jkOnTheRun

CES Interview with Ian Dixon: UMPCs, MIDs, and WiMAX

One of the CES highlights we previously mentioned has a nice follow up today. James and I had the pleasure of sitting down in the Press Room with Ian Dixon to talk tech earlier this month and the interview is available today. Our history with Ian goes way back to early 2005, nearly three years ago, when we were involved in one of the first commercial podcast ventures together. We've all since gone our separate ways, and it's been real treat to watch Ian's continued successes such as his book, his MVP Award and his popular podcast. In short: he's fun and personable, not to mention passionate about technology.

In his CES wrap-up, we chat about our various mobile devices with Ian (who's also a Samsung Q1 owner) and discuss our take on the coming year for UMPCs, MIDs and WiMAX. You can also catch CES opinions of many other great folks like Stephen Hughes, Chris Lanier and more. Thanks again Ian; always a pleasure to meet with you!

Will the Redfly benefit a writer? A real-world test

As a writer I am always looking for tools that let me practice my craft without having to carry such a wide range of bulky tools with me.  It is fortunate that as a writer the tools can be a lot more basic than those needed for a lot of other tasks that people use mobile gadgets for.  A good keyboard, screen, word processor and internet connection will pretty much do it as far as most writing projects are concerned.

Since spending a bit of time with the Celio CEO, Kirt Bailey, and seeing first-hand what their Redfly device can do, I have been giving a lot of thought as to how the Redfly could be a great tool for the writer.  The Redfly basically is just a screen and keyboard in a mini-laptop form that can connect to a Windows Mobile smartphone.  The Redfly has no storage, memory nor processor, it uses the phone for all of that.  It simply adds a bigger keyboard and screen to make interacting with the Windows Moble device easier to do.  It seems to me that this could be a perfect solution for the writer, allowing him/ her to carry just the phone and the Redfly which is smaller than the Asus EEE PC.

While giving this a lot of thought I realized that I had a pretty good setup to test this with the HTC Advantage.  I often use the Advantage, a Windows Mobile 6 running device, with the Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard, and HTC has also included a VGA monitor dongle to connect a PC screen to the Advantage.  I figured that I could do a test using the Advantage, the wireless keyboard and a PC monitor to duplicate the functionality of the Redfly.  This wouldn't be anywhere near as elegant as the Redfly solution since it is a self-contained device with both the screen and keyboard but it would give me a feel for what it would be like to work on the Advantage with a bigger keyboard and screen.  So that is what I did and this article is the result.  It was created solely on the Advantage running with an external keyboard and display.

Word Mobile on the big screen

I just noticed that Jenn of Pocketables posted a tutorial for connecting a monitor to the Advantage, good timing.  :)  Note that in the photos I have included in this article that I am using a 19 inch monitor displaying a VGA screen so of course everything looks large and garish.  This won't be the case with the Redfly as that screen looks to be a little less than 7 inches which should display VGA pretty well.  What we'll have to wait until the Redfly is released to see is how big that keyboard is.  It looked about the same size of the keyboard on the EEE PC which is right on the edge of usability for touch typing.  I'm thinking the Redfly keyboard will work but we'll see.

The end result of this test proves to me that the concept of the Redfly as a phone extender could be very beneficial to those who do a lot of writing or document work.  Road warriors who work with a lot of email could also find the Redfly to be pretty darn useful without taking up much room in the travel kit.  I found in my test that Windows Mobile worked well with a larger screen and I had no issues at all.  I can't wait to get my hands on a Redfly to really test this out.  It could be the ultimate in portability for the type of work that I do.

Working with email

Web work is a breeze

What was my most-used gadget on the CES trip?

The trip to Vegas was full of gear usage, running around exhaustedly and of course introspection as I always look back on trips like this and give a good thought to what gadgets I took with me.  Guess what my most-used gadget was?  No, it wasn't the venerable HTC Advantage that let us live-blog from the show floor and no, it wasn't the HP 2710p which let me do anything I needed to do no matter where I was, even encoding video on the run.  Nope, it was the one thing that stays in my travel bag no matter what else I switch out.  It is the Monster Outlets to Go power strip that I find incredibly useful to take on every single trip I take.  It is simply perfectly designed to do what I need for power.  Thanks Marc!  'Nuff said.

PodTech video on Intel and MIDs

One of my personal CES 2008 highlights was working with Warner Crocker in front of a PodTech camera. We both got the opportunity to share our thoughts around Intel and the MIDs that are upcoming. We're just a few of the many particpants in this video; I think Warner has more camera time, but I hear he's got a better agent. ;) Thanks to Catherine and the other great folks at PodTech for the opportunity!

CES 2008- getting all those business cards into the HP

It is so nice being back at home after the exhausting grind that is the CES and I am finally getting back into the swing of "normal" life.  One of the residual tasks facing me upon my return was getting all of the dozens of business cards I received into my Outlook contacts database.  Entering so many cards into Outlook is no fun no matter how you approach it and I put it off until late yesterday until I remembered something about the HP 2710p Tablet PC that I always forget I can do. 

One of the coolest features of the HP is a utility that is pre-installed called Presto BizCard.  This utility works with the integrated web cam of the HP to digitize business cards photographically into an internal database that can then be synchronized with Outlook.  Since I was confronted with inputting so many cards I decided to give this a whirl and see how well it worked.

There is a tiny slot on the front of the 2710p (laptop mode) just above the screen latch where you insert a business card.  With BizCard running you hit a button to snap a card and a preview window appears with a red box imposed on it to show where the card needs to be for interpretation.  All you do is start to close the screen slowly and when the web cam, which has been switched to macro mode, gets the right distance from the card you hear a series of beeps that tells you a photo of the card is about to be snapped.  When BizCard snaps the card you hear a camera shutter sound and you can open the screen back up to see what it's done.  In a few seconds BizCard then does a text recognition of the business card and opens an editing window so minor corrections can be made.  There are always a few edits needed since every business card is so different but it is overall accurate in determining not only the text on the card but putting the different items into the appropriate field such as "mobile phone".  BizCard keeps its own database that includes the interpreted cards and also the photos of the cards which is a handy reference that lets you throw the card away.  Once I had a bunch of cards processed and edited I then told BizCard to export them to Outlook which took only a minute.  It was very cool and much easier than trying to enter all of these cards manually.  This is a very practical use of cool technology and I am very glad that HP included it with the 2710p.

Jawbone's free headset promotion a success at CES

One of the coolest and most successful promotions I have seen was conducted by the folks who produce the Jawbone Bluetooth headset.  The Jawbone uses advanced noise cancellation technology and is a well regarded headset although they were too pricey for me the last time I checked into them.  The promotion they were running all week at CES was simple yet effective, anyone who came to their booth and traded in their existing headset got a brand new fully charged Jawbone headset for free.  This was very popular as you might guess and yesterday I dropped in and traded my old headset in for the Jawbone.  It was indeed fully charged which was important as those wearing a headset likely needed to keep doing so before getting to a charging location.  I have only used it for less than a day but I have to say I am very impressed with the quality of the noise cancellation.  For a test I called Kevin on the Jawbone from a tremendously noisy location (I picked it on purpose) and he said he couldn't tell I was on a headset as the audio was crystal clear.  It is a nice headset although a bit bulky and ugly but hey, free is a good price.  :)

Special thanks to our families

Kevin and I want to shout out a big thanks to our families for letting us take off for a week to come to the CES.  It's always toughest on them and we really appreciate letting us drop out of reality and head for Vegas.  Thanks Sheri and Barb for putting up with our geekiness and supporting what we do, we really appreciate it tremendously!  We'll be home soon!

CES 2008 wrapup- general thoughts on the show

Well the big CES show is all wrapped up, Kevin is clearing airport security for his trip home, I am flying out later today and it's time to think back on this past week and throw out some general thoughts about the show.  It is as big and daunting as ever from the point of those of us who cover the show, it's so large and spread out that covering it is as challenging as ever when you're just two guys like Kevin and I.  That said, we saw everything we wanted to see and spoke to many who gave us some good information about the mobile tech space.

We found this year like years past that the main show is not always the best place for mobile tech news.  We attended some outside events that were very useful places to see new things.  First up, the Digital Experiences show was very nice and we got to see a lot of new things in just a few hours as major exhibitors like Lenovo and HP were in attendance.  It was one of the highlights of the entire week.  Next up was the ShowStoppers event which we were both very disappointed with.  While similar in nature to the Digital Experiences show the exhibitors were not of the same quality and we both felt it was a genuine waste of our time.  This sentiment was echoed by pretty much everyone we spoke with who attended both events.

Another cool event we attended was the HP Blogger Appreciation Dinner hosted by HP and Symantec.  This was arranged by Chris Aarons of Buzz Corp., one of our very good friends and it was an excellent opportunity to spend quality time with others in the Blogosphere who do what we do.   It was a great time and we thank Chris for setting this up. 

We also got to spend a lot of good time with Dave Zatz of Sling Media (and ZatzNotFunny) and it's always good to see Dave again.  It was almost kind of spooky because we even ran into him by accident once out of all the places in Vegas we could be, there was Zatz.  This was in a hotel, not the show floor and it was kind of spooky.  We thought maybe he was stalking us.  We met up with a lot of old friends which is the main reason we like to go to the CES and we weren't disappointed with this.

It was still strange as it is every year that the Adult Video exhibition starts the last day of the CES and their hall is in the Sands Convention Center like the CES exhibit.  I just never get used to seeing people get out of limos in front of the Sands literally in their underwear.  Very surreal and only in Vegas.

The highlight of the week was the Tablet PC meetup as it is every year and it was a great time.  It is very rare to have so many mobile enthusiasts in one place and we got to meet many readers who made the trip for this event.  It was awesome to see four lucky stiffs win Tablet PCs and great to meet people like Otto Berkes, the inventor of the UMPC for Microsoft.  Great time and thanks to Lora Heiny for setting it all up again this year.

This year we were invited to more private briefings from major OEMs which is always cool and informative.  We attended the Asus press conference by invitation and as we blogged Kevin's video demo of the EEE PC was used by the Asus CEO for his presentation.  Talk about being a part of the show, that was very cool.  We had briefings from companies like Nokia, Palm and others that were very nice.  It was evident from these briefings that jkOTR is making an impact on the mobile tech space and that is very gratifying indeed.

The live blogging we did new this year was a total blast as sharing our experience with readers live as it happened was just neat.  It blew away everyone who saw us doing this and it was just so cool.  Feedback we've received was so positive that it's something we'll try to do, and even better, next year.  It was a direct example how the right mobile technology can be leveraged in new and useful ways.

The whole experience this week was very positive, it's not often that Kevin and I get to spend so much time together geeking out and we had a blast doing it.  From walking around the show to podcasting in the Blogger's Lounge it was a good time and while we are both very tired today we'd do it again in a heartbeat.  We hope you enjoyed the coverage this week and we appreciate each and every one of you who follow what we do here on jkOnTheRun!

CES exhibitor "things to not do next year" suggestions

Having spent this week dealing with the hustle and bustle that is the CES I have constructed a short "don't do" list for exhibitors who wish to make good impressions on visitors:

1. Don't do one on one briefings by rote.  Be adaptive when talking to just one person who has specific questions.
2. Make your booth easily accessible.  Don't create narrow paths that can't be navigated when the crowd is large.  This is the CES, the crowd WILL be large.
3. Don't put your wares under weird lighting.  If you must have your goods secured under a closed display do not put weird lighting that makes taking good photos impossible (that means you, Intel).
4. Don't put a bunch of your new cool product in partner's booths and then not put one in your own (that's for Aigo).
5. Do not invite us to private briefings, send a car to take us off-site, and then make us sign an NDA that means we can't talk about what is covered for THREE MONTHS (yes Palm, you know who I am talking about).

jkOnTheRun Geek Session- Live from CES 2008!

Instead of an audio podcast, we had time to record a brief video Geek Session here at CES 2008. Just a short summary of the show experience, what the buzz was (and wasn't) all about and a mobile prediction. Since we've been sharing information on how we covered the show and what equipment we used: this video was recorded directly by the HP 2710p Tablet PC with its integrated camera.

Special thanks to the CES folks for providing us a small podcast booth to use for this Geek Session!

CES live- the sizes of laptops

HP 2710p, Asus EEE PC, our gear. Video chat coming shortly.

Bill Gates retirement video

Video: Bill Gates Last Day CES Clip

Due to my flight delays, I missed the CES Keynote featuring Bill Gates on Sunday. I've just now got a chance to catch the coverage and although this is all over the web, I thought to share this spoof on the off-chance you haven't seen it. This was shown as part of the keynote and is absolutely hysterical!

CES- roughing it in the Blogger's Lounge

Comfy sofas at the Sands

CES live- Dell XPS gaming notebook

XPS M1730. Big honking laptop.

CES live- Dell XT Tablet PC

Thin and light

CES Innovations award

HP 2710p!

CES live- Switchback rugged UMPC

Very rugged indeed

Bob is back

Not from Microsoft, thankfully.

Yinlips Micro PC

Windows on a 3 inch touchscreen. WinCE for $108 that is.

jkOnTheRun video- how we have live blogged the CES 2008

One of the newest things we've tried in covering the CES 2008 in Las Vegas this year has been live blogging by posting photos of the most interesting gadgets we've encountered directly from the exhibitor's booth.  This has worked extremely well and has blown away everyone who has seen us do this on the show floor.  We literally post to the site within 10 seconds of snapping a photo in the booth and so many people have been asking how we've done this that I've recorded an 8 minute video showing exactly how this has been done.  Enjoy the video!

Being interviewed live

Ian Dixon podcasting with us live

Nokia tour- we're everywhere

N810

Nokia tour- N810

Facebook is everywhere.

Nokia tour- n-gage going live this quarter

Gaming on the phone

Nokia tour- purchase music from phone

Rip CDs from phone

Nokia music store

Brand new service

Nokia tour- Hybrid car

Toyota

Nokia concept photo

Wearable communications

Nokia tour- concept eco device

Nokia is proud of this

Nokia booth tour

Wireless hybrid

Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium thoughts

Yes, I was caught lusting after the newest Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium. That may sound odd since I never left the original Q1 series when the Q1U was introduced. There's a reason for that though... I've always preferred performance and to be honest, my experiences were better with the Intel Pentium-based device. So the new device has an Intel Core Solo in the 1.06- to 1.33 GHz range, and that's appealing especially for running Microsoft Windows Vista. Also tempting is the 1024 x 600 resolution and LED backlight. The buttons are really of no consequence to me, but I know that other folks find them useful.

Toshiba MID demo

Running Vista. Toshiba says this MID is concept only!

Toshiba running Linux

Two models, Windows and Linux

Toshiba Vista-based MID

Toshiba booth

Samsung SSDs galore

Woot!

Kevin plays with the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium

64GB SSD coming in Q1! JK wants one!

Live at Samsung booth

Live blogging about the Q1 Ultra Premium

CES live- Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium

In the Samsung booth

CES 2008- Overall impressions so far

We've now had two complete days of show attendance at the CES and here's some further impressions of what we've seen and heard so far.  First of all, everyone we talk to is finding that there has been nothing major announced nor displayed at the show.  This is common for this show as it's not the place that companies tend to launch big stuff.   That doesn't mean there isn't lots of things to see though, and that's what we've spent most of our time doing.

There's something new on my old UMPC

I have to hold off on the details of this but as early as tomorrow I can share what got installed on my Samsung Q1P UMPC. It's not the Origami Experience 2.0; that much I can say. One of the folks at the Tablet PC / UMPC meetup gave me a demo and as soon as I get the word, I'll share the info.

Speaking of the meetup, I want to share a few thoughts on the awesome experience:

• Sitting with the entire GottaBeMobile team after the main crowd dispersed was a pleasure. We all "work together", but in a virtual office so to speak. We never get to kick back together and we had a fun conversation on our backgrounds and what we do in "day jobs". I think I was the only one who really doesn't have one. ;)
• James said a few words about our good friend, Marc Orchant. A toast of warm thoughts was had by all.
• The exhibitors, vendors and others in the industry REALLY came through with goodies. Tablets and UMPCs from HP, Fujitsu and Motion were offered up. Cases, software and accessories also. We'll get or point a complete list with links of the generous folks that donated. Oh and James won a new Fujitsu U810; you'll be happy to know that he gave the prize back so that someone else could win it. I won a license of Camtasia Studio and SnagIt from TechSmith... I would have given it back, but my son Tyler wants to do screen-cap movies now that he thinks he's famous on YouTube.
• We had around 102 enthusiasts show up... this fun and personal event gets bigger every year.
• It was a pleasure to have readers come up and introduce themselves to us. If the readers benefit from our effort, then we consider this to be a success. Plus, we learn more from you than you from us.
• One the highlights of the event for me personally: getting to meet Otto Berkes from Microsoft. We had a great conversation for about 15 minutes and it was a pleasure to discuss UMPCs, hardware, software and more.

Tablet PC, UMPC meetup is underway!

Cheeseburgers and Tablet PCs in paradise! Wow, what a turnout. I'd have to guess that over 100 folks are here. I see friends from GottaBeMobile, VIA, HP, Motion, Student Tablet PC, Fujitsu and more! Plus good folks like ThoughtFix and readers of the site. There's food on the way PLUS a number of Tablets and UMPCs that are going to be given away. WOW!

Tablet PC live- good people

Kevin pontificating to Chris Aarons

Sahara i440d

Slate Tablet PC

Via NanoBook

Same reference design.

Everex CloudBook

Same reference as Packard. Running gOS. Available WalMart on January 20th for $399. 5 hour battery life? We'll have to test that claim.

Packard Bell EasyNote XS

Similar to the Cloudbook?

NoahPad UMPC

Virtual keyboard and all.

Via- based UMPCs galore

Seven in arow

TabletKiosk eo 7110e UMPC

Gail Levy shows it off

Lunch at Pieros- gadgets on the way stay tuned

Props to Engadget: great interview with Bill Gates

Just a quick note if you haven't seen it already. Be sure to catch Ryan Block's exit interview with Bill Gates. In typical fashion, Ryan asks very insightul questions and this is a must-read, in my opinion. Catch the reference to Tablet PCs, which (also typical) Bill mentions. Great stuff and congrats to Engadget for scoring the interview!

StreetDeck does have a UMPC... but you've already seen it.

Remember yesterday's mention of StreetDeck coming out with a UMPC that also has the MSN Direct service? Wonder of wonders, I found it and yes it does exist... sort of. Over in the Microsoft booth, I caught this picture of it near the other UMPCs and the Origami Experience booth. Look familiar? It should, because it's a rebadged Fujitsu U810 that's been customized a bit for car use! Now we need some hacks to get an FM radio in my Samsung Q1P. ;)

MS booth live- HTC Shift

Very nice non-UMPC

MS booth live- Asus R50A

Playing with the new UMPC

jkOnTheRun the site to watch for CES news- Laptop Magazine

Found something cool this morning while I was goofing off working hard waiting to begin our hectic day here at the CES. Laptop Magazine has a special site for CES 2008 coverage and they have a very short blogroll of sites to follow for CES coverage:

That's pretty good company to be in.  Hope we live up to the expectations.  8-)

Microsoft launches Origami Experience 2.0

One of the highlights of last year's CES was the introduction of the Origami Experience software for UMPCs; it was exciting to be among the first to see what the Microsoft team put together. We're getting a sequel this year and after beta testing early versions for the past few months, I think folks will be happy with the update that the Origami Project team has put together. I suspect we'll get a look at the final version later today at the Tablet PC / UMPC meetup, but that's just a guess at this point. So what's new in OE the second?

• Origami Central is the main launch-point to provide quick access with the touch of a finger to apps and services. In my opinion, the UI is more fluid and intuitive.
• Origami Now is my favorite section because you can personalize to display information that's relevent to you: e-mail, RSS feeds, calendar events, etc... I almost think of this function as custom set of touch gadgets in a Windows Sidebar type of approach.
• Origami Picture Password secures your UMPC with fun puzzle.
• Touch settings, which we're all familiar with from OE the first.

More official details to follow; again, I'm hoping we'll get a hands-on of the final version later this afternoon. Meanwhile, if you have questions about the software, drop 'em in the comments. We'll answer them if we can and we'll hit up the Origami Project team later today for the rest!

CES 2008- where's the wow?

Day one of the 2008 CES has come and gone and I'm being asked by a lot of people, most of them in attendance here in Vegas, what I've seen that has impressed me so far.  It's an easy question to answer because to tell you the truth not very much I've seen has been new and impressive.  I admit we haven't traversed the entire sprawling show floor yet but from what I've seen and heard others discuss it doesn't seem that anyone has been wowed by anything new, at least not so far.  Last year at the CES I remember the same sentiments being thrown about by attendees that nothing was impressive then either.  Of course Mac World was running at the same time and when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone it seemed to suck all the wind out of the CES back then.  We don't have that excuse this year since Mac World is not until next week so where's the Wow?

While there have been cool things on display from companies such as Lenovo and their new IdeaPad consumer notebooks, from a mobile guy's perspective nothing has really stood out as new and gotta have.  I would probably have to say at this point that the only mobile device that has impressed me is the new Asus R50A UMPC.  Having played with the device briefly the smaller size (5.6-inch screen) and rounded case makes it feel very nice in the hands.  The higher screen resolution (1024x600) is nice on that size screen so at this point in the show it's the best device I have seen.  It would take some prolonged hands-on time though to see if it holds up to the potential.  Maybe Kevin has some impressions different than mine to share.

Lenovo's new facial recognition- it's not new!

Lenovo has been all over the CES demonstrating their new consumer notebooks and we've covered them a bit here on jkOnTheRun.  One of the coolest technologies that these IdeaPads come with is the facial recognition technology that is used to securely log users into the systems.  It works like this, the user first enrolls his/her face into the system using the utility software and the integrated web cam and the software digitizes the contours of the face.  Once enrolled the facial recognition software runs at start time and the user simply has to sit in front of the notebook.  The utility then scans the user's face via the web cam and in a second or two the user is automatically logged into the Windows system.  It is extremely accurate and much simpler even than fingerprint recognition technology which is the rage on notebooks these days.  Lenovo is proud of this technology and all of the demo notebooks on display have been running the facial recognition stuff which displays like a screen saver at login time.  Xavier Lanier (whom we were happy to meet yesterday) has posted a video of the technology in action which shows how simple, fast and accurate this is on the new Lenovo notebooks.  You may be surprised to find out that this technology is not new, in fact I used this technology about ten years ago.

Gateway FX gaming notebook

A total screamer

HP iPAQ 200

 

Judie of Gear Diary showed us this new PDA from HP.

Lenovo MID

Kevin's playing

Lenovo IdeaPad U110

Another look- sweet size.

Lenovo Y710

17-inch powerhouse

Asus press event summary: WiMAX, Eee PCs, and R50A

Heeeeeere's Jonny! James and I are listening to the Asus news and the talk is WiMAX, WiMAX, WiMAX. Asus sees the mobile Internet as the future and is betting big on WiMAX. Anticipated range in urban areas is up to 10k with ranges of 50k in rural areas and downloads in the 2- to 4 Mbps range. I don't doubt the claims, but WiMAX here in the U.S. is (in my opinion) a technology implementation in flux. Then again, Jonny is on stage and I'm not, so what do I know. Additionally, Sprint is on the stage discussing the partnership and support of Asus with Sprint's XOHM service. Sprint wouldn't commit to a monthly service price for WiMAX but we heard "I suspect it will be more affordable than 3G".

Asus live- new multimedia notebook

Running WiMax

Asus live- R50A UMPC photo

More hi-res photos to come shortly.

Asus live- R50A UMPC

WiMax, web cam, 1024x600

Asus live- WiMax commitment

For $999 entry level.

Asus live- Kevin makes the CEO speech

Kevin and Tyler's EEE PC video used by Asus CEO to demo streaming. How cool is that?

Asus- mobile focus

Asus is addressing the mobile user- WiMax is king. By end of 2008 15% of Asus products will be WiMax enabled. EEE PC is most successful product ever for Asus.

Live at Asus press conference

Asus CEO

Notebooks.com meets jkOnTheRun

 

Xavier Lanier

HP 2710p in the wild!

Working at the CES. :)

MSN Direct expanding to more devices

The Garmin booth wall is plastered with Nuvis. Or is that Nuviis? Regardless, these are sweet looking GPS navigation units. Even mo' better is the integration with the MSN Direct service on the higher end models: look for the 780 and 880 this spring at $799 and $999 respectively. Garmin already had MSN Direct service in some models, but this year, they're not the only ones: Microsoft announced partnerships with Pioneer, Goodyear and others to put their service in a nav device. Having weather, traffic, stocks and more come over the FM airwaves comes in pretty handy; I say that as a former SPOT watch owner with the service.

In a UMPC twist, StreetDeck says they're adding MSN Direct to an after-market, touch-screen UMPC, but I haven't seen the details yet. Are they truly embedding an FM radio in a UMPC or this just a touchscreen, car-puter / nav system they're calling a UMPC? We'll have to dig around for that. Even if they don't offer a full-fledged UMPC, I wouldn't mind seeing someone else add the service their device. Could be handy for when you need some basic info but don't have any other connectivity. Hmm... especially with a SideShow display!

DeviceVM app

Photo app

More Asus EEE PC

Nice and small

Asus EEE PCs

New ones

UMPC & MID trio: LimePC comes in three sizes

Along my show floor wandering, I stumbled across three prototype UMPCs / handheld MIDs running LimeOS, which is a Debian variant of Linux. Each of the three runs on the Freescale MPC5121e mobileGT processor offering 800 MIPS within a 2W power envelope. WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 and a microUSB also appear in each; where they vary is in the form factor. Here's a quick rundown with a pic or two of each.