Review: Quickoffice for the iPhone
Quickoffice singlehandedly advanced the case of the iPhone as a serious business tool by a mile. With Quickoffice you can read, create and edit Word and Excel files on the iPhone, read numerous other file formats, move and email them, and even cut and paste within the application. This app is worth its US$20 price many times over. [Read review of Quickoffice for the iPhone] -- Posted Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Arbor expands the MCA field with large-screen M1256
With the lucrative electronic patient records project gathering steam, we're seeing more and more MCAs (Mobile Clinical Assistants) being released. Arbor Technology's Atom N270-powered M1256, available in Q2 of 2009, differentiates itself with a larger 12.1-inch wide-format 1280 x 800 pixel touchscreen display. [Read description and specs of the Arbor M1256 MCA] -- Posted Friday, April 24, 2009
Review: Google Mobile App
Our Dr. Tim never ceases to marvel at Google’s prolific development of new applications. The latest one to come to his attention is simply called Google Mobile App. It is a plugin that can be placed on your Today Screen for easy access or invoked from an icon in your Programs menu. Alternatively, you can program it to run from a hardware button. [Read Dr. Tim's review of the Google Mobile App] -- Posted Friday, April 24, 2009
Apple reaches one billion app downloads
The billionth iPhone app was downloaded from Apple’s App Store shortly after 5 p.m. ET on April 23, 2009. It took only about nine months to reach that number, which means there are almost four million iPhone app downloads per day. -- Posted Thursday, April 23, 2009
Socket Mobile has shipped 15,000 SoMo 650 handheld computers
In its most recent financials, Socket Mobile says it has shipped over 15,000 SoMo 650 handheld computers into the business mobility market. Socket conceived the Windows Mobile-based SoMo 650 as a compatible platform to work in conjunction with its broad line of peripherals and add-on cards. The SoMo line has recently been expanded with the 650rx, a special antimicrobial version for healthcare markets. -- Posted Thursday, April 23, 2009
Atom platform expands, but does it have a clear direction?
In the days of the 386, 486 and even early Pentium processors, it used to be fairly easy to follow Intel's chips as they mainly differed in clock speed. These days, staying on top of Intel's various offerings has become an almost full time job. That even goes for Intel's low-end Atom chips that, together with resurrecting some older Intel technologies such as hyperthreading, seemed to simplify the matter of processor selection. Read Atom platform expands, but does it have a clear direction?
-- Posted Monday, April 20, 2009
IrDA announces superfast Giga-IR
IrDA announced they officially adopted the new Giga-IR standard specification that allows transmission speeds of 1 gigabit per second. IrDA's IrSimple communications protocol had already significantly increased transmission speed compared to conventional IrDA. Now, Giga-IR is approximately 250 times faster than IrSimple's 4Mbps speed. And unlike with most RF technology, no complex pairing is required. Though we're seeing fewer devices with IR ports, IR isn't dead just yet. -- Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009
Socket announces antimicrobial product line
Socket Mobile announced availability of its first antimicrobial suite of healthcare products for medical mobility, including their Socket SoMo 650Rx handheld computer and line of barcode scanners. The new Socket antimicrobial products are encased in plastics made with antimicrobial materials, which provide an extra layer of protection gainst potentially harmful bacteria and microbes. [See press release] -- Posted Monday, April 6, 2009
Full review: Juniper Systems Allegro MX
When you work out there in the field, your gear must be absolutely 100% reliable and able to handle whatever comes its way. Even bears. Juniper Systems' Windows Mobile 6.1-based ultra-rugged Allegro MX Field PC is a tough tool for the job. Based on proven platforms, it's large enough to be operated with gloves, has excellent connectivity and expansion potential, both keyboard and keypad, and it's waterproof (we checked). [See full review of the Juniper Systems Allegro MX] -- Posted Sunday, April 5, 2009
RMT updates website to better highlight product lines
RMT, Inc., has updated and restructured its website to highlight the strengths of its three distinctly different product lines. Under the tag line "innovations for a rugged world," the RMT website now features separate sites for the Duros line of rugged tablets and vehicle mounts, DAP rugged handhelds and Windows CE-based tablets, and the SwitchBack ultra-rugged UMPC. -- Posted Friday, April 3, 2009
Palm extends webOS Early Access Program for developers
Palm said it is expanding its early access program for the Palm Mojo Software Development Kit (SDK), and discussed the company's plans for integrating Palm-branded cloud services into the new platform. Cloud services are software resources provided over the Internet. Palm also today announced an application from MotionApps that will allow legacy Palm OS applications to run on webOS devices. -- Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Motion Computing updates and improves C5 MCA and ruggedized F5 Mobile Field Tool
At CTIA Wireless 2009, Motion Computing announced that the F5 rugged tablet PC and the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) are now available for use on the Verizon Wireless mobile broadband network. Additionally, Motion announced upgrades to the devices including enhanced performance and efficiency through an upgrade from Core 2 Solo to Core 2 Duo processor technology, the latest WiFi technology and a new 64GB solid state drive (SSD) option. The upgrade to the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant puts the C5 ahead of the MCA competition in terms of performance. -- Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009
AT&T is trying subsidized netbooks with 2-year broadband contract
Trying to see if the cellphone business model works with computers, AT&T is offering heavily subsidized netbooks and mini laptops with 2-year broadband service contracts in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Customers can get mini laptops for as low as US$49 if they sign up for an "AT&T Internet at Home and On the Go plan," which includes an AT&T DataConnect plan and AT&T Fast Access DSL, starting at $59.95 per month. Without those AT&T services, these mini laptops range in price from $449.99 to $599.99. [See AT&T press release] -- Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009
5 Reasons Why Dell Should Buy Palm
The Motley Fool presents "5 Reasons Why Dell Should Buy Palm" and goes, "Some buyout rumors sound so logical that only pride, ignorance, and incompetence could get in their way." [Check it out] -- Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Ueber-Netbooks: Deja-Vue all over again...
It's deja-vue all over again with increasingly more powerful netbooks. The next gen of ueber-netbooks from Asus, HP, Dell and others have bigger screens, higher resolutions, optical drives and so on. A decade ago Microsoft freaked over ever more powerful Windows CE-based Handheld PCs and quickly pulled the plug by crippling CE. This time, the next gen netbooks sell on low cost and being able to still get Windows XP, but as they get bigger and more expensive, people may tire of the lack of punch with the wimpy Atom processor. That can be fixed, of course, but then netbooks will only be low-end notebooks. -- Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009