Packard Bell pitches UMPC-like laptop
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Why lug a big notebook around? When a manufacturer unveils a computer with a 7in display but with practically notebook-class capabilities, most observers might assume it's a UMPC. However, Packard Bell claims the latest addition to its EasyNote range really is a notebook - it just happens to runs on a UMPC chipset.â¦
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A laptop under $100 could reach desks if a new venture formed by the former&#160;CTO of One Laptop Per Child, Mary Lou Jepsen, can deliver on its promises.A &quot;spin-out&quot; from OLPC, the company, Pixel Qi is looking to create a $75 laptop and trying to advance low-cost computers and power-efficient laptops, mobile phones, and other consumer electronics that are sunlight readable, Jepsen wrote on the company&#39;s Web site.Jepsen left OLPC two weeks ago to commercialize technologies she invented with OLPC, she said in an e-mail to the IDG News Service at the time. A patent lists Jepsen as one of the inventors of a display system optimized for low-power operation.&quot;Spinning out from OLPC enables the development of a new machine, beyond the XO [laptop], while leveraging a larger market for new technologies,&quot; Jepsen wrote.There is a big commercial market for technology spawned by OLPC, Jepsen wrote. Prices for next-generation hardware can be brought down by allowing multiple uses of key technology advances, she wrote.The company will continue to work with OLPC by providing products at cost, and it will sell devices at a profit to commercial organizations.A similar promise to introduce a low-cost laptop came from OLPC, when it launched the $100 XO laptop in 2005. Since then, the effort has been afflicted by production delays and rising costs, which caused the laptop&#39;s estimated price to rise to $200. It is now beset by waning orders and competition from commercial vendors that threaten to sideline the nonprofit effort.As CTO, Jepsen was responsible for hardware development for the rugged and power-saving XO laptop, designed for use by children in developing countries. Though the laptop has struggled to find buyers, it has been praised for its environmentally friendly design and innovative display, hardware and networking features.Her departure from OLPC spawned a debate, with critics charging that Jepsen was taking advantage of OLPC&#39;s nonprofit inventions for personal gains, but supporters shot back, saying it was the right time for her to leave a sinking ship.Jepsen, who is attending the&#160;International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, was not available for comment.
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Intel's Classmate PC isn't just for students anymore. HCL Infosystems plans to sell a version of the Classmate PC to consumers and businesses in India who want a rugged, low-cost laptop.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. could soon turn mobile phones into shopping advisors with a color-matching prototype technology it demonstrated on Wednesday.
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Challenging a basic tenet of the semiconductor industry, researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have demonstrated a technology that could replace the transistor as the fundamental building block of all computers.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Hewlett-Packard is preparing its first laptop with flash memory chips in another sign of the market's gradual migration away from the use of hard drives to store data and software.
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Asustek&#39;s Eee PCSmall is clearly in this season. Asustek&#39;s Eee PC captured a lot of attention at Computex. The prototype shown here looks to compete with products like Palm&#39;s recently announced $599 Foleo notebook; both run Linux instead of a Windows operating system. Asustek expects to price the Eee PC at $199 when it ships in the late summer or early fall. The prototype includes a 7-inch display, 512MB of memory, and Wi-Fi (the company did not disclose the processor inside).Via&#39;s Palm-sized Mobile ITXNot all motherboards are created equal. ...
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Locked and loaded PC supplier Packard Bell are to jointly marketâ¦
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In an effort to push mobility into thin clients, Hewlett-Packard is adding a laptop with minimal storage and wireless networking features to its lineup.The HP Compaq 6720T Mobile Thin Client has 1GB of internal flash storage and will be more of a terminal than a full-blown PC, with data storage and system management handled from a remote server, the company said Thursday. The laptop boots off Windows XP Embedded OS in the flash module.Because data isn&#39;t stored on the laptop, there is less risk of a company losing data, said Thai Nguyen, HP worldwide product marketing manager for thin clients. The thin-client laptop is also managed from a server, diminishing management challenges such as issuing software updates, Nguyen said.Along with better security and easier system management, thin-client architecture uses less power than traditional PCs, said Klaus Besier, vice president for thin clients at HP. The thin-client laptop does not have a fan or moving parts such as a hard drive.The product is targeted at vertical industries such as health care and insurance, Nguyen said.Weighing 5.4 pounds (2.45 kilograms), the laptop is powered by an Intel Celeron M processor. It includes 802.11a/b/g wireless networking, wired networking, integrated graphics, three USB ports and two PC Card slots. It includes a DVD-ROM drive and stereo speakers.The laptop comes with terminal software, including HP Session Allocation Manager, which establishes a secure network connection to remote servers.Priced starting at $725, the 6720t thin client will be available in North America and Japan later this month.Users may not be inclined toward the HP thin-client laptop, said analyst Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Terminal users such as financial brokers prefer powerful thin clients that support multiple monitors, and mobile workers want something like Research in Motion&#39;s BlackBerry, he said.The biggest problem with the HP thin client could be its lack of mobility. &quot;You don&#39;t want a situation where you can&#39;t use it unless you are connected,&quot; Kay said. With minimal storage and no network connection, it would be useless on an airplane, for example.HP could be experimenting or demonstrating the laptop as a new concept to the thin-client market and as a predecessor to future HP products, Kay suggested. &quot;It&#39;s an odd product. It won&#39;t be all that successful,&quot; Kay said.However, the thin-client laptop isn&#39;t aimed at &quot;mobile warriors&quot; who spend a lot of time on the road, said Tad Bodeman, director blade PC and thin client solutions at HP. &quot;We&#39;re not trying to replace every laptop PC,&quot; he said.The laptop works better in environments like hospitals, where nurses walk around with laptops on carts wirelessly pulling patient data from a central server, he said, adding that it may also be useful within an office environment. The laptop minimizes the risk of data loss related to theft and gives corporations a device that is low in cost to support and maintain.Bodeman declined to comment about HP&#39;s plans for future thin-client products.HP competes with IBM and ClearCube Technology in the thin-client hardware and software space.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard announced a smartphone for business users on Monday, appealing to IT administrators by offering remote software management from Bitfone. HP is aiming the iPaq 500-series Voice Messenger at corporate IT managers, allowing them to diagnose and repair a smartphone far from the office, send a software upgrade or even wipe all the data off a lost or stolen smartphone. HP gained the power to offer those abilities on Wednesday, when it completed its acquisition of the software applications firm Bitfone. In another bid for corporate users, the phone uses built-in 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi to support VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) telephony, allowing employees to use it as a node on their office phone network while they're in the building. For users, the iPaq 500 supports mobile e-mail like Research In Motion Inc.'s (RIM's) BlackBerry and Palm's Treo. But this is a voice-first, data-second platform, offering a 12-button phone keypad instead of the full alphabet keyboard. Users can operate most of its features with voice commands instead of typed words, asking the iPaq to read their e-mail aloud, or to take dictation and send an e-mail response. "Our target customers are business users at enterprise or small and medium businesses. We are not aspiring to be one of those free phones being given away by carriers," said Niraj Gandhi, a product marketing manager at HP. "Mobilizing e-mail is the killer app where all the businesses and especially enterprise users are going to work. But even there, they have preferences -- not everyone wants to carry the big device with a full QWERTY keyboard during the evening, though they'll put up with it through the day," Gandhi said. While users will compare the new smartphone to products from RIM and Palm, HP will use the iPaq 500 to gain a leg up against Dell in the enterprise space, according to one analyst. "Many enterprises like the desktops, notebooks, servers and monitors to have the same brand name. This launch gives HP an extra bullet in its gun as it tries to win profitable enterprise deals against Dell and Lenovo," said Samir Bhavnani, research director at Current Analysis Inc. "In general, the PC guys -- Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Toshiba -- have lagged the market when it comes to device strategy around smartphones. But HP has done a good job over the past two years as relates to product design." HP will launch the iPaq 500 series smartphones in April or May, depending on Microsoft Corp.'s timing in releasing its new Windows Mobile 6.0 OS. HP plans to charge $299 to $349 for an unlocked version of the phone, and will announce deals with individual carriers after the initial launch.
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By Peter Svensson  It seems like a great idea: making a computer that's somewhere between the size of a cell phone and a laptop, for people to carry around and surf the Web.
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HP launched a low-priced, disk-based backup system on today, competing with Dell and EMC for small and medium-size business users.
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Hewlett-Packard Co has launched its first iPAQ in the candybar form factor. It is among the first devices running Windows Mobile 6.0, with a WiFi radio and a UMA client.
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You can't run out and buy it yet, but OQO is demonstrating what it said is the first ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) to support Sprint's Xohm Mobile WiMAX wireless data system.
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HP introduced a multimedia notebook packed with high-definition features, including a screen that allows users to watch full HDTV movies.
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Get up close and personal with the curiously '80s-stylings of the Fujitsu UMPC
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In what could be yet another chance at life for one of the most storied brands in the history of electronics, California investor Lap Shun Hui is about to complete the purchase of Packard Bell from NEC, The New York Times has learned.