The joint venture NEC and Lenovo announced back in January is now reality: the companies today said they have finally set up “NEC Lenovo Japan”, which Lenovo holds a 51% stake in (NEC holds the rest of the shares). The joint venture is limited to the Japanese PC market at this point, but NEC Lenovo instantly gained the bragging rights to call itself the country’s biggest PC maker (about 25% market share). → Read More
Commodore USA is now taking pre-orders for their modernized Commodore 64 keyboard PC; shipping dates are expected in mid-May or June. The base model comes with a 1.8 GHz Dual Core Intel Atom processor and 2GB of RAM, the Ultimate version gets 4GB of RAM with built-in WiFi and Blu-ray. While these aren’t the greatest for playing the latest games, it would be cool to own one and judge the reactions of people who see you use it. Head over to Tom’s Hardware to get the rest of the specs. → Read More
If you give a senior citizen a fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you give a senior citizen a low-end Linux PC with big keyboard and a specially-designed UI, he’ll be able to forward you funny pictures he gets from his friends and read Drudge and Fox News.
This $499 PC includes Kiwi’s own version of Linux for the aged. While I’d normally be all gung-ho about the prospect of sharing open source love, considering you can get this Gateway for $449 and Ubuntu for free, I’m a bit concerned about the validity of this PC in the marketplace. However, as a person who once gave his father a Linux PC after he filled the Windows machine I gave him up with viruses and who recently deleted a wonderfully scary bit of malware on his aged neighbor’s machine, I wholeheartedly support anything that makes home tech support simpler and easier for our aging population. → Read More
We reported back in August about how Japanese consumers reacted to the first 3D TVs Sony and Panasonic released this summer, and now the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) has released the first detailed sales numbers. → Read More
Among Japan’s PC makers, NEC seems to be betting especially high on 3D. Following the 3D PC the company introduced in Japan earlier this summer, NEC today announced [JP] another three 3D desktop PCs for the Japanese market. Here are all the details. → Read More
Panasonic announced [JP] two new models from their TOUGHBOOK series of extra-sturdy and durable notebooks today. And both the CF31 from the TOUGHBOOK 31 series and the CF19 from the TOUGHBOOK 19 series boast some pretty impressive specs. → Read More
It took a lot of time, but Toshiba is now ready to bring the Classmate tablet PC it created together with Intel to the Japanese market. Rebranded as “CM1″ [press release in English], the goal is to go after the nation’s educational sector. Both companies involved also announced they will launch initiatives to “foster ICT environments in schools” in order to boost IT literacy among Japanese schoolkids. → Read More
Teased last month, announced [JP] today: Fujitsu took the wraps off a 3D desktop PC that has a quite unique selling point: it comes with a camera that lets users shoot pictures and video in 3D. The ESPRIMO FMV FH550/3AM will not only display user-generated 3D content on its 20-inch screen but also 3D Blu-rays and 3D video from other sources. → Read More
Panasonic in Japan today announced [JP] the “Let’s Note CF-C1″, which the company says is among the world’s lightest convertible tablet PCs. The latest addition to Panasonic’s “Let’s Note” series of notebooks weighs just 1.46kg (including the battery, 1.67kg with two batteries). The company says it was able to push down the weight by choosing lighter materials and changing the display’s open-close and rotating mechanisms. → Read More
Valuestar N VN790/BS – that’s the name of the 3D PC that NEC today announced [JP] for the Japanese market. The company’s faster than expected: just last month, NEC teased such a machine in Tokyo, saying it’s likely to ship by October 2010. But Japan will get the PC as early as next month. And it appears to be a pretty cool machine. → Read More
NEC has developed an eco-friendly cooling system for CPUs, claiming the technology [JP] uses uses 60% less energy than a water-cooling system and even 80% less than an air-cooling system. The core of the system is a liquid chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) substitute, which circulates around the CPU to draw away heat and has low greenhouse effects. → Read More
We all know Japan is Gundam country (I’ll go cover the newly opened Gundam Cafe in Tokyo next week) and that Akihabara is heaven for PC geeks and modders. So what can you expect when you combine both things? Not one but two cool Gundam PC cases. → Read More
Virtually every Japanese tech company has made some 3D-related announcement in the past months, but one remained suspiciously quiet in that area: NEC. We covered their (apparently very cool) glasses-free 3D 12.1-incher last year (it’s yet to be commercialized), and today NEC made some initial announcements about a 3D desktop PC that’s supposed to hit Japanese stores by year-end. → Read More
By request from one of our readers (see, we listen!) I zipped over to Marvell’s booth to check out the Plug Computer and got the added bonus of a demonstration of EyeconTroller, an iPhone/iPod touch/computer app that manages media. You can drag and drop media files into various containers, which will play back those particular files on connected household devices – TVs, computers, consoles, etc. Pretty cool stuff. Eyecon [Eyecontec.com] Marvell Plug Computer [Marvell.com] → Read More
My gut reaction to seeing these all-in-one computers is that they might make a nice addition to a dorm room or an aging couple’s den. But then Gateway goes and says something like this:
“The powerful One ZC6800 Series is a no-compromise, high-performance configuration entirely suitable for serious gaming.” I roll my eyes and then look for the actual specs, to find… → Read More
In a move to offer inexpensive all-in-one computers to consumers, many companies are fitting Intel’s Atom processors into small form factor PCs and selling them for around $500 to $600. Averatec has adopted a similar approach with the D1133 but has instead bumped the CPU up to a dual-core 1.5GHz AMD chip along with ATI Radeon 3200 graphics and then priced the system to move at $599. That extra CPU speed, satisfactory graphics chipset, and 2GB of RAM turn the D1133 from a netbook-on-your-desk into a decently-equipped home PC that can be used for more than just simple web surfing — all at a very nice price. → Read More
You know those “have-a-penny/need-a-penny” jars you find at 7-Eleven and whatnot? Here’s a cool way to kill a few hours: go around your town collecting pennies. Then, with said pennies, buy a whole bunch of zombie PCs, then start your own botnet. You’ll be the coolest kid in the neighborhood. → Read More
The 18.4-inch D1100 from Averatec showed up at my house recently and I thought, hey, lazy Saturday — let’s set it up. I had forgotten the specs, the price, and all the relevant details but when I had gotten everything together (a process which took less than ten minutes) I can tell you that I’m impressed by how nice the computer looks. Especially since — surprise! — it only costs $599. → Read More
If you’ve never worked in an office where an unsuspecting co-worker gets an e-mail sent out on his or her behalf announcing that happy hour drinks are on the house, you haven’t LIVED! It’s the perfect way to teach someone that they should always, always, lock their computer whenever they head over to the break room to find that someone drank all the coffee and didn’t bother to make another pot. Those days may be about to end, though, thanks to Phoenix Freeze. → Read More
Lenovo announced two new smaller, cheaper desktop PCs today. The ThinkCentre M58e and A58 are built for the cost-conscious business consumer, with a starting price of $399. The PCs run cooler and quieter than previous ThinkCentres (as should be expected). Click on for the press release. → Read More
