has a QVGA
display, 802.11g Wi-Fi, 128 MB SDRAM, 256 MB Flash memory, and a 624
MHz Intel processor, at an MSRP of $648 US. It is projected to be
available in limited quantities in April, with mass production in
May, 2007.
[2007/03/07]
Mar. 5, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Panasonic
Communications Co., Ltd., has announced the availability of its
Panasonic "KX-WP1050" Wi-Fi phone for use with Skype(TM).
The phone includes a Wi-Fi base station that can be used without a
computer. The MSRP is $399 US.
[2007/03/07]
Mar. 05, 2007, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics America, Inc. has announced that its new "Q1P"
Ultra-Mobile PC is its first UMPC to be certified for Windows Vista.
With a 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium processor, 60 MB HD and 1 GB memory,
weighing 1.7 lbs., it has an MSRP of $1,299.
[2007/03/07]
Mar. 1, 2007, Canada NewsWire reports that Lenovo has
recalled roughly 205,000 9-cell "extended-life" battery
packs for its R60, R60e, T60, T60p, Z60m, Z61e, Z61m and Z61p series
laptop computers. The part number is "FRU P/N 92P1131". The
packs "may overheat . . . if the battery pack experiences a
strong external impact."
[Also, on Mar. 1, 2007, Sanyo
Electric Co., Ltd. made available a press release through Business
Wire regarding this recall of this LiIon battery which was their
product.]
[2007/03/04]
Feb. 27, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Epocrates,
Inc. has announced that it has launched its "ICD-9/CPT(R)"
which provides US procedural and diagnostic billing codes, and its
"Epocrates(R) Medical Dictionary" which includes content
from "Stedman's Medical Dictionary 28th Edition".
[2007/03/01]
Due to a scheduling conflict, I was unable to
complete the research for this report yesterday. I have completed the
report.
[2007/03/01]
I am a bit surprised to say that I found nothing
worth reporting for the end of this week. Check back next week.
[2007/02/25]
Feb. 20, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Parlano, Inc.
has released its MindAlign(TM) Mobile which allows topic based
conversations using a group chat system.
Parlano,
Inc. chat software http://www.parlano.com/
[2007/02/21]
Feb. 16, 2007, PRNewswire reports that PowerGenix,
Inc. has announced that it has agreed with Hunan Corun Hi-Tech Co.
Ltd. to have Hunan produce PowerGenix' Nickel-Zinc batteries in "high
volume".
[I am not familiar with the issues regarding
nickel-zinc rechargeable batteries. The company claims that these are
superior to NiCad, NiMH and LiIon batteries. But the company claims
that NiMH batteries in particular are "expensive". In fact,
NiMH has come down in price in recent years, so that relative power
density might be the only advantage, and they are making no such
claim in this announcement. -- JO]
[2007/02/18]
Feb. 14, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Broadcom
Corporation has announced that with its CellAirity platform, it can
now supply the key hardware and software for "affordable"
smartphones based on Linux and the company's BCM2153 HSDPA.
[2007/02/14]
Feb. 12, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced that its Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone software is
expected to be in devices on the market by the second quarter of this
year.
[2007/02/12]
I think that the computer world is adjusting to
Microsoft Vista, so I am not surprised that there was nothing to
report so far this week. There might be something later in the week.
[2007/02/07]
Feb. 1, 2007, Business Wire reports that TRENDnet claims to have the best performing 802.11n (draft N) performance as reported in a number of journals such as CRN Tech, Jan. 29, 2007, LAPTOP Magazine January, 2007 and C/NET, Nov. 13, 2006. Specifically mentioned by these publications is TRENDnet's TEW-631BRP router.
[2007/02/04]
Windows Vista was officially released to consumers on
Jan. 30, 2007. I expect that every major manufacturer of Windows
laptop computers has announced that their current products are now
available with Vista preloaded, and that upgrades are available for
people who have bought laptops recently. If you are interested in a
particular brand, you do not need me to list them. I will eventually
have more to say about Vista, but not right now.
[2007/01/31]
PR Newswire is showing nothing from Jan. 23 or 24. I
will probably not be re-checking those days again.
[2007/01/28]
Jan. 25, 2007, Business Wire reports that ABI
Research has noted that the Apple iPhone will be a closed product in
as far as 3rd party applications are concerned, so although it is a
capable product, it is not technically a "smartphone" by
their definition.
[I have not looked into this matter and as
such have no opinion regarding it. -- JO]
[2007/01/28]
PR Newswire shows no releases prior to Jan. 22, 2007.
They seem to be having a lot of problems lately. If I can, I will try
again later in the week.
[2007/01/24]
January 24, 2007, PR Newswire reports that
Mini-box.com has announced that its VoomPC-2(TM) family of low power
car PCs is based on Mini-ITX and VIA 1.5 GHz C7 processor. Prices
start at $399 US and it is available now.
Mini-box.com
Car Computer http://www.mini-box.com/
[2007/01/24]
Jan. 18, 2007, PR Newswire reports that according to
iSuppli, that the "bill of materials" for the iPhone is
about half the retail price, and this is not unusual for Apple's
products.
[2007/01/21]
Jan. 18, 2007, Business Wire reports that Alltel
Wireless has announced that it is launching its "Celltop"
interface, which will eventually be available for all its new phones
by late 2007. Alltel believes that it significantly change the way
people use their cellphones buy increasing their use of information
and applications.
[2007/01/21]
A search of PR Newswire retrieved no releases. Those
who have followed this site will know that this has been a frequent
problem. I expect to complete the search over the weekend.
[2007/01/17]
Jan. 16, 2007, Business Wire reports that Dell has
announced that its Latitude ATG D620 "semi-rugged" laptop
computer is now available in the US. It meets MIL-STD 810F and is
available for $2,499 US. Its 14.1" WXGA screen is 1280 x 800
pixel. [Note: A true XGA screen would be 1280 x 960, and many common
WXGA screens today are 1280 x 768, so the Dell is in between. -- JO]
[2007/01/17]
Jan. 9, 2007, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R)
introduced its "iPhone" which features a 3-inch
"widescreen" touch screen interface. The current product is
a quad-band GSM phone with EDGE and Wi-Fi support. It will be
available in June 2007 priced at $499 US for an 4 GB version or $599
for an 8 GB version.
[2007/01/14]
Jan. 8, 2006, PR Newswire reports that the PCMCIA
showed a collection of ExpressCard(R) products at a press conference
at CES. "ExpressCard" is the new card interface which will
eventually replace the "PC Card".
PCMCIA
ExpressCard http://www.expresscard.org/
[2006/01/14]
Jan. 10, 2007, Business Wire reports that Hanbit
Electronics Co., Ltd. and Pepper Computer, Inc. have announced Pepper
Linux 3.1 upgrade for the Pepper Pad 3, and also plans to release
Skype Internet phone service support to come around mid-2007.
[2007/01/10]
PR Newswire failed to provide any news releases. This
has happened before occasionally. It is unlikely that they did not
have some to send, so I expect I will see them and report them at the
beginning of next week.
[2007/01/10]
Jan. 4, 2007, Business Wire reports that the USB
Implementers Forum, Inc. has announced the completion of the
"Micro-USB" specification.
[2007/01/07]
Jan. 3, 2007, Business Wire reports that Hauppauge
Digital, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of its
WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Receiver which tunes analog cable TV or ATSC
HD digital TV and outputs to USB 2.0. It includes WinTV2000 which
allows recording in MPEG-2 format. NOTE: The minimum recommended
processors are 2.2 GHz P4 or 1.8 GHz Centrino or equivalent, and 2.8
GHz for analog TV recording with MPEG-2. Graphics memory should be at
least 64MB.
[2007/01/03]
Jan. 3, 2007, Business Wire reports that SMC Networks
has announced the availability of its 802.11n compliant wireless
product line. The "SMC Barricade(TM) N Wireless 4-port Broadband
Router (SMCWBR14-N) with 4 10/100Mbps LAN switched ports, has an MSRP
of $119.99 US and it is immediately available.
[2007/01/03]
This will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with
the industry, but there was nothing worth reporting this week. Next
week, being the first of the year, might hold some interesting
announcements. Again, my best wishes for the New Year!
[2006/12/31]
Dec. 27, 2006, Business Wire reports that PC Tools
has announced that it has made its AntiVirus software available for
free downloading and use. Some features and better support are
available for paying customers.
[Note: PC Tools is joining
Grisoft, which as had a free version of its anti-virus program AVG
available for some time now. -- JO]
PC
Tools Anti-Virus software http://www.pctools.com/
[2006/12/28]
Again I have to apologize for this update being
posted late but my time has been taken up, ironically, by system
upgrades which in most cases are not generally related to producing
this page. But they must be done, so I cannot avoid them. I expect to
be on schedule soon.
[2006/12/28]
Dec. 21, 2006, Canada NewsWire reports that Samsung
has announced that Samsung Mobile Charging Stations will be available
for use by travelers at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Each
station has four outlets to charge electronic devices. Use of the
outlets is free, and the first stations will be located at Terminal 1
and 9. By the end of January, there will be 50 such charging
stations.
[2006/12/24]
Dec. 20, 2006, PR Newswire reports that NormSoft,
Inc. has announced the availability of Pocket Tunes 4.0 for Palm(R)
handheld devices, including Treo(TM) smartphones. Among the changes
are increased support for audio formats, Internet streaming and an
improved user interface.
NormSoft,
Inc. PalmOS http://www.normsoft.com/
[2006/12/24]
A Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and Best
Wishes to All in the New Year!
[2006/12/24]
Unfortunately, this year has been eventful for me,
and once again, I was unable to complete my usual research. A quick
overview did not show anything that interesting, but I will try to
complete my report in the next day or two.
[2006/12/20]
I completed the research, and in fact, it turned out
that I was correct. There was nothing worth reporting in the early
part of this week.
[2006/12/21]
Ironically, I did my best to make available
sufficient time to completed today's research. But having done so, I
found nothing worth reporting. Check back later in the week.
[2006/12/17]
As of Sept. 22, I began using an LG6190 handset
which features the Fastap(TM) keypad now found on the AllTel LG AX490
in the US and the Telus LG490 in Canada. The keypad was, as one might
expect, the deciding factor. Even without the use of SMS or email,
the speed of such a keyboard is particularly useful. Simply having it
available enter about 30 contact names speeded up my usage
considerably. However, that is not the whole story, and I will have
further comments later in the year.
[2006/10/08]
For the most part, I can say that the LG6190 performs similar to other LG and Samsung middle-lower end "flip phone" style handsets. There are problems which are annoying. The side buttons are too easily pressed by accident, and because of this, "driving mode" (voice command mode) comes on at inconvenient times. Nor is there an easy keypress combination to turn it off. One has to speak the command "driving . . ." to shut it off.
It is very silly of LG (and Samsung) to have large addressbook files without the ability to store them off on a computer. There is no connectivity software available to the public. In the case of having to transfer the data to another handset, do they really expect me to tranfer info for up to 500 contacts? I can enter about 3 contacts in about 15 minutes. Do the math guys. That is about 2,500 minutes, or about 41.6 hours, assuming I work non-stop. Realistically, I would take a lot of breaks and maybe do about a half dozen to a dozen per day.
Because one cannot off-load pictures directly to a computer, it would cost me money if I were to use the built-in camera. I would rather not have a camera at all. Most cell phone users seem to agree with me.
But the alphanumerical keypad has proven itself to be
a winner. I find it roughly as fast as using the full QWERTY keypad
on the top line Blackberry devices (which are not as wonderful as
some people might think).
[2006/12/17]
Dec. 11, 2006, Business Wire reports that IBM,
Macronix and Qimonda have announced the development of a memory
technology which may be the successor to flash memory. Their
"phase-change" switches faster, requires less power, and
can be made smaller, than flash.
[2006/12/13]
Dec. 7, 2006, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that it has agreed wtih ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc.
to license the source code for Palm OS Garnet perpetually, and
"innovate" based on the code, and retain ownership rights
on their innovations.
[2006/12/13]
"Convergence" can mean many things. For
this past week, it was the ironic occurance of a low probability
collision of events which made it impossible for me to even begin my
usual research and prepare my weekend report. In fact, as far as I
know, in about eight years of working on this Website, this is the
first time that I failed even to post a notice of the lapse on the
day I usually post my updates. Sorry, but even that much was not
possible this past Sunday, or the following Monday. I could have
posted a comment yesterday, but I could see little value in that,
since I expected to completely catch up my research today. And as you
will notice, there was a major announcement by Palm, Inc. on Dec. 7.
. . .
[2006/12/13]
Dec. 6, 2006, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that its Treo 680 smartphone is available for users of
Rogers Wireless GSM/GPRS/EDGE network. [Pricing and availability were
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/12/06]
I have been informed by Bell Canada that cellphone
number portability will be coming on March 14, 2007. No-one has been
able to tell me if the service will be "free".
[2006/12/03]
I have used Open Office for some time now on my "secondary" computers. Today I installed 2.0.4 on my latest "primary" computer. Unfortunately, I may decide to remove it again. The issue is the lack of good control over the installation. Many of us who have experience with advanced computer systems use multiple partitions on hard drives. Typically, for Windows, I have divided mine into a "System" drive, an "Applications" drive and a "Data" drive. The "System" drive is generally limited to the main OS and a small number of utilities which are required for emergency maintenance. The "Applications" drive would hold most other programs, including Open Office. I will not go into the reasons for this. There can be substantial advantages. The bottom line is that if you know a lot about computers, you will tend to prefer such an organization, and that I believe that laptops in particular benefit from such organization because they tend to be a bit slower.
The Open Office installer has no such controls. It
just throws everything onto the "default" drive. Sun
apparently does not understand that preparing the installer is part
of the job of "programming". It is not an afterthought. It
is part of what makes a program valuable. It is odd that, at this
point, it is the more advanced users such as myself, who Sun has to
win-over to enhance their reputation, in order to promote their
products. And yet we are the very people they are ignoring. I had
hoped that this issue would have been dealt with by now. I hope they
change their minds someday.
[2006/12/03]
Due to personal reasons, I was only able to partially
complete my research for the last few days. In particular, I was
unable to do my Business Wire searches. I will try to catch it up
later in the week.
[2006/11/29]
On Dec. 2, I completed the previously missed
searches. Nothing to add to my previous report.
[2006/12/02]
Nov. 20, 2006, Canada Newswire reports that Dell and
Telus have announced that the some Dell Canada Latitude and XPS
laptops computers and Precision "mobile workstation"
computers will be available with Telus Wireless High Speed (EVDO)
service which supports downloads speed typically in the range of 400
to 700 kilobits per second and a maximum speed of over 2 megabits per
second. [Pricing and availability were not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2006/11/26]
Nov. 22, 2006 PR Newswire reports that Good
Technology, Inc. has announced that its "Good(TM) Mobile
Messaging" is available for the Palm Treo 680 on Cingular
Wireless. The support is immediately available. [Price was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/11/22]
Three out of three Palm TX devices I have used have
had sporadic problems with the power switch. It seems to be firmware
related, and in particular, seems to be the result of the Wi-Fi
software. The switch becomes difficult to use. In order to turn off
the TX, I shorten the auto shutoff time to 1 minute and after I am
finished, it shuts down on its own. To turn it on, I use the
"application" hardware buttons on the front of the TX --
usually the "home" button. I do not know why, but
eventually the problem goes away.
[2006/11/19]
There was nothing worth reporting for the last few
days. Check back later in the week.
[2006/11/19]
Nov. 15, 2006, Canada Newswire reports that SecurStar
GmbH has announced that it has developed a Trojan horse virus called
"RexSpy" which can be delivered via a completely
undetectable SMS message, which allows an intruder to completely
control a cell phone, including eavesdropping on conversations,
downloading a phonebook, read all SMS, and even use the phone as a
monitor. The company provides a free "fix" via their
website.
SecurStar GmbH
http://www.securstar.com/ cellphone and data security
[2006/11/15]
Nov. 10, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Motorola,
Inc. and Good Technology, Inc. have announced that the companies have
agreed that Motorola will acquire Good Technology upon regulatory and
investor approvals.
[There is some irony in that this is the
opposite move from when Palm divested itself of its software years
ago, and Motorola divested itself from its chip division which is now
"Freescale". -- JO]
[2006/11/12]
Nov. 8, 2006, Business Wire reports that Digit
Wireless, Inc. has announced that its "Fastap(TM)" patented
keypad used on the LG AX490 mobile phone, has been selected by the
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) as a CES Innovations 2007
honoree.
[I do not normally report such awards, but it is good to
see that they agree with me, that this is a significant technology.
-- JO]
[2006/11/08]
Nov. 1, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft has
announced the immediate availability of Windows(R) Embedded CE 6.0.
The most significant change is that 100% of the kernel "is now
available through the Microsoft(R) Shared Source program. . . ."
Previously less than half the kernel sources were available, and
earlier, nothing was available. [Note: this is still far less than
what is available for Linux. -- JO]
[2006/11/05]
The announcements at this time were not significant
enough to report at this time.
[2006/11/01]
There are two new keypad styles that have become available in the last few years. One is the RIM "semi-QWERTY" style keypad which only adds about 8 new keys to the standard 12 key telephone keypad layout (though with a substantially re-arranged alphabetic layout), and the "Fastap(TM)" keypad on my LG6190 and the AllTel LG AX490.
I have recently done some testing of a RIM style
handset and I can say that, the RIM is harder to learn, but once
learned is almost as fast to use as the Fastap. For example, after
practice, I was able to enter 3 "new addressbook" entries
with a total of 215 characters (about 72 characters per entry) in
about 15 min., for an average of about 5 minutes per entry. The data
was semi-randomly chosen business information, which in theory was a
bit quicker to enter than ordinary personal name and street name
information. I was entering the data at a "comfortable"
rate -- not trying to win a race. It does seem to be a bit faster
than "T9" on a regular cellphone keypad.
[2006/11/01]
Oct. 27, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Band &
Olufsen and Samsung have announced that their new cell phone "Serene"
was designed for simple operation and "ultimate quality sound."
MSRP is $1,275 US and it will be available through B & O stores
in North America in November.
[2006/10/29]
I completed my research for Business Wire, Monday
Oct. 23, 2006. No items were deemed worth reporting.
[2006/10/29]
Due to technical problems, I was unable to complete
my research on Business Wire for Monday Oct. 23, 2006. Hopefully, I
will complete it later in the week. [It is a bit complicated, but
apparently, Firefox 1.5 is not getting along well on my old Compaq
Armada m700, possibly due to its 128MB RAM.]
[2006/10/25]
Oct. 25, 2006, PR Newswire reports that EQO
Communications has announced immediated support or RIM BlackBerry and
Windows Mobile devices. EQO Mobile is an Internet communications
platform that supports VoIP and instant messaging services. It is
available for free download at the company's Website.
EQO
Communications http://www.eqo.com/
[2006/10/25]
Oct. 23, 2006 PR Newswire reports that due to
previous recalls, Sony has chosen to recall all batteries that might
potentially have problems similar to the Dell recall previously
mentioned. In this announcement, Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba
products were specifically mentioned. But there have been previous
recalls that I have missed. As such, if you have a laptop computer
bought from around 2004 or later, you should check the website of
that company to see if you have a product affected by this or a
similar recall.
[2006/10/25]
Oct. 18, 2006, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has
announced that its "Xtreme N Gigabit Router" (DIR-655)
features Gigabit LAN, Gigabit WAN, and "Intelligent Wireless
Quality of Service Technology" which prioritizes preferred
services. It is immediately available at a Manufacturer's Suggested
Retail Price of $199.99 US.
[2006/10/22]
Oct. 18, 2006, PR Newswire reports that D-Link has announced that its "consumer premise equipment" (CPE) router will combine WiMAX and Wi-Fi support will be available "for service provider testing" in Q4, 2006 with commercial availability Q1 2007. No prices were announced.
[2006/10/18]
Oct. 13, 2006, Business Wire reports that T-Mobile
will sell Sidekick devices with styling cues by Diane von Furstenberg
beginning on Oct. 30, 2006.
[Note: I tried to get some technicial
information from their Website but yet another Flash page too big for
me to load got in the way. They do not seem to want you to buy these
products. -- JO]
[2006/10/15]
Oct. 12, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Sony and
T-Mobile USA, Inc. have announced that all Sony "mylo(TM)"
handheld internet devices will come with up to 1 year of T-Mobile(R)
HotSpot service. The devices are immediately available for $350 US.
Free access to T-Mobile(R) will begin "mid-November 2006"
and ends Dec. 31, 2007 regardless of when it began.
[Note: It is
unclear if this is true for "mylo" in Canada. The Website
might have the information, but I did not have the time to waste
waiting for the Flash file to load through a V90 MODEM. -- JO]
[2006/10/15]
Oct. 11, 2006, PR Newswire reports that mobile
devices users can now access websites through "mdog.com"
which filters the target Web page to a format that is more useable to
handheld devices such as Blackberrys, Treos, Motorola Qs, etc.
Unified Mobility Inc.
http://www.mdog.com/
[2006/10/11]
As happens lately, there was nothing announced in the
latter part of last week worth noting. Check back later in the week.
[2006/10/08]
Oct. 3, 2006, Business Wire reports that Wolverine
Data Inc. has announced that its "ESP Professional Portable
Media Player" can record TV programs and FM radio, and supports
a full range of multimedia capabilities, in a 5.3" * 2.8" *
0.9", 10.2 oz. package. It is immediately available and prices
start at $399.99 US for the 80GB model.
Wolverine
Data, Inc. portable Multimedia device http://www.wolverinedata.com/
[2006/10/04]
Sept. 28, 2006, Canada Newswire reports that Lenovo
and IBM have recalled about 526,000 Lithium-Ion batteries (worldwide)
made by Sony. "Lenovo estimates that between five and ten
percent of ThinkPad notebooks sold during [the] period of February
2005 to September 2006 are affected by the recall."
[2006/10/01]
Sept. 28, 2006, Business Wire reports that HP has,
among their announcements, announced its HP Pavilion dv9000t which
features a 17" widescreen display and HD-DVD drive, and other
features aimed at HDTV use. Also the HP iPAQ rx5000 which features
GPS navigation, but still retains the usual Microsoft(R) Windows
Mobile(R) 5.0 entertainment software. [Pricing and availability were
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/10/01]
Sept. 27, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Samsung
Telecommunications America and T-Mobile USA, Inc. have announced the
availability of the Samsung SGH-t719 flip phone with integrated
BlackBerry(R) Connect(TM) software. This quad-band GSM (850, 900,
1800, 1900 MHz.) phone is the first folding "flip-phone" to
use RIM's "QWERTY-like" keypad, which some people will find
significantly better than a standard phone with T9. It is available
through T-Mobile retail stores or the T-Mobile website. [Pricing was
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/09/27]
Sept. 22, 2006, AIT Solutions, LLC has announced that
its "MyLaptopGPS" system makes possible tracking and
recovery of stolen laptop computers.
AIT
Solutions, LLC MyLaptopGPS http://www.mylaptopgps.com/
[2006/09/24]
Sept. 20, 2006, PR Newswire has provided no news
releases in my search. I expect there was a server problem. I will
try to check next week. [Note: By coincidence, I tried using Bell
Mobility's Website on the 18th (~21:15) and 19th and was unable to
get useful responses from it. I was able to access Telus and Fido and
Virgin Mobile without problems on the same days. I do not know
whether they were related events. -- JO]
On the other hand, I
have found that Bell Mobility has not been usable on a Sony
Playstation Portable or a Palm TX, even when it is working. In that
regard, it seems to be a poorly conceived Website.
[2006/09/20]
Sept. 20, 2006, Avid Technology, Inc. has announced
that its "Pinnacle PCTV(TM) HD Pro Stick" is a USB 2.0
adapter which will turn laptop computer into a High Definition TV
receiver and digital capture/ recording system. It will be available
in October for $129.99 US.
[Note: I do not see any reason why
this would not work on a desktop computer, but the advertising
specifically mentions laptops. -- JO]
[2006/09/20]
Sept. 14, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Newark InOne
has announced that it will distribute Thurlby Thandar Instruments'
PSA1301T hand-held radio spectrum analyzer. This device contains a
Palm TX, giving it a high resolution colour display and Bluetooth and
WiFi support. The bandwidth ranges to 1.3 GHz. It is priced at $1500
US. [Availability was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
Newark InOne
(electronic component testing equipment) http://www.newarkinone.com/
[2006/09/17]
Sept. 13, 2006, Business Wire reports that Digit
Wireless, Inc. has announced that "LG Electronics is releasing
their second Fastap alphanumeric phone in Canada - the LG 490 through
TELUS. The phone is similar to the LC AX490 marketed by Alltel
Wireless, and will feature "My Email" and "MSN
Hotmail" support availability. [Prices and availability were not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/09/13]
Sept. 11, 2006, PR Newswire reports that McAfee, Inc.
has announced that its McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) Mobile McAfee VirusScan
Mobile Enterprise Edition are now available for Windows Mobile 5.0
which protects against various attacks.
[According to the
announcement there have been phising scams via SMS which they are
calling "SMiShing". -- JO]
[2006/09/13]
Sept. 7, 2006, Research In Motion introduced its
"BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM)" which is a "quad-band
GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled" device 4.2" x 1.97" x 0.57"
and weighing 3.1 oz.
[2006/09/13]
Mar. 7, 2006, Canada Newswire reported that Toronto
Hydro Telecom announced plans to cover downtown Toronto with Wi-Fi
service, first on a free test basis for 6 months, followed by
commercial services. [I am noting this now because I understand that
the system is substantially operational right now. Unfortunately,
their Website is devoid of any really current information in that
regard. The Mar. 7 announcement is the most current information
available, which is odd when one considers that using the Web is one
of the key reasons to use their WiFi system. Regardless of this, I
must remind those considering using the system to be careful of the
possibility of hackers breaching your system security with
"channeling attacks (ie "man-in-the-middle attacks")
where hackers setup their own WiFi access points, possibly with
legitimate flow-through internet access, in order to trap user names,
passwords and other valuable information. I do not currently know
enough about this problem to make any suggestions about how to
prevent it. -- JO]
Toronto
Hydro Telecom Downtown Wi-Fi service http://www.thtelecom.ca/
[2006/09/10]
Sept. 5, 2006, Business Wire reports that CellAntenna
Corporation has called for the Department of Homeland Security and
the FCC "to immediately allow local and state law enforcement
bomb squads to use cell phone jamming equipment legally." [I
have no opinion regarding the importance of this issue. -- JO]
[2006/09/06]
July 31, 2006, Alltel Wireless announced that its LG
AX490 CDMA phone would become available on Aug. 3, 2006. The phone
features a Digit Wireless Fastap(TM) keypad which enables quick entry
of text. This is the first cellphone in the US market to use this
keypad. LGE has previously made a phone, called the LG-VX6190, sold
in Canada through Telus Mobility, which has been reported to increase
text messaging usage for its vendor.
[I apologize for the
lateness of this report. This announcement slipped through the
cracks. I have made some brief attempts at using the Fastap(TM)
keypad and I believe that it has the potential to change the handheld
devices market significantly. It is not perfect, but many people
would find it much more comfortable to use for text entry than the
current standard numerically oriented keypads, yet without adding the
bulk necessary for most equivalent QWERTY keypads. -- JO]
[2006/09/03]
Aug. 30, 2006, Business Wire reports that Authentium
claims that many "free WiFi" connections in public places
are actually hacker setup bogus sites used to obtain login
information to crack secure systems. According to the company, a
recent test at Chicago's O'Hare airport found over 90% such
connections were bogus.
Authentium,
Inc. data security technologies http://www.authentium.com/
[2006/08/30]
Aug. 24, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba
America Electric Component, Inc. has announced that it will sell SD
Cards with data speeds of up to 20MB/Sec. in Japan in October and
globally in November. [Pricing was not given in the announcement. --
JO]
[2006/08/27]
Aug. 24, 2006, PR Newswire reports that the US
Consumer Protection Product Safety Commission and Apple Computer,
Inc. have announced the recall of about 1.1 million Lithium-Ion
battery packs made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., used in various
iBook and PowerBook laptop computers. See Apple's website for
details.
[2006/08/27]
Aug. 23, 2006, Business Wire reports that Tamot at
Tel Aviv University Ltd. has announced that the University has
developed nano technology batteries which can be quickly charged and
discharged with less heat generation, possibly eliminating fire
hazards.
[2006/08/23]
As expected, there was nothing significant to report
over the later part of last week. Check back later this week.
[2006/08/20]
Aug. 16, 2006, Business Wire reports that Unicon
Systems has announced that has developed "the first wireless
mobile chip-on-film Linux computer, based on ARM9 . . . ." The
company has developed 2 handheld consumer devices based on this
technology called MCopy and MBridge. MCopy will be available in
November 2006. [Prices were not announced. -- JO]
Unicon
Systems http://www.uniconsys.com/
[2006/08/16]
Aug. 15, 2006, PR Newswire reports that the U.S.
Consumer Products Safety Commission and Dell Computer have announced
the recall of a number of Lithium-Ion batteries used in Dell's laptop
computers due to possible fire and explosive hazard. [The batteries
were manufactured by Sony, which is apparently the second biggest
supplier of Li-Ion batteries after Sanyo. At this time, there is no
recall of batteries for other products using Sony batteries. See the
Dell website for a list of batteries being recalled. -- JO]
[2006/08/16]
Aug. 14, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Itronix, has
announced that its General Dynamics GoBook(R) XR-1 is the first
laptop under the General Dynamics brand. It will ship September 2006.
The suggested retail price is $4,330.
[2006/08/16]
I have to admit that this week posed an interesting
decision. There were announcements regarding PalmOS from PalmSource
which I was going to include, in particular, release of certain
software development files. However, this is a far thing from an
imminent release of new product, and interested developers should be
well aware of the situation, so I have decided to omit the
announcments for now. Check back later in the week.
[2006/08/13]
Aug. 8, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Sony has
announced that its new "mylo(TM)" personal communicator is
an 802.11b device which includes a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 1 GB
Flash memory, USB connectivity, Memory Stick Duo(TM) slot, 2.4"
diagonal color LCD screen and Lithium-Ion battery capable of up to 3
hours of Skype talk time, 7 hours of Web time or up to 45 hours of
music playback. The mylo will be available September for $350 US.
[2006/08/09]
Aug. 3, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Apple(R) has
announced that Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Mazda that
their cars will have iPod integration allowing iPod control through
the car stereo system, beginning in the 2007 model year.
[I have
always expected similar integration with cell phones, which has not
yet occurred. Car manufacturers are asleep at the wheel when it comes
to technology that consumers might actually find useful. As for iPod
integration, all they really needed was MPEG3 play back card reading
capabilities, which can be added cheaply to current car CD players.
-- JO]
[2006/08/06]
Aug. 2, 2006, CanadaNewsWire reports that Fujitsu
Microelectronics America, Inc. has announced that Fujitsu
Laboratories, Ltd., the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Fujitsu
Limited have developed Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM)
based on Bismuth Ferrite (BiFeO3, or BFO) which increases storage
capacity up to 5x that of current materials. Other advantages are
higher speed and lower power consumption.
Fujitsu
Limited http://www.fujitsu.com/
[2006/08/06]
July 31, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Ruckus
Wireless has announced that its "MetroFlex" 802.11b/g
wireless access device is ". . . designed to give consumers
better in-home connectivity to outdoor metro-scale Wi-Fi networks."
It is immediately available for $129.00 US.
Ruckus
Wireless http://www.ruckuswireless.com/
[2006/08/02]
July 27, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Franklin
Electronic Publishers, Inc. has announced that it has acquired 100%
of Kreutzfeldt Electronic Publishing GmbH. It is noted that both KEP
and Franklin use the Mobipocket eBook format.
[2006/07/30]
July 24, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Open Source
Development Labs (OSDL) has announced that "a la Mobile"
has become a member of its "Mobile Linux Initiative" (MLI).
According to "The Diffusion Group", Linux will surpass
SymbianOS in smartphones by 2010 with 26.6 percent of the market.
[2006/07/26]
July 24, 2006, Business Wire reports that AMD and ATI
have announced their plans to combine the companies with AMD buying
ATI shares at a cost of $4.2 US billion cash and 57 million shares of
AMD common shares.
[This is such a complex transaction, and so
pervasive throughout the computer industry, that I will not try to
comment on its overall viability. From a mobile standpoint, there are
many chips the both companies make that are in mobile devices, such
as AMD's mobile Athlon 64 processors, or ATI's graphics chips for
laptops and chipsets for handhelds. It is going to be very
interesting. -- JO]
[2006/07/26]
July 23, 2006, Business Wire reports that ARINC
Incorporated has announced that its "ARINC eFlyBook(TM)" is
an "electronic library" that displays on "electronic
paper." The device stores a number of documents useful for
pilots. It is about 12" x 6" x 9" and is priced below
$1100 US including a 12 month update subscription for various
documents. [Availability was not clearly stated in the announcement.
-- JO]
[2006/07/23]
July 20, 2006, PRNewswire reports that the nonprofit
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation has announced that it has
collected 2.4 million pounds of rechargeable batteries in the US and
Canada for its first 6 months of 2006. This is an increase of 6.4%
over the same period last year.
[2006/07/23]
July 18, 2006, Business Wire reports that settled all
outstanding IP disputes between the two companies. Granting
cross-licenses and agreeing not to sue each other for the next 4
years.
[2006/07/19]
We seem to have a fairly consistent summer pattern
where there is little to report, especially at the end of the week,
which results in a "thin" report on my part at the
beginning of the week. Check back near the end of this week.
[2006/07/16]
July 12, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Symbian
Limited has announced the availability of Symbian OS(tm) v9.3. A
number of improvements have been provided, such as support for Hindi
and Vietnamese languages, native WiFi support and "USB 2.0
on-the-go". Backwards compatibility from v9.1 has been
maintained.
[2006/07/12]
July 11, 2006, PR Newswire reports that a Knowledge
Networks study "How People Use(R) Mobile Video" says that
only about 3% of video iPod(R) and video cell phone users actually
watch videos on these devices, and that mobile video is most commonly
watched on laptop computers.
[2006/07/12]
July 6, 2006, Business Wire reports that Lenovo and
Coca-Cola have announced that their Lenovo F20 iCoke laptop computer
is a limited edition laptop computer from the two companies,
currently available only in China. [The price was not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2006/07/09]
Since yesterday was the 4th of July, it will not
surprise most readers that there has been little news over the last
few days. It seems that this whole week will probably be "light",
so I would suggest that you check back next week.
[2006/07/05]
June 29, 2006, Business Wire reports that Sprint and
Sanyo have introduced Sprint PCS Vision(R) Phone SCP-2400 by Sanyo.
This handset allows parents to limit incoming and outgoing calls to
those connected to a set list of phone numbers. It will be available
to Sprint PCS users (in the US) in early July, 2006, for $179.99 US.
[2006/07/02]
June 29, 2006, PR Newswire reports that UTStarcom,
Inc. has announced that its new T66 handset is its first dual-mode,
dual-standby CDMA/GSM handset. This is the company's first dual mode
phone that can actually be used on both types of networks
simultaneously. [Note: Price and availability were not provided in
the announcement. -- JO]
UTStarcom,
Inc. http://www.utstar.com/
[2006/06/29]
June 28, 2006, Palm, Inc. has announced that it has
settled the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Xerox Corporation
regarding the Graffiti(R) handwriting system.
[2006/06/29]
June 27, 2006, Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. and
Intel Corporation have announced that they have agreed that Intel
will sell Marvell its "communications and applications processor
business." These include the PXA9xx communications processor
("Hermon") and PXA27x applications processor ("Bulverde").
[The full impact of this is not entirely clear since Intel will
still apparently use XScale processors in some of their own products.
It seems to mean that other companies designing their own products
will have to go to Marvell in the future. I hope to comment further
on this situation later. -- JO]
[2006/06/28]
Unfortunately, I do to unusual circumstances, I was
unable to complete my research today. I hope to have a further report
within the next 48 hours.
[2006/06/28]
June 23, 2006, PR Newswire reports that according to
Unstrung Enterprise Insider (a subscription research service of Light
Reading Inc.), "Handset Management" is a new class of
products and services used to "track, upgrade, monitor and
protect high-end mobile handsets" such as RIM Blackberries. One
notable feature is the ability to lock and/or erase a stolen or lost
device in order to protect sensitive information.
Unstrung
Enterprise Insider http://www.unstrung.com/enterprise/
[2006/06/25]
June 22, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Nokia and
Sanyo have announced that their previously announced intention to
form a jointly owned company to combine their CDMA handset business
has been come to an end. The companies will follow their own plans
for the future.
[2006/06/25]
June 21, 2006, Business Wire reports that Doghouse
Electronics claims that its RoverTv is the first handheld portable
media recorder and player that records directly from TV (without a
computer). It is based on solidstate technology using SD-Card
expansion, and can transfer video and music content to and from Mac
and PC, as well as TiVo(TM) content. The "Big Screen"
version using a 320 * 240 pixel 3.5" screen costs $299 US and
the "wide screen" version using a 480 * 272 pixel 4"
display costs $349 US. Both come with a built-in Lithium ion battery,
1 GB SD card, and a 2 GB SD card.
Doghouse
Electronics RoverTv http://www.rovertv.net/
[2006/06/21]
June 21, 2006, Business Wire reports that Virgin
Mobile USA has set a price for text messages at $9.99 US per month
for up to 1,000 text messages. [Note: I have said since the beginning
of cell phone text messaging that there was no excuse for charging
more than $0.01 per message for such small amounts of data. Even this
much should be at the least, profitable. -- JO]
[2006/06/21]
June 15, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Motorola, NEC,
NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and
Vodafone have announced "their intent to establish an open
Linux- based software platform for mobile devices."
[2006/06/18]
June 12, 2006, Business Wire reports that Sony of
Canada, Ltd. and DivX, Inc. have announced that Sony's D-VE7000S DVD
Walkman is a fully DivX Certified portable DVD player featuring a 7"
"Wide Screen". [Pricing and availability were not provided
in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/06/14]
As is common for my end of week reports, there was
nothing worth reporting at this time. Check back in a few days. The
early part of the week seems to hold the releases lately.
[2006/06/11]
June 6, 2006, Business Wire reports that Pepper Computer, Inc. and Hanbit Electronics Co., Ltd. have announced that the Pepper Pad 3 can be pre-ordered immediately for delivery in August at Amazon.com for $699 US.
June 5, 2006, PR Newswire reports that NVIDIA
Corporation has announced that their GeForce GPUs will be used in
Acer's latest laptop computers such as the Aspire 9110 (GeForce Go
7600 GPU) which feature HD DVD disc drives. [Prices and availability
were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2006/06/07]
June 4, 2006, Business Wire reports that
InterVideo(R), Inc. has announced that it is demonstrating its
iMobi(TM) DVB-H TV (for mobile phones) at Computex 2006 (Taiwan) on
the Texas Instruments OMAP(TM) 2 processor. "InterVideo
iMobi(TM) codec [sic] technology offers a complete mobile solution
that includes Digital TV for handheld devices. InterVideo's
multimedia codecs [sic] fully support worldwide digital TV formats,
including DVB-H in Europe, 1-Seg DTV in Japan, and T-DMB in Asia. . .
."
[2006/06/04]
I suppose it was to be expected that the US Memorial
Day weekend would be pretty much devoid of news. That is what
happened. Check back later.
[2006/05/31]
May 24, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has
announced that it has released the source code for its (Symbian OS
based) S60 WebKit, based on the open source BSD License.
WebKit
Open Source Project Nokia Web Browser for S60 http://www.webkit.org/
[2006/05/28]
May 23, 2006, Business Wire reports that according to
Dell'Oro Group, "the total mobility infrastructure equipment
market contracted 15 percent on a sequential basis in the first
quarter of 2006. . . . The report indicates that CDMA users have
stalled purchases in anticipation of the new CDMA 1X-EV-DO) Revision
A upgrades. On a year to year basis, WCDMA was the only technology
that increased." [My apologies for the extensive quoting, but
rewording it was pointless. -- JO]
[2006/05/24]
May 23, 2006, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced that its Q1 ultra-mobile
computing device and Q30 laptop computer (with 12.1" screen)
which are planned to be released in Korea in early June, will be the
world's first PCs embedded with NAND flash- based solid state disc
drives (SSD). Prices will be about $2,430 US for the Q1-SSD and
$3,700 US for the Q30-SSD.
[2006/05/24]
I had been planning to purchase a new laptop computer later this year (2006), but events in March made it necessary to buy it immediately at that time. This was not going to be the computer I originally had in mind, because the need at that time was for a laptop that I could lend to someone else for a brief period due to an emergency. So rather than a computer to fit my own needs it was mainly a computer suited to someone else's needs, but with enough of my own preferences to make it worth my keeping after the emergency was over. I chose the Compaq Presario V2570CA. I have had a number of Compaq computer devices over the year and this is my 3rd Compaq "Windows laptop" computer.
I will have more to say about this product in the
future, but for now, I can say that it has not disappointed me. I
chose a "14-inch screen" laptop specifically to save a bit
of weight and size. In fact, I do not like the "wide screen"
layout that is common today. It is silly and inefficient for most
laptop usage. I also do not like the track-pad style cursor
controller. On the other hand, the Altec-Lansing sound system is
quite nice, and the 1800 MHz AMD 64-bit processor should eventually
provide a nice extra speed boost in the future when I use 64-bit
software.
[More to come. . . .]
[2006/05/21]
May 17, 2006, Canada NewsWire reports that AMD has
announced that its AMD Turion(TM) 64 2X processors are the "only
family of 64-bit dual- core processors designed for thin and light
notebook PCs." TL-50, TL-52, TL-56 and TL-60 packages are
immediately available at prices from $184 - $354 US in 1K-unit
quantities. Systems are expected to be available from, among others,
Acer, ASUS, BenQ, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, MSI, NEC, and Packard Bell.
[2006/05/17]
May 16, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Sony
Electronics has announced that its VAIO(R) UX Micro PC is a fully
functioning PC weighing a little over 1 pound and features a 4.5"
SVGA screen, and integrated keyboard. It will be available in July
for about $1,800 US.
[2006/05/17]
I did not find anything worth reporting for the last
few days. Also, Business Wire was not responding, so that much of my
research is incomplete. I hope to try to complete my readings for
Business Wire later this week, however, other research tends to
indicate that I will not find anything worth reporting even if I do.
On the other hand, later in the week I expect to see something worth
reporting.
[2006/05/14]
May 10, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Telabria
Networks and IPWireless have announced the development of its
"MobilAP", "in-vehicle" Wi-Fi Access Point based
on UMTS TD-CDMA router technology. The resulting hotspots can be in
movint trains, taxis, buses, etc.
[2006/05/10]
May 9, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Microsoft has
previewed its Windows CE 6 operating system "for devices such as
Internet Protocol (IP) set-top-boxes, Global Positioning System
(GPS)-based devices, and industrial automation and medical devices."
The new kernel is more powerful than its predecessor. There was no
mention of pocket computers or PDAs.
[2006/05/10]
After reviewing the releases for the latter part of
last week, I did not find anything significant to report. Check back
later this week.
[2006/05/07]
May 3, 2006, Canada Newswire reports that Symbol
Technologies, Inc. has announced its plan to integrate Wi-Fi, RFID,
VoWLAN (Voice over Wireless LAN), "mesh" and WiMAX
networks, which they are calling Wi-NG (Next Generation).
[2006/05/03]
May 1, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Samsung
Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced the US launch of its Q1 Ultra
Mobile PC. It uses a 7" wide LCD touch-screen and weighs about
1.7 lbs. It will be available beginning May 7, 2006, from Best Buy's
online store priced at $1,099 US depending on options.
Samsung
Q1 Ultra Mobile PC at Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/ultramobilepc/
[2006/06/03]
Apr. 28, 2006, PRNewswire reports that the "U.S.
General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Technology Service"
has announced that VoIP is now available on the MCI FTS2001 Contract.
[In effect, the US government has now made this service available
to US Federal agencies through its central procurement system. -- JO]
[2006/05/01]
Apr. 26, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Research In
Motion has announced that the UK CESG has allowed its BlackBerry
devices to be used with "Restricted" data.
[2006/05/01]
Apr. 26, 2006, PRNewswire reports that Sensory
Perspective has announced that its Electronic Smog Detector converts
invisible wireless radiation into sound. For more information contact
Penny Jones "pjones@theproffice.com".
[I am concerned
about the lack of completed research into various radio
transmissions, however, I am not convinced that this device would
tell anyone anything useful. However, I include it in my report on a
"benefit of the doubt" basis. -- JO]
[2006/05/01]
It seems that this April has become my nemesis.
Again, I must apologize for not completing my research in my usual
manner. I shall complete it tomorrow.
[2006/04/30]
Business Wire reports that Bitstream Inc. has
announced the release of its Font Fusion(R) 3.2 font rendering
software for mobile handsets and consumer electronics devices.
Improvements include less heap memory usage, otpimized heap usage,
reduced cache fragmentation, and "improved algorithms for
compressed fonts." [The actual improvements are not specified.
-- JO]
[2006/04/26]
Apr. 21, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Light Reading
Inc., in its "Unstrung Enterprise Insider" subscription
research service claims that smartphones such as those based on RIM
BlackBerry, Symbian and Microsoft Windows Mobile have potential as
entry points for virii. According to Unstrung Enterprise Insider's
research analyst Tim Kridel "Viruses are routinely hdden in
games that users download over the wireless network. Others are
transferred via Bluetooth or downloaded when the user clicks on a
link in a message. A few can enter a phone one way and exit another.
. . ."
Light
Reading Inc. http://www.lightreading.com/
[2006/04/23]
Apr. 19, 2006, Business Wire reports that Trolltech
has announced that its Qtopia(R) software is used in Kangaroo
TV(TM)'s NASCAR NEXTEL FanView(TM) handheld spectator device. Qtopia
is being run on top of an embedded Linux system.
[2006/04/20]
Due to circumstances beyond my control I am unable to
complete my research for today. In fact, I expect to complete it
tomorrow. However, a quick overview of what is available does not
seem to indicate much to report tomorrow, so I advise checking back
next week.
[2006/04/19]
Apr. 15, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Wireless
Information Network has announced that its mobile network operations
have been disrupted because underground fibre circuits were cut
(along with those of other companies) at 18:13 Apr. 13, 2006. Police
are investigating.
[2006/04/15]
Apr. 11, 2006, Business Wire reports that Lexar has
filed an International Trade Commission (ITC) complaint against
Toshiba Corporation and affiliated companies based on a trial victory
against Toshiba for patent infringement regarding NAND Flash memory
chip technologies. The original case is now under appeal. Meanwhile,
Lexar wishes to use the ITC action to stop Toshiba's infringement.
[I am not sure what this entails, but I expect it could at the
least stop importation of at least some Toshiba NAND Flash products
into the US. -- JO]
[2006/04/12]
As happens occasionally, there was nothing worth
reporting within the last half of last week. I expect there will be
something in my next report. I did, however, take the opportunity to
make some corrections to this page. -- JO.
[2006/04/09]
Apr. 5, 2006, PR Newswire reports that NETGEAR, Inc.
has announced that it has begun shipping its RangeMax NEXT 802.11n-
compliant wireless products which feature speeds up to 300 Mbps.
[Some other companies are making the same claim. -- JO]
[2006/04/05]
Nothing worth reporting for the last few days. Check
back later in the week.
[2006/04/02]
Mar. 29, 2006, Business Wire reports that Datakey
Electronics, Inc. has announced the launch of its Managed-Memory(TM)
Token which is claimed to be the first portable data transport device
which is "truly rugged".
Datakey
Electronics, Inc. NFX Managed-Memory Token http://www.datakey.com/
[2006/03/29]
Mar. 21, 2006, PR Newswire repoorts that Prevalent
Devices LLC has announced the availability of its Phraze-It(R) text
entry software for Windows Mobile(TM) Pocket PC. A limited
downloadable 7 day trial version is available from the company's
website. [Pricing was not announced. -- JO]
Prevalent
Devices LLC Phraze-It(R) Pocket PC software
http://www.prevalentdevices.com/
[2006/03/29]
PR Newswire returned no items for the search period.
This is not likely correct. Hopefully, I will have the time to try
again later in the week.
[2006/03/26]
Mar. 23, 2006, BusinessWire reports that
MobileVoiceControl Inc. has announced that it has launched its
VoiceControl_bb(TM) speech recognition system for BlackBerry(R)
devices by Research in Motion. [Price and availability were not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
MobileVoiceControl
Inc. http://www.mobilevoicecontrol.com/
[2006/03/26]
Mar. 20, 2006, Business Wire reports that Advance
Nanotech, Inc. has announced that progress has been made in
developing nanowire and nanotube electrical conductors for flexible
displays.
Department of
Engineering, University of Cambridge Advance Nanotech, Inc. flexible
display conductor research http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/
[2006/03/20]
Mar. 16, 2006, Business Wire reports that T-Mobile
USA, Inc. claims that according to "J. D. Power and Associates
2006 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study(SM) -- Volume 1"
T-Mobile ranked highest among wireless carriers for call quality in 3
of the 6 regions of the US (best in West and Southwest and tied for
best in Northeast), including 28 of the 48 mainland states. T-Mobile
is an GSM/GPRS technology network.
[2006/03/19]
Mar. 15, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Sony Computer
Entertainment America Inc. has announced a PSP(TM) (Playstation(R)
Portable) package available for $199.99 US ($229.99 Cdn). Sony claims
over 15 million PSP units have been shipped worldwide.
[2006/03/15]
Mar. 13, 2006, PR Newswire reports that The Wi-Fi
Alliance has announced that it now requires WPA2(TM) security
certification for new "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED" products.
[2006/03/15]
Mar. 11, 2006, Business Wire reports that Nero has
announced the release of "Nero Sipps Mobile" VoIP telephony
support for Windows 2003 Mobile and Windows 2005 Mobile with support
planned for Symbian.
Nero VoIP
Windows Mobile http://www.nero.com/
[2006/03/12]
Mar. 6, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Research In
Motion has agreed to settle with NTP, Inc. requiring RIM to pay NTP
$612.5 million US, giving RIM "lifetime" rights and rights
to sublicense.
[2006/03/08]
Mar. 2, 2006, Business Wire reports that Research and
Markets says that the Medium-Small size display industry is tied to
the mobile phone market due to the size and growth of the mobile
phone market which is estimated at about 700 million units in 2005
with a 10% growth rate.
[2006/03/05]
Feb. 27, 2006, Business Wire reports that Calypso
Wireless, Inc. has announced that it has demonstrated the Calypso
ASNAP(TM) C1250i WiFi-GSM Dual Mode VoIP Smartphone based on
Microsoft WinCE 5.0.
Calypso
Wireless, Inc. http://www.calypsowireless.com/
[2006/03/01]
Feb. 26, 2006, Business Wire reports that SanDisk(R)
Corporation has introduced a 2GB SanDisk Ultra(R) II SD(TM) Plus card
with built in USB 2.0 connector. The Ultra(R)II SD Plus line features
speeds up to 9 MB/sec. write and 10 MB/sec. read. 512 MB is
immediately available for $69.99 US and 1 GB is immediately available
for $89.99. The 2 GB card will be available in June for $134.99
(suggested retail prices).
[2006/02/26]
[I am sorry to say that I have lost my notes regarding this article so I am summarizing from my memory. Hopefully I will find the original article and confirm my report. -- JO]
US industrial leaders have requested that the radio spectrum be revised to provide greater availability of digital wireless.
Comment:
I really wonder what the real requirements for radio
spectrum are now or will be in the near future. The current use of
Internet is very inefficient due to waste. Whenever you see a
"Shockwave" presentation, the equivalent display in HTML
and Java could often be less than half the size, and HTML and Java
are not even as efficient as they could be. Spectrum re-allocation
can be costly for people currently using current band allocations
because old equipment will have to be discarded and replaced. And
inappropriate spectrum allocation may simply require re-allocation
later, adding to the cost. I am not yet convinced this is necessary
or wise.
[2006/02/22]
Nothing worth reporting has come in within the last
few days. This break is welcome, since I would rather be watching the
Olympics today. Best wishes to all competitors.
[2006/02/19]
Feb. 14, 2006, PR Newswire reports that ACCESS Co.,
Ltd. and PalmSource, Inc. have announced "the ACCESS Linux
Platform (ALP) [which is] the latest evolution of Palm OS(R) for
Linux." The companies expect to have an SDK available by the end
of this year.
[2006/02/15]
Feb. 14, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Nokia and
SANYO have announced a preliminary agreement to form a new company
combining their respective CDMA mobile phone businesses.
[2006/02/15]
Feb. 13, 2006, Business Wire reports that HP has
introduced its HP iPAQ hw6900 Mobile Messenger which includes
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth(TM) and features
new "push" email capability from Microsoft.
[2006/02/15]
Feb. 9, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Quickoffice,
Inc. has announced that its Quickoffice(R) Premier v. 3.6 for UIQ 3,
(a Symbian OS v9 based platform) will be included on Sony Ericsson
P990 and M600 phones.
[2006/02/12]
Feb. 8, 2006, Business Wire reports that InfoTech
predicts that "Voice-over-Wireless LAN" [VoWLAN] annual US
enterprise revenue will reach $1.1 billion US by 2010, largely due to
cellular/WiFi integrated devices.
[2006/02/08]
Feb. 8, 2006, Business Wire reports that In-Stat says
that camera and video camera phones have captured about 40% of the
wireless phone market, but will peak around 2007 due to
disappointment with the products.
[2006/02/08]
There was nothing worth reporting over the last few
days. I expect more later in the week.
[2006/02/05]
Jan. 31, 2006, Business Wire reports that Red Hat has
announced that it is a founding corporate member in the One Laptop
per Child (OLPC) initiative.
[2006/02/01]
Jan. 26, 2006, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd has announced that it has developed a 1.72"
"super-reflective" (SR) LCD screen readable in sunlight It
is 3x the reflective rate of normal qqVGA-resolution (128x160 pixel)
displays. The 1.72" screen has a brightness of 100nit, a
contrast ration of 220:1/30/1 (transmission/reflection) and 50
percent colour saturation. The key technologies are to use silver
instead of aluminum, a new reflective lens and better polarizer and
colour filter.
[2006/01/29]
Jan. 23, 2006, Business Wire reports that IBM, in its
"2005 Global Business SecurityIndex Report" says that it
"anticipates a fundamental shift, or evolution, in cybercrime
from pervasive global outbreaks to smaller, stealthier attacks
targeted at specific organizations for extortion purposes."
[2006/01/25]
Jan. 19, 2006, Business Wire reports that the IEEE
Task Group "N" voted to confirm the proposal for 802.11n,
which will bring projected data speeds of up to 600 Mbps. The
ratification of the draft is not predictable.
[2006/01/22]
Jan. 18, 2006, Canada Newswire reports that Epctrates
Inc. has announced that localized versions of its Epocrates Rx(R)
free drug reference and Epocrates(R) Essentials drug, disease and
diagnostic guide for Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
[2006/01/18]
Jan. 13, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Cingular
Wireless has announced that it has obtained a temporary restraining
order against Data Find Solutions, Inc. and 1st Source Information
Specialists, Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, "to
halt these companies' ability to obtain and sell Cingular customer
records."
[2006/01/15]
Jan. 11, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Symbol
Technologies, Inc. has announced that its MC70 combines high speed
EDGE network (GSM) smartphone cellular handset and ruggedized WLAN
connected handheld computer functionality, based on Microsoft(R)
Windows(R) Mobile 5.0 and Intel(R) XScale(TM) technologies. Prices
range from $2,195 to $2,845 US depending on configuration.
[Availability was not clearly stated, but appears to be immediate. --
JO]
[2006/01/11]
Jan. 6, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Wibiki Inc.
has announced that its "'software for a free Wi-Fi world' is now
live on the Internet. . . Wibiki is committed to making its software
available for all participants in the blobal free Wi-Fi movement."
[I do not know what this is about. -- JO]
Wibiki
Inc. Wi-Fi software http://www.wibiki.com/
[2006/01/08]
Jan. 5, 2006, PR Newswire reports that Samsung
Telecommunications America and Cingular Wireless have announced the
upcoming market availability of Samsung's zx10, which they claim will
be the first UMTS phone in North America. Download speeds will be 220
to 320 kbps. It will be available "later this month" from
Cingular Wireless.
Cingular
Wireless http://www.cingular.com/
[2006/01/08]
Jan. 5, 2006, Business Wire reports that Socket
Communications, Inc. has announced that its "Go Wi-Fi! P500"
802.11g CF Wireless LAN card for Windows Mobile 2003/SE and 5.0
Mobile base devices will be available worldwide in early February at
an MSRP of $99 US.
[This has taken longer than I expected. If it
lives up to expectations, it means a significant advance in handheld
technology, not only by its availability to CF using devices, but to
other handheld products which will use its underlying circuitry in
other forms. -- JO]
[2006/01/08]
Jan. 4, 2008, PR Newswire reports that Sony has
announced that its Sony(R) Reader is an electronic book that takes
Memory Stick(R) or Secure Digital (SD) cards and displays a number of
standard formats [Price and availability were not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2006/01/08]
Jan. 4, 2006, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America IS Inc. has demonstrated its Qosmio(TM) laptop computer which
is claimed to be the first with an HD DVD-ROM drive. Pricing and
availability will be announced later in 2006 Q1.
[2006/01/04]
As expected, there is nothing worth reporting at this
time. Check back later this week.
[2006/01/01]
Dec. 28, 2005, PR Newswire reports that ArrowSpan
Inc. has announced the availability of its SmartRepeater 100 WiFi
mesh network device. The company claims that its product is "fully
compatible with major SOHO Routers and Access Points on the market."
[Pricing was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
ArrowSpan
Inc. http://www.arrowspan.com/
[2005/12/28]
As you would expect, there were no notable announcements in the last few days. So my only message is, Happy Holidays to all!
Best
Wishes To All. . .
and
a Happy New Year!
[2005/12/25]
Dec. 20, 2005, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that its 2006 Q2 (ending Dec. 2) revenue is up 18% year
over year, reaching $444.6 million US, which is 8 consecutive
quarters of year over year growth. Note that since Palm now sells the
Treo 700w based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile, the effect on Palm OS
sales and its 3rd party software market cannot be easily determined.
[2005/12/21]
Dec. 19, 2005, Business Wire reports that Group Sense
PDA Limited (GSPDA) and SavaJe Technologies Inc. have announced that
GSPDA will market s multimedia phone based on SavaJe OS(TM), which is
a Java(TM) Platforme, Micro Edition (JavaME)-based open operating
system.
SavaJe Technologies
Inc. Java based OS http://www.svaje.com/
[2005/12/21]
Dec. 16, 2005, PR Newswire reports that The U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission and Dell Inc. have announced a
voluntary recall of batteries for Dell notebook computers:
Latitude(TM) D410, D505, D510, D600, D610, D800, D810; Inspiron(TM)
510M, 600M 6000, 8600, 9200, 9300, XPS Gen 2; and Dell Precision(TM)
M20 and M70 models. Check Dell's website for further information.
[2005/12/18]
Dec. 15, 2005, Business Wire reports that the Jabber
Software Foundation (JSF) has published "initial documentation
of Jingle, a set of extensions to the IETF's Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol (XMPP) for use in voice over IP (VoIP), video, and
other peer-to-peer multimedia sessions."
Jabber
Software Foundation (VoIP and multimedia protocols)
http://www.jabber.org/
[2005/12/18]
Dec. 15, 2005, Sony has announced the availability of
a downloadable upgrade for its Playstation Portable (PSP) to version
2.60 software which features "Really Simple Syndication")
feeds, which include audio downloads of "sports scores, email,
stocks" and other content.
[2005/12/18]
Dec. 12, 2005, Business Wire reports that
InterVideo(R) Inc. has announced that Guillemot Corporation's
Hercules brand "Smart TV DVB-T" USB2 device which tunes
"digital terrestrial TV" on Win XP computers, including
laptops, includes InterVideo WinDVR(TM) 6.
[2005/12/14]
Back when Microsoft started into handhelds, it was against the Apple Newton. Palm was *not* the first on the market. They overtook their competition. When Microsoft changed its focus from Windows CE to Pocket PC, I think most analysts predicted that eventually, Microsoft would catch up. Now, they pretty much have caught up, and apparently, has taken the lead position. The point is that none of this was ever inevitable. In the last couple of years in particular, Palm Source and PalmOne, together with Sony, seemingly handed the market to Microsoft. Over the last week, with the sudden demise of my Tungsten C, I decided to upgrade, and the rather painful experience indicates that there were probably a lot of contributing factors to this outcome, not all of which are obvious on the surface.
First, there is no Palm product on the market that I really like. I wanted a product along the line of a "perfected" Tungsten C, specifically with its large screen and keyboard, and Wi-Fi (which I feel should be "G" by now). Instead, I got a TX, which is nice, but means I have to finally convert to the current Graffiti.
Moreover, there is *no* support for Windows 98, which
I still use on my main computer. Upgrading to the current Desktop
(4.2) is manditory, and it is only available for the most common
distributions of Windows XP (not even for the Tablet PC version of
Win XP, nor server versions of Win XP). Palm abandoned a chunk of
their traditional users (I think starting back around the TC). If you
have a problem loading the Desktop on Win 98 (which I did this time),
the only "help" you will get is a recommendation to upgrade
to XP. I could say more, and maybe later I will, but for now, this
much is enough. Palm could do better.
[2005/12/14]
Dec. 8, 2005, Business Wire reports that Commtouch(R)
has claimed that their were "close to 40" new email-born
viruses (or variants) in November, often used in "multi-wave"
attacks (quick release of virii one after another before AV software
updates are available).
[2005/12/11]
Dec. 7, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Gemstar-TV
Guide International, Inc. and Handmark(R) have announced the
immediate availability of TV Guide Mobile(TM) TV listings for
Palm(R), Treo(TM) and Windows Mobile(TM) pocket PCs and smartphones,
through yearly or monthly subscriptions. [According to the Website,
the subscription price is $29.99 US per year, but there is no clear
information whether the service covers Canada. -- JO]
[2005/12/07]
Dec. 6, 2005, Business Wire reports that Stealth
Ideas Inc. has announced that its "StealthSurfer II" USB
2.0 flash storage device holds Internet software for laptop users
which provide advanced security for surfing via public Wi-Fi
hotspots.
Stealth
Ideas Inc. http://www.stealthsurfer.com/ Laptop Software and Drive
[2005/12/07]
Nov. 30, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that O'Neil
Product Development, Inc. has introduced its PrintPAD 7900 which
integrates a thermal printer and cradle cradle for "Hand Held
Products' Dolphin 7900" mobile computer.
O'Neil
Product Development, Inc. http://www.oneilprinters.com/
Nov. 30, 2005, Canada Newswire reports that
Executif.Com claims that their 398g "007" laptop computer
is the world's smallest Windows XP laptop in the world. [Pricing and
availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
Executif.Com "007"
laptop http://www.executif.com/007/
[2005/11/30]
Nov. 29, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Motorola,
Inc. has announced that its TETRA based PDA combines PDA
functionality with "always on" TETRA hand-portable radio
connectivity. The device is expected to be available 2006 Q3. [Price
was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/11/30]
Because of the US holiday, this whole week was
uneventful from a "mobile technology" point of view.
Hopefully, those of you who travelled, made good use of your
technology. I suppose one can be thankful that so much effort has
resulted in what I feel is pretty good technology, available for
immediate use, today.
[2005/11/27]
Nov. 22, 2005, Canda Newswire reports that a study by
Fusepoint, Sun Microsystems and Leger Marketing shows that 83% of
Canadians are concerned about privacy while 55% of companies say
their data is "at risk."
[2005/11/23]
Nov. 22, 2005, Business Wire reports that ACCESS Co.,
Ltd. has announced that over 200 million devices worldwide are
equiped with its NetFront browsers.
[2005/11/23]
Nov. 17, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony of
Canada Ltd. has announced that its "PSP Media Manager" is
now available at a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $39.99
Cdn. This includes a 6' USB 2.0 cable and sample media. The software
allows for easy conversion and organization of media on a PC for use
on a Sony Playstation Portable.
[2005/11/20]
Nov. 16, PR Newswire reports that Qualcomm
Incorporated has announced that its DMMX (DO Multicarrier Multilink
eXtensions) and HMMX (HSDPA Multicarrier Multilink eXtensions)
platforms "support the long-term roadmaps of EV-DO and HSDPA."
The company claims that they improve capacity and speed without
requiring changes to current or proposed standards, and provide a
roadmap for future development to 2010 and beyond.
[2005/11/20]
I have found that CCN/Matthews has changed their
Website in a way that makes coverage of their news releases
impractical. In the future, I will look for another news source to
complement my coverage of Canada NewsWire, PR Newswire and Business
Wire. This is sad because there used to be a few announcements that
would show up in CCN which I did not find through other means.
[2005/11/20]
Nov. 15, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Atmel(R)
Corporation has announced that its Atmel AT91SAM9261 Smart ARM
Microcontroller (SAM) is based on the ARM 926EJ-S processor and
consumes 2.5 uA in standby mode, 400 uA at 500 Hz., and 65 mA at 200
MIPS (with all peripherals turned on). It is immediately available in
a 217-ball LFBGA RoHS-compliant package at under $10 US each in high
volumes.
[2005/11/16]
Nov. 14, 2005, PR Newswire reports that ACCESS Co.,
Ltd., and PalmSource, Inc. have announced the completion of ACCESS'
acquistion of PalmSource, Inc. and that PalmSource, now a wholly
owned subsidiary of ACCESS is no longer be publically traded company.
[2005/11/16]
Nov. 11, 2005, Business Wire reports that TELUS
Mobility and Palm Canada have announced the availability of the
Palm(R) Treo(TM) 650 smartphone. [Price was not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2005/11/13]
Nov. 10, 2005, Business Wire reports that DataViz,
Inc. has announced that its "Documents To Go Premium Edition 8"
supports native PDF files. It is immediately available from DataViz
and many online stores for $49.99 US. The upgrade cost is $29.99 US,
including people who got earlier versions bundled with Palm, Sony or
AlphaSmart devices.
[2005/11/13]
There were no items provided by Canadian Corporate
News for the last few days. That is likely due to a problem in their
systems. If I can, I will try to re-check their site again later.
[2005/11/13]
There were no items provided by Canadian Corporate
News for the last few days. That is likely due to a problem in their
systems. If I can, I will try to re-check their site again later.
[2005/11/09]
Nov. 4, 2005, Business Wire reports that SpeedInfo
has announced that TrafficGauge Inc. uses SpeedInfo data to show near
real-time traffic conditions in the San Francisco area. The device is
about the size of a Palm TE. [Pricing and availability were not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
TrafficGauge
Inc. [handheld traffic mapping device] http://www.trafficgauge.com/
[2005/11/06]
Nov. 2, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Aladdin
Knowledge Systems, Ltd. has announced that its "eSafe Mobile
Content Security Gateway" is designed specifically for cellular
providers and includes layered anti-spyware, spam management,
application filtering and proactive antivirus technologies. [Pricing
and availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/11/02]
Oct. 27, 2005, Business Wire reports that IDC's
"Worldwide Handheld QView" handheld device shipments in
2005 Q3 decreased 16.9% year over year and fell 8.8% sequentially to
1.6 million units. IDC projects that the current quarter will
increase sequentially but decline year over year. Palm still leads as
an individual company, though it appears that Microsoft based devices
seem to outsell PalmOS devices overall. This is not entirely clear.
[Note: For some reason IDC excludes "convergent devices"
from "handheld devices. I have no idea why they think they are
saying anything significant. The fact is, most "convergent"
devices are "handheld" devices. I expect that if I had a
the numbers for "convergent" devices too, the real totals
would be essentially flat. But that does not grab people's attention,
does it? -- JO]
[2005/10/30]
Oct. 25, 2005, Xantrex Technology Inc. has announced
that its XPower Pocket Powerpack 100 is "a lightweight battery
and inverter combination" which can supply power through AC, DC
or USB connections. It is immediately available at a suggested retail
price of $119.99 US.
Xantrex
Technology Inc. [pocket power supply] http://www.xantrex.com/
[2005/10/26]
Oct. 9, 2005, Stanford University has announced that
Oct. 8, 2005, it's robotic vehicle "Stanley" has won the
DARPA Grand Challenge race which required the navigation of 175 "off
road" miles in less than 10 hours. The computing power was
covered by "seven Pentium M computers. . . ."
Stanford
University DARPA race http://www.stanfordracing.org/
[2005/10/24]
Oct. 18, 2005, Business Wire reports that HP and
Cingular Wireless have announced that the HP iPAQ hw6500 series
Mobile Messanger is the first Pocket PC in the United States to use
Cingular's EDGE network.
[2005/10/19]
Oct. 17, 2005, PR Newswire reports that the Open
Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced the formation of a
"Mobile Linux Initiative" working group to accelerate the
adoption of Linux in the mobile market.
[2005/10/19]
Due to slow response on Pathcom after 21:00 ending in
a line drop at about 21:40, I did not complete my searches of
Business Wire, which is a pity because there seemed to be a lot of
announcements on Monday. However, I have no reason to expect that I
have missed anything really important. If I can, I will complete the
search later in the week.
[2005/10/19]
Oct. 14, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Linksys(R)
has announced that its WUSBF54G combines a Wi-Fi Finder function with
a Wireless-G USB Network Adapter capable of working as a
free-standing Wi-Fi Finder and then acting as a USB to Wi-Fi
Wireless-G Network adapter. It is immediately available at an
estimated street price of $79 US.
[2005/10/16]
Oct. 12, 2005, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has announced that its Palm TX handheld device features integrated
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth(R). It is immediately available at an estimated
street price of $299 US ($399 Cdn). Other features include PalmOS
Garnet 5.4 software, 128 MB memory (100MB User memory) Intel 312 MHz
ARM-based processor, 320 * 480 screen and 3.5mm stereo headphone
jack.
[Some information from Palm's Website. -- JO]
[2005/10/12]
Oct. 12, 2005, Business Wire reports that Palm, Inc.
has introduced its first colour Organizer for under $99 US. It is
immediately available. Palm also announced that the price of the
Tungsten E2 was reduced $50 US to $199 US.
[2005/10/12]
Oct. 11, 2005, Business Wire reports that Pepper
Computer, Inc. has announced that its Pepper Pad(TM) is now available
through BestBuy.com(R). It began shipping in July. The suggested
retail price is $849.99 US.
Pepper
Computer, Inc. http://www.pepper.com/
[2005/10/12]
Oct. 6, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Texas
Instruments Incorporated (TI) has announced that Samsung Electronics
is using its TI OMAP (TM) technology for "its first Symbian
OS(TM) and Series 60-based smartphones, the SGH-D720 and SGH-D730."
[Prices and availability were not provided in the announcement. --
JO]
[2005/10/09]
Oct. 6, 2005, Business Wire reports that AMD has
announced that it will become "the Official Technology Partner
of [NASCAR]."
[2005/10/09]
Oct. 4, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Diversified
Multimedia has announced that its "Video Vault(TM) for the
Sony(R) PSP(TM)" provides a simple way to convert a number of
digital video formats to Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) useable
files which can be stored and played from Memory Stick DUO Pro cards.
Output files can be 320 x 240 or 480 * 160 format. The suggested
retail price is $39.99 US. [Availability was not clear in the
announcement. -- JO]
Diversified
Multimedia http://www.dvimm.com/
[2005/10/05]
Sept. 29, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Sony Europe
has announced that its AIBO ERS-7M3 entertainment robot featuring
Mind 3 software will be available in October, with an upgrade kit
available for owners of previous ERS-7 robots. [Price was not
included in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/10/02]
Sept. 27, 2005, Business Wire reports that SanDisk(R)
Corporation has announced that its TrustedFlash(TM) "provides
independence from the host, offering consumers true freedom to enjoy
the content they own on their cards in numerous host players."
It is immediately available in "miniSD(TM), microSD(TM) and
SD(TM) card formats. . . ."
[2005/09/28]
Sept. 24, 2005, Simon Avery reports in The Globe and
Mail that Palm Inc. is expected to announced that a version of its
Treo handheld will run Microsoft software. He also reports that,
"[t]his month, the Japanese software firm Access Co. agreed to
buy PalmSource for about $320-million (U.S.)."
[2005/09/25]
Sept. 23, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Quickoffice,
Inc. has announced the release of its Quickoffice Premier v. 7.6.
Among its "hundreds of enhancements" is suport for the
Asian market and transfer of documents via SMS.
Quickoffice,
Inc. http://www.quickoffice.com/
[2005/09/25]
Sept. 20, 2005, PR Newswire reports that SkipJam
Corp. has announced support for the Sony Play Station Portable (PSP),
allowing the device to be used to control TVs, DVD, etc. SkipJam
iMedia Software already supports handheld PDA devices which use
Microsoft or Palm Operating System software. The software is
immediately available. [Pricing was not provided in the announcement.
-- JO]
SkipJam Corp.
http://www.skipjam.com/
[2005/09/25]
Sept. 21, 2005, Canada Newswire reports that Dell has
announced that its Axim X51 handheld features "Windows Mobile
5.0 software with persistent storage memory . . . and Media Player 10
Mobile." Prices start at $399 Can. (+ shipping and taxes).
[Availability was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/09/21]
Sept. 20, 2005, Business Wire reports that Bachmann
Software has announced that its FilePoint 4.0 can be used to search
for and download files over WiFi from your desktop computer to your
Palm OS based handheld. It costs $$39.99 US per user and it is
immediately available.
[2005/09/21]
Set. 17, 2005, PR Newswire reports that OnRamp Global
Technologies, Inc. has announced that its NetPads are now in Friday's
Front Row restaurants in Orlando, Florida. The idea is to allow
people free Internet access using the NetPad devices.
OnRamp
Global Technologies, Inc. http://www.onramptech.com/
[2005/09/18]
Canadian Corporate News was not providing any
announcements. PR Newswire was slow, but usable. Business Wire is
slow. I have a feeling there is a Net Virus around. I did not check
Business Wire for Thursday or Friday. If I can, I will re-check these
later this week.
[2005/09/18]
Sept. 13, 2005, Business Wire reports that Thales
Navigation has announced that its Magellan(R) RoatMate(TM) 360 colour
portable vehicle navigation system costs $699 US.
[Note:
Availability was not clearly stated in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/09/14]
Sept. 13, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony and
the Ontario Science Centre has announced that Sony's QRIO Robot will
appear "this weekend". [No further details were provided in
the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/09/14]
Sept. 9. 2005, PR Newswire reports that iSuppli Corp.
believes that the shutting down of a New Orleans hydrogen production
facility of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. might impact
semiconductor wafer supply because the chemical is used in "the
manufacturing of epitaxial films on silicon substrates." This is
claimed to be "critical in the manufacturing of higher-voltage
semiconductors used in power management applications."
[Note:
I do not know how high this means, but I expect it is more likely
higher than we use in most mobile applications -- except perhaps in
our AC adapters. -- JO]
[2005/09/11]
First, I must say that after reading through a very
large stack of announcements, I found nothing worth noting here. It
was actually very odd. I expect there will be some interesting stuff
soon though.
[2005/09/07]
The Sony PlayStation Portable, upgraded to version
2.0 firmware, with an HTML/Java Web Browser may sound like it is a
viable low end "Thin Client". It is probably a bit too thin
a client for most general users at this point, but Sony may still get
it right.
PSP Handheld WLAN Client
Notes
[2005/09/04] revised [2005/09/05] revised
[2005/09/07]
Aug. 30, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Cingular
Wireless set up free calling stations at its open company-owned
retail stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
[2005/09/04]
The Red Cross and the Salvation Army, among other
organizations with Canadian contributors, along with the Canadian
government are either in the process of helping in relief efforts for
the victims of Hurricane Katrina, or stand ready to provide
assistance. Be assured that whatever we can do, will be done.
[2005/08/31]
PR Newswire failed to update earlier than Aug. 30,
2005. I have no idea why this happened.
[2005/08/31]
Aug. 31, 2005, Business Wire reports that Cellular
South began restoring their services for areas affected by Hurricane
Katrina. The company encourges the use of text messages to maximize
the system.
[This announcement is not really that
surprising, but I have been wondering what effects the hurricane had
on various networks. Also, I wonder if the "text messaging"
is an extra charge service for their users, as it is for many cell
phone companies. If so, I hope they will make the messages free, at
least temporarily. -- JO]
[2005/08/31]
Aug. 25, 2005, PR Newswire reports that the Infrared
Data Association (IrDA) has announced the availability of its
IrSimple(TM) Protocol and Profile Specifications which is intended to
simplify data transfers to televisions, monitors, projectors and
photo kiosks (for printing). The data rate is 16 mbits/s (VFIR)
currently available, with 100 Mbits/s (UFIR) being developed.
[2005/08/28]
It is with sad irony that I am reporting that Tapwave discontinued its Zodiac on July 25, 2005. If found this out this week. After reading about the PlayStation(R) Portable upgrade, I started thinking about buying a new WiFi handheld to use at home. I immediately thought that the Zodiac2 would be a better product than the PSP because Palm software had been developed over a long time, and the Zodiac2 had a better screen, and significantly more memory (which, if used properly, could help when rendering big pages). The good news for people who bought this product is that, because it was based on Palm OS, there is reason to expect that there will still be new software products available for it in the near future.
As for my choices. I think I am interested in either
the Pepper Pad which is significantly bigger and more expensive (and
may not be available either), or perhaps the PSP.
[2005/08/28]
Aug. 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Sony Computer
Entertainment America has announced that its Firmware 2.0 upgrade is
immediately available [price was not mentioned -- JO]. It includes a
number of enhancements. Most notable is a Web Browser and Wi-Fi
connectivity upgrades, allowing the unit to be used as a mobile
browser.
[2005/08/24]
Aug. 23, 2005, Business Wire reports that UltraCell
Corporation has claimed that its methanol based fuel cell power
source has twice the energy density of lithium batteries and weighs
about 40 ounces. [Price and availability were not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
UltraCell
Corporation http://www.ultracellpower.com/
[2005/08/24]
Aug. 22, 2005, Business Wire reports that Audo of
America, Inc. and Palm, Inc. have announced that they have developed
"easy and totally integrated hands-free calling inside the car."
The capabilities will be available in 2006 versions of Audi A6 and
A8, for use with Palm(R) Treo(TM) 650 smartphones. Other Audi 2006
cars can have the capabilities as an option.
[2005/08/24]
Aug. 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Symbian
Limited claims significant growth in the first half of 2005. Q2 2005
shipments tripled from 2.6 million in 2004 to 7.8 million in 2005.
The company claims an installed base of over 39 million phones.
[2005/08/21]
Unfortunately, Canadian Corporate News was not
operating properly Searches worked, but announcements were not
downloadable.
[2005/08/17]
Aug. 16, 2005, Business Wire reports that AMD has
announced that its "Mobile AMD Athlon 64 Processor 4000+"
is immediately available worldwide at $382 US in quantities of 1,000
units. If you have a favorite brand of laptop, you might check and
see if they are using this new processor. Most major brands will have
such products either immediately or shortly.
[2005/08/17]
As I have said before, this time of year, it is not
unusual that occasionally I find nothing worth reporting. Check back
later in the week.
[2005/08/14]
Aug. 10, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony of
Canada has announced that it will be rebating "media levies"
(a Canadian tax) on some Walkman digital music players. The Supreme
Court of Canada has ruled that this tax was improper regarding
embedded memory systems.
[2005/08/10]
Aug. 4, 2005, Business Wire reports that eMagin
Corporation showed its OLED microdisplays at SIGGRAPH's Cyberfashion
4 event including its Z800 3DVisor which has been available since the
end of June, 2005. [Price was not given in the announcement. -- JO]
eMagin Corporation
http://www.emagin.com/
[2005/08/07]
Aug. 3, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Newbury
Networks Inc. claims that its WiFi Watchdog has been demonstrated to
locate wireless devices making mapping possible and eliminating
anonymity.
Newbury
Networks Inc. http://www.newburynetworks.com/
[2005/08/07]
Aug. 2, 2005, Socket Communications, Inc. has
announced that its "Go Wi-Fi!(TM) E300 Card" for Windows
Mobile 2003 devices includes Socket's Wi-Fi Companion software. It is
immediately available at $89 US MSRP.
[2005/08/03]
As sometimes happens this time of year, there was
nothing worth reporting over the last few days. Check back next week.
[2005/07/31]
July 26, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Motorola,
Inc. has announced that it will work with Cisco Systems to develop
"seamless" integrated WLAN IP and cellular mobile
communications.
[2005/07/27]
July 25, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that the
nonprofit "Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation" has
reported that collections for the first half of 2005 have increased
8.5% over 2004, to 82,512 kilograms.
[2005/07/27]
July 20, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Infonetics
Research has projected strong growth through 2009. 2004 worldwide
WiFi VoIP handset sales were $54.7 million US for 143,000 units. Dual
mode WiFi/cellular handsets sold $6.7 million in 2004.
[2005/07/24]
July 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Symbol
Technologies, Inc. has introduced its MC1000 series "value-priced"
industrial rugged computer. The Windows CE device is currently
available for order. [No price was provided in the announcement. --
JO]
[2005/07/20]
July 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that NormSoft,
Inc. has announced its Version 3.1 audio player "Pocket
Tunes(TM) Deluxe" plays music from RealNetworks'(R) Rhapsody(R)
To G, Napster's(R) Napster To Go(TM) and Yahoo's Yahoo!(R) Music
Unlimited and most common music compression formats, and works on a
number of current PalmOS devices [best to check on Website for
coverage. -- JO]. It is immediately available. [Price was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
NormSoft,
Inc. Pocket Tunes(TM) on PalmOS http://www.normsoft.com/
[2005/07/20]
July 13, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Interlink
Networks, Inc. has announced that a free Beta version of its
"LucidLink Client" software is available for testing. The
company claims that "[t]he software makes it easier to work
wirelessly from a PocketPC by eliminating technical terminology,
intelligently detecting setup problems, and allowing the same client
to be used on [a number of networks]."
Interlink
Networks, Inc. [PocketPC] http://www.lucidlink.com/
[2005/07/17]
July 13, 2005, Business Wire reports that SanDisk(R)
Corporation has announced that the "microSD" specification
which has been adopted by the SD Card Association (SDA) is based on
SanDisk's "TransFlash(TM)" card design.
[2005/07/13]
Nothing interesting showed up, and though CCN still
does not seem to be working, I do not expect I missed anything
significant.
[2005/07/10]
I tried to search Canadian Corporate News as usual,
but no reports came from the searches. This theoretically might have
been the correct response, but it would be highly unlikely.
Hopefully, it will respond correctly next time.
[2005/07/06]
July 6, 2005, Proteus, Inc. has announced that
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.) has
"selected Proteus to develop the mobile strategy and
distribution for . . . Magic: The Gathering(R)."
[Note: It
is unclear, but it does not appear that there will be an attempt to
actually create a playable version of this game on cell phones.
Having tried this game, I would say that it would not be possible to
achieve a satisfactory version of such a game given current cellphone
technology. -- JO]
[2005/07/06]
June 30, 2005, PR Newswire reports that market
research company iSuppli Corp. claims that mobile phone production
for 2005 Q2 was about 180.5 million units which is up 4% over the
first quarter and up 7.1% over the 2004 Q2.
[2005/07/03]
June 27, 2005, PR Newswire reports that palmOne has
announced increases in their accessories. Included in the
announcement are the "palmOne GPS Car Kit" which is
expected to be available in August for an estimated street price of
$249.99 US (for the Palm Tungsten E2 and T5) and a redesigned
"palmOne GPS Navigator" which will be available for the
LifeDrive(TM) Treo(TM) 650, Tungsten E2 and Tungsten T5, in July for
$249.99 US.
[2005/06/29]
June 23, 2005, PR Newswire reports that AlphaSmart,
Inc. has announced that all new Data and Dana Wireless SmartOption
Mobile Labs include AlphaSmart Manager for Dana (Windows version)
which allows easier management of word processing files, and that all
new Dana and Dana Wireless computer companions will include Dana
System Software Release 1.5, which among other things, allows saving
AlphaWord files on a "campus network." Upgrades are
available as a free download, or on CD at a "nominal"
charge.
[2005/06/26]
June 22, 2005, PR Newswire reports that
Battery-Biz(R) Inc. of Newbury Park, California has recalled a number
of "Hi-Capacity(R)" brand rechargeable batteries which are
used in laptop computers. An internal short can cause the battery
cells to overheat and might cause fires. [There are a number of
products listed in the announcement, so I have decided not to
reproduce them. Check the company's website. -- JO]
Battery-Biz
recall http://www.hi-capacity.com/exchange/
[2005/06/26]
June 22, 2005, Business Wire reports that BenQ
(formerly Acer) has announced that it has agreed to acquire Siemens'
mobile phone unit.
[2005/06/22]
June 22, 2005, CCNMatthews Reports that AMD claims
that its AMD Turion (TM) 64 mobile ML-40 used in the HP Compaq nx6125
which will be available shortly, offers advanced security and 64-bit
processing. It is now available for $525 US in quantities of 1,000
units.
[2005/06/22]
June 20, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that Idokorro
Mobile has announced that its Idokorro Mobile Admin version 3.0 is
now available for BlackBerry and Palm devices, with support for
Pocket PC and Nokia Series 60 and 80 devices to be available shortly.
Idokorro Mobile (remote
system administration software) http://www.idokorro.com/
[2005/06/22]
June 20, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Motorola Inc.
has announced that its FOMA (R)M1000 handset will be available in
Japan through NTT DoCoMo from July 1, 2005. It supports WLAN, W-CDMA
and GSM/GPRS.
[2005/06/22]
June 17, 2005, PR Newswire reports that MasterCard
has disclosed that a major data theft at CardSystems Solutions, Inc.
has put at risk as many as 40 million users of credit cards such as
MasterCard and American Express. The compromised information includes
account holder names, banks and account numbers.
[2005/06/19]
June 15, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Fujitsu
Siemens Computers announced a recall to AMILO Notebook computer
batteries which have a defective battery which may overheat causing a
risk of a fire. See the company website for details of which
computers are involved.
Fujitsu-Siemens
Battery Exchange http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/batteryexchange/
[2005/06/15]
June 14, 2005, Business Wire reports that Royal
Consumer Information Products Royal has announced its Royal EZVue 5
($39.99 US), Extreme 5 ($29.99 US) and 5070R ($19.99 US) are
economical electronic Organizers.
Royal
Consumer Information Products http://www.Royal.com/
[2005/06/15]
June 9, 2005, Business Wire reports that HP has
announced that its researchers have found a new way to design
"nano-electronic circuits" using "coding theory".
According to Stan Williams (HP Senior Fellow and Director) "By
using a cross-bar architecture and adding 50 percent more wires as an
'insurance policy,' we believe it will be possible to fabricate
nano-electronic circuits with nearly perfect yields even though the
probability of broken components will be high."
[2005/06/12]
June 8, 2005, Business Wire reports that Hitachi Maxell, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media/Verbatim Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories and Toshiba Corporation have announced that they have succeeded in developing a prototype HD DVD-R disc that can easily be produced in high volumes on standard DVD-R production lines.
[2005/06/08]
While there were some announcements particularly in
the cell phone industry, there was nothing noteworthy. I expect we
will see something next week.
[2005/06/05]
June 1, 2005, Agilent Technologies Inc. has
introduced two "side-firing, tricolor surface-mount LEDs . . .
that permit handset and PDA designers to mix separate red, green and
blue light sources in any combination. The devices are intended
primarily for backlighting and status indicators in handheld devices.
. . ." The devices are HSMF-C113 and HSMF-C115.
[2005/06/01]
May 25, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has
introduced its "Nokia 770 Internet Tablet" which is a
dedicated pocketsize device for Internet and email. It has an 800 *
480 screen and can connect via Wi-Fi and bluetooth/mobile phone.
Price was not provided but it is expected to be available in 2005 Q3.
[2005/05/29]
For unknown reasons Business Wire's website had an
error on Monday's search results and my research was only partly
completed for that day -- but only for that day. The rest of the week
searched without problems. If I get a chance, I will try re-doing the
search for that day later this week. However, there were no new
issues with the other searches, so I expect I did not miss anything
significant.
[2005/05/25]
May 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has announced that it has agreed to buy the "Palm" brand
from PalmSource, Inc. Until now, PalmSource, Inc. owned 55% of the
"Palm Trademark Holding Company." The price was $30 million
US which will be paid over 3.5 years. PalmSource, Inc. will adopt a
new brand names during this period. In another announcement, palmOne,
Inc. has renewed its licence for the Palm OS to 2009.
[2005/05/25]
May 19, 2005, Business Wire reports that Pepper Computer, Inc. has announced that its wireless Pepper Pad(TM) portable wireless consumer oriented device is now available exclusively through Amazon.com at $799.99 US. Suggested retail price is $849.99 US and it is available outside the US from "Pepper.com".
[Note: According to the company website, this 624
MHz. Intel XScale PXA270 device uses MontaVista(TM) CEE 3.1 Linux
2.4.]
Pepper Computer, Inc.
Pepper Pad(TM) http://www.pepper.com/
[2005/05/22]
May 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has introduced its "LifeDrive(TM) mobile manager" which
features a 4GB Hitachi Microdrive hard drive, a 320 * 480 pixel LCD
screen, and built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Limited quantities are
immediately available at an estimated street price of $499 US, with
"[v]olume availability . . . expected by early June."
[2005/05/18]
May 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Handmark(R)
has announced that palmOne, Inc. has included Pocket Express(R) in
palmOne's LifeDrive(TM) mobile manager.
[2005/05/18]
May 12, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced that support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
is available as a free download for Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP
Service Pack 2 (SP2).
[2005/05/15]
May 10, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Symbian
Limited claims that Q1 2005 shipments of Symbian OS based phones were
6.75 million, which is an increase of about 180%, or almost triple
the 2.40 million units in Q1 2004.
[2005/05/11]
May 10, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft has
announced the release of its Windows Mobile(TM) 5.0 to manufacturers.
It features "updated Microsoft Office software and persistent
memory storage . . . Windows Media(R) Player 10 Mobile and support
for hard drives."
[2005/05/11]
May 9, 2005, PR Newswire reports that it will target
a new market category for devices they are calling "Mobile
Managers" which are designed for "customers who are eager
to take full advantage of the trend towards 'digital everything.'"
The first new product aimed at this category will be announced later
this month.
[2005/05/11]
May 5, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that RadioShack
Corporation has announced that it is forming a Canadian subsidiary
and will be opening new Radio Shack stores in Canada. It is also
offering licenses for current independent Radio Shack stores for
continued use of the name. Circuit City will stop using the Radio
Shack name and will rename its current stores.
[2005/05/08]
May 3, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Telus Mobility
and UTStarcom Inc. have announced the availability of the Audiovox
PPC 6600 which features Microsoft(R) Windows Mobile(TM) software for
Smartphone, Bluetooth and and integrated digital camera. The retail
price is $749.99 Cdn.
[2005/05/04]
Apr. 29, 2005, Business Wire reports that BSQUARE has
announced that it engineered and tested Casio's Ruggedized Cassiopeia
Pocket PC 2003" device. [No price or availability information
was provided in the announcement. -- Jim O]
[2005/05/01]
Sorry, I did not find anything worth reporting this
time. Check back next week. . . .
[2005/04/27]
Apr. 20, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Hop-on has
announced that it will mass produce its low cost GSM Models 1803 and
1813 handsets which will cost under $40 US in quantities of 10,000
units.
[2005/04/24]
Apr. 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Samsung
Telecommunications America has announced the availability of its p207
EDGE phone with VoiceMode(TM) by VoiceSignal(TM) which is a
speed-to-text input technology. [Price was not included in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2005/04/20]
Apr. 14, 2005, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AMD has announced that its Mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3700+ processor
features Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP) which works with Microsoft
Windows(R) XP Service Pack 2. It is immediately available at $336 US
each in 1,000-unit quantities.
[2005/04/17]
Apr. 13, 2005, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has announced that its Tungsten E2 handheld computer features a
brighter screen, 32MB flash memory, Bluetooth(R) and a more powerful
battery, at an estimated street price of $249 US from Apr. 13, 2005.
The company also announced that the Zire(TM) 31 price has been
reduced $20 US to an estimate street price of $129 US.
[2005/04/13]
Apr. 11, 2005, Business Wire reports that Samsung has
announced that its latest "satellite Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting" (DMB) phone, the SCH-B200 has a "slide and
rotate" form factor which allows the front portion to slide up
and rotate to a horizontal position. The phone function is CDMA2000
1x EV-D0 (800MHz) while the Mobile TV function is Satellite DMB. It
will be available in the first half of this year. [Pricing was not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/04/13]
Apr. 7, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Thales has
announced that its latest Magellan(R) eXplorist(TM) 500 GPS receiver
downloads data directly from the internet and stores in a
computer-like tree structure file system. It is immediately available
throughout North America for $399.99 US.
[2005/04/10]
Apr. 7, 2005, Business Wire reports that ZyXEL
Communications Inc. has announced that its ZyWALL P1 Personal
Internet Security Appliance is a small, lightweight firewall and VPN
for mobile computer users. It is immediately available for $299 US
(MSRP).
ZyXEL
Communications Inc. http://www.us.zyxel.com/
[2005/04/10]
Apr. 7, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Sony Ericsson
has announced that its "GA64" is a "Quad-Band,
GSM/GPRS radio device" that meets "very specific regulatory
and rugged industrial requirements for automotive, fleet and
industrial devices." "Mechanical samples" are
available now for developers with "volume availability"
scheduled for "early 2006." [Pricing was not included in
the announcement. I would like to comment about my use of so many
quotation marks in this report. In this case it was because the
passages quoted are typical vague drivel that I see no point in
trying to express in my own words. It disgusts me to see a reference
to "very specific . . . requirements" when they certainly
could have listed them, as other companies do. -- JO]
[2005/04/10]
Apr. 6, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Tadpole
Computer has announced its Comet line of devices are ultra-thin
clients are Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2
compliant wireless Sun Ray devices when used with Fortress
Technologies' family of secure wireless gateways. The necessary
firmare will be available to limited beta test sites in the 2nd
quarter of 2005 with upgrade for all Comet devices expected to be
available in the 3rd quarter of 2005. [Pricing was not provided in
the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/04/06]
Apr. 5, 2005, Business Wire reports that Intermec
claims that its CK60 rugged mobile computer is the most rugged device
that Intermec has made. The Windows CE device will be available in Q2
2005. [Price was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/04/06]
Apr. 1, 2005, Telus Mobility and RIM have announced
the immediate availability of the BlackBerry(R) 7520 through Telus on
the Mike network. It features GPS support, Bluetooth support, digital
phone service and Mike Direct Connect walkie talkie service. [Price
was not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/04/03]
Mar. 30, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced that its MSN(R) Video Downloads for Windows
Mobile(TM)- based devices such as Portable Media Centers and some
smartphones and "Pocket PC" devices. Some content is free
but others require a subscription fee on top of the cost of access.
Windows Mobile
http://www.windowsmobile.com/
[2005/03/30]
Mar. 29, 2005, Business Wire reports that according
to a survey by Psytechnics at the 3GSM conference in Cannes, France,
of 180 people interviewed, 43% felt that "the voice quality of
calls they receive or make through their mobile phone service
providers could be improved. The poll also showed that 72 percent of
customers said they would accept higher fees to ensure superior call
quality."
[2005/03/30]
Mar 28, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Allume
Systems, Inc., has begun shipping StuffIt Deluxe 9.0 for Windows
which features a new compression capable of shrinking a JPEG file by
about 30% without further loss of detail. General MSRP is $39.99 US.
[2005/03/30]
Mar. 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that OnVerge
Labs(TM) has announced the immediate availability of its
InfiniFile(TM) for Palm OS(R) Platform. A 14-day trial version is
downloadable from the company's website. The client costs $39.95.
Server software for PC's is free.
OnVerge
Labs(TM) http://www.onverge.com/
[2005/03/27]
Mar. 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that RadioShack
Corporation has won the right to terminate its license, merchandising
and advertising agreements with InterTan, Inc. which is now a wholly
owned subsidiary of Circuit City Stores Inc. InterTan must stop using
the name after June 30, 2005.
[2005/03/24]
Mar. 21, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Websense(R)
Security Labs(TM) claims that there has been a 300% increase of
attacks using instant messaging (IM) and malicious websites for 2005
Q1 compared to 2004 Q4. Websense, Inc. claims that their "Websense
Web Security Suite -- Lockdown Edition(TM) protects against IM based
attacks.
[2005/03/23]
Mar. 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that the Gizmondo
Europe Ltd. subsidiary of Tiger Telematics Inc. has announced that it
will begin retailing its Microsoft Windows CE Gizmondo handheld
entertainment device in England on Mar. 19, 2005 and in North America
in the "Spring 2005." It is based on a Samsung 400 MHz ARM9
processor and 64 MB of memory, SD card and 128-bit NVIDIA GoForce 3D
4500 graphics accelerator. Price was not announced. [Note: I tried
the website but it only ended in an error "Response object error
'ASP 0158 : 80004005'. . ." which I could do nothing about. --
JO]
Gizmondo Windows CE
Multimedia dev http://www.gizmondo.com/
[2005/03/20]
Mar. 16, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that HumanWare
has launched its Victor Reader Wave model DAISY CD Digital Talking
Book Player. It will be available in June 2005. [Price was not given
in the announcement. -- JO]
Humanware
http://www.humanware.com/
[2005/03/16]
Mar. 15, 2005, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony of
Canada Ltd. has announced that its ICD-CX50 combines a 1.2 "effective
megapixel" CCD camera with 4x digital zoom and colour LCD
display, with a a voice recorder function. It will be available in
June 2005 for $599.99 Cdn. Also announced were the ICD-B100 and
ICD-P210 voice recorders which feature "HQ recording mode"
at 16 kHz. which will be available in April 2005 at $79.99 and
$129.99 Cdn. respectively.
[2005/03/16]
Mar. 14, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Nokia has
announced price reductions for the N-Gage system. The N-Gage QD will
cost $99.99 US and games will range from $14.99 to $24.99 US. Prices
will be effective around Mar. 17, 2005.
[2005/03/16]
Mar. 11, 2005, Canada Newswire reports that on Mar.
10, 2005, the Quebec police (Surete du Quebec) were lead to a stolen
vehicle by Datacom's Security Central, tracking a care equiped with
the Mobilus stolen vehicle tracking system and found 15 stolen
vehicles behind a farm in the Drummondville area which would have
been "chopped" for parts.
[2005/03/13]
Mar. 11, 2005, PR Newswire reports that PCMCIA showed
ExpressCard compliant products at CeBIT. [ExpressCard is the
replacement for the current PC-Card format devices. -- JO]
[2005/03/13]
Mar. 9, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Intellisync
Corporation has announced that "Intellisync(R) Mobile Suite(TM)"
will soon support Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry(TM) devices.
This is expected to allow support of all mobile devices via a single
software platform and server for many enterprises. [Availability and
prices were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/03/09]
Mar. 8, 2005, Business Wire reports that Sharp
Corporation has announced that its Sharp Actius AL3D features its 3D
LCD Screen Technology. This evolution of the "Actius RD3D"
the 3D effect uses "a parallax barrier technique to separate
light signals. Light from the LCD is divided so that different
patterns reach the viewer's left and right eyes . . . without the
user having to ear special goggles." It is immediately available
at an estimated street price of $3,499 US.
[2005/03/09]
Mar. 8, 2005, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. has announced that it has joined the Consumer Electronics Linux
Forum.
[2005/03/09]
Mar. 7, 2005, Time Magazine, p. 24 identifies the
culprit of the T-Mobile hack as Nicholas Jacobsen, who hacked the
server on which "Sidekick II" data was stored. Apparently,
he got data from about 400 clients.
[2005/03/06]
I am not by any means an expert in the field of computer security. In fact, I lean towards being the opposite. I need other people's advice on the subject because I do not have the inclination to think about how to hack systems. However, I am convinced that the concerns of people who are wary of computer security and privacy are largely correct. Too many people do "know too much" about us, and it is not safe. It is not safe because most of those people are more concerned with making money for themselves than protecting us. Unfortunately, I only have some rough ideas about how to cope with the situation at this time.
For now I only have two pieces of advice: First,
it is probably not a good idea to keep all your information on a
communications device. In other words, it is probably safer to keep
your cell phone and handheld computer functions in separate physical
devices. [This might also mean that it is not a good idea to get
involved with Wi-Fi on a handheld computer too, unless you are fairly
knowledgable about Wi-Fi and Internet security.] Also look into 3rd
party encryption programs for your cell phones and handheld
computers.
[2005/03/06]
Mar. 1, 2005, PR Newswire reports that TowerStream
has announced a successful completion of a one month test of "Mobile
VoIP over a WiFi network." The "pre-WiMAX" network
test included handoff between access points which TowerStream claims
was done "seamlessly," in Middletown, Rhode Island.
[2005/03/02]
Feb. 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that according to
Infonetics Research, 2004 worldwide Wi-Fi equipment revenue was $2.8
billion US which was up 15% from 2003 and unit sales reached 36.1
million which was up 51% from 2003.
[2005/03/02]
Feb. 26, 2005, Business Wire reports that T-Mobile
has provided a press release regarding security issues. They did not
comment specifically about the "Paris Hilton" incident.
Actually, a number of cell phone "address books" were
obtained by a hacker and "Paris Hilton" was simply the one
most talked about. Specifically they emphasized using passwords and
changing the passwords frequently.
[2005/02/27]
Feb. 22, 2005, Canada Newswire reports that Sony of
Canada Ltd. has announced that its new NP-FP71 camcorder battery is
the industry's first "hybrid lithium ion" rechargeable
battery. The new technology is claimed to support 30% more power
capacity, better low temperature characteristics and shorter recharge
time.
[2005/02/23]
Feb. 19, 2005, Business Wire reports that SanDisk has
announced that its new "SanDisk Ultra(TM) II SD(TM) PLUS"
device is an SD memory card with built-in USB 2.0 Flash drive
capability with a built-in USB connector. It will be available in
April at $109.99 US for a 512 MB card and $149.99 for a 1 GB card.
[Note: There have been a number of new cards by Lexar and SanDisk
announced in the last week but this seemed the most unusual -- JO]
[2005/02/20]
Apparently PR Newswire will no longer let me search
back more than 2 clear days. At least that has been the case for the
last couple of weeks. Sorry for those who use their service. I cannot
check the site more often than I do. That means, people will
sometimes not be apprised of your products and services, despite your
paying PR Newswire to distribute them.
[2005/02/16]
Feb. 15, 2005, CCNMatthews reports that Electrovaya
Inc. has announced the launch of its Scribbler(TM) SC 2200 Tablet PC
which features a patented Lithium Ion SuperPolymer(R) battery. The
company claims 75Wh of power providing up to 9 hours of runtime.
[2005/02/16]
Feb. 14, 2005, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. has announced that it has added four new products for mobile
phones:
- PalmSource(TM) mFone for Smart Phones
-
PalmSource(TM) Feature Phone
- PalmSource(TM) mMMS
-
PalmSource(TM) mBrowser
[These will probably by integrated on the
service provider level. -- JO]
[2005/02/16]
Feb. 14, 2005, Business Wire reports that Socket
Communications, Inc. has announced the availability of its SDIO 56K
Modem Card which features V.92 data modulation. The card is
compatible with most Pocket PC devices and cost $119 US (MSRP).
[2005/02/16]
Feb. 14, 2005, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. and PacketVideo Corporation have announced the availability of
PacketVideo's media player for Palm OS devices. [Note: It appears
this software is deployed on the OEM level and is not available for
purchase or download by consumers. -- JO]
[2005/02/16]
PR Newswire is still not showing me all the releases
I need to review, but it seems to be getting better. Hopefully they
will get around to fixing it. I tried to find a way to report the
problem, but apparently, they do not want to know about problems.
They have not provided a clear way to contact them about it.
[2005/02/13]
Rechargeable battery technology has not been moving as fast as processor technology, but it has been moving along. If you look back about 15 years ago, you would find that the most common "Sub-C" NiCAD batteries were nominally 1200 mAh, but realistically they often fell short of this power level. I recently began tests on some "consumer" market batteries (found in a currently available vacuum cleaner) and so far, they appear to be around 1400 - 1500 mAh range. Looking at the "upper end" NiMH batteries from specialty shops, 3300 mAh batteries are now fairly commonly available. Recently Sanyo has been selling 3600 mAh cells, and Gold Peak 3700 mAh NIMH cells are now becoming available. Granted, the upper-end NiMH cells are pretty expensive (a set of 6 tested and matched cells will probably cost over $100 Cdn.) but about 10 years ago, a set of Sanyo KR-1700SCE NiCAD batteries probably costed about as much (I might have some price records put away, but I have not had a chance to look for them yet).
Lithium Polymer batteries have also been coming down,
though they are even harder for me to document since they have not
been available generically (IE, a Nokia battery for a specific model
cell phone is not something I can necessarily use for any other
product).
[2005/02/13]
Feb. 9, 2005, Business Wire reports that IBM, in its
Global Business Security Index report, expects virii to increasingly
spread to handheld devices such as PDA's and cellphones this year.
[2005/02/09]
Feb. 8, 2005, Business Wire reports that Mobile
Digital Media (MDM) has announced the release of its "Qucikoffice(R)
Premier UIQ 3.0, which is usable of Sony Ericsson and Motorola
handsets based on UIQ and Symbian OS. The price is $49.95 US.
Mobile Digital Media
Quickoffice for handhelds http://www.gomdm.com/
[2005/02/09]
For some reason, PR Newswire is still not sending all
the announcements. Today ended at about 48 hours back from the date
of my search. It does not look like I will be able to recover the
missed announcements.
[2005/02/06]
Feb. 4 2005, Linare Corporation has announced that
its AMD-based laptop (featuring AMD Athlon 1800+, 40 GB HD, 128 MB
RAM, CD-ROM, Ethernet Interface and Linare Linux OS) will be
available for a retail price of $498 US. [Date of availability was
not provided in the announcement, however, retailers will include
Amazon.com and Wal-Mart. -- JO]
Linare
Corporation http://www.linare.com/
[2005/02/06]
Unfortunately, PR Newswire got "stuck" and
would only send me the same 50 release reports, so my research could
not be completed. I will try again later in the week.
[2005/02/02]
Feb. 2, 2005, Business Wire reports that Research In
Motion has announced that it has enhanced security has been enhanced
with availability of its "S/MIME Support Package v4.0 for
BlackBerry and FIPS 140-2 security certification for BlackBerry
Enterprise Server v4.0."
[2004/02/02]
Feb. 2, 2005, Business Wire reports that Kodiak
Networks has announced that its Sun Microsystem Java Card(TM) based
"Kodiak SIMpower(TM)" thin client "enables premium
voice service functionality on existing GSM handsets."
[Having
read this announcement, I am not certain of its significance, so I am
giving it "benefit of the doubt" posting. -- JO]
[2005/02/02]
Jan. 30, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Aytobytel
Inc.'s Automotive Information Center (AIC) claims that satellite
radio has tripled in US sales in the last 3 years, to be ordered in
38.3% of all vehicles in the US.
[2005/01/30]
Jan. 27, 2005, PR Newswire reports that MIPS
Technologies, Inc. has announced that ASUSTeK Computer Inc. has
licensed the MIPS32(R) 4KEc(TM) and 4KEp(TM) cores and tools to
develop "multimedia SoCs for digital consumer devices."
[2005/01/30]
Jan. 25, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Renaissance
Learning, Inc. has announced that it has reached an agreement with
AlphaSmart, Inc. whereby the companies will merge with AlphaSmart
operating as a subsidiary of Renaissance.
[2005/01/26]
Jan. 24, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Good
Technology, in a number of releases, has claimed that business
critical information is now available via "Wireless Handheld
Computing" -- the next step past laptops, using applications
based on their "GoodAccess" and "GlobalConntect(TM)"
technologies which are cross platform, supporting PalmOS, Windows for
Pocket PC and Symbian.
[2005/01/26]
Sorry, I am actually surprised that there is nothing
worth posting this time, but that is what has happened.
[2005/01/23]
Jan. 19, 2005, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource
Inc. has announced that it has joined the "Open Mobile Terminal
Platform" (OMTP) group, which is "an open standards-based
consortium aimed at creating a consistent user experience across
multiple wireless devices by defining open mobile platform
requirements."
Open
Mobile Terminal Platform Group http://www.omtp.org
[2005/01/19]
Jan. 18, 2005, PR Newswire reports that WaveRider
Communications Inc. has announced that its "Last Mile
Solution(R)" products support VoIP capabilities, allowing mixed
data and voice communications.
[2005/01/19]
Jan 18, 2005, Business Wire reports that Intermec
Technologies Corp. has announced that its CK31 rugged mobile computer
is a new version of its CK30 handheld computer with a 52-key
alphanumeric keyboard. Prices were not provided in the announcement
but is orderable for "late Q1."
[2005/01/19]
Jan. 17, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Garmin
International Inc. has claims that its new iQue 3600a is "the
first Palm Powered(TM) aviation device that is ready to navigate
right out of the box." The device features a 200 MHz DragonBall
MXL ARM9 processor, 95 MB of ROM, 64 MB of SDRAM, 480 * 320 pixel *
64K colours TFT display, GPS, special yoke mounting cradle, and has
an MSRP of $1,099 US. It will be available Jan. 2005.
[2005/01/19]
There were a number of new laptop computers announced
within the last couple of days. Rather than try to list them all, I
will simply say that if you are in the market for a new laptop it
would be worth your while to update your research at the websites of
your preferred manufacturers.
[2005/01/19]
Jan. 14, 2005, Business Wire reports that Intermec
Technologies Corp. has announced that its CN2 mobile computer is a
pocket size computer is an Intel XScale Microsoft CE .NET device. It
will be available in Q2 2005. [Price was not provided in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2005/01/16]
Jan. 13, 2005, Business Wire reports that Vonage and
UTStarcom, Inc. have announced a partnership to introduce their
F-1000 Wi-Fi VoIP handset. It will be available in the spring or
summer 2005. Price for the handset is expected to be below $100 US.
[2005/01/16]
Jan. 12, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Symbol
Technologies, Inc. has announced that its new Symbol MC3000 is based
on Intel(R) XScale(TM) and Microsoft Windows(R) CE .NET. [Price and
availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/01/12]
Jan. 12, 2005, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics has announced that its SCH-S310 mobile phone recognizes
spacial movement and can use them as a control system. [Price and
availability were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2005/01/12]
Jan. 10, 2005, Business Wire reports that Psion
Teklogix has introduced its Workabout Pro S handheld computer which
is based on Intel XScale and Microsoft Windows CE .NET. It will be
available Feb. 2005 in North America. [Price was not provided in the
announcement.]
[2005/01/12]
Jan. 10, 2005, CCNMatthews reports that AMD has
announced that its new AMD Turion(TM) 64 mobile technology is based
on its AMD64 technology and optimized for mobile use.
[2005/01/12]
Jan. 6, 2005, Canadian Corporate News reports that
U.S. Robotics has announced that its "wireless MAXg(TM)"
product family of 802.11g products provides 50% greater coverage and
40% faster throughput than "standard" 802.11g products.
[2005/01/09]
Jan. 6, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Matsushita
Electronics Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation and Sony Corporation have announced that they have agreed
to establish an alliance for "high-speed power line
communication (PLC) specifications" for audio, video and data
networking.
[2005/01/09]
Jan. 5, 2005, PalmSource, Inc. has announced that
Fossil and Abacus PDA watches will begin selling on Jan. 6, 2005. The
Fossil FX2008 has an MSRP of $249 US and the Abacus AU5005 will be
available from Tiger Diect for $199 US.
Features include 8MB
of memory, a 160 * 160 pixel backlighted LCD screen, Palm OS(R) 4.1
software in 4MB of Flash running on a Motorola Dragonball(TM) Super
VZ 66 MHz processor. [Some data came from the Fossil website.]
Fossil (Palm computer wrist
watch) http://www.Fossil.com/
Abacus
(Palm computer wrist watch) http://www.AbacusWatches.com/
[2005/01/05]
Jan. 5, 2005, Garmin International Inc. has announced
that its iQue M5 is its first Pocket PC device with GPS and
Bluetooth(R) support. It is expected to be available Jan. 2005 at a
suggested retail price of $749.99 US.
[2005/01/05]
Jan. 5, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Giant
International has announced that its Tao(TM) XM2go person, portable
satellite radio for the XM Satellite Radio service will be available
this spring for $349.99 US.
[2005/01/05]
Jan. 5, 2005, PR Newswire reports that Hop-on.com,
Inc. has announced that its Model 1867 GSM/GPRS handset will have
"Super PDA" functionality. [Price and availability have not
been announced. -- JO]
Hop-on.com,
Inc. http://www.Hop-on.com/
[2005/01/05]
Jan. 4, 2004, Business Wire reports that MCC Computer
Company has announced that its new "Modular PC" measures 3"
* 5" * 3/4" and weighs about 9.1 oz., and runs full Windows
XP Professional on a 1 Ghz processor, "512 RAM" [sic] and a
20 or 30 GB HD. [Price and availability were not announced. -- JO]
MCC Computer Company
http://www.modular-pc.com/
[2005/01/05]
Jan. 3, 2005, CCNMatthews reports that GoVideo(R) has
announced that it will use the AMD Alchemy Au1200 processor in its
next line of "portable video players." The MIPS based
processor is claimed to be capable of video decoding without a DSP.
[2005/01/05]
On or about Dec. 1, 2004, the OpenZaurus project
released OpenZaurus 3.5.2. This version supports all Sharp Linux
Zaurus devices except the SL-A300. In particular, the SL-6000 is now
supported.
[2005/01/02]
I am taking this opportunity to announce that this
Website will be changing a bit over the coming year. I will be
increasing the range of topics covered beyond "mobile
information technology" to a broader concept of a "living
with mobile technology." The only practical difference you will
see is that occasionally I will mention "Other Stuff."
Eventually, I might re-title this Website. I have been considering
doing so for months now, but I think I will hold off a bit longer.
[2004/12/29]
For my first item, I will briefly announce that I have been experimenting with digital video for a while now and I see a bright future in solid-state camcorders recording MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats. I expect to see a wide range of them being introduced in the coming years. One camera I have been experimenting with is the Radio Shack Centrios DVC-204. This camera is not one that I would recommend for most people. The quality of the video image is not very good. the noise level looks like very bad grain in old 8mm movies (worse than Super-8 if you can remember that far back). Keep in mind that historically, I have found that if you can get images even this bad, you are bound to find at least a very small number of people who will be happy to use such a product. However, with today's more sophisticated users, I doubt that such a group is worth targetting.
Having said that, there are many really good ideas in
this camera, and I hope that Radio Shack follows it up with an
improved model. Actually, I am quite sure that they will.
[2004/12/29]
While "no news" is not "good news" in this field, it is certainly what I expected for this last few days. In fact, there may not be much in the way of news for the next few days as well. That is what the season brings.
Anyway, I hope you are all having a pleasant holiday,
but I know that this will not be the case for all. Unfortunately,
within the last 24 hours, massive earthquakes have caused death and
destruction in the far East. If you are their or have relatives in
the region, you have my best wishes. . . .
[2004/12/26]
Dec. 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Wideo Without
Boundaries, Inc. has announced that its "MediaREADY Flyboy(TM)"
Personal Media Player will be available "early 2005" for
$349 US MSRP. The 40 GB MPEG-4 player is Linux based.
Video
Without Boundaries http://www.vwbinc.com/
[2004/12/22]
Dec. 20, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that IBM has
announced that the Montreal Police Service now uses a new "Computer
Aided Dispatch System" which supports many types of
telecommunication links such as public cellular, private wireless
networks, Wi-Fi, satellite and more. It is currently centered on a
public cellular network for best coverage.
[2004/12/22]
Dec. 20, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Walmart.com
has released its Balance laptop computer which costs $498 US
including the Linux based Linspire OS.
[2004/12/22]
As is typical for the week leading up to Christmas,
there has been nothing worth reporting for the past few days.
[2004/12/19]
Dec. 14, 2004, Business Wire reports that Research In
Motion has announced that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit has ruled on the that US District Court judgement was vacated
and the case remanded to the District Court for further proceedings.
[Note: According to 680 News reports earlier today, the
infringement finding was upheld, but I have not read the judgement,
and as such cannot comment on whether 680 News is correct. This
announcement does not seem to confirm this. -- JO]
[2004/12/15]
Dec. 14, 2004, Business Wire reports that Digital
Mind Corporation (DMC) has announced that it has released its DMC
8270 "low-cost ultra portable digital audio player and personal
information manager." The cost is $249 US.
Digital
Mind Corporation http://www.DigMind.Com/
[2004/12/15]
If you are a beginner buying rechargeable batteries, I pity you . . . . Seriously, there is a lot to know about them and I do not have time to write anything that will help a true beginner. In fact, I can only write one significant fact for today:
I briefly checked around a couple of stores in the
Toronto area (not on the Internet, but just wandering through some
local stores) and the best buy I found was at the Canadian Tire
stores. They are selling Duracell 4 packs of NiMH batteries for
$14.99 for AA (rated @ 2300 mAh) and $14.99 for AAA (rated @ 750
mAh). I have not tested these batteries yet, so I cannot say whether
they will perform up to their claims. Do not be surprised if you find
even better prices around. But this should give you a reasonable
baseline for comparison.
[2004/12/15]
Dec. 10, 2004, Business Wire reports that the NPD
Group claims that laptop computers sales are "becoming as
popular as TVs."
[2004/12/12]
Dec. 8, 2004, PalmSource, Inc. has announced on its
Website that it has agreed to acquire China MobileSoft Limited (a
producer of software for mobile phones and with Linux experience) and
has announced that PalmSource will impliment Palm OS on top of Linux.
[2004/12/12]
Dec. 7, 2004, Business Wire reports that iambic, Inc.
has announced that its "Agendus 9" software is now
available for download and purchase for $39.95. It enhances Palm OS
built in apps. In particular, palmOne Treo users will benefit from
enhancements such as the ability to log calls in a "contact
history tracker."
[2004/12/08]
Dec. 7, 2004, PR Newswire reports that DataWind
claims that its PocketSurfer Web Viewer brings a more complete Web
browsing experience in a pocketable 6" * 3" * 9/16"
format by using a 640 pixel wide screen. It costs $199.99 US (MSRP)
and connects to existing cell phones via Bluetooth. It also costs
$9.99 US per month for Internet service access. [I do not know what
they mean by this. -- JO]
DataWind
[PocketSurfer Web Viewer] http://www.datawind.com/
[2004/12/08]
Dec. 2, 2004, Business Wire reports that Tapwave(R)
has announced that Wi-Fi(R) SD(TM) card software is available to use
the SanDisk(R) Wi-Fi SD card or palmOne(TM) Wi-Fi SD card on either
the Zodiac 1 or Zodiac 2 PalmOS handheld devices. The software is
immediately available for downloading free at the Tapwave website.
Tapwave (Zodiac PalmOS
devices) http://www.tapwave.com/
[2004/12/05]
Dec. 1, 2004, PR Newswire reports that the Internet
Security Foundation (ISF) has released free software intended to
protect computer users from theft of their passwords. According to
ISF "Microsoft refused to address this glaring security hole in
its operating system . . . [saying] 'that if an intruder has access
to your computer, it's already too late to offer protection of
passwords.'"
[2004/12/01]
Nov. 30, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Samsung
Telecommunications America (Samsung) has announced that its packages
for its "Mobile Intelligent Terminal" (MIT) devices -- the
i500 (PalmOS based) and i700 (Microsoft(R) based) include
introductory versions of many applications for medical and health
care workers.
Samsung
Health Care Apps http://www.samsungwireless.com/medical/
[2004/12/01]
"I do not have time." It will come as little surprise to most readers that I have had not time to think about what you might consider buying or asking for (as a gift). The Globe and Mail has recently called the PalmOS based Garmin handheld the best handheld computer. That surprised me. I can only give a few unorganized thoughts at this time:
I have noticed that some Windows CE "Pocket PC" devices have re-discovered the CompactFlash cards. Good for them! I do prefer CompactFlash for photographic devices such as Canon's still digital cameras. SD Cards have never really caught up with CompactFlash for performance/cost, and cameras that are smaller than Canon's are often too difficult for me to use.
I am still using a monochrome PalmOS based product -- the "long outdated" Palm m500. This was actually a disappointing product compared to my previous devices because the flap cover is in the process of disintegrating and the stylus now fits so loosely that it often gets lost in my pocket. The only reason I have not lost the stylus yet is my luck and my awareness of the problem. I think it is probably the first time I have had a Palm device "wear out" in less than 12 months. I am stubbornly continuing to use it, though I know I should replace it. But I still see no real need for colour. Also, I would really prefer to buy a "new" device what uses original Graffiti rather than convert to Graffiti 2. I have tried Graffiti 2 and, though I do not think it is "terrible", I simply would rather not change. At best I see no real advantage ot Graffiti 2.
I have just bought an "All In One" (printer, FAX, scanner, copier) device. Keep in mind that just because you can do something in one particular way that it makes sense to do so. Consider alternatives. Ie. just because you can buy a cell phone with PalmOS or Microsoft does not mean it is the best way to get that functionality. Or, if you have never considered combining the functions before, I suggest that it *is* worth considering. No approach is universally best.
[2004/12/01]
PR Newswire reports that Infonetics says that
worldwide WiFi sales are up sequentially with hardware revenue up 9%
to $784.5 million US. [Year over year numbers were not provided in
this report. -- JO]
[2004/11/28]
Nov. 24, 2004, Business Wire reports that Hitachi
Ubiquitous Business Solutions has announced that its "VisionPlate(TM)
MD" has recently achieved UL certification as a medical device
(UL 60601-1). [Pricing and availability were not included in the
announcement. -- JO]
Hitachi
Ubiquitous Business Solutions http://www.visionplate.com/
[2004/11/24]
Nov. 22, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. has announced that GSPDA's "Xplore M28" is a Palm
Powered smartphone now being distributed in Malaysia, China, Hong
Kong, Macau and Thailand. It features a sliding numerical keypad and
a "five-way jog dial." The retail price is "RM 2,288."
[2004/11/24]
Nov. 19, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Casio Inc.
has announced the release of its "IT-10 Enterprise PDA"
which "has been engineered to be shock, water and dust
resistant." It will be available Dec. 2004 for $999.00 US
(MSRP). The 416MHz Intel(R) PXA270 based device runs on Windows
Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC.
[2004/11/21]
Nov. 17, 2004, PR Newswire reports that iPass Inc.
has announced that it offers monthly and annual flat-rate
subscription plans for Wi-Fi connectivity in the US. Pricing was not
provided in the announcement.
[2004/11/17]
Nov. 16, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Canary
Wireless has announced that its new Digital Hotspotter(TM) Wi-Fi
detector provides information such as network ID, encryption status
and channel data for multiple networks and costs $49.95 US. It is
immediately available.
Canary
Wireless http://www.canarywireless.com/
[2004/11/17]
Nov. 16, 2004, Business Wire reports that Data
Evolution Holdings, Inc. has announced that its next generation Clio
NXT(TM) is the world's only full-sized Windows CD mobile computer. It
is expected to ship in early 2005. The price was not announced.
Data Evolution
Holdings, Inc. (Windows CE Laptops) http://www.dataevolution.com/
[2004/11/17]
Nov. 15, 2004, PR Newswire reports that VoiceSignal
has announced the availability of its Treo(TM) Voice Dialing by
VoiceSignal" for the new Treo 650. A limited version comes on
the Tre0 650 CD-ROM, however, the fully operational version must be
paid for separately. [Pricing was not provided in the announcement.
-- JO]
[2004/11/17]
Nov. 15, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Linksys(R)
has announced that its WCF54g Wireless-G CompactFlash Card is a Type
II card, immediately available for $99 US.
[2004/11/17]
Nov. 14, 2004, Business Wire reports that Micron has
announced the availability of its MT9V012 low power stand alone
sensor and its MT9V112 SOC VGA sensor. The latter is a 4mm diagonal
27 MHz device with a data rate of 13.5 megapixels per second. The
former is a stand alone 1/6" VGA resolution sensor which Micron
claims operates at "ultra-low power levels.
In a
separate announcement Micron also announced samples of its MT9D011
low-power 2-megapixel (sic) CMOS image sensor. It is a 1/3"
optical format sensor 1600 * 1200 "active pixel" design
capable of 15 fps @ full resolution and 30 fps @ 800 * 600.
No
prices were provided in the announcements.
[2004/11/14]
Nov. 9, 2004, Business Wire reports that Trolltech(R)
has announced that Motorola is using Trolltech's Qt(R)/Embedded as
the basis for Motorola's E680 and A780 Linux based handsets.
[2004/11/09]
I have corrected my search for CCN Matthews and
re-searched back to Oct. 30, 2004, which I feel is sufficient
coverage. CCN is now back on my "watch list."
[2004/11/07]
Nov. 4, 2004, PR Newswire reports that The Unicode(R)
Consortium has announced the release of its Common Locale Data
Repository version 1.2 and Locale Data Markup Language Specification
version 1.2.
[2004/11/07]
Nov. 1, 2004, PR Newswire reports that QUALCOMM
Incorporated has announced its plans to form a subsidiary to be
called MediaFLO(TM) USA Inc. which will use its Forward Link Only
(FLO) technology and 700 MHz spectrum to aggregate multimedia content
for use by CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UTMS) cellular operators.
[2004/11/03]
Unfortunately, CCNMatthews has changed its system for
news access. I have not figured out how this works, and do not have
the time to wade through press releases that are topically far away
from the area covered for Moving Target. I have not reviewed anything
coming from their site for this posting and might not in the future.
[2004/10/31]
As happens lately, there was nothing significant
reported in the later part of the past week. Perhaps everyone was too
busy preparing for Halloween?
[2004/10/31]
Oct. 27, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has
launched a number of new Bluetooth accessories, including its HS850
headset which is an upgrade to its HS810, featuring, among other
things, improved battery life, audio quality and echo cancelling. It
will be available in Q4 2004. Price was not announced.
[2004/10/27]
Oct. 26, 2004, Business Wire reports that the
Henderson Advertising has announced that K-Byte's Zipit wireless
device is an 802.11g wireless device intended for use by children in
families who have Wi-Fi connectivity to the Internet for chatting
with their friends, but without tying up a computer. It features a
320 * 240 screen and QWERTY keyboard. It costs $99.99 US and is
immediately available at Target stores in the US.
Zipit
Wireless http://www.zipitwireless.com/
[2004/10/27]
Oct. 25, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmOne has
announced its new Treo(TM) 650 Smartphone features an Intel(TM)
PXA270 312 MHz processor, Palm OS(R) 5.4 software, built-in Bluetooth
support, a sharper 320 * 320 * 65,000 colour display, built-in MP3
player, Word, Excel and PowerPoint compatible software, removable
battery, non-volatile memory, a better camera, combined text and
picture messaging, improved button and keyboard layout and easier
email setup. It is immediately available in CDMA and GSM/GPRS,
depending on your service providers. Prices were not announced. [Some
of this information came from palmOne's website. -- JO]
[2004/10/27]
Oct. 25, 2004, PR Newswire reports that the SD Card Association has announced that Nokia and Sony Ericsson have joined the association.
Oct. 22, 2004, Business Wire reports that Rogers
Wireless and Research In Motion have announced that RIM's Java(TM)
based BlackBerry 7290(TM) will be available in Canada on Rogers' "at
the end of the month." Price was not announced.
[2004/10/24]
Oct. 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that AlphaSmart,
Inc. has announced that Don Johnston Incorporated has developed a
writing package including a voice output expansion card for the
AlphaSmart PalmOS based Dana, called "Write:OutLoud To Go".
It will be available in November. Pricing was not announced.
[2004/010/24]
Oct. 21, 2004, Business Wire reports that Seiko Epson
has announced that its P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer uses a 3.8"
Epson Photo Fine LCD display and 40 GB HD for portable viewing and
transfer of multimedia data. It will be available in "early
November" for $499 US.
[2004/10/24]
Nothing new to report at this time.
Oct. 13, 2004, PR Newswire reports that TomTom(R) has
announced the release of TomTom Navigator 2004 for Microsoft(R)
Windows(R) Powered Pocket PCs and palmOne(R) devices. A "Bluetooth
GPS" version is available for $299 US, wire GPS version is
available for $249 US. Canadian maps are included.
TomTom
GPS Navigation Systems http://www.tomtom.com/
[2004/10/17]
Within the last month I have purchased a Lexar 256 MB
SD Card and a SanDisk 256 MB CompactFlash Card. Lately, garbage has
been an issue, so I noticed that the Lexar packaging is recyclable
Type 1 plastic whereas the SanDisk is non-recyclable Type 3 plastic.
In the past, I have generally preferred SanDisk, but in the future, I
might switch to Lexar based on this last point. All else tends to be
close to equal between the two brands.
[2004/10/13]
Oct. 12, 2004, Business Wire reports that Dell has
unveiled its Axim X50 entry level version with 416MHz Intel PXA 270
with XMMX extensions and 64 MB StrataFlash and 64 MB SDRAM and
Bluetooth for $299 US. With 520 MHz processor, 128 MB StrataFlash and
802.11b Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2, the price rises to $399 US. The Axim
X50v with 624 MHz Intel PXA270 processor and 3.7" VGA screen and
2 additional games costs $499 US. The X50 series features both
CompactFlash and Secure Digital slots.
[2004/10/13]
Oct. 11, 2004, Business Wire reports that Mattel,
Inc. has announced that its "Juice Box" Personal Media
Player will be available from Oct. 17, 2004 at an estimated street
price of $69.99 US, and an MP3 Starter Kit including a 32 MB SD or
MMC card will be available for $44.99 US.
[2004/10/13]
Oct. 7, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Creative has
announced that its new PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy(R) 2 ZS Notebook
card fits in a standard PCMCIA slot. It is expected to be available
"this month" at an estimated street price of $129.99 US.
[2004/10/10]
Oct. 7, 2004, Business Wire reports that T-Mobile
USA, Inc. has announced that its Sony Ericsson GC79 PC Card supports
both 802.11b Wi-Fi and GPRS connectivity for laptop computers. It is
immediately available at $199.99 US.
2004/10/10]
Sept. 19, 2004, the OpenZaurus team released
OpenZaurus 3.5.1 ("Unstable") for most Sharp Zaurus Linux
based products (only the SL-A300 and SL-6000 were not included, but
are expected to be supported in version 3.5.2).
[2004/10/10]
Oct. 5, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Datastick
Systems, Inc. has announced that its DAS-1258 Vibration Spectrum
Analyzer and Data Acquisition Module work on Palm(TM) devices such as
the PalmOne Tungsten(TM) T3 and allows 4 analog inputs from ICP
accelerometers through a four-channel ICP adapter and displays Fast
Fourier Transforms. Shipments should start by the end of October.
[Price was not provided in the announcment. -- JO]
Datastick
Systems, Inc. http://www.datastick.com/
[2004/10/06]
Oct. 4, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmOne, Inc.
has announced that its new Tungsten T5 will be available from
palmOne's online store on Nov. 3, 2005 for $399 US. palmOne also
announced the immediate price reduction for the T3 which is reduced
from $399 US to $349 US. The T5 features an Intel 416MHz XScale
processor and 320 * 480 display, and built in Bluetooth. However, the
most notable new feature is its new memory organization which
features 256MB of Flash memory which will save data even in the event
of a battery failure, and the ability to address a large amount of
that memory as a virtual USB "hard drive".
[2004/10/06]
Sept. 30, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Sun
Microsystems, Inc. has announced the availability of "Java 2
Platform Standard Edition (J2SE(TM)) 5.0".
[2004/10/03]
Sept. 30, 2004, PR Newswire reports that ARM and
Trusted Logic have announced that an evaluation version of Trusted
Logic Security Module for Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 [TrustZone] is
will be available in Q4 2004 with a commercial release in Q1 2005.
"The Security Module is available for licensing exclusively from
ARM now."
[2004/10/03]
Sept. 29, 2004, Business Wire reports that SanDisk has announced a number of new Ultra II memory cards starting as low as a $49.99 US 256MB CompactFlash card immediately available and up to an 8GB CompactFlash card in November for $959.99 US. Also announced in a separate press release were a number of Extreme III product line cards that are targetted at pro photographers. The Extreme III line will be available in Oct. and Nov. this year at prices starting at $139.99 US for a 1GB CompactFlash card.
Sept. 28, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. has announced the release of its "Web Browser 3.0"
which they say is specifically optimized for smartphones and wireless
mobile devices. [No prices or availability details were provided in
the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/09/29]
Sept. 28, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. has introduced its Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 software which among other
things features "integrated telephony features, support for WiFi
and Bluetooth.
[2004/09/29]
Sept. 27, 2004, Business Wire reports that
Trolltech(R) has announced that its Qtopia(R) development environment
for handheld Linux devices is now available for the TI OMAP
processors.
[2004/09/26]
Sept. 27, 2004, Business Wire reports that
Trolltech(R) has announced that Yuhua TelTech has chosen the
Qtopia(R) Phone Edition development systems and Linux front end for
its upcoming "Normandy" smart phone.
[2004/09/26
Sept. 23, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Patriot
Scientific Corporation has announced the release of its IGNITE 32-bit
synthesizable processor core for licensing by OEMs and semiconductor
companies in the low-cost/ high-power application markets (broadband
access, networking, digital television, etc). [Note: Although not
aimed at mobile, it might prove usable. -- JO]
Patriot
Scientific Corporation http://www.ptsc.com/
[2004/09/26]
Sept. 22, 2004, PR Newswire reports that InHand
Electronics, Inc. has announced that its new Advanced Technology
Platform reference platform ATP-27x is based on Intel's new PXA270
("Bulverde") processor and is aimed at the development of
next generation wireless devices. It will be available for OEM
developers in October, costing $9,995 US.
[2004/09/22]
Sept. 22, 2004, Business Wire reports that Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced that it has developed new
MMCplus(TM) and MMCmobile(TM) branded memory cards that feature lower
power and higher speed data transfers. The host interface speed has
been increased from 2.5 MBps (MegaBytes per second ) to 52 MBps.
supporting an data busses up to 8-bit. [Availability and prices were
not announced. -- JO]
[2004/09/22]
Sept. 17, 2004, Business Wire reports that Research
and Markets that Symbian has 88% market share of "advanced OS"
handsets in the cell phone market, but that this market segment was
still only around 2% of the overall market. In a separate release the
research company also said that "Video-over-broadband"
(VioBB) is only expected to account for 3.4% of total BSP (Broadband
Service Provider) revenue by 2008.
[2004/09/19]
Sept. 15, 2004, Socket Communications, Inc. has
announced that its WLAN Tools Mobile Edition software for its Low
Power Compact Flash and SDIO Wireless LAND cards for Pocket PCs
features a new GUI with advanced network monitoring capabilities. It
is included with new cards and can be downloaded for current card
owners.
Socket
Communications, Inc. http://www.socketcom.com/
[2004/09/15]
Sept. 14, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Thales has
announced that its "Magellan MapSend(R) Topo Canada"
provides topographical map data from DMTI Spatial, Inc. for its
compatible GPS receivers. [Price and availability were not clearly
provided. Only that it should be this "Fall". -- JO]
[2004/09/15]
Sept. 9, 2004, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation has announced that Intel, Hitachi Global Storage
Technologies, Marvell Semiconductor Inc., Seagate Technology and
Toshiba America Information Systems have agreed to develop a new
storage interface specification called CE-ATA for disc drives and
other devices to be used in mobile and consumer product applications.
The specification is projected for completion in the early half of
2005.
[2004/09/12]
Sept. 8, 2004, Business Wire reports that Pepper
Computer, Inc. had introduced its Pepper Pad 2 which features
"simplified wireless" connectivity. Featuring an "8.4-inch
touchscreen" it claims to include "all the essentials of
the digital home: email, IM, and Web browsing; collecting, organizing
and sharing photos, videos, and music; writing and editing; and
games." The main integrated software is "Pepper Keeper"
running on Linux. "Pepper Keeper" is also available for
Windows and Macs. [Pricing and availability were not given in the
announcement. -- JO]
Pepper
Computer, Inc. http://www.pepper.com/
[2004/09/08]
Sept. 8 2004, Business Wire reports that T-Mobile
USA, Inc. and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced the RIM's
latest Blackberry 7100t will be available from T-Mobile in early
October. The new device is a cellphone BlackBerry email and a unique
keyboard technology which is claimed to be significantly better than
a traditional cellphone keyboard. [Pricing was partially given, but
was unclear, so I have omitted it at this time. -- JO]
[2004/09/08]
Sept. 8, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Toshiba
America Electronic Components, Inc. has announced the availability of
a 1 gigabyte (GB) SD-M01GS High Speed SD Card based on 90 nanometer
Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash technology and a 512 megabyte (MB)
SD-F5125 High Speed SD Card based on 90 nanometer Single Level Cell
NAND Flash technology. Samples are available at $350 US and $225 US
each.
[2004/09/08]
Sept. 8, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Handmark(R)
has announced that its "Pocket Express(R)" wireless
information service will be available on multimediat handsets in
2005. The price will be $6.99 US per month [most likely charged
separately from your wireless service charges -- JO].
[2004/09/08]
Sept. 7, 2004, Business Wire reports that Kineto
Wireless has announced that they, and the major cell phone companies
have published an open specification for hand-off between cell phone
systems and WLAN (VoIP) calls.
Unlicensed
Mobile Access (UMA) Organization http://www.umatechnology.org/
Kineto Wireless
http://www.kinetowireless.com/
[2004/09/08]
Sept. 1, 2004, LXE Inc. has announced that its new
VX6 and VX7 vehicle mounted computers are Intel(R) XScale(TM) based
Microsoft Windows(R) CE .NET devices. [Prices and availability were
not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/09/05]
Sept. 1, 2004, Business Wire reports that Web
Information Solutions Inc.'s "Pocket Informant 5.0 Personal
Information Manager" software will be "pre-installed"
on all new HP iPAQ hx4700 Pocket PC's. [This announcement is not
entirely clear. Apparently the iPAQ hx4700 series has been shipping
since July without this software, and no free version seems to be
available for those who have bought the older products. Nor is there
a date for shipping of the newer products including the software.
"Buyer beware." -- JO]
Web
Information Solutions Inc. http://www.webis.net/
[2004/09/01]
Aug. 29, 2004, the weekly Zellers flyer Aug. 28 -
Sept. 3, 2004 in Toronto shows the PalmOne(TM) Tungsten E including
Veo(R) SD Card camera (640 * 480) for $299.97 Cdn (regular $429.96).
This looks like a particularly good price.
[2004/08/29]
Aug. 25, 2004, PR NewsWire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 is
available as part of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 upgrade. It
features more extensive support of "pen-and-ink". It is
immediately available as a free upgrade.
[2004/08/25]
Aug. 24, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Sony
Electronics has announced new Memory Stick devices available in Oct.
and Nov. of this year, including a 2GB "Memory Stick PRO (High
Speed)" for $700 in November 2004.
[2004/08/25]
Aug. 23, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Smith Micro
Software Inc. has announced that its new "QuickLink(R) Mobile
Wi-Fi Seeker" is a device which will detect local Wi-Fi hotspot
signals. The price is $29.95 US. [Apparently immediately available.
-- JO]
Smith Micro
Software Inc. "QuickLink(R) Mobile Wi-Fi Seeker"
http://www.smithmicro.com/
[2004/08/25]
Last day I posted an early version of this note. It was a collection of thoughts which I put into sentences, but without regard to coherent organization. I have decided to correct this a bit, though I do not want to expand it into a full article. Most of the changes are in italics.
First, consider whether or not you want a built in camera. I have been trying to guage the mood about these and have come to no conclusion. I can only point out that as far as I know, the YMCA still bans in change rooms. I have 1 product with a built in camera of this type and it is not a device which I use often. I would not want to rely on a device which I might not be able to use due to such bans.
I think that Voice over IP through Wi-Fi will be an issue this year. Therefore watch the sound I/O support. Most devices support MPEG music, so the sound output is probably adequate, but watch out for a lack of built-in or attachable microphone, particularly in Palm devices. Ironically, the long defunct Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 was particularly well set up for this purpose because it could use a telephone style earphone and boom microphone headset, and it had both a CompactFlash slot for a Wi-Fi card and an SD slot for storage. Only the battery was insufficient for the purpose (which has been corrected in the later Zaurus products).
I do not like to recommend products I have not used, but if you are in a Computer Science course, the new Zaurus SL-6000 series looks like a very good buy. The larger, higher resolution screen, available integration of Wi-Fi, good processor, and Linux software, with source code in a product which is more portable than a Table PC seems to be a very good investment.
If you are not going into a Computer Science course,
I still think there is might be potential advantage in having
a device properly designed for Wi-Fi. I am not sure whether any
really are, but I think that the Palm Tungsten C looks good in
theory. The main drawback of the C is that the battery is not
removable, but the battery seems to be quite big. The truncated
screen is a plus for a Wi-Fi device since it should draw less power
than a T3 or Pocket PC device. There has been a recent software
update for the C but I do not know what issues it was meant to
address.
[2004/08/25] [2004/08/22]
Nothing worth reporting at this time. But I expect a
lot fairly soon. -- JO.
[2004/08/22]
Aug. 17, 2004, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has announced that it will market a Wi-Fi card for the Tungsten(TM)
T3 and Zire(TM) 72 from Sept. 2004 at an estimated street price of
$129 US.
[2004/08/18]
Aug. 17, 2004, CCN Matthews reports that AMD has
announced that its 3700+ AMD Athlon(TM) 64 processor for "desktop
replacement" laptop computers is immediately available at $500
US each in quantities of 1,000.
[2004/08/18]
Aug. 16, 2004, Business Wire reports that Beiks LLC
has announced that it has launched its Greek Talking Phrasebook for
Palm OS devices. It is immediately available for $19.95 US.
Beiks
LLC, (phrasebooks for Palm OS) http://www.beiks.com/palmzonebg/pb/
[2004/08/18]
Aug. 12, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Datastick
Systems, Inc. has released its Datastick(R) DAS_1254 and DAS-1294
data acquisition systems for Palm(TM) based handheld computers.
Conduits synch data with Microsoft Excel. Prices range from $495 US
for the Datastick DAS-1254 with a 20 pin connector. The devices will
be available end of Aug. 2004.
Datastick
Systems, Inc. http://www.datastick.com/
[2004/08/15]
Aug. 11, 2004 Business Wire reports that StanaPhone
used on a "standard personal computer" (Win 98, 2000 or XP)
now supports call forwarding and voice mail support and can be used
on a "Pay- as-You-Go" Plan with no monthly subscription. [A
"beta" version of StanaPhone is now available for Microsoft
Windows Pocket PC, but it is not clear if the new features have been
added. -- Jim O.]
StanaPhone
http://www.stanaphone.com/
[2004/08/11]
Aug. 6, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced the release of Windows(R) XP Service Pack 2 to
manufacturers. [It is not entirely clear in the announcement but it
appears that it may be downloaded immediately -- if you are "lucky".
Apparently, they are making it selectively available for some people
sooner than others. I do not really understand this. A customer uses
"Automatic Updates" and might or might not get it. -- Jim
O.]
[2004/08/08]
Aug. 4, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that IBM has
announced its lineup for student products and the ThinkPad G Series
budget laptop starts at $1,099 Cdn., which is a bit more than last
year's low end student product.
[2004/08/04]
Aug. 3, 2004, Business Wire reports that HP claims
that its HP Compaq nx5000 is the first laptop computer from a "major
hardware vendor" to be available with Linux (Novell's SUSE
Linux) pre- installed. Street prices start at $1,140 US. [It is not
clear, but the product appears to be immediately available. -- JO]
[2004/08/04]
July 29, 2004, Business Wire reports that Gartner's
Computing Platforms Worldwide group has reported that Q2 2004 saw the
first growth in "PDA" sales year over year in 10 quarters.
Palm OS still leads with 41.7% market share (down from 51% in 2003),
but the trend is not to Microsoft Windows CE devices where are
essentially stagnant at 36.6% (up from 36.3%). Rather, the boom is in
RIM products which rose from 5.3% market share in 2003 up to 18.6% in
2004. ("Note: Totals include cellular PDAs, such as the RIM
BlackBerry 7230, but not smartphones, such as the Treo 600. palmOne's
results include Handspring PDA shipments.")
[2004/08/01]
July 27, 2004, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AMD has announced the launch of its newest Sempron and "Mobile
AMD Sempron(TM)" processors including a Mobile 2600+ at $84 US
and ranging up to a 2800+ version for "thin" laptops at
$134 US.
[2004/07/28]
July 27, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Rover USA
Wherever-Ware(R) system maintains remote backups for $29.95 US /
month.
Rover USA (remote
backup service) http://www.roverusa.com/
[2004/07/28]
July 26, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Franlin
Electronic Publishers has announced that it has published the "Le
Petit Larousse" French dictionary in a dedicated handheld device
and also an MMC card which can operate on Palm, Microsoft Pocket PC
and Nokia Series 60 devices. Availability is expected "this
Fall". [Pricing was not announced. -- JO]
[2004/07/28]
July 23, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Garmin
International Inc. has announced its iQue 3200 is the second Palm
Powered(TM) pocket computer with integrated GPS. It features a 320 *
320 * 16 bit colour display, 200 MHz Motorola DragonBall MXL, Palm OS
5.2, and 32 MB SDRAM. It will be available early August 2004 at a
suggested retail price of $535.70 US.
[2004/07/25]
July 23, 2004, Business Wire reports that bSquare has
announced that its is discontinuing manufacturing its Power Handheld
pocket computer base on Microsoft Windows CE and Microsoft Windows
Mobile (Pocket PC).
[2004/07/25]
July 23, 2004, Business Wire reports that Danger,
Inc. and Sharp Corporation have announced that "Sharp will
manufacture, market and distribute jointly-developed products that
connect to Danger's service infrastructure. . . ." These
"hiptop(R)" devices will be targetted at the North American
and European markets.
Danger,
Inc. ("hiptop(R)") http://www.danger.com/
[2004/07/25]
July 19, 2004, Canadian Corporate News reports that
AMD has announced that its Mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3400+ CPU and
Athlon XP-M 2200+ CPU are immediately available at $432 US and $97 US
each respectively (in quantities of 1,000).
[2004/07/21]
The following are not particularly remarkable
devices, and there have been a fairly steady flow of devices
following these development patterns, but in light of Sony Ericsson's
abandonment of CDMA in North America a while back, followed by Sony's
announcement to stop selling Palm devices in North America, it is
interesting to see what they are still interested in producing.
Apparently, it is a very narrow range of cell phone products based on
Sony's Memory Stick (which I would almost label a failure at this
point), the GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE networks, Symbian OS and Java 2.0.
[2004/07/18]
July 15, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony
Ericsson has launched its P910 Smartphone which is based on Symbian
OS v7.0 and Sony's Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Duo Pro. It will
be available Q3 2004. [Pricing was not announced. -- JO]
[2004/07/18]
July 15, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony
Ericsson has introduced its K500 camera phone which features Java 2.0
and Mascon Capsule(R) Engine Micro 3D Edition from HI Corp. It will
be available Q3 2004. [Pricing was not announced. -- JO]
[2004/07/18]
July 13, 2004, Business Wire reports that Intersil
Corporation has announced that its new EL5027 low-cost dual buffer
amplifier reduces power consumption and increases performance of
TFT-LCD displays. Current drain per channnel is 110 uA. Price in
6-pin SOT package is $0.80 each in 1,000-unit quantities. It is
available now.
[2004/07/14]
The Summer Holidays seems to have hit. One can expect
that for "a while" there will be fewer announcements than
usual. As such, there is nothing new to report at this time.
[2004/07/11]
July 7 2004, PR Newswire reports that ACCESS has
announced the availability of its NetFront v3.2 browser for mobile
and home Internet devices.
[I may be wrong about this, but a
quick tour of the company Websites seems to indicate that there is
"end users" cannot get this browser. It seems to be
distributed only to OEMs for inclusion on their products. There is no
announced price or availability in the announcement. -- JO]
ACCESS
(NetFront Internet Browser) http://www.access-us-inc.com/
[2004/07/07]
July 6, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that iPass Inc.
has claimed to have over 10,000 active hotspots world-wide.
iPass
Inc. (Wi-Fi network) http://www.ipass.com/
[2004/07/07]
June 29, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Pulse Data
International has introduced its BrailleNote PK handheld Braille
personal digital assistant. The company expects it to be available in
Q4 2004. [Price not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
Pulse
Data International BrailleNote PK http://www.pulsedata.com/
[2004/06/30] revised [2004/07/04]
June 30, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PalmSource,
Inc. claims that "the number of registered enterprise Palm OS
developers has surpassed 100,000, with ovr 12,000 new enterprise
developers registered in the last six months."
[2004/06/30]
June 30, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Pragma
Systems, Inc. has introduced its "Pragma Fortress" line of
security products including "Fortress for Handhelds" for
Pocket PC and Palm OS.
Pragma
Systems, Inc. [security software] http://www.pragmasys.com/
[2004/06/30]
June 30, 2004, HP and VisuAide have introduced
"Maestro" which is a handheld PC for blind and visually
impaired based on the iPAQ Pocket PC h4150. It is scheduled to begin
distribution in September. [Price was not included in the
announcement. -- JO]
VisuAide
[Pocket PC for Blind] http://www.visuaide.com/
[2004/06/30]
June 28, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced that Windows CE 5.0 (code-named "Macallan")
is scheduled to be released July 9, 2004 and will feature new
licensing rules allowing licensees to ship modified versions of the
OS and a number of technical improvements.
[2004/06/30]
June 23, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Boingo
Wireless has announced that its Pocket Boingo Wi-Fi network access
client software for Windows Mobile 2003 is immediately available as a
free download, and versions for Palm devices will be following,
starting with a version for the Tungsten C, later this summer. The
software supports private, free and Boingo network connectivity.
Boingo Wireless
for Windows Mobile 2003 and Palm http://www.boingo.com/download.html
[2004/06/23]
June 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that AlphaSmart,
Inc. has introduced its "Neo" laptop size computer. It
features a larger screen and more memory than the AlphaSmart 3000,
but is cheaper than the PalmOS based Dana. The list price is $249 US.
[It is not clear in the announcement, but it seems to be available
immediately. -- JO]
[2004/06/23]
June 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that ImagiWorks(R)
has announced that its ImagiProbe(TM) SD System attaches to the SD
expansion slot in most palmOne(TM) and AlphaSmart(R) Dana(TM) devices
for sensor based data collection.
ImagiWorks
http://www.imagiworks.com/
[2004/06/23]
June 18, 2004, Business Wire reports that Siemens
Information and Communication Mobile (Siemens mobile) has announced
that its new SL65 GPRS "slider phone" includes a video
camera function with 5x digital zoom (VGA 640 * 480, 8 fps. H.263).
It will be available in Europe and Asia in Sept. 2004. [No prices
were announced. -- JO]
[2004/06/20]
June 17, 2004, Business Wire reports that PCTEL, Inc.
has announced that Comarco Wireless Test Solutions will be
distributing PCTEL's Wi-Fi Analyzer whic operates on PocketPC
devices. [Prices and availability were not announced. -- JO]
[2004/06/20]
Due, in part, to unusual time limitations, I am
embarrassed to say that I did not get a chance to review the last 3
days press releases as thoroughly as I usually do. However, it does
not seem that there was anything really significant happening in the
mobile field. A major stumbling block was Business Wire which is
seems to require reading twice as many "pages" -- probably
because the pages have fewer releases. Waiting for each page to
download and render really eats into my day. Eventually, today, I
simply ran out of time. As I pointed out above, I did have less time
than usual for other reasons, but still, I probably could have
covered them all in the time I had, if they were using the formatting
style they used, say a couple of years ago. This is not progress. . .
.
[2004/06/16]
There has been nothing worth reporting for the last
few days. I am not sure whether this is a long term trend, but it
seems that near the end of the week fewer interesting items have been
released. This is what I report at the beginning of the week (as is
this report). In the future, if you want to avoid these "empty"
reports, you might want to check this site mainly near the end of a
week.
[2004/06/13]
June 9, 2004, Business Wire reports that Zinc Matrix
Power, Inc. has announced that it is collaborating with Intel
Corporation to develop a "polymer-based rechargeable alkaline
battery technology" that the company claims has 2 times the
energy/volume compared to current lithium-based laptop batteries.
Zinc Matrix Power, Inc.
http://www.zmp.com/
[2004/06/09]
June 8, 2004, PR Newswire reports that "The
Unicode(R) Consortium announced today the release of new versions of
the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR 1.1) and the Locale Data
Markup Language specification (LDML 1.1). . . ." This data is an
expansion of the previous releases.
The
Unicode Consortium http://www.unicode.org/
[2004/06/09]
June 1, 2004, CNET News.com reports that Sony has
announced that it will only continue the Clie line of handheld
devices in Japan after this Fall, when it will no longer introduce
new products in this line outside of Japan.
[2004/06/09]
The latter part of the week saw fewer announcements
than usual, and nothing worth reporting. I do not think that the
"Summer Holidays" have kicked in quite yet. Check back next
week.
[2004/06/06]
June 2, 2004, Business Wire reports that iRobot Corp.
has announced that over 50 of their "PackBot(TM)"
reconnaissance and tactical robots are currently deployed in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
[I believe that peacetime home/ small-business
robotics is a part of mobile technology. I do not intend to cover it
extensively on this Website, but I thought I would mention this
announcement as a perspective piece. -- JO]
[2004/06/02]
Jund 2, 2004, Business Wire reports that Voiceglo has
announced that its patent-pending "Voiceglo Internet PBX"
"turns wireless routers into virtual PBXs.
Voiceglo
(wireless PBX) http://www.voiceglo.com/
[2004/06/02]
June 1, 2004, Business Wire reports that Intel has
introduced its "Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 745 (formerly
code named Dothan, Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Intel(R) Celeron(R) M
processor and the Intel(R) PXA270 processor. . . ." The latter,
an XScale processor is available in sample quantities today with
volume production planned for the next quarter with prices starting
at $32 ea. for the 312 MHz version in quantities of 10,000.
[2004/06/02]
Mainly due to the US Memorial Day holiday, there is a
general shortage of real news. Have a good holiday . . . .
[2004/05/30]
May 26, 2004, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America Information Systems, Inc. has announced the immediate
availability of its P25-S670, M35-S320 and Portege M205 portable
computers. [Prices were not provided -- JO]
[2004/05/26]
May 25, 2004, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has announced that its "GPS Navigator" works with
Tungsten(TM) T3 and Zire(TM) 72 handhelds (using Bluetooth linking)
and has a "wide array of street-level and highway maps for the
entire United States and Canada." It will be available via
palmOne's online store beginning June 11, 2004 costing $299 US.
[2004/05/26]
May 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
announced that summary judgement had been rendered in its favour in
Xerox Corporation's Patent infringement suit. in the US District
Court for the Western District of New York. The suit brought in 1997
has hampered the Palm software and device market because Palm
application software and hardware developed based on the assumption
that the Graffiti system would be available for use. According to
palmOne, the Xerox patent No. 5,596,656 ". . . which covered
unistroke symbols . . . was invalid because 'The prior art references
anticipate and render obvious the claim,' or that the unistroke
system was not a unique invention."
[2004/05/23]
May 21, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Motorola, Inc.
has announced that its new CLS1450c combines "Business Two-Way
Radio" with 2.4 GHz cordless phone capability.
[The
availability, price and legality of this product in Canada were not
mentioned in this announcement. -- JO]
[2004/05/23]
May 19, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that LXE Inc.
has announced that its MX3-RFID is a Windws(R) CE based handheld
equipped with 802.11b and RFID support. [Pricing and availability
were not in the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/05/19]
May 17, 2004, Kingston Technology Company, Inc. has
announced that it has developed MultiMediaCard(TM) 4.0 compliant
cards. [Pricing and availability were not in the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/05/19]
May 13, 2004, Microcell Telecommunications Inc.
announced that it had not received Telus' cash offer to purchase
publicly traded shares and warrants of Microcell and thus had no
comment.
[I will break my general silence on such corporate level
issues and say that from a consumer perspective, it will be very sad
if this transaction occurs. Since the purchase of Clearnet by Telus,
I feel that Clearnet's consumer orientation has faltered with more
emphasis on complex packages and pricing that is simply not as
affordable as in the early days of Clearnet. It is still fairly
unique from Bell Mobility and Rogers, but getting a bit less so. At
this point Fido is more clearly the price leader in the "economy
class" services. Microcell also championed phone number
portability. I am not currently aware of Telus' stand on this issue.
-- JO]
[2004/05/16]
While there were some new laptops announced by IBM,
Fujitsu and NEC in particular, the most interesting announcements
were of Nintendo and Sony handheld game platforms. While these are
not generally the area covered by this site, it is good to keep an
eye on the technology and cost of those products. Unfortunately,
there was little substantive detail in the announcements and the
products are still far off, so I will leave them till some later
date.
[2004/05/12]
May 6, 2004, Business Wire reports that Transmeta
Corporation has announced that Vulcan Inc.'s "FlipStart(TM)
MiniPC" is based on Transmeta's Crusoe(R) processor. The
computer is 5.8" * 4" * 1" and runs Microsoft Windows
XP. Pricing and availability have not been announced.
FlipStart(TM)
MiniPC Vulcan, Inc. http://www.flipstartpc.com/
[2004/05/09]
May 4, 2004, Business Wire reports that TELUS
Mobility and RIM have announced that the BlackBerry 7510(TM) is a
BlackBerry handheld with Mike's Direct Connect service and the
BlackBerry 7750(TM) is based on CDMA 1X wireless service. [Prices
were not announced. -- JO]
[2004/05/05]
May 3, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Garmin
International Inc. has announced that the company will offer its "cf
Que 1620" product which includes a new CompactFlash GPS and its
Que software for Pocket PC. It is expected to be available May 2004
for $267.84 US.
[2004/05/05]
Oddly, I have seen no press release regarding the
Zire 31 or Zire 72, both of which have been advertised for sale
recently. The prices in "the palm store" website for Canada
are $449 Cdn for the Zire 72 and $229 Cdn for the Zire 31. The
Tungsten C is currently priced at $599 Cdn.
[2004/05/02]
Apr. 28, 2004, Business Wire reports that Pretec
Electronics Corp. is demonstrating 7 SD I/O cards for PocketPC and
Palm devices, including 802.11b, Bluetooth, GPS, 56 kbps Modem, VGA
and 1.3 "mega-pixel" and Barcode scanning cards ranging in
price from $79 US to $199 US. 5 of the cards will be retail marketed
by Q2/2004 while the VGA is available for OEM customers and the
Barcode scanner will be available for industrial customers.
Pretec
Electronics Crop. [SD I/O cards] http://www.pretec.com/
[2004/04/28]
Apr. 26, 2004, Business Wire reports that HP has
announced a special trade-in promotion on purchases of iPAQ h1940 and
h2210 series Pocket PC devices through to July 10, 2004. The trade-in
will be $50 US or the "fair market value" determined by
"Market Velocity", whichever is higher. [There is no
indication that this promo is available in Canada. -- JO]
[2004/04/26]
Apr. 19 2004, PR Newswire reports that Apple(R) has
announced that is iBook(R) G4 laptop computers have been updated to
PowerPC G4 processors up to1.2 GHz. and optional DVD-burning
SuperDrive(TM)'s. The latest OS is Mac OS X version 10.3. It is
immediately available at prices starting at $1,099 US.
[2004/04/21]
Apr. 19 2004, Business Wire reports that Toshiba
America Information Systems has announced that its latest Tecra M2V
features a 1.50 GHz Intel Pentium(R) M processor and has an
"Estimated Single Unit Price" of $1,449 US.
[2004/04/21]
Most news current tech news is focussing on TV
technology this week. Nothing significant for mobile. -- JO
[2004/04/18]
Apr. 13, 2004, PR Newswire reports that IOGEAR, Inc.
has announced that its "Super-Fi" 802.11g Wi-Fi router has
"a built-in patch antenna, which allows users to focus signals
directly towards a specific location" as well as "[A]n
additional flip-up omni antenna." It is immediately available
with an MSRP of $129.99 US.
[2004/04/13]
Apr. 12, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Kingston
Technology Company, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of
it 1 GB CompactFlash(TM) Elite Pro(TM) part number CF/1024-S which
features a read speed of 6.1 MB/sec. and a write speed of 5.2 MB/sec.
The MSRP is $349.00 US.
[2004/04/13]
Apr. 12, 2004, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation has announced that its Intel(R) PXA27x XScale processors
are designed for cell phones and "wireless PDAs" with
processor speeds of 312 to 624 MHz and a number of new features. The
PXA270 at 312 MHz will cost $32 US each in quantities of 10,000
units. They are available currently in sample quantities with volume
production planned within this quarter.
[2004/04/14]
Ironically, the only significant news I have did not
come from any of the commercial news release services. In fact, as
far as I can tell, this is an unannounced price drop. palmOne has
recently lowered the price of the Tungsten C to $399 US. While the
price drop itself is no surprise (it was preceded by a rebate of
about the same amount), the lack of any advertising of the price drop
is a bit of a surprise.
[2004/04/11]
Apparently the Amida Symputer is now available for
purchase. I have not received a press release to this effect, but I
have looked briefly at the website and it looks quite good. I will
try to report more about it in the future.
[2004/04/07]
Apr. 7, 2004, Business Wire reports that Intel
Corporation has announced a 1.30 GHz "Low Voltage Intel(R)
Pentium(R) M" processor, a 1.1 GHz "Ultra-Low voltage Intel
Pentium M" processor, 1.40 GHz "Intel Celeron(R) M"
processor and 900 MHz "Ultra Low Voltage Intel Celeron M"
processor. Prices in quantities of 1000 are $284 US, $262 US, $134 US
and $161 US each, respectively. [Availability was not stated in the
announcement. -- JO]
[2004/04/07]
I guess this is a slow week because of the coming
Holidays. -- Jim O.
[2004/04/04]
Mar. 31, 2004, Business Wire reports that Sharp
Solutions Division has announced the immediate availability of the
Zaurus SL-6000 which features a large 4" VGA (640 * 480) "CG
Silicon" view screen, built-in WiFi, sockets for MMC and
CompactFlash cards, a 400 MHz Intel(R) XScale(TM) processor, a
durable (resistant to 1 M. drop) case, and Linux and IBM software.
The MSRP is $699.99 US "through select value added and corporate
resellers."
[2004/03/31]
Mar. 31, 2004, PR Newswire reports that The
Unicode(R) Consortium has announced the release of the Unicode
Standard, Version 4.0.1. The revision improves definition information
and descriptions for certain characters. It includes "the first
major update of the CJK database (Unihan) in two years.
[2004/03/31]
Mar. 31, 2004, PR Newswire reports that palmOne, Inc.
has announced the availability of "an ARM-processor-optimized
Java runtime for end users." Purchasers of Zire(TM) 71 and those
who purchased Tungsten or Treo 600 devices before Oct. 1, 2003 can
purchase the runtime for $5.99 US. Those who purchased Treo 600 or
Tungsten devices on or after Oct. 1, 2003 can download it free.
[2004/03/31]
Mar. 31, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft
Corp. has announced "upcoming voice over Internet protocol
(VoIP) features for Windows(R) CE 5.0 (previously code-named
"Macallan").
[2004/03/31]
Mar. 25, 2004, Business Wire reports that Bachmann
Software has introduced its version 3.0 FilePoint software which
allows Palm Powered(TM) devices to work with files on Windows
networks as if they were Windows computers. FilePoint 3.0 is priced
at $29.99 US and is immediately available.
[2004/03/28]
Mar. 24, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Motorola,
Inc. has announced that its Motorola MPx will be one of the first
devices available to include the latest Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003
Second Edition software. It will be available in the second half of
2004. [Prices were not provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/03/24]
Mar. 22, 2004, Business Wire reports that NEC
Solutions (America), Inc. has announced that its MobilePro(R) 900c
"MobilePro Handheld PC" features new Windows CE .NET 4.2
software. Based on a 400MHz Intel PXA255, 64 MB SDRAM and 32 MB Flash
ROM. It is immediately available at $899 US.
NEC
Solutions (America), Inc. http://www.necsam.com/
[2004/03/24]
It is very annoying that in my course of trying to
get material for my reports I have to put up with a security issue on
a site which provides my source material. Business Wire requires a
login (which other sites do without). That much is annoying in
itself. However, to make matters worse, they provide an option to
have automatic logins. That much is always a security risk because it
means that there is probably a record of your password that a hacker
might be able to access. Then to make it the absolute worse, they
have set their login page default to "prefer" having people
select the automatic login. So when I am in a hurry, sometimes I
forget to "clear" the checkmark. In many cases, I have to
login again after logging out and to make sure that I "clear"
the check mark. I do not need to have my time wasted in this way.
Then again these sites are getting more and more wasteful of my time,
so this is hardly news in itself. Hopefully, clients of these
companies will point out to companies like Business Wire that they
are putting people like me in a bad frame of mind, which cannot help
them when they are trying to get us to write favorably about their
products.
[2004/03/24]
Mar. 19, 2004, PR Newswire reports that PCMCIA has
announced that examples of its "Express Card" standard will
be displayed at CeBIT.
[Note: The Express Card is a bit smaller
than the old PC-Card format but larger than CompactFlash, and is
related to the new PCI Express buss standard. -- JO]
ExpressCard
(PCMCIA) http://www.expresscard.org/
[2004/03/21]
Mar. 19, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has announced that it will produce a 1
GB SD Memory Card which will begin sales in April in the Japanese
market and elsewhere in the world in May, 2004. The expected retail
price will be $499.99 US.
[2004/03/21]
Mar. 17, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Lexar Media,
Inc. has announced immediate worldwide availability of its 32MB, 64MB
and 128MB "miniSD" cards at estimated retail prices of
$29.99 US, $49.99 US and $79.99 US respectively. The cards have been
selling in Japan since Dec. 2003.
[2004/03/21]
Mar. 17, 2004, AMD introduced the new "low-power
mobile AMD Athlon(TM) XP-M processor 2100+". It is immediately
available at $97 US in quantities of 1,000 units.
[2004/03/17]
Mar. 11, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Synosphere,
LLC has announced that its "Blue Dock(TM)" docking station
is designed to allow a handheld computer to operate as a "primary
computing platform in a desktop environment, without the need for an
additional workstation or laptop." [Looking at the website,
there product line seems to cover both Palm and Pocket PC based
products -- JO]
Synosphere,
LLC http://www.synosphere.com/
[2004/03/14]
Mar. 10, 2004, PR Newswire reports that accroding to
"Solarbuzz Inc., a San Francisco based solar energy consultancy"
the world solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations grew to 574
Megawatts in 2003 which is a 34% growth over 2002.
[2004/03/14]
Mar. 9, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Kontron Mobile
Computing, Inc. has announced that its ReVolution(TM) E Series are
"entry-level" priced rugged laptop computers immediately
available at prices starting at $3,395 US.
[2004/03/10]
Mar. 3, 2004, PR Newswire reports that Trimble has
announced that its GeoExplorer(R) series rugged GPS receivers are now
available with Microsoft(R) Windows(TM) 2003 software for Pocket PCs.
Shipments are expected to commence Apr. 26, 2004. [Prices were not
provided in the announcement. -- JO]
[2004/03/07]
Mar. 1, 2004, Canada NewsWire reports that Sony of Canada Ltd. has announced that purchasers of selected Sony CLIE and VAIO products before June 30, 2004 w