W7 = better performance

I have been testing W7 in my old Samsung Q1 Celeron UMPC and one thing that I have been saying and saying again is that W7 performs a lot better than Vista. Today Jason Dunn has published a very interesting article from where I’m taking this picture.

It’s a comparison between the Vista and Windows 7 about the amount of memory used by both systems and the relation with the amount of windows opened. The amount of memory used by Vista increase with the amount of windows opened. In Windows 7 it does not matter how many windows do you have opened, the amount of memory used stays the same.

Amtek will be in CES2009

Amtek will be present in the coming CES2009, January 8th in Las Vegas. The news comes from todoUMPC.com who received an invitation sent by this company.

From what I can see, Amtek will be showing a wider range of devices, from Tablet PC, UMPC, Netbooks and ending in Notebooks.

HD in your Roku

Some Roku owners have been reporting about a new firmware update version 1.5 which enables their unit to stream HD 720p movies from NetFlix! Really good news! I just checked Netflix and CSI Las Vegas, CSI New York and CSI Miami (all of them included in my queue) are available in HD. Heroes and NCIS are also available in HD 720p.

Navigation application for Android

Point to point navigation is coming soon to Android phones.

 

The program is currently in Alpha state but very solid according to some sources and it can be downloaded here. The bad news for our American readers is that currently is only available for the following countries: Germany,  France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria & Ireland.

Toshiba launches first 512GB SSD

I really think that the days of HDD are counted and that SSD is the future. And this news about Toshiba releasing a 512 GB SSD seems to confirm this idea.

Toshiba has announced its latest SSD line that includes the industry’s first 512GB SSD. That much storage capacity puts the SSD up there with some of the largest traditional HDDs aimed at notebook users. The 2.5-inch 512GB SSD is built using Toshiba’s 43nm NAND technology.

RIP UMPC?

What do you think? Are the UMPC dead? Here is what Gail Levy, marketing director of TabletKiosk, the maker of the first UMPC to hit the market has to say about it:

Every month, our eo sales continue to grow as more of our customers find the benefits of using a mobile, 7" touch screen computer, and at CES 2009 we will be showing our latest line extensions which we have developed in response to customer requests.

Our customers are attracted to the eo line because of its 7" touch screen which can run the full Windows OS. This is key because they are running or accessing full X86 applications and cannot use Windows Mobile, CE, or any other condensed program to run their software. The 7" screen can output to 1024x768 resolution without sacrificing viewability.

In our experience, these customers never utilized any of the consumer-friendly "Origami Experience" applications , which were designed by Microsoft to increase productivity, because these programs were simply not developed for business usage.

So to those that are nailing the coffin closed, playing taps or sitting "shivah" for the UMPC form factor, consider if you really saying goodbye to the UMPC as Microsoft's promise of the do-everything, inexpensive, mobile computer (the one being handily replaced by the netbook and mobile phone). From my perspective, the 7" touch screen tablet has a very bright future and isn't going away anytime soon!

It took me a while to understand it but at the end I came to the conclusion that the original concept from Microsoft just transformed it self in a wider concept where we have now a group of devices within the range between 5 to 10 inches that before was not almost targeted and when it was the price was extremely high. Like Gail I believe that we still see in the future UMPCs and Tablet PCs. Including within the UMPC category notebooks and 7 inches “Origamis”.

The worse password management

Chapin Information Service has published results of some tests designed to find how safe our passwords are kept by the different web browsers available to users. And guess what,

Safari and Chrome are essentially tied for the worst password manager

Readius photos from MobileRead Forums

MobileRead has posted some pictures of one of the most futurist eReaders that will hit the market in the next few months, the Readius.

What really does work well is the folding of the display. I admit I was nervous the first time Edzer handed me the device and asked me to open and close it. It takes some adjusting to fold a display if you are like me used to handle your precious e-book reader with utmost care.

As far as I remember this reader is all time connected thanks to its phone capabilities. If that’s the case, I can see on it a good chance of replacing the Kindle from its throne.

ritePen 50% Holiday discount

If you have a device with a touch screen or a TabletPC ritePen is a tool that I would recommend to check, and even more now that they are offering 50% off.

Write anywhere on the screen in smooth digital ink and your writing is instantly converted into text and entered into any Windows application - it's that simple!

New features of ritePen 3.0 include:
• Handwritten shortcuts (pen macros, ink commands) automate your routine desktop operations: opening favorite websites, applications and documents, entering standard texts and much more is now at your fingertips.
• You can import new words and special terms into custom user dictionary directly from your documents.
• Enhanced intelligent pen navigation on your desktop. ritePen understands when you are writing and doesn't interfere with scrolling, dragging and resizing windows, and other manipulations with your desktop.
• Italian handwriting recognition has been added to English, French, German, Russian and Spanish languages.
• Online auto-upgrade system (you will be receive automatic notifications about free upgrades).
• Multiple bug fixes and improvements.

Fox talking about the Eee PC S101

I think that there is nothing more important now than saving money and this is a key factor in why many are turning their eyes to cheaper devices like netbooks and to be more specific to the Eee PC S101.

Acer, the most netbooks sold

Acer is doing very well selling the Aspire One, a device which I consider has a better quality than the Eee series from ASUS. 

…the Aspire One has indeed overtaken ASUS Eee PC as top dog in units moved. Acer's captured 38.3 percent of the market share, selling 2.15 million netbooks, while ASUS sold about 1.7 million, or 30.3 percent.

Via: Engadget

Win an Aspire One

If you want an Aspire One here is a way to win one. All you have to do is to create a video featuring the Aspire One from Acer.

I was checking some of the video sent and here is my favorite.

Alpha 400 – A netbook?

Now that Netbooks are the cooler thing around sellers are calling anything with a shape of a Netbook a Nebook. And this seems to be the case of the Alpha 400. 

The Alpha 400 netbook provides multimedia entertainment, Broadband Internet Access and Work on the Go! The Alpha 400 features the reliable Linux Operating System, BroadMIPS XBurst 400 MHz 32-bit CPU, 128 MB RAM, 1 GB NAND Flash storage, a 10/100 MB Ethernet interface and 802.11b wireless access.

To me, this is just a MID. A Netbook uses a full Desktop Operating System and this is not the case. A MIPS processor has a completely different architecture. For those who are not familiar, a program compiled for a MIPS processor does not work in any x86 computer and the same in the other way around.

Santa’s List 2008 From TabletPc2.com

If you are a tech person like I’m you have to agree with me that you are always curious about what other tech persons are buying in Christmas Time. Well, if you are agree with this, then here is a link that you want to check. One more thing, there are many other pages that are going to post other lists but none of them are going to have that feminine touch that Linda puts in to her list. Check it and you will see why I say this.

TG Sambo MID 'LLUON mobbit'

Wow! This title needs a translation! TG Sambo is a company that will sell next January a new MID called 'LLUON mobbit'.

Adopting a 4.8-inch display, the LLUON mobbit runs on Windows XP OS, Intel Atom Z520 processor and DDR2 1GB SDRAM. Other features included wireless LAN, Bluetooth connectivity, Active X support and Internet banking.

Price? Less than 500 dollars.

Via Aving USA

Simpsons video about Apple high prices

It was funny, apparently I’m not the only one that does not buy Apple’s campaigns about the greener laptop in the market unless “greener” is used to mean the amount of green dollars that you have to pay for one of those!

Simpsons make fun of Apple & Steve Jobs
by shivi2004

Linux in an iPhone

Yes, it’s possible and you can find all the details at this page. Now, if that’s possible then I’m more than sure that the next thing we are going to see is Android running in an iPhone.

And You may be asking yourself why some people are trying to do something like that to an iPhone which is considered by many the best OS for Smartphones available in the market. The reality is that they do this because THEY CAN. To me, Android is the best thing made in Linux for Smart Phones but I also consider that at this moment it still too “green” to fully compete against Apple’s SO in the iPhone. But that’s just my opinion, what’s yours?

Note: I’m a proud owner of a T-Mobile G1.