Hewlett-Packard’s upcoming tablet PC could use video conferencing, at least one camera module, and support for Adobe Flash and removable SD memory cards as potential differentiators from Apple’s bestselling iPad. A 30-second video released by HP shows these and other functions at work in the device, which will debut on an as-yet-unannounced date later in 2010. The sales success of the iPad in its first weekend raises the stakes for other competitors looking to carve out market-share in the burgeoning consumer tablet PC market.

Hewlett-Packard is ramping up its own tablet PC efforts in the wake of Apple’s iPad launch, releasing a new official blog posting and video that shows an upcoming slate product capable of video conferencing,

“Think about the last time you chatted with friends over Skype on your notebook,” Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Systems Group, wrote in an April 5 posting on the company’s Voodoo Blog. “Or uploaded a picture from your mobile phone to Facebook or Flickr. How about the last time you viewed images or video from an SD card or a USB device. We know that you expect to be able to capture and share digital content on your mobile devices.” (continuare…)

NVIDIA has released a new Verde driver for notebook PCs, version 197.16.

In addition to claiming to offer dramatic gaming improvements, these drivers add support for connecting 3D Vision-ready displays to your notebook!

These new drivers support the following NVIDIA notebook GPUs:

• GeForce 8M, 9M, 100M, 200M, and 300M-series notebook GPUs
• ION notebook GPUs
• NVS-series notebook GPUs
• Quadro NVS-series notebook GPUs (DirectX 10 or later GPUs)
• Quadro FX-series notebook GPUs (DirectX 10 or later GPUs) (continuare…)

Computex Taipei 2010, which will take place during June 1-5, is expected to have a total of 1,750 exhibitors and 4,700 booths, up from last year’s 1,700 and 4,495, respectively, while e-book readers, cloud computing, 3D technology, mobile network and digital signage will be the spotlights of the show, according to the organizer, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).

The government-sponsored TAITRA also expects the number of visitors to the show will surpass that in 2009, with more business opportunities than last year’s US$20 billion.

Players such as Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsft, Asustek Computer, Acer and Micro-Start International (MSI) are all expected to expand their booths this year.

Asustek, MSI and BenQ are also expected to reveal more details about their tablet PCs, and Acer is expected to showcase its Chrome-based notebook/netbook.

Motherboard makers are expected to demonstrate their USB 3.0 as well as their latest technologies.

Several China-based IT players such as Malata, Hanwang Technlogy and BYD will also exhibit their latest products at the show.

Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.3, the latest update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The update is recommended for all users of Snow Leopard, and brings a number of fixes, improvements, and security patches. The update’s size may vary depending on the configuration of your Mac.

Included in this latest update are many fixes and improvements, for issues as far-ranging as updated Daylight Savings Time rules for Antarctica to improved reliability of iDisk syncing. Apple also specifically calls out one larger change: Mac OS X 10.6.3 can automatically collect diagnostic and usage information from your Mac and send it to Apple for analysis, with the end goal of improving Apple’s products and services. The data submission–which is prompted by actions like force quitting applications, kernel panics, and system errors–is sent anonymously to Apple and is only collected with the user’s explicit consent. This seems to be an extension of Apple’s current system for submitting information upon program crashes. (continuare…)

Even as the buzz builds toward the April 3rd ship date of the iPad, Apple is preparing to announce its “next big thing” — a new personalized, mobile advertising system that could well be called the “iAd” — Online Media Daily has learned. The new ad platform, which will be officially unveiled to Madison Avenue on April 7th, has been described as “revolutionary” and “our next big thing” by Apple chief Steve Jobs, according to executives familiar with the plan.

Precise details of the system and its features could not be discerned at presstime (and calls to Apple had not been returned), but it is believed to have been built on top of Quattro, the mobile advertising developer Apple acquired in January for nearly $300 million, and it is expected to be the first real battle of a Silicon Valley Holy War between Apple and arch frenemy Google that is shifting its front line to Madison Avenue. (continuare…)

According to one report, the Wall Street Journal could charge $17.99 a month for access to an Apple iPad-friendly edition of the business broadsheet. Some bloggers say the price tag – no matter how high the quality of the iPad content – is too steep.

Rightly or wrongly, the Apple iPad, which hits store shelves in a little over a week, has been linked to the salvation of the media industry. If the iPad succeeds, the logic goes, newspapers and magazines across the globe could have a ticket out of years of slumping newsstand sales and plummeting ad revenue. But today, some tentative details of the first major subscription plan for the Apple iPad were revealed – and not everyone is impressed.

According to new reports, the Wall Street Journal will charge $17.99 a month for access to an iPad-friendly version of the popular business broadsheet. That’s cheaper than a monthly subscription to the print edition of the Journal, which currently costs about $29 a month, but significantly more expensive than plain old online access to the Journal, which will set you back $1.99 a week.

Over at MacWorld, Marco Tabini speculates that the discrepancy between the Web and iPad subscription models could have something to do with content.

“[P]erhaps the iPad version of the Journal will sport some exclusive features that are not available anywhere else,” Tabini writes. “Or the final pricing model may include special offers and different subscription options (such as an annual subscription for an even lower rate); or maybe Rupert Murdoch has simply decided that iPad users will be willing to pay a premium to get his publication’s content on their brand new devices.” (continuare…)

The battle for mobile operating system (OS) dominance is spreading beyond the smartphone arena and into other mobile and consumer devices, forcing developers to create applications and content that can be enjoyed across multiple platforms, according to iSuppli.

“Mobile OSes, from Google’s Android, to Symbian, to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, have been fighting it out for leadership in the burgeoning smart-phone market,” said Jagdish Rebello, senior director and principal analyst for wireless research at iSuppli. “However, with wireless carriers supporting more types of devices on their networks, the mobile OS battle now is spreading beyond the smartphone arena and is entering the larger realm of mobile Internet devices (MIDs), a category that includes netbooks, portable navigation devices (PNDs), MP3 players, automotive infotainment systems and integrated access devices (IADs). With the carriers also supporting multiple OSes, the challenge for developers is to offer application and content that is compelling on multiple platforms.” (continuare…)

Sprint and HTC have jointly announced summer availability of what they claim is the world’s first 3G/4G Android handset – HTC EVO 4G – exclusively from Sprint.

The HTC EVO 4G delivers a multimedia experience at 4G speeds making it possible to download music, pictures, files or videos in seconds, and watch streaming video on the go with a 4.3-inch display. The new Android-powered smartphone runs on the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, and has dual cameras – an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera.

With built-in mobile hotspot functionality, HTC EVO 4G also allows up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices, including laptop, camera, music player, video player and any other Wi-Fi-enabled device, to enjoy the benefits of 4G speeds on the go.
Customers will be able to purchase HTC EVO 4G through all Sprint channels and through national retail partners, RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart, this summer. Pricing will be announced at a later date.

Quanta Computer is the maker of Sony’s latest VAIO M series netbook, which has just been launched in the UK with a price of 300 pounds (US$460), according to industry sources.
Sony Taiwan pointed out that the Sony VAIO M series netbook currently does not have a launch schedule for Taiwan.
The VAIO M series netbook adopts 10.1-inch LED display and Intel Atom N450 processor, while will offer consumers two color options – black or white. The netbooks will be available at the end of March in the UK.

Stereoscopic 3D image

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, ATI’s owner AMD shed some more light on its Open Stereo 3D Initiative. The company said it will partner with more companies on producing stereoscopic 3D solutions, while at the same time speeding up the adoption and lowering the cost of hardware. The solutions include 3D-enabled ATI Eyefinity technology for computers, 120Hz 3D-ready displays, as well as notebooks, active shutter glasses and passive polarized ones.

ATI also promises stereoscopic 3D support for DirectX 9, 10 and 11, quad-buffered OpenGL, and Blu-ray media. The attached slide reveals ATI partnered with DDD and iZ3D on 3D gaming middleware to help implement the technology, along with ArcSoft and CyberLink for Blu-ray 3D support on Windows PCs. The graphics chip designer is also said to be establishing standards to help improve compatibility with existing hardware and help encourage other hardware makers to adopt the standard. When ATI’s Stereo 3D hardware comes out for sale wasn’t officially revealed, but some hints indicate this summer will see initial shipments. [via 3DVisionBlog]

Intel has launched its Xeon 5600 series processors that feature Intel’s Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel AES-NI), and Intel’s Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT) – that enable faster encryption and decryption performance for more secure transactions and virtualized environments, providing data centers with a stronger foundation for cloud security.

These are also the first server and workstation chips based on Intel’s 32nm logic technology, which uses the company’s second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to increase speed and decrease energy consumption.

The Intel Xeon 5600 series processors support up to six cores per processor and deliver up to 60% higher performance than the 45nm Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, Intel noted.

Data centers can also benefit from the power efficiency of the Intel Xeon 5600 series as the series’ Xeon L5640 processor can deliver the same performance as the Intel Xeon X5570 processor, which is the top-end model of the previous series, but with up to 30% lower platform power, Intel pointed out. (continuare…)

Global e-book reader shipments will increase from 700,000 units in 2008 to 28 million units in 2013, representing a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 386%, according to a recently published report from Digitimes Research.
The special report on e-book readers also indicated that the total market value for e-book reader shipments would surpass US$3 billion in 2013, up from only US$244 million in 2008.

Amazon and Sony dominated the global market for e-book readers in 2009, but the industry is set to see a major shakeup in 2010, as established content providers such as Barnes & Noble become more competitive in the market and niche players in Europe grab a piece of the rapidly expanding market.

China, where the government is promoting e-reading as one of its major policies, is expected to become the second-largest single market for e-book readers in 2010.