Sony Ericsson TM506 Clamshell

T-Mobile has come out with a report on the launching of the Sony Ericsson TM506 mobile phone in the United States as early as next month. The phone will retail only from T-Mobile online and retail stores and the price is not yet disclosed. The phone has a nice compact design and is available with Emrald and Amber color. The phone has a ebony glass type finish and has an external display screen for photo calling. The Phone supports 3G technology which ensures you good download speed and streaming video/audio. It comes along with a 2megapixel camera for video and still photography. The SE TM506 measures about 3.7 x 1.9 x 0.7inches and weighs close to 3.5 ounces. The battery of the phone lasts for a reported 9 and half hours on GSm and stand by of 250 hours. The phone is equipped with both UMTS network as well as HSDPA connectivity with Tri-band GSM.

Google launches web browser - Chrome

Google has launched a new web browser ahead of the Internet Explorer 8 launch. We had earlier expected that the Google browser would be launched just before IE8 somewhere in the start of 2009, but this early release by Google has come as a surprise for all. Google Chrome as it is called looks an appealing browser and according to tests by major software giants on the Acid3 and other tests it comes up better than IE and Firefox both. The Acid3 test rates Chrome at 78 out of 100 ahead of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 7. Although the browser doesn't meet the lofty standards of the Opera browser that scores as high as 83 on this test routine.

BenQ launches E2200HD in India

BenQ corp has launched the first 22 inch or so to say 21.5 inch 1080p Full HD LCD monitor. The monitor is equipped with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution with 300 cd/m2 brightness. It comes with VGA and HDMI inputs with a headphone jack. The LCD has a 16:9 aspect ratio and has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. The E2200HD comes with integrated speakers and can render content from STBs, camcorders and DVD players. The LCD Monitor will be available for only Rs. 13,500 which is a pretty neat price for what you are getting.

Tethering Part of AT&T's Vision for Apple's iPhone

Before you wake up in the morning, your iPhone downloads your news and tells your coffeemaker to start brewing. Then when you're up and you wave the device at your TV, the news feeds get transferred to your TV. That's how AT&T's iPhone chief Ralph de la Vega envisions the popular Apple device in the future, according to a public discussion Wednesday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Lock Your Door, Start Your Car After you drink your coffee and read your news on the TV, de la Vega envisions you'll use your iPhone to lock your house door, start your car, and, as you drive, the device's text-to-speech function reads you the news you haven't yet read. At the office, the ubiquitous device coordinates a conference call and, since the call is with non-English speakers, it translates your English into their spoken language and vice versa, acting as the voice for both sides. De la Vega also said AT&T Labs is working to integrate the iPhone with its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, U-Verse. One function would be to use the smartphone as a remote control for the programming service and for its digital video recorder, with the resulting TV programming playing either on the TV or on the iPhone. Al Hilwa, a program director at industry research firm IDC, noted that such all-in-one automated uses have also been projected in past years for computers. "But most people find this kind of extreme automation to be more trouble than it's worth," he said. He noted that a PC is much more capable than an iPhone, and "we don't use a PC to start a car." The key to what the future iPhone will do, he said, is solving problems where mobility has been a problem or is an asset. "The litmus test is mobility," he said. "Is there a solution to some problem for which carrying it with you is an asset?" Tethering, Hot Spots, Femtocells Closer to the present, an AT&T spokesperson has confirmed that the company is working with Apple to develop a tether for the device, which would allow a user to connect the phone to a computer and thus obtain access to AT&T's 3G network. A third-party application to allow this kind of functionality has appeared in Apple's App Store, but it has only been sporadically available. According to some news reports, tethering could be available next year. AT&T also announced Thursday the addition of about 20,000 new wireless Wi-Fi hot spots in the U.S., which would be available at no charge to iPhone users. The additional hot spots are the result of the company's acquisition of Wayport, a Wi-Fi provider that has hot spots at hotels run by Four Seasons, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Sheraton and Wyndham, as well as all McDonald's restaurants. The discussion with de la Vega did drop some other hints that have AT&T- and iPhone-watchers buzzing. For instance, when asked when AT&T might bring out a phone based on the open-source Android platform, de la Vega didn't answer, but the interviewer, Michael Arrington, mentioned that backstage de la Vegas has said Dec. 3. As for problems with coverage, especially in urban areas, de la Vega mentioned that one solution involves femtocell technology. Users would need to buy small stations that, when plugged into an office or home broadband connection, would create small-area cell coverage in that location.

Intel inside your medical care

Intel has begun pilot programs to test a home health laptop, application, and database system that puts patients remotely in sync with their health care providers. The Intel Health Guide, which includes a laptop for patients and an online interface for health care administrators, received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. Now Aetna, Scan Health Plan, Erickson Retirement Communities, and the Providence Medical Group in Oregon have each begun pilot programs to test how well the system works, or doesn't work, with their patients. "Health care is an area where getting and gathering the right information, and getting decisions made in a timely matter can make an enormous difference in patient care. We hope this technology helps with that," Mariah Scott, head of sales and marketing for Intel's Digital Health Group, said in an interview. While many see health care moving into the home through technology, it seems like Intel knows government approval alone will not convince people to trust a tech company to dispense medical advice. The company also announced that it has partnered with two major names in medicine, the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association, to provide the application's medical assessments, evidence-based treatment guidelines, and educational multimedia content. That's probably a good idea because Intel plans to sell its Intel Health Care Management Suite as a comprehensive online data-collection system for health care organizations; the Intel Health Guide PHS6000 device is intended for patients themselves to operate, not experienced clinicians visiting the homebound as previously speculated. As is the case with the two pilot programs being run by Aetna, and Providence Medical Group in Oregon, organizations can also choose to program their own treatment guidelines into Intel's system, according to Scott. Nurses or other health care professionals program, administer, and monitor the system remotely via an online connection to the device. The laptop can activate at a specific time every day and sound a reminder chime. Once the patient responds, he or she is automatically run through a series of questions and prompts that can include taking vitals. Depending on a patient's needs, things like blood pressure cuffs and glucose measuring tools are already connected to the machine. Patients are given step-by-step instructions on how to use them. But patients themselves will be responsible for inputting their medical data and following any medical instructions. With that in mind, Intel has designed the Health Guide PHS6000's touch-screen laptop and interface to be easy for even the least tech-savvy and medically unaware person to use, according to Scott. It has extra-large touch-screen "buttons," step-by-step voice prompts, and text simultaneously read aloud as it appears onscreen. Like Johnson & Johnson's online health care coach, the Intel device can also be used as a tool to educate patients on how best to take care. If, for example, a patient with high blood pressure continues to have elevated pressure, the device might offer to show that person a video about managing hypertension, said Scott. "They can then manage their patients and only need to intervene if something is not normal. That's one of the aspects of cost efficiency and labor productivity we hope to see with this system. Instead of needing to call every patient every day, they can see that data in a dashboard and only need to intervene if there's an issue or concern. That should help nurses or case managers move to more of a management by exception approach," said Scott.

Google at 10: Searching its own soul

As Google recently turned 10 years old, some analysts and investors began to say the company was suffering from early signs of maturity. Google's growth rate, while still brisk, has slowed significantly and is expected to slow more because of the economic slowdown. Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive, said Google was better positioned than other advertising companies to survive a recession. Schmidt, 53, spoke earlier this week from the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters about his plans for managing Google in a downturn, the unraveling of an advertising partnership with Yahoo and his recent public endorsement of Barack Obama. Schmidt is also a member of Sen. Obama's transition economic advisory board. Q. Google is working hard to rein in expenses. Is that because Google has matured or because of the economic crisis? And how bad do you think the economy will get? A. The issue we face with the economic crisis is, we don't know as managers how long the crisis goes. So what is a prudent answer? A prudent answer is to watch hiring. We are hiring, but at a slower rate. Last week, we made some number of tens of offers. I suspect that will continue. The other thing we have done is fairly detailed expense reviews to make sure we are not wasting money. Q. Given the uncertainty, do you plan for a worst-case situation or something else? A. It is a judgment call. Google is in a good position over the long term. We have a product that is more measurable, more targetable, and we are the innovator in the space. At some point, people need to sell products, and at some point, they realize that the best advertising is measurable advertising, and they conclude that we do that. Q. Google is known for investing liberally in projects that don't produce immediate returns. Does the new measure of austerity, such as it is, change that? A. It is interesting you use the word austerity. It doesn't feel very austere. I think it is better to use the word focus. We are clearly going to be more careful with potential large expense streams which are of uncertain return. But we are also going to continue to invest, certainly, in small teams to do wacky things. Q. Are there examples of projects you have undertaken in the past--things like Chrome, Google's Internet browser, or Android, its mobile operating system--that you wouldn't do today? A. The question is, with today's market, would we still have done the things you named? Absolutely. Going forward, maybe we would do fewer ultimately. The problem here is that if you tighten up too much, you eliminate future innovation, and then you set yourself up for a really bad outcome 5 or 10 years from now. Q. Google is known for its lavish employee perks. Can you rein in expenses without affecting the culture? A. The people who manage these areas are very, very sensitive to what is really important versus what is an experiment or a waste of money, or what have you. But we have no intention of getting rid of the really important aspects of our culture. Q. Isn't it less fun to run a company that has to watch its spending more carefully? A. I think it is actually more fun. The reason is that it is very easy to be a successful executive in high-growth times. It is much more challenging, but in my view much more rewarding, to be a leader in times where you have to make really hard choices.

Memo to Intel: Netbooks morphing into notebooks

Looking for signs that netbooks are catching on? And even morphing into notebooks? Here's a few. Netbooks were the big end-user gadget on display at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference that ended Friday. And all the Netbooks at a Microsoft booth were running Windows 7, Microsoft's next-generation operating system due next year. A Microsoft person on the floor said that a lite version of Windows 7 will run on 1GB of memory and 16GB of (solid-state drive) storage. Higher-end Netbooks will have a 160GB hard disk drive, according to Microsoft "guidance." This person also said something surprising. Dual-core Atom processors will be used in Netbooks. I tried to disabuse him of the notion that netbooks would get dual-core Atom processors. No, I said, it was Nettops (Atom-based desktops) that would get dual-core. But he assured me that vendors were planning to bring out dual-core Netbooks. So, I contacted Intel. There are no immediate plans for dual-core Atom chips designed specifically for Netbooks, according to Intel. But what's stopping a netbook supplier from using a dual-core Atom 330 (designed for nettops) in a Netbook? Answer: nothing. At 8 watts, the chip has a higher power envelope than single-core Atom processors, but 8 watts is still low compared with a mainstream Core 2 Duo processor. Other specifications for the Atom 330 include a core clock speed of 1.6GHz, 1MB of level-2 cache, and support for DDR2 667MHz memory. Beginning to sound more like a low-end notebook? I think so. Netbook market share appears to be growing too. A little more than 5 million Atom processors shipped in the third quarter of 2008, according to Shane Rau of IDC, a market researcher. "Will it add to the total market or will it eat into the total market? Another question might be is Atom eating into another processor brand such as Celeron (Intel) or Sempron (AMD)?" Rau says that the total market can grow while Netbooks eat into notebook market share. "The TAM (Total Available Market) can grow even as Atom eats into another brand. But we don't know how it's shaking out yet," he said. And here's evidence of Netbooks penetrating the consumer consciousness. Best Buy now has a separate category for Netbooks on its Web site. Right under laptop computers you'll see "Netbooks". Interestingly, the Netbooks category is ranked above desktops and most other "computer" categories. Other signs. Dell has a 12-inch laptop, the Inspiron Mini 12 based on the Atom processor. Is this a Netbook or notebook? You tell me.

Apple gambling on Papermaster's leadership skills

Apple knew full well that Mark Papermaster would have to learn his new role as iPod and iPhone chief "on the job" when it hired him. Papermaster's former employer, IBM, filed a lawsuit against him last week, claiming that he broke the terms of a noncompete contract with IBM in accepting a high-profile job with Apple. InformationWeek spotted Papermaster's formal response Friday morning, in which he declares that the two companies are not competitors and that his experience at IBM is not the primary reason why Apple sought his services. The court filings reveal the interesting process Apple used to hire Papermaster to replace Tony Fadell, a longtime executive in charge of Apple's iPod group. And contrary to speculation, it appears that Papermaster--a well-respected chip executive--will have nothing to do with chip design at Apple on Day 1. Apple began searching within the consumer electronics industry in October 2007 for a lieutenant and eventual successor to Fadell, but it couldn't find anyone it liked, according to the court filing. Instead, the company decided to search for an executive with strong overall technology skills who would be a good fit inside Apple, modeling the search on the process used to find current Mac hardware leader Bob Mansfield. Mansfield was the one who suggested Papermaster as a candidate, though he didn't exactly roll out the welcome mat for his college buddy. On a list of potential candidates sent to Vice President of Human Resources Danielle Lambert (who is married to Fadell), Mansfield described Papermaster: "Mark fits the bill wrt (with respect to) systems and semiconductor understanding, but in every other way is a long shot." Nonetheless, he was brought into Cupertino in February 2008 to interview with CEO Steve Jobs and Fadell. Apple liked Papermaster in many ways, but it wasn't sure that his experience in server development was the proper background for the role--especially in light of the fact that in February, Apple was working hard on getting the iPhone 3G out the door, and it wanted someone who could hit the ground running. However, as Lambert said in a statement attached to Papermaster's response, "nobody questioned Mark's ability to lead a development team." The company offered him a role designing laptops, and while Papermaster was intrigued by the possibility of working at Apple, he wasn't all that crazy about that particular role. But after Apple got this year's crop of iPods out the door in September, the search for Fadell's replacement intensified. Papermaster was offered that role, and he jumped at what he called "the opportunity of a lifetime."