HP Launched A New Low-Cost Business Laptops

HP launched a new line of low-cost business notebooks called the ProBook s-series that merge business functionality with consumer goodies like HD graphics and Blu-ray drives. The HP ProBooks give you a choice of an Intel or AMD processor across most of the line, as well as choices of 14-, 15.6-, or 17.3-inch diagonal HD widescreens with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Models come in glossy noir (black) or merlot, though merlot is only available on the 14- and 15-inch models and is not expected to be available until June.

Most of the ProBooks share similar features, including:

-800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM two slots expandable up to 8GB
-Up to 500GB SATA HDD internal storage
-Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
-ExpressCard/34 slot

-Media Card Reader
-Ports: four USB 2.0, VGA and HDMI
-Full-size keyboard

-Options include: Blu-ray ROM DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe Drive5; 2 MP webcam; and Bluetooth 2.0

Here's the breakdown for specific models:

4410s (Intel) and 4415s (AMD)
-14-inch diagonal widescreen with 16:9 ratio
-ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics, ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4330 discrete graphics, with 512 MB dedicated video memory
-6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
-Weight: 5 pounds with optical drive
-Dimensions: 1.22 (at front) x 13.2 x 9.15 in

4510s (Intel) and 4515s (AMD)
-15.5-inch diagonal widescreen with 16:9 ratio
-integrated number pad
--HP un2400 EV-DO/HSPA Mobile Broadband Module that HP says will work with multiple mobile broadband carriers
-Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD, ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4330, with 512 MB dedicated video memory (4510s)

- ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics, ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4330 discrete graphics, with 512 MB dedicated video memory (4515s)
-8-or 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
-Weight: 5.7 pounds including optical drive
-Dimensions: 1.24 (at front) x 14.6 x 9.83 in

4710s (Intel only)
-17.3-inch diagonal widescreen with 16:9 ratio
-ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4330, with 512 MB dedicated video memory
-8-cell Lithium-Ion battery
-Weight: 6.8 pounds with optical drive
-Dimensions: 1.26 (at front) x 16.17 x 10.63 in

All HP ProBooks come with HP Smart AC adapters that allow the notebooks to automatically make power adjustments as needed. The ProBook models are mercury-free, have an Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool silver rating, and are ENERGY STAR qualified. The ProBook models are also compatible with HP's USB 2.0 docking station.

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New Apple Gizmos Coming

For those who switched to AT&T from Verizon in anticipation of the iPhone, now may be the time to switch back. According to two anonymous sources speaking to Business Week, Apple and Verizon may release two new Verizon-exclusive iPhone-like products as early as this summer. The rumors go hand-in-hand with recent talk that the iPhone is coming to Verizon, and that Apple has new devices up its sleeve for the summer.

One device seems like it'll be the closest we'll ever get to the iPhone Nano: a smaller, less expensive iPhone. The iPhone Lite, as it's being called, is smaller and thinner than the existing iPhone and will come cheaper because it "relies on a so-called system on a chip, which incorporates many types of chips and drives down the cost of silicon in such devices."





The other is a "media pad" that has the same functionality as an iPod Touch -- music, games, photos -- but with HD video and calling ability via a Wi-Fi connection. Sources tell Business Week that the device will be smaller than the Kindle 2, but with a larger touchscreen, paving the way for more speculation about Apple slinking into the eBook market. This might be the Apple Tablet everybody has been talking about.

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Samsung Unveils That Its First Google Phone

Samsung Electronics became the first major mobile phone maker to launch a smartphone based on Google's Android software.

The South Korean company on Monday unveiled the I7500, which sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera and 8GB of internal memory. It's 11.9 millimeters thick.

The I7500 will be available in major European countries starting from June, the company said.

The mobile phone joins two Android handsets already on the market from High Tech Computer (HTC) of Taiwan, the T-Mobile G1 and the HTC Magic. Android handsets from other makers have also been announced.

Specifications:

Network: HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps (900 / 1700/ 2100MHz), EDGE / GPRS (850/ 900/1800/1900)

OS: Android

Display: 3.2" HVGA(320×480) AMOLED

Camera: 5 MP Camera (Auto Focus), Power LED

Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV

Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA, RA

Features: Full Web Browser Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Android Market

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, MicroUSB, 3.5mm ear jack Internal memory: 8GB

External memory: Micro SD (Up to 32GB)

Battery: 1500 mAh

Size: 115 x 56 x 11.9mm

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Microsoft planned to announce a new service "Windows Mobile 6.5 devices"

On Wednesday, Microsoft planned to announce a new service that will work on Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and will let people speak into the phone to search the Internet, make phone calls and dictate text messages. The technology comes from Tellme, a company that offers hosted voice recognition services and was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.

Key to the offering is a dedicated button that launches the service on the phone, said Marcello Typrin, director of product management for Tellme. To make it really easy to use, the service should be accessible from a single point, he said. That compares to the iPhone experience, where users must navigate to the apps page and open the Google Mobile App to use a similar voice-activated search service.

Key to the offering is a dedicated button that launches the service on the phone, said Marcello Typrin, director of product management for Tellme. To make it really easy to use, the service should be accessible from a single point, he said. That compares to the iPhone experience, where users must navigate to the apps page and open the Google Mobile App to use a similar voice-activated search service.

Windows Mobile customers can already use voice commands with Live Search, but the Tellme application adds the text and voice call features and pulls all three into a single, easily accessible service.

While customers may need to push fewer buttons to launch the service, they have to push buttons more often while using the service than do their iPhone-using counterparts. With the Tellme text application, for example, users hit the button before they start speaking their message and hit it again when they're done speaking. By contrast, the Google Mobile App automatically starts listening when the user moves the phone to the ear and then stops when the user is finished speaking.

In addition, the service should get other capabilities on an ongoing basis, Typrin said. For example, in the future a user might be able to say "play Rolling Stones" to play music from the music player.

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Future cell phone to take on music editing

Monday plans to make an advanced music phone, hoping to tap untested demand for music editing on the go.



Pilotfish said its concept — which will reach the market a few years from now at the earliest —will enable good quality recording of three separate sound tracks and allow editing of the music by physically twisting and bending the phone.

The company, which has also designed scooters and blood pressure monitors, will initially target music enthusiasts and amateur musicians, but also sees wider appeal for the phone.

Analysts said the phone looked attractive but were skeptical about the potential demand in a market dominated by phone manufacturers like Nokia and Apple.

"In a fast moving market niche specifications and applications can rapidly become standard features. We've seen that with cameras, positioning and a host of other features," said Geoff Blaber from CCS Insight.

The phone's main touch-screen, which is similar to today's folder phones, consists of three 'sticks' that can be removed and separately clipped onto a musical instrument or a person to capture live sound.

"The technology should be available in 2-3 years," said Stefanel Barutcieff, senior industrial designer at Germany-based Pilotfish.

Pilotfish says broadening the features of music phones would benefit content creators, who could offer sound libraries or musical games for download. Operators, it says, would gain from increased traffic, and device manufacturers sell new models.

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NASA’s moon missions face fuzzy future

At a spacecraft factory down the road from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a small robotic probe is being prepared to fly to the moon. Its mission: map the lunar surface so NASA can find safe landing spots for astronauts.


But that may be the least of its worries.

A report issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office warns that the new manned space initiative, called Constellation, which is intended to follow the space shuttle and space station programs, is likely to cost about 50 percent more than advertised.

The analysis is based on NASA's track record. Of 72 past programs, budget overruns averaged 50 percent, the CBO found, including 14 projects that nearly doubled in cost.

"I think (CBO) got the trend and the big picture right," said Klaus Dannenberg, executive administrator with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Washington-based trade organization. "But I wouldn't hang my hat on specific number because of the nature of the industry, the unknowns that we face and the surprises that come up."

NASA at least is starting off its Constellation program on stable financial ground. The bill for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is slated for launch June 2 aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket, should come in at under $600 million — about 10 percent over budget due to a launch delay from 2008, but within a cap that includes a 25 percent cushion, said project manager Craig Tooley, with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"It was very important to us" to stay on budget, Tooley told Discovery News.

NASA plans to operate LRO for a year to draw up detailed maps of the moon's surface, then turn the probe over to its science department for a few years of follow-on investigations.

Of particular interest is whether there is frozen water in craters on the moon's poles. "That's the most intriguing question we'll answer," Tooley said.

NASA conducted a series of six lunar excursions between 1969 and 1972 under the Apollo program. The best images of the moon are still the photos that the astronauts shot during their visits, although those were limited to the lunar equatorial regions.

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Three media veterans plan to introduce fees for online news

Three media veterans plan to bundle the Internet content of newspaper and magazine publishers into a subscription package that will test Web surfers' willingness to pay for material that has been given away for years.

The system won't be ready until the fall, but the plans were announced late Tuesday because so many publishers already are clamoring to sign up, said Steven Brill, co-chief executive of the new venture, called Journalism Online.

"The interest in this came together a lot more quickly than we anticipated," said Brill, the founder of Court TV and American Lawyer magazine. "We are dancing

more read...

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