You didn’t think Asus was done with touch screens now that the Eee T91 is starting to move out the door did you? Just as it looks like retailers might be starting to sell the single touch version of Asus EEE PC T91 Tablet (some stock issues cropping up, and possibly over eager web p

age releases exist here) word starts coming out about details of a larger touch screen convertible from Asus due to hit later this year. The Eee PC T101H has a 10 inch screen and you can see some more specs after the jump.

Via Liliputing and Portable Monkey

And also AsusTablet who has been all over this stuff.

Picture via Laptop Spirit

• Display: 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resistive multi-touch panel
• CPU: 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 w/GMA 500 graphics
• OS: Windows 7
• RAM: 1GB
• Storage: 16GB SSD + included 16GB SD card
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G Module, Digital TV tuner
• Battery: Li-polymer, 5.4 hours
• Camera: 0.3MP
• Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Colors: Black, silver

My list isn’t too far away from Steve’s although I haven’t made the move to a Netbook. I still prefer a Tablet PC for my on the road computing/social networking skills. That is when I’m not using my iPhone and I haven’t made the jump to a MiFi card. Yet.

1. iPhone
2. HP 2730p Elitebook Tablet PC
3. Sierra Wireless Compass 597 USB (Sprint)
4. Seskimo Crabble

As for services like Posterous (which I haven’t experimented with yet), there are quite af few so, I guess I’m not as efficient of a lifestreamer as others.

So, what’s on your essential mobile social networking gadget list?

And also, are you into the Lifestreaming thing? If so, what tools are you using?

The male lead in this, J.T. Arbogast is a friend of mine and has acted with us here at Wayside Theatre before. His action hero in this cracks me up. Check out the video after the jump.

Let’s hope the product lives up to the trailer.

SPELL CHECK THIS!

Splashtop

DeviceVM Co-Founder and CEO Mark Lee:

“The announcement of the Google OS further validates Splashtop’s value proposition to consumers who are demanding instant-on, easy to use, secure computing. The market has been moving towards an instant-on model for several years now, and DeviceVM has already seen tremendous success in the space, with tens of millions of consumers already using Splashtop today, and 8 of the top 10 PC OEMs shipping Splashtop on devices this year. By the end of 2010,  Splashtop will be in the hands of more than 150M desktop, nettop, notebook, and netbook users. Google’s entry into the market should accelerate this trend, and help to make instant-on the de facto computing standard.”

HyperSpace

Woody Hobbs, President and CEO of Phoenix:
“It is great that Google has validated our vision and is bringing an alternative (to Microsoft) operating system to netbooks and nettops. Phoenix floated this vision of instant on computing to the market 10 years ago with our Linux-based OS solution (Phoenix Always). This solution enabled PC OEMs to have an instant-on pre-Windows boot environment. We have commercialized our technology, making it more fun, exciting and productive for users as well as more relevant for PC OEM and telecomm carrier deployment models. We support all platforms and standards in this space.

There are three steps to making instant-on a commercial and usable solution:

Step 1: Create a platform technology that is always connected, enables all day computing, and is instant on/offs, and can run optionally side-by-side with Windows

Step 2: Align with a standardized version of Linux kernel such as Moblin for Intel Atom processors and, in the future, Chrome OS optimized for ARM and x86

Step 3: Integrate for OEMs and provide service for consumer (platform validation and testing)

Phoenix is the only company that is able *today* to do all these necessary steps. For example, dual resume technology from Phoenix enables consumers to use two operating environments, be it Win 7 and HyperSpace (customized OEM or carrier space) or Chrome OS and HyperSpace on an Atom-based netbook that does not have hardware virtualization support.”

UPDATE: Looks BuyDig is changing from In Stock to Out of Stock, and Amazon now has it listed in stock. Thanks readers for following up!

Quite a telling group of partners. HP and Acer are the top PC makers, and ASUS is the netbook leader, so the hardware support is secured. That they’ve signed up three ARM chip-makers (and no x86, at least not yet) is interesting. And Adobe practically ensures Flash support. Color me intrigued.

LOSER - Microsoft: Okay, that one’s a gimme, but it is critical to note that Microsoft has never faced a major competitor in the consumer OS market. No offense to the Linux supporters, but the Linux vendors have not been a major threat to Microsoft and even the opening with Microsoft’s netbook fumble has garnered minimal market penetration. And Apple limits their operating systems to their own products, so they’re not a direct competitor. No, Microsoft has been sitting comfortably on a near-monopoly for more than a decade. Now they face a powerful opponent entering the market in an area where Microsoft has shown great weakness, i.e., handhelds, netbooks and other low-powered computers. Chrome OS won’t take down Windows, but it could break its iron grip.

LOSER - Linux vendors and proponents: If Chrome OS was a Linux build, then you’d have yourselves a powerful champion. But it’s not, so you don’t. It’s built on the Linux kernel, but so is Android, which is not a flavor of Linux. Also, it’s likely to lure many netbook and MID vendors away from custom Linux builds completely. But at least Chrome OS will be open source.

LOSER - CrunchPad: CrunchPad is a tablet computer that boots straight to web browsing. Chrome OS will allow any computer to boot straight to web browsing. No reason the two can’t co-exist, but it obviously detracts from the CrunchPad’s novelty. Also, someone sank money into making a custom OS that Google is aiming to render obsolete. That’s gotta hurt.

WINNER - Cloud computing: Chrome OS is designed specifically for cloud computing. Google will likely be the main beneficiary of this, but other web application services, such as Evernote and Zoho, will also benefit as it becomes easier to use web-based apps.

WINNER (somewhat) - Apple: Again, Apple does not compete directly in the consumer OS market. They also do not offer a netbook and are open to letting other operating systems run on Macs, so Chrome OS and Mac OS X can easily co-exist. Seems like they’d be fairly unaffected by the news, except that the Chrome web browser is based on the WebKit engine. Though not stated, it’s pretty safe to assume Chrome OS will also use WebKit. This gives a higher profile to the engine, which benefits Apple since it’s the one they helped develop and use. Anything good for WebKit is good for Apple.

WINNER - PC makers looking to get out from under Microsoft: The lackluster sales of Vista and Microsoft’s sub-par support for emerging form factors, such as netbooks and UMPCs, left a lot of PC makers stuck in the mud. Google Chrome OS won’t be a cure-all for them, but it is an option with a name consumers will recognize. Update: Google posted the list of PC makers hoping to get on the winner’s bus.

WINNER - Us! Chrome OS is expected to sip power and run quickly on limited hardware. Even though it’s web-centric, there’s no doubt that it will integrate Gears (formerly Google Gears), allowing data to be stored, accessed, and in many cases, manipulated locally, so you’ll still have your data even if you can’t connect. These are great benefits for mobile computer users, particularly for the fledgling MID market, but also for the many casual users who just want to get on the web. Chrome OS could reach a lot of users and could help make cheap Internet devices as commonplace as TVs.

Don’t think others will directly see much upside or detriment. Yahoo! can’t like the idea of another Google OS, but more web usage is good for them. There’s no direct effect on smartphones, though it may indirectly affect the market by leading to breakthroughs in Android. Still, my list is hardly exhaustive. If you have any picks, let us know.

That price makes it almost worth me making the jump. But not quite.

The Motion LE1700 Tablet PC will be available only while supplies last. The LE1700 Standard batteries will be available thru 2011, the Extended batteries thru 2010, and power packs and digitizer pens will continue to be available indefinitely.

Get a $100 instant rebate on any LE1700 system with an UltraView SXGA+ or UltraView Anywhere SXGA+ display - Call your reseller today! Contact Allegiance, Paradise, PC Connection or one of ourother Resellers for more details. Offer good thru July 31, 2009.

Checkout this case study from Bluebeam on how one of their customers uses Bluebeam and a Motion Computing J3400 Tablet PC to manage punchlists and back checks, and compares it to a competing construction management software system.

The following case study reviews the punch and back check processes for an existing hospitality project. The architectural team on this project is utilizing Bluebeam PDF Revu on a tablet pc, while the General Contractor is using a competing construction management software. The objective of this case study is to document the architectural punch team’s workflow using Bluebeam and compare its effectiveness to the General Contractor’s workflow. The initial results indicate the punch process with Bluebeam PDF Revu is highly efficient and more cost effective than the alternative.

Rob posted

The timing might have seemed odd to some. Robert Scoble says that Google’s announcement timing was influenced by a Microsoft announcement that is due on Monday. Which if true, makes sense. While many corporate and enterprise IT departments are in the process of making decisions about Windows 7. Remember all those IT folks that skipped Vista? You know the ones who have machines 3 or so years old filling their offices? This will have an effect on those decisions. But wait a minute, this is supposed to be a stripped down OS for Netbooks, right? Yes, and only in the beginning. Don’t kid yourself by looking tightly at the mobile space. The Chrome OS is targeting any thing that computes in the long run.

Yes, the Chrome OS will have a big impact in the mobile space as it is designed to run on both x86 chips and ARM. But the implication of the announcement will have as many repercussions as the eventual release of the OS itself. In the wake of the news, a lot of the focus is on Microsoft, but Apple needs to be (and I’m sure is) paying attention as well. The stakes have never been higher for any and all players, as just about every assumption we have been living with about computing, is about to radically change. By the time we reach the 1st quarter of 2010, we’ll start to see how the reactions are going to pan out. If not sooner. While Netbooks might be the initial focus, this is going to start changing decisions that everyone is making as of, well, as of last night. Watch for more and more folks who may have been resistant to move to Google’s apps begin experimenting. Companies like Zoho stand to benefit as well.

One thing to watch right now. Those who today might have been on the fence about buying a Netbook loaded with XP might feel like going ahead with that purchase, knowing that how we view Netbooks by this time next year will be entirely different. I’m betting we see OEMS that push out Netbooks and MIDS that were working on Windows 7 versions change course.

And don’t think Microsoft won’t respond. It will. Change will happen there, and maybe with a little more urgency. If nothing else the announcement from Google is going to change how Microsoft goes forward. Will it kill Microsoft as some are saying? I don’t think so. The best thing that could happen for all of  us is that this will make Microsoft better.

No wonder Google’s apps came out of Beta yesterday. They’ve got an entire new world of Beta about to start opening up this fall.

From the Google Blog:

It’s been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

My initial impressions are pretty positive so far - thin, light, and a much better keyboard experience over the S10. In addition, I’ve found Lenovo’s N270 Atom-based S10-2 to be quite snappy. It boots up with just 42 processes and only 400 mb out of 1 gb RAM utilized. The included 6 cell battery is awesome, showing approximately 7 hours of battery life.

The S10-2 retails for $439, but is currently on sale for $349.

All GBM Shortcuts are sponsored by Lenovo

Click on the thumbnails to view high res images.

Here’s a quote from the email courtesy of TechCrunch:

While we feel this is a substantive victory, the revised royalties are quite high – still much higher than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the free version of Pandora. In any given month, a listener who hits this limit can then opt for unlimited listening for the remainder of that month for just $0.99. In essence, we’re asking our heaviest users to put a dollar (well, almost a dollar) in the tip jar in any month in which they listen over 40 hours. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable–the same price as a single song download. Alternatively, they can upgrade to
“Pandora One”, our premium version which offers unlimited monthly listening in addition to its other benefits.

Via Lifehacker

I’ve seen some strange USB powered gadgets in my time, but I never thought I’d see a USB powered chain saw. Yep. You read that right. The folks behind the iSaw promise a chain saw powered by a USB 2.0 port on your laptop. I have to admit there are moments in my day when I feel like wreaking a little havoc, and it might come in handy during a negotiation or two.

That said, it isn’t available yet, but they are taking pre-orders. I don’t think I’ll spring for this one.

Via Gizmodo

Netbook’s Death and Resurrection

• Peter Glaskowsky at CNet News writes, “The truth is, the Netbook is dead, and good riddance. The concept of the Netbook was based on a tragic misunderstanding: the belief that tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of people worldwide wanted a portable computer that was small, power-efficient, and (here’s the misunderstanding) not good for much beyond accessing the Internet.” This comment comes from his article titled, “The Netbook is dead.  Long live the notebook!” Verdict: They’re Dead!

• A GottaBeMobile.com Article titled, “What Defines a Netbook,” states, “If the device is created primarily for accessing the Internet and remains relatively affordable, it remains a netbook regardless of higher specs and the ability to play 3D games.” Verdict: They’re Alive!

• Loren Heiney at the Incremental Blogger writes, “So I still believe that the Netbook needs better optimized software (as well as more pen and touch options which may be coming down the road), but you know what? For most people, it’s not a bad machine.”  This comes from his article titled, “OK.  I admit it. I was wrong. Netbooks have their place.” Verdict: They’re Alive!

• An article written as part of Engadget’s Entelligence Series by Michael Gartenberg titled, “Netbooks, R.I.P.,” brings doom and gloom to Netbooks.  He writes, “Tiny, underpowered laptops have been around for more than a decade, but few people bought them because there was a premium price associated with them.”  Verdict: They’re Dead!

• DailyFinance.com Article, “Surprise Hits: Netbooks are the future of computing,” by Anthony Massucci.  He writes, “The industry might not have seen netbooks coming, but now that they’re here, they’re not going anywhere soon.” Verdict: They’re Alive!

Whether people want Netbooks to die is a different issue as to if they are alive or not.  I would be a very rich man if I had a shekel for every time Engadget or Gizmodo blogged about the newest, almost identical, Eee PC cloned Netbook to be released.  So what’s the deal?  Are we crying over spilled milk or is the Netbook dead and gone?  Hit up the comments to share your two shekels.

You can adjust the volume (obviously) put the application also allows you to equalize certain ranges to your taste. There’s also a “repeat” feature in case you want to go back and hear something again.

I can imagine a number of scenarios for this to be useful. Many theatres have technical solutions that require devices be given to patrons who need hearing assistance for better hearing. This requires keeping the devices charged up and ready to go. (Sadly we don’t have this yet at Wayside Theatre.) With this solution patrons can essentially bring their own device. Although I would imagine actors from the stage might think the audience member with the white earbuds plugged in is ignoring the show.

I can’t vouch completely for how well this works. I’ve put it through some very limited testing this morning, but it does indeed make everything I hear through the earbuds louder. I do mean everything. I was in the theatre and when the Volunteer Fire Department went out on a call, I became quickly very aware that they had sirens blaring. So, if you’re using this at a wedding to hear those vows and someone sitting in front of you is the sniffling type, you’re going to hear those sniffles as well.

The app costs $9.99.

Via TechCrunch