Western Digital: The My Book Studio from Western Digital is designed for Macs, hence the FireWire 800 interface, which should provide ample transfer speeds until USB 3.0 comes around or maybe Light Peak show its 10Gbps speeds sooner than expected. The My Book Studio has an interesting feature: an e-label. I’m guessing it uses a similar technology that we see in current ebook readers such as Amazon’s Kindle. The electronic paper display or EPD consumes no energy when the data being displayed does not change. Unplug the My Book Studio and the display remains “on” and will do so forever. The top line shows a custom label and the bottom indicates how many gigabytes are left.
Take a closer look at the EPD and you’ll realize it is a segmented display–like some of those cheaper Casio digital watches. While my iPhone was out of commission (I’ll get to that in a later post), Motorola’s MOTOFONE took care of me and it also has a terrible segmented display that is extremely difficult to read. The one in the My Book Studio is a bit better, but does it really cost that much more for a dot-matrix display? Maybe a dot-matrix display consumes too much energy. Maybe the next version of the My Book Studio will have a more readable display.
Wired: The wireless connection in the Kindle that connects you to millions of books online works only in the US. How limiting. Amazon thought so too. So on October 19, the company will ship a global version of its Kindle called, “Kindle with US and International Wireless”. (What a name.) Technically the global Kindle isn’t quite global and is limited to about 100 countries, but that’s a big improvement over the current situation.
According to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, everything is the same as the current Kindle except for the radio, which connects to AT&T’s wireless network. By the way, the current Kindle gets a price reduction from $299 to $259. AT&T’s network. Hmm… that’s a big question mark. I hope the experience of downloading books and getting content updates is smoother than what iPhone users have been experiencing. You can pre-order the global Kindle for US$279.
HP UK (TouchSmart 300, 600): Touch-enabled 23-inch BrightView TFT LCD with 1920×1080 resolution, NVIDIA GeForce 9400, 2x DDR3 SODIMM sockets, 6-in-1 memory card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 2.0 (6). The TouchSmart PC 300 has a touch-enabled 20-inch BrightView with 1600×900 resolution. A 1600×900 is really good for nothing when it comes to watching HD so if you can afford it, get the larger 23-inch version.
The art of creating a good product name is no more. A good product name would not only help identify what the product is but help customers easily distinguish one from another. What does the 300 after TouchSmart PC stand for? How about TouchSmart PC 20i? And 23i for the 23-inch version? That sounds smart. I go to HP’s site to find out more detailed information about the TouchSmart PCs and I get model numbers like these: IQ504, IQ506, IQ804, IQ816. *sigh*
Instead of reaching for your mouse, just reach out and touch the LCD. You can pinch, rotate, arc, flip, press or drag a finger across the screen. So what are some things you can do with a multitouch all-in-one? Watch movies using Hulu Desktop and/or Netflix! Isn’t it interesting that we would rather look for the lost remote control, and spend considerable time doing it, than to actually go to the TV and change channels? Well, I’m not sure that we would want to get up, go to our TouchSmart PC and use our fingers to flip channels, change volumes, etc. on Hulu Desktop or Netflix. I just don’t see it. I’d rather sit down, relax and control the thing with my remote! Maybe it’s just me. After the break: Social? Music? Cooking! Cool…
So multitouch and movie watching might not go great together. How about social networking like Twitter? Tweeting is about typing (just a little bit) so you’ll need to get on the keyboard. What’s multitouch got to do with anything?
Okay, multitouch isn’t going to revolutionize the way you tweet. How about music? I say it is the same thing with music as it is with TV. We use our remotes, even when we have our iPods, we want our remotes: the ones integrated into our earphones. When we’re using our stereo, we want to click next on our remotes to get to the next song while we’re reading our Kindles. We don’t want get up from our comfy couch, walk up to the stereo to get to the next song or change the volume. Do we want to do that on our PCs? We want a remote. So multitouch is a waste listening to music on a PC. In my opinion.
Now here is some interesting stuff. RecipeBox! Yes, aspiring chefs, this is for you! You can “discover, explore and keep track of recipes saved from multiple websites and cook with a hands-free experience via voice commands.” I’m glad they made it hands-free but then multitouch is, again, a complete waste. Voice commands don’t work 100% of the time and when you’re working with a sharp object, like a knife, and your computer keeps telling you that you’re saying something wrong or keeps responding the wrong way, something seriously wrong can happen. But even if voice commands work, having a PC close to where you cook is a bad idea, unless the TouchSmart PCs are oil-proof, water-proof, shock-proof, ding-proof, etc.
I’m sure HP’s TouchSmart PCs can be used for a variety of tasks, but multitouch on a PC as of now is without a specific purpose. I personally like to keep my PC displays fingerprint-free. How would you like to be continuously cleaning your huge 23-inch LCD? Or even your 15.4-inch notebook LCD? By the way, that 20-inch or 23-inch display can be used as a monitor for your game consoles like the PlayStation or Xbox. Now that’s a cool feature!
DigiTimes: On October 1, 2009, Sharp begin operations at its 10th generation LCD fabrication plant located in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Construction started two years on November 1, 2007. The G10 glass substrate measures 2880 x 3130mm and the monthly input capacity will be at 36,000 glass substrates per month with a maximum design capacity of 72,000 substrates. The LCD panels will be focused on 40-inch and larger sizes geared to the LCD TV market as well as digital signage.
Sharp will make use of its newly developed UV2A photo-alignment process at its G10 fab to manufacture 40-inch larger TFT LCD panels. I’ve written a post about UV2A where I explain in more detail how Sharp may have the best LCD technology.
The Sharp Green Front Sakai, the complex that houses the G10 LCD fab and Sharp’s thin-film solar plant, will make use of about 100,000 LEDs for all indoor and outdoor lighting. Sharp will also install solar panels on all factory roofs.
The timing of the commencement of volume shipments from the world’s largest LCD fab could have been better. Starting around October the demand for LCD TV panels starts to dwindle. Due to the long supply chain for LCD TVs most of the TVs that will be on the shelves during Black Friday and the subsequent holiday season are currently being integrated, shipped via container ships and then distributed via trains and trucks throughout the retail channels.
Barnes & Noble is claiming its Nook ebook reader is the planet’s “most advanced e-book reader”. The dimensions of the Nook are 7.7×4.9×0.5 inches and it weighs just 11.2 ounces. The unique feature about the Nook is the 6-inch 16-level E Ink Vizplex electronic paper display (EPD) on top and a 3.5-inch capacitive touch LCD on the bottom. The OS running the touch LCD? Android. Genius.
The Nook is expected to last for up to 10 days without wireless connectivity, which include WiFi BG and AT&T’s 3G. There is 2GB of internal storage and other features include: microSD, MP3 player, 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB and a built-in speaker. Supported formats include EPUB, PDF, MP3. Here’s the really intriguing part: just like how we currently experience Barnes & Noble, Nook owners can walk into a real store, connect via WiFi and browse complete ebooks. For free.
There is a ‘LendMe’ feature that allows lending of books for a day at a time to other ebook readers, mobile phones and computers. Barnes & Noble also has ereader apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry. The Nook is available for preorder for US$259. Initial shipments are expected to commence at the end of November.
There’s a really well-made video that goes through most of the important features at Barnes & Noble.
Source:
- “Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader leaks a bit early: $259, pre-orders are live (video)” – Engadget
- “Barnes & Noble Nook dual-screen reader officially announced… for real” – Engadget
- “Barnes & Noble Nook’s first close-up (now with video!)” – Engadget