TechLuver.com

El Segundo, California - On Dec 31, Axiotron announced that its flagship product, the Modbook, the first fully functional Apple-authorized tablet Mac solution, is now shipping to consumers.

The only Mac-based tablet computer on the market, Axiotron’s Modbook seamlessly integrates a state-of-the-art Wacom digitized pen-sensitive LCD slate-style display with Apple MacBook’s legendary ease of use and design sensibility, giving artists and design-oriented professionals enhanced onscreen writing and drawing functionality when they need it most.

A perfect blend of style and functionality, each Modbook comes pre-installed with Mac OS X Leopard, the award winning OS X’s built-in Inkwell handwriting recognition, a 2.0 GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a built-in iSight camera and an integrated 24x DVD Combo drive or 8x DVD SuperDrive.

Also, every Modbook features a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS).

In addition to all of the features of the powerful Apple MacBook base system, the Axiotron Modbook’s largest-in-class wide angle 13.3″ widescreen display offers wider viewing angles and a higher contrast ratio, resulting in darker blacks and more vivid, saturated colors while maintaining the same resolution and aspect ratio of the original MacBook display.

Modbook is available today at Macsales for $2279 (Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 80 GB), $2479 (Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz, 120GB, DVD writer) . More at Axiotron.

Round Rock, Texas — Dec 21, `07 — Dell and Tesco today announced the availability of Dell notebook and desktop computers in Tesco, a premier international retailer with operations in Europe and Asia.

Beginning next month, customers will be able to purchase Dell XPS and Inspiron products in Tesco stores, primarily in the UK, with sales also in Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

Dell products will soon be available in more than 10,000 stores and on-line around the globe.

In the past several months Dell has announced relationships with Best Buy in the US, DSG International and Carrefour in Europe, Staples in the US, Courts stores in Singapore, Gome stores in China, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Wal-Mart in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico. More at Dell.

Dec 13, `07 — Igor Skochinsky didn’t take too long to crack Amazon Kindle’s DRM. On his ‘Reversing Everything’ blog he details the workaround to read encrypted Mobi books on Kindle, which involves two Python scripts.

In his words, “We’ve known for some time already that Amazon’s AZW files are actually Mobi files, but Amazon didn’t share Kindle’s Mobi PID which would allow one to buy encrypted Mobi books for Kindle.

Well, I’ve discovered the algorithm used to generate the PID and was able to use it on Fictionwise, but there was another catch. AZW files have a flag set in the DRM info which is not present in books bought from other vendors. After fixing that, I could read the book on Kindle.”

And there goes Kindle’s DRM, so whats next?  Free EV-DO I guess! More at Igor Skochinsky’s blog ‘Reversing Everything’.

ROUND ROCK, Texas –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 13, ‘07 — Dell and DSG international plc (DSGi), one of Europe’s leading consumer electronics retailers, announced the availability of Dell notebook and desktop computers in DSGi stores.

Beginning in January 2008, DSGi and Dell customers will be able to buy a range of Dell notebooks and desktops through PC World, Currys and Currys.digital stores in the UK, as well as Dixons.co.uk online.

Customers will also be able to buy Dell products through the European network of DSGi store brands such as Electro World, PC City, and Elkjop. Customers can buy products in stores from Norway to Greece, and from Spain to Finland.

Dell also plans to sell systems through DSGi stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.

DSGi’s unique TechGuys services in the UK will be extended across the new Dell products, providing full IT customer service availability including telephone support, installation and set-up. DSG operates similar support services across its European operations.

With this agreement, Dell products will soon be available in more than 10,000 stores and on-line around the globe.

In the past several months Dell has announced relationships with Best Buy in the US, Carrefour in Europe, Staples in the US, Courts stores in Singapore, Gome stores in China, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Wal-Mart in the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

The DSGi and Dell agreement will cover stores in UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

TOKYO, Japan — On Monday, Dec 10, Toshiba announced its entry into the emerging market for NAND-flash-based solid state drive (SSD) with a series of products featuring multilevel-cell NAND flash memories.

Offered in a range of form factors and densities, Toshiba’s solid state drives are designed primarily for notebook PCs. They will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from January 7th to 10th. Samples and mass production will follow from the first quarter (January to March) of next year.

Moving NAND-based storage architecture forward, Toshiba’s first solid state drives offer three densities: 32 gigabytes (GB), 64GB and 128GB. SSD realize low power consumption, a fast boot time, and lightweight, but market penetration has been held back by low densities and high prices.

Toshiba’s new SSD integrate an original MLC controller supporting fast read-write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSD. By applying MLC technology, Toshiba has realized a 128GB density in a 1.8 inch form factor. Toshiba expects the launch of its SSD line-up to speed up acceptance of solid state memory in laptops and digital consumer products, and to widen the horizons of the NAND flash market.

The new products utilize NAND flash memory fabricated with 56nm process technology, along with controller chips and DRAM, on a 70.6mm (L) x 53.6mm (W) x 3.0mm (H) platform. The maximum read speed is 100MB a second, and the maximum write speed of 40MB a second with the SATA2 interface (transfer rate of 3Gbps), which is compliant with high speed serial interface. The operating life is 1,000,000 hours. More at Toshiba.

Finally Dell has released details of its first Tablet PC, Dell Latitude XT, which will have multi touch capabilities at a later date.

Dell Latitude XT Specs:

- Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2GHz ULV processor U7600 or Core 2 Solo 1.06GHz ULV processor U2100
- Vista Business (32-bit or 64-bit); Vista Ultimate (32-bit) or Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005
- 12.1″ 1280 x 800 WXGA  Display; Optional LED-backlit Display
- Multi Touch - Capacitive Touch Screen
- Integrated ATI Radeon X1250 UMA Adapter
- Memory up to 3GB
- 40 or 80GB 1.8″ 4200 RPM / 120GB 1.8″ 5400 RPM Hard Drive OR 32 or 64GB Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive options
- 802.11a/b/g/n; HSDPA or EV-DO rev A; Bluetooth 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
- ExpressCard54 and SD slots, 1394, VGA and USB 2.0
- Scroll Wheel, Biometric Reader, TPM 1.2, Super Low Profile Power Adapter
- Up to 5 Hrs Battery life with standard 43WH pack or up to 9 Hrs with extended 45WH pack
- Weighs 3.57 lbs, 1-inch thick
- Starts at $2500

More at Direct2Dell here and details and video about Multi-Touch Capacitive Touch Screen here.

SEATTLE –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 06, ‘07 — Typhoon Touch Technologies announced today that it has commenced an action against Dell and Motion Computing for patent infringement. The Complaint seeks damages and a permanent injunction enjoining Dell and Motion Computing from continued infringing activity.

The Complaint was filed on Wednesday in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, Case No. 6:07-cv-546. Typhoon commenced the action as co-plaintiff with its licensee, Nova Mobility Systems.

Typhoon’s complaint alleges that Motion Computing and Dell have infringed and continue to infringe its U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057 issued January 3, 1995 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same,” and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362 issued October 7, 1997 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same,” through various actions including the manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing a variety of portable computer products, including but not limited to tablet PCs, slate PCs, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), smart phones, and/or other products covered by the patents-in-suit. More at BusinessWire.

Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group has released a statement detailing the company’s efforts to expand flash-based Windows XP support in addition to Intel’s Classmate PC and ASUS’ Eee PC, as well as Microsoft’s plans to expand flash-based Windows XP support for low-cost hardware computing devices.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 05, 2007 — As part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential effort to bring the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people by transforming education, fostering local innovation, and enabling jobs and opportunity, Microsoft today announced plans to further expand flash-based Windows XP support for low-cost hardware computing devices.

This builds on the success of similar support for devices such as Intel Corporation’s Classmate PC and ASUS’ Eee PC, complementing Unlimited Potential’s focus on transforming education in emerging segments.

As part of this commitment, Microsoft plans to publish formal design guidelines early next year that will assist flash-based device manufacturers in designing machines that enable a high-quality Windows experience. In addition, there will be limited field trials in January 2008 of Windows XP for One Laptop per Child’s XO laptop. Microsoft’s goal is to provide a high-quality Windows experience on the XO device; if this is achieved, then Windows XP for the XO could be available as early as the second half of 2008.

Governments evaluating purchases of the XO should continue to consult with Microsoft regarding possible Windows XP availability date, pricing and support policies. In addition, there are no plans to offer a version of Windows that is compatible with the XO laptop for retail purchase in the U.S. and Canada.

Microsoft Unlimited Potential will continue to work with a variety of partners to support this emerging class of devices as part of its effort to help bring social and economic opportunity to the estimated 5 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology.

More information can be found at Microsoft.com/unlimitedpotential. A detailed background on Microsoft’s work to port Windows to the OLPC XO can be found at blogs.technet.com/jamesu. More at Microsoft.

Nov 22, ‘07 — DiveintoMark.org shows us two sides of Jeff Bezos and of Amazon Here is how:

“When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.”

Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Open letter to Author’s Guild, 2002

“You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.”

Amazon, Kindle Terms of Service, 2007

More in-depth stories / discussion on Amazon Kindle at DiveintoMark.org

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 19, ‘07 – Dell will soon launch a 12.1-inch notebook featuring touch panel technology with the panel being sourced from AU Optronics (AUO) with Chi Ling Technology, an affiliate of the Chi Mei Group, being in charge of assembling LCD panels with touch screen panels, Digitimes is reporting citing chinese daily, Economic Daily News.

Digitimes further writes, “The new 12.1-inch notebook uses a touch panel solution from Israel-based N-trig, according to the paper. Instead of adopting capacitive or resistive touch panel technology, the Dell notebook uses a battery-free electrostatic pen, the paper added.” Digitimes.

Nov 19, ‘07 — Long Zheng of istartedsomething.com has gotten his hands on leaked specs and a pic of Dell’s first ever multi-touch tablet PC, Dell Latitude XT. According to Zheng, the Latitude XT was supposed to be released on Nov 16 in most regions and on Dec 03 in the US but got delayed because of recent LCD shortages. There’s no word on when it’d available.

Dell Latitude XT Specs
- Intel 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo, ULV
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Windows Vista Business / Ultimate 32/64 Bit Options
- ATI RS600ME/SB600 Chipset
- 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, Max up to 3GB
- 12.1″ 1280×800 WXGA LED Back-Lit / Dual-Bulb CCFL
- ATI Radeon Xpress 1250
- 256MB Graphics Memory
- 8X DVD +/-RW
- Dell Wireless a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0
- Broadcom BCM5756 Gigabit Ethernet
- Express Card / SD Card Slots
- 3xUSB 2.0, 1394a Connectors
- Weight: LED Back-Lit 1.6Kg(with 4 cell battery) / Dual-Bulb CCFL LCD 1.8Kg(with 6 cell battery)

More at iStartedSomething.com

SEATTLE –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 19, ‘07 — Amazon.com today introduced Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.

More than 90,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 101 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases, which are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. Kindle is available starting today for $399 at Amazon/Kindle.

- Downloads Content Wirelessly, No PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots

The Kindle wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet, uses the same nationwide high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones. Kindle customers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content — all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing.

- No Monthly Wireless Bills or Commitments

Books can be downloaded in less than a minute and magazines, newspapers, and blogs are delivered to subscribers automatically. Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.

- Reads Like Paper

Kindle uses a high-resolution display technology called electronic paper that provides a sharp black and white screen that is as easy to read as printed paper.

- Books, Blogs, Magazines & Newspapers

The Kindle Store currently offers more than 90,000 books, as well as hundreds of newspapers, magazines and blogs

- Subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Monthly Kindle newspaper subscriptions are $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and Kindle magazines are $1.25 to $3.49 per month.

- The Kindle Store has over 300 blogs on topics ranging from Internet and technology to culture, lifestyle, and humor, to politics and opinion.

- Holds Hundreds of Books in 10.3 Ounces

- Built-In Dictionary and Wikipedia

- Adjustable Text Size

- Comes Ready To Use

Handheld device enables nurses and doctors to make the best decisions at the point of care. Oct 18, ‘07 — Vienna, Austria — At the World of Health IT annual congress, Royal Philips Electronics today unveiled CliniScape, its first mobile clinical assistant (MCA). The medical-grade, easy-to-clean handheld device brings a wide range of features together into a groundbreaking mobile point of care solution defined by Philips, Intel and other industry partners.

These include a 10.4” pen-touchscreen, RFID and barcode scanning, and a digital camera. CliniScape completes the missing link in hospital technology, allowing nurses and doctors to document a patient’s condition instantly, reducing their workload and increasing the quality of bedside care.

Main Features:

Ultra-ergonomic
- 10” XGA pen-touch-screen
- smart swappable battery (3,5 hrs)
- grab & go docking station
- intuitive controls and LED indicators
- lightweight (1,6kg) with backside handgrip to minimize  fatigue

All-in-one functionality
 - Windows Vista Business and Intel Core Solo processor (1,2GHz)
- wireless 802.11 b/g/n connectivity
- barcode imager and RFID reader to support the five rights of patient safety
- digital camera (2Mpxl) to capture pictures of patient wounds
- Bluetooth for cordless connection of external devices and patient sensors
- USB port behind rubber cover

The CliniScape MCA also acts as an ideal mobile point of care solution for accessing Philips’ wide range of clinical applications, such as the IntelliVue Clinical Information Portfolio (ICIP) and iSite PACS, the leading enterprise-wide medical image and information management system.

More at Fimi.Philips here and here

A slim, light and flexible tool for direct pen-on-screen drawing. - October 22, ‘07 - Wacom today launches the Cintiq 12WX – Wacom’s first hybrid product combining the advantages of a Cintiq interactive pen display. Offering slimline dimensions (405×270x17 mm) comparable to an Intuos3 A5 Wide, the Cintiq 12WX mixes a high quality, 12.1” TFT display for direct pen-on-screen drawing, painting and sketching, with the advanced features and performance consistent with the Cintiq 21UX and Intuos3 range. The new Cintiq 12WX is aimed at professional digital content creators undertaking tasks including storyboarding, finishing, retouching and compositing.

Combining the small size and flexibility of a normal pen tablet with the convenience of an interactive pen display, the Cintiq 12WX enables perfect hand-eye co-ordination. Like the Cintiq 21UX, users can work with the pressure sensitive pen directly on the high quality screen, which provides a WXGA resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels with 24-bit colour depth and a wide viewing angle of 170°.

The ergonomically designed, cordless and battery-free Grip Pen is precise and provides advanced control and realistic results due to the 5,080lpi resolution and 1,024 pressure levels in both the pen tip and eraser. Tilt functionality is supported, with angles of up to 60 degrees recognised, allowing natural-looking pen, brush and eraser strokes. It can also be connected either by VGA or DVI-I for added convenience.

Bundled software
The Cintiq 12WX is bundled with Corel Painter Essentials – a special edition of the natural media drawing application Corel Painter.

Availability and pricing
The new Cintiq 12WX will be available from November 2007 in the UK from Computers Unlimited and is priced at £829.99 ($1699) including VAT. More at Wacom

Web 2.0 Summit 2007, San Francisco, CA - Nokia today introduced the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, signifying a new phase in portable internet communication.  You have ability to connect this pocket-sized device to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over your Bluetooth mobile phone. The Nokia N810 allows you to make internet calls; check your Google Mail or Facebook Account; watch the latest videos on YouTube or update your blog using the device’s slide-out keyboard along with its stunning touch screen. Its built-in maps and satellite navigation helps you to find your way. It is expected to start shipping mid November with an estimated retail price of 479 USD.

Quick Specs:

• CPU: 400MHz OMAP 2420

• Memory: 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM

• Display 4.13″ 800 x 480 WVGA

• OS: Nokia’s Linux Maemo

• Storage: 2GB Internal

• Connectivity: 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Mini USB 2.0

• Integrated GPS, Front Camera

• Audio Playbacks: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, Real audio

• Video Playbacks: MP4, WMV, MPEG-4, ASF, 3GP, AVI, H.263, H.264, , Real video

• Battery life: 4 hrs of Movies, Internet access etc, 10 hrs Music only and 5 Days Standby, 2 Weeks Idle-Time

• Dimensions: 5″ x 2.83″ x 0.55″, 7.97 ounces

• Availability: In November for $479

More at Nokia