Just finished to watch Hugo Ortega's video presenting HTC Shift and I must admit I like the HTC idea of bringing to us an UMPC (Ultra-mobile computer) which has 2 processors and 2 operating systems working independently on board.

Is the UMPC form factor market ready to take-off soon ?
Is the double O/S option chosen by HTC the winning one ?

A recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The UMD worldwide forecast is for more than 8 million units in 2011.
• 2008-2010 will be key years for the development of a market inflection point of anytime/anywhere wireless connectivity that is necessary for widespread adoption of the UMD paradigm.

Some specifications: 

• Size: 19 x 13.5 x 3cm
• Weight: 0.9 kg 0.791 kg
• 7 inches display
• Resolution : 800×480 - 1024×600
• Operating Systems : Windows Mobile 6 & Windows Vista Business
• CPU's : Qualcomm 400 MHz for WM6 & Dual Core 800 MHz Intel A110 for Vista
• 7 days battery capacity running on WM6 only. 3 hours on Windows Vista
• Ram Memory : 1 GB
• Hard Drive : 40 GB
• Communication : WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0,
• Phone data : Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE - Tri-Band UMTS/HSPDA
• 1.3 MB built-in camera
• 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 VGA port
• 1 Finger print reader
• 1 SD Card reader
• Slide out Tilt display
• Price tag : 1200 euros (?)
• Availability : Q3 2007

The very interesting concept is the possibility to switch from one environment (e.g WM6) to the second one (Vista Business) and back in just the press of a button. Input can be done either using the QWERTY keyboard or the hand-witting recognition system.

Streaming video is available on Gottatobemobile.com or there is a 250 MB video available for download here.

Shift on HTC website  

Tags: 2007, 2008, 24, 802.11, arc, ATT, availability, blog, camera, capacity, card, card reader, ces, communication, computer, connectivity, development, forecast, gsm, htc, HTC shift, ia, im, IT World, keyboard, King, lan, memory, MIT, mobile, Mobile Communications, nomadcom.net, nyt, pda, phone, press, reader, resolution, search, shift, space, Telecommunications, ultra-mobile, UMPC, usb, video, vista, web, website, wifi, windows, windows mobile 6, windows vista, wireless, WM6, world, worldwide, wp, www

There were in May 2007 284 millions Internet users in Asia, according comScore study, who are online an average of 20.2 hours and view 2171 pages per month while the worldwide average is 25.2 hours and 2519 pages.

Asia region represents the third of the Worldwide Internet population. China leads with 91.5 millions users (they only represent 9% of the country's population), followed by Japan (53 million) and South Korea (26.3 million). Internet users of these 3 countries represent, all together, 60% of all Asia-Pacific Internet users.

In term of usage rate, South Korea in on the top with 65%, closely followed by Australia (62%), New Zeland (60%) and Hong Kong (59%), India is at the rear with only 3%.

If Google is the most popular web site worldwide, ComScore's study shows that in Asia Yahoo remains the prefered site in Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Meanwhile, Microsoft domains are the most visited in Australia, China, and New Zealand, with the Seoul-based NHN Corporation taking top honors in South Korea.

Source: The Register

Tags: 2007, asia, asia pacific, blog, gap, google, ia, im, internet, japan, King, lan, microsoft, nomadcom.net, online, population, sco, space, study, taiwan, term, the register, uk, USA, usage, user, web, world, worldwide, wp, www, yahoo

As advertising on Fon web pages says it :

• At home you're a "Wi-Fi King"
• Away you become a "Wi-Fi beggar" 
  (or sometime even a Wi-Fi thief)

  so, why not to

• Share some Wi-Fi at home
• and get free WiFi access wherever you find a FON Wi-Fi access point (+360'000 members worldwide)

 

 That's the concept of Fon Movimiento but you can find more details on Fon pages or Wikipedia.

Hardware requirement :  

Benefits :

• Cheap wireless AP (with an "easy to get" voucher or invitation) : 20€ with shipping included.
• You're a Linus and get free access to others FON Wi-Fi access points
• You're a Bill and get 50% of the fees, currently $3.00, charged to Aliens (non FON members) for a day pass to connect through their route.

Risks :

• Your ISP may not like it, even if on their side they sell unsecured access point. So, it's up to you.. ask your ISP if you can share your connection.. or don't !   

Installation :

• Sign On Fon.com and order your Fonera
• Once you have it, connect it to your Internet router
• From your computer connect to the open FON_AP wireless network
• Launch your browser, you're automatically transfered to fon.com pages.
• Log On, change settings of your Fonera (password, SSID, WPA Key, etc..)
• Restart the Fonera or wait 24 hours
• Connect to your newly created wireless private network (by default named "my place").
• That's it… the whole process took about 10 minutes. 

Tags: 2007, 24, 802.11, access, advertising, art, blog, ces, community, computer, connection, find, fon, fon movimiento, fonera, fonero, free, Great Ideas, ia, im, install, internet, Internet World, King, lan, launch, map, minutes, mobile, Mobile Communications, network, Nomad Tools, nomadcom.net, On The Road, Our World, password, risk, safe, share, shared, space, telecom, Telecommunications, thief, Travel, web, website, wi fi, wifi, wireless, wordwide, world, worldwide, wp, www