ASUS launches netbook App Store eying a MeeGo future

ASUS didn’t make much of a fuss over it, but its ASUS-branded App Store for netbooks did launch today. Not much to get excited about unless you’re already pumped by Intel’s AppUp store at the heart of ASUS’ offering. The best part might be the announced MeeGo support, whenever the Intel / Nokia OS mashup is ready. Just what the world needs: an EeeMee, right Mr. Anderson?

ASUS launches netbook App Store eying a MeeGo future originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nvidia CEO: This is the Beginning of the 3D Revolution

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.JPG

Speaking of revolution in Taiwan is always risky, but Nvidia
CEO Jen-Hsun
Huang
didn’t mince words: “This is the beginning of the 3D revolution.”

Huang spoke at its 3D Experience Center, a few blocks away from
the Computex Taiwan World Trade Center Hall, where he had gathered a few
hundred tech reporters and graphics groupies. Indeed, although, Huang spoke for
a bit about Nvidia’s Optimus and DX11 support, most of his enthusiasm was
reserved for Nvidia’s 3D Vision.

“There is no reason to buy another PC unless it has 3D in
it,” explained Huang. To make it easier to tell if a PC is 3D capable, Nvidia
offers a simple formula, which, of course, puts Nvidia front and center. The
company calls a 3D PC any desktop or notebook that:

  • Includes a pair of active shutter glasses
  • Has a 120Hz 3D capable display
  • Includes a discrete graphics processor that can render high
    definition 3D imagery.
On cue, Asus CEO Jerry Shen came on stage to show off two
new 3D capable systems. The first is a new All-in-One EeeTop PC with a 24-inch
display.  The second is the G51Jx-EE laptop,
which comes with a built-in wireless transmitter for the glasses. “It’s
wireless, so there is no need to connect a wire to the glasses,” Shen said.

Take a look at our ever-growing slideshow
of Computex 2010
at PCMag.com.

Nvidia Gets Sony to See Its 3D Vision at Computex

Sony Alpha NEX-3.jpgIt was almost a throwaway line in Nvidia CEO’s Jen-Hsun Huang‘s Computex presentation about the future of graphics technology, but I caught it. Huang announced that Sony’s new Alpha interchangeable lens cameras would now be part of Nvidia’s 3D Vision ecosystem, enabling users to take 3D still images and view them on their PCs.  Fuji has already announced plans to support 3D Vision in one of its cameras, but the Sony support should give the technology a boost.

PCMag.com just tested the Sony Alpha NEX-3 in the Labs and liked it a lot. In fact, that is what I shot Huang’s keynote with. Personally, I am no huge fan of 3D still photography, but since the NEX-3 won an Editor’s Choice without 3D, I guess it can’t hurt to have the option.

Want to see more? Check out our Computex 2010 slideshow at PCMag.com.

Asus Packs Computex with Eee Pads

ASUS Eee Pad EP121 12 inch.jpgWhen Chairman Jonney Shih unveiled the Asus Eee Pad on stage at Computex today, the crowd of journalists almost rushed the stage with excitement. Unlike the similarly named Asus Eee Tablet, which is designed to compete with e-Readers like the Nook and the Kindle, the Eee Pad is designed to go head-to-head with the Apple iPad.
 
The Eee Pad is a Windows 7-based device that uses an Intel CULV Core 2 Duo processor and a touch-sensitive capacitive screen. It can be used as a multimedia player, e-reader, Web-browser, or, with the help of a keyboard docking station, full-featured PC.  Asus will be releasing two versions of the Eee Pad. The EP101TC will come with a 10-inch screen and the EP121 will ship with a 12-inch screen. Asus claims both systems will deliver at least 10 hours of battery life.

Shih says that tablet devices like this will bridge the conventional divide between business and consumer products. “We envision a different kind of usage scenario,” Shih said. “You can be both a premier professional and a housewife.”

Question is, can Asus get an Eee Pad in her hands before she buys an iPad? No specific ship date was given.

Want to see more? Check out our Computex 2010 slideshow at PCMag.com.

Asus Eee Tablet Launches at Computex

ASUS Eee Tablet-1.jpg Asus announced the Eee Tablet today at Computex 2010, an electronic reader that will also serve as a digital note-taking device thanks to its touch-sensitive screen. The Eee Tablet uses a reflective LCD display, instead of the E Ink found on readers like the Kindle and the Nook. This means it can refresh the screen without the lag that is common to E Ink displays.  The touch-sensitive display is based on Wacom‘s pen-input technology, which can sense 2,450 dpi. The device also comes with a built-in camera, a USB port, and a microSD slot.

The product is designed for students and mobile professionals and will be available in the Fall of 2010. “We want to put it in the hands of every college student,” says Will Chuang, Product Manager with Asus.

Check out our ever-growing Computex 2010 slideshow at PCMag.com.

ASUS debuts 15.6-inch ROG G53 3D gaming laptop at Computex

Hope you’re not burned out on ASUS introductions yet, ’cause they’re far from over. During the outfit’s Computex press conference, a new multimedia monster was unveiled in the ROG G53. ASUS didn’t bother sharing too many specifications, but that didn’t stop us from hunting down a placard with the deets we were craving. Whenever the company decides to ship it, it’ll be available with Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 options, up to 16GB of DDR3 memory on the quad-core machines (8GB of DDR3 on the dual-core rigs), a LED-backlit “HD” display, NVIDIA “Enthusiast” graphics, room for a pair of hard drives (or an SSD / HDD combo system), an optional Blu-ray drive, USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI 1.4 port for piping those 3D signals to your 3D HDTV. Per usual, there’s no mention of a price tag, but hopefully we’ll be clued in sooner rather than later.

Update: Two other gaming lappies were slipped in today by ASUS: the 17.3-inch G73Jw and G51 3D, neither of which have their specs sheets in public view.

ASUS debuts 15.6-inch ROG G53 3D gaming laptop at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Tablet preview

Alright, stick with us here. For some reason, ASUS decided it best to name its freshest e-reader the Eee Tablet, while its downright magical tablet goes by Eee Pad. Got all that? Good. The Eee Tablet (again, not to be confused with the Eee Pad tablet) is half e-reader, half note taker, and it’s an interesting twist on a played product category. We took a few precious minutes to experiment with the device here on the Computex show floor, and overall, we like what we’re seeing. Gone is the painfully slow E-Ink page refresh that Kindle owners are so accustomed to, with this particular LCD proving deliciously quick at changing screens. The only hang-up comes when you attempt to flip through too many pages, too fast — we managed to harness a loading wheel on two occasions, both of which took around six or eight seconds to vanish and the next page to finally appear. We also confirmed that the screen only works with the included stylus, much like pen-enabled Wacom tablets. That said, the bundled stylus was perfectly weighted, and the Eee Tablet responded well to our doodling. Speaking of weight, the model shown here in Taipei was shockingly heavy (at least iPad-level heavy), while the 10-inch EP101TC was markedly less hefty. Enough chatter — have a look at our hands-on video just past the break.

Continue reading ASUS Eee Tablet preview

ASUS Eee Tablet preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 06:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Pad EP101TC and EP121 preview

At long last, the ASUS Eee Pads have arrived, but unfortunately they’re just not working the way we’ve been imagining for all these months. We got a few minutes to toy around with the 10-inch EP101TC and 12-inch EP121, but both were barely working. And “barely” is being gracious. We can tell you that both models are incredibly well built — they’ve got aluminum edges and matte back covers — and neither was particularly heavy. The EP121 wasn’t booting at all, but it was being shown off with a super sleek keyboard docking station, which will be used to turn the tablet into an ultraportable laptop of sorts. An NVIDIA Tegra-powered EP101TC was powering on, but its Windows Embedded Compact 7-based interface was still noticeably buggy, and the touchscreen quite unresponsive. The UI certainly looked attractive enough, and our swipe motions across the capacitive touchscreen were handled admirably, but ASUS definitely has a ways to go in terms of functionality. We wish we had more impressions to share, but it looks as if we’ll have to wait for a less half-baked iteration to really dive in. ‘Til then, feel free to peruse the gallery below and peek the video just beyond the break.

Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad EP101TC and EP121 preview

ASUS Eee Pad EP101TC and EP121 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 05:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA bringing 3D images to Sony’s Alpha camera lineup

Fujifilm’s REAL 3D W1 didn’t exactly get the warmest of welcomes, but even today it remains one of the few point-and-shoots that can natively take 3D photographs. Here at NVIDIA’s Computex press conference, the company slid in this little nugget: Sony’s new Alpha series of interchangeable lens compact cameras are now compatible with NVIDIA’s 3D image processing software (3D Vision Photo Viewer). You won’t get your Alpha growing a second lens or anything (at least not yet), but any image you shoot with it can be post-processed as 3D thanks to the new partnership. Details beyond that were few and far between, but the company’s obviously stoked to have Sony onboard. ‘Course, with Sony’s own 3D obsession, we wouldn’t be shocked to hear that every single one of the outfit’s cameras will soon be on the three-dee bandwagon in some form or another.

Continue reading NVIDIA bringing 3D images to Sony’s Alpha camera lineup

NVIDIA bringing 3D images to Sony’s Alpha camera lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 05:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA ushers in the ‘3D PC’ with ASUS G51Jx-EE, Eee Top ET2400 and CD5390

Prior to heading across town to his own press event, ASUS‘ CEO (Jerry Shen) managed to show up donning a face-engulfing set of 3D glasses at NVIDIA‘s shindig in downtown Taipei. Aside from congratulating NVIDIA on its successes in the 3D category, the bigwig also took time to announce a trio of new PCs. Described as “3D PCs” — an all new designation which ensures that computers include a pair of 3D active-shutter glasses, a 120Hz 3D-capable display and a discrete graphics processor — the company is hitting just about every computer segment save for the ultraportable, netbook and tablet PC. But for the worrywarts out there, we feel pretty safe in saying that a 3D slate is somewhere on NVIDIA’s workbench.

Kicking things off was the ASUS G51Jx-EE, a 3D-ready laptop that cuts out the IR emitter and relies on NVIDIA’s 3D Vision active shutter glasses. Secondly, the Eee Top ET2400 provides similar capabilities on an all-in-one desktop (you know, for bedroom movie watchers). Finally, the CD5390 tower was hailed as the “world’s most powerful gaming solution,” equipped with a GeForce GTX 480 GPU and out-of-the-box support for a trio of 3D LCDs. Sadly, no further details on any of these rigs were shared, but we’re hoping to hear more during ASUS’ own presser.

Update: We’ve learned that the Eee Top ET2400 will roll with USB 3.0 support and a 23.6-inch LCD, but the other machines are still shrouded in mystery. We’ll be scraping the show floor to find out what we can.

Continue reading NVIDIA ushers in the ‘3D PC’ with ASUS G51Jx-EE, Eee Top ET2400 and CD5390

NVIDIA ushers in the ‘3D PC’ with ASUS G51Jx-EE, Eee Top ET2400 and CD5390 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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