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Sneak peek: What we expect to see at PC Expo |
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John Morris and Josh Taylor Contributing Editors, AnchorDesk Friday, June 21, 2002 |
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You can't have an industry trade show without Microsoft touting tablet PCs. It seems like we were both in Pampers when we first started hearing about the devices, though it appears that Microsoft may deliver its new Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system before we enter our Depends stage. The company is expected to take the wraps off the new OS on Tuesday, according to ZDNet News. While you may remember we were underwhelmed by our first encounter with a prototype tablet PC, we will certainly have more to say on the topic in the days ahead. New Pocket PCs
On the heels of Toshiba's introduction of its new Pocket PC e740, Compaq is expected to unveil a pair of new iPaq handhelds, which, like the e740, use Intel's new XScale processor. While ZDNet's handheld guru, Colin Duwe, didn't notice any significant performance improvements, XScale processors are more power-efficient, which should yield better battery life. No word yet on whether Palm will be offering sneak peeks at new Palm OS 5.0 devices that will use a more powerful StrongARM processor--but we can always hope. Home entertainment hubs
Come on boys and girls, let's say it together now: C-O-N-V-E-R-G-E-N-C-E. This week Toshiba announced its Magnia SG20 Wireless Media Center, which we hope to check out in person next week. Using 802.11b wireless networking technology, the SG20 is in essence a combo Internet gateway and media-sharing server, which will allow home users to share their broadband Internet connections, as well as store their music, video, and other data on a single system. Given Toshiba's recent announcement that they'll be licensing TiVo's software, we would not be surprised to see digital video recorder (DVR) functionality at some point as well. We'll also be meeting with the folks at Microsoft around town to check out some of their new home products, including Mira and Freestyle. Mira, which was first previewed at January's Consumer Electronics Show, is expected to be available in a number of forms, including a tablet-style flat-panel display. However, unlike Tablet PCs, Mira is not a full-blown PC, but rather a "smart display" that can be used to access a PC wirelessly. Freestyle, on the other hand, is a collection of features intended to make the PC an all-in-one home entertainment center. Since home entertainment devices such as DVRs and digital audio jukeboxes continue to become more and more like PCs, it's not surprising that Microsoft feels the need to defend its turf. For us, it's not a question of if people are going to want a single entertainment hub to control their DVD viewing, TV recording, and music listening, but rather when the technology and, perhaps more importantly, the user interface, will be ready for mainstream users. Digital video
A new addition to PC Expo this year, DV Expo is a show-within-a-show devoted to digital video hardware and software. It will feature exhibitors such as Canon, JVC, Panasonic, Pinnacle, Sharp, Sony, and Ulead. On the hardware front, we expect to see new DV camcorders, and on the software front, consumer and professional applications for DVD authoring. Speaking of DVD authoring, DVD recordable drives should again be a hot topic this year, as competing formats square off in round two. A group called the Recordable DVD Council will hold a press conference to show off real hardware and software that supports DVD Multi format, which combines DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. These new products will be competing with recently released drives from the likes of HP, Philips, and Sony that offer DVD+RW and DVD+R. You can check out reviews of some of these new drives here. Which upcoming technologies and products are you most excited about? Do any of these we mentioned make it on your list? TalkBack to us!
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