HP Ships Ultraportable Laptop with Via Inside

Hewlett-Packard unveiled its Compaq 2133 ultraportable laptop, which uses a C7-M microprocessor from Taiwan’s Via Technologies instead of a chip from Intel.

The sleek device represents a significant design win for Via, which has struggled to win business from top-tier PC makers in the face of stiff competition from Intel. The win is even more remarkable because Intel just released its Centrino Atom package for handheld computers and will start shipping a line of low-cost Atom chips designed for laptops like the 2133 during the third quarter.

HP chose the C7-M because it met the thermal requirements needed for the 2133, according to Philip Devlin, a product marketing manager at HP Asia-Pacific, adding that Via has long provided microprocessors for HP’s line of thin clients.

Another important consideration was timing. The C7-M was ready when HP wanted to make the 2133 available, Devlin said.

The 1.19-kilogram 2133 has an aluminum-alloy case and is priced from US$499 to $899, depending on the configuration. The laptop comes with a C7-M processor running at 1GHz, 1.2GHz or 1.6GHz, and runs Windows Vista or SuSE Linux Desktop 10. Standard features include an 8.9-inch screen with a resolution of 1,280 pixels by 768 pixels, a nearly full-size keyboard, a Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot, and an ExpressCard slot. It also has wireless interfaces for Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

When it comes to storage, users have the choice of a 120G-byte hard disk or a 160G-byte disk. A 4G-byte solid-state drive is available for Linux, and HP expects to offer an 80G-byte SSD as an option for both operating systems during the third quarter.

The 2133 gets around two hours of battery life with the standard 3-cell battery and four hours with a 6-cell battery, Devlin said.

Devlin declined to comment on whether HP plans to use Via’s upcoming Isaiah processor with the 2133, but said the chip is “a point of conversation” between the two companies.

Isaiah is expected to offer significantly more performance than the C-7M processor while offering the same thermal characteristics. The two chips are pin-compatible, which means that no work will be required to adapt the 2133 — or any other computer that uses the C7-M — for the new processor. Laptop makers simply swap the C7-M for the newer chip, when it becomes available.

Yahoo Adds Video to Flickr

Yahoo has added support for video to its photo sharing site Flickr.

Yahoo wants users to start sharing videos, shot by still cameras, camcorders and camera phones, as well as photos, and Video on Flickr provides an easy solution for consumers, according to the company.

Video can be up to 90 seconds long, and no more than 150M bytes in size. To upload video you have to be a Flickr Pro user, but everyone can watch.

Users can upload videos directly from mobile phones, and integrate videos and photos into a stream.

There is also an API for third-party developers to create programs or services using authorized video submitted to Flickr.

Whether it will be able to compete with Youtube remains to be seen, but Yahoo thinks there is a huge untapped market of which it can take advantage.

More than 40 percent of consumers between 18 and 44 are capturing personal video clips with their digital cameras, but they are not taking advantage of Web sites to effectively share their videos.

Fifty-five percent of respondents to a survey commissioned by Yahoo said they merely play back video clips for their friends on their camera device or PC, and 20 percent don’t share these clips at all.

Canon Rolls Out a Portfolio of Next Generation Products

Canon India announced the launch of 23 next generation digital camera and camcorder products of its camera division. The launch also introduced technologies in sync with the youth trends and lifestyle of today.

At the launch Canon unveiled products from Canon’s Imaging Communication Products division which included 8 Digital Compact Cameras, 12 Digital Video Camcorders, 1 Digital SLR and 2 Selphy printers.

The first revolutionary technology introduced is the “Flash Memory” in the new Canon HF10 dual flash camcorder. This technology offers dual advantage to the customer and makes it possible to reduce the size of device and make it a compact stylish package. Battery life is extended with the use of flash memory, as less power is required to operate the camcorder as compared to other storage media types.

The camcorders have other interesting features like quick start to offer ease and convenience to the customers. With the user-friendly and compact HF series camcorders, users can enjoy upto 6 hours of high-quality HD video footage (using Long Play mode)  and a 16GB internal flash memory is offered by HF10. Flash memory storage allows HF10 to be designed in a compact and lightweight form factor that fits comfortably in the user’s hands. Flash memory also offers the advantages of fast read and write speeds for storing video recordings.

With the launch of the dual flash camcorder, Canon claims it to be the only company offering all formats of video camera offering including High definition, Cassette, DVD and now flash with HF10. The range also includes features of advanced zoom which is the highest in the industry at 45x in a compact body.

The camcorders also come with additional features like Instant Focus, Video light , a new user interface and search function in the review mode and are other features which have been introduced. Canon Digital camcorders currently contribute 10% to the camera division turnover and this new launch is expected to increase this contribution to 20% by Dec 2008.

Canon also unveiled their new digital compact camera products with the  latest technology on face select and track, motion detection  and AF ”point” zoom. In face select and track, the main subject always stays within the frame and the camera tracks the subject. In Motion Detection, the camera ensures clear pictures even if the subject moves.
This is achieved due to automatic adjustment of setting. AF Point Zoom technology enables the user to review one main subject within a wide frame pre and post shooting. The new launch includes Selphy printers with more lifestyle look with curvature which offer more options for creative printing.

The digital camera now comes in new body colours, robe design axiz and different curves and shapes. In the D-SLR portfolio, there is a new feature of ‘live view’ alongwith higher megapixel. The EOS 450 D features Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Live View Function, a powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, plus a new 12.2 megapixel CMOS Sensor and is available in a kit with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens with Optical Image Stabilizer.

Adobe Rolls out Media Player With Video Content

Adobe Systems debuted a new media playing software, Adobe Media Player 1.0 (AMP) along with online programming instructional video content on how to use the company’s products, it said Wednesday.

The move makes Adobe the latest player to get into the online video space, offering not only software that rivals Apple’s Quicktime and Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, but also video content such as episodes of “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: New York,” along with other feature programming and music videos.

Based on Adobe’s Flash technology, Adobe Media Player contains both content creation and playback components, and is available for Windows and Mac.

Adobe Media Player may be downloaded for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/. Pricing information for the video content publishing software was not immediately available.

Additionally, Adobe TV material can be viewed at http://tv.adobe.com. All of the instructional videos on the site were created using only Adobe software for the relevant components, the company said.

Microsoft Patches Critical Bugs in Windows

Microsoft has posted eight security updates — more than half marked “critical” — that patch 10 bugs in Windows, Office and Internet Explorer.

Of the 10 vulnerabilities plugged, Microsoft labeled seven as critical, the highest rating in its four-step threat-scoring system. Of the remainder, two were pegged as “important” and one as merely “moderate.”

Analysts agreed that the most serious vulnerabilities disclosed today were the two plugged by MS08-021, a critical update for every currently supported version of Windows, including the just-released Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and the even newer Windows Server 2008. “That’s right across the board,” said Tyler Reguly, a security research engineer at nCircle Network Security.

“All versions of Windows are affected,” echoed Amol Sarwate, manager of Qualys’s vulnerability research lab. “You don’t need to have any special software on your PC to be vulnerable.”

The MS08-021 update, said Microsoft in the advisory accompanying the release, fixes two flaws in Windows’ GDI, or graphics device interface, one of the core components of the operating system. Attackers can use malformed WMF (Windows Metafile) or EMF (Enhanced Metafile) image files to trigger the bugs and “take complete control of an affected system,” said Microsoft.

“Users who simply view an image online or in e-mail could be compromised,” said Sarwate.

Both Sarwate and Reguly noted that there are similarities between the two new GDI vulnerabilities and ones revealed in late 2005, which were extensively used by attackers for months afterward. In fact, Microsoft patched that earlier GDI vulnerability — which was also exploited by malicious WMF and EMF files — “out-of-cycle,” or outside of its normal second-Tuesday-of-the-month update schedule.