Meet:Mobility Podcast 39 – CES 2010 Warm-up

Meet:Mobility Podcast 39 is now available. Related posts:

1. Meet:Mobility Podcast 37 – A Challenge for Netbooks in 2010 JKK, Sascha and Chippy talk at length about topics coming...
2. Ultra Mobile Podcast 23 CES CES CES! Sascha and myself give you a CES...
3. Christmas Podcast fun with UMPC Cast #6 [img]http://www.origamiportal.com/modules/tinycontent/images/umpccastlogo.jpg[/img] As a Christmas gift to all here is UMPC...

DataJack Puts Pressure on U.S. 3G Data Services.

DataJack is offering a US-based pre-paid 3G data service via USB stick for a breakthrough price. Related posts:

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MeetMobility Live Podcast with Runcore at CES 2010. Netbook Tech Zone, 8th Jan, 2pm.

JKK, Sascha and I are extremely proud to announce that we’ll be doing our first ever live-audience MeetMobility podcast recording (and hopefully live broadcast) at CES 2010 on Friday Jan 8th at 2pm

Thanks to Runcore, creators of excellent SSD solutions…

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Intel N400-series Technical Docs Now Available.

The N450 is the new Intel Atom-based chip that will be used for ‘Pineview’ netbooks in 2010. Many of you have heard about the new ‘leaked’ netbooks over the last few weeks and although it’s focused at netbooks, we think…

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Archos 9 Review.

The Archos 9 has been with us for about 5 days now and we’re due to send it back to Mobilx in a few days so we thought we better get an early review out to you all. This isn’t an…

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OLPC XO-1.75 will move to ARM CPU.

In a significant architechtural move away from X86, the 2011 generation of the XO (One Laptop Per Child Project) will move from a VIA C7 CPU to a Marvell design based on ARM cores. Related posts:

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Could the ICD Ultra be the Haiku of 2010?

The ICT Ultra is so 'Origami' that it's not funny. At least it's not funny for Microsoft and Intel! Related posts:

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‘In Other News…’ December 19th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Posted… Related posts:

1. ‘In Other News…’ December 6th Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
2. ‘In Other News…’ November 22nd Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
3. ‘In Other News…’ December 12th Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...

Archos 9 Gallery

A new gallery is up. 39 pictures that should give you a good feel for the device.

Full Archos 9 Gallery

Don’t forget the live session

Related posts:Archos 9 Tablet (Retail) Unboxing and Overview Video. Thanks very much to Mobilx.eu who have sent one…

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3. Live Today, Live Tomorrow with the Archos 9. Details on live coverage of the Archos 9 and the...

Archos 9 Tablet (Retail) Unboxing and Overview Video.

Thanks very much to Mobilx.eu who have sent one of their first Archos 9 devices to us for a week of testing and hands-on. You’ll remember hearing about this earlier in the year and getting a launch at IDF in September but it’s taken a long time to reach the hands of end-users. There are a few early devices out there already but not many hands-on and unboxing videos. Here’s my contribution. Related posts:

1. Archos 9 release announced at IDF, October 22nd, $499 Update: Hands-on video and full specifications. The title says most...
2. Archos 9 hands-on at Gizmodo. Positive. It’s only an early hands-on of the Archos 9 (they’ve...
3. Live Today, Live Tomorrow with the Archos 9. Details on live coverage of the Archos 9 and the...

Meet:Mobility Podcast 37 – A Challenge for Netbooks in 2010

JKK, Sascha and Chippy talk at length about topics coming out of the 2nd Netbook World Summit in Paris where Sasha was the host for the day. We discuss how ARM-based devices could fit into the market, some statistics and ongoing price reductions. Also covered at Jolicloud and the Archos 5 Android Tablet. Related posts:

1. Meet:Mobility Podcast 33 now available. Over at Meet:Mobility, Sascha, JKK and I have just posted...
2. Meet:Mobility Meet:Mobility Podcast 34. IDF, Maemo and the Attack of the Tablets Over at Meet:Mobility, Sascha, JKK and I have just posted...
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‘In Other News…’ December 12th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Posted… Related posts:

1. Blockbuster To Sell Entertainment-Ready ARCHOS Netbook Netbook manufacturers are always searching for ways to subsidise (read...
2. 80 Images of the Eking S515 (AKA PsiXPDA, Z8) I’ve just uploaded a bunch of images of the Eking...
3. ‘In Other News…’ November 29th Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...

Ultra-Mobile Computing Predictions for 2010.

For customers wanting full desktop PC capability in their hand, 2010 will be a frustrating year where you’ll see a lot of game-changing news, and very few products based on it. Here are our predictions for 2010 Related posts:

1. Sparrow-based Nokia MID. Did Someone see the 2009 Nokia Tablet? Before I say why I think Eldar Martazin didn’t see...
2. Mobile operating systems. My research continues. Thanks to everyone that replied to my cry for help...
3. Flash 10.1 and smooth online video coming to…everything? It has been clear for some time that Adobe were...

Long-Awaited UMID M2 UMPC appears as Onkyo BX in Japan.

Akihabara seemed to have missed the fact that the Sotec (Onkyo) BX 407A4 is actually a device that many of us have been waiting for. It’s a rebadged UMID M2. Or Kohjinsha device. Or Inventec device. We’re not sure who the…

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Eking S515 Detailed Testing Notes.

The Eking S515 has been with us for about a week now (Thanks to Mobilx) and we've done a lot of testing. In this article you'll find an extensive set of notes and comments based on our testing. Related posts:

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Archos 5 Android Tablet. Full Review at Carrypad.

The Archos 5 is neither a professional or mobile internet device. There’s no 3G, the web experience isn’t complete and the stability of the device means you probably shouldn’t be doing anything important on it. Having said that, the Archos 5 is quite an amazing multi-faceted handheld web device that sets a new standard for an ARM-based web experience and pushes the entry level pricing down to consumer levels. Battery life is great and the video performance beats anything you’ll get on a UMPC. Related posts:

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2. Archos 9 release announced at IDF, October 22nd, $499 Update: Hands-on video and full specifications. The title says most...
3. Archos 9 priced in the UK, Android powered 5” device in September? Trusted Reviews seems to have gotten some info from...

80 Images of the Eking S515 (AKA PsiXPDA, Z8)

I’ve just uploaded a bunch of images of the Eking S515 including some comparison shots with other UMPCs and slider devices. It’s interesting to see that the original Everun is exactly that same size as the Eking S515 Related posts:

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‘In Other News…’ December 6th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Posted… Related posts:

1. New Fujitsu UMPC adds Multitouch, Reduces Weight. (Updated: Price, full specs) The UH900 UMPC (or 'handheld PC; as Fujitsu are calling...
2. Fujitsu-Siemens P1510d batteries recalled. A note for readers with the Fujitsu P1510d ultra-mobile PC....
3. ‘In Other News…’ November 22nd Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...

PsiXPDA UMPC Launches in UK, US, Europe.

PsiXPDA have launched in the UK and their first product is one I just happen to be testing out right now. It's a slider UMPC. More information in the article. Related posts:

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2. Eking S515 UMPC available soon / unboxing soon. Mobilx have been working hard. Not only have they picked...
3. Live Podcast and E-King S515 Videocast Today. 2130 CET. Sorry about the late notice on this one but...

New Fujitsu UMPC adds Multitouch, Reduces Weight. (Updated: Price, full specs)

The UH900 UMPC (or 'handheld PC; as Fujitsu are calling it) has just been announced. Full specs aren't available but from what we've gleened from the press release, this looks like a very VERY interesting pro-mobile device. Wider, thinner, lighter, multitouch and more... Related posts:

1. Fujitsu 1610 UMPC / Tablet. Ubertablet gets first-look. Hugo Ortega got hold of the new Fujitsu P1610. I...
2. First Intel MID pre-order/pricing. Sit down before reading. Update. It appears that we might have stirred the sales...
3. Fujitsu UMPC news from WinHEC. Announcement imminent. Images and specs released. Thanks to our friends over at Winfuture, who are in...

Intel Creates Tempting Challenge as Atom Dev Program SDK reaches Beta.

Intel have just announced that the SDK for the Intel Atom Developer Program has reached Beta stage and along with the announcement comes information about how you can now start testing and submitting applications to their program. In order to get things moving, Intel are offering some big big prizes. How about a Smart Car or a $20K vacation? There are 100 netbooks on offer too! Related posts:

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Crunchpad Project Collapses on Partner Disagreement.

The Crunchpad project has collapsed due to a critical business issue between the two partners controlling the project. In a post this afternoon, just weeks after I picked up on the comments by Mike Arrington in the Gilmor Gang videocast, Mike Arrington explains how he and Fusion Garage, the partner company in the project have failed to reach an agreement on terms. There’s no statement from the Fusion Garage yet. Related posts:

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Kohjinsha to sell its dual-screen netbook next month, turns out to be a convertible too

You may have seen the Kohjinsha dual screen netbook concept floating around the web recently, but apparently they are actually going to be putting this thing on the market. The unit will go on sale as the Kohjinsha DZ, and…

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The problem with recent no-name MIDs out of Asia

Wow… and I thought netbooks were boring…

Seems strange that we’ve been seeing quite a few MIDs lately, but not in the capacity in which they were expected. Intel is responsible for propagating the term MID and the initial plan was…

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Pixel Qi Low-power / Daylight Screens go to Mass Production

While Intel, AMD, ARM and VIA might want you to believe that low-power silicon is the answer to all battery life problems, the truth is somewhat different. We’re at a point now where all silicon, be it X86 or RISC-based, can perform at low enough power consumption that other components on a device become more significant in the power, heat and battery life equation. Talk about ‘ídle’ power drain is irrelevant when you’re using a device in constantly-connected mobile computing scenarios. Related posts:

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Meet:Mobility Podcast 35 is now available.

This could be one of the best podcasts we’ve done to date. It’s honest, passionate, up-front and covers a whole lot of news and information. It’s an hour long but it’s packed full of info. We hope you enjoy it.…

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Live Podcast and E-King S515 Videocast Today. 2130 CET.

Sorry about the late notice on this one but we’ve found a slot and we need to jump on it.

At 2100 (CES) tonight (about 4hrs from this posting) we’ll be sitting down to prepare for a Meet:Mobility podcast (broadcast live) followed…

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Number 10 in the Top 10 most popular

This wallpaper has had 2348578 views and was submitted by John Slater

Chrome(ium) OS PC’s: Dumber than your Mobile Phone.

Information is coming through on Google’s Chromium OS from a number of sources. (See below.) I’ve been following the Techcrunch blog and as a mobile-focused end-user, I'm picking up a number of things that turn me off. Related posts:

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Chrome OS. Be Dynamic or Forget It.

There’s lots of excitement about ‘Chrome OS’ floating around at the moment. Apparently, Google will be giving us more details tomorrow and I hope for the sake of them that it’s more than just a browser and a set of HTML5…

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Archos 5 Mini-Video/USB Dock and Firmware 1.3

What a hectic few hours! I’ve had DHL at the door with the Archos 5 Mini Dock, a tweet from Pocketables alerting me that the new firmware is available and the whole lot has been captured in a video. I’ll…

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What would you want in a Microblogging-Pad?

Here’s a post I’ve just found in my drafts folder. I wrote it in March and forgot to post it. It’s still relevant now so here it is.

March 2009

I realise that many of you couldn’t give a damn about Twitter…

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Mini-Review: Misticaudio Case for Archos 5 IT (Android)

For of all, thanks to Jeff Hill of Misticaudio for sending over this case for review. They’ve stepped in at just the right time with a leather case for the Archos 5IT that fits well, doesn’t impact on the usability of…

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‘In Other News…’ November 15th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Shared… Related posts:

1. ‘In Other News…’ October 18th Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
2. ‘In Other News…’ October 3rd Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
3. ‘In Other News…’ November 1st Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...

Archos 9 dissected

Jkk has spotted that the Archos 9 has been dissected over at the FCC. Unfortunately you won’t find unicorns or magic inside, but just your everyday Atom guts and computer components. Swapping out the 1.8” HDD which (jkk identified to be…

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3. Archos 9 priced in the UK, Android powered 5” device in September? Trusted Reviews seems to have gotten some info from...

Sub 12″ PC Screen Size Analysis. November 2009

Back in May, I took a look at the small screen PC market to try and determine the distribution of screen sizes. I did the same in September. Today I’ve been through the figures again and the same trend continues. There are less sub 10” screens on the market and far more 10” and 11” devices. Related posts:

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2. 68% of netbooks over 10” I did some analysis of a German price comparison engine...
3. Netbook price cuts Signals Dramatic Change in Netbook Market. Alarms bells are ringing here. The netbook boat is said...

S10 could really put Viliv on the map

Over the last 6 months or so, Viliv has created a near rebirth of the UMPC, stunning a good number of people with the highly regarded S5 and X70. Not to long after, they brought the Viliv S7, their first…

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3. The Viliv S7’s biggest challenge: the keyboard The upcoming Viliv S7 [Portal page] is currently at...

Video: Amazon Kindle for PC In Action on a Handheld PC.

I doubt many of you will be spending $599 on a UMPC just for the Kindle PC application but if you’re thinking of a mobile tablet PC anyway, here’s my tip for a good PC-based Amazon Kindle reading experience. The Viliv X70 UMPC. (Video after the jump.) Related posts:

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2. What’s the best PC for the Amazon Kindle PC software? Ebooks are a big, complex topic and it seems to...
3. How big can a Mobile Internet Device Be? Kindle-Sized? This is the question that I’ve been battling with over...

Eking S515 UMPC available soon / unboxing soon.

Mobilx have been working hard. Not only have they picked up the UMID and Viliv devices but they’ve just sealed the deal on the E-King S515 tilt/slider UMPC. It’s the mini tilt/slider form factor that many of us wanted to see when the HTC Shift was around and it’s beaten the similar KAX-15 to the market. Related posts:

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3. UMID MBook M1 in 12 points and 7 minutes. Here's my overview and opinion on the UMID MBook M1...

‘In Other News…’ November 8th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Shared… Related posts:

1. ‘In Other News…’ November 1st Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
2. Mobile Computing News Links for July 28th The UMPCPortal team is continuously monitoring the Internet for news...
3. Acer Aspire One subsidized 3G rumor confirmed Engadget just posted a piece linking to the PR that...

Interesting A81, 7” Tablet from Witstech. Cortex. Capacitive. Coming with Android? (Updated with video)

Reported by Techfresh nearly a month ago is early information on a 7” ARM-based tablet from Witstech. The A81. I have a feeling that the ‘WinCE’ specification put a lot of people off but it might be worth taking a closer look as it supposedly has a capacitive touchscreen and runs on an unspecified ARM Cortex A8 core. Related posts:

1. ARM preparing Cortex vs Atom comparison (and more) for MWC Maybe its just something that Intel said but it looks...
2. Sparrow-based Nokia MID. Did Someone see the 2009 Nokia Tablet? Before I say why I think Eldar Martazin didn’t see...
3. YouTube – VMware demo showing two operating systems running on the N800 Here’s a video that will get you thinking! Android and...

Laptopmag: Archos 5 Internet Tablet Review. 8/10 (to Laptopmag)

Laptopmag have beaten me to a full review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. That will teach me for playing around with it too much! Read on... Related posts:

1. Twidroid on the Archos 5 Android Tablet. Video shows advantages of WVGA screen and fast web experience. Twitter is not just about a simple client application and...
2. ARCHOS to merge Android and Media Stack in voice-enabled MID This could be a great move for Andriod, TI and...
3. Ubergizmo reviews the Archos (Android) Internet Tablet Update: Our own unboxing video is now available. I...

xpPhone Update. Images. Technical Information.

There has been a rush of news around the xpPhone recently culminating in a rush of posts by top blogs and, over the last 24 hours, an article from the IDG news service that hit PCWorld and others top-tier reporting sites. Here's an update on the device including information on the CPU. Related posts:

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2. Tracking down the XPPhone It’s been reported by a few sites recently but today...
3. jkk checks out another obviously named UMPC/Phone running XP, the XpPhone [video] Earlier you may have seen the DigiCube MIDPhone, and...

Viliv S7 Premium Review at Pocketables

Read through this Viliv S7 review at Pocketables and you won't find a single show-stopper. Well not unless you want to watch HD YouTube videos that is! Related posts:

1. Viliv X70 Atom spotted at CES Based on the existing X70, the X70 Atom (which is...
2. X70 EX 3G UMPC Supports Voice (Unofficially) There have been rumors flying about for a while...
3. The Viliv S7’s biggest challenge: the keyboard The upcoming Viliv S7 [Portal page] is currently at...

‘In Other News…’ November 1st

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Shared… Related posts:

1. Motorola Droid brings another interesting Android device onto the radar It is just me or does it seem like...
2. ‘In Other News…’ November 1st Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to...
3. Motorola Droid Preview from BGR The Boy Genius Report has their hands on a...

Mobile Device Categorization at Mobile Dev Camp, Munich.

On Saturday at the Mobile Dev Camp in Munich I'll be talking about the subject of device categorisation with a bunch of devs to try and stimulate some discussion on the subject. Do we really believe that everything should be converged into a 24/7 pocketable device or are their opportunities to improve the experience for the customer and to break out into small, but significant, niches. Does everything hinge on the mobile OS and it’s success in primary markets? No related posts.

Verizon Droid. Android 2.0 MIDPhone…with Google Maps Navigation Beta.

Encompassing much of what the MID market stands for and reaching out in terms of screen size and CPU power to become a very interesting contender is the Verizon / Motorola Droid. $300 + a 24 month commitment brings you the ‘phone’ and you’ll get $100 back if you remember to mail-in the coupon. Related posts:

1. Motorola Droid Preview from BGR The Boy Genius Report has their hands on a...
2. Motorola Droid brings another interesting Android device onto the radar It is just me or does it seem like...
3. Phone Arena are Testing a MiFi 3G/Wifi Gateway. There’s a lot of excitement around the MiFi ‘personal...

385 Million ‘UMDs’ in 2014 say ABI Research

A UMD, as defined by ABI Research, is a netbook, MID, UMPC or mobile consumer electronics device. I like that definition as it’s almost exactly the scope of the devices we cover on UMPCPortal, MIDMoves, and Meet:Mobility.

385 Million is a…

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‘In Other News…’ October 25th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

Shared… Related posts:

1. Motorola Droid Preview from BGR The Boy Genius Report has their hands on a...
2. Motorola Droid brings another interesting Android device onto the radar It is just me or does it seem like...
3. N900 pre-order…for 599 Euro. The good news is that my local online Nokia shop...

Motorola Droid brings another interesting Android device onto the radar

It is just me or does it seem like Android is the hot thing right now? Motorola and Verizon have been teasing the internet for the last few days about their upcoming Droid phone which is powered by Android (of…

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Dell Streak 5-inch Android MID with 3G

It looks like Dell will be following Archos into the MID market with a 5" touchscreen 'pad' called the 'Streak.' There's no official word from Dell but this certainly looks like a winner to me. Related posts:

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The Highs and Lows of Installing Android on a UMPC

Those Android-powered tablets from Archos are pretty neat, but if you've got a UMPC (like Samsung's Q1UP) lying around, you can try Android thanks to the Android-x86 project. The catch: despite great performance, there are still a few major limitations.

The good news is that you can run Android from a USB drive or Live CD, so you don't have to nuke your current OS.

Kevin over at jkOnTheRun has a Samsung Q1UP, and was able to install an Android 1.6 port originally intended for the Eee PC 701. He says "Android is blazing on a 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo" and suspects the battery lasts longer, too. He was also able to use Wi-Fi, and the Samsung's QWERTY keyboard without problems.

The major glitches Kevin ran into were on the hardware side of things—no touchscreen, sound, Bluetooth, or button mapping support. That's bound to happen when the port isn't specifically geared for the device, but he says he's chatting with developers to make it happen.

An interesting experiment, but I'd be interested to know if other mobile/netbook OSes, like Jolicloud or Intel's Moblin, fare any better. [jkOnTheRun via SlashGear]

On Holiday with the Archos 5 Android and Nokia N900

I’ll be back to work on Wednesday but until then I'm taking a break with my family over in sunny (really!) England. Thanks to Three UK I've got 3G connectivity both on the smartphone and via my Mifi and it has given me the ability to really test the Nokia N900 [info] and Archos 5 Internet Tablet [info] in real-world mobile and home scenarios that have ranged from a night out with the lads to car-navigation, photography, Skype, sofa and bed-surfing, presence and day-to-day email and website management duties. Related posts:

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Blogger Writes Building a Professional Learning Community

Bill Ferriter offers a quick summary of his and coauthor Parry Graham's new book "Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year." Congratulations, Authors, for a noble effort!

What you’ll see if you decide to pick up a copy is that we’ve started each chapter with the story of Steve — the fictional principal of Central Middle school — and his colleagues who are working to restructure their traditional school as a professional learning community.

Bill's an articulate public school 6th grade language arts teacher who self-reported on his blog over several years his angsts about taking part in teacher team building activities. Looks like he figured out at least enough to suggest how other teachers might approach similar tasks.

He a teacher techie who tries to generate discussions on his blog by taking controversial positions on variations of teacher talk and political issues about schooling. I monitor it as one of the relatively few teacher blogs that sometimes suggests how teachers can intentionally increase learning rates promptly, sometimes with PCs and desktops.

Keep up the good work, Bill.

Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year.

Bill's blog, The Tempered Radical

‘In Other News…’ October 18th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

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1. Archos 9 priced in the UK, Android powered 5” device in September? Trusted Reviews seems to have gotten some info from...
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3. Ubergizmo reviews the Archos (Android) Internet Tablet Update: Our own unboxing video is now available. I...

The 6 Things I don’t like about the Nokia N900

The Unwired View have just published Part 2 of their ongoing N900 coverage which covers 6 ‘things I hate’ about the N900. I agree with most of those points and want to re-iterate the issues of portrait mode and navigation again…

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7K+ Years to Count Teachers' Salaries and Benefits Value

At the rate of counting one dollar per second, it would take more than 7,000 years to count the $225 billion of salaries and benefits paid by local, state, and Federal funds to U.S. public school teachers in a year.

It would take more than 24,000 years to count the estimated cost $829 billion of the Baucus health bill just voted out of the U.S. Senate committee he chairs. That's longer than there have been human civilizations on earth.

Wow! That's a different perspective from the ones I've seen before.

Given this frequency count procedure, it appears possible to calculate the dollar cost of academic performance increases in classrooms.

I wonder, then, what it costs for a student to learn /a/ and then how much more to learn /b/? When that's known, we can calculate the distribution of costs across teaching methods and instructional material teachers use, including costs of Tablet and other mobile PCs.

In turn, I think I see a way then to figure teacher performance pay increases based in part on allocating part of the learning cost savings to teachers. I wonder if I can include this line of logic with aLEAP? I wish I'd had something like this as a way to monitor instruction/learning cost ratios while instructing.

First, did I calculate the length of time correctly, Math Teacher?

Second, I wonder if anyone else has followed the same or a similar track?

References

Sagan, C. (1997). Billions & billions: Thoughts on life and death at the rink of the millennium. New York: Ballentine, p. 10.

Five myths about paying good teachers more

Heiny, R. A Learning Efficiency Analysis Paradigm Abstract

Nokia N900 Live Session Notes, Impressions, Videos (2.5hrs)

The first thing to note from last nights N900 session is that there we didn’t find any show stoppers. Sizing is clearly an issue for some but within the bounds of the size of the device, Nokia have done an incredible job and married it with a software stack that is fit for the next-generation of ‘computing-first’ handhelds for both the geek and consumer community. More notes and videos of the event are available in the full article. Related posts:

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A “TEACHER’S DASHBOARD” FOR A HIGH SCHOOL ALGEBRA CLASS

"Networked Tablet PCs have great potential in classroom settings, including use in small group in-class problem-solving activities. It is possible to obtain substantial amounts of data about student activity during a lesson: what they referred to, notes taken and erased, bursts and lulls of activity.

The raw data is necessarily low level: time-stamped pen strokes, deletions, navigation to and from pages, and such. This data can be used, among other ways, to enable a teacher to monitor learning activities as they happen in real-time.

We call the display of student activity the teacher’s dashboard. We describe the use of a dashboard in several sections of a high school algebra class.

We found that the teacher came increasingly to rely on this display to see how the students were progressing, and the students felt they were getting more timely feedback.

We discuss the challenges in making dashboards that can work in a variety of classroom settings."

Kamin, S., et al. Abstract. A “TEACHER’S DASHBOARD” FOR A HIGH SCHOOL ALGEBRA CLASS. (Captured October 12, 2009, 7:00 AM.)

N900 Web Browsing (+Video)

One of the key focal-points of the N900, and one it does better than any other smartphone I’ve seen to date, is the browsing experience. Fast, reliable and supporting a full flash plugin on an 800×480 screen with finger-focused controls…

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‘In Other News…’ October 11th

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

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Update on Fennec from the Maemo Summit

Mozilla are here at the Maemo summit and are presenting information on Fennec, the weave, plugin and awesome bar-enabled mobile version of Firefox. Related posts:

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Walt Mossberg: OS X no longer “much better” than Windows

In an online review yesterday of Windows 7, Walt Mossberg makes a surprising–or not so surprising admission: that it’s “no longer true…that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows.”

Mossberg still gives the Mac OS a “slight edge,” but he does believe that Apple has their work cut out for them in part becuase of “better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities.”

Notice that? Touch capabilities. Yep, Windows 7’s Smooth Touch gets the nod.

Later in the review he goes into further detail:

Touch: Some of the same kinds of multitouch gestures made popular on the iPhone are now built into Windows 7. But these features won’t likely become popular for a while because to get the most out of them, a computer needs a special type of touch screen that goes beyond most of the ones existing now. I tested this on one such laptop, a Lenovo, and was able to move windows around, to resize and flip through photos, and more.

He doesn’t sound like he tried touch within IE, but then again I’m not sure if the Lenovo he used really supported multi-touch or not. He doesn’t quite make it clear. Multi-touch is, after all, a necessity for a great Windows 7 Touch experience.

He also didn’t mention the Math Input Panel. I guess that makes sense. It’s more for students. Mossberg is more mass-market minded than that I guess.

Anyway, congratulations to the Windows 7 team for getting a near-equal billing to OS X from Walt Mossberg.

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Impressive Nokia N900 Web Demo

Nokia are leading into the Maemo Summit with a fresh marketing push this week. I've already heard that there's a press event tommorow evening and at the same time I see that they have released a very impressive video showing details on the browsing performance. Related posts:

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New Kohjinsha PA series convertible MID/UMPC

In interesting device popped up at JKKMobile yesterday. A new Kohjinsha device that, according to JKK, could be based on the existing UMID M1. It looks a lot deeper than the UMID, about the same size as a netwalker. Should perform faster than the netwalker too. It's based on the Menlow platform and will be running XP. Related posts:

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Flash 10.1 and smooth online video coming to…everything?

It has been clear for some time that Adobe were working with the ARM and Intel community and would eventually acknowledge that there are components on many devices that can decode H.264 better than a CPU. The Menlow platform has…

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WVGA ‘Pads’ (Pic) What form factor interests you?

wvga tablets, originally uploaded by umpcportal.com.

All of these, from the 3.5″ Samsung Omnia Pro to the 7″ SmartDevices Q7, are 800×480 resolution devices. Three of them have hardware keyboards (N810, Omnia Pro, Everun.) Only one of them is based…

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‘In Other News…’ October 3rd

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

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Archos 5 Internet Tablet (Android) Unboxing Video.

Here's the Archos 5 Internet Tablet (Android edition) Unboxing video. So far i'm really liking what I see. No flash support in the browser but YouTube plays vie the built-in video player in excelent quality and the general browsing speed is really impressing. I threw a load of videos at it and they were all recognised (some need an HD plugin) and there's a bunch of exciting apps in the app store. It's early days but I'm feeling really positive about this. If only it had 3G! Related posts:

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Live session announcement. Archos and Sharp: Our first ARM-based MID session. Friday. 2100 CEST.

On Friday evening at 1900 GMT (check your timezone here) JKK and I will be LIVE again. For the first time ever it’s an ARM-only show featuring Cortex CPUs from Freescale and Texas Instruments. The Sharp Netwalker will be there and, if Mr DHL does his job, the Archos Internet Tablet (Android version) too. Related posts:

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4.3” is not too large for a Smartphone (say WM and UMPC fans.)

A few months ago I took hold of the 4.1” Toshiba TG01 and said no! It’s too big for my pocket.

It’s the size that really struck me. For a phone, it’s HUGE! There’s simply no way that the average person…

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M&M&Ms What IDF09 meant for Mobility.

I took MIDMoves to the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco last week with a focus on the three M’s of MIDs, Moblin and Moorestown. IDF is the highlight of my mobile computing year and I was hoping to see…

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