Eliot's Blog : hardware

A $10 Computer Announced in India

Eliot — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:48:00 GMT

"BANGALORE -- India is developing a laptop to be sold at $10 that will target higher education applications, a minister of the federal government said today in Delhi.

Research on the new low-cost laptop is being carried out at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, said D. Purandeswari, minister of State for Higher Education, at a conference in Delhi. This measure will help raise the quality of higher education in India, she added."

The next day the Indian govern published a correction. The computer will cost $100, not $10. Still, that's pretty remarkable, especially considering the OLPC cost of close to $200. The other thing that caught my eye is that this model is for higher education rather than for lower ed. I've read glowing reports about the use of technology in early education, but those are most universal linked to great resources and immersion. I've heard of programs that have used technology intermittently and seen minimal or no results. Luckily, I've never heard of children's education being harmed by computers. This attempt to enable all higher education students access to a working computer looks good, at least on paper.

Star Power Behind Tablet Advertizing? That's So Dirty!

Eliot — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:01:00 GMT

I'm hoping that the title got someone's attention. Did it? Let me know. I get so little mail these days......

Anyway, I found this a little while ago, and immediately thought to put it up here, but then promptly got busy with SDK topics, reviews, newsletters and stuff. Better late than never.

HP has released a series of internet ads for their tx2000z Tablet PC, starring (drum roll)

Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs.

OK, it's not earth shattering, but it is, at least a little bit. Over the past five years there have been a few Tablet PC commercials that have made the airwaves. I remember the Lenovo ad with the ink; Microsoft Office had an ad where some workers spun a Tablet PC in an end-zone-like celebration; Gateway had an commercial in which a Tablet PC had a brief cameo; Best Buy had one appear as well. But these were small potatos next to a production of five vignettes of up to five minutes, each starring a recognizable talent. To me, this trumpets that HP sees return on investment. I'm sure Rowe doesn't come cheap, and you need to sell a lot of Tablet PCs to recoup the investment.

I am truly glad that they have taken the lead and produced these bits. They're really funny, especially if you are a fan of Dirty Jobs. And Tablet PC. Or just poop jokes.

My favorite exchange: "Hey, Mike. I got the massage table ready...That folds into a tablet, you know? You can write love notes."

Tablet rocks.

It's Getting Rough Out There

Eliot — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:29:00 GMT

I was on the Tablet PC team before any OEMs had any of the tablet hardware that's is available to the market. As a result, we had hired a company to make prototype units for us. They were thin, slate models that were actually pretty cool. That is, they were cool when they worked. They were true protoypes. But walking around with the forced slate model really made us think about where and how the pen (and ultimately, touch) input would be used, as opposed to standard mouse and keyboard.

Note-taking and annotation were the "big-bets" Microsoft made in the first few years, and these are truly viable scenarios. I wondered further, though, partly because I was a reasonably quick typist and partly because I had become adept enough at Office products to know how to make comments and show annotation with a keyboard. What really piqued my curiosity are the places where pen and touch are indispensible. Ever see anyone try to type on a laptop on an elevator? Once a person stands, the keyboard is awkward, at best. And who really wants to take out their $1500 notebook in the field...a real field. Most notebook's cannot handle a lot of rain or a drop from more than two feet. Imagine if a real estate agent needed to look up an easement on the fly. Or a construction manager, dairy farmer, lobster fisherman, wine-maker, soccer coach, yacht broker, EMT, store manager, astronaut, well, you get the idea.

Which is, I suppose a long way of saying that it warms my heart to see hardware like the Duo Touch II ruggedized Tablet PC that General Dynamics Itronix released. Not specific to any industry, this computer boasts:

Easy switching between active digitizer and passive touch digitizer
Intel Core Duo processer
Up to 2GB of RAM
EVDO
802.11 a/g/n
Bluetooth
Up to 3 RF modems and GPS at the same time

But on top of that, it's magnesium-alloy case, water seal, HazLoc certification, and other rugged goodies means that not only can it be used in and on the field...you can use it as second base.