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- HP Mini 110 XP Edition now available in pink and white
- LG GC990 Louvre 12.1MP touchscreen featurephone unveiled
- Atom N450 netbooks may face delays over OEM caution
- Ultrasn0w carrier unlock for iPhone 3GS released
- Sony CEO calls Activision threats “a lot of noise”
- NEC VersaPro VS netbook in the wild: painfully skinny
- Peek ask for help on Mobile Linux Peek messenger
- Manli M3 netbook gets video unboxing
- Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome.
- Sweet faux Wii has “real time action graphics”
| HP Mini 110 XP Edition now available in pink and white Posted: 08 Jul 2009 04:14 AM PDT
If you’ve been holding off on picking up one of HP’s Mini 110 series netbooks because you’ve wanted it in pink or white (what, really?) then today is the day to flex your credit-card. HP have unleashed the two new color versions of their 110 XP Edition, meaning you can have the 10.1-inch Atom N270/N280 netbook in sober black, coquettish pink or lost-in-a-snowstorm white.
They’re our names, I should point out, not HP’s official nomenclature, so expect to be laughed at if you ring up to place your order and use them. Picking the non-standard color schemes pushes the price of the 110-series machines up by $20 each; they’re only available for the XP Edition variants, too, not the Mi Edition. Otherwise your money gets you a choice of 16GB or 32GB SSD, or 160GB 5,400rpm HDD, together with WiFi b/g, 1GB of RAM and a color-matched keyboard. Prices start at $349.99 for the black model. [via Portable Monkey] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| LG GC990 Louvre 12.1MP touchscreen featurephone unveiled Posted: 08 Jul 2009 04:01 AM PDT
LG’s latest super-snapper cellphone has broken cover, and from the spec-sheet at least you’d think this was the handset to quash all point-and-shoot digicams. The LG GC990 Louvre is tipped (despite LG’s own denials; see after the cut) to launch later on in 2009, taking the place of the existing LG GC900 (aka the Viewty II), and brings with it a 12.1-megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, Xenon flash and what the company suggests is ISO 3200 sensitivity.
Call us terrible skeptics, but we’re wondering exactly how much noise will be in images at those sort of ISO levels; this may be a case of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Elsewhere the camera can be re-purposed as a camcorder, grabbing 720p HD video at 30fps. Like the iPhone 3GS it supports touchscreen-controlled focus and GPS geotagging, and LG are claiming zero shutter lag too. Elsewhere there’s a 3.2-inch 16:9 aspect touchscreen with the company’s S-Class UI, WiFi and Bluetooth, together with DivX and Xvid playback plus TV output. It can also stream media to and from other DLNA compatible devices. The phone was demonstrated by LG’s Korean arm at a product expo, but according to the company is a concept rather than a model destined to hit shelves:
[via SlashPhone] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Atom N450 netbooks may face delays over OEM caution Posted: 08 Jul 2009 02:49 AM PDT
It looks like the torrent of Atom N270 netbooks won’t be followed by a similar rush of Atom N450-based budget ultraportables, as several manufacturers have apparently revealed plans to delay mass production until netbook heavyweights Acer and ASUS show their hand. That could push bulk availability back until the first half of 2010, despite engineering samples of the new Intel N450 chip already being available.
According to DigiTimes, lower than expected demand for netbooks – in part through segment saturation – in the first half of 2009 has left many vendors with legacy stock and reduced profit. That has encouraged them to take a more wait-and-see attitude, slashing R&D budgets and instead monitoring the big names to better gage the market. Acer and ASUS are expected to reveal their N450-based ranges in Q4 2009, with white-box manufacturers planning to begin their own mass production in Q1 2010. The end result for the consumer may be reduced choice in netbook models, though given that the combination of building-to-budget, fitting in with Intel and Microsoft’s licensing limitations, and segment naivety has left most current netbooks pretty much identical to each other, that may not be such a bad thing. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Ultrasn0w carrier unlock for iPhone 3GS released Posted: 08 Jul 2009 02:20 AM PDT
The iPhone Dev Team have updated their redsn0w jailbreak and ultrasn0w carrier unlock tools to work with the iPhone 3GS, citing the release of rival app purplera1n as forcing their hand. The Team had originally intended to wait until iPhone 3GS adoption was more widespread before distributing their tools, in the hope that it would give Apple less time to close the security hole on which the unlock depends.
Those wishing to unlock their iPhone – and keep it unlocked – are still being warned to avoid Apple’s official baseband updates. The Cupertino company has apparently stepped up its efforts to remove loopholes such as the one which enables this latest version of ultrasn0w. Going by the comments over at the Dev Team blog, however, Apple retaliation is not the only problem some users are facing. Some iPhone 3GS owners are experiencing poor signal reception after unlocking, or an inability to connect to WiFi networks, while others claim their handsets have been left bricked or show significant battery drain. Now seems as good a time as any to warn that Apple are unlikely to perform warranty repairs on any iPhone they believe has been tampered with, so you attempt a jailbreak or carrier unlock at your own risk. [via iPhoneBuzz] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Sony CEO calls Activision threats “a lot of noise” Posted: 08 Jul 2009 02:09 AM PDT
Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has struck back at Activision chief Bobby Kotick, claiming his calls to cut PS3 prices are “a lot of noise” and that there’s no “logic” in discounting the console. Speaking to Reuters, Stringer suggested that “I (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make – how’s that for logic.”
The rebuff comes in response to Kotick’s well-publicized threats back in June that Activision might consider dropping PS3 and PSP game development if Sony failed to reduce the entry-price to their flagship console. Kotick, who is in charge of the biggest independent games developer in the world, suggested that Sony’s reluctance to cut the PS3’s cost meant that studios saw fewer games being bought for the console versus its Xbox 360 and Wii rivals. Sony, meanwhile, are tipped to announce a new version of the PS3, with a slimmed-down casing, that would use cheaper components and, it’s suggested, allow the company to reduce prices without losing money. Rumors suggest the new console will be announced in August or September, allowing retailers to clear stocks of the existing model. [via Game Daily] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| NEC VersaPro VS netbook in the wild: painfully skinny Posted: 08 Jul 2009 01:46 AM PDT
We knew NEC’s VersaPro J UltraLite VS netbook was slim – how else could the company justify the fat price tag? – but even the teardown we saw back in May didn’t quite convey quite how skinny the Atom Z540 ultraportable really is. Thankfully Akihabara News have righted that situation, being in the enviable position of having the 15.8mm thick netbook in to play with.
As the photos in the gallery below show, what you’re paying for is an almost unbelievably slender 752g netbook with a lower half that looks somehow slimmer than its screen is. If you’re expecting the pay-off to be specs that would make a 1999 notebook look snappy, think again; there’s a 64GB SSD, WiFi b/g, gigabit ethernet and three USB 2.0 ports. NEC even promise up to 4.7hrs runtime from the standard battery (or up to 9.4hrs if you’re willing to sacrifice a little portability and strap on the extended battery). We’ll have to wait until Akihabara News finish marveling at the design and move onto some benchmark testing to see whether those figures hold up.
Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Peek ask for help on Mobile Linux Peek messenger Posted: 08 Jul 2009 01:29 AM PDT
If you’re a Linux developer who has found that the recession has left you at a loose end, Peek may have just the project for you. They’re throwing open the doors to open-source development on their email-centric Peek device, in the hope that someone will get Linux up and running on the ARM7-based handheld.
For the person who manages to get things up and running, Peek are promising “a little mini-consulting gig” in order to show them how this new Mobile Linux Peek should go together. No word on whether that’s a paid position or not, but either way it’s something impressive to go on the CV. There’s a growing list of links to potentially helpful information over at Peek’s blog, including details on the handheld’s TI Locosto ARM7 processor. This isn’t even a platform with high entrance costs for developers; Amazon have the Peek listed for just $19.99. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Manli M3 netbook gets video unboxing Posted: 08 Jul 2009 01:18 AM PDT
Manli’s new netbook, the M3, has fallen into the hands of NetbookNews over in Taipei, and they’ve done the only noble thing and unboxed it on video. While the M3 may look like every other netbook around, it does deliver one or two interesting features: a fingerprint reader, for security, together with an ExpressCard 34 slot, and inside there’s also a free mini PCI Express slot ideal for dropping in a 3G modem card or GPS receiver.
Video unboxing after the cut Otherwise you’re looking at a pretty standard spec-sheet, with Intel’s Atom N270 1.6GHz processor doing its usual duty along with GMA950 graphics, paired up with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive. Connectivity includes the usual WiFi b/g, ethernet and three USB 2.0 ports, along with a VGA output, 3-in-1 memory card reader and audio in/out. There’s also a 1.3-megapixel webcam and a chassis that unboxer Lars describes as feeling more compact than other 10.2-inch 1024 x 600 netbooks. The Manli M3 will be available in black, white, pink, red and green, though there’s no word on specific launch dates or pricing. Click here to view the embedded video. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome. Posted: 07 Jul 2009 10:12 PM PDT
In the second half of 2010, Google plans to launch the Google Chrome OS, an operating system designed from the ground up to run the Chrome web browser on netbooks. “It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be,” Google writes tonight on its blog. But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that? And it’s a genius play. So many people are buying netbooks right now, but are running WIndows XP on them. Windows XP is 8 years old. It was built to run on Pentium IIIs and Pentium 4s. Google Chrome OS is built to run on both x86 architecture chips and ARM chips, like the ones increasingly found in netbooks. It is also working with multiple OEMs to get the new OS up and running next year. Obviously, this Chrome OS will be lightweight and fast just like the browser itself. But also just like the browser, it will be open-sourced. Think Microsoft will be open-sourcing Windows anytime soon? As Google writes, “We have a lot of work to do, and we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.” They might as well set up enlistment booths on college campuses for their war against Microsoft. Google says the software architecture will basically be the current Chrome browser running inside “a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” So in other words, it basically is the web as an OS. And applications developers will develop for it just as they would on the web. This is similar to the approach Palm has taken with its new webOS for the Palm Pre, but Google notes that any app developed for Google Chrome OS will work in any standards-compliant browser on any OS.
So why release this new OS instead of using Android? After all, it has already been successfully ported to netbooks. Google admits that there is some overlap there. But a key difference they don’t mention is the ability to run on the x86 architecture. Android cannot do that (though there are ports), Chrome OS can and will. But more, Google wants to emphasize that Chrome OS is all about the web, whereas Android is about a lot of different things. Including apps that are not standard browser-based web apps. But Chrome OS will be all about the web apps. And no doubt HTML 5 is going to be a huge part of all of this. A lot of people are still wary about running web apps for when their computer isn’t connected to the web. But HTML 5 has the potential to change that, as you’ll be able to work in the browser even when not connected, and upload when you are again. We’re starting to see more clearly why Google’s Vic Gundotra was pushing HTML 5 so hard at Google I/O this year. Sure, part of it was about things like Google Wave, but Google Wave is just one of many new-style apps in this new Chrome OS universe. But there is a wild card is all of this still for Microsoft: Windows 7. While Windows XP is 8 years old, and Windows Vista is just generally considered to be a bad OS for netbooks, Windows 7 could offer a good netbook experience. And Microsoft had better hope so, or its claim that 96% of netbooks run Windows is going to be very different in a year. Google plans to release the open source code for Chrome OS later this year ahead of the launch next year. Don’t be surprised if this code drops around the same time as Windows 7. Can’t wait to hear what Microsoft will have to say about all of this. Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors Go here to read the rest:
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| Sweet faux Wii has “real time action graphics” Posted: 07 Jul 2009 09:32 PM PDT
It’s garnered an unprecedented 1-star rating on Amazon, with such rave reviews as:
He also describes it as “worse than the original Nintendo,” which I think is unfair, since pretty much everything in the world is worse than the original Nintendo, including you and me. Next:
Outstanding. The Zone is one of many Wii knockoffs, but this one doesn’t even pretend to be more than 16-bit. My favorite so far has to be the Wü, which skillfully drew a line between the two i’s in “Wii,” forming a new and more inexpensive product.
[Original image by Lambboy, via Reddit] See original here:
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Wow. So you know all those whispers about a Google desktop operating system that never seem to go away? You thought they might with the launch of Android, Google’s mobile OS. But they persisted. And for good reason, because it’s real.
What Google is doing is not recreating a new kind of OS, they’re creating the best way to not need one at all.
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