There was once a time when Sharp was a cutting-edge producer of PDAs, and the company’s Zaurus was a market leader. But as the market has matured (and declined), the Zaurus line has devolved into little more than a pocket dictionary, giving it something of a second life in countries like Japan and Korea, where such products are still popular, but continuing to marginalize it as a portable computer. Still, the latest Zaurus, the SL-C3200, does have a few nice features, including a 6GB hard drive, SD slot and 3.7-inch VGA touchscreen display. But unless you need to practice for your TOEIC test, you probably won’t exactly see this as a must-have device (though we hear that it runs Linux, so there’s some hope for it).
From Engadget
Also from Gizmodo:
Sharp has entered the fray of portable computing announcements with an update to its Zaurus C3100 Linux-based PDA. The C3200, powered by a 416 MHz Intel PXA270 chip, adds a couple of gigs of disk space to go with its 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM. Available March 17 for $640 in Japan.
Product Page (Japanese)[Sharp Japan via newlaunches.com]
NEC introduced its Generation laptop for the education market, but it looks like it’s aimed at somebody who lives in a really bad neighborhood. It’s loaded with security measures that are so extensive they border on paranoia. First, the notebook is password-protected and login is done with via a hardware fingerprint security chip, great for schoolkids because they won’t have to remember a password. There’s an NEC security control panel, which allows administrators to disable USB or optical drives, keeping that unauthorized software out of the picture. Is also has a Kensington lock slot, a Stoptrack anti-theft label and Webtrack geographical tracking software. Of course, the thing is loaded with antivirus protection and to top it all off, it’s covered by three years of antitheft insurance. Just reading this feature list make you wonder exactly what awful thing happened to this notebook’s designer. Pricing starts at $1138.
One of Mitsubishi’s more interesting products is finally making its way stateside. Available in Japan for nearly a decade, the Jet Towel is a hand dryer that not only dries your hands in double-quick time (about five to six seconds), but actually helps the environment, too. It eliminates the need for wasteful paper towels, saving Mother Nature’s precious trees. (PHBs take note: the Jet Towel may save money in the long-term as electricity is the only cost.) There’s little additional waste to be found other than the water that collects in its drain tank, keeping the executive wash room nice and clean. So if you’re in the market for a hand dryer for the office bathroom, or are just tired of seeing filthy paper towels strewn about, perhaps you should keep your eyes peeled for the Jet Towel. (Thanks, James!)
Grundig has introduced the X5000, a cellphone with a 6-megapixel camera on board. With such a high-resolution camera, we’re wondering if we shouldn’t call it a camera with a cellphone on board. This GSM triband/GPRS talker-shooter is also packing an MP3 player, a video camera, voice recorder and removable storage in the form of a Mini SD card slot. Once you’ve shot all those stills and video, there’s a TV-out for your viewing enjoyment. Its two-inch main display is impressive, too, spitting out 16.7 million colors at a sharp 640×240.With its rotating screen and silver and black monochromatic look, we’re hooked. No word on pricing or availability, but we sure wish this were available in the states.
[Amazon]
