Wireless Tech Chat

Hello readers, taking a break for a few days. Any questions, comments or concerns, write below or email.

Darren Murph of Engadget has this tidbit of news to share:

We’ve seen no official word from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, but phonescoop has it that the Bluetooth 3.0 specification is just about ready for prime time. Reportedly, the spec will feature “dramatically increased speeds, allowing for the transfer of large video files, music collections and photo libraries wirelessly within seconds.” BT 3.0 should also include a newfangled ability called Enhanced Power Control (EPC), which will supposedly “reduce the occurrence of disconnects that can be caused by actions such as putting a phone in a pocket, backpack, briefcase or purse.” We’re told to expect a whole boatload of details, along with a list of chip makers already lined up to provide support, on April 21st.

Crutchfield.com explains all about Bluetoot 3.0:

The future of Bluetooth
It is estimated that there are more than one billion devices in use that utilize Bluetooth wireless technology. You can expect that number to rise sharply when Bluetooth 3.0 hits the market.

Bluetooth 3.0
Bluetooth 3.0 is the new Bluetooth wireless standard currently in development by the Bluetooth SIG and Wi-Media Alliance. The new standard is reportedly up to 160 times as fast as Bluetooth 2.1, and builds upon the previous standards. With such a rapid jump in transfer speeds, the technology has the potential to revolutionize the consumer electronics industry.

It’s FAST
Bluetooth 3.0 will reportedly transfer files at rates of 480 megabits (60 Megabytes) per second in close proximity, and 100 megabits (12.5 Megabytes) per second at 10 meters. At those speeds, high-quality streaming video is a definite possibility, along with a host of other applications that are simply impractical with the current transfer rates.

Picture this…
With Bluetooth 3.0, camcorders will stream video footage or still photos to Bluetooth enabled televisions and computers; digital cameras will stream photo slideshows to cell phones, and laptops will have the ability to transfer presentations wirelessly to a projector. Use your imagination — the possibilities are really exciting.

High bandwidth mitigates interference
Bluetooth 3.0 will operate in the 6-9 GHz range rather than the current 2.4 GHz range, eliminating the concern of interference from wireless networks and other devices that use the 2.4 GHz range.

Backwards compatibility
Best of all, Bluetooth 3.0 will be backwards-compatible, so all of your old devices will be able to communicate with the new ones and vice versa. New devices will feature a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth radio on the same radio chip, or its own separate chip. But bear in mind that transfer speeds are only as fast as the slowest device, meaning that the two will exchange data at the slower, 3-megabit rate of Bluetooth 2.1.

The eMachines EZ1600 looks incredibly plastic, and almost perfect as a second computer for the kids; the Acer Aspire Z5600 classes up the joint, but might be a bit too staid in the design department; and an unnamed multitouch Windows 7 Gateway (pictured) for the “high end” of things seemed great outside of its incredibly buggy pre-release multitouch driver.

Press Release:

A ‘Touch’ is all You Need with the New Acer All-in-one Multimedia and Aesthetics in 24 inch

2009-04-08 - New York In time, the multiple uses for computers have undergone evolutions and transformations. This doesn’t just involve simple work tool with highly technical performance features. PCs have become real companions for all daily activities, now indispensable to just about every household. Today the aesthetic appearance of the PC is more than just a bonus, especially in context of the home. Features such as design and proportions have gained even greater importance.

Acer has attentively followed the new market trends and has amplified these new dynamics through focused research and development that has demonstrated that rich specification into All-in-one no longer needs to command the extraordinary price premium seen today.

The result of this research has led to some really interesting news: the new All-in-one Acer Aspire Z5600 PC, characterized by its sought-after design, a spacious 24inch display and grand multimedia capability represents a current revolution in the world of PCs and it is engineered to maximize the full promise of the next operating system from Microsoft called Windows 7. Apart from the many refinements of Windows 7 over Vista, the Aspire Z5600 offers full touch screen capability at an affordable price. No longer do users have to be limited to the use of keyboard and mouse controls or be restricted with expensive propriety touch implementations, with the Windows 7 touch capability, users may freely alternate control of the PC with mouse or touch at their ergonomically enhanced leisure.

The miniaturization of internal components has allowed the all hardware to be placed on the rear of the LCD display. The result is an All-in-one device that merges power and elegance in a streamlined device. The new Aspire Z5600 is a mainstream affordable PC that guarantees elevated functionality thanks to the latest generation of Intel processors and spacious HDD capacity of up to 2TB. The latest generation of MXM graphic processors ensures optimum multimedia performance.

The Acer Aspire Z5600 is perfect for complimenting the most sophisticated environments and can be easily positioned in any room of your residence, from the lounge to the study or a child’s room. The new silver Aspire Z5600 is an entire digital entertainment system that integrates all the necessities of a true rich multimedia PC; including TV tuner to watch and record favorites television programs, integrated webcam for video calls to keep in touch with relatives and friends, and an incorporated DVD/Blu-Ray player/writer combo for playing back or burning movies, music and video.

Lenovo is adding a 3G card to the IdeaPad S10 (calling it the S10-2) and is also unveiling a 12 inch model called not surprisingly the S12. It will also come with a 3G card, but no -2 designation.

Both models will ship with Splashtop installed, allowing users to quickly fire up the browser, IM, and other apps.

the S10 definitely looks the part with a sleek all-white, black and white or red and white chassis and it houses a decent hardware configuration.

10.2in, 1,024 x 600 LED-backlit screen
250.2mm x 183mm x 22-27.5mm chassis weighing from 1.1Kg
Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz) CPU
Up to 2GB RAM
Up to 160GB 2.5in hard drive
3-hour 3-cell battery, 6-hour 6-cell battery
Express card expansion slot
Wireless G (no draft-N)
Integrated 1.3MP webcam

Windows XP will be pre-installed along with Lenovo’s rather good system management interface. Apparently in some countries there will be 9in versions and some systems with Linux installs available too, although which regions these will be coming to we can’t say.

Price wise the US S10 will cost from $399 (~£200) for 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard drive, while $450 (~£225) will net you a 160GB drive and 1GB RAM.

Placed next to two competing 10-inch netbooks, the ASUS Eee PC 1000H and the MSI Wind, the S10 appears definitively thinner, though it’s not necessarily lighter. Th2e review unit for laptop mag featured a three-cell battery and tipped the scales at 2.6 pounds, which was the same weight as the six-cell MSI Wind, but 0.6 pounds lighter than the 3.2-pound Eee PC 1000H.

from gizmodo: TheStreet says that Nokia “has sealed its plans” to get into netbooks, which will be made for them by Foxconn (so it’s cheaper, easier and faster for them to start). But here’s the real question: What OS is it gonna run?

Ewen Spence, over on All About Symbian has this to say:

The rumours of a Nokia Netbook have lit up the internet. Even though it would have been hard to deny, the opportunities for Nokia’s software services would surely outweigh the cost of building a commodity consumer electronics device. Ewan explains why.

“We are looking very actively also at this opportunity,” Nokia’s Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said to a Finnish Broadcaster. Well he would, wouldn’t he? The rise of the netbooks in the last 12 months has been nothing short of a sea-change in attitudes in the laptop market. The old order of high profit margins for companies like Apple, Dell and HP has been upturned. Some are adapting (witness the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 just launched in the UK), while others are leaving a conspicuous gap in their product line up (Apple).

So when you as a CEO, are asked if you’re looking at a brand new consumer electronics sector, then the answer is yes, we are looking at it; then don’t commit yourself to actually doing anything about it, because you’re focused on moving the company from hardware-led to being software and services-led. But then the Internet picks it up and becomes “Nokia looking to release a netbook”.

Now the romantic in me (and Steve) will be thinking that as the robust Symbian OS grew out of the OS that powered the award winning Psion machines (including their, cough, “netbook”, in 1999, shown behind, in the photo below) then the machine would be the bestest cutest lil machine in the world. If they ask the Symbian Foundation nicely, then the EIKON interface can be dusted back down for public use and all will be right in the world.

They’ll just need the applications to run on the device and they’ll be set.

For people suffering from advanced macular degeneration, this lens implant magnifies light at 2.2x to 3x and projects it onto the healthy part of the retina, avoiding the damaged blind spot.

It also, one would think, looks pretty awesome to wear. All we have to go on now are these illustrations, but I would love to see this in actual use. The device has finished clinical trials, and experts on ophthalmic devices have unanimously recommended FDA approval. Amazing stuff.

VisionCare Inc., now out of Saratoga, California, is reporting that the “FDA Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel unanimously recommended that the FDA approve, with conditions, the premarket application (PMA) for its implantable telescope for End-Stage AMD.” We have been reporting about this device, designed for advanced macular degeneration, since 2005 when it was in Phase II/III clinical trials. The fresh news will probably pave way for bionic geriatrics in the next few years.

From the product page:

The prosthetic telescope, together with the cornea, acts as a telephoto system to enlarge images 3X or 2.2X, depending on the device model used. The telephoto effect allows images in the central visual field (’straight ahead vision’) to not be focused directly on the damaged macula, but over other healthy areas of the central and peripheral retina. This generally helps reduce the ‘blind spot’ impairing vision in patients with AMD, hopefully improving their ability to recognize images that were either difficult or impossible to see.

Its amazing what science and technology can do in the 21st century.

From CNET:Jabra introduced two new devices today at CTIA 2009, and neither of them are traditional mono-Bluetooth headsets. They are the Jabra HALO stereo headset and the Jabra SP200 speakerphone.

The Jabra HALO stereo headset uses stereo Bluetooth or A2DP to stream music wirelessly from a stereo Bluetooth-compatible handset or MP3 player. It also has a wired option if your device only has a 3.5-mm headset jack and no Bluetooth. Like other stereo headsets, you can also use the HALO to make and receive calls; the music will fade out whenever there are incoming calls, for example. It boasts Zirene Power Bass for better audio quality and Noise Blackout for background-noise reduction

The HALO represents a more grown-up headset, answering users’ cries for a more discrete Bluetooth experience: the status LEDs are hidden on the inside of the headband, and the controls are zero-profile touch sensitive.

Sound quality seemed reasonable - as much as we could tell from the noisy show floor - but we’ll need to spend more time with the Jabra HALO to see if the company’s inclusion of Zirene Power Bass makes a significant difference. Still, they’re comfortable and flexible: a 3.5mm input and supplied cable means you can still use the HALO headset with non-Bluetooth mediaplayers. It’ll go on sale on May 1st, with an MRSP of $129.99.

If anyone has this or is contemplating getting a pair, would love to hear from you. Send your comments via comment button or email above.

Moixa is awarded a patent on its apple sized multi-touch sphere that can be used to display the world (e.g. Google Earth), browse web pages or control interactive games.

Moixa, the UK based pioneers of folding keyboards and USBCELL re-usable batteries announced today that it has been awarded a patent GB2414309 on Sphere – a spherical hand-held display and control device. Sphere, which is the size and weight of an apple (and can also be recharged by opening a leaf like petal), can display an interactive world map (such as Google Earth), navigate the web or interact with applications. The device supports multi-touch interactions for zoom, selection, as well as 6 degree rotational and gyroscopic actions, with particular application in interactive games or complex control situations such as interacting with a nearby 3D screen or virtual space.

In Moixa tradition, Sphere can also be collapsed, used and stored in its second form - a flat ellipsoid. The patents, filed in 2004 also disclose advanced multi-touch surface interaction and gyroscopic control benefits.

Moixa founder Simon Daniel comments, “Sphere is part of an expanding IP portfolio of geometric forms that rethink the axioms of advanced portable computing. This started with cuboid folding keyboards, through flat/extendable mice and rollable screens to cylindrical re-usable batteries, and now spherical forms. In the future, phones and portable computing devices reduce to input/output and power. Sphere reinvents the look and feel of the advanced portable device as we rely more on services, memory and mapping stored on the web”.

William Blake’s insight captures the spirit of Sphere when he said ‘To see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour’.

Sphere is under development for release 209 years after William Blakes’s insight, in 2010 and is linked to the commercial availability of flexible screen materials. For license opportunities or to register interest in product updates, please visit moixa.com/sphere or moixadesign.com. Moixa pioneers portable devices and won a top 50 global iF Gold design award last year for pioneering sustainable USBCELL batteries (www.usbcell.com).

From Engadget: In braille, a character is made up of six dots laid out on a two by three matrix — not something that can really be conveyed using capacitive touchscreen technology. Working with a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, researchers in Finland have developed a method for piezoelectric touchscreen devices that uses a single pulse of intense vibration to convey a raised dot, and a longer vibration made up of several weaker pulses to represent a missing dot — spelling out letters that can be easily read by touch. It took a while for volunteers to get used to this method, but once they had they were able to read a character in as little as 1.25 seconds. Now that they have letters down, the team is moving on to words and sentences — with an eye towards developing text-to-braille software sometime in the future.

To discover how visually impaired volunteers would prefer to receive these vibrations, the team developed two different presentation methods. In the first, the user touches the screen on the left-hand side to read whether or not there is a bump in that position of the matrix, then moves their finger horizontally across the screen to read the remaining five dots. “But it wasn’t that easy to read,” says Rantala.

In the second method, the user simply places a finger anywhere on the screen and holds it still. The phone then displays a character by vibrating the sequence of six dots, each 360 milliseconds apart. “It took some time for them to start reading, because this representation is totally different from anything else that they had previously used,” says Rantala. But once the volunteers were used to it, they were able to speed it up and read a character in as little as 1.25 seconds.

From Engadget: Dell’s putting on the neon lights for its new line of Inspiron desktops, and as usual, customization’s the key here. In addition to two body types — slim (pictured) and mini tower — there’s eight different colors to choose from: Piano Black, Pure White, True Blue, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Spring Green, Plum Purple and Promise Pink. That last one’s tied to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure program, which the company currently donates to for every Promise Pink laptop it sells. Processor options include Intel Celeron, Core 2 Duo, and Core 2 Quad, and AMD Sempron, Athlon X2 and Phenom X4. Other specs include six USB ports (two in front, four in back), up to 8GB RAM on select systems, integrated Intel graphics or ATI Radeon GPUs, and up to 750GB HDD for slims and 1TB for mini-towers. If you’re currently in the market for a new PC, you might want to hold off just a tad longer. These new Inspirons are due out this Spring for US and China and start at $299 for the lowest of the low-end models.

From pc/hardwares.about.com: The Bottom Line
Dell’s Inspiron E530s slimline design helps reduce the overall size of the system but it retains much of the performance and features of its full sized version. This is a great low cost system for those looking to save a little desktop space but dont want to sacrifice performance.

Pros
Full Desktop Components
Relatively Low Cost
Includes LCD Monitor
Cons
Half-Height Card Slots Limit Expansion Possibilities
Lacks FireWire Port
Description
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Dual Core Desktop Processor
1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
320GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
Intel GMA X3100 Integrated Graphics
Dell SE198WFP 19″ LCD Monitor
10/100 Ethernet
Six USB 2.0 Ports
14.2″ x 17.1″ x 3.9″

from engadget:Good news, pre-orderers. ASUS’ 15.6-inch Eee Top all-in-one PC is now shipping from legitimate e-tailers around the web. Just in case you’ve fogtotten just under six bills buys you a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and Windows XP Home. In other words, netbook components tucked within an LCD. Of course, we’d recommend holding off for the much larger, much more HD-friendly ET2203 and ET2003, but it’s your loot.

The Eee Top ET1602 builds upon Asus’ popular line of Eee-branded products by introducing an all-in-one desktop form factor, complete with a 15.6″ touch screen. Like the Eee PC netbooks that preceded it, the Eee Top ET1602 is built around Intel’s low-power Atom platform, with the 945 GSE chipset. Other features include an integrated webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi, 4W speakers with SRS Premium Sound enhancement, and a flash memory card reader. At about $599, the Eee Top ET1602 is relatively expensive considering its performance, but its integrated touch screen and proprietary Asus Eee applications help to somewhat justify the investment for a system that offers such ease of use and innovative touch interface features.

Video from hothardware.com

Looking for an all-in-one but don’t want to pay Apple-level prices? Well, the new Asus EEE Top is now available for preorder in the US.

The 15.6-inch models are set to ship from Amazon on March 9th for $600. It comes in either black or white, loaded up with a custom touchscreen interface, a 1.6GHz Atom processort, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, built-in webcam, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Windows XP.

And if 15.6 inches is a bit too small for you, rumor has it your patience could be rewarded with a 22-inch version coming out later.

From Gotta Be Mobile: Slingbox showed us its iPhone application at CES 2009, but it hasn’t been released on iTunes quite yet. They hoped it would be live by the end of Q1, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when Apple will approve it. Things seem to be progressing in the right direction though, with Slingbox publishing a new page on its site showing a sneak peak of the Slingbox iPhone app.

From Zatsnotfunny: What we’ve got here is a technology demo and a stake in the ground: SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone. As it is, the current application is an amazing technological achievement (given Slingbox’s Windows Media Video broadcast) and the team has done a great job with the initial UI. Going forward, Sling’s got an interesting decision to make (which may not entirely be up to them): Continue down the jailbreak path or get legit with the SDK and iTunes App Store (including hefty Apple kickbacks). But Jobs has said no to “bandwidth hogs,” so Sling may have to limit connectivity options (to WiFi - a non-issue with the current EDGE model) for a store blessing.

No word on timing, but if I were driving I’d put a time bomb on this alpha software and release it as part of a Sling Labs initiative (along with Blackberry, SlingPlayer 2.0, etc) to fire up the community and sell Slingboxes.

And Macdailynews.com says: “Unfortunately, while the new app fills the iPhone’s screen with a nice, smooth picture, it doesn’t take full advantage of the increased screen resolution. The app scales up the same 320 x 240 pixel image from the Windows Mobile and BlackBerry versions to fit the iPhone’s 320 x 480 pixel screen. Having said that, it still looked sharp when blown up to full screen, with reasonable smoothness over a weak 3G signal and near 30 fps animation over Wi-Fi,” Lendino reports.

From MSNBC Tech:
Tough economy will not deter mobile competitors

Research In Motion, Microsoft and Nokia are getting ready to launch online “app” stores for their mobile phones, attempting to play catch-up with Apple’s hugely successful “App Store” for the iPhone. With a tough economy, will consumers be willing to spend tightly held dollars on software programs for their phones?

Most in the industry believe they will. “While buying a car or house may be out of the question for many people, a 99-cent or $2.99 application may be in the budget,” said Allen Nogee, In-Stat wireless infrastructure and technology analyst.

“And with many people canceling their wired-line phones, Internet or cable so they can keep their mobile phones, now is the perfect time for an app store.”

Mobile apps’ draw
Microsoft, which plans its online Windows Mobile Marketplace this fall, agrees. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

“Whether we’re in very spare or prosperous times, the opportunity for someone to be able to go and enjoy either a free application download that gives their phone a new capability or a reasonably priced application download that gives their phone a new capability — that opportunity will be welcomed in all economic times,” said Daniel Bouie, senior planner for Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Like its competitors, Windows Marketplace for Mobile will feature both free and paid programs.

“The thing about mobile applications is that a ton of them are available for free, or are at least available at a low price,” said Ramon T. Llamas, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Technology and Trends.

The Maingear MX-L
The new MX-L is the ideal notebook for the professional on the go. Small, stylish and light, its the perfect companion to help you stay organized and connected on those long business trips or between home and the jobsite, wherever it is.

CPU Power.
The MX-L is the one of the first notebooks to ever use Intel mobile CPUs. The Intel Core 2 CPU delivers the power you need to perform demanding tasks like video editing, playing next-generation titles with your friends or multi-tasking several heavy applications without a hitch.

13.3″ LED Backlit Display.
Its razor-thin 13.3 inch display with LED backlit technology delivers unsuppressed color saturation and ultra-brightness that not only creates true-to-life images but also produces higher visibility over the traditional active matrix display you’ll find elsewhere. Also, with an LED screen it’s just on and off, there’s no warming up or waiting necessary, it’s ready when you are.

Fall Sensors.
The MAINGEAR MX-L comes equipped with fall sensors that park the hard drives head to a safe position so data isnt lost or the head is damaged in the case that you drop your notebook. We put in as much care into features we hope youll never have to rely on as much as we do the features that youll use on a daily basis.

Multimedia.
The Intel G45 Express Chipset, with the next-generation Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD (Intel GMA X4500HD), includes built-in support for full 1080p high-definition video playback, including Blu-ray disc movies. This powerful video engine provides you with a rich, new media experience to deliver smooth HD playback without the need for add-in video cards or decoders. Now catch that movie youve been meaning to watch since youre not going anywhere for a while on that flight.

High Speed Wireless Connectivity.
Disconnect your MX-L and maintain a stable, high-speed connection with next-generation Draft-N wireless technology.

Crazy Mobile Capacity.
Take up to 500GB of data with you on the go, whether its music, movies or projects you’re working on.

Upgradability.
MAINGEAR PCs are built to last. When your needs grow your PC grows with you. With plenty of space for additional storage and memory upgrades to platforms that support multi-GPU configurations for the highest quality images an d graphic processing. Visual computing at its finest.

Built-in Webcam.
The MX-L notebook’s 1.3 megapixel webcam lets you record high-quality video for just about anything from video blog posts to video messages to send to just about anyone.

Security.
Keep your private files locked down tight with the enhanced biometric security of a built-in fingerprint reader. This feature will prove most useful if you ever misplace your notebook or if it is stolen.

From Engadget: On the environmental tip, Mayor Bloomberg has announced that New York City will install 826,000 wireless water meters by 2011. Under the new system, readings will be sent to a network of rooftop receivers throughout the city every six hours, enabling the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to bill property owners every month with exact water usage — with the bill available online. Under the current system, water use iNew York City says a $68 million effort to modernize its water meters will help save money and water by flagging leaks fast.

The Department of Environmental Protection announced plans yesterday to install a wireless, automatic meter-reading system citywide.

The network will measure customers’ water use four times a day. Readings are now taken four times a year, meaning leaks sometimes linger undetected.

DEP says a leaking toilet can waste 250 gallons a day — about $640 a year.

The agency says the new system will spot spikes in water use and alert customers to check for leaks. It’s expected to take three years to install.

DEP says staff meter-readers will shift to other tasks. The agency also pays Consolidated Edison to read meters but expects to stop.

It is estimated and folks are billed every three months. The system will cost taxpayers $250 million, and installation (free for property owners) is already underway in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. When it is fully installed, New York will be the largest city in the world to use wireless water metering. According to the New York Times, it’s estimated that a 5 to 10 percent reduction in water use could save the city up to $90 million annually.