Google tells users to drop IE6

Taking a page out of Apple’s book, Google is now urging Gmail users to drop Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in favor of Firefox or Chrome that, according to the company, run the popular web-based email service "twice as fast." Google also labels IE6 as an unsupported browser, meaning it fails to run some Gmail features. 

Following recent release of Chrome 1.0, Google is increasing the visibility of the browser. In addition to a direct download link on Google.com, YouTube and within the Adsense advertising program, the company is now advising Gmail users who access the service with IE6 to ditch the browser and upgrade to Firefox 3 or Chrome. Google claims the two browsers run the popular webmail service "twice as fast".

IE6 users are greeted with a new "Get faster Gmail" message in the menu bar of the web interface. The link leads to a page that promotes Chrome and Firefox 3. "Browsers are getting faster and better at running web applications like Google Mail that use browser technology to its limits," the page reads. "In order to get the best experience possible and make Google Mail run an average of twice as fast, we suggest that you upgrade your browser to one of the fastest Google Mail supported browsers that work on Windows." The page offers direct download links for Firefox 3 and Chrome. IE7 and Apple's Safari are listed as supported Gmail browsers.

Google recently dumped Firefox in the Google Pack application bundle and replaced it with Chrome. Last month, the company added a direct download link for Chrome on Google and YouTube. Google's decision to list IE6 as an unsupported Gmail browser does not affect just consumers: Tens of thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses that run Google Apps hosted services may dump IE6 as well in order to get full Gmail-based features while accessing business email accounts via a web browser.

According to Net Applications, roughly one in five online users accessed the web with IE6 during November. Most of them are believed to be corporate users who rely on IE6 as the certified browser for their business environment. IE6’s market share is notably higher during the week than on weeks, we previously reported. However, there is a trend that shows a slowly, but steadily declining market share of IE6, which suggests that more businesses are switching to newer browsers. What makes Google’s Chrome promotion especially interesting is the fact that Mozilla is picking up two out of three browser users that Microsoft surrenders. 

Fast JavaScript engines and greater compatibility with web standards have become Chrome's and Firefox's biggest selling points over IE this year. In the corporate world, these benefits could turn into decisive reasons for companies to ditch IE. Some business software vendors have begun tweaking their web applications for Chrome's speedy V8 engine, resulting in a dramatic speed gains. For example, a Chrome-optimized version of the Recruiting CRM software delivers a 300% performance increase in complex queries. 

8 megapixel Samsung S8300 touch slider makes an appearance

As it seems Samsung have a really nice cameraphone in store for all of us, due in the beginning of 2009. The S8300 has obviously slipped under someone's door, as it's not officially announced yet.

Only 12.8mm thick, the Samsung S8300 has an absolutely massive widescreen OLED display, probably the largest one we've seen to date, and the fact that it's a touchscreen, makes it that much sweeter.

The S8300 specs sheet is further pumped up by an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, a GPS receiver, HSDPA and DivX video support. Judging from the interface shots, the handset doesn't seem to be a smartphone, but instead is running on the Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz feature phone interface, well known from the Samsung Pixon for example.

   
Upcoming Samsung S8300 looks nice

Among its other niceties are FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.1, and a microSD card slot. It's a long list.

Unfortunately, as it's evident from the photos the 8 megapixel camera is not equipped with a xenon flash. There's only LED instead that's best used as video light. There's no mention of Wi-Fi functionality either.

   
Samsung S8300

As you may guess, there is no official info about the device yet, however word is out that it should be available by March 2009.

LG announces dual SIM KS660 and 3G wristwatch GD910

The new touchscreen based LG KS660 supports two SIM cards simultaneously, while the extravagant GD910 mobile phone takes the shape of a wristwatch and shines with 3G support for video calls.

LG KS660 is a dual-SIM phone supporting tri-band GSM connectivity. It has a 3-inch TFT touchscreen display with WQVGA resolution (400x240), 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and video recording at 720x480@15fps. Additional specs include 50MB internal storage, microSD expansion slot (up to 4GB), Bluetooth and USB capabilities.

  
LG KS660

The unfortunate absentees are 3G and Wi-Fi. The first LG handset featuring two SIM cards will likely aim at the Asian and Eastern European markets, much like the Dual SIM lineup by Samsung.

The second mobile phone is LG GD910 and it comes in the unusual wristwatch form factor. Perhaps you remember the wristwatch prototype by LG that was displayed at the MWC 2008. Well, they've made it real this time and it would be first showcased at the CES 2009 next month.

LG GD910 is 13.9 mm thick and sports a 1.43-inch touch LCD screen. The main selling point of the device is 3G video calls thanks to the front-facing camera.

 
LG GD910

Anyway, behind the watch disguise you will also find HSDPA and Bluetooth connectivity, voice dialing and speech recognition, text-to-speech feature and a music player.

Currently, we don't have any information about pricing or availability of either device.

Apple iPad launching in 2009?

New year, new Apple rumour

A tablet-style device from Apple has been rumoured for years. In fact, it's been rumoured so long, someone else ended up making and selling one. But 2009 could finally see a fully legit Apple tablet, dubbed the iPad.

Yes, we're in the land of rumour and hearsay once more, although TechCrunch claims 'three independent sources close to Apple' have confirmed details of a prototype device to them. And from what they're saying, it's likely to be a large-sized iPod touch with 7-inch or 9-inch screen, mixing access to the iTunes app store with iTunes and a Safari web browser. They also add that prototypes have been 'handled' by those sources, with Apple now in discussions in Asia about mass production.

We'll file this under 'believe it when we see it' for now, but it could make commercial sense, especially with a proposed launch in time for Christmas 2009.

30GB Zunes Failing Everywhere, All At Once

Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports—tons—about failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless. 

The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Z2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and... freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them.

What hasn't emerged yet, largely due to the fact that MS's support lines aren't yet open for the day, is why these devices are failing. The evidence seems to point to a software glitch, but simple resets aren't providing any relief. Some reports indicate that only Zunes with the latest firmware are affected, but this hasn't yet been confirmed.

The proximity of the events to the New Year, which inspired the Y2K9 moniker, provides little more than a colorful backdrop; it's unlikely that the switching of years in the Zune's internal calendar has anything to do with the failures (besides, it hasn't even happened yet).

If not for the uniform representation of events across the internet, I'd be tempted to suspect this as a hoax, but it just doesn't look that way. The story, assuming the described problem is of the magnitude reported, will probably take a turn for the large when the majority of Zuners start waking up.

Update: We've got a DIY fix to revive slain Zunes.

Update: Reader Bill Bradski (Bill Brasky?) has summed up the situation thusly:

Update 2: Here's Microsoft's official response for the time being (it's clear they just woke up and probably haven't even flipped on their coffee pots yet):

We are aware that customers with the Zune 30GB are experiencing issues with their Zune device. We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

Flash growth to slow, SSDs not selling as well as expected

DRAMeXchange has revised its Flash bit growth forecast once again, from 108.2% in September to only 81%, which is less than half the growth rate the sector posted just two years ago. The market research firm said that the new number reflects a declining demand of consumer electronics.

NAND flash manufacturers are already in trouble and it seems that 2009 will only get worse. The new bit growth expectation is still high at 81%, but behind the 175% in 2006, 151% in 2007 and 121% in this year. And while the absolute number of bit growth will be stronger next year than it was in 2008, the greater capacity of flash chips indicates that actual shipments of flash devices may not grow at all are even decline.

According to DRAMeXchange, about 28.2 billion 1 Gb flash units were shipped during 2008, up from 12.7 billion in 2007. The 2009 forecast estimates shipments at 52.0 billion 1 Gb units – translating to an 81% bit growth rate. However, due to increased competitive pressure, flash storage capacity is generally expected to at least double next year, which could mean that actual chip shipments may decline.

The primary reasons for this scenario is the cellphone industry which is expected to post decline in shipments for 2008. Demand for digital cameras, MP3 players and USB memory sticks is still on the rise, but has slowed as well, according to DRAMeXchange. Most interestingly, the market research firm found that solid state disk drives are not selling as well as anticipated: “The short term demand mainly comes from the industrial market and the outcome in the low cost PC market is actually lower than expected, which was due to price and reliability issues,” the company said.  
 
Most notebook makers PC still are still focused on the traditional hard drive as its major storage device. “The penetration rate of SSD in the low cost PC market will be lower than 10% in 2009,” DRAMeXchange stated.

There is still an oversupply of flash memory in the market, which will cause manufacturers to reduce their wafer production by about 10% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2009. According to DRAMeXchange, flash companies will also adjust their product mix, lowering the unprofitable portion of the NAND flash related production and shifting to more profitable devices such as SSDs.

Apple working on large-screen iPod Touch

Cease my fluttering heart 

Expensive toymaker Apple is expected to release an iPod Touch device with a 7 to 9-inch screen in the autumn of 2009.

TechCrunch claims to have actually handled one of the prototypes so it is pretty sure what Jobs' Mob is up too. Apparently Apple is talking with manufacturers in Asia about mass production of the gear.

Apple has been rumoured to be making a tablet device for years. However it correctly guessed that no one in the market was interested. 

Recently Apple patented something that was very much like a Mac tablet, which appears to bring a lot of the iPhone's multitouch functionality to a slate-like tablet computer.

Tablet PCs haven't sold very well, but Apple' cult Messiah Steve Jobs implied Apple was watching small-device categories like tablets and Netbooks to see if they actually take off.

iPhone, yours for only $99

The $99 iPhone is an Internet rumor that simply won’t go away. At this time, you still have to pay $199 for your iPhone 3G and there is the hope that as competitive pressure on Apple increases, there may be a $99 iPhone in the future. But if you really want an iPhone today and want to spend just $99, there is now an opportunity. And yes, there is a catch.

The most recent $99 iPhone rumor suggested that a special-run 4 GB iPhone 3G that was meant to be exclusively offered through Wal-Mart retail stores, a move that most analysts believe would grow Apple's share of the smartphone market significantly. When Walmart launched its iPhone 3G promotion yesterday, there was no $99 iPhone, but simply the regular 8 GB and 16 GB iPhone, both offered with a discount of $2. The retail chain said it would match rival's advertised iPhone prices - Best Buy is carrying 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3G for $190 and $290, respectively.

Common sense tells us that it really does not matter whether the phone is priced at $197, $190 or $200, since you will spend at least ten times that over the 2-year contract period of the phone. Even a $100 discount may be just cosmetics in that perspective, but if you feel that a $100 discount is a good deal, here’s your chance. AT&T offers  refurbished $99 iPhone 3Gs in a limited time offer that ends December 31, while supplies last. 

According to AT&T's website, refurbished phones are "previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period." AT&T assures prospective buyers that each refurbished phone is "independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards." The catch? AT&T but concedes that some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have "minor scratches." There is a 90-day warranty included, but buyers will have to sign up for a 2-year service contract for at least $70 per month (not including text messaging and taxes/fees.)

The fact that there is a $99 iPhone 3G after all had some Apple watchers jumping to the conclusion that AT&T is clearing its inventory in anticipation of new iPhone models allegedly scheduled for a Macworld January 2009 introduction. AT&T’s announcement, however, is no indication of a new iPhone. Apple has been carrying refurbished iPods, Macs and other products for years but only vigilant buyers are aware of the refurbished section that Apple mentioned in its the low-key Special Deals section of its online store. While some refurbished Apple products offer just $200 in savings (Macbook and MacBook Air), more expensive gadgets carry deeper price cuts, like the refurbished 17” MacBook Pro that is discounted by $700.

Our take on the $99 iPhone? If you are a frequent reader, you know our opinion. Smartphones, not just the iPhone, are expensive gadgets and cash cows for cellphone companies. If you are interested in the $99 iPhone 3G simply because you are “cheap” and you don’t care about a scratch or two, it might be a good deal. But if you are interested simply because the lower price tag puts the iPhone 3G within your reach, you have to be realistic and admit that you can’t afford such a phone anyway. You are likely to spend close to $100 (including taxes and fees) or more on the service plan over the next two years (and beyond that if you intend to keep the phone), so a $100 upfront discount should not matter anyway.

Nvidia considers GDDR5 in upcoming 40nm GT214

Big mouth engineer  

Over at the Beyond3D Forums, a sharp-eyed member by the name of AnarchX posted a link to a profile on the Linked In network belonging to a hardware engineer at Nvidia. 

According to his profile, the engineer has "Created package/board design guides and decap solutions for BR04, G84P, and G96" and is "currently responsible for GT214."  In addition, he has done loadline analysis and core power transient simulations for G96 and G214.  More interestingly, however, his profile states that he has also done framebuffer simulations with GDDR2, GDDR3, and GDDR5 for G96 and GT214 chips.

Although Nvidia has made no official announcement, it is important to keep in mind that the Linked In profile states the framebuffer tests were "simulations." Therefore, the idea of Nvidia implementing GDDR5 in GT214 still remains an inconclusive yet optimistic possibility.  All in all, it seems more likely that Nvidia has been closely evaluating the timing and pricing of GDDR5 and was considering whether G96 or GT214 would be the chip to introduce it.

It is simply logical that Nvidia should go GDDR5 way, sooner or later. 

2009: Year of mergers, platform changes and conservation

2009 is shaping up to be a nasty year, in fact it looks like 2009 and 2010 will be years we'll want to look back on as briefly as possible. But these years will also clear out of lot of the dead and dying companies that have been clogging up the market. I believe the U.S. and the technology industry will both emerge stronger than they went into this cycle. Let's look at some of the trends that likely will dominate 2009 and a few of the bellwether companies that currently define the tech market.

Home Media

The Holy Grail for home media is being able to move your content around the house and from device to device easier than you can currently move a CD, DVD, or cassette tape. It still amazes me that the misguided efforts surrounding DRM have effectively created some of the strongest incentives for pirates and disincentives for legitimate buyers at the same time. But the music industry has begun to get a clue and stepped away from DRM altogether and the movie industry has started to open up, albeit more slowly, as well.   

The combination of mergers, financial pressure, and several years of folks working on this problem will come together in 2009 and by the end of the year we will have the first affordable whole house media solutions that rival Kaleidescape capability. It is interesting to note that Kaleidescape, even with nose bleed prices, grew 747% in 2008 and made the Inc. 500 showcasing just how much demand there is for this kind of capability.   

A number of companies are in play for this, including HP, Cisco, Apple, Microsoft, and a few smaller firms I can't chat about until after CES. Cisco coined the term "Visual Networking" and it 2009 someone, maybe even Cisco, will make it real.    


Notebooks give way to always connected netbooks

This is already happening and recently I received an HP Mini 1000 with an up-level configuration that still prices out under $500 (starting price is $359). This class of product comes into its own in 2009 when backend services arrive and a current-generation operating system, Windows 7, shows up to make it shine. Netbooks are hampered at this time, because they are running XP, the on-line services are either too expensive (WAN) or not yet widely deployed (WiMax).
   
This all changes in 2009 as WAN services will have to drop in price to compete with lower cost and increasingly widely deployed WiMax services and Windows 7, which is being vastly slimmed down to run on netbooks, arrives in final form. Many believe Apple will shortly enter this space and that the next major version of Google's Android will target this form factor as well. But it will be the web services and online application stores rivaling what Apple is doing on the iPhone and what Google is doing with the G1 that will put these head to head with smartphones and on a path to truly displace notebooks.

Some of the most interesting 2009 netbooks will actually have graphics by Nvidia or AMD's ATI division as casual gaming and media consumption quickly moves to this platform. By the end of the year, a number of them may outperform their much more expensive notebook rivals as a result.   
Large companies, in an effort to contain costs, are already requesting corporate configurations of Netbooks, which need things like fingerprint readers and trusted platform modules to comply with security requirements. Even IBM is behind this platform.  


Smartphones battle with netbooks  

Smartphones continue to grow in the market but their growth is offset by netbooks as well, because they are focused on a similar always connected opportunity. Netbooks are more suited for things like email and web browsing. There are simply too many smartphone platforms and that will likely change by the end of 2009. Though, initially, it will go the wrong way with Palm releasing their highly anticipated Nova.
   
For the first half of the year, the battle will likely be between RIM, Apple, Google, and Palm with Microsoft re-entering in late 2009 with Windows Mobile 7. I believe Symbian and LiMo will fall out.   


Linux in volume on the desktop

What is kind of interesting with netbooks so far is that the Linux configurations have not done well with vendors reporting some of the highest return rates they have ever seen in a PC-like product for those running this platform. It continues to amaze me that vendors think they can give consumers who have no software skills Linux and not expect the product to generate large returns. Google, with Android, and Phoenix Technology with Hyperspace, is doing to Linux what Apple did with UNIX and that is the only proven success model for a platform like this.  

Having said that, both Google and Phoenix Technology will introduce their Linux platforms in 2009 though details will have to come later. The success of both will be predicated on how well they emulate Apple. We started coveringHyperspace over a year ago, because we viewed it as potentially disruptive.   

In the end, the result is the same, much more Linux (even though it won't look like Linux) on the desktop.  


Energy conservation in everything

One of the really big 2009 trends are products that are vastly more energy efficient.  A number of firms have been, largely because of high energy prices during the last several years, making significant advancements in energy conservation technology and we'll see the results of this next year even though energy costs are falling. This trend will bring products that actually do not use power when they are off and lower power bills for those us that can afford those new products.
   
Many of them may actually be co-funded with government incentives as the U.S. moves aggressively to become energy independent again. While other green efforts will likely fall off in the face of poor funding, the one area that is likely to continue strong is energy conservation and that will help us end 2009 on a high note.   


Wrapping up

Overall, we will end 2009 far more connected and far more mobile than we entered it but, with far fewer companies and with the very real possibility that we will finally be able to watch our video content where and when we want. It will be a buyer's year and by the end of it, most of the marginal companies will have gone away. But it will help set up the next decade as a potential golden age for technology that will likely be worth waiting for. 


Rob Enderle is one of the last Inquiry Analysts.  Inquiry Analysts are paid to stay up to date on current events and identify trends and either explain the trends or make suggestions, tactical and strategic, on how to best take advantage of them.  Currently he provides his services to most of the major technology and media companies.

Dell’s super-thin Adamo notebook: Displayport, Blu-ray and $3000

Dell’s briefly posted ad on a luxury products website probably generated much more buzz than the company anticipated. The rumor mill is accelerating and prompted users to search through removed but Google cached pages on Dell’s own servers. The details on what is described to be the world’s thinnest notebook are still blurry, but the accessory pages reveal some of the details of Dell’s  “Adamo Thirteen”.    

Adamo’s marketing pitch is clearly a design that improves on what Apple has achieved with the Macbook Air. Apple’s stunning notebook is only 0.76” thick and weighs about 3.0 lbs. Recent posts on Digitimes indicated that Dell may be able to slightly reduce the thickness of the lid that contains the screen. Apparently, the company has been ordering ultra-thin (and expensive) 3.5 mm (0.14”) panels from Samsung, which could drop the thickness of the Macbook Air’s lid (4.1 mm or 0.16”).

There is virtually no information on the standard hardware equipment of theAdamo Thirteen, besides the fact that it will have a 13” screen and come with a 45 watt power adapter that suggests that Dell will offer Intel’s regular 45 nm Core 2 Duo processors and not use low voltage CPUs. Browsing through Google’s Dell site cache also reveals that the Adamo will be available with a 8x slot-load DVD burner, an optional 2x Blu-ray/DVD-RW drive (with SATA interface) as well as a Displayport to connect to a LCD. The option list includes Displayport-to-VGA, Displayport-to-HDMI and Displayport-to-DVI converters.

Our sources noted that Dell will be offering solid state disk drives (SSDs) throughout the product line. The capacity is said to be (well beyond 100 GB), which suggests that Dell will be offering either 128 GB, Intel’s 160 GB or possibly Samsung’s 256 GB drive, which went into mass-production recently. Strangely enough, Dell has not listed SSDs for the Adamo, but included (external) 2.5” 5400 rpm hard drives with 250 GB and 500 GB capacity, as well as an 8 GB USB memory key.

The notebook is generally expected to be unveiled at CES in early January, while actual delivery of the device is put into the February time frame. Digitimes’ sources noted that the Adamo will cost up to $3000, which mat sound a bit high since analysts such as Endpoint’s Roger Kay previously said that Dell may be able to offer the Adamo for $400 less than a comparable Macbook Air. “Comparable”, of course is the keyword here. Apple does not offer Blu-ray, the Adamo will feature SSDs with more capacity and we expect wireless broadband to be a standard feature in the device. Add everything up and $3000 may not be cheap, but could turn into a bargain when put next to the Macbook Air.

A basic Adamo could start in the $1500 range, we are told.

M98, ATI 4850 512M DDR3 listed

To ship in January 

The sharp eye of a reader has noticed that the M98, the DDR3 version of ATI's latest mobile GPU is already out and that it might ship in January time.

MSI GT725-074US is the first notebook that we are aware of to feature ATI's new Mobility Radeon HD4850 mobile chip.

The 4850 in the names comes as the chip uses DDR3 memory, while the DDR5 one would be HD4870 and this should launch roughly at the same time.

Cheap notebooks are AMD's answer to 2009

Big netbooks 

AMD wants to push its big netbook, Atom alternatives and it wants to put a low power CPU in a reasonable, big but thin and light notebook. 

Management at AMD got an idea from the Mac Air success and at the same time it noticed that Atoms are very good alternative a second PC on the road, but not behaving good as ones only PC. You simply cannot spend 10 hours working on a 10-inch computer, at least not if you are a grown man. 

AMD’s 14+ inch Atom contenders will come out in the second half of 2009 and we suspect that Intel will counter AMD with its Atoms in the same form factor. The big danger for Intel is that once it launches Atom in 14 or 16 inches it will destroy its average selling prices on notebook chips even further, and this is something that everyone will try to avoid in 2009. 

The Texas based company has nothing to lose, as its Turion Ultra, aka Puma failed to impress the market and this might be AMD’s chance to come back. 

It plans single and dual-core sub 20W-platforms (CPU+IGP chipset) and this is something that a few AMD VPs have already confirmed. We have to wait and see if this strategy will work and this might be the right thing for 2009. 

Radeon Mobility M97 taped out

40nm Mobile

Ho Ho ho, we found some interesting news just before Santa came and visited us. Santa uses Fedex these days and even these guys are working only until 13.00 today.

Anyway we found out some info on a chip that we haven’t mentioned before. Its a mobile chip codenamed M97 and this is the first time we’ve seen it showing up in ATI plans. The chip has just been taped out and it currently runs at 500MHz. 

We wouldn’t know how many Shaders and pipes this chip has but we suspect it has a tad less than M98. 

We have a feeling that this is actually a 40nm RV740 sibling but its too early to confirm it. This would mean that summer notebooks might have some 40nm inside at minimal clock of 500MHz and GDDR3 memory that would run at 850MHz or faster.

We'll try to dig up some more info on this so stay put.

Dell pitches MacBook Air rival, Sony enters netbook market

Expect IT to begin 2009 with two major announcements in the notebook segment: Dell continues to work on its image and give Apple's MacBook Air a run for its money with a new ultra-thin notebook called Adamo. Sony is prepping a new Vaio portable computer that walks a fine line between an ultra-portable notebook and a netbook. What about Apple? As the race to knock down the MacBook Air heats up, the company remains mum on a MacBook Air successor, although Apple is expected to announce a $600 Mac netbook at MacWorld Expo in early January.

It appears that the fame of the Apple MacBook Air may soon be up for grabs as big vendors like Dell and Sony are preparing new products designed to improve Apple’s Macbook Air design. Both vendors claim their upcoming products will be thinner and lighter than the MacBook Air, with more features and lower price points. Dell has been trying to work on its image as an innovative computer manufacturer for some and now is building some extra noise around the upcoming Adamo. The computer maker even took a page out of Apple's book by resorting to guerrilla marketing tactics and secretive teaser announcements in an effort to generate the same level of buzz and excitement surrounding Apple's new gadgets.

Dell successfully kicked the rumor mill into motion with a brief post on Uptown Life that showed a teaser image. Dell's spokesman Bob Kaufman told the NY Times that the post was in fact a teasing ad for an upcoming product dubbed Adamo that is slated for a February launch, around the MacBook Air's one year anniversary. The paper wrote that Dell indeed owns copyright to the Adamo trademark and pointed to an Adamo mini-site. Dell officials declined to talk about the product beyond confirming that it is in fact an ultra-thin notebook targeted to compete with the MacBook Air. Kaufman noted that Adamo goal is to "wake up the personal computing category and create some buzz."

According to Engadget, Dell will describe the Adamo a "the world's thinnest laptop," meaning the company is confident it will beat the MacBook Air within the ultra-portable category. 

Although ultra-thin and ultra-light notebooks represent only a niche in the notebook segment and appeal to a very specific group of customers, they come with a premium price and hefty margins. Given Dell's aggressive pricing strategy, Adamo may attract consumers who consider the MacBook Air as too expensive or are simply looking for an alternative. 

Sony will also join the game with a new product aimed at the MacBook Air. The company even mirrored Dell's move by setting up its own teaser mini-site that announces a "revolutionary new Vaio that will change the way you look at laptops." However, the page has been taken offline again. Little is known of the new Vaio beyond the 9.5" x 4.5" dimensions that put the product within the netbook category that caters to different types of customers than the ultra-portables do.

Engadget believes it will incorporate wireless 802.11b/g/n networking, Bluetooth and both EVDO and HSPA cellular network connectivity, courtesy of Qualcomm’s Gobi chipset. The lack of mobile broadband Internet connectivity is considered a deal breaker for some potential MacBook Air customers, although there are USB-based mobile Internet cards for it. Some other vendors have notebooks that try to compete with MacBook Air on thinness and lightness, like HP's Voodoo Envy 133 and Lenovo's ThinkPad X300. However, the MacBook Air has remained the defining comprehensive ultra-thin notebook so far.

We expect something new form Apple as well. There is no information on a potential Macbook Air successor and an actual update for the device seems to be unlikely as there have been only limited hardware advances. But there is a persistent rumor that Apple will announce a $600 Mac netbook at the MacWorld Expo in early January - a new product that industry watchers believe is the next big thing for Apple. Since we know that the economy is rather unlikely to get back up on its feet in the first half of the year and since we know that Apple will be vulnerable as well, a cheaper version of the Macbook Air in the $600 segment certainly makes a whole lot of sense.

Sony Ericsson Xmini Phones

Sony Ericsson has released cute little walkman phones in Japan, they are the Xmini series. The new compact Xmini comes with an 8.0-megapixel camera. This slider has a bright colored keypad and music controls, 4GB internal memory and choose from white-light blue combo or the classic black-grey look. The phone measures 75 × 44 x 18 mm. Not sure if it is available in other countries or not.

Google and Facebook jostle for mobile supremacy

Opera survey shows our off our networking addiction

Opera has unveiled its Mobile Web report for 2008k based in date pulled from its Opera Mini browser. And the results are pretty obvious.

Opera users have been all over Google and Facebook this year, the former because the Google search box is built into the browser's home screen, the latter pipping Yahoo to number two and the BBC (third place) as our networking addiction bites harder. Indeed, Bebo also makes the top five, but it's not good new for all the web 2.0 sites. Yes, our love affair with MySpace is almost certainly over, with the site trailing in 10th place.

It's good news for web browsing generally, with Opera's traffic doubling over the course of the year - and with web-friendly (and non-Opera) handsets like the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm and G1 doing swift business too, that figure might even underestimate the rise. 

Rumor: New iMacs Shipping Next Month

Plausible, but still rumor-y: Chinese paper Economic Daily News says new iMacs are coming next month, which goes with what we've been hearing about about Nvidia chipsets and new Intel quad-cores.

Rolando rolls into the App Store

Rolando has finally hit the App Store as the most anticipated game for iPhone and iPod touch this holiday season. Great use of tilt and touch controls, unique idea and smooth gameplay make this a must-have iPhone game that numerous reviewers already describe as killer gaming app and a potential system-seller that Apple has been waiting for. Combined with a $9.99 price tag and a digital distribution model, Rolando also demonstrates the advantages of Apple's platform. The fact that gaming content on the App Store is becoming a big business should get Sony’s and Nintendo’s attention.

We knew all along that games would become a significant portion of the App Store business, but we are taken somewhat by surprise by recent wave of games for the iPhone and iPod touch. Apple on its part has been insisting from the very beginning that the iPhone and iPod touch should as well be viewed as gaming platforms. And while we have seen several interesting games that showcase the entertainment potential of the platform, App Store games only recently moved to become a serious gaming business.

Apple's distribution platform now offers a wide variety of gaming genres so there is something for everyone. Several publishers invested considerable amounts of money into porting old franchises like EA's Tetris, Konami's Frogger and Gameloft's Brother in Arms: Hour of Heroes and Hero of Sparta and it shows in their quality. In addition, Electronic Arts is putting its money into releases like Spore Origins and Sim City.

More than anything else, a list of games slated for 2009 arrival proves that big publishers are targeting the platform, like EA's Need for Speed: Undercover or Konami's Silent Hill: The Escape, Metal Gear Solid Touch and Dance Dance Revolution. Still, the App Store lacks so-called system seller, a unique title that can only run on the iPhone or iPod touch.

With yesterday's release of Rolando by Ngmoco, iPhone and iPod touch now has what most reviewers called as the platforms' very first killer gaming app. Ngmoco describes Rolando "the premium platform experience" which has been created exclusively for Apple's platform. The game features cartoonish visuals created by pop-culture illustrator Mikko Walamies and break-beat music by Mr. Scruff, but it is the combination of innovative use of tilt and touch controls and fun use of physics that make this game a must-have in my opinion.

Basically a physics platformer, you control spherical creatures called Rolandos through a series of obstacles by tilting your device, combined with touch-based input, like an upward stroke with your finger that makes the Rolandos jump. You need to draw bridges with your fingers and manipulate other objects, like lifts, catapults and bomb dispensers.

Different Rolandos, each with a different set of abilities, are combined with cleverly designed levels to form a unique gameplay experience. There is a total of 36 levels. Rolando's $9.99 may also be an inviting proposition, at least for those who have been paying $20, $30 or even $40 for Nintendo DS or PSP games. In addition, its digital over-the-air App Store distribution certainly beats the traditional game store around the corner. 

Titles like Rolando and other quality games slated for a 2009 arrival have put iPhone and iPod touch on the map as a viable gaming platforms – as an increasingly competitive product that grows into a rival for Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS. 

Ngmoco is one of several dozen startups funded by Klein Perkin's $100 million iFund. The company has released five well-received games on the App Store so far. It debuted with a free Maze Finger touch-based maze game, followed by Tetris-like Topple, the arcade shooter Dropship and Dr. Awesome, which allows the player to slip into the role of a microsurgeon. Dropship and Dr. Awesome now sell for 99 cents, while Topple is offered free of charge. You can check out a video of Rolando on Ngmoco's home page .

Artificial bone marrow created, can grow blood keeping supplies high

In a University of Michigan laboratory, scientists have created artificial bone marrow that's capable of creating a continuous supply of red and white blood cells. Such technology could enable a neverending supply of blood for transfusions, as well as better studies of pharmaceutical drugs and their interactions, as well as advanced studies on immune system defects.


[Editor's note: We realize this isn't a typical TG Daily story, but the ramifications here are astounding. Imagine blood banks that are constantly stocked even when donors are low. Or the ability to reproduce your own blood, your own antibodies directly and continuously even if your bone marrow is damaged by some form of drug treatment, just by taking a sample before the medications are given. We at TG Daily don't believe the significance of this finding can be overstated. This is the kind of research that earns people Nobel Prizes.]


The artificial marrow is not designed to be put into a body. Instead, it operates only in the lab. According to Nicholas Kotov, a U-M professor heading up the project, "The substance grows on a 3-D scaffold that mimics the tissues supporting bone marrow in the body. This is the first successful artificial bone marrow. It has two of the essential functions of bone marrow. It can replicate blood stem cells and produce B cells. The latter are the key immune cells producing antibodies that are important to fighting many diseases."

Many cancer fighting drugs significantly depress bone marrow function. As a result many cancer patients need bone marrow transplants - a painful and dangerous procedure which often involves a close match donor, such as an immediate family member. The new marrow could help researchers determine how drugs react, and what different types of drug interactions might be that would affect marrow operation. The dangerous components of new drug therapies could be sorted out ahead of time with artificial marrow, long before any human trials put people at risk.

Creating artificial bone marrow has proven to be difficult. It requires a "high number of precisely-sized pores to simulate cellular interaction," according to Kotov. The 3D scaffold design was absolutely crucial in creating the artificial marrow.

Once created, the scaffolds are then seeded with regular bone marrow components (like stromal cells and osteoblasts). According to Kotov, "The geometrical perfection of the polymer molded by spheres is very essential for reproducibility of the drug tests and evaluation of potential drug candidates. The scaffold for this work had to be designed from scratch closely mimicking real bone marrow because there are no suitable commercial products."

He also found that "Certain stem cells that are essential for immunity and blood production are [also] able to grow, divide and differentiate efficiently in these scaffolds due to the close similarity of the pores in the scaffold and the pores in actual bone marrow."

The team has even demonstrated that the artificial marrow gives a "human-like response" to the "New Caledonia/99/H1N1 flu virus," which is believed to be the first time such a reaction has been observed.

To support even further the "realness" of the artificial marrow, researchers also implanted some in mice with immune deficiencies. The mice produced human immune cells. New blood vessels even grew through the artificial substance. Truly remarkable!

A full paper describing the technology called "In vitro analog of human bone marrow from 3D scaffolds with Biomimetic inverted colloidal crystal geometry"appears in the journal Biomaterials. U-M receives funding for this kind of work from the National Science Foundation.