posted by Thom Holwerda on Fri 30th Jan 2009 13:45 UTC
The usually reliable Wall Street Journal claims that Dell, the world's no. 2 computer maker, will enter the smartphone market in an effort to make up for the lost income due to the economic downturn. They say the Texas company is planning on releasing several models, pitching them against RIM's and Apple's phones.The phones could come as early as February this year, and would be powered by either Windows Mobile or Google's Android. They will strictly be smartphones, so no feature phones or other cheaper models, and one is supposed to have a touchscreen to compete with Apple's iPhone. The WSJ claims Dell has been developing prototypes for a year now.
As some of you might remember, Dell does have experience in a field related to smartphones: the company had a line of PDAs running Windows Mobile, the Axim line. These PDAs were sold in various configurations between 2002 and 2007, with the last and most powerful model sporting a ridiculously powerful Intel XScale 624Mhz processor, 256MB flash ROM, and a VGA display. These PDAs even had a VGA out so they could power normal computer displays.
The Dell Axim x51v.
WSJ does include a little disclaimer stating that Dell may still abandon the idea.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/18/10 22:44 UTC, submitted by twitterfire
"With the release of hundreds of pages of court documents in the legal dispute between Google and Viacom over the presence of copyright material on YouTube, Google has released a statement on the case. The statement was attributed to Zahavah Levine, YouTube chief counsel."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/18/10 22:39 UTC, submitted by dizmal
Two days ago, Technologizer revealed a new Marevell android tablet. Today, Marvell published a press release with more details on specs and price; apparently the Moby tablet wil cost USD 99 and is targeting education. Here is
ARMdevices' take on this new Armada 600 powered tablet.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/18/10 22:35 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"We're announcing an update to Windows XP Mode today that will make it a more accessible to PCs in small and midsize businesses who want to migrate to Windows 7 Professional but have applications that still require Windows XP. Windows XP Mode will no longer require hardware virtualization technology to run. This change makes it extremely easy for businesses to use Windows XP Mode to address any application incompatibility roadblocks they might have in migrating to Windows 7."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/18/10 22:30 UTC, submitted by Tam Hanna
"Being the developer of a Qt-based mobile solution is really really nice nowadays â" especially as Android support is well on its way. For all those of you new to the topic: the moment Qt has been ported, you can run your Qt-based applications on the operating system. Bogdan Vatra [is] the brain behind the Qt port - let's see what he has to say!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/18/10 8:24 UTC
"Google is working to bring Web software to televisions through a partnership with Intel, Sony and Logitech, according to two people involved in the discussions with the companies. The project, called Google TV, uses Intel chips, with Switzerland's Logitech developing a keyboard that operates as a remote control, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the matter isn't public."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/17/10 23:29 UTC
"Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have released research detailing how molecules in chips can self-assemble, potentially reducing manufacturing costs. The researchers have developed a technique in which polymers automatically fall into place to create an integrated circuit." Uhm people, have we learned nothing?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/17/10 23:23 UTC, submitted by aargh
"In this article, the authors investigate the impact of DRM restrictions on the demand for music downloads. [A new model] estimates the impact of DRM on consumers' willingness to pay for songs (both favorites and nonfavorites) and on the producer revenues and profits. Based on two studies of more 2000 college students, the results suggest that despite the potential advantages offered by some DRM restrictions, on balance the elimination of DRM has a net positive impact on producer revenue, profit, and consumer welfare."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/17/10 23:19 UTC
"By encouraging more people to post videos in Wikipedia articles, we can bring theora video played in html5 to a very large audience. Currently, there are very few wikipedia articles that have videos. We hope that this campaign will bring thousands more to the site and show people how great theora can be. HTML 5 video, which plays without Flash, is a wonderful step towards a more open web - but if it depends on proprietary codecs like h.264, we will still be stuck with a gatekeeper for online video."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/16/10 16:10 UTC
"Google is changing the way it handles the unique identifier that accompanies each installation of its Chrome browser. As noticed by H-Online, a Google white paper says the company will now delete the unique ID after the browser updates itself for the first time. Google has confirmed with The Reg that the change will be made with the upcoming Chrome 4.1."
Linked by tessmonsta on 03/16/10 8:55 UTC
Today's mobile space is owned by the likes of Nokia, RIM, Apple, and Google. While some of these corporations have embraced some open source components, a full FLOSS solution has yet to gain traction. Why? Blogger Bradley M. Kuhn posts thoughtful analysis of the current state of Open Source in the mobile space.