Tesla model S electric car

OK, Tesla already proved to be different by designing a good looking electrical car (not like the prius of honda, but good looking, just like the LoReMo) when they came up with their sports car. Now they created a car for the masses with the model S.

Besides being a 4 person affordable electric car that looks good it has some nice Convenience and utility bullet points:

• Up to 300-mile range
• 45-minute QuickCharge
• 5-minute battery swap
• Charges from 110V, 220V or 440V
• Seating for 5 adults + 2 child seats
• Unique hatch for oversized items
• 60/40 flat-folding rear seat
• 2nd trunk under hood
• EPA Roominess Index 121.6
• More room than station wagons
• 17-inch infotainment touchscreen
• 3G wireless connectivity

Tesla Model S powertrain includes a liquid-cooled 9-inch motor, floor-mounted battery pack and a single-speed gearbox, delivering effortless acceleration, responsive handling and quiet simplicity - no fancy clutchwork or gear-shifting required. Tesla Model S costs as little as $4 to fully charge - a bargain even if gasoline dropped to $1 per gallon. You can have affordable fun while being socially responsible.

Technical specs:

• 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds
• ¼ mile in 14 seconds
• 120 mph top speed
• Braking 60-0 mph 135 feet
• 42 kWh battery storage system standard
• 70 kWh and greater battery storage systems optional
• 9- inch liquid cooled electric motor
• Single-speed transaxle gearbox
• Curb Weight 3825 lbs
• Overall Length 196″
• Wheelbase 116.5″
• All-wheel-drive available (option available in future production models)
• Right hand drive available

The Tesla Model S Concept is a drivable vehicle that exemplifies Tesla’s “no compromises” philosophy - an elegantly refined luxury sedan delivering optimal performance without sacrificing efficiency. Designed by Franz von Holzhausen, the car’s aggressive stance gives way to a modern silhouette, with minimal front and rear overhangs for maximum space efficiency. The car’s mature face defines the future of the Tesla brand and incorporates the touches from the Tesla Roadster. Environmentally friendly materials are incorporated throughout, including water-based paint for the exterior, chrome-free vegetable tanned Italian leather on interior, and 100 percent recycled PET carpeting from Futuris.
Other details:

• Panoramic roof with sliding moon roof
• Retracting door handles for improved aerodynamics
• Full-time 3G connectivity with Internet, HD and satellite radio
• Push button “gear” selector
• Brembo brakes
• Automatic rear lift gate
• 21-inch wheels, Front Tires 245/35ZR21, Rear Tires 285/30ZR21
• 17-inch haptic touchscreen and customizable vehicle information display
• Fully digital instrument cluster
• LED and neon headlight and taillights, with xenon Hella low beams
• Smart-key power and push button gear selector
• Brembo brake system with new one-piece monobloc calipers and integral stiffening bridge to optimize performance
• Front brake system:o Brembo Gran Turismoo Brembo 6-piston Monobloc Caliperso Brembo 405×34mm 2-Piece Floating Slotted Discs with Billet Aluminum Hats
• Rear brake system:o Brembo Gran Turismoo Brembo 4-piston Monobloc Caliperso Brembo 380×28mm 2-Piece Slotted Discs with Billet Aluminum Hat

Please note the dashboard is not conventional as well. They did say touchscreen and customizable vehicle information display and let's hope you indeed can customize this (check the pics of the dash and you see what I mean). The idea is great and all tweakers love it (ok there are some minor details on reliability for example that you want to see answered)

So for the dashboard please look at the gallery at http://i.gizmodo.com/5185966/first-look-at-the-tesla-model-s-electric-cars-giant-touchscreen-dashboard

A new era in trip planning

Ok, so far when planning a trip you do your research on the internet and dig for sites with tourist info and reviews from people who has been there. The next step is just selecting a location and then create your trip based on the pictures and travel paths of other. Since most digital cameras will be GPS enables in the near future (there are some already) and people use the ability of using tags more and more you just creat a trip based upon tags. So for example going to a city then look at the map and filter a trip for party or shopping or dining and you see where most people go including pictures of that area (and reviews)

Imaging doing this on your multitouch dining table:)

Anyway, planning your trip has come closer after some cleaver stuff at MIT

(un)photographed Spain
When posting photos online, users of the photo sharing platform Flickr transmit to the world their perspective of a place or event through the lens of a digital camera. Each digital photo file codes both the time when that photo was taken and the location it captures. Analyzing this information allows us to follow the trail that each Flickr photographer travels through Spain. (Un)photographed Spain maps thousands of these public, digital footprints over one year. As photos overlap in certain locations, they expose the places that attract the photographer's gaze . In contrast, the absence of images in other locations reveal the unphotographed spaces of a more introverted Spain.

Density and flows of photographers
In 2007, the Iberian Penninsula clearly splits between Portugal and Spain with Barcelona constantly acting as main hub connecting people to Madrid, the Balearic Islands, Andalucia and the Cantabrian Sea in the North. hi-res images > low-res video


(un)photographed Spain from senseablecity on Vimeo.

spaces of diversity
About 60% of Flickr users disclose information on their home country. Analysis of the time and location data embedded in their digital photo files allows us to examine the Flickr photographers' geographic presence and trails over time, and to differentiate locals from visitors. Based on this information, spaces of diversity maps the contrast between where locals capture images and where visitor communities such as Britons experience of Spain. The yellow lines reveal the most common paths photographers follow as they capture images in different places.

Britons weaving their path in Barcelona
Britons who visited Barcelona in Fall 2007 stayed on the beaten paths delimited by the city's main elements such as Parc Guel and Sagrada Familiar with Passeig de Gracia and Rambla acting as artery. The photos also confirms their pleasure for football (Camp Nou) parties (Forum) and the mediteranean sea (Barceloneta). > hi-res images > video


Spaces of diversity (where are the britons) from senseable on Vimeo.

spaces of activity
Photographers often attach descriptions and tags when posting their photos on Flickr. The data mining of these tags allows us to infer the kinds of activities that these photos capture. Spaces of activity reveals the regions and cities that host memorable parties in Spain over the course of a year. It also shows the places that attract more quiet experiences through art. The size of the glow on the map corresponds to the density of each type of activity. A greater glow implies a greater density of photographic activity.

Partying in Barcelona
This animation of the photos with tags related to "partying" in Summer 2007 shows that Barcelona confines its fun to the old town (Ciutat Vella) known for its high density of tourists, the bohemian distric of Gracia and the Forum area and its music festivals.> hi-res images > video


Spaces of activity (where are the parties?) from senseable on Vimeo.

Struktable - a 70 inch multitouch table

Ok before going into a bit more detail on the latest developments at Struktable I'v got a question for you. What would be your ultimate multi touch application besides rotating and resizing photos and zoom in and out at google maps-earth? Please reply with your ultimate multitouch application

The Struktable is an interactive installation built by Strukt to develop multi-touch applications. It can be rented for events or permanent installations with custom software developed for individual needs.

With its 70-inch display size, the Struktable is built for simultaneous interaction of up to 8 people. The touch-sensitive surface recognizes unlimited finger touches at the same time - therefore, users can interact more intuitively.

The portable design makes it versatile for diverse applications: product presentations at trade fairs, interactive gamestations at conferences or information terminals in public space.

The Struktable makes use of the FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) effect. Therefore, infrared LEDs are placed around the acrylic top, and finger touches reflect the light into the camera on the bottom of the table. Only one PC is needed for tracking, gesture recognition and 2D/3D rendering of the GUI. A beamer then projects the GUI onto the surface.The only downside to me here is the resolution. It's not a full HD screen but only 1280*800 pixels. The big plus is the design. It just looks great

Applications for the Struktable are implemented in vvvv, a rapid prototyping software. The tracking algorithms have been realised by the Technical University Vienna. Basic applications are ready for use, while custom software can be developed by Strukt on demand.

And for those interested there is a lot to read on their cool table at: http://multitouch.at/

Dell one has multi touch as an option and Fingertapps are right on this

A lot has been said already about the One however what I like about this line is that there is a multi-touch option (comes with a keyboard as well) that would make it a good choice for a kitchen or family room PC. Because the system is an all-in-one it also is a spacesaver. The system I saw also has Cozi.com Family Calendering system loaded. The starting price of $699 is friendly on the budget. Listed below are some specifications from the Dell press release.

Software from Dell:

• Easy multi-touch photo editing, slideshow creation, playlist compilation, notes, and even web browsing.
• Unleash creativity with You Paint finger painting software.
• Record videos and upload directly to YouTube with the touch of a finger.
• Flick to Flickr – Upload photos to Flickr to share with family and friends.
• Create a musical masterpiece with the multi-touch percussion center.
  

Technical Specifications:

• Intel® Celeron, Dual Core Celeron, Pentium Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, and Core 2 Quad Core Processor options
• Choice of nVidia GeForce 9200 or GeForce 9400 integrated graphics
• Up to 4GB dual channel memory
• Up to 750GB HDD
• Slot load Optical drive
• 7-in-1 media card reader, six USB ports
• Optional integrated wireless, web camera, Blu-ray Disc™
• Optional multi-touch capability
• Optional facial recognition security (with webcam)

But besides all these specs (that we all already know perhaps) the good thing is that Fingertapps is right there on it! Fingertapps are in fact the developers of the Dell TouchZone software, the application suite that provides the focal point for the touch experience on the Studio One.
TouchZone makes full use of the touch hardware to introduce some handy new gestures and 'actionable touch' behaviors (it's not just about resizing and rotating photos you know!). So this is kind of promising news

Whiteboard, smartboard and beyond the obvious enabling new learning and working styles

I was triggered to blog about this because I read a post from Alex Vermeule, a former Colleague at Microsoft where he pointed at the Free Internet Whiteboard

So far most digital whiteboards do come with some proprietary software and are pretty limited in terms of:

• Sharing (locally and accross the internet)
• Manageability
• Collaboration
• Useability

So there are easier solutions, specially now the multitouch overlays are becoming mainstream and thus affordable. Instead of having a traditional setup with a whiteboard and a projector (so you are allways standing in the beam, that's why I dislike them most I guess) you can also take a 50 or perhaps even 60 inch LCD panel with touch (multi or single, however multi would increase the useability) overlay. If this is not big enough you can even take a full wall with a touch panel (this is expensive and custom made) on a rear projection wall (takes some space). That gives the ultimate flexibility

The great thing of taking a LCD panel is resolution per euro (so you can have a relative cheap HD panel) and the backlit so you never stand in the beam again. Also the system can be managed easily when using it as a monitor from a pc (which you need anyway)

Then just use onenote as your whiteboard tool. This is easy to use and extremely flexible. You get:

• Handwriting recognition
• Share accross the internet or local network via mail
• Direct sharing with the participants so anyone can write at the same time
• Easy search through all notes taken and tagging items
• Copy/past functionality as in all other windows apps
• Easy to share with other classrooms as well
• Use of templates
• Use of multiple notebooks
• Integrated audio/video recording (for recording sesions) with the option to search and listen/view back specific parts

This will provide you with much more flexibility and in general for lower costs. Again if you use a HD panel with a multitouch overlay you can have some nice multitouch applications available but even more important all other applications will run in HD as well (like video) and you can use it for regular presentations made in eg powerpoint of videoconferencing

Also since it can be shared for live collaboration within a meeting/class room but also over the internet if fits much better in the new world of work and in new classroom concepts, distance learning etc (and students can easily add their own notes to the shared notebook as well as view/listen back recorded classroom sessions)

One alternative solution (low-end and free) is

Chris Live Tech Support Video Help Add to iTunes

This is not a mature product and I would not reccomend this in classroom sessions or business meetings however there are still some nice areas of use (like an interactive wall accross different facilities within a company so people can express thmeselves in a nice way)

What you give up compared to most traditional systems (like the ones from smart technologies)

1. Automatic discovery which pencil you take (the color) or the cleaner
2. ..................?

So how bad is this. Perhaps bad for a few old fashioned teachers reluctant to change but if you sometimes want to use your finger to write, or just have a simple pencil (stylus) you can just select the role on the screen with software. So no need for different pencils for different roles, Just one and assign any role you like to this (this gives much more flexibility since there are many more roles than the standard predefined from a smartboard)

What do you gain

Well this list is much longer

• Flexibility (you can easily use it for much more)
• Scaleability
• Collaboration options
• Sharing options
• Manageability
• More cost effective

The great thing is at last you see for example smart already offering an LCD based solution however there are still too many limitations in my opinion compared to other systems

Minority report screen ready to turn into product

Ok we all know intel is creating solutions, not products. But still they developed a pretty cool product (just to show he power of the their platform but it can be a great reference model)



So now hope somebody goes for this and start producing the thing. It will not be cheap but who cares. Everything to get the economy back in shape. Even if we have to spent some euros

Oh............and let's hope it's multiutouch as well:) or am I asking too much now

A great new development in standardizing interconnection between AV devices

Hooking up

If there’s one safe bet in AV, it’s that the number of connection technologies will continue to increase.

One newcomer is Digital Interactive Interface for AV (DiiVA), which uses standard Cat6 cabling to link displays with sources such as DVD players, set-top boxes and the Internet.DiiVA (www.diiva.org) features four differential pairs. The first three can handle up to 4.5 Gbit/s each, enough to support uncompressed 1080p at 60 frames per second or Quad HD. The fourth pair can send more than 2 Gbit/s in one direction at the same time it’s receiving at the same rate.

That data channel can be used for tasks such as carrying Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 and command/control information.DiiVA also enables systems where iPhone-like icons appear on a display. Instead of fumbling for remotes to control different sources, such as DVD players, satellite set-top boxes and PCs, users would select the icon – such as the BBC or YouTube – representing the source they want to switch to.

That set-up also would allow users to watch all video on their TV, instead of going to a PC or the room where the DVD player is.“We want to develop a new, multimedia networking standard make TVs the centre of home network environment,” says Steve Yum, senior director of product planning at Synerchip, one of the companies backing DiiVA.

DiiVA initially will be aimed at the consumer market, including home AV networks. But if it builds a following there, it’s likely to expand into the pro market, just as predecessors such as HDMI did.In the pro space, DiiVA could be used for applications such as bars. For example, a bartender could use DiiVA’s GUI to switch a display from a football game, delivered via the satellite set-top box, to YouTube videos, delivered via a PC.

Let's now hope they add native snmp support and standards to this and they are not just easy to connect and control but also easy to manage, specially when it comes to the pro market. Then big savings can be made using a standard CAT6 nework with a standard management environment while reducing installation complexity (I hope)

I guess the home AV network here will look totally different in 5 to 10 years from now

Watching windows, any view you like

Again a nice article from InAVate

09 March 2009
after the wallpaper TV it’s OLED windows. Apparently Philips Research is currently working on a 12cm invisible OLED panel that could provide images when switched on. The technology has the potential to create any view you want from any window; imagine a rolling countryside landscape from a city boardroom on the 15th floor.

Philips is joined by other technology pioneers who have formed a project called OLED100, an organisation that aims to produce efficient OLED products for the European lighting industry. The group’s objectives include creating 100 lumens per watt power efficiency, more than 100,000 ‘lifetime hours’, a unit area of 100cm by 100cm and a cost of no more than €100 per square metre.

Although OLED100 focuses on technologies for the lighting industry it has interesting consequences for the audiovisual sector, demonstrated by the Philips invisible OLED product. OLED100’s members are Epic, Fraunhofer IPMS, Novaled, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Bartenbach LichtLabor, Evonik Degussa, Microsharp, OCE Technologies, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Siemens, Universiteit Gent and Technische Universität Dresden.

and some more 3D

When reading through the Inavate on the net I came accross a nice article with some predictions on the 5 to 10 year timeframe and obviously there is one on 3D. For those to lazy to click here this is a copy/paste of specific part of the article

For decades, 3D has languished as a niche play. But it could finally move into the mainstream pro AV market – thanks at least partly to consumers.This year, DreamWorks will release all of its films in 3D. Meanwhile, Imax is paying the U.S. theatre chain to upgrade 100 of its screens to 3D. There are plenty of other examples, but the bottom line is that consumers are encountering 3D in more and more places.

“3D is a certainty to go mainstream in the consumer area in the next five to 10 years because of the availability of content and a strong need for differentiation in order to secure consumers' entertainment dollars,” says Peter Bocko, chief technology officer for East Asia at Corning, which makes glass-based products for applications such as fibre optic cables and LCD displays.If consumer response to 3D is solid – and that’s still a big if – then it would increase revenue for makers of 3D displays and other products, a snowball effect that would benefit the pro AV market, too.

“That will help fund the R&D to bring 3D to a much broader scale, for use particularly by enterprises,” says Phil McKinney, Chief Technology Officer for Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Systems Group (PSG).

Businesspeople also are consumers for part of the day, so their 3D experiences outside of work are another factor: The more 3D they see in their homes and in theatres, the more likely they are to expect it or specify it for work.“It will be five to 10 years for 3D to be ubiquitous just in the home,” McKinney says.

The catch: Their experiences over the next few years are critical because if they’re disappointing or downright bad, 3D could remain the province of lucrative yet niche applications such as medical imaging and automotive design. But if they’re good, 3D could start to show up in applications such as telepresence within five to 10 years.

“You can have a stronger sense of presence in telepresence so you can have tighter collaboration,” says McKinney, who envisions 3D images not only of meeting participants, but also of products they’re discussing.“When you’re building 3D products that have to sit on a shelf and appeal to consumers, the look, size, scale and colour are critically important,” McKinney says. “Today’s collaboration technologies really don’t effectively allow you to share that experience or do collaboration around materials or colour or design, just given the flatness of the telepresence experience.

”A richer experience requires more bandwidth, with the amount varying by the type of 3D. So if the 3D content has to traverse a network, then the cost and availability of that bandwidth affects whether the end user – such as an enterprise – can make a business case for 3D.“To get autostereoscopic (no glasses required) 3D at 1080p resolution, the 3D panel needs to be built on the back of a Quad HD panel to get enough pixels to generate all the views,” says Robert Boudreau, technology development manager at Corning Display Technologies. “This requires four times the bandwidth for the Quad, plus 1.2 times the bandwidth for the 3D, for a total of about five times the bandwidth [of 1080p]. With glasses-based 3D, it’s possible to get away with 1.2 times the bandwidth.”

3D is coming closer

I just read an announcement of Keane that they will broadcast their new concert in 3D. The band will record the live session at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios, the home of The Beatles' historic first ever satellite broadcast, and will feature live mixed graphics from world-renowned digital artists D-Fuse.

3D glasses are available from the brand new keanemusic.com shop with the 7-inch of the new single Better Than This on 16th March. (they are also hoping to show you how to make your own 3D glasses...............this looks like they go for the red/blue glasses) The audio from the gig will also be simultaneously broadcast live on-air on newly launched national station Absolute Radio. The gig will also be available to watch on-demand via km.com afterwards.

This same week I have read that the Sky is preparing for 3D big time. All new programs are recorded in 3D. Sky subscribers could be treated to 3D TV this coming Christmas, the broadcaster has said.

The firm’s Chief Engineer, Chris Johns, said that there’s the possibility that homes could “see 3D” by the end of the year and it’s aiming to “build a content library over the coming year”.
Sky’s already claimed to have successfully demonstrated 3D TV at its London HQ. And it said back in January that a commercial 3D TV service “could be launched any time in the next two years”.

3D broadcasts will most likely be available through Sky's existing Sky+ HD platform, the company has since said. Early adopters will have to fork out extra for a new telly capable of displaying the stereoscopic images and special specs to separate out the left- and right-eye views. ®

So this year can be the 3D breakthrough but not sure about the system they will use (Well Keane seams to go for the red/blue glasses when looking at their website)

Toshiba wallpaper to match home decoration with laptop

Unfortuntely still many years away from us and then probably way to expensive for home decoration but think about what you can do with this in an office setup. It never has beens o easy to redecorate the office. just clcik the button and the wall paper looks different so you canuse mood influence wall paper design, match the wallpaper to the meeting style, use the wall paper a a giant flatscreen for your presentations and much more.


Toshiba develops TV wallpaper
03 March 2009
Toshiba unveiled “television wallpaper” at Tokyo’s annual International Nanotechnology Conference and Exhibition, revealing that its scientists had used nanotechnology to create flexible paper capable of showing images. The revolutionary wall coverings, announced at the conference held February 18 – 20, are a result of a breakthrough in OLED technology that allows the paper to emit light.

Scientists at Toshiba have increased the efficiency of OLED devices by using light that has been redirected by an ultra-fine grating that is fabricated by self-assembled nano particles. OLED is far less energy hungry than LCD or plasma equivalents.The paper can be used to project moving pictures or images to create different atmospheres. Furthermore the paper can emit light which could potentially eliminate the need for additional light sources.Toshiba says the concept is still many years away from production.

Minority report 5.0

For hose not looking at engadget. This is how they envision the future of computing (mainly human-computer interaction). Kind of minority report but thn version 5.0. Pretty cool and nice to know, big parts can be realized already 9but I gess your wallet is the limitation here)

how dead is the netbook, this one looks smart

Ok I just declared the netbook dead but now I have seen this device rnnig Linux (or Android or WinCE if you like, but have to install it yourself). The article below is shameless copied from gizmodo since they seem to be the only one having a test. The clever part of this device is the way you can transform it from a laptop into a tablet with a touch interface and the way it handles USB. The USB slots are made in such a way you can have your dongles there permanently. For some detailed info besides the test below just go yo http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

First Hands On: Touch Book Is a Part-Netbook, Part-Tablet
By Adrian Covert,

The Always Innovating Touch Book does something I've never seen from a netbook: it has a fully detachable keyboard dock and transforms from a standard looking 8.9-inch netbook, to a stand-alone tablet.

Spearheaded by Gregoire Gentil, the man behind the Zonbu Desktop and Laptop, the Touch Book is his latest project, and a promising one at that. Gentil says the Touch Book's hardware and software are fully open source and ready for modifications. While the device will come preloaded with a custom Touch Book OS, Gentil says this machine is capable of running mobile operating systems such as Android or Windows CE.

The hardware I saw wasn't quite complete—the software was demoed on a prototype, and the final hardware above were just empty shells to give an idea of the design—so I cant comment too much on how well the end product performs, but I saw enough to consider this thing more than vaporware.
The Touch Book is the first netbook powered by a 600 MHz TI OMAP3 processor (built around ARM technology), 256 MB RAM, 3-axis accelerometer, an 8-gigabyte microSD card for storage and two batteries providing up to 15 hours of usage between charges. The 8.9-inch screen can display resolutions up to 1024x768 and uses a resistive touch panel.There's also the usual offerings of 802.11b/g/n wi-fi and Bluetooth.

As a standalone tablet, the Touch Book is roughly 9.5"x7"x1" and weighs about a pound. When docked to the keyboard, it is about 1.4-inches thick and weighs 2 pounds. All of the Touch Book's guts, except for one of the batteries, are housed in the tablet portion of the device, so that it's fully functional while detatched from the keyboard.

The chipset fits on a motherboard about the size of an index card, and is heavily optimized to get the best performance out of the hardware. Part of this involves stacking the RAM directly on top of the processor in a package on package configuration. The lid of the touchbook also pops off, so you have easy access to the hardware and it's two internal USB ports you can use for dongles you dont want hanging off the side of the tablet.

As far as software goes, the OS is based around the Open Embedded Linux platform, but fully customized for the Touch Book hardware. As such, the Touch Book has the power to handle full screen video, and render OpenGL 3D graphics. Gentil says the Touch Book can run some of the same games found on the iPhone and plans to offer them in the future.

The Touch Book UI design depends on what configuration the hardware is in. When docked to the keyboard, the Touch Book uses a standard, cursor-based UI that looks like other Linux desktops. However, when in tablet mode, it uses a custom-designed, touch-based UI. The touch UI is based around spherical icons that rotate in a circular fashion as you swipe to the next one. Content is divided into three categories: web, apps and settings.

On the apps side, Touch Book will ship with both Firefox and

Fennec (Mobile Firefox), games that will make use of the accelerometer, plus various sorts of web and productivity apps, such as word processor and spreadsheet-type programs.

Always Innovating plans to start shipping the Touch Book in late May or early June, priced at $300 for the tablet alone, or $400 for the tablet and keyboard dock combination. Pre-ordering will begin next week, and you can order the Touch Book in either red or dark grey colors. Gentil says he would also like to release future iterations that include support for GPS and 3G mobile broadband.


NEW TOUCHBOOK COMBINES NETBOOK AND TOUCHSCREEN TABLET; PROVIDES THREE TIMES THE BATTERY LIFE AT UNDER TWO POUNDS
PALM DESERT, Calif. March 2, 2009: Always Innovating today unveiled the Touch Book, a versatile new device that works as both a netbook and a tablet thanks to a detachable keyboard and a 3D touchscreen user interface. The Touch Book, previewed at DEMO 09, weighs less than two pounds as a netbook and has a battery life of 10 to 15 hours – three times longer than most netbooks.
"The Touch Book is perfect for these tough economic times because you can use it in so many ways," said Gregoire Gentil, founder of Always Innovating and creator of the Touch Book. "You can use it as a netbook computer, a hand-held game device, or a video player. You can even reverse the keyboard to prop it up on a table in an inverted ‘V'. Finally, because it is magnetic, you can remove the keyboard and put the tablet on the fridge to serve as a kitchen computer or digital frame."
The Touch Book combines the best of open source software and open hardware with a sleek industrial design by designer Fred Bould. The innovative design includes internal USB plugs. "I hate having dongles hanging from my laptop – I often end up disconnecting them accidentally – so we opted to put the USB inside," said Gentil.
The Touch Book is the first netbook featuring an ARM processor from Texas Instruments, resulting in outstanding battery life, and a fan less, heat-and-noise-free system.
According to Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO Conferences, the Touch Book's innovative architecture and industrial design earned it a spot on the DEMO conference stage. "The longer battery life is a boon to netbook users. But the Touch Book's versatility – its ability to function as a netbook as well as a standalone touchscreen tablet – makes it a breakthrough product," said Shipley
The Touch Book is expected to ship in late spring and will start at $299. Advance orders can be placed at http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/store/.

Crisis, What crisis........not everybody is in crisis

Ok we do have a crisis but this is not by definition a bad thing. Car repair centers, fastfood and cheap food (bit of the same) restaurants, and videconference companies are doing great right now. According to the latest figures videoconferencing is growing fast.

Although the sales in the US is not really growing Europe is growing very fast and focussing on hight definition. According to Gartner in 2012 we will book 2.1 million less plane tickets due to videoconferencing.

This makes videoconferencing an interesting market and it's pretty clear why Cisco and HP want their share (and so does Microsoft with OCS). This has not been unnoticed by the traditional video conferencing manufacturers like Polycom. As a matter of fact, Polycom is fighting back and bringing VC to the desktop with an application that also provides application/desktop sharing, chatting etc. Kind of OCS like functionality. Hope they make this compatible with OCS (currently less than 15% of the VTC systems are connected to OCS) so customers have a choice, not just for a specific brand but also for different situations (guess it all comes down to $$$$)