last100 » HP http://www.last100.com Tracking the digital lifestyle Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:31:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 Don’t buy a Netbook pleads PC industry http://www.last100.com/2008/07/21/dont-buy-a-netbook-pleads-pc-industry/ http://www.last100.com/2008/07/21/dont-buy-a-netbook-pleads-pc-industry/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:17:32 +0000 Steve O'Hear http://www.last100.com/?p=2207 It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Netbook, an emerging new product category of low-cost and ultra-portable notebooks. But it seems many in the PC industry aren’t.

Initially targeted at the education market or those wanting a third machine, Netbooks are resonating with a much broader market — and not just because of their lower price point compared to more traditional and higher specced sub-notebooks. Despite years of industry propaganda, consumers are wising up to the fact that they don’t have to step on to the processor upgrade treadmill. Instead, in an age where more and more of our applications and data resides in the cloud (on remote servers, rather than stored locally), a machine with Internet connectivity and one that is powerful enough to run a modern web browser – that’s a Netbook by the way – is often all that we need.

This has put the industry on the back foot, reports The New York Times, since the sale of Netbooks produce significantly smaller margins and could unintentionally cannibalize existing and much more profitable product lines. Although the Netbook was pioneered by smaller players such as Asus and Everex who have a lot less to lose, many of the industry’s major PC manufacturers, but not all, have since released or announced their own Netbook efforts, notes the report. Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Dell are in, while Sony and Fujitsu are sitting it out for now.

“We’re sitting on the sidelines not because we’re lazy. We’re sitting on the sidelines because even if this category takes off, and we get our piece of the pie, it doesn’t add up,” Fujitsu’s Paul Moore tells the Times. “It’s a product that essentially has no margin.”

See also: I’ve jumped on the Netbook bandwagon (MSI Wind U100 / Advent 4211 review)

The problem for Fujitsu and Sony, along with companies who have jumped on board, is that the Netbook pie could get pretty big. Market research firm IDC has predicted that the category “could grow from fewer than 500,000 in 2007 to nine million in 2012 as the market for second computers expands in developed economies”, while Intel is being much more bullish. The company estimates that 40 million units will ship a year by 2011, which makes it all the more curious that last week Intel was heard talking down the version of its Atom chip designed specifically to power Netbooks.

During a conference call with analysts and the press, Intel CEO Paul Otellini was quoted as saying: “(Atom) is less than a third the performance of our Centrino (processor). You’re dealing with something that most of us wouldn’t use.” This is from the company who, along with the Taiwan-based Via, has done the most to define the Netbook category.

A product it now seems that Intel, along with many in the PC industry, would rather you didn’t buy.

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]]> http://www.last100.com/2008/07/21/dont-buy-a-netbook-pleads-pc-industry/feed/ 14 Win a HP HDX Dragon 20inch notebook; name your top five digital lifestyle products and services http://www.last100.com/2008/05/16/win-a-hp-hdx-dragon-20inch-notebook-name-your-top-five-digital-lifestyle-products-and-services/ http://www.last100.com/2008/05/16/win-a-hp-hdx-dragon-20inch-notebook-name-your-top-five-digital-lifestyle-products-and-services/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 11:27:07 +0000 Steve O'Hear http://www.last100.com/?p=1874 Please note: the competition is now closed. The winner has been announced.

The 31 Days of the Dragon giveaway continues, and today it’s our turn.

To qualify for a chance of winning a top of the line HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook loaded with features and software — 20.1″ display, Intel Core 2 Extreme x9000, 4GB of Ram, Blu-Ray drive and lots more including a good few games and Blu-Ray movies to get you started (total retail price approx $5,000) — you’ll need to do the following:

  1. Leave a comment on this post listing your top five digital lifestyle products and/or services. They don’t need to all be products you own, and they could be digital lifestyle services you use, but they must all be currently available. It would also be useful to add in brackets what they do (see example below).
  2. Make sure you leave a working email address in the ‘email’ field of the comments form.
  3. You may only enter once.
  4. If you are the winner and based in the U.S. you must be willing to file a tax return form with Buzz Corps who are administrating the competition. However, they will issue a check to offset the taxes in the U.S. relating to the prize.
  5. After seven days from this post, the winner will be chosen randomly from all complete entries.
  6. Our decision is final and we reserve the right to change the rules if there has been an omission on our part or we suspect unfair conduct on the part of an entrant.

As an example, my top five current digital lifestyle products and services are:

  • iPod touch
  • BBC iPlayer (for iPhone/iPod touch)
  • PlayStayion 3
  • Zattoo (Live TV on a PC)
  • Pandora (Internet radio)

Good luck!

Other sites where you can still enter the Dragon…

09 May – 16 May www.thedigitallifestyle.com
10 May – 17 May www.digitalhomethoughts.com
11 May – 18 May www.windows-now.com
12 May – 19 May www.windowsconnected.com
13 May – 20 May www.geekstogo.com
14 May – 21 May bink.nu
15 May – 22 May www.mediablab.com
16 May – 23 May www.last100.com
17 May – 24 May www.labnol.org
18 May – 25 May www.notebooks.com
19 May – 26 May www.slashdotreview.com
20 May – 27 May www.neowin.net
21 May – 28 May www.geek.com
22 May – 29 Mau www.lockergnome.com
23 May – 30 May www.planetx64.com
24 May – 31 May www.thegreenbutton.com
25 May – 01 Jun www.istartedsomething.com
26 May – 02 Jun www.bleepingcomputer.com
27 May – 03 Jun www.hardwaregeeks.com
28 May – 04 Jun www.geeknewscentral.com
29 May – 05 Jun www.geekzone.co.nz
30 May – 06 Jun www.thetabletpc.net
31 May – 07 Jun www.gearlive.com
01 Jun – 08 Jun www.gottabemobile.com

Please note: the competition is now closed. The winner has been announced.

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]]> http://www.last100.com/2008/05/16/win-a-hp-hdx-dragon-20inch-notebook-name-your-top-five-digital-lifestyle-products-and-services/feed/ 1393 YouTube continues to invade the living room, now supported by HP MediaSmart TVs and set-top box http://www.last100.com/2008/05/06/youtube-continues-to-invade-the-living-room-now-supported-by-hp-mediasmart-tvs-and-set-top-box/ http://www.last100.com/2008/05/06/youtube-continues-to-invade-the-living-room-now-supported-by-hp-mediasmart-tvs-and-set-top-box/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 16:54:00 +0000 Steve O'Hear http://www.last100.com/?p=1824 HP has become the latest company to bring YouTube into the living room.

Owners of HP’s line of Internet-connected MediaSmart High Definition TVs, and the yet-to-be-released MediaSmart Connect set-top box, will soon be able to enjoy content from the Google-owned video sharing site “full screen” on their HDTVs, as well as log-in to their YouTube account via remote to share videos and playlists with other users.

From the press release:

“With the addition of YouTube to the HP MediaSmart platform, consumers will have even more ways to enjoy the latest entertainment on the Internet,” said Carlos Montalvo, vice president of marketing and services, Connected Entertainment Business, HP. “Bringing YouTube to HP MediaSmart products will let users browse and select a series of videos, then relax and enjoy the show on their big screens.”

YouTube joins a number of Web services already supported by HP’s MediaSmart products, including the movie download store CinemaNow, photo publishing site Snapfish, and Internet radio provider Live365. Additionally, the MediaSmart range of devices can also operate as an “Extender for Media Center” to enable media to be streamed from a PC to the television.

HP joins a number of companies offering a way to watch YouTube content on a TV, including Apple (AppleTV), TiVo, and D-Link (Active TV). And at this year’s CES, Panasonic announced a partnership with Google to develop TVs that pull in content from a number of Google services including YouTube. There is of course also the Ninendo Wii game console, with its support for Flash Video.

(via NewTeeVee)

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]]> http://www.last100.com/2008/05/06/youtube-continues-to-invade-the-living-room-now-supported-by-hp-mediasmart-tvs-and-set-top-box/feed/ 0 “31 Days of the Dragon”, a super duper HP notebook giveaway http://www.last100.com/2008/04/28/31-days-of-the-dragon-a-super-duper-hp-notebook-giveway/ http://www.last100.com/2008/04/28/31-days-of-the-dragon-a-super-duper-hp-notebook-giveway/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:32:06 +0000 Steve O'Hear http://www.last100.com/?p=1796 We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been selected to be one of thirty one blogs taking part in a super duper giveaway courtesy of HP. Dubbed “The 31 Days of the Dragon“, beginning this week 31 blogs that cover gadgets and the digital lifestyle will start giving away a HP HDX Dragon 20inch notebook each, loaded with “stuff”, every day for 31 days. The HP HDX dragon is a seriously high-end entertainment machine, and not for the feint hearted, sporting a 20.1″ display, Intel Core 2 Extreme x9000, 4GB of Ram, Blu-Ray drive and lots more including a good few games and Blu-Ray movies to get you started (total retail price approx $5,000).

Please note: the competition is now closed.

The winner has been announced.

Each participating blog will be running its own contest (with total freedom to set to the rules) that will be open for seven days with the first contest kicking off this Friday (May 2nd).

More importantly, last100 will open its giveaway on the 16th of May (a Friday), with the winner announced one week later. You’ll have to wait till then to find out how you can enter, but rest assured it should be fun and relatively painless :-)

One of the main points of the giveaway for each of the participating blogs is to share a little link love and introduce our respective readers to some great sites. On the list are a few of my own favorites including jkOnTheRun (”… using mobile devices since they weighed 30lbs”). Check out the full list below, and be sure to visit each site on their designated giveaway day!

Full list of sites participating:

02 May – 09 May www.absolutevista.com
03 May – 10 May www.arstechnica.com
04 May – 11 May www.osnn.net
05 May – 12 May www.jkontherun.com
06 May – 13 May digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com
07 May – 14 May www.bostonpocketpc.com and www.techronical.com
08 May – 15 May www.the-gadgeteer.com
09 May – 16 May www.thedigitallifestyle.com
10 May – 17 May www.digitalhomethoughts.com
11 May – 18 May www.windows-now.com
12 May – 19 May www.windowsconnected.com
13 May – 20 May www.geekstogo.com
14 May – 21 May bink.nu
15 May – 22 May www.mediablab.com
16 May – 23 May www.last100.com
17 May – 24 May www.labnol.org
18 May – 25 May www.notebooks.com
19 May – 26 May www.slashdotreview.com
20 May – 27 May www.neowin.net
21 May – 28 May www.geek.com
22 May – 29 Mau www.lockergnome.com
23 May – 30 May www.planetx64.com
24 May – 31 May www.thegreenbutton.com
25 May – 01 Jun www.istartedsomething.com
26 May – 02 Jun www.bleepingcomputer.com
27 May – 03 Jun www.hardwaregeeks.com
28 May – 04 Jun www.geeknewscentral.com
29 May – 05 Jun www.geekzone.co.nz
30 May – 06 Jun www.thetabletpc.net
31 May – 07 Jun www.gearlive.com
01 Jun – 08 Jun www.gottabemobile.com

Note: each blog will run their own competition, so there will be different rules for each site. You should visit each site and look for more information there. If there is no competition information live yet, then please visit the sites again later between those dates listed above. It is recommended you subscribe to their RSS feeds to make sure you don’t miss any information about their contests.

This competition comes to you thanks to HP and BuzzCorps.

31 Days of the Dragon OPML is available with a list of all RSS feeds available.
31 Days of the Dragon network RSS feed is available with an aggregate of participating sites.

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