Given that most netbook press releases look like photocopies of each other, we’re particularly intrigued by the Litl Webbook. Spotted last week whipping through the FCC, the Webbook is described by Litl as “an internet computer for the home” and uses a home-grown always-on OS; it can be used as a standard netbook or, flipped round, as a more passive TV device with an optional remote control and “TV style” control knob.
Details on an upcoming 21.5-inch multitouch monitor from Dell has opened up the possibility a multi-finger gestures upgrade for those not wanting to change their entire PC. The Dell SX2210T was spotted in among the manufacturer’s online documentation, and is poised to take advantage of Windows 7’s multitouch support.
The ASUS Eee Keyboard saga continues, and we’re beginning to think it’s the company’s version of vaporware. At their latest launch event in London, UK, this week, the Eee Keyboard – which squeezes a nettop and touchscreen into a keyboard form-factor, and was first debuted at CES back in January – was conspicuous by its absence, with ASUS telling Electricpig that the device was still mired in testing; however, ASUS have also been demonstrating their latest version of the Eee Keyboard to NetbookNews, with nary a mention of release delays.
Video demo of latest version after the cut
There’s slim, and then there’s wafer-thin-mint skinny, and it’s obviously the latter that Cube’s new H600HDMI PMP is aspiring to. The 5-inch mediaplayer has an 800 x 480 resolution display, can cope with decoding up to 768p/30Mb media and is capable of outputting 720p/1080i video via its HDMI port, but most strikingly it’s just 6.99mm thick.
ASUS’ latest NVIDIA Ion based nettops have been well and truly pawed over by NetbookNews.de, and considering that the Eee Box EB1012 at least seems destined for the US market it’s only right that we should take an interest. The EB1012 – and the ASUS Eee Box EB1501 – uses Intel’s dual-core Atom 330 1.6GHz processor, paired with the Ion 1080p-capable graphics chipset, with the key difference being that the EB1501 finds room to squeeze in an optical drive.
Video demos after the cut
Acer’s Aspire Revo nettop has just received a welcome shot in the arm, courtesy of a dual-core Atom 330 processor and an extra gig of RAM. The Aspire Revo R3610-U9012 kicks out its predecessor’s Atom 230 chip in favor of the quicker alternative, and pairs it with 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 and NVIDIA Ion graphics. That should hopefully make the system a little better at coping with non-1080p video tasks, something the first model had issues with.
Memorex obviously reckon there’s a gap in the market – seriously, where? – for yet another point-and-shoot camcorder, and so they’ve announced not one but two of the little devils. Looking somewhat curvier than what’s on offer from Flip, Creative and Kodak, the Memorex MyVideo (MCC221) and Memorex MyVideo HD (MCC225) each offer an integrated USB port, digital zoom and 2-inch LCD display, with the MyVideo capturing up to 2hrs of VGA quality footage to its 2GB of internal storage, while the MyVideo has 4GB for up to 1hr of presumably 720p video.
Each also grabs still shots – the MyVideo at VGA resolution, the MyVideo HD at a presumably interpolated 5-mexapixels – and has onboard software to make uploading to Flickr, YouTube and other sites straightforward. Memorex quote up to 5hrs of battery life for the low-res model and half that for the HD version.
ASUS’ Eee Box range arguably came of age when the company announced the 1501, their first NVIDIA Ion based model. Packing a DVD drive and various video output options, we’ve been waiting to see when it might show up in the wild; that question has been answered by the guys at Newgadgets.de, who grabbed some live shots of the Eee Box 1501 at a press conference in Munich.
We’re so used to seeing Intel’s Z-series Atom processor range show up in netbook-sized ultraportables that it almost comes as a surprise when a manufacturer puts one in a MID like Intel expected. uSmart have been demonstrating this 4.8-inch WVGA M1C MID at the Hong Kong Electronics fair, complete with an Intel Atom Z530 CPU, GMA500 graphics and an HDMI output.
HP have gone touch-crazy in the run-up to Windows 7’s release, pushing out several new touch-sensitive products including a 42-inch widescreen LCD. The HP TouchSmart tx2 updates the original convertible tx2, and has a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen which also accepts stylus input; meanwhile there are two new TouchSmart desktop ranges, in the shape of the consumer-oriented HP TouchSmart 300 and 600 – at 20- and 23-inches respectively – and the business-centric HP TouchSmart 9100, a 23-inch model targeted at the hospitality and retail markets.
JP
