Dell unveils 10-inch Windows 7 tablet

Dell expanded its foray into tablets today with a new 10-inch Windows 7-based device designed, the company said, for users "who need greater mobility, as well as IT organizations that demand control, security, manageability, and integration with existing infrastructure investments."

The Windows 7 Business Tablet, which will run on an Intel processor, could be available by the middle of the year (note that the tablet in the above photo is a nonworking mock-up of the machine).

The tablet was among 39 new products unveiled at the company's Dell Means Business event in San Francisco this morning. They include laptops, desktops, workstations, and a convertible tablet, the Latitude XT3 (a follow-up to the laptop/tablet hybrid XT2).

The Latitude XT3 is a follow-up to the laptop/tablet hybrid XT2 (click to enlarge).

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

 

But the news out of the event likely to grab the most attention is the Win tablet, even though details on specs remain scant and we don't yet have a price or a release date beyond sometime later this year.

Businesses want Windows because it fits into the IT management scheme, Steven Lalla, vice president and general manager of Dell's commercial client product group, said at the event. Not to say Android doesn't, he added, but he maintained that a bigger chunk of the business sector wants to go the Microsoft route.

The new touch-screen tablet, however, will also come in a 10-inch Android version, apparently named the "10-inch Android Tablet," at least for now. That means neither version will fall under the Streak banner.

The Latitude-E series of laptops, meanwhile, has gotten a refresh. The new Latitude E5000 laptops, starting at $859, come in 12-, 13-, and 14-inch models that feature Intel second-generation core processors, new graphics and memory, and backlit keyboard options.

As expected from a business laptop, they have hard-drive accelerometers and remote IT features, including remote data deletion. The keyboard is also the same across the entire line, which the company says will make it easier for business workers to switch devices.

But while IDC estimates that one third of the world's workforce will be mobile by 2013, and Dell took great pains to emphasize that segment, the company also focused on its three new OptiPlex desktops, a new small form factor all-in-one design, and an update to its Precision workstation line.

"We have 30 years in which the PC has proven to be able to adapt itself to the environment," said Rick J. Echevarria, vice president of Intel's Architecture Group, adding that "rumors of the death of the PC have been greatly exaggerated."

The new Optiplex desktops start at $650. They have the new Intel vPro processors, planned compatibility with the desktop virtualization lineup, and tool-free access to system components (meaning the back just pops off). Dell also said that since none of these systems is scheduled to ship in the next 30 to 45 days, they should go out with the updated version of Intel's Cougar Point Sandy Bridge-compatible chipset, which does not contain the recently discovered Cougar Point SATA flaw.

Dell says it interviewed 7,000-plus Gen-Y customers, IT managers, and other business segment customers to figure out what people want out of Dell's business products.

To design its new business laptops, Dell hosted focus groups over 18 months.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Macworld Expo shines without superstar Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: From star-gazing iPad applications to crystal-encrusted iPhone cases, a universe of products spun off of Apple gadgets flourished at Macworld Expo despite the absence of the sun around which they revolve.

Attendance was on track to hit 25,000 by the time the annual gathering of Apple faithful ends.

The crowd was down from the 40,000 to 50,000 people seen in years when Apple took part and chief executive Steve Jobs starred in presentations that included unveiling hot new gadgets like the iPhone.

Apple pulled out of the show in 2010, but engineers from Cupertino, California-based company still make pilgrimages to Macworld to see what fans and entrepreneurs are making of their products.

“The energy is still really high,” said Anna-Maria Pardini, who works for Hewlett-Packard tending to its relationship with Apple.

“The nature of the show has definitely changed,” she continued, noting she has attended Macworld Expos for more than a decade. “Eleven years ago there was no iTunes, no iPhone, and until recently there was no iPad.

“You’ve seen Apple expanding and changing markets, and changing the way we do things,” she continued. “It is like never stepping into the same river twice.”

Computer titan Hewlett-Packard (HP) makes hundreds of monitors, printers, hubs and other products compatible with Macintosh computers.

Interest was high in HP technology that let people wirelessly connect with printers from Apple gadgets.

Offerings on the crowded expo floor ranged from data storage devices and computer security services to applications for playing or working on Apple devices.

SouthernStars.com showed off Sky Safari software that essentially turns iPads into windows into the night sky.

A freshly-launched Sky Wire cable lets people use iPhones to command telescopes to automatically find celestial objects.

The array of iPhone cases included Luxmo designs coated with Swarovski crystals glued by hand in tiger, parrot, skull, frog and other patterns. Prices ranged from $300 to $350.

Rhinestone covered Luxmo iPhone cases priced at $75 dollars were available for fashionable but frugal technophiles. “Apple people enjoy making a statement,” said David Fung of Luxmo.

US+U claimed to have the most functional iPad case, with a cuff on the back as a handle so people could hold tablets single-handed in a fashion similar to paint palettes. A Waterproof Dry Case was crafted to vacuum seal smartphones in plastic while letting users still plug in headsets to listen to music.

“You could be in a sandstorm or out in the water and not have to worry about it,” Jordan Messick of US-based Dry Corp said. “If nothing else survives, at least your iPhone is going to.”

A Boom application that beefed up sound coming from Macintosh or iPad speakers was among ten products awarded “Best of Macworld” honors on Friday.

Another winner was Ten One Design, a startup that invented Fling joysticks that stick onto faces of iPads with suction cups to provide videogame console style controls.

“Once you get your thumbs on it, you will feel the difference,” said Ten One chief executive Peter Skinner. “What we really love about Fling is they are transparent, so you can see your enemies coming from all directions.”

The company behind Invisible Shield film that protects touchscreen gadgets from scratching took a best-of award for a Zaggmate aluminum iPad case with a wireless Bluetooth-enabled keypad.

“Zaggmate converts iPad into a netbook of sorts,” said Jason Melville of Zagg, adding that the company name is an acronym for ‘Zealous About Great Gadgets.”

He closed a co-worker’s iPad into the case and dropped it to the floor to make a point about the $99 Zaggmate’s ability to protect tablets.

Banners reminded people to mark their calendars for next year’s Macworld event in a clear sign that the independently run event was continuing undaunted without Apple.

Tech world stunned at Egypt's Internet shutdown

The Egyptian government's unprecedented shutdown of Internet and mobile phone access Friday stunned the world's technology community, which questioned whether the country can quickly recover from cutting such a vital link for commerce and communication.
The government's surprising move came in the face of widespread civil unrest, but essentially wiped the country off the world's online maps, said Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys, a New Hampshire firm that monitors how the Internet is operating.
"It is astonishing because Egypt has so much potentially to lose in terms of credibility with the Internet community and the economic world," Cowie said. "It will set Egypt back for years in terms of its hopes of becoming a regional Internet power."
He said the long-term economic effects are unclear because "we've never seen a country rebooted on this scale before."
The shutdown illustrated how ingrained the Internet has become for everyday global communications.
Moreover, the unrest in Egypt, and that in Tunisia the week before, have once again highlighted how vital online social networks like San Francisco's Twitter Inc., and Palo Alto's Facebook Inc. and the video-sharing site YouTube Inc. of San Bruno have become in exporting ideals such as freedom of speech.
Protesters, for example, used a Facebook page to list their demands and rally support.
"A world without the Internet is unimaginable," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an e-mailed response to the Egyptian shutdown.
"Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people and their government to resolve, limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community. It is essential to communication and to commerce. No one should be denied access to the Internet."

Facebook and Twitter

Both Facebook and Twitter reported diminishing traffic to and from Egypt as the protests escalated this week, presumably as the government sought to filter those sites.
The precise "surgical" targeting of Facebook and Twitter wasn't surprising, though it failed to quell the uprising. But Cowie said he was astonished when the country began cutting all access, especially because Egypt has aspirations to become a Middle East hub for Internet operations.

'Obliged to comply'

Renesys watched as about 93 percent of Egypt's Internet traffic began to shut down after midnight Friday in Cairo. Cowie said he could track each of the country's major Internet service providers as they began a shutdown and data suggest government officials made a series of quick phone calls within a few minutes.
In a statement on the company's website, Vodafone Egypt also said that "all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it. The Egyptian authorities will be clarifying the situation in due course."
Cowie said there was only one other similar government-ordered online shutdown, in Burma in 2007, but that did not compare to the outage in as large a country as Egypt.
"What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80 million people from the Internet?" Cowie wrote in a Renesys blog. "What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets? This has never happened before and the unknowns are piling up."
The nonprofit Internet Society of Reston, Va., said that shutdown was "an inappropriate response to a political crisis" and "a serious intrusion into its citizens' basic rights to communicate."

'Ones that will suffer'

"Ultimately, the Egyptian people and nation are the ones that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be worse off with the loss of Egyptian voices on the Net," the group said.
Eva Galperin, international activist with the San Francisco digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the situation shows what can happen if laws are enacted to "put the power to shut down a portion of the Internet in the hands of a single person, whether it's the president of Egypt or the president of the United States."
Galperin also said that while social networking has given activists in Egypt, Tunisia and Iran a "powerful voice" heard beyond their own borders, the Bay Area is also home to companies that provide computer security tools that governments can use to identify and retaliate against them.
Activists living in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes should take precautions to not reveal personal information that could jeopardize their lives, she said.

Narus singled out

In an article published by the Huffington Post, Timothy Karr, campaign director of the Washington media reform group Free Press, singled out Narus Inc., a Sunnyvale computer security firm, for selling the Egyptian government tools for monitoring Internet and mobile phone traffic.
"What we are seeing in Egypt is a frightening example of how the power of technology can be abused," Karr said.
A spokeswoman for Narus did not return voice and e-mail messages requesting comment.

Google awards $100 million to Eric Schmidt

NEW YORK – Google Inc. says it has awarded $100 million worth of equity to Eric Schmidt, who is stepping aside as CEO but will stay with the company as executive chairman.

Google said in a regulatory filing on Monday the stock and stock options will be granted on Feb. 2 and will vest over four years.

Schmidt, 55, is being replaced as Google's CEO by co-founder Larry Page. Both men, along with Google's other co-founder Sergey Brin, have limited their salaries to $1 for years. But the three are Google's controlling shareholders.

Page, 37, takes over the CEO role in April.

Schmidt held about 9.2 million of Google's shares as of Dec. 31, 2010, according to a separate filing from last week. This amounts to about 2.9 percent of Google's outstanding shares and about 9.6 percent of the voting power. He plans to sell about 534,000 Class A shares as part of a pre-arranged trading plan. If he does, he will then hold about 9.1 percent of Google's voting power, the company said.

Shares of Google rose $1.32 to $613.15 in pre-market trading.

New technology can be the best medicine

Doctors And New Technology

We all know that smartphones, tablet computers and big-screen TVs are transforming the workplace and home. But the newest gadgets could also be a tonic for medicine and health care.

Cellphones have already proven to be a potent medical instrument in improving patient outcomes. Diabetes patients who are sent videos on their cellphones and actually view them are more likely to check blood sugar levels and comply with their care regimens, said U.S. Army Col. Ron Poropatich, who spoke at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

And wounded veterans sent text messages via cellphone have better follow-up treatment routines and feel more connected to caregivers, said Poropatich, deputy director of the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center at Fort Detrick, Md.

Several military-run treatment trials are testing the promise of cellphones and online apps in patient care. Poropatich foresees patients tracking their blood pressure and other measurements using computers and devices, and those findings being monitored remotely by caregivers. Similarly, cellphones and online video can connect care-intensive patients who want to remain in their homes with off-site doctors and families.

Both of Poropatich's parents are alive and "I would like to be able to log onto my Blackberry and see how they are doing," he said.

Already, commercial firms are making their own evolutionary strides in telemedicine and personal health monitoring.

A look at some of the health and medical advances on display last week at CES:

•Homebound parents can stay connected online using VitalLink, a touch-screen based computer system that allows real-time video chatting using the phone line and webcam. The New Jersey-based company created online software that can be used with touchscreens, no mouse or keyboard required. "We're keeping it easy to use for the elderly who are computer-phobic and don't have the skills," says company president Rich Brown.

Photo galleries can also be uploaded for viewing. Chat and photo software features start at $4.99 monthly; touchscreens start at about $300 (vitallink.net).

In some assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, VitalLink is being tested with an additional activity monitor feature that lets caregivers and primary family members track the resident's involvement. "If they are not active, you can try and call or you can initiate a call from their end and see what's going on," Brown says.

•For elderly relatives who want to remain in their own homes, the My Guardian Angel service provides automated fall and wander detection, emergency readings and other behavioral and medical monitoring. Residents wear a wristwatch that tracks location, sends out fall alerts, records body temperature and can be upgraded to record pulse as well.

Additional health data from Bluetooth devices (blood pressure, glucose monitoring) can be captured by My Guardian, too. Base price for the system with watch, wireless Internet gateway, three wireless electrical plug-in routers and charging unit is under $1,000; $79.95 monthly service (atguardianangel.com).

The system is highly customizable. "My mom does not like to sleep with (the watch on) and she takes it off every night. If she doesn't have it on by 8 a.m. I get a text message to call my mom and tell to put it on," said CEO Ed Caracappa. "It's a very complete and fully functional system for those who wish to age in place."

•Data tracking can also help those who aim to get – and remain – physically fit. MapMyFitness records and tracks your workout progress using free iPhone apps and compatible devices such as hear monitors and GPS devices.

Runners and bicyclists can wirelessly input data from a heart rate sensor (made by Garmin, Wahoo, Adidas or Timex, for instance) to the iPhone or iPod Touch (also compatible with Blackberry and Android devices). " That gives you instant feedback," says MapMyFitness senior mobile development manager Chris Glode. "You can just look at your phone and know whether you are in your target zone or not."

Other data types that can be input include runner cadence and speed, power expenditure (good for cyclists) and weight ($130-up, www.mapmyfitness.com).

Beyond that, a Web-based subscription service lets you view workout charts and reports, as well as training plans (free to $100 annually). "More and more people are wanting to track every aspect of their life using more and more sophisticated types of sensors," Glode says. "The data you get, in addition to how you feel during the workout and how many calories you burned, is crucial to people."

•Workouts can tracked and more enjoyable by incorporating your big-screen TV. BodyMedia's Fit Armband BW ($249) tracks calories burned and consumed, physical activity, steps taken and sleep. The Bluetooth device lets you monitor activity on your iPhone or Android phone already, but starting in April Panasonic will let you access BodyMedia's software on its Viera HDTVs.

That will allow exercisers to watch their activity levels and calories burnt add up while they watch movies, TV shows or while playing video games. "Our partnership with Panasonic is on the cutting edge for adding important health and wellness information to everyday TV viewing," says BodyMedia chief information officer Steve Menke. "The integration of a body monitoring technology with the TV is enabling real-time health and wellness management."

The marrying of consumer electronics and medical technologies is going to be needed especially as baby boomers age, Poropatich says. "Electronic devices are going to hooked to the cloud. That's all happening."

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New gadgets cook up tech euphoria

2011 International Consumer Electronics Show

 Jan. 14--As a slew of new devices were presented at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show that finished Sunday in Las Vegas, among the tech euphoria was a device that blurred the lines between what a cellphone and desktop computer should be.

The Atrix 4G was Motorola's newest mobile device that made its debut last week, a smartphone running Android 2.2 with a 4 inch gorilla glass capacitive high-res 540x960 resolution display, powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, with each core running at 1 GHz, theoretically delivering up to two GHz of processing power, and 1 GB of DDR2 RAM.

In addition, it will have 16 GB of onboard memory, which can be upgraded to 48 GB with a 32 GB microSD memory card.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Motorola claims this device to be "the world's most powerful smartphone," and with the special feature shown during the presentation, it certainly has facts to back up its claims.

Although it uses a newly designed dual-core processor like the also unveiled LG Optimus 2X, in addition to both a front-facing and a back-facing 5MP auto focus camera with a duel-LED flash, what sets it apart from the current line of devices is its ability to dock, which launches a webtop Linux or entertainment center environment, allowing the device for use as a desktop or laptop computer or a multimedia center.

When the device is released, multiple docks will be available.

One of the options is the HD Multimedia Dock that has ports to connect an HD monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

This creates a desktop experience with a full Mozilla Firefox browser and integrated Flash 10.1 for watching Hulu videos, all outputted at 720p.

Bringing pc-like power to the mobile platform, when docked to the HD Dock, all of the phone's capabilities will remain intact, in addition to 80 percent to 90 percent of PC functions available through cloud-based computing.

A file manager is available for saving all types of documents, which can be edited through webapps like Google Docs. When a more traditional PC experience is needed, virtualization is available through Citrix remote desktop support.

Motorola demonstrated the feature by remotely connecting to a PC running Windows XP fullscreen.

The Atrix can also be connected to an HDTV and used with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for relaxed webpage viewing from the comfort of your living room or while connected to a TV, the home entertainment environment can be launched, allowing access to HD videos, photos, and music, creating an Apple TV-like experience.

The other dock available is the Laptop Dock which connects into a device that looks like a laptop, but is only a screen, keyboard and battery, with all of the computing power done on the smartphone, same as with the HD Multimedia Dock.

The Laptop Dock will get six hours of battery life and when disconnected, the user will be left with a fully charged smartphone.

When the smartphone is removed from its dock, the environment will remain, so when reconnected to the dock again, the user can continue web browsing where he left off. All brower tabs will still be loaded as well as videos.

The browser tabs are also available for mobile viewing once they are disconnected from the dock.

With such extraordinary computing power in your pocket, it's hard to believe where the Atrix's origins date back to nearly 30-plus years ago.

The first successful mass-produced cellphone came with the Motorola DynaTAC in 1984, known to many as "The brick," which weighed two pounds and offered just a half-hour of talk time for every recharging and sold for $3,995, and the computer was the Apple II, with two models, retailing at $1,298 with 4 KB of RAM and $2,638 with the maximum 48 KB of RAM.

The Atrix 4G has about 21 times more RAM than the fastest Apple II, weighing just 135 grams, and lasting for 8.80 hours of talk time and 264 hours of standby time in a super slim package only 10.9 mm thick.

With such vast improvements, it makes phones like Apple's iPhone 4 with its inhouse-built A4 processor, the same as in the iPad, becoming increasingly outdated less than a year after its release, even though it was also revealed for Verizon Tuesday.

Although no pricing was released by Motorola or AT&T, the only U.S. carrier which the Atrix will be available, it was hinted at launch for sometime this quarter.