Sascha Pallenberg

George Kuan of Freescale on Smartbooks during the Linux Forum 2009 – "Smartbooks are always connected" #smartbooks #netbooks

11 hours ago from Twitter

Steve ‘Chippy’ Paine

Computex 2009 Intel MIDS – http://www.umpcportal.com/gallery…

9 hours ago from Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) image…

Steve ‘Chippy’ Paine

Compal KAX-15 Menlow-based MID. Info and JKK’s Video. Coming via Aigo? – http://www.umpcportal.com/2009…

8 hours ago from UMPCPortal

Steve ‘Chippy’ Paine

Viliv X70 in case. – http://www.flickr.com/photos…

8 hours ago from Flickr

James Kendrick

This Week at Mobile Tech Manor #42: UMPCs Everywhere – http://jkontherun.com/2009…

5 hours ago from jkOnTheRun

Rob Bushway

Nothing like playing Flight Control on iPhone while you are on a plane. New version rocks. #fb

5 hours ago from Twitter

jkkmobile

Inventec Moorestown MID at Computex – http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009…

5 hours ago from jkkmobile

jkkmobile

Asus Eee PC T91 with multitouch screen – http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009…

5 hours ago from jkkmobile

Kevin C. Tofel

Acer Android Netbooks Will Include Windows After All – http://jkontherun.com/2009…

3 hours ago from jkOnTheRun

jkkmobile

Hands-on with Nvidia Tegra platform on netbook – http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009…

2 hours ago from jkkmobile

Kevin C. Tofel

Pre Inventory Levels are Lower Than Low in my Area – http://jkontherun.com/2009…

2 hours ago from jkOnTheRun

Kevin C. Tofel

Do Three I’s and Two Devices Equal One Happy Camper? – http://jkontherun.com/2009…

1 hour ago from jkOnTheRun

Rob Bushway

Guy next to me on airplane has sony ereader, me kindle 2..fight!! The winner? Me…i just bought a book while waiting for the doors to close

1 hour ago from Twitter

Steve ‘Chippy’ Paine

sitting at Hong Kong airport messing with the x70. i like it better than the s5 so far. more productive. video quality is stunning.

1 hour ago from Twitter

First is a generic travel adapter made for the Asus Eee PC 900/901.  The 1000/1000H uses the same 12V/3A so it works fine.  I bought two at around $8 a piece.  The totally was around $40 because eBay people like to rip people off on shipping.

On the left is the original AC adapter.  On the right is the new travel adapter.

Next, a new gadget bag! Yay!  I bought the Eagle Creek Vagabond bag from Amazon for $65.  I love it!  While there’s plenty of compartments, overall it’s very compact.  The dimensions are 11 x 12 x 3 inches, so the 1000H fits in there nicely.  It’s not a tight fit either.  There’s still a bit of space in the main laptop area.

Finally, here’s all my crap laid out on the table.  This is probably the most I will carry with me.  Under normal circumstances, I won’t need the external hard drive and Tekkeon battery.

From top-down/left-right: 

(Top row) 12V/3A Travel charger, Canon TX1 case, LAN cable, Tekkeon MP3700 cable

(2nd row) Eagle Creek Vagabond Shoulder bag, Asus Eee PC 1000H, Tekkeon MP3700 50Wh external battery, external 250GB hard drive w/ cable

(3rd row)  Retractable mini stereo to mini stereo cable, Retractable USB to mini-USB cable, SuperLink transfer cable, iPhone Sync cable,  Kensington PilotMouse Mini Bluetooth mouse, CradlePoint CTR350 EVDO router.

(4th row)  Paperclip, Cleaning cloth, iPhone earbuds, Novatel U727 USB EVDO modem, iPhone 1.0

The CradlePoint router I have needs power but I can use the Tekkeon battery to run it if needed.  I forgot to include the bluetooth GPS receiver, but it’s tiny and takes very little space.

All packed up. 

Here are screenshots to showing which gestures you can do and how they can be configured.

New Mouse Properties

Button Settings

Tapping Setting

Scrolling Setting

Zooming Setting

Rotation Setting

Drag & Drop Setting

Magnifying Glass setting

Swipe Page Setting

Fast Keys Settings

• G.SKILL 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Laptop Memory Model F2-5300CL4S-2GBSQ – Retail
• Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive – OEM

Before installing the upgrades, I ran CrystalMark2004 using Eee PC’s ‘High Performance’ mode.  This is using the stock Seagate Momentus 5400.3 80GB hard drive and 1GB ASint RAM stick.

Here are the results after installing the upgrades:

You can see there’s a slight increase in all the CPU and graphics related tests.  This is most likely due to the faster 2GB RAM stick with CL4.  In the memory tests, there was a significant boost in score; going from 4330 to 4832.

The largest factor is definitely the hard drive.  The score jumped from 5806 to 8533. 

———-

You posted a message

“Initial impressions of the Asus Eee PC 1000H.”

2 hours ago – Comment – Like – Hide – More

Michael W. May and MiniMage liked this

Keyboard is great. Slightly smaller than the Samsung Q1 external keyboard. Even then, the keys are relatively large and has a nice feel. – You (edit | delete)

Touchpad buttons are stiff. I’m beginning to tap the touch pad for a left click more since it causes less strain on my wrists. Multitouch scrolling in the browser is fantastic. Very much like a MacBook. – You (edit | delete)

How’s your spacebar? – Lora Heiny

Display is bright thanks to LED backlight. I’m using the 4th notch from the left to save battery life. The bezel is a bit large. Probably could have fit an 11″ screen. Would still like 1280×768 resolution but at 1024×600, reading text is nice. – You (edit | delete)

Battery life so far is fantastic. Under normal usage, can probably get around 4-5 hours. With intense CPU/LAN/hard drive usage, probably around 3-4 hours. – You (edit | delete)

Performance is ok. It’s faster than the Intel A110 800Mhz chip in the previous generation of UMPC’s, but not by much. I’m assuming most of the performance gains are coming from the faster RAM and 5400 RPM SATA2 hard drive. I ran an initial benchmark with CrystalMark. I will run another test when I replace the memory with a 2GB CAS 4 stick and 320GB 5400RPM WD Scorpio drive when they arrive tomorrow. – You (edit | delete)

Boot up time.. It’s ok. It’s not much of a factor to me since I use Sleep Mode all the time. Time to sleep when closing the lid is very fast. Within a few seconds. It’s disappointing it doesn’t come out of sleep when opening the lid. You have have to press the power button to wake. It’s fast coming out of sleep. – You (edit | delete)

@Lora: The spacebar feels very nice. There is a little bit of travel on all the keys, but overall, it’s very very comfortable. There’s no real difference clicking the spacebar from the left or right side.. The construction is solid. – You (edit | delete)

Audio. The speaker volume is low. It’s kind of cool that is has environmental effects, but I usually ignore them. – You (edit | delete)

plug in a headphones and it works fine. You will get prompted for how you want the plug to be used BTW. – Christopher Welle

I’m still not sure what the ‘Super Hybrid Engine’ does. I assume it reduces or overclocks the CPU but I haven’t noticed any changes when observing the CPU speed and power usage with Notebook Hardware Control. – You (edit | delete)

The dedicated resolution switching button is very handy. There will be times when an app will require minimum 1024×768. – You (edit | delete)

The webcam quality is not bad at all. I’m not totally convinced this chipset can handle full 30fps 1.3 megapixel video, but for streaming through Ustream/Seesmic/etc, it should be fine. – You (edit | delete)

Love that you fit a whole review here. Keep it coming. – Andrew Warner

So if you review here on FriendFeed, what will you have for the blog? Will you capture everything you reviewed and post it on your blog? Using FriendFeed to answer any questions that are added to the blog? – Christopher Welle

Just asking because its a interesting thought to do posts with instant feedback that you can add to the blog post later. – Christopher Welle

The power drain is interesting. It hovers around -10-12W drain. Up to around -15W when plugging in USB devices. I would think the Atom processor would account for a lot more battery saving but it doesn’t seem significantly more efficient than the A110. The 10″ display and 5400RPM hard drive are the main factors for relatively high power drain. I’m sure running Vista will gain more battery life since its power management is much better. – You (edit | delete)

Haha thanks for answering the question for me. I’ll most likely, copy/paste this post to my blog instead. I find it more comfortable to write in spurts rather than stress out on a whole post. – You (edit | delete)

Kind of like taking notes with a live audience then edit it into something else afterwards. – Christopher Welle

Wheres the pictures? – Christopher Welle

Pictures will come later. I’ll do some comparison shots with a MacBook, Fujitsu U810, Samsung Q1, and any other devices that are around. – You (edit | delete)

Heat. Not bad at all. The only real warm spot is where the hard drive sits. I have no problems with this sitting on my bed without a laptop cooler thingy. NHC shows the HD around 50 degrees C. CPU at around 55-60 C. – You (edit | delete)

I’m missing the touchscreen. Sometimes it’s a pain to try to be accurate with the touchpad. I’m catching myself wanting to just click the screen or move the scroll bars with my finger. – You (edit | delete)

Well, I’m sure I’ll post more comments later. For now, at around $450 + shipping, this little Netbook is a great deal. – You (edit | delete)

link to where you bought it. – Christopher Welle

http://www.amazon.com/1000H-10… – You (edit | delete)

I bought it off Amazon and TigerDirect was the lowest priced seller at the time at $469. I paid $30 for 2 days shipping. They are out of state so no sales tax. It came in 2 days . I also recommend buying from Newegg . The only reason I didn’t go there was because they were out of stock at the time. The one I have has an 80GB hard drive. It doesn’t matter to me since I’m replacing the hard drive. If you want to run it out of the box, the new ones come with a 160 GB hard drive. http://www.amazon.com/1000H-Di… – You (edit | delete)

Why?  Something is arriving very soon…

I gave into my gear loving addiction and ordered an Asus Eee PC 1000H along with upgrades and accessories.  I will go into more detail soon.

I mentioned the announcement of this device along with a size comparison chart.

Also known as the Sony HDR-TG1, here’s an exclusive unboxing of Sony’s new ‘Full HD’ hybrid cam brought to you by Matt of Tracy and Matt’s Blog.

Big thumbs up for the built in ports. It includes USB, HDMI, component video, composite video, and a docking port as well.

It does appear a bit long. May not be fit well in jeans but should fit fine in a jacket pocket or cargo pants.

Tracy and Matt’s Blog :: Sony HDR-TG3E Handycam preview video (exclusive)

First 5×5 Vignette. It was a very windy day so I took some footage of some plants & trees blowing in the wind.

Shot from Canon TX1 at 720P. The audio had a lot of wind noise even though I turned on the wind filter. It was ridiculously windy though so it was expected. My hat flew off twice during this time.

I did an experiment in post. Edited this with my 800Mhz Fujitsu U810 UMPC using Sony Vegas. While editing, the preview screen couldn’t really keep up but it wasn’t actually too bad editing HD footage on such a slow computer. I’m somewhat glad now that the Canon TX1 encodes to MJPEG. If it encoded to H.264, there would be no way I would be able to edit it since H.264 is so processor intensive.

I ended up encoding the final product to 720P WMV. It took 54 minutes to encode 25 seconds worth of footage.

I doubt I will edit HD footage on a UMPC in the near future, but it’s nice to know it’s even possible.

Download WMV from Vimeo page – 1280×720 30FPS (99MB)

I’ve compiled a list of links for cheaper alternatives to expensive solutions.  I’ll try to keep adding to the list as I find them.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/ – $14 Steadicam “The Poor Man’s Steadicam”.  The most popular DIY Steadycam by Johnny Chung Lee.

http://www7.taosnet.com/f10/steadycam/ – More elegant looking steadicam/monopod using a cheap Walmart tripod.

http://www.cartala.com/diy.html – Modification of the $14 Steadicam.  Uses a longer cross bar with additional weight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTR5EYO0rLc – Another variant of the $14 Steadicam.  Most interesting part is the there’s no drilling for the camera mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7TMa-v03aE – Another project by cinepegger.  Using a bicycle wheel for a Fig Rig.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shygantic/129121710/ – PVC FigRig.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=T1aPbwcqquk – Zero Cost Steadicam.  This is what I’m using in the meantime.   All you have to do is extend a tripod and hold it in the right place.  It’s not perfect but the result is a lot better than normal handheld.

http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/greyhandheld.htm – List of DIY stabilizers for handheld cameras.

jabancroft World Exclusive: I got to play with the Lenovo and Aigo MIDs today at Intel Shanghai. Here’s a set of 33 photos: » link to World Exclusive: Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) at Intel Shanghai – a photoset on Flickr 4 minutes ago from twitterrific

There are some nice size comparison shots with the Fujitsu U1010 and the Samsung Q1U.

Update: Josh posted a writeup on his blog about the gallery..

World Exclusive: I got to play with the Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) at Intel Shanghai

jabancroft Quick blog post on my MID photos, with some more details. Will post more of a writeup, and the videos, after sleep » link to World Exclusive: I got to play with the Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) at Intel Shanghai at Josh Bancroft’s TinyScreenfuls.com 5 minutes ago from twitterrific

Unedited.

My first video with my new Canon TX1. Took a cruise to bowling alley.

It was around 5PM, overcast, and raining. Basically just stuck in traffic. Somewhat of a good test to see if the autofocus would search all over the place. It wasn’t too bad though.

I had the camera mounted on a GorillaPod SLR. The video was very shaky but didn’t go into a mess of blur. The OIS did its job I guess. The shakiness was just too much.

I encoded the raw MJPEG file (2.48 GB!!) to H.264 at 3.5 Mbps with VLC player. VLC player is a very fast encoder but probably not the best quality. Especially since it only did 1 pass.

I did a bit of handheld toward the end. Someone was pulled over so wanted to see what the cops were up to.

Download MP4 from Vimeo page – 1280×720 30FPS H.264 3.5Mbps (274MB)

It appears the hybrid cam movement is in full swing. Sony announced the HDR-TG1 high definition camera.

Weighing in at only 300g, it’s appears very pocketable with its 32×119x63mm dimensions. This is now the smallest Full HD camcorder.

You can expect to record 1 hour and 50 minutes of 1080i 30 FPS video at 16Mbps on an 8GB MemoryStick. You’ll be able to snap 4 megapixel photos in camera mode and 2.2 megapixel photos while recording video. I’ll assume the video is not interrupted while taking photos like the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000.

As for the lens..

“Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 10x optical zoom lens and 2-megapixel ClearVid™ CMOS sensor with Exmor™-derived technology”

—–

The specs and functionality appear to be a combination of the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000 and the Canon TX1 which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Wish Sony would dump the MemoryStick and just go with SDHC cards though.

It has all the latest goodies such as an Easy mode and Face detection. I’m crossing my fingers for a 720P 60FPS video mode.

Using sizeasy.com, you can see it’s just a bit taller than the Canon TX1. This is most likely due to the Sony’s 2.7 inch LCD display.

Check out the video and gallery over at Akihabara news.

New Camera, originally uploaded by Rodfather.

I only checked the door two times after hearing a truck go by. Pretty good eh? Anyway, here’s what I received.

* Canon TX1
* A-Data 2GB SD card which came free with the camera
* A-Data 16GB SDHC card
* Dolica Canon Accessory pack. For only $15 it came with a mini-tripod, 2 screen protectors, case, and most importantly, a spare battery.
* Another Dolica spare battery

This should cover me for now. 3 batteries and a 16GB SDHC card.

Immediate impressions? A bit heavier than I thought. Very solid build. Trying to figure out how an AC adapter plugs into this.

I’m just relieved I don’t have to go through all the research anymore. I am giddy with excitement.

—–

Since the TX1 is so small, I tried to look up any discussion on stabilizing a small digicam for shooting video. The TX1 has Optical Image Stabilization but I’d imagine it’s still difficult to keep stable using such as small device in a non standard form factor. To achieve a nice floating-like motion, gained from using a stabilizer like a SteadiCam, would be awesome on a tiny hybrid cam.

So how about a Fig Rig? This is a wheel-like anti-shake device created by Director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas, Time Code) to gain stability with DV sized cams. There’s a bunch of DIY projects trying to emulate Manfrotto’s expensive version. Here you can build your own with only $10 in parts.

Of course this is way too big for a TX1. So.. what’s shaped like a wheel and small???

The UbiSoft Wii Steering Wheel! These are basically shells to stick a Wiimote in to try to simulate the feeling of a real racing wheel. Call it air steering.. whatever.

This one comes with GT Pro Series for the Wii but there’s a few shady looking sites selling it separate for $10. There are other cheap wheels available as well.

I don’t have either yet but it might be worth looking into. You can probably screw in a bolt to mount the TX1 in the middle. It might just work!

So ya, anyone want to try to mod that into a small DIY Fig Rig?

I doubt this is scaled right, but you get the point..

Taking a cruise along San Andreas Rd. Shot at around 6:30PM with about an hour or so left until Sunset.

Using the Aiptek A-HD at 720P 30FPS ~4Mbps attached to a GorillaPod SLR which was clinging to the dash of my Subaru. It was very shaky but speeding it up somewhat helped.

Edited with Sony Vegas 7 and rendered to 720P WMVHD at 6Mbps.  Original footage was 30 minutes.  Sped it up to a little over 7 minutes.

The fixed lens helps out when shooting from a car. The Aiptek is not meant for motion though.

Looking into a Sanyo Xacti HD1000 with its 60FPS 720P mode.

Song is Master of Puppets by Metallica performed by Apocalyptica.

Download source 720P WMVHD video (328.66MB)

Sanyo has been leading the way producing flash based, compact hybrid photo/video cams.

Now, they are trying to focus on marketing to women with their new, easy to use, compact, and stylish Xacti CG9 hybrid cam.

It contains a whopping 9.12 MP CMOS sensor and encodes video to max 640×480 at 60 FPS using the H.264 codec. I don’t know about you but H.264 and ‘easy to use’ don’t exactly go hand in hand.

This should be a great alternative if you are looking into the Sanyo VPC-CG65 but want something slightly more bulky and the option to shoot at 60 FPS.

The CG9 will be aggressively priced as an entry level camera. I’m guessing around $300.

Specs from Sanyo’s site:

• MPEG-4, H.264 Digital Video
• 9.12 Megapixel Still Images, CMOS
• 2.5″ LCD Display
• 5.0x Optical Zoom
• Video and Still Image Stabilization
• Real-Time Interpolation (12MP)
• High Quality Audio Recording (AAC-LC)
• Wind Roar and Red Eye Reduction
• Web Cam Function
• PictBridge Compatible
• USB 2.0 and S-Video Output
• Built-in Flash
• SDHC Flash Memory, Compatible, 40 MB Internal Memory (approximately 1 hour, 20 minutes video recording per GB)

Check out the video and gallery over at Akihabara News.

UPDATE (3/26/08):
I guess I was right about the price. Just noticed this on Amazon. Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG9 Retail $299.

Linux Devices posted info on a new rugged CarPC by Aaeon.  The  Boxer AEC-6905 is a rugged, vehicle mounted computer running an Intel Celeron M processor.  They were able to make it fanless by the use of the huge orange colored heat-sink which doubles as the case.

Features and specifications listed by Aaeon for the AEC-6095 include:

• Processor — Intel Celeron M from 600MHz to 1.5GHz
• Memory — up to 1GB of DDR RAM in single SODIMM slot
• Display — integrated VGA output; supported resolutions not specified
• Networking — 10/100 Ethernet port
• Other I/O:
  • 4 x USB 2.0
  • 3 x RS232
  • 1 x RS232/422/485
  • 1 x PS/2
  • 1 x VGA
  • audio mic-in, line-in, and line-out via DIN connector
• Expansion:
  • PCI slot (size not stated)
  • PC/104-Plus interface, accepts two-board stack
  • CompactFlash slot
• Operating temperatures:
  • From -20 to 60 deg. C (with SSD)
  • From -20 to 55 deg. C (with HDD)
• Dimensions — 13.3 x 11.6 x 10.3 inches
• Weight — 12.3 pounds
• Power requirements — 9VDC to 30VDC; external AC adapter is optional

 Link

I’ve been playing around with the Aiptek A-HD and a bit with the Flip Video Ultra and I’m disappointed with the CMOS sensor. It creates the typical ‘wobble’ effect. characteristic of digicams. I know the higher end HD cams from the big 3 (Sony, Panasonic, Canon), don’t have that effect with their CMOS sensors, but we’re talking about cheap webcam parts strung together and hope the chip is smart enough to figure it all out.

What appeals me with the Aipteks are the technical features, solid yet cheap build, and price to go with them. For $130, I have a 720P cam that produces H.264 video at around 4Mbps. I won’t feel bad bring an Aiptek along while surf fishing. If I end up catching the big one and have to sacrifice a cam to the Ocean, then so be it, I could always grab another.

I will always strive to be at the place where I can have a nice balance of a solid build, high tech, and portability. So, now, I’m looking a step up. Sanyo’s.. Or perhaps a Panasonic HCD-HD9 (not very durable or portable). I’m leaning toward the Sanyo HD700 though. Pocketability (!) is fairly important.

The Sanyo E1 is very appealing as well. It’s freaking water proof. You can submerge the MoFo 5 feet deep and it’ll record all that in at 640×480 using the H.264 codec. It’s a bit bulky though. I cruised over to Fry’s and compared the E1 to the C6 , which has the same build as the CG65 and HD700; the E1 is pretty huge in comparison, but it does look durable.

What’s lacking for these cheaper hybrid cams.. are the essentials to compete as a heavyweight in the camcorder field.

Let’s see:

• Opitical Image Stabilization (OIS). Much better than EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization).
• Auto/Manual Focus. Fixed lens cams have their use. For day-to-day use, autofocus is convenient. The option for manual focus is gold.
• Optics. The big players (Sony, Panasonic, Canon) all focus on their optics #1 priority. They don’t bother with cheap webcam parts. I love the pistolgrip form-factor, but it’s tough to combine a huge lens and portability. The big 3’s solution for their flash based cams are bullet shaped. House the best optics and ergonomics goes out the window.
• Standard? This is one to argue about. Sony and Panasonic are going AVCHD which has caused a bit of trouble for those trying to edit video with both Mac and PC. Every format seems have trouble working with your favorite video editor though. Basically, most people have trouble even playing 1080p/720P H.264 footage since it’s so demanding. The thought of them even editing HD footage is a shiny new computer, long, far.. away.
  For me, Sony Vegas has worked well. For you videographers/vloggers using digicams, MP4Cam2AVI has been gold for converting video to an editable format.
  Installing ffdshow also helped in viewing/editing video with the preinstalled Windows Movie Maker.

Ok this is awesome.

I have Jam Sessions for the Nintendo DS which basically turns your DS into a guitar. It’s fairly realistic if all want to do is strum chords.

Soon you’ll be able to have synthesizer for your DS. AQ Interactive is releasing the KORG DS-10 synthesizer.

From the AQ Interactive site:

Description:

• World’s first music tool software created for the Nintendo DS
• Two patchable dual-oscillator analog synth simulators:
• Four-part drum machine that uses sounds created with the analog synth simulator
• Six-track (analog synth x 2, drum machine x 4) /16-step sequencer
• Delay, chorus, and flanger sound effects available from the mixing board
• Three note-entry modes: touch-control screen, keyboard screen, matrix screen
• Real-time sound control mode via touch-control screen
• Exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link

Release date is July 2008 for 4800 YEN in Japan

KORG DS-10 synth turns Nintendo DS into instrument of awesomeness – Engadget

French site Archos Lounge announced the upcoming Archos 606 PMP/MID which will include 3G.  It appears to be an upgrade to the WiFi enabled Archos 605.  No word on availability but I’ll assume France only at this time.

A few details:

• Slightly bigger screen than 605
• All black
• 30GB drive
• Support for Opera widgets

Could be a great alternative to the iPhone/iPod Touch, Nokia Internet Tablets, and MID’s if you favor media playback and/or recording as a main feature.

Via Gizmodo