jkOnTheRun

Acer Aspire One netbook getting 3G WWAN, subsidized

2008-09-06T12:00:31-05:00

Acer is on track to sell one million netbooks this month which should bring sales of the Aspire One up to two million for the quarter. DigiTimes shares this outlook along with news of a subsidy for potential device owners in Taiwan. Acer is planning to add a 3G or wireless broadband module to the netbook; the component would add around $95 to the netbook price, which is currently in the $329 to $349 range after a recent price drop.

You might not have to directly pay that price increase for 3G though. The Aspire One could then be sold through Taiwan Mobile at a bundle price for the netbook and the W-CDMA 3G subscription. Customers would save about $150 on the hardware price for this option. I know that this business model is becoming more prevalent outside of the U.S., but I suspect we'll be hearing from Dell within the next week or two on this topic.

Everun Note gets unboxed

2008-09-06T09:37:14-05:00

The Everun Note is not a netbook, at least that $800+ price sets it firmly in the more expensive UMPC category in my view. It's a nice 7-inch notebook with a touch screen, although that screen doesn't swivel. It's also packing an AMD dual core processor making the Note one of the fastest UMPCs in the land. Chippy has his hands on one and has given it the mandatory unboxing treatment and he shows how well constructed this little notebook is. I'm not sure how well that tiny keyboard will work but we'll watch for Chippy's impressions as he gets more time with the Note.

MSI blew away the Wind's Turbo mode, now it underclocks

2008-09-06T08:26:36-05:00

Since I couldn't sleep at 3:30am, I decided to make good use of my time. Of course, that meant some Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone followed by Tiger Woods '09 on the Xbox 360... I just love that Game Face feature. After the early morning productivity, I decided to unwind and actually view the manual for the MSI Wind. I got through the basics and found myself unexpectedly at the end of the manual. Hmm... I saw no mention of the Turbo mode which is Fn+F10 on the keyboard.

Now when I press that key combo, I do get an on-screen icon but it sure doesn't look like the Millennium Falcon starting up its famous Kessel Run. No streaks of light, no hyperspace, and no seat-pushing acceleration; yup, our artificial grav generator is on the fritz. Instead, I get an icon that resembles a battery. And my screen became dimmer. Hmmm......

Lo and behold, the Turbo function that used to overclock the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU is now an Un-Turbo mode. Instead of overclocking, it underclocks the CPU to a fixed 800 MHz in order to save battery life. Now that's not a bad thing for me personally, but it's worth a mention to any prospective MSI Wind owners. Since the Intel Atom supports SpeedStep technology, you can let the CPU optimize its speed as needed, but if you want to force a drop to a constant 800 MHz, just hit "Turbo". ;)

Oh, the reason I was looking into this? Brad Linder from Liliputing ~~is on his way to my home office this morning~~. He's bringing his Asus Eee PC 1000H so we can do the legwork for that "netbook deathmatch" I've been talking about. The two devices are extremely similar but the Asus also offers some CPU optimizations that I want to look at for comparison purposes. Brad and I have each run our BatteryEater tests on the 6-cell batteries; he's posted his results but I'm going to hold off on my results just yet. We may have used different power modes, so I want to confirm that bit first. More to follow... in fact, who knows what we might do today: some live streaming of the two devices, a short podcast, some postings? Don't get too excited: we could just settle down in front of the HDTV and watch NCAA College Football... either way, it should be fun!

Update: since ~~the remnants of Hurricane Gustav are~~ Tropical Storm Hanna is in our neck of the woods today, Brad and I are planning to get together some time next week. I still have some data to share on the BatteryEater test later today based on my conversation with him. College football it is, then! ;)

Willcom D4 adds L version: Lower price, Less Office, Longer runtime

2008-09-06T04:11:08-05:00

If Vista in your pocket makes you happy, you've no doubt seen the Sharp Willcom D4 handheld computer. When the device hit the streets in Asia earlier this year, you couldn't touch it through an importer for less than $1,500 or so and some folks were understandably disappointed in the short runtime. Willcom aided early adopters by including a free extended battery with some purchases and has now integrated that 2880 mAh power pack into a new version of the device, called the Willcom D4 Ver. L. I probably would have opted for "Willcom D4L", but I'm no marketing guy and I have insomnia on a Saturday morning, so what do I know?

There's no major changes to the device itself, but Microsoft Office is no longer included with the unit. That might be helping to offset the cost a bit because the new package can be had for 97,700 Japanese Yen. Some quick conversion shows that to be around $907 US, which is a vast difference from early pricing. You'll still need to import it outside of the native selling area, but with a longer battery life and a lower price, this might be more appealing than it was a few months ago to some.

(via Pocketables)

jkOnTheRun video- Sena cases for iPhone 3G

2008-09-05T14:38:41-05:00

The good folks at Sena Cases sent us a couple of leather cases for the iPhone 3G to show you folks a couple of options for carrying your phone around. In this video I show you the two cases in two colors so you can see some of the cases they have available. The Ultra Slim Pouch is a simple and thin case that totally protects the iPhone without adding excess bulk and weight. The LeatherSkin is a different style of case with a removable belt clip that lets you operate the iPhone without removing it from the case. Both cases are nice and elegant and get the job done quite well. Thanks to Sena for sending the evaluation cases to share with you.

Video overview of Lenovo's X301 notebook

2008-09-05T13:31:36-05:00

I just caught Warner's InkShow that covers the Lenovo X301 "thin-and-light" notebook. I'm very impressed not just by how thin it is, but by how thin it can be and still have that optical drive that so many people need. I love the super-slim extended battery that replaces the optical drive slot for more juice as well. Warner raves about the speed and performance based on the 64 GB SSD drive, 2 GB of RAM and 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

The only early indicator I could get from watching the video was the boot time for Windows Vista: I clocked it at 67 seconds before the desktop appeared. Again, I'm less interested in boot times for mobile devices as I use Sleep mode far more often than completely shutting down and rebooting later. Warner shows that scenario with the X301 but the device doesn't exactly cooperate. I won't hold it against the X301... I've had my share of devices getting shy when on camera too! ;) Looking forward to Warner's thoughts and experiences with the X301 in greater detail but I don't think I'll be springing for one. These guys start around $2,600 and go up from there.

Samsung to buy SanDisk?

2008-09-05T13:05:45-05:00

SanDisk has a press release that implies they are talking to Samsung about "business opportunities". Sounds like Samsung may be trying to buy the flash memory maker.

"SanDisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities. We evaluate all of these opportunities, but maintain a policy of not commenting on market rumors or speculation."

(via GigaOM Daily)

Goodbye Joost client. Hello Joost web service.

2008-09-05T11:14:59-05:00

The cloud is raining down web services these days. The next company to abandon desktop clients and go web-only is Joost, the content streaming service developed by the the co-founders of Skype. It sounds like Joost work work with a browser plug-in, but details are scant at the moment. Sure would be nice if it worked with mobile browsers, but I'm betting that the Joost folks will want to get going with desktop browsers before they even entertain the thought of mobile handset support.

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 the easiest netbook to upgrade?

2008-09-05T10:16:07-05:00

I had a great e-mail conversation about the new Dell netbook with our friends at LAPTOP Magazine last night. Much of it revolved around the Solid State Drive memory because I was concerned about the data transfer rates. Today, LAPTOP shares more information about the upgradablity of the Mini 9 and it looks like Dell made it easy, unlike some other netbook makers.

Just remove one bottom panel and you've got access to the SSD module, RAM slot, wireless card and free slot for wireless WAN connectivity. Looks pretty good to me!

One very interesting personal thought on the SSD. While the pre-production unit sent to LAPTOP has a flash module with an SST labeled controller, the unit at Notebook Review has a different SSD module. I'm extremely curious as to which of these will be in the shipping units. Or even if a totally different one is used, in fact. It would be a shame to see a faster SSD in the pre-production and test units only to have a slower one appear in what folks will be buying.

(Image: LAPTOP Mag)

Nokia reduces outlook of mobile device market share

2008-09-05T10:00:23-05:00

I'd never dispute that right now, Nokia and the Symbian OS are heavy-hitters in the worldwide handset market. It's a fact and one that's reported each time there's any mention of iPhone market share increasing. But as Apple watches its share grow, that growth has to come at someone's expense. Nokia's indirectly admitting that it's coming at their expense: today, they've issued a statement that reduces their outlook for their own market share this quarter.

Earlier this summer, they expected their mobile device market share to stay status quo, but this new statement is a revision of their expectation. It's interesting to note that the company feels the overall market will be down due to economic challenges, but that means you've got to be price-competitive and compete for the limited dollars in this market.

Unfortunately, Nokia appears to have no plans to reduce pricing on their handsets. Since many of their higher-end devices aren't subsidized, at least here in the U.S., they don't gain mass-market appeal. Instead, these powerful handsets are picked up by a limited number of power-users... and by The Mobile Gadgeteer. Matt hasn't met an expensive phone that he hasn't liked or purchased and then sold. ;) So I wouldn't expect a "fire-sale" of the new Nokia N96, for example. Nokia is saying that they will "not meet certain aggressive pricing of some competitors", so it's not going to happen.

There's no question in my mind that Nokia makes their share of great devices. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be enough in this market right now. Do you think this is the beginning of a declining trend for Nokia or just a blip on the radar?

It's official- Tablet PC is just a feature of Windows

2008-09-05T08:55:44-05:00

It is with sadness I have watched Microsoft pull back from the Tablet PC publicly. In the early days the Tablet PC was a viable product that Redmond touted proudly as it was Bill Gates' baby. Once the Tablet PC bits were integrated directly into WIndows Vista we have seen the Tablet PC become just another feature of Vista. It's not a product, it's not really mentioned by Microsoft anywhere. It's like it doesn't really exist anymore, at least not as a real thing. Mary Jo Foley points out that the new modern Windows web site has launched coincident with the new Jerry Seinfeld advertising kickoff. The new site is definitely clean and modern and it looks pretty nice. I have trolled through the site looking for any mention of the Tablet PC and if it's there it is hidden so well I can't find it. It is clear that Vista, Windows Live and Windows Mobile are the focus of Microsoft's attention on the new site but you won't even find the word "tablet" anywhere, at least I couldn't. This keeps in line with how Microsoft has quietly dropped focus from the Tablet PC over the past few years. Bill Gates likes them but he's no longer there.

Microsoft ad- let them eat cake

2008-09-05T07:38:59-05:00

I saw the new TV ad that Microsoft produced with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. It made me want to buy a new pair of shoes. And eat some cake.

This week at Mobile Tech Manor #6

2008-09-05T06:00:00-05:00

Wow, another week has flown by and life has been hopping at Mobile Tech Manor (MTM). We successfully fended off Hurricane Gustav this week although over a million people lost power in other parts of the Gulf Coast. We saw Google play havoc in the browser space this week and while no new gadgets came through the door I had fun playing with some old faithfuls. There are some new things coming up in the mobile space that have me excited and there's also something I'm trying to figure out what to do about. Come on in and let's visit for a bit.

Personal stuff

Hurricane Gustav had the entire Gulf Coast concerned and there was a mandatory evacuation for New Orleans and several other areas in Louisiana and Texas. Fortunately Gustav never strengthened like they thought he would after passing over Cuba and the storm was far less damaging than authorities thought he would be. That was great news for millions but high winds still killed the power for over a million people in both states. Three days later reports indicated power companies were still getting power restored for these folks.

Gustav's passing through the area had a cooling and drying affect for Houston and I have spent hours each morning working on the back porch. I have used a number of different notebooks for these outdoor sessions and it's given me a good feel for outside screen resolution. I find that almost any notebook can display adequately outdoors if I crank up the brightness. This certainly has a negative impact on the battery life I get but I can view the screens fine for working. It is nice to work out in a cool morning breeze and I get more done than sitting at a stuffy desk.

This week I had my quarterly blood screening to track all of those chemical levels that play a huge role with my health. They do this major screening to track the normal things like cholesterol, glucose, etc., and they also check a number of items to make sure that the medication I take due to past health issues are not negatively impacting my liver function. I am happy to report that not only were all my statistics good they were extremely good and my doctor is very pleased. Needless to say I am pleased too and in very good health.

I penned my first article for the main GigaOM site this week, a look at the major OEMs who are producing touch screen phones competing with the iPhone. It was a lot of fun to do and hopefully shed a little light on who the main touch phone players are right now. HTC is definitely the big gun with the most phones produced so far with touch screens but Samsung is creeping up on them. LG is also continuing their push into the feature phone, or non-smartphone touch phones. They are all companies to watch in this space as touch phones are becoming the current phone of interest.

Revisiting old friends

No new gadgetry arrived at Mobile Tech Manor this week so I got to spend a fair bit of time getting reaquainted with some old friends. One of the side affects of having a lot of gadgets to test is that I am constantly having to shelf some gadgets to make time (and room) for the new ones. One of my favorite things to do is to take older devices off that shelf and give them a spin again for old times sake. I got to do that with the HTC Advantage and I am still convinced it is one of the best devices I have ever used. There are very few gadgets as versatile as the Advantage and it is a great example of a Windows Mobile device that can be used in much the same way as a netbook. I used it with the Stowaway wireless keyboard and mouse and that 5-inch screen is so productive for getting real work done. I still haven't seen one of the newer models of the Advantage as HTC can't bring them into the US due to the Qualcomm chip situation. This older version is still extremely good to use and I enjoyed my time with it. It's now back in my gear bag on a permanent basis, at least until other gadgets show up.

Another device that has been languishing on the "later" shelf is my Blackberry 8830. I haven't used it nearly enough since getting the iPhone 3G because I am not one for carrying multiple phones around with me like some do. It didn't take me long with the 8830 to realize how great an email machine this little baby is and how much I missed it. RIM has optimized the OS for email work and picking it up again reinforced that realization. It was like riding a bike, you can put it down for a while and just get back on it and ride to your heart's content. Playing with the Blackberry again has me excited for the upcoming Thunder or Storm, whatever it's called. That's the first full touch screen Blackberry and I can't wait to play with one. Another new model, the Bold, is already available outside the US and it looks sweet too but it's that big touch screen BB that I'm a-yearnin' for.

It's the software

I tried a couple of new programs this week and came to appreciate a third app that I have used extensively in the past. The big news this week was the release of the Google Chrome browser for the Windows platform and I spent a fair amount of time with it. It's definitely a first attempt for Google but it's already good enough that I can see the potential. It's great the way it handles tabbed browsing and it is darn fast at rendering pages. There are some web pages that don't work well yet but give them some time and I have a feeling that Chrome will become a major force in the browser wars.

Google Chrome aside my browser of choice is still Firefox. Firefox is good at what it does and when you add the extensions you want it becomes great. One of those extensions quit working for me this week though and that forced me to find another that I'm liking better already. The Mozilla Weave extension is a work-in-progress by the Firefox folks for keeping browser bookmarks and other settings in sync across multiple computers. I have been using it and really liking it as it makes all my Firefox installations look and work the same no matter what computer I use. It even works on both Windows and my Mac, at least until it stopped working this week. It stopped logging onto the Weave server to save and retrieve my settings and according to a Mozilla rep it actually booted my account by accident. When I tried to create a new account to carry on Mozilla informed me that they are full and are not allowing any new accounts currently.

That left me high and dry so I tried Foxmarks at the urging of several jkOnTheRun readers. This was fortuitous as Foxmarks is really nice and is working so well I am very pleased. It too is free and just works so thank you Mozilla for killing my Weave. I would frequently notice that Weave would have trouble accessing the server even before getting booted off and Foxmarks doesn't have any trouble in this regard so a happy ending to this problem.

Picking up the Blackberry 8830 again led me to once again appreciate the program I use the most on that device and that's PocketDay. This is an email/ calendar/ task aggregator that works very well and does those things marvelously. It executes all tasks speedily and presents a ton of information about my world on just that small screen. I highly recommend PocketDay to all Blackberry users.

Coming soon

A number of things are coming up that have me pretty excited. The first Google Android powered phone, the HTC Dream, is rumored to be offered by T-Mobile this month. I am getting more and more impressed with the Dream as information and photos get leaked out on the interwebs and I am pretty sure I'm going to pick one of these up when they are available. I even dug my little-used T-Mobile SIM card out of the drawer and dusted it off just to get it ready. One of the exciting prospects is that I think Google Chrome will be running on this phone if not from the beginning then at least shortly after. Google has developed both the Android browser and Chrome using the Webkit foundation used by Apple for Safari and I can't see Google having two different browsers produced by the same developers. The thought of Chrome crossing the dekstop/ mobile divide is very compelling indeed.

Dell has released their first netbook and while there is nothing distinctly different about the Inspiron Mini 9 from all the other netbooks it is great to see them release their own version. The price was higher than rumors indicated and while some are not happy about that I think having the global Dell support infrastructure is a hugely positive thing in the Mini 9's favor. I also think it's significant that Dell named the 9-inch device the Mini 9 which paves the way for a Mini 10 (10-inch) and maybe even a Mini 12. Stranger things have happened.

The Mobilize 08 conference hosted by GigaOM is taking place in just a couple of weeks and I'm getting excited about attending for a number of reasons. This will be my first chance to meet a lot of the GigaOM folks I have been talking to for over a month and that will be fun. Kevin and I are both attending so it will be a good opportunity to chat face to face without having a web cam in the middle. It will also be a great conference with a lot of good speakers and panels. Ryan Block of the new site gdgt will be speaking and it will be good to see him again. One of the managers of the Google Android will be speaking too and I can't wait to hear that talk. The Amazon VP in charge of the Kindle will be there too, and, heck there's just too many good speakers to list them all but if you check it out you'll understand why I am so excited about Mobilize. Maybe we'll even have a jkOnTheRun meet-and-greet in San Francisco, who knows?

When to pull the Exchange Server plug?

Don't worry, I'm too dependent on my hosted Exchange Server to pull the plug. I've said many times that the ES is the best way to keep all the computers and phones and PDAs I use in sync and that's as true now as ever. But the primary function of my ES was hosting my consulting business information for years before joining GigaOM and that function is no longer needed. That got me to thinking that if I was going to pull the plug down the road how long should I wait? All of my activity including email, tasks, and past appointments are all archived on the Exchange Server so just shutting off the ES is not an option since it's the only way to access that information. For those in a similar situation who want to get rid of their Exchange Server what is an appropriate amount of time to keep it around just in case? It's a good question for sure and something that all ES users should be thinking about. Maybe there's another way to access that archived information without the ES that I'm not aware of.

Book of the week

I finally finished Ancient Ship I mentioned last week. It was a great window into life in rural China and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This week I started Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs, the latest in the Temperance Brennan series. This series inspired the US TV show Bones and I love the books even though I don't like the TV show at all. Devil Bones is typical Kathy Reichs and I'm whipping through it very quickly. Highly recommended for her fans.

Wrapping up

I hope you enjoyed this week's peek into Mobile Tech Manor. I am loving writing this column and sharing my world with you each week and I hope you are finding them if not useful then at least entertaining. I know they are long and sometimes rambling but hey, that's the way my life runs and I hope you like it. Let me know if there is something you want me to cover and I'll do my best. Later.

jkOnTheRun Visitor Browser Share- Chrome version

2008-09-04T21:19:48-05:00

We keep track of what browsers are used to access jkOnTheRun and post these statistics occasionally as they paint a good picture over time of the browser wars. We can watch Internet Explorer slug it out with Firefox and see who is winning the fight round by round. This week we saw the big release of Google Chrome and I was curious to see how it showed up in those statistics. I took a picture of the browser share for just September 3rd, the first full day after Google Chrome was released. I realize that the share of total visits using the Chrome browser will be higher than normal just because it's new but even so I was unprepared to see these stats:

That orange slice of the pie is Chrome and it's accounting for a whopping 10.36% of the total visits for the entire 24 hour period that constitutes September 3rd. Any way you slice that figure you have to realize that Chrome is going to wreak havoc in this browser war going forward. Chrome still needs a lot of work but it's a pretty good browser out of the box and this number shows that. We also see that Firefox is whipping up on Internet Explorer by a fair margin which is getting larger all the time. That last stat, HTC P3700 Opera, is the HTC Touch Diamond which shows up as its own browser. At least one visitor is using the Touch Diamond.

Kevin talks HD on engadgetHD

2008-09-04T17:07:13-05:00

Long before joining jkOnTheRun Kevin Tofel was working for the Weblogs Inc folks on HD Beat. He did some podcasts about HD over there and then moved over here to jkOTR and the rest is history. EngadgetHD, which has taken over HD Beat, has brought their podcast back from a long hiatus and Kevin appeared as a guest on the current episode to talk about HD. Give it a listen and you'll see why Kevin is the HD go-to guy. :)

Does the Dell Mini 9 use a fast mPCI-Express SSD?

2008-09-04T16:37:32-05:00

I'm thinking that Dell didn't go with a solid state drive module that's soldered on the motherboard of the Inspiron Mini 9. Actually, that was my first thought when I heard you could configure your netbook for 4-, 8-, or 16-GB of SSD capacity. It's far less expensive to have one base motherboard with an SSD module that you can add to on the fly.

My second clue was during the LAPTOP Magazine live video stream of the Dell Mini 9. Joanna Stern was kind enough to check the BIOS as I asked in the chat room. When she did that, she saw that the hard drive model was a STEC SSD x.x (sorry, I forget the numbers she read off). Some quick research let me to STEC Inc., which used to be known as SimpleTech, a make of flash memory modules and drives.

I can't be sure exactly which of their products is used, but my gut leads me to their mini PCI-Express card. That would make the Dells easy for a "build-to-order" approach. There are some other STEC flash products that could be inside, but I think they're too big, i.e.: they're the size of traditional hard drives and Dell has already said they see the netbook market better served by SSD and not magnetic hard drives. That doesn't mean they didn't go this route, but my best guess is that they didn't.

If I'm right, this could be good news. Why? Two reasons: first, this card is also available in a 32 Gigabyte option from STEC. The higher capacity could later be made available as an option for folks who desire more capacity. Secondly, this module has far better transfer rates than the one in the Acer Aspire. According to the STEC product page, reads and write speeds are up to 85 MBps and 25 MBps respectively. A quick test on the actual device would confirm that, of course, but I don't have one. ;)

I have a note into the folks at Dell to confirm this part because I think it could play a big role in purchase decisions for some. More to follow as I'm trying to sleuth this out... bear in mind this speculation based on my limited information so far.

Update: thanks to some help from the LAPTOP Mag folks, I can confirm that Dell did use a mini PCI-Express module. Having seen a shot of the Mini 9 guts, I can tell you that I see no room for a hard drive. I do see (as expected), an open slot for a WWAN module.

The case for integrated 3G in netbooks

2008-09-04T14:02:27-05:00

I have been using 3G in my notebooks since it was first available. Actually, truth be told I was using it long before it was 3G, maybe 1.5G is more accurate. It is easily the most useful tool in my bag and I was happy to see Dell stating that integrated 3G would be available in the new Mini netbook in just a few days. Kevin and I have had many conversations discussing the "integrated 3G vs. external 3G solutions" debate and while external solutions have always served us well there is a strong case that can be made for integrated 3G.

Kevin and I are not your typical netbook users, we both change mobile devices like most folks change their socks so an integrated 3G solution is not the best for us. Kevin is quite happy with his USB solution and I with my ExpressCard 3G solution. Even so, I have used a number of devices with integrated 3G and I believe it is the way to go for the average consumer who wants unbridled connectivity. An integrated solution is perfect for the person who buys a netbook and uses that device alone on all those mobile adventures. Windows can be configured to always look for a high-speed connection and when one is not available to automatically fire up the internal 3G. This is basically seamless and very useful for getting online without thinking about. At least you don't think about it until the monthly statement comes in crying for attention. I feel that integrated 3G is a good value for those who work in mobile settings frequently and for whom connectivity is important. Having that connectivity built into a netbook is a very nice proposition and it should be considered for certain. Having that netbook price subsidized by the carrier offering the 3G sweetens the deal to be very attractive indeed.

Poking at the Peek: an e-mail only device

2008-09-04T13:29:49-05:00

FedEx just made a return trip to my home office today. This time it was to drop off a Peek, the handheld device that simply does e-mail. The Peek is scheduled to appear at Target stores nationwide in a few short weeks: September 15th is the expected date. Retail price should be $99.95 and the monthly service is another $19.95 per month.

Peek is leveraging T-Mobiles EDGE network for the service which should be perfectly fine for e-mail only but I'll be trying the device for a month or so. Currently I use my iPhone for two e-mail accounts: one personal and one business. For testing, I'll move the personal account over to the Peek and see how it shakes out.

First impressions: it's a slim, little device with minimal buttons which goes along with the simple approach. A little wider than my iPhone, but a little thinner as well. There's a 700 mAh battery which is expected to last two or three days. The QVGA screen is plenty bright enough and the keypad buttons are backlit. Overall: sleek and simple.

Peek supports up to three accounts from Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail and AOL, although I'll only be using it for one Gmail. I know I'm not necessarily in the target audience for such a device, but I find it intriguing. It's the kind of device that my son, my dad and other mainstream consumers might find amazing. Amazing at $20 a month? I'm not yet sure; I'll have to run with it for a few weeks before I answer that question. I'll throw this in my bag for the upcoming San Francisco trip; if we have any readers in the area or attending Mobilize, I'll be happy to let you take a peek. Well not TAKE it... but.... you know.

Gdgt- is this the big Peter Rojas/ Ryan Block new gig?

2008-09-04T13:16:20-05:00

Just stumbled across a little site with the cool name of gdgt- lo and behold it's a new site by Peter Rojas and Ryan Block, both formerly of Engadget fame. Both Peter and Ryan are friends of ours here at jkOnTheRun and I know both Kevin and I have been anxious to see what their new venture is going to be. I don't know if this is it or if it's just a teaser to get us talking (it worked guys) but they are going to do a weekly podcast. I'm off to listen to it now so you'd better hurry and do the same. Anything these guys talk about will be solid gold. Welcome back Peter and Ryan! Don't be strangers.

UPDATE: Yes it sure is. I've heard from both of the guys and this is the new home for them both. It's a temporary look and feel so don't be surprised when it starts popping in the future. Great podcast, BTW!

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 data carrier subsidy "in the next few days"

2008-09-04T12:58:40-05:00

This was rumored earlier but seems a little more concrete right now and might help you out if you thought Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 was priced too high. Crave reports that we'll be seeing price subsidies on the new Dell netbook, similar to how cellphones costs are subsidized. In a subsidy like this, you pay less up-front for the hardware and the carrier makes money back on a voice or data plan commitment. Here in the U.S. we see this all the time: people rarely pay the full retail price for cellular phones, they pay a reduced rate and then commit to one or two years of a subscription to use the phone.

According to John Thode, vice president of small-screen consumer devices for Dell, we'll hear about a deal with a wireless carrier "in the next few days". In effect, you'll have the option to pay less for the device and use it more places due to a 3G or wireless broadband service that you pay for monthly.

While the notebook market has offered 3G service options for the past year or two, I haven't see the subsidy model applied. This could be very interesting to watch because I view netbooks more as "cloud computers" that thrive with a wireless connection to the web. Of course, you can use these as traditional notebooks, but this is how I view this market differently from the traditional market. In fact, if the subsidy approach takes off, the netbook market could actually influence the notebook market to do the same. Worth watching and we'll have to revisit this if and when Dell actually announces such a plan.

Latest mobile treat: Chrome-on-a-stick!

2008-09-04T11:51:38-05:00

Looking to use the line: "Is that Google Chrome in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Wait no more... but I suggest losing the lame line. Hop over and grab Portable Chrome, a copy of the lightweight Google browser that runs from a USB stick. Version 0.2.151.0 is just 11 Megabytes in size, so you could even use a 64 MB stick from 2001 for this.

Why would you want to? Most folks run portable apps from USB drives because all of their data stays on the drive and doesn't reside on the host PC used to run the app. For the security conscious, that's a big plus. With all of those new-fangled netbooks with limited solid state drive capacities, you might want portable apps so you don't have to worry about how much free space is left on your device as well. Portable Chrome is supported (well, tested really) on Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista.

(via Digital Inspiration)

Sony support notice: VAIO TZ notebooks overheating

2008-09-04T09:48:35-05:00

Got a Sony VAIO TZ? This might butter your biscuit... or at least melt it. Sony issued a notice today regarding some potential overheating problems for the following notebook lines:

VGN-TZ100 series
VGN-TZ200 series
VGN-TZ300 series
VGN-TZ2000 series

Through a voluntary program, you can have Sony inspect and, if needed, repair your precious notebook free of charge. You can check to see if your particular VAIO is affected by this recall at http://esupport.sony.com/fixmypc. The issue appears to be "irregularly placed wires near the hinge, or a dislodged screw inside the hinge, may create a short circuit, causing localized overheating". While this might be useful in colder climates during winter, it's not a feature I'd want in my notebook.

Kevin Tofel on the Media Center Show

2008-09-04T08:07:09-05:00

Kevin recently appeared as a guest with Ian Dixon on the Media Center Show and I see that it is now available for download. Ian is a good guy and his podcast is an excellent look at the world of the Media Center. This show has Kevin describing his cloud computing experiment. Give it a listen, I'm doing that right now.

Dell says "me too!", launches the Inspiron Mini 9 netbook

2008-09-04T07:31:15-05:00

After months of speculation and leaks, it's official. Dell is set to announce their netbook entry, the Inspiron Mini 9, this morning and the starting price for a version with Ubuntu 8.04 will be had for $349, although that option isn't available quite yet. Today in the U.S., Japan and selected countries in Europe, you can order a base Mini 9 with Windows XP Home for $399 and options can shoot the cost up to over $450 or more. Not exactly the $299 price tag everyone was hoping for, but not at the top end for this market either.

Let's see what you get for your $399... and yes, this will sound familiar to those following the current netbook market:

Obsidian Black color; Alpine White is another $25
9" x 6.7" x 0.6 to 1.2"
8.9-inch glossy display at 1024x600 resolution
1.6 GHz Intel Atom
Integrated 802.11g included while Bluetooth 2.1 adds $20
4-cell battery, 32 W/hr
1 GB of RAM
3 USB ports, VGA out, Ethernet jack, card reader
8 GB solid state drive (16 GB adds $40)
Integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam
MS Works

So far, the difference between the Mini 9 and others seems to be an extra battery cell and Works. ;) Actually, it's nice to see a 4-cell battery. My estimate would be around three-hours of battery life with normal usage. But I'm wondering about that solid state drive: who makes it and how fast is it? I wasn't happy with the Windows XP performance on my SSD-based Acer netbook because the data transfer rates were just too slow for me. If Dell is going out the door with Windows XP systems, I have to believe that they'll perform at a decent speed which means faster SSD. The Direct2Dell blog says that the Mini 9 has a starting weight of 2.28-pounds which is lighter than many others in this space, but when I hear "starting weight", I immediately wonder if the battery is included in that number.

These systems won't be shipping until September 18th, but can be ordered now. That's the day of the Mobilize conference in San Francisco that James and I are attending, so maybe we should order one and have a special delivery. I'd like to see how the device behaves... but then again, is there that much different?

One thing that is different (and expected): you will get 2 GB of free storage with Box.net. I'm seeing that more as a marketing bit than anything else. Anyone with or without a netbook can get 1 GB of free storage there today. Actually, there is another difference. Purchase a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330 by 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9th and you can add a Mini 9 for $99. Now, that's something different!

Try as I might, when I configure a Mini 9 system on the U.S. Dell site, I can only get the price down to $429, not $399. Probably a glitch or could be related to my not having coffee yet this morning.

US passes Western Europe in 3G adoption

2008-09-04T06:17:44-05:00

The US has long lagged behind Europe in 3G adoption for a variety of reasons including lack of 3G coverage. That apparently has changed according to comScore with the US showing a whopping 80% growth of 3G adoption over the past year. According to the survey 28.4 percent of all mobile subscribers in the US now have 3G compared to 28.3 percent of those in Western Europe.

“For years, the American mobile industry has aspired to the level of sophistication of the European market,” observed Mark Donovan, senior vice president and senior analyst, comScore. “Today, Americans have finally caught up with Europeans in adoption of 3G. The advancements in 3G network technology and the introduction of sleek devices into the U.S. market have paid off as adoption of mobile media continues to grow at a rapid pace.”

The five countries in Western Europe used in the comparison are Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK which combined have 63.4 million 3G subscribers, a 46.6% increase over the past year compared to 64.2 million 3G subscribers in the US. It looks like 3G is here to stay and it's easy to see why businesses in the US are chomping at the bit to get at all these new subscribers.

Mobile tech change for fantasy football

2008-09-03T16:20:00-05:00

So tonight is the third season in our development's fantasy football league. My record was only .500 back in our inaugeral season; that year I used my Samsung Q1 and Microsoft OneNote 2007. Last year with the Q1P, I did even worse, coming in tenth overall in our twelve team league. I thought that an upgraded UMPC would help, but I just can't argue with the results.

This time, I'm opting for a netbook and some carefully crafted spreadsheets in Google Docs for "Team Cloud". With the MSI Wind, my USB 727 EV-DO card and fingers crossed, let's see what I can do. I think the change is already a good sign: I just found out that I have the first pick overall. At least I'll have one good player. ;)

Dell's netbook: is brand another market differentiator?

2008-09-03T15:45:56-05:00

Dell has gone on record to say that they're entering the netbook market this week, so it could happen any day now. I'm sure there won't be many surprises in terms of the features and look, so again I wonder what will make this offering different from this market.

We've already identified a few aspects that cause people to pick one netbook over another: price is a definite factor as are the Linux implementations that some vendors customize and offers. Dell may be partnering with Box.net to offer online storage capabilities, but even that is something that's been done; Asus has been talking about that for a few months. Makes me wonder if most of the Dell models (assuming there's more than one) will offer wireless broadband: when you're out and about, you'll need a way to access that online storage, no? Or they could be hooking up with a carrier to subsidize and therefore reduce the up-front device cost.

Since we get so many questions about "build quality" when we look at these devices, I'm wondering if "brand name" is part of the equation here. Dell is joining HP and Lenovo as another "household name" vendor, at least here in the United States. Sure, Acer and Asus might be familiar to some consumers, but I think Dell and HP offer stronger brand recognition. Many people equate brand names with quality, which is why I'm tying the two together here, but perhaps I'm off-base.

Along with the brand name factor comes marketing. Why are names like Dell and HP so well known? Part of the reason is that most people have seen print or television ads from these companies. Plus, they walk into the local brick-and-mortar electronics chain and see far more Dell and HP computer models than they do from other brands. And those models are featured in the weekly circulars... even more brand reinforcement.

I hadn't thought about branding on netbooks up to now, but with Dell entering the market, I'm thinking that it's another way to differentiate a netbook that's similar to so many others out there. Thoughts?

GigaOM- where to get the cheapest 3G plans

2008-09-03T15:04:30-05:00

Kevin and I are still happily consuming our <5GB per month of Verizon EVDO goodness and I also have an AT&T 3G data plan with my iPhone. One of the most daunting factors affecting those who want a mobile broadband plan is certainly the cost and an article on GigaOM may be of interest. Stacey Higginbotham has an overview of all carriers offering 3G plans in North America and gives us the scoop on the cost involved to play with each of them. Of course, coverage in your area of interest is another big factor that must be taken into consideration when trying to decide on a carrier.

Lenovo Magnificent Mile charity needs your help

2008-09-03T14:51:42-05:00

A friend of jkOnTheRun is an employee at Lenovo and his wife needs your help. Lenovo (among others) sponsor the Lenovo Magnificent Mile race that raises money to fight Primary Lateral Sclerosis, a variant of Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS). Our friend's wife, the mother of two young children, suffers from PLS and works tirelessly with this event to help it raise money for research into this incurable disease. If you are so inclined, check out the event's web site and see if there is something you can do to help. Thanks.