Intel shows off 'giant iPod Touch'
Smartphones and MIDs just too darn small for you? Apply within
Intel demo'd what one staffer called a "giant iPod Touch" at the chip giant's gathering of Taiwanese developers this week.
The inflated tablet is based around an 11.1in touch-sensitive display and Intel's small form-factor Core 2 Duo processors - the same chips found in the MacBook Air and other ultra-skinny laptops.
Intel's UrbanMax: you point, but does it click?
Intel's offering is, of course, merely a concept, developed to encourage the company's customers to steer their own product design efforts. This one's called Urban Max, which implies folk carry these things around town centres, tuning in to the wireless internet and playing HD video.
No, we're not convinced either. Most people seem happy enough with devices like the Touch, the iPhone and the growing array of rival touchscreen handsets.
And it's not as if Intel's Mobile Internet Device (MID) notion has taken off in a big way - or at all - let alone a machine with a notebook-size screen, notebook-class processor, high-capacity SSD and probably Windows Vista.
COMMENTS
OS
If I am correct which admittedly is unusual they run Ubuntu MID
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile
I've looked into it myself for a carpc but it was a bit clunky then, these would be ideal for in car computers and as wall mounted media centres. Not really for jogging round the park or catching the bus through some areas though. Bring on the innovations I say :)
@Jolyon
Surely your money would be better spent moving to a nicer neighbourhood than buying an iPhone?
Now if they could just...
Now if they could just combine it with a mid-80's gi-normous boombox, that would truly be the thing to "carry around the town center"
*BTW, it's easy enough to turn off the mouse pointer if you so desire.
Mine's the one with the 12 D batteries in the pockets.
Looks cool!
Sure, as a portable device it's ridiculous - no-one's going to want to lug that thing around. But as a simple to use, touch-screen media centre it would be amazing. It's irritating that no company makes something like this. I just want a device I can plug into an amp and speakers and play MP3s. Bundle this thing with a remote control and sell it for a netbook price and you've got a winner.
Microsoft Origami Experience Pack
Judging from the screen displayed in the picture, that appears to be the Origami Experience, designed for Ultra-Mobile PCs but available to pretty much anyone running any with Vista, as long as it's not Home Basic (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b0edd346-75ba-4185-b6aa-0a49940afbde&DisplayLang=en).
I've tried it out on my mid-range laptop (Turion 64 X2 @ 1.9GHz, 2GB DDR2 677), and for what it is, it was a bit too sluggish, though good in concept? It more or less combines Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, and a few other gadgets into an interface somewhat similar to Media Center.
Long story short, yes, it is running Windows Vista.
