Friday, June 14, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
CES postscript: The touch laptop, like it or not
The laptop was reinvented at CES.
Or maybe I should say there was a vigorous attempt to reinvent the laptop. Because we won't know how successful touch has been until next year this time.
Intel's CES booth -- still a large presence in the CES Central Hall -- had one basic unmistakable message: touch has arrived.
Windows 8 convertibles, detachables, touch-screen laptops, and just plain tablets from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Samsung, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, and others blanketed Intel's booth.
And just to make sure the touch message was crystal clear, Intel issued an edict to PC partners during its CES keynote: all next-generation ultrabooks based on its "Haswell" chip must be touch.
What does that mean to consumers? Your next laptop will likely be touch, whether you like it or not.
And based on what I saw at the Intel booth (and other booths, like Samsung's), this is how it will break down:
Convertible: Convertibles, like the HP EliteBook Revolve and Lenovo Yoga, have swivel touch screens.
The important thing to remember here is that the Intel processor and related electronics are still under the keyboard, so these systems will tend to be higher performance because the design affords more opportunity to keep the processor cool.
Detachable: These are essentially tablets with well-integrated keyboard docks. They would include the new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix, HP's Envy x2, and Samsung ATIV Smart PC.
Detachables put the processor electronics behind the screen. And that usually forces PC makers to use a lower-performance, more power efficient chip like Intel's "Clover Trail" Atom.
One of the few exceptions to that rule is the ThinkPad Helix, which manages to cram a mainstream Intel Ivy Bridge chip into a tablet.
And, by the way, Intel is now trying to get more PC makers to do this. It has just begun shipping a new Y series Ivy Bridge processor that is more power efficient than the one in the Helix.
Still, battery life won't be terrific, and Ivy Bridge chips -- even the most power-efficient ones -- still require fans to keep them cool.
Touch-screen laptop: This is a traditional clamshell laptop with a touch screen. There are already lots of these out there, including the Sony Vaio T13 Series, the Acer Aspire S7, the Asus VivoBook X202E, and the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart.
And expect a lot more. Maybe by this time next year, the preponderance of laptops on display at your local Best Buy will have touch screens.
Tablet: And then there are devices that are marketed as standalone Windows 8 tablets. These would include HP's ElitePad 900 and Dell's Latitude 10 tablet.
Tablets that can run the full version of Windows 8 (based on Intel chips) and Windows RT tablets (based on ARM chips) will offer good battery life and a lightweight, slim design but won't be very fast. That is, don't expect them to multitask Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and other demanding applications without bringing the device to its knees.
Not
every laptop will go touch, of course. High-end gaming lappies and
business laptops will be available with non-touch screens for the
foreseeable future. But I suspect that, eventually, even these will go
touch.
Dell's XPS 10 Windows RT detachable, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, was on display at Qualcomm's CES booth. Intel's edict that all future 4th Generation Core-based 'Haswell' Windows 8 laptops be touch is already an imperative on Windows RT.
Or maybe I should say there was a vigorous attempt to reinvent the laptop. Because we won't know how successful touch has been until next year this time.
Intel's CES booth -- still a large presence in the CES Central Hall -- had one basic unmistakable message: touch has arrived.
Windows 8 convertibles, detachables, touch-screen laptops, and just plain tablets from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Samsung, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, and others blanketed Intel's booth.
And just to make sure the touch message was crystal clear, Intel issued an edict to PC partners during its CES keynote: all next-generation ultrabooks based on its "Haswell" chip must be touch.
What does that mean to consumers? Your next laptop will likely be touch, whether you like it or not.
And based on what I saw at the Intel booth (and other booths, like Samsung's), this is how it will break down:
Convertible: Convertibles, like the HP EliteBook Revolve and Lenovo Yoga, have swivel touch screens.
The important thing to remember here is that the Intel processor and related electronics are still under the keyboard, so these systems will tend to be higher performance because the design affords more opportunity to keep the processor cool.
Detachable: These are essentially tablets with well-integrated keyboard docks. They would include the new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix, HP's Envy x2, and Samsung ATIV Smart PC.
Detachables put the processor electronics behind the screen. And that usually forces PC makers to use a lower-performance, more power efficient chip like Intel's "Clover Trail" Atom.
One of the few exceptions to that rule is the ThinkPad Helix, which manages to cram a mainstream Intel Ivy Bridge chip into a tablet.
And, by the way, Intel is now trying to get more PC makers to do this. It has just begun shipping a new Y series Ivy Bridge processor that is more power efficient than the one in the Helix.
Still, battery life won't be terrific, and Ivy Bridge chips -- even the most power-efficient ones -- still require fans to keep them cool.
Touch-screen laptop: This is a traditional clamshell laptop with a touch screen. There are already lots of these out there, including the Sony Vaio T13 Series, the Acer Aspire S7, the Asus VivoBook X202E, and the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart.
And expect a lot more. Maybe by this time next year, the preponderance of laptops on display at your local Best Buy will have touch screens.
Tablet: And then there are devices that are marketed as standalone Windows 8 tablets. These would include HP's ElitePad 900 and Dell's Latitude 10 tablet.
Tablets that can run the full version of Windows 8 (based on Intel chips) and Windows RT tablets (based on ARM chips) will offer good battery life and a lightweight, slim design but won't be very fast. That is, don't expect them to multitask Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and other demanding applications without bringing the device to its knees.
Dell's XPS 10 Windows RT detachable, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, was on display at Qualcomm's CES booth. Intel's edict that all future 4th Generation Core-based 'Haswell' Windows 8 laptops be touch is already an imperative on Windows RT.
Facebook Distributes $200,000 to East Palo Alto and Menlo Park Nonprofits, Mercury News
Facebook
kicked off the new year by showering 42 nonprofits in Menlo Park and
East Palo Alto with a total of $200,000 in grants, according to company
officials.
The financial largess is part of a deal the social media company struck with the city of Menlo Park last year in exchange for permission to almost double the number of employees on its main campus at the intersection of Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road.
Although Facebook originally promised to create a $500,000 foundation, Susan Gonzales, the company's head of community engagement, said Monday that it kicked in an extra $100,000 for a total community donation of $600,000.
"We were pleased by the response," Gonzales said, adding that more than 100 community groups applied for the funding. "We decided in order to address a lot of the requests we'd add $100,000 to help celebrate the launch of the fund."
Menlo Park Council Member Kirstin Keith, who is on the Facebook Local Community Fund board and participated in the grant allocation discussions along with East Palo Alto Council Member Laura Martinez and several Facebook employees, said it was "fantastic" to be able to give out the money.
"These are really needy organizations who will helpfully change people's lives," Keith said.
The grants, which range from $2,500 to $5,000, will help support everything from youth programs to food distribution to small business aid to school clothes for homeless kids. Organizations Advertisement were notified about the grants last week, Gonzales said.
Felicia Matthews of A Better Way Foundation in East Palo Alto said the $5,000 grant will make a world of difference for the three-year-old nonprofit and the at-risk kids it serves. The organization hopes to use the money to create an after-school technology program, she said.
"This gives us an opportunity to see what we can do," Matthews said.
Last month, Facebook's 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he was donating $500 million in stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to support health and education causes.
Keith said Menlo Park is fortunate to have Facebook. "I look around and I don't see other corporations doing this," she said. "It's pretty amazing."
The next round of funding will be distributed in June, according to Gonzales. Interested nonprofits are asked to email info@venturesfoundation.org for additional information about the Facebook Local Community Fund and the grant program.
The financial largess is part of a deal the social media company struck with the city of Menlo Park last year in exchange for permission to almost double the number of employees on its main campus at the intersection of Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road.
Although Facebook originally promised to create a $500,000 foundation, Susan Gonzales, the company's head of community engagement, said Monday that it kicked in an extra $100,000 for a total community donation of $600,000.
"We were pleased by the response," Gonzales said, adding that more than 100 community groups applied for the funding. "We decided in order to address a lot of the requests we'd add $100,000 to help celebrate the launch of the fund."
Menlo Park Council Member Kirstin Keith, who is on the Facebook Local Community Fund board and participated in the grant allocation discussions along with East Palo Alto Council Member Laura Martinez and several Facebook employees, said it was "fantastic" to be able to give out the money.
"These are really needy organizations who will helpfully change people's lives," Keith said.
The grants, which range from $2,500 to $5,000, will help support everything from youth programs to food distribution to small business aid to school clothes for homeless kids. Organizations Advertisement were notified about the grants last week, Gonzales said.
Felicia Matthews of A Better Way Foundation in East Palo Alto said the $5,000 grant will make a world of difference for the three-year-old nonprofit and the at-risk kids it serves. The organization hopes to use the money to create an after-school technology program, she said.
"This gives us an opportunity to see what we can do," Matthews said.
Last month, Facebook's 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he was donating $500 million in stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to support health and education causes.
Keith said Menlo Park is fortunate to have Facebook. "I look around and I don't see other corporations doing this," she said. "It's pretty amazing."
The next round of funding will be distributed in June, according to Gonzales. Interested nonprofits are asked to email info@venturesfoundation.org for additional information about the Facebook Local Community Fund and the grant program.
