News

Qualcomm, Freescale to Launch ARM-Based Netbooks at Computex?

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DigiTimes is reporting that Qualcomm and Freescale will both be launching ARM-based netbooks/ultraportables at the upcoming Computex Taipei. As recently as January of this year (CES 2009), Freescale was showcasing it’s netbook platform. Back in November, it was reported that ARM was working with Canonical … Read more

U Leader Design Altro Announced

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U Leader Design Altro Last week, the 13.3-inch U Leader Design Altro was officially revealed at CeBIT 2009 (it had made a brief appearance in January at CES 2009). The Altro is the first in the new “U Leader Design” series from Olidata S.p.A. It has a very elegant design, and a very competitive price – Under 1.000 Euros ($1280 USD), with availability being sometime in 2Q 2009. While it weighs under 3.5 pounds (1.6kg), it’s still able to compete with the 13.3-inch Apple MacBook Air (especially on price), with the optical drive being external as well. That brings the maximum thickness down to 0.86 inches (21.8mm). It’s running on a Intel Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Core 2 Duo/Centrino 2 platform.

Although it’s not as much of a name brand in the US as it is in other parts of the world, Olidata plans on changing that, with widespread availability of this line, according to the CEO of Olidata (Antonio Masenza):

“U Leader Design is not just a new notebook, it will be a line of products that Olidata is developing with support from Intel Corporation. These products represent a mileston in the IT market for two main reasons; first, the stunning innovation and state of the art notebooks we are bringing to the end user at an acceptable price;, second the strategy behind U Leader Design. U Leader Design notebooks will be available worldwide through an international alliance strategy……Thanks to this alliance, all leading OEMs in the computer industry will be able to bring innovative and competitive notebooks to market”.

Apparently, accelerometers will be used in several different ways – as part of the “SmartDisk” function to protect the HDD should the notebook be bumped or dropped, and as a part of the “SmartAlarm” that will trigger an anti-theft application and sound an alarm should the notebook be moved by an unauthorized users. The anti-theft measures can be armed and disarmed through the normal Windows logon process. It can also detect the orientation of the notebook and rotate the screen accordingly.

Features:

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Slimmer Acer Aspire One ZG8 / A0530 at the FCC

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Acer Aspire One 10-inch We’ve been hearing about the rumors and leaked information since last month, and now we have some confirmation – This new netbook/ultraportable has now shown up at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for testing of its communications hardware (WiFi, etc.). The document dates are listed as March 9, 2009, with some of the submission documents listing March 4, 2009 in the headers, while some of the documentation lists application dates of February 11, with test dates of February 27, 2009.

One of the documents lists this information:
We, Acer Inc, hereby declare that ZG8, Aspire one, AO530 (model name) can not be used for operation of HSUPA and CDMA2000 1xRTT/EV DO function. The HSUPA and CDMA2000 1xRTT/EV DO functions of this EUT are disabled by firmware control, which the users cannot enable it.

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Adding eSATA to an Acer Aspire One (tnkgrl)

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If adding a touchscreen to your 8.9-inch Acer Aspire One wasn’t enough, tnkgrl Mobile has put together the 4th part in their ongoing series on modding the AAO. This time around, it’s a really major mod/upgrade, but it wasn’t as difficult as some mods. She’s … Read more

LG X120 – Taken Apart

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If you are interested in seeing what’s under the hood of the upcoming LG X120, Linus Tech Tips Blog has taken apart a European model. The European model at least has a glossy screen (and when the LG X120 is available in the US, it … Read more