Bleeding Edge TV 271: Hands-on with the new HP TouchSmart PC

Posted by Nate True Categories: Gizmatic, Announcements, Household, Internet, PC / Laptop, Videocasts, Videos

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At HP‘s Connecting Your World event in Berlin, Germany, we talked with John Cook, VP of marketing for HP’s Consumer PC group. He gave us a hands-on first look at the beautiful new HP TouchSmart PC.

One thing we really liked about the new TouchSmart is its completely redone interface.  The software looks clean, polished, useful, and eminently easy to use.  It would be great, however, if the TouchSmart made more use of multi-touch.  Cook demonstrates a pinch gesture in the software but that’s pretty much it.  We’re keeping our eyes peeled for more multi-touch functionality in upcoming software updates and releases.

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HP TouchSmart PC gets refreshed, unboxed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, Home Entertainment, PC

HP just announced their newly updated TouchSmart PC. We were able to get our hands on one a little early, and figured we’d do our obligatory unboxing gallery. When we first saw the original back at CES 2007, we thought it was a huge, clunky computer. This new design actually seems to almost one-up Apple in a way. After all, the computer has a similar profile to an iMac, and is touch sensitive - you know, hence the whole TouchSmart name.

The model we got also features a wireless keyboard and mouse, both of which operate over RF technology rather than Bluetooth, which means sync issues should be non-existent. Oh, don’t get us wrong, this computer does include Bluetooth, as well as a host of other technologies. It’s packed to the brim with the latest technology too. While we’re on the subject, might as well list it all out, right?

Well, we’ve got an Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, SuperMulti DVD burner, 802.11b/g/n support, NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS HD graphics card, and ships with Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition.

Hit up out HP TouchSmart PC unboxing gallery for the full goods.

Read More | HP TouchSmart PC unboxing

Gallery: HP TouchSmart PC gets refreshed, unboxed

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Apple bumps MacBook and MacBook Pro to Penryn

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop

Ever since Penryn chips started making their way into mobile computers, we all knew it was just a matter of time before Apple bumped their mobiles to the latest chips from Intel as well. This morning, in their Tuesday update, they did just that. Both the MacBook and MacBook Pro are now rocking the Penryn Core 2 Duo chipset. If you are eyeing the MacBook Pro, those have the added bonus of a 6 MB L2 cache if you choose a 2.5 or 2.6 GHz chip, and Multi-Touch trackpads are now standard . That’s hot.

For the MacBook, pricing starts at $1099 for the base model, which includes a Combo drive instead of a SuperDrive, a 2.1 GHz chip, a 120GB hard drive, and 1 GB of RAM. For $200 more, you get a 2.4 GHz chip, an additional gig of RAM, a SuperDrive, and a 160 GB drive. If you need more hard drive space than that, you can get the Black MacBook, which hooks you up with 250 GB of storage.

Over on the MacBook Pro side of things, $1,999 gets you a 2.4 GHz chip, 2 GB of RAM, a 200 GB hard drive, double-layer SuperDrive, and a 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. If you move up to the $2,499 model, you are bumped up to a 2.5 GHz chip (with 6 MB L2 cache!), a 250 GB hard drive, and a 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. For $2,799, you get all the same specs, but you are bumped up to a 17-inch screen, if that’s your thing.

All in all, we’d say this is a worthy upgrade if your mobile computer is looking a bit long in the tooth.

Read More | Apple Press Release

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Windows Mobile 7 leaked: Microsoft’s mobile savior?

Posted by Sparky Categories: Cell Phones, CES, CES 2008, Design, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video

The Inside Microsoft blog has scored an exclusive first look at Windows Mobile 7, and boy is it hot. Taking some user interface cues from the iPhone as well as throwing some truely unique and possibly revolutionary ideas the whole package looks slick, usable, and very much ‘the future’. The OS features a multi-touch interface similar to the Microsoft Surface table, and additionally features gesture based actions allowing a user to shake or rotate the phone to perform on-screen operations.

Windows Mobile 7 looks to be leaps and bounds ahead of the currently released Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 OS’s. This kind of software revolution may just be the edge Microsoft needs to keep their market share in the mobile space and help give them an edge in the upcoming generation of portable internet and media centric devices.

Read More | Inside Microsoft

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Apple Announces the iPod touch

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video

We’ve heard it was coming, and today Apple made it official - the iPod touch is now a reality. Those of you hoping for what would essentially be an “iPhone without the phone” have gotten your wish. The iPod touch has the same 3.5-inch screen size and resolution as the iPhone, and even has WiFi built-in. Safari is included as an application, as is YouTube. It even has that multitouch goodness we’ve come to know and love. As for the differences between the iPod touch and the iPhone, those are more hardware related rather than software related. The iPod touch is just 8mm thick, down from 11.5mm for the iPhone. It also comes in two storage capacity sizes - 16GB and 8GB - which means you get double the storage that you’d get on the iPhone if you go with the top model. You will be able to pick up a 16GB iPod touch for $399 USD, while and 8GB version will sell for $299. It ships “in a few weeks” and will be available worldwide. No more waiting until Apple finds an iPhone distribution partner to get your multitouch on!

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iMac Multitouch Not Announced

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Rumors, Videos

Nor will it be, unfortunately. We’ve been getting quite a few submissions from readers about this awesome YouTube video that someone came up with as part of his demo reel for ad agencies. We know, the iMac Multitouch featured in this video is pretty bad ass…but think about it for a moment - do you really want to be reaching out to touch your computer screen constantly? That would get fairly tiring…this isn’t Wii Fit after all. If Apple were going to go the multitouch route on their computers, we think it should be on some sort of keyboard touchpad. Hang in there folks, the Apple event gets underway in under an hour now - that’s where we expect the real iMac news to surface.

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