HP Unveils Web Device With No Browser

The DreamScreen is a freestanding display that plays music, shows pictures, and connects to Facebook and other sites over a home network, without being attached to a PC.

InformationWeek, By Antone Gonsalves, September 18, 2009 06:00 AM

HP Unveils Web Screen

Hewlett-Packard is offering non-PC devices that can play music and show pictures directly from the Internet or a home computer.

The DreamScreen is designed to fit on a nightstand, dresser, kitchen counter, or coffee table and is meant to complement the PC in the home, not replace it. The device comes in two sizes, a 10.2-inch model and a 13.3-inch version.

The DreamScreen can connect to the Internet through a wired or wireless network. The gadget is piano-black with a flush glass widescreen display and is designed to be a more elegant alternative to the PC in a living room, bedroom, or kitchen.

The device does not have a Web browser. Instead, HP has worked with specific Internet companies to provide interfaces to their services. Those partners include photo-sharing site Snapfish, which is owned by HP, the Pandora Internet radio station, and social network Facebook.

DreamScreen can also access photos and music from networked home PCs and can play video and other digital content loaded from a USB drive or from a flash memory card. The DreamScreen comes with 2 GB of built-in memory for storing content.

HP has built its own DreamScreen software, called SmartRadio, which aggregates streams of Internet broadcasts from more than 10,000 radio stations. The device also has a built-in alarm clock, calendar, and provides a five-day weather forecast.

DreamScreen comes with a remote control and touch screen. The smaller model, available as of Thursday, costs $249 and is available online through Best Buy, Amazon, and HP. Retail stores will start selling the device Oct. 11.

The 13.3-inch model will sell for for $299 and is scheduled to be available in the fall.

HP is not the first company to offer a non-PC device for connecting to the Web. Microsoft in early 2002 launched the Smart Display initiative. The device was a portable touchscreen LCD monitor that connected to a home PC via Wi-Fi and ran a version of Microsoft's Windows CE. ViewSonic was the first manufacturer to sell a Smart Display. However, Microsoft dropped the initiative in late 2003 due to poor sales.

Today, manufacturers are bringing Internet access to a variety of consumer electronics, including digital video recorders, high-definition TVs, and Blu-ray disc players.

Intel cheap laptops expanding to U.S., Europe

Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:13pm EDT

By Jim Finkle and Duncan Martell

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday sub-$300 laptops initially designed for poor children will soon be available to U.S. and European consumers in a move that could further push down computer prices.

Craig Barrett (C), chairman of Intel, looks on as a student of Gwarinpa secondary school uses a laptop computer in Abuja, Nigeria, October 31, 2007.

PC makers in the United States and in Europe will sell a yet-to-be-unveiled, second-generation version of the Intel-designed Classmate PC for $250 to $350, said Lila Ibrahim, general manager of Intel's emerging market platform's group, in an interview with Reuters.

"This is a very big deal," said Laura Didio, an analyst with Yankee Group who follows the personal computer industry.

While the machines are intended for children, analysts said the launch will add momentum to the low-cost computing movement -- and will likely mean this year's bargain-basement laptops will have more power than in previous years.

"Particularly in a recession year, quality low-cost products are going to move well," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. "But the key is for them to be quality."

He said while he hasn't yet seen the machines that will be on sale this Christmas, he suspects consumers will be able to get "a pretty decent" laptop for less than $600 and perhaps for less than $500.

Didio said retailers might throw in another $50 to $100 in rebates or other incentives.

Laptop prices have been under extra pressure since last year, when Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc (2357.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) introduced the $399 Eee PC, which has flown off store shelves from Asia to North America.

The machine runs on the Linux operating system, and people used to Microsoft's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Windows and Apple's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Mac OS X operating systems have had trouble adapting to the system, Enderle said.

The new, cheap laptops being developed from Intel's technology will likely run on Windows, he added.

The movement toward low-cost computing was also spurred by the XO laptop, the brainchild of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte and his One Laptop Per Child Foundation.

The foundation began producing a laptop running on Linux at a cost of $188 in November. They sold them in the United States and in Canada for $400 through a charity drive that also provided one machine to a poor child overseas.

The chipmaker has conducted pilot tests of the Classmate PC at schools in Texas, Oregon and California, along with some schools in Australia, said Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan.

Intel said manufacturers in India, Mexico and Indonesia already have begun selling Classmate PC laptops on the retail market.

To date, Intel has sold fewer than 100,000 of the Classmate PCs, but plans to ramp up production in 2008.

Intel declined to identify the PC makers or discuss the features of the second-generation machine, which has not yet been released in developing markets, at the request of the companies.

It has already begun work on a third model, the Classmate 3, said Ibrahim.

The second- and third-generation models of the Classmate PC design give manufacturers flexibility to build a range of laptops with different memory configurations, screen sizes and peripheral devices including cameras, Ibrahim said.

Inventor Mary Lou Jepsen, a scientist who developed the XO Laptop, resigned from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation at the end of last year and started her own company Pixel Qi with the goal of building a $75 laptop by 2010.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston and Duncan Martell in San Francisco; editing by Carol Bishopric/Jeffrey Benkoe)

Related Stories:

Dell to step into low-cost notebook PC market: report

The Bearable Lightness of HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC

Acer low-cost PC expected to be cheaper than second-generation Eee PC

Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard Eases PC-TV Link

Yahoo Tech,

Sat Jan 5, 2008 7:01PM EST

So, you've hooked up your PC to your TV a few times, maybe to watch TV shows and movies you've downloaded or to listen to music through a home theater system. It works well, but you need to access media through your laptop keyboard.

What if you had a keyboard to run your PC through the TV from anywhere in the room? You'd be able to do so much more: browse the web, check email, play PC and online games. Great idea, but you may not want another bulky piece of gear for the family room, and the wireless range would be limited.

Logitech has an answer: The diNovo Mini palm-sized keyboard, which it unveiled today. Using a Bluetooth USB connection, the handheld keyboard, about 6 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches, makes simple work of navigating your PC on a bigger TV screen. A scroll wheel that doubles as a touchpad controls the cursor on the screen; click it with your thumb when you want to select an option.

There's a full, nice-sized QWERTY keyboard that makes typing emails or IMing simple and fun for nimble hands. Backlighting makes seeing the keys easier in dim lighting.

Slide a switch, and the keyboard goes into media-remote mode (green indicator). The scroll wheel becomes a directional pad, which allows you to choose which media to access. Volume, channel, and play controls allow you to watch and adjust DVDs and recorded shows.

There are just the right amount of keys on the compact keyboard—one of Yahoo! Tech's Last Gadget Standing finalists—including some blue-outlined function keys that serve as shortcuts to Internet Explorer, iTunes, and some oft-used symbols. Of course, it's best for younger eyes but not impossible for older ones, either. I liked using it.

For Sony PS3 owners, there's a switch in the battery compartment that allows you to move between PS3 and PC controls. The keyboard works with Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center PCs. Alas, it does not work with Macs nor Xbox 360s.

It is plug-and-play easy. It worked from every angle in our family room, and Logitech says it will work up to 30 feet away from the PC. A rechargeable Li-ion battery provides up to a month of battery life, Logitech says. It makes the PC-TV family-room connection far less clunky. If you're not ready for wireless room-to-room streaming of PC media to your big-screen TV, this little $150 keyboard makes the physical PC-TV connection everyday viable.

Windows Home Server Available Now to Help Families Protect, Connect and Share Their Digital Experiences

Press Release Source: Microsoft,

Yahoo Finance, Monday November 5, 12:01 am ET

The HP MediaSmart Server is now available for pre-order and will be shipped to customers this month; new hardware and software partners announce Windows Home Server products and solutions.

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Windows Home Server, a new solution to help families easily protect, connect and share their digital media and documents, is generally available today. The HP MediaSmart Server, powered by Windows Home Server software, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com, Best Buy.com, Buy.com, Circuit City.com and CompUSA.com. It will be shipped to customers and available via other leading retailer Web sites later in November.

Additional Microsoft hardware and software partners are also delivering new consumer products and solutions designed to work with Windows Home Server.

"Digital devices and content are everywhere in our day-to-day lives and they are more important all the time," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. "With the launch of Windows Home Server, Microsoft and its partners are creating a new consumer product category that will help people keep their digital media safe and make it easier for them to enjoy it with friends and family."

Windows Home Server is a "stay-at-home" server that delivers the benefits of powerful server technology used by many people at work within a simple, easy-to-use solution for the home.

It automatically backs up Windows XP-based and Windows Vista-based home computers each night, provides a central place to organize digital documents and media, and includes a free Windows Live Internet address to access the home server from virtually anywhere and share content with friends and family. It also monitors the health and security status of home computers and can stream media to other devices in the home, such as Xbox 360, allowing people to enjoy digital music, photos and videos on their television.

Read More ....

Windows Home Server features at a glance:

• Your family's digital memories and media organized in one central hub
• Home PCs backed up daily, automatically
• Simple recovery of lost files or even entire PCs
• Complete access from networked PCs to all your Windows Home Server files
• A personalized Web address for sharing your photos and home videos
• Easy and quick setup
• Expandable storage space for future use
• Innovative third-party applications