Posted on 31 May 2008 by admin
Thinking of a new Eee PC or maybe Wind laptop? Hold up, Dell’s about to loose this baby on the sub-$500 mini-laptop world. All we’ve got are these pictures for now but the specs can’t be far behind. Even the name “mini-Inspiron” comes from the file name of the Dell-supplied pics. However, if what we’ve
already heard holds up, then we’re looking at 8.9-inches dolled up in a sub-$500 price tag with a choice of both Windows XP Home or Ubuntu Linux, 8-in-1 card reader, integrated webcam, direct media playback buttons, and a “host of wireless access options.” Expect more next week as the Computex show kicks off.
    
[Via Gizmodo]
more info
from engadget
Posted on 31 May 2008 by admin
Whoa, big day in the land of low-cost ultra-portables. First Dell, now Acer in what appear to be the first shots of Acer’s first sub-$500 ultra-portable. The images above were dumped into the forum over at UMPC Portal and show what appears to be an “Aspire One” branding to the right of the touchpad and what could certainly pass as the rumored 8.9-inch display. And although that UI is very un-Microsoft, there’s no denying the Microsoft flag waving back from the keyboard. We’ll know for sure if this is Acer’s contestant in the race to the bottom next week at Computex.
more info
from engadget
Posted on 31 May 2008 by admin
Night view isn’t exactly a
new technology, but Toyota’s latest implementation of it in its Crown Hybrid luxury sedan is a bit different than most. Unlike the company’s previous effort, which displayed images straight on the windshield, this one makes use of an LCD in the dashboard, which also does double duty by displaying the speedometer and all the vehicle’s other vitals. What’s more, the system also takes things to Terminator-like levels with a pedestrian recognition system, although that apparently only works at speeds below 60 kilometers per hour (the company says it’s also working on a means of recognizing bicycles and animals). No word on exactly what sort of premium all that will demand, but Toyota admits it’ll be “several times more expensive than the existing meters.”
Posted on 31 May 2008 by admin
Taipei (Taiwan) – TG Daily got its hands on Asus’ latest entry-level notebook, the Intel Atom-based EeePC 901. We were left with mixed feelings after seeing and playing with the device for a while. The processing and graphics capability is entry-level without any doubt, while the Eee PC 901’s price has arrived deep in mainstream territory.
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The Eee PC has made quite some waves and some believe that it even resembles what the OLPC XO should have been, at least in terms of its market appeal and success. In Taipei we came across the Intel Atom-based Eee PC 901, which ran on an Atom Z520 processor, clocked at 1.33 GHz and rated at a maximum power consumption of 2 Watts (average power: 220 mWatts).
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The unit also included Intel’s 130 nm integrated graphics chipset called SCH (“System Controller Hubâ€), which, however, left us unimpressed. The device we saw delivered choppy video playback on its 8.9†screen and convinced us that video is something you would not want to run on this device. But then, the Eee PC is really intended a cheap notebook. The power consumption during video playback, by the way, was 10 watts and we saw the power consumption max out at around 12 watts.
But wait: Cheap? We heard that the Windows XP version of the device with 20 GB of memory (4+16 GB) will sell for $649, while the Linux versions will come in at $549 or $599. By today’s standard, that is not really cheap anymore, especially, if you can purchase a generally much more capable notebook for the same price at your local electronics store.
The Eee PC 901 is scheduled to launch on Monday.
At least for now, we are not impressed.
By Theo Valich
TGDaily
