laptop and notebook

As speculation over an Apple tablet laptop battery reaches a crescendo before the January 27 event, analysts offer their insights into what will power the device–or devices, as the case may be.

Richard Doherty, director of technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, believes that multiple tablets and/or a Macbook with touch-screen features will emerge. So, what’s inside depends on the device. “Anything that’s not a Mac touchscreen, will be an ARM processor,” according to Doherty, who said he believes that Apple, sooner or later, will also bring out a MacBook that has tablet-like features, in addition to tablets.

U.K.-based ARM supplies a basic chip 338794-001 design to a number of chip suppliers including Samsung (which Apple currently uses), Qualcomm, Marvell, Texas Instruments, and Nvidia that then employ the design in their own system-on-a-chip (SOC).

Doherty says Apple is targeting a multi-core ARM processor for the tablet. To date, most ARM-based designs have used a single “application” processing core. The extra processing oomph from a multi-core chip could be used for handling video-related tasks while the user simultaneously works on another task, he said.

Though it’s not clear to Doherty what Apple will use in the first version of a tablet, he says Apple is eventually going multi-core. “Before the year is out, Apple will have the most powerful, lowest-cost SOC in the industry. There’s nothing that I can see from ARM licensees or Intel that could challenge the power-per-watt, the power-per-buck, the power-per-cubic-millimeter of size. Apple is going to have quite a performance, battery efficiency and cost advantage over the competition,” he said, referring to Apple’s 361742-001 own chip design based on technology that stems from its acquisition of PA Semi.

More than anything, multi-core balances processing power with power efficiency, Doherty said. Simply increasing the processor’s speed–typically measured in gigahertz–can quickly drain the battery. Multi-core “is the best way to stretch battery life,” he said.

Apple tablet silicon:
PA Semi application processor: ARM core but internal Apple design

Qualcomm: Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN): device always on

Broadcom: Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

(Source: Ashok Kumar, Northeast Securities)

Doherty believes that there are four Apple products in the pipeline. A touch-screen Mac, an “iPod Touch on steroids” for gaming (with a 5-inch-class screen), and “two different versions of media pads in the 7- to 9-inch (screen size) area,” he said.

And what about the near-term tablet expected on January 27? Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Northeast Securities, believes that initially the tablet will have a Samsung-made PA Semi ARM processor.

Kumar speculates that Apple Inspiron 1501 battery would continue to use Samsung as the chip’s manufacturer as it moves toward its own proprietary chip design. “The core development work will be done by PA Semi but the implementation will be done by Samsung in terms of fabbing (making) the product,” he said.

“Apple will have two different (offerings). Taking a page out of the Google book, one will be subsidized through a (telecommunications) carrier and the other one will be direct through their stores,” he said.

Hon Hai will do the final assembly of the tablet, according to Kumar.

HP laptop battery Enterprise Services today announced that it has received ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management certification for the service delivery components of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI).

The certification verifies that key processes used to deliver NMCI are continually monitored and improved to support secure communication of mission-critical information. The certification applies to HP organizations and functions responsible for NMCI delivery such as solution development, end-user support as well as D5318,HD438 network operations and management.

The ISO 9001:2008 standard is a set of quality practices that ensures the use of effective processes that are consistently monitored and continually improved. As the industry standard for quality management systems, ISO 9001:2008 certification requires evaluation by an independent, accredited auditing body. Though not required by the Navy, HP obtained the ISO certification as a result of its commitment to provide more than 700,000 Navy and Marine Corps users quality non-stop access to their intranet.

The certification process required HP to implement an ISO-compliant quality management system that established a systematic approach to managing NMCI processes. BSi Management Systems, the third-party auditor, assessed processes for effectiveness as well as the team’s compliance with the established processes. The assessment focused on solution development, network monitoring, network event management, user request management, hardware installation, documentation and records management, problem prevention and correction with other quality management practices within HP’s NMCI service delivery organizations.

“Our focus on continued process improvement fosters increased consistency and efficiency, which enables the Navy and Marine Corps to have their lines of communications open across the world,” said Dennis Stolkey, senior vice president of U.S. Public Sector, HP Enterprise Services. “Obtaining ISO certification demonstrates HP’s commitment to deliver a high level of service to the KD186,GD761 Navy and Marine Corps today and in the future.”

Dell is offering Windows-Linux hybrid laptops that use both Intel and ARM processors. Though the user would never know it.

As pointed out in this EE Times report, entitled “Dell laptop battery has dragged the Linux-ARM Trojan horse inside the Wintel PC,” Dell is offering a processor-plus-OS subsystem separate from the main Windows-Intel system.

The goal is to give users instant access to e-mail without booting up the operating system and extend battery life by running Linux on a very low-power ARM processor. Basic ARM processor designs are licensed by U.K.-based ARM Holdings to companies like Samsung and Texas Instruments, which then manufacture the chip.

This ARM presentation slide indicates Linux is running on an ARM processor in Dell laptops.

(Credit: ARM)

Warren East, president and CEO of ARM, highlighted this subsystem while discussing the company’s 2008 financial results earlier this month. “(There are) interesting hybrid products where PCs are adopting ARM technology alongside Intel technology for functions such as the Internet and e-mail because that gives you much longer 6Y270,75UYF,C1295 battery life as a user,” East said during a 2008 earnings conference call.

Here’s Dell ad copy for its Latitude ON feature: “Dell Latitude ON, a new technology that will enable near-instant access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the Web without booting into the system’s main operating system (OS)…on the Latitude E4200 and E4300, Dell Latitude ON uses a dedicated low-voltage sub-processor and OS that can enable multi-day battery life.”

Hewlett-Packard offers an application called Quick Look 2 (PDF) but this works differently than Dell’s system. HP describes it as giving the user “immediate access to information from your Microsoft Office Outlook program…by proactively capturing information and storing it outside your computer’s operating system.”

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine: Sony is not only branding its own line of SD cards, but also most of its point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders for 2010 actually have combo slots that can take SD cards in addition to Sony’s hopefully-dying-soon Memory Stick Duo cards. The laptop battery company’s dSLRs have long been SD- and CompactFlash-friendly.

For the purposes of digital cameras and camcorders, Memory Stick has always been more expensive yet slower than its SD competitors. Though we long ago resigned ourselves to the knowledge that buying Sony meant buying Memory Stick, we still get e-mails from readers complaining that we fail to highlight the need for Memory Stick Duo as a “con” in our Latitude D520 battery reviews.

And that’s just the tip of the dying-media iceberg. Long in a similar position, Olympus has also added SD support to its snapshot cameras, which have been hobbled by proprietary xD-Picture Cards. While Sony and Panasonic have each announced a couple of hard-drive camcorders, no one is offering new DVD-based models, and Canon has gone completely flash. (While hard drives allow for high capacities on the cheap, hard drives are more prone to failure than most media and their relatively large size makes for bulky devices.)

In other SD news, Panasonic announced the first SDXC cards (In my CES preview, I embarrassingly predicted that we absolutely wouldn’t see any SDXC stuff, so of course it’s everywhere.) Most of the camcorders announced at the show and at least Canon’s snapshot cameras incorporate support for the new format. Panasonic’s first shipping cards will be rated Class 10 in 48GB and 64GB capacities–at admittedly high initial prices of $449.95 and $599.95, respectively–and use the company’s proprietary, error-correction optimized controller technology. They’ll be available in February. Toshiba PA3176U-1BRS also announced its 64GB SDXC card, but with a vaguer second quarter ship date and no pricing.

The SDXC format, announced a year ago, technically supports capacities up to 2TB and is theoretically capable of a bandwidth of 300 megabytes per second (should we call it “Class 300?”). Right now, no camcorders require much past Class 6-equivalent performance, including Class 10 cards with their 10 megabyte per second performance floor, but the higher capacity will certain come in handy in the interim.

The newest crop of notebooks and Netbooks are not just leaking but beginning to flood out of reseller sites. The latest: a Costco Canada posting of an upcoming Dell Inspiron laptop based on Intel’s Core i3 processor.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts on Thursday, PC makers will debut laptops using Intel’s freshly minted Core i3 processor, as was previously reported. Core i series processors are based on Intel’s Nehalem microarchitecture. The Core i3 is the first Nehalem chip targeted at mainstream and lower-cost laptops Inspiron E1705 battery.

The Dell offering, at least as posted at Costco, is a bit more expensive than other leaked models from Gateway or Hewlett-Packard, so we’ll have to see how pricing shakes out in the coming the weeks. And note that Costco lists the Intel processor as the “future Core i3 processor,” and further states that “all orders will ship the week of January 17, 2010.”

Dell Inspiron as listed by Costco:
Processor: Core i3

Display: 15.6″ TFT

Memory: 4096MB

Hard disk drive: 320GB 7200rpm

Optical drive: DVDRW

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Video card: Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator HD

Price listed by Costco: $1,029.99 Canadian dollars or about U.S.$983.

Eastman Kodak on Thursday announced that it has filed legal complaints against Apple  and Research in Motion alleging patent infringement.

The photo company claims the camera technology used in Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry to preview images infringes on a digital imaging patent owned by Kodak. In a complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Kodak is asking that certain mobile phones with digital cameras be excluded from import unless the laptop battery company can reach a fair method of compensation with Apple and RIM.

“In the case of Apple and RIM, we’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement,” said Laura Quatela, Kodak’s chief intellectual property officer, in a statement. “In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology.”

To further back up its claims, Kodak has also filed two lawsuits against Apple in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. In the first suit, Kodak is alleging that Apple is violating two patents related to image preview and the ability to process images of different resolutions Latitude D410 battery.

In the second suit, Kodak claims infringement by Apple in a process by which one computer program can call on another to carry out certain functions. The first suit relates specifically to the iPhone, while the second is being targeted against any Apple product using that specific process.

In pursuing these lawsuits, Kodak seems to have the benefit of legal precedence on its side. The patents described in the second suit were the same ones that played a role in the lawsuit that Kodak filed against Sun Microsystems in 2002. That suit alleged that certain technologies found in Sun’s Java programming environment violated three Kodak patents. After two years in the courts, the case was finally settled in favor of Kodak, which received payment from Sun in return for a license to use the Latitude D420 battery technologies in question.

In a more recent case, Kodak filed a complaint in 2008 with the ITC against Samsung, alleging that certain Samsung mobile phones equipped with cameras infringed on Kodak patents. In December, an ITC judge ruled in favor of Kodak, finding that Samsung had violated the patents. On Wednesday, the two companies apparently shook hands to set up a cross-licensing deal, thereby stopping all pending lawsuits and legal action. As a result of the settlement, Kodak will receive royalties from Samsung.

In its actions against both Apple and RIM, Kodak is seeking damages and a halt to the patent infringement but seems hopeful the cases can be settled without much legal hassle.

“We remain open to negotiating a fair and amicable agreement with both Apple and RIM, which has always been our preference and our practice with other licensees,” Quatela said. “We seek to avoid litigation in our licensing programs whenever possible. But when the infringement is persistent, we will act to defend the interests of our Latitude D430 battery shareholders and licensees, and to promote the fair compensation that is the bedrock of innovation.”

A tablet or slate computer from Apple was basically all anyone wanted to talk about, and it’s not even a confirmed product yet. As a result, Lady Gaga might be the only thing that was actually at CES 2010 that could even be described as generating large-scale buzz.

We can partly blame both Apple laptop battery and Google for this. Google sucked all the air out of the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, two days before this whole show even got started, thanks to its introduction of the Nexus One phone and accompanying online retail platform for it.

But Apple’s specter has once again haunted the show it doesn’t even attend. It seems the whole PC and consumer electronics industry is waiting with bated breath to find out if Steve Jobs’ infamous tablet/slate PC Inspiron E1405 battery really will come to fruition. We’ll find out on either January 26 or 27–reports are conflicting right now–when Apple is allegedly planning a big announcement to be held in San Francisco.

Speculation regarding such a tablet, which is believed to be a 10- or 11-inch touch-screen device with wireless connectivity and a price tag under $1,000, has been building for more than a year. And perhaps not coincidentally, a flood of news that it might be coming sometime in the early part of this year rushed out in the weeks just prior to this year’s CES. It peaked on Monday, two days before the show’s start, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the tablet, or slate, might begin shipping in March. And you could see its effects the instant the tech world started gathering in the desert for this year’s show.

You could see it in Microsoft’s keynote, where Steve Ballmer revealed a tablet from Hewlett-Packard. HP’s been making tablets for years. Why one of them was suddenly thrust into the spotlight makes more sense when you put it in context: Apple Inspiron E1505 battery might be doing a tablet, therefore there’s going to be a consumer market for it. And everyone seems to want a piece of it.

You could see it at Dell’s press conference too. Besides an announcement that their Mini 3i smartphone would be coming to AT&T, Dell’s biggest news was that they, too, might do a tablet. Vice President of Marketing Michael Tatelman held up a concept prototype device with a 5-inch touch screen, running Android software, and showed a video rendering of what the device, tentatively called the Mini5, might be able to do someday, should they actually go ahead and manufacture the thing. There may or may not be more where that came from, Tatelman cryptically told the gathering of reporters Thursday morning.

“You can imagine that there are other form factors and other screen sizes we’re working on in our labs,” he said. But, he followed it up with, “I can’t commit whether we’ll ever bring it to market or not.”

“Then why show it?” is the natural question. Likely answer: because if Apple does one, they want to be ready to respond with their own model, and of course like any company prototype, they want to show that they’re innovative and forward-thinking.

You could see it in reporters’ questions for executives. At a discussion with Sony’s chairman and CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, the third question following a discussion about 3D TVs was where an Apple A1175，A1185，A1189，M8403 tablet fit into the PC and smartphone ecosystem.

Even in the months leading up to CES, an Apple tablet was top of mind. In September an Archos exec, who was introducing an Android-based tablet of its own, told CNET they’d be glad to be in the same category as Apple because customers will follow: “We’d love Apple to be in this…they will create a market.”

This, if you’ll recall, isn’t the first time Apple’s managed to do this. When MacWorld Expo was held during the same week in January as CES 2007, Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Francisco and introduced the iPhone. People in Vegas talked about little else tech-related that whole week.

This time, however, might be an even bigger feat. This time, Apple’s managed to turn the attention of the entire tech world away from tech’s biggest stage without actually doing or saying anything.

Dell’s presser this morning had its biggest highlights with the Alienware M11x and the secret 5-inch Android tablet, but other products managed to get revealed as well.

Dell being Dell, the variety of configurations in the Inspiron 14, 15 and 17-inch lineup remains massive, but most importantly the laptops are shifting to Core i3 and i5 processors inside. Dell promises better battery life and improved performance in a chassis that more closely resembles a thin-and-light.

Since Intel’s announcement, Core i3 and i5 machines have been popping up everywhere, but Dell also promised that future iterations of the Inspiron and Studio line will continue to evolve in distinct design and function directions: Inspirons will be aimed at media consumption, while Studios will be targeted at media creators. Dell’s Core i5 Inspirons are available immediately, while the Core i3 models will be available in a few weeks.

In other news, the Mini 10 lineup has been updated with next-gen Atom N450 processors. Added HD video acceleration and higher-res 10.1 inch screens should help the Mini 10 be a better video-streaming and HD video-viewing device, and an added digital TV tuner option will only add to its mobile couch-potato appeal. A new design format also tucks the GD761,Y9943,FK890,GK479 battery behind the screen with a “hinge-forward” design, giving the Mini 10 a flatter bottom and eliminating some Netbook battery bulge.

IBM laptop battery for 17 consecutive years as the world’s largest companies to obtain U.S. patents in 2009, received 4914 patents. With Samsung’s patented 3611 performance ranked second, Microsoft ranked third last year, received 2906 patents.

IBM founder John • Gaunard (John Gunnels) last year, only to apply for an invention patent, the invention ensure that Blue Gene supercomputer, the internal communication network functioning properly.

IBM currently has more than 30,000 U.S. patents. In addition to last year, the company said the number of patents VGP-BPS8,VGP-BPS8A about to break through 5,000 mark for the other, issued unaffected invention patent protection nearly 4,000 items, these technical innovations are available for free use of others for more technological innovation.

IBM in this area so superior, perhaps it can be to obtain a patent for their own know-how to apply for a patent. But in fact, IBM did not stop there.

This week, the company said it would sell two of its patent document management software. The software can help companies evaluate their existing patent documents, to seek opportunities for new patents, and patent strategy adjustment according to the business. IBM R & D staff use this proprietary software to analyze the company’s product documentation.

At the same time, IBM said it would share the company’s patent experts to provide clients on the establishment and management of product patents and intellectual property advice and training.

“We are opening up our technology, intellectual property and patent management software, because the customers want in-depth understanding of how to effectively establish and manage the patent and intellectual property files.” IBM Director of Intellectual Property is responsible for research and development vice president Kevin • Reardon (Kevin Reardon ) said, “This is in line with the company’s commitment: In the field of patents and intellectual property to build an atmosphere of collaboration with others.”

IFI Patent Intelligence research institutions (IFI Patent Intelligence) Tuesday said that foreign companies last year received 51% of U.S. patents VGP-BPS9,VGP-BPS9/B,VGP-BPS9/S, slightly better than 49% of U.S. companies. This is already the second year slightly down from U.S. companies to overseas firms.

However, some U.S. companies in 2009 received more patents than the previous year. Microsoft ranked third, the number of patents received in 2008 more than 43%. Last year’s largest number of patents in the top 50 companies, Boeing in 2009 the number of patents 26 percent over the previous year, Cisco was the number of patents increased 43% over the previous year, General Motors last year’s number of patents increased 68%.

Both the U.S. and overseas companies, are increasingly seeking to obtain a patent to protect intellectual property rights. Darleen, general manager of IFI Patent Intelligence • Si Luote (Darlene Slaughter) said: “protecting the company’s intellectual property rights in the United States and other countries are increasingly important, thus we also see the patent business. Makes good news is that overseas companies the importance of the U.S. patent to prove the value and importance of the U.S. market. “

Dell leaders today will tell investors and others that the company’s integration of Perot Systems into a broader Dell Services organization is progressing well, and will benefit customers by making information-technology solutions easier to access and simpler to manage.

“Dell now has a comprehensive and growing set of leading solutions that meet customer needs, so they can manage their IT most efficiently,” said Peter Altabef, president of Dell Services. “The Dell Inspiron 5150 battery,Inspiron 5160 battery,Inspiron 6000 battery Services and Perot heritage of strong customer focus positions us extremely well to help customers of all types and sizes use IT to solve problems and derive the best value for their technology investments.”

According to Mr. Altabef, Dell Services is focused on combining its knowledge of different industries and requirements, together with Dell’s technology-platform expertise, to help customers succeed in:

Reducing labor requirements by increasing automation;
Applying appropriate “IT-as-a-service” models;
Performing IT-related tasks—or having them done by Dell—remotely wherever possible; and
Increasingly doing all of this based on technology industry standards.
Dell acquired Perot Systems on Nov. 3, in the process extending the reach of Dell Services into consulting, applications, business-process outsourcing and hosting. The combination immediately expanded Dell’s already significant range of managed and modular services, and makes all existing and future capabilities available to Dell’s large global customer base.

Mr. Altabef; Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer; Steve Schuckenbrock, president, Large Enterprises; and Paul Bell, president, Public, are to update investors and equity analysts on the progress of the integration in an 8 a.m. EST conference call today.

Dell will consolidate financial results from Perot Systems beginning with Dell’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ends Jan. 29. The company expects Q4 revenue from the former Perot Systems business to be similar to what Perot reported in its third quarter, though there is typically some seasonal softness in the fourth quarter.

Dell expects to recognize an estimated pretax expense of $120-130 million in the fourth quarter, and about $20-25 million per quarter throughout fiscal year 2011, for costs related to the Perot Systems acquisition. Dell anticipates amortization of intangibles related to the acquisition will be about $40-50 million in the fourth quarter as well as in each quarter of fiscal year 2011, in addition to the $40 million in amortization Dell typically reports in a quarter.

Separately, Dell said it will incur combined, pretax organizational-effectiveness expenses of $80-120 million in the fourth quarter resulting from the transfer of its Poland manufacturing facility, together with additional optimization of facilities, products and processes.

Additional information about the integration of Perot Systems and separate organizational effectiveness is available in the conference presentation.

Dell plans to report fourth-quarter financial results on Feb. 18.