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HP Debuts First Multi-touch Notebook — Yes HP, Not Apple (Now That’s a Surprise!!!)
From the first time Steve Jobs demonstrated “the pinch” — the two-finger gesture used to zoom in and out of photos and Web pages on the iPhone – some Apple observers assumed it was just a matter of time before a multitouch-enabled screen showed up on the Mac.
That hasn’t happened yet. But now Hewlett-Packard has beaten Apple to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2.
We are all wondering — aren’t we — why Apple couldn’t get this out to market first?
The tx2 is a convertible notebook, meaning its screen can pivot 180 degrees to show someone else what’s on it or lie flat and act like a tablet PC.
The first convertible notebook aimed directly at consumers, the tx2 sports HP’s version of multitouch technology, which lets you use two fingers at once to manipulate images on the screen or make on-screen gestures that signify specific commands.
A pinch motion works just like it does on an iPhone or MacBook, for example, letting you rotate pictures or press and drag files around.
Pricing? $1,150 or only $151 more than the starter MacBook.
More at BusinessWeek.
Tags: apple, convertible notebook, hewlett-packard, hp, iphone, mac, macbook, steve jobs, tx2
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HP Going Wild with Asia Stores
Didn’t I just blog yesterday about the wisdom of Pioneer opening its second U.S. retail store?
Well, I guess these companies have a better bead on what’s going on the minds of their consumers because now HP is planning to launch 7,500 stores across Asia.
(That is a serious amount of stores!)
Hewlett-Packard plans to focus on China and India when it establishes these stores in 1,000 Asia-Pacific cities.
One of the largest computer companies in the world, HP is striving to offer an enhanced retail experience as well as improved customer support.
As well as appeal to nearly one-third of the world’s population — much of it moving steadily upward.
More at The Economic Times (India).
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Wow! A Quick Boot PC — About Time!
It is the black hole of the digital age — the three minutes it can take for your computer to boot up, when there is nothing to do but wait, and wait, and wait some more before you can log on and begin doing anything at all.
Now the computer industry says it wants to give back some of those precious seconds. In coming months, the world’s major PC makers plan to introduce a new generation of quick-start computers, spotting a marketing opportunity in society’s short attention span.
Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are rolling out machines that give people access to basic functions like e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less.
Now, can you remember back when you’d boot up the PC and then head to make a pot of coffee … 
Asus, a Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest maker of the circuit boards at the center of every PC, has begun building faster-booting software into its entire product line.
Even Microsoft, whose bloated Windows software is often blamed for sluggish start times, has pledged to do its part in the next version of the operating system, saying on a company blog that “a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds.”
Today only 35% of machines running Windows Vista, boot in 30 seconds or less, the blog notes.
Apple Macs tend to boot more quickly than comparable Windows machines, but still feel glacially slow to most users.
Now, if we could just solve global warming …
More at the New York Times.
Tags: apple, dell, hp, lenovo, macintosh, microsoft, quick-start computers, windows vista
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HP Says Touch Me Now!
Hewlett-Packard (HP), aiming to boost its personal computer sales against arch rival Dell (and Lenovo and Apple, too), is increasingly turning to touch-screen technology.
HP is now developing a consumer notebook with a touch screen that will debut before year end. It will include special software that supports the touch screen, but other details, such as pricing, remains unclear.
The new laptop is the latest in a series of touch-oriented devices, including an upcoming line of cellphones, that will become a priority of HP.
HP began promoting touch screens last year with a big-screen desktop computer called the TouchSmart (see photo above). A revamped TouchSmart debuted this year, with new software and a new external design. The touch-sensitive screen allow PC users to move items around, surf the Web or open files with their fingertips, replacing functions normally performed by a mouse and keyboard.
But tablet PCs, or touch-screen laptops, haven’t done that well in the past. Will the future be any different?
More at the Wall Street Journal.
Tags: Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, tablet pc, touchscreen, TouchSmart
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Storage Startups Turn Cache Into Cash
Other than the availability of bigger boxes it’s hard to point to big changes in the way we store our stuff. But much like the physical storage industry, which has seen slight innovations in recent years, business-class data storage is quietly making its own incremental improvements — with support from venture capitalists.
Building a Blade Server: The HP Factory Tour
Last Friday I was given a tour of HP’s factory floors in Houston, where it makes high-value custom servers for clients. The pictures I took document all the steps involved, from gathering the boards and chips to the shipping of individual servers, with a quick shot of an HP system being built.
Exclusive: First Look Inside the HP POD Data Centers
I traveled down to Houston today to check out a data center geek’s version of paradise — the inside of the factory where HP builds their rack-mounted servers and high-value blade systems. I shot plenty of photos that show how a bunch of chips and boards gets assembled into a blade that I will put […]
Finally Some Good News about Notebook Batteries!
Seems like every blog about notebook computers and batteries is bad news — recalls, fires and the like.
Well, how about some good news for a change!
Hewlett-Packard (HP) will reportedly release a notebook next month that can run for to 24 hours using a high-capacity battery — but only if it’s running Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system.
The long-lasting notebook will be a special configuration of the 6930p, part of HP’s EliteBook line.
The allure of a battery that can last a day is incontestable, as anyone who has spent time in an airport searching for a power outlet knows. The secret to the 6930p’s long battery life is new technology — and some old technology, too.
To get the best battery performance, the 6930p will have to run Windows XP rather than Windows Vista. Vista has been criticized as being a power hog, although some of its flashy, power-draining features such as the translucent Aero windows can be turned off.
Read more about it at PC World here.
Tags: 6930p, aero, elitebook, hp, microsoft, notebook batteries, pc world, vista, xp
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Dell Shrinks Computers and Operations
Just a day after Dell launched it’s own line of mini Inspirons, and after CEO Michael Dell said carriers would likely subsidize such netbooks, creating smaller price tags, the Wall Street Journal speculates that Dell will sell its manufacturing plants, shrinking its operations. This would be good for Dell because it would give it a […]
A Quick Guide to Netbooks
What a difference a year makes. It was only 10 months ago when the first true netbook, the original Asus Eee PC 701, hit the market. The Eee was a ground-breaking little computer but had a few flaws, the biggest being the limited 800×480 display. Today there’s an overwhelming array of low-cost but highly portable […]
Everything in the World’s Going Wireless
In Singapore, the Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips is designing a multimedia server to stream audio and video through the air, from the Internet to any device in the home.
In Munich, a former unit of Siemens envisions a cordless phone that would double as a music player, wirelessly drawing music from home computers.
In Japan, members of Sony’s global “digital home team” are redesigning 90% of the company’s home electronics components to connect wirelessly to the Internet by 2011.
Across the consumer electronics industry, the leading players are revamping their audio and video equipment for a future centered around the Internet, a world in which televisions, stereos, computers — even kitchen appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators — can communicate with each other over a wireless home network.
Some industry executives say the new focus on Internet content and wireless networks reflects a fundamental shift in home entertainment.
Expanded lines of “networked entertainment equipment” took center stage this week at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin, the largest consumer electronics convention in Europe, with 1,200 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors.
Sony is introducing plug-in adapters to enable some of its Bravia television sets to connect to the Internet wirelessly. Philips is demonstrating a line of hard-disc stereo systems that can wirelessly read and play music stored on personal computers or laptops in other rooms, streaming music selectively through the house.
Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp are presenting flat-panel TVs that hook up to the Internet, some with wires, some without. Hewlett Packard’s MediaSmart LCD TV will wirelessly stream high-definition video.
More at the International Herald Tribune.
Tags: HP, philips, samsung, sharp, siemens, sony
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Woz: The Engineer Behind the Apple
At the 2008 Intel Developer Forum, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (right in photo) took the main stage to talk about his love of engineering and science, the process behind developing the Apple II personal computer, and what it’s like to be “Employee No. 1″ at Apple.
Wozniak also spoke of the impact Steve Jobs (left in photo) still has on Apple and its slew of successful products, from the iPod to the iPhone.
If he had his wish, he would have remained an engineer for life at Hewlett-Packard.
Instead, Steve Jobs encouraged Wozniak to leave the safe confines of HP and venture out into a new company — Apple — where the two would work to bring the Apple II personal computer into every household, school and business.
With some reluctance, Wozniak left HP and became–and still remains–”Employee No. 1″ at Apple. In his partnership with Jobs, Wozniak would remain the engineer, and Jobs would sell what Wozniak would invent.
“A lot of times you become what you want to be in life, and I wanted to be an engineer,” said Wozniak at the conclusion of the Forum.
“I never wanted to run a company. I didn’t want to worry about money. I didn’t want to move up the management chain,” Wozniak said. “I wanted to be an engineer for life, and I wanted to stay at Hewlett-Packard. Steve [Jobs] had this dream to be one of the great people that wanted to create companies and make products that would change the world and be one of those people like Shakespeare and Einstein, who become well known. He wanted to be in that group. So, every time I designed something great, from the time we were very young, he would say, ‘Let’s sell it.’”
More at eWeek.
Tags: apple, apple II, hp, intel developer forum, iphone, ipod, steve jobs, steve wozniak
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HP Completes EDS Buy, Heads for the Clouds
HP said today it has closed its $13.9 billion acquisition of Plano, Texas-based IT services provider EDS, which was first announced in May. The success of the deal will depend on HP’s ability to integrate such a large buy into its already mammoth corporate structure. HP has tackled such a large integration before, via […]
Why Pay Twice as Much for a Mac?
Is Windows really that bad, you may ask?
Well, Apple Watch asked that very same question and came up with some very interesting statistics.
Last weekend, they got to wondering about Mac versus Windows PC pricing after seeing two HP notebooks on sale at the local Target. One of them, a 14-inch model, the HP DV2946NR (pictured at left), sold for $699.99 and packed 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. Capacity for both features is twice that of the $1,299 MacBook – and shared graphics is 356MB compared with a meager 144MB for the MacBook.
I wondered: If Vista notebooks are selling for so little and packing so much, how does this compare with Mac desktops and notebooks?
You must read more and come to your own conclusion!
Tags: apple, apple watch, hp, macbook, target, windows vista
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HP Keeps Pushing Touch
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that within 18 months HP plans to have multiple touchscreen products, including a laptop, “that use the same type of finger-tapping interface popularized by Apple Inc.’s iPhone.” If HP does use the same type of touch screen as that of the iPhone, it will represent a significant breakthrough for […]
HP, Yahoo and Intel Create Compute Cloud
At long last Hewlett-Packard is stepping up with an answer to cloud computing by creating a partnership with two other big technology vendors and three universities to create a cloud computing testbed. Through its R&D unit, HP Labs, the computing giant had has teamed up with Intel, Yahoo, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore […]
Motorola Creates New Divisions in Advance of Split
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Motorola has divided itself into three units, rather than two. In March Motorola said it would spin off its handset business in the wake of poor performance. Now, according to WSJ, it has further split its units into: a set-top-box and home-networking business, a networking gear business, and […]
Voodoo PCs Undergo HP Mumbo-Jumbo

It’s a sad day when Hewlett-Packard decides to merge its Voodoo PC business unit with its consumer business.
This were the ultimate gamer PCs from a one time stand-alone company that put a unique business model into play — high-end performance, outrageous design and high-end prices. I mean, take a look at that box above!
Now, Voodoo’s laptops and desktops will be sold alongside HP’s consumer Compaq Presario and Pavilion PC lines — sort of the opposite of the Voodoo model. It is just the next step of integration into the business units that deliver Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion, said the company.
PCWorld has more.
Tags: compaq, hp, pavilion, pcworld, presario, voodoo pc
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Tour the Homes of the Future (Jet Packs Not Included)
When I told my colleague Stacey that I was going on a tour of Netgear’s home of the future setup, she asked if I would grab her a jet pack. Much to her (and my) disappointment neither Netgear nor HP’s “house of tomorrow”-type setups included personal flying transportation.
What they did offer, however, was a […]
