Sep 03

HP lists Photosmart eStation C510 printer with detachable e-reading touchscreen — is this the Zeus? (update: yes)

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, HP, leak, leaks, nook, printer, Today's Chili

Now, we don’t have any confirmation that the two are one and the same, but we just caught wind of a very intriguing printer on HP’s website. The Photosmart eStation C510 is listed for $399.99 and, in addition to usual ink-plastering duties, has a detachable wireless 7-inch TouchSmart control panel for browsing content, printing (of course), and “brows[ing] the latest e-book bestsellers or old favorites.” It all sounds well and good, and if you ask us, it rings a very eerily similar chord as the eStation Zeen / Zeus from early August. If so, that’d make this touchscreen an Android 2.1 tablet with “significant” Nook integration for e-reading. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what’s under the hood, software-wise. What say ye, HP, how about throwing us a press release yonder?

Update: And just like that, the printer has disappeared off the face of the internet, without so much as a cached Google page to its name.

Update 2: A trusted source tells us this printer is indeed the eStation Zeus of yore.

[Thanks, Julian]

HP lists Photosmart eStation C510 printer with detachable e-reading touchscreen — is this the Zeus? (update: yes) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Engadget’s back to school guide: Printers

Posted in: HP, printer, Today's Chili

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’ve got printers in our sights — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides.

Even if your textbooks, your movies, your music, and the photographic evidence of your quasi-legal sorority hazing exists purely in the digital domain, you’ll have to print out things like term papers and court documents sooner or later. (Thought we forgot about that hazing, didn’t you?) We know that’s money tight, so we’ve found something to suit every budget. Now, on to the printers…

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide: Printers

Engadget’s back to school guide: Printers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 01

Palm Previews WebOS 2.0: Tablet Ready?

Posted in: HP, palm, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili, webos

Since his company was bought out by HP, Jon Rubinstein and what remains of the Palm team have kept busy. Due out later this year is WebOS 2.0, the OS that we expect HP to use on a tablet device, and Palm has given us a sneak-peek of what’s new.

Stack was the thing we liked best about the original WebOS. It puts each app or task onto a “card” and lets you swoosh them around the screen to either stack them out of the way or flip between tasks. New in 2.0 is auto-stacking, which will group card by type. Think iOS folders, only with running windows instead of apps.

The next biggest change is with Quick Actions, the universal search function. If you have ever used an application launcher like Quicksilver or LaunchBar on the Mac, or Launchy on the PC, you’ll know what to expect.

Tap the rebranded Just Type box on the home screen (it is always there) and, well, just type. You can launch apps, search contacts and so on, but now Just Type is opened up to third party apps, letting you search within them. This is big, and something iOS still doesn’t do.

There are more tweaks and additions detailed over at Pre Central, but the last one we’ll look at is call “Exhibition”. Essentially, this lets you choose an app to display when the Pre (or whatever device it ends up on) is charging in a dock. Thus you could display a Twitter stream, a weather widget or anything else. I like this one a lot.

The WebOS is looking more and more suitable for a tablet. It has the simplicity and polish of Apple iOS which will appeal to a mainstream user: something that Android is getting closer to, and Windows is hopelessly lacking. Look out for the WebOS when it comes: it could be the first proper tablet since the iPad.

webOS 2.0 details: Stacks, Just Type, Exhibition, and more! [Pre Central via ★]

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Aug 31

HP unleashes Envy 17 3D, HP Envy 14 Beats edition and specially-cooled Pavilion dm3

Posted in: hands-on, HP, laptop, Laptops, Today's Chili

We know, it feels like it was just a few months ago that the new Envy 14 and 17 hit the market, but HP isn’t quite finished tinkering with its aluminum laptops. First up is the new Envy 14 Beats edition, which just like the previous Envy 15 Beats has a totally different black and red design than the rest of the Envy line along with a a pretty awesome red backlit keyboard. Apart from the different aesthetics and bundled Beats headphones, it’s essentially the same as the regular Envy 14, although the $1249 starting price is for big fans of beats or Dr. Dre only. The Envy 17 gets the most interesting update, though: it’ll be available sometimes this holiday season with a 17.3-inch 3D Ultra BrightView display and active shutter glasses. Powered by AMD’s 3D technology, the Envy 17 will also support 3D Blu-ray discs, and by that we mean Avatar when it finally hits in November. We got a chance to check it out a few weeks ago and the 3D content looked pretty, well… three-dimensional. HP says the rig will be priced south of $2,000 and claims it’s been working very hard on improving viewing angles.

On the much-more-thin-and-light end of the spectrum, HP’s also unveiling the improved Pavilion dm3. Starting at $549, the 13.3-inch dm3 will be available with Intel Core i3 and i5 processors and boasts HP’s new CoolSense technology, which the company says combines hardware and software to keep the entire chassis cool. Beyond all that, the laptop is less than an inch thick and has been given a major makeover — it has a very soft-to-the-touch lid and the same chiclet keyboard and ClickPad as the Pavilion dm4. We’re planning to review a few of these, but until then head below to check out some hands-on shots and the full press release after the break.

Gallery: HP Envy 14 Beats, Envy 17 3D and Pavilion dm3 hands-on

Gallery: HP Envy 14 Beats, Envy 17 3D, Pavilion dm3 press shots

Continue reading HP unleashes Envy 17 3D, HP Envy 14 Beats edition and specially-cooled Pavilion dm3

HP unleashes Envy 17 3D, HP Envy 14 Beats edition and specially-cooled Pavilion dm3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 31

HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power

Posted in: hands-on, HP, netbook, netbooks, Today's Chili

Netbook makers like Lenovo, Gigabyte and ASUS have been quietly releasing new systems with Intel’s new mobile, dual-core N550 processor, but HP’s not keeping its use of the fresh chip in 10-inch netbooks a secret… anymore. Just as we’ve previously heard, the professional-aimed $399 Mini 5103 will be getting a dual-core 1.5GHz processor option, which HP tells us can improve benchmark performance by up to 20 percent without a significant impact on battery life. It’s also been updated with a new “espresso” color and will have HP’s Day Starter instant-on OS — no WebOS buried in there yet.

On the consumer end, the HP Mini 210 has also been refreshed — actually, more like gutted — with a new design. The 10.1-inch netbook is now available in a bunch of cleverly named colors, including crimson red and ocean drive, and has been revamped with a new back that integrates the battery into the bottom of the chassis. Don’t worry: the battery is still swappable and you can open the bottom cover to replace the RAM and hard drive. It still has that chiclet keyboard we like so much, the rather hit-or-miss ClickPad touchpad and a Broadcom Crystal Accelerator option for 1080p playback. The Mini 210 will start at $330 with a single core Atom CPU and six-cell battery, but will be available with the N550 processor for a bit more (we’re guessing around $75). The full release is after the break and some snazzy hands-on pics are below.

Gallery: HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 press shots

Gallery: HP Mini 210 and HP Mini 5103 hands-on

Continue reading HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power

HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 31

HP Wireless TV Connect streams 1080p video, hits Intel WiDi where it hurts

Posted in: 1080p, hands-on, HP, laptop, Laptops, streaming, Today's Chili, Wireless

We have to say it’s a bit odd for HP to be announcing its own wireless streaming peripheral — it seems like something more up IOGEAR or Belkin’s alley — but the $199 Wireless TV Connect is exactly what we’ve been waiting for in some respects. Sure, the box that you have to connect to your laptop via HDMI and USB for power is a bit on the large side, but it’s capable of streaming 1080p content, including Blu-ray movies or protected content, to your TV and there’s absolutely no lag when controlling the desktop on the big screen. We’re not exactly sure what technology HP’s using here — we’re thinking WHDI, though the company wouldn’t confirm — but the two box set can be used with any laptop on the market that has an HDMI port. Take that Intel WiDi! This is one we’re absolutely planning to test out, but in the meantime check out the pics below.

Gallery: HP Wireless TV Connect hands-on

Continue reading HP Wireless TV Connect streams 1080p video, hits Intel WiDi where it hurts

HP Wireless TV Connect streams 1080p video, hits Intel WiDi where it hurts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 31

Memristors Take Big Step Towards Faster, Low-Power Memory

Posted in: flash, HP, memory, R&D and Inventions, Today's Chili

A new circuit element called a memristor, or ‘memory resistor,’ could usher in extremely efficient data storage that could eventually make instant-on, low-power PCs a reality.

HP is just three years away from bringing the memristor to market as a new product called ReRAM, for Resistive Random Access Memory. ReRAM can read and write memory bits much faster than flash, even as it consumes a tenth of the energy as flash memory. Considering that HP first disclosed the working prototype of a memristor only two years ago, that’s pretty quick turnaround.

“The fact that we made it from lab to fab so quickly is amazing,” says Stan Williams, director of the Information & Quantum Systems Lab at HP. “Sometimes it takes 15 to 20 years to turn an experiment into a product.”

In 1971, Leon Chua, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, first postulated that the memristor could be the fourth basic element in electronics — the other three being the capacitor, resistor and inductor. At that time, he called it the “missing circuit element.” But it wasn’t until more than three decades later, in 2008, that HP researchers said they had created the first working memristor. Wired.com called the memristor one of the top ten technology breakthroughs of 2008.

HP has now partnered with semiconductor memory maker Hynix to start the manufacturing process. It would make memristors available to consumers through devices such as cameras and digital music players.

Story continues …


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Aug 31

HP Labs teams up with Hynix to manufacture memristors, plans assault on flash memory in 2013

Posted in: flash, HP, interview, memory, Today's Chili

The memristor‘s come a long way since being hypothesized back in 1971. If you ask HP Labs, the history of this particular memory technology didn’t hit its next milestone for almost four decades, when the company produced the very first memory resistor chip. Just last month, the Labs group proved its little transistor could handle logic and data storage, and as of today, the company’s announcing a joint development agreement with Hynix Semiconductor, with a goal of bringing these chips to the market — and rendering flash memory obsolete.

That challenge against flash (not a very popular naming convention these days, it seems) was thrown down by HP Labs Senior Fellow Stan Williams, who posits that the memristor is “an universal memory that over a sufficient amount of time will replace flash, DRAM, magnetic hard disks, and possibly even SRAM.” But onto the immediate, albeit aspirational goal (i.e. not a commitment, which he stressed on multiple occasions): Williams hopes to see the transistors in consumer products by this time 2013, for approximately the price of what flash memory will be selling for at the time but with “at least twice the bit capacity.” He also claims a much smaller power requirement of “at least a factor of 10” and an even faster operation speed, in addition to previously-discussed advantages like read / write endurance.

With Hynix on board, the goal is to make these “drop-in replacements” for flash memory, whereby the same protocols and even the same connectors will work just fine. For HP, however, Williams says there’ll be an initial competitive advantage for the company due to its comfort level with memristors’ unique properties, but that other companies will be encouraged to license the technology and experiment with new possibilities in hardware design. Williams wouldn’t give any specific product examples where we might initially see the memristor, except to repeat that it’ll be anywhere and everywhere flash memory is. Fighting words, indeed. We normally don’t get excited about minute hardware components — not often, at least — but we gotta say, the seeds of the future look mighty interesting. Can’t wait to see what germinates. Highlights from our talk with Williams after the break.

Gallery: HP Labs’ Memristor Milestones

Continue reading HP Labs teams up with Hynix to manufacture memristors, plans assault on flash memory in 2013

HP Labs teams up with Hynix to manufacture memristors, plans assault on flash memory in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 31

Palm WebOS 2.0: Now This Is Multitasking [Palm]

Posted in: HP, palm, palm pre, pre, Smartphones, Today's Chili, top, webos

WebOS 2.0. It’s really happening, and it’s coming soon. Amidst the turmoil and the headlines and the doom-dropping, Palm’s been busy: WebOS 2.0 looks like it’ll be better than the original in basically every way. More »

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Aug 31

HP agrees to pay $55 million to settle investigation into illegal kickbacks

Posted in: HP, Law, legal, Today's Chili

The company that kicked Mark Hurd to the curb for financial impropriety has today reported it’ll pay $55 million in a settlement with the US Department of Justice relating to some fiscal delinquency of its own. HP was accused of greasing up the wheels of business, as it were, by throwing cash around to companies who would recommend its services to state procurement agencies. This particular set of allegations related to a federal contract obtained by HP in 2002, and the settlement also extinguishes investigation into whether or not the computer vendor had provided incomplete information to the US government. That’s all well and good, but we have to question the size of these levies. Today’s also the day that HP’s announced a new $800 million supply contract with the US Air Force — would a fine that’s less than a tenth of the contract’s value really deter HP’s entrepreneurial spirit?

HP agrees to pay $55 million to settle investigation into illegal kickbacks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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