It looks like Pepper are getting close to releasing Pepper Linux 4 as this demo video has just gone up on YouTube showing three possible interface choices. There’s an improved standard desktop, a carrousel and a Midinux-like interface. All welcome enhancements to the no-frills interface on Pepper Linux 3. But the big enhancement for me is not the UI, its the presence of Skype. There has never been a VoIP app for the Pepper Pad 3 and the IM app’s were also rather limited. What else is in there I wonder? BT DUN? Full uPNP support? PC shared folder browsing?

The  latest weather report is still bad. No chance of leaving in the next 10 days unless the weather report is wildly wrong. Its unbelievable! We  had the hottest, driest  April ever and since then the clouds and rain just won’t go away and summer storms are threatening almost every day. Looking at the sun graph for the last three days I doubt I could have got get even a few hours of computing time out of it. It gives me more time to set up more tests and products of course, but I’m really keen […]

Tonight I’m doing what I’ve been doing most night for the last few months – researching solar power and solar notebook/laptop solutions. Tonight the Google search subject is expeditions. I figured that these guys must have solar computing pretty much sussed by now but I’m struggling to find a solution that can improve on my, ‘draft’, solution. For a start, many of them are using lead-acid batteries, the most dense battery solution around. Is it because they are cheap , rugged and flexible I wonder? Why aren’t they looking at lighter […]

Don’t ask me why I was doing this but I was taking a very close look at the Eee PC keyboard and it struck me that it’s the same as the new Kohjinsha K600.  I don’t now  if  this is good or bad but if anyone’s played with the Eee PC keyboard, let us know  because it will give a good indication of  how the K600 keyboard is. Remember the keyboard on the Kohjinsha SA1 wasn’t too good.

This is becoming a recurring theme in my UMPC discussions lately. I keep referring to the Full Internet Experience (usually while defending my decision to sideline ARM devices in the portal here) and its time I actually explained, in detail, what I mean.

Let me first separate ‘productivity’ UMPCs from the consumer UMPCs I’m going to talk about. I believe that for productivity, you need 7″, keyboard, mouse-pointer/pad, a desktop-oriented processor platform and a full desktop operating system. Consumer UMPCs are different. Mini keyboards, low-power ‘just enough’ CPU’s and GPUs, small solid-state disk drives and 4-6″ screens bring real challenges and the operating systems that drive them need to be efficient, small-screen friendly and need to contain tailored versions of all the applications a consumer is likely to need, just as you would find on a PMP or consumer navigation device. Take the PepperPad concept as an example. Its a consumer-focused device at a low price with a tightly controlled operating system build, a tailored set of apps and it works quite well. Just like the PepperPad focuses on the Internet as its core feature, so too will the consumer UMPCs, MIDs, Carrypads and Webpads. There will, or course, be specialist applications that will differentiate different devices but through reasons of technology and marketing, UMPC’s will remain fairly thin Internet-focused devices.

Before that can happens, someone needs to develop an Ultra Mobile, finger and Internet-oriented operating system. Windows XP is OK for UMPC’s but Vista is taking over and its far too heavy-weight, un-optimized and finger-unfriendly for a consumer UMPC device. Apart from Vista, there really isn’t any other OS out there yet. Before a new OS is developed we need to lay some ground rules down about the FIE. Without some sort of agreement between the members of a dev team, how can we expect to reach the goal of an Ultra Mobile OS and how can we hope to see the success of UMPC’s in the mainstream? Read on…definition follows.

It was an early start yesterday. 0445 rise and bus at 0530. 5 hours later after three trains and another bus I arrived at InterSolar 2007 in Freiburg, Germany hoping to find out how I could improve the UMPC Solar kit at Europe’s biggest solar expo. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much there for consumers at all. It was all 200w, $1000 panels and huge thermal heating set-ups. I saw one company that was selling the Voltaic Solar Backpack but I’ve already assessed this product and at 4W max output, its not powerful enough. […]

I have to run out the door in a minute but just want to alert you all of an 800Mhz Intel Kohjinsha that’s being reported at MyKohjinsha.com.

$799 sounds nice but there’s only an 800×480 screen. (Which means its possibly not the new high brightness power-saving LED-backlit module from Samsung)

Check out MyKohjinsha.com for info.

I’ll be back later!

Don’t you love leaked information on yet to be released devices?

This linked PDF of HTC’s new lineup reveals a ton of info about the Shift UMPC.
Codenamed “Shangri-La” (Model number X9500) this one will run on Intel’s 800mhz processor and have 1GB of Ram as well as 30 or 40GB of HDD depending on the model.

What the big news is, it will run both Windows Vista and Windows Mobile 6 Professional! This will allow for instant on in HTC’s newest device, which is starting to look a lot like the cPC that was never released… It will include 128mb of ROM and 64mb of RAM for WM6.

Another positive aspect is that along with the built in GPS, there is a VGA cam, MiniSD slot and a Fingerprint reader. Bluetooth and WiFi are also standard. Now the disappointing things: the screen is only 800×480 and the built in radio is only EDGE capable [EDIT: That Qualcomm chip is fully capable of HSUPA and HSDPA!]. Stay tuned for more info – it will leak out sooner or later.

[EDIT: Note that this is unconfirmed info, but since the details on the other devices appear to be correct this one looks quite legitimate.]