Great look and design. Verbiage is vastly improved (still some odd phrasing but a commendable effort). Laundry list of features and applications. Full tech specs. Now it looks professional and carries an air of confidence, thanks in no small part to the app market they’ve set up. No pre-ordering yet, but they’re still pushing that “early bird” signup for the next two days. Presumably ordering will be available shortly thereafter. (Yeah, I know, Thanksgiving and Black Friday don’t strike me as a good cutoff either, but they’re trying.) Specs after the jump.

• Screen: 7-inch TFT LCD, 16M True Color, single resistive touch panel with hard glass, 800-by-480 pixels
• OS: Google Android 1.5
• CPU: Marvell PXA303 624MHz
• Memory: 128MB Mobile DDR, 265MB NAND, expansion via microSD slot (8GB included, supports up to 16GB)
• Input: Software keyboard; USB keyboard support
• Battery: Built-in rechargeable Lithium Polymer (3.7V 4000mAh). Standby time: up to 4 days(without GPS & Wi-Fi connection); Internet and media use: up to 4-5 hours
• Wireless: Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), 3G via USB dongle, GPS.

Annoyed when you are typing a document and accidentally the palm of your hand brushes the touchpad, changing the position of the cursor in your document or accidentally clicking on an option. TouchFreeze is simple utility for Windows NT/2000/XP that solves this problem. It automatically disables touchpad while you are typing text. Like syndaemon on x-windows.

The project is hosted on Google code. I’ve already installed it and am trying it right now. So far so good. I should clarify it does not disable the touchpad from moving the cursor, but rather keeps taps from being recognized as clicks, which is what I really need. No conflicts with my Wacom Bamboo either as far as I can tell (not that I could tap itaccidentally). If anything changes, I’ll let you know.

Via Lifehacker

Yes, apparently making capacitive touch-friendly gloves just requires stitching some conductive thread, like silver-plated nylon, into the fingertips. Looks like anyone who passed Home Ec can do it (I got a B), but I’d still recommend checking out the instructable for the pattern. Great gift idea, BTW. Combines geekery with a homemade touch.

Via Lifehacker

Arimasa Naitoh, widely recognized as father of the Thinkpad, and current Lenovo VP for Notebook Development and the head of the Yamato Development Labs, spoke to a group about, among other things, the challenges of implementing capacitive touchscreens on their T400s and X200 series. The event was captured on video and posted by Engadget.

Toward the end, he explains how it wasn’t just a matter of slapping a digitizer behind the screen. They found and solved problems with interference from cellphones and even the LCD itself, as well as keeping the hinge strong enough hold up to poking at the screen while still being pliable enough to close. He also points out the touchpad will remain a key component and demos some of Lenovo’s custom touchscreen functions.

Fair warning: the video is pretty rough to watch with sunlit windows in the background, the refreshing of an LCD, and poor accoustics, which are not helped by Mr. Naitoh’s accent. I grew up hearing Japanese accents, and it was a challenge for me.

This puts it well ahead of Barnes & Noble’s nook, though I don’t think an extra few days of battery life is a huge advantage against that color LCD touchscreen control panel since most people won’t be without access to an outlet for that long. Native PDF support is great but overdue. Just keeping up with the competitors. Firmware update will be delivered via Whispernet.