NetbookTech

Lenovo introduces several new enhancements to their IdeaPad S10 netbook today including new Quick Start capability, facial recognition software, and easy access to Lenovo’s social networking community.

Lenovo is adding a new Quick Start feature to the IdeaPad S10 which allows users the ability to access a number of frequently used applications including a web browser, music player, photo viewer, instant messaging tools, and Skype.

To help users easily log into their netbook, Lenovo is now bundling VeriFace facial recognition software with the S10 – allowing users to log into their system simply by using their webcam and face. Existing S10 owners can download VeriFace from the Lenovo website now.

Finally for consumers new to social networking, Lenovo introduces a new pre-loaded tool called “LenovoSocial” allowing users to easily connect to an online resource portal helping them to navigate and participate in social networking communities.

MSI Wind owners who want or are running OS X on their respective netbooks have one more reason to celebrate. Official drivers for the Realtek Wi-Fi card have finally emerged although they are not available directly from Realtek. The drivers are currently floating around in the MSIWind.net forums and also available for download here and here. Cool stuff.

[Check it out via SlashGear]

Have netbook, will install OS X right? Of course! That’s exactly what the folks at Wired.com did with their new Samsung NC10 loaner (with permission from Samsung). They used similar steps to installing OS X on the MSI Wind and presto – OS X on the NC 10.

Now of course, all is not perfect in the OS X/NC10 world – here are some problems that are listed in the Wired.com article:

• USB ports no longer work
• Wi-Fi does not work
• Headphone port does not work

It’s no small secret that the NC10 is my favorite netbook to date – mostly due to the wonderful keyboard – a keyboard that’s arguably even better than the MSI Wind keyboard! Yes.. I am late with my reviews tho.. stay tuned!

[Check it out]

So you got yourself a brand new netbook on Black Friday and you’re wondering – where do I go from here? Well the folks at GigaOM have published an article detailing “10 ways to trick out your netbook for free.”

Free you say? It only makes sense of course. Why pay so little for a fully functional computer only to then pay so much for application software? If you look around, there’s plenty of free and wonderful software for both Windows and Linux.

Some of the applications listed by the GigaOM article include OpenOffice, PortableApps, Google Chrome, and of VLC Media Player.

My personal favorite is RocketDock which provides an OS X like launcher on your desktop.

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PC World reports some interesting news coming out of the first ever Netbook World Summit being held in Paris today. Linux distributor Good OS and BIOS developer Phoenix Technologies both have plans on improving the performance of netbook systems – albeit in slightly different ways.

First off, Good OS talked up their upcoming “Cloud” product which allows users to perform most of their “rich client applications from within the browser.” According to Good OS Founder and CEO David Liu, the upcoming Cloud system “combines a compressed Linux kernel with a browser modified to play media files, make phone calls and set up the computer’s network connection.”

You’ll be able to access functions, applications through a line of icons at the bottom of the browser window – somewhat like the Mac OS X Dock. Browser tabs make it easy for user’s to differentiate different tasks or applications. Netbook manufacturers can also have the option of loading up a real OS on their netbook – such as Linux or Windows.

Features of Cloud include:

• Web browser with Icon Dock Inside
• Network Manager
• Power Button
• Boot to Window XP/Vista or Linux OS
• Battery Life Indicator
• Volume Controls
• My Files & Viewers

Liu mentioned that Gigabyte plans on showing off a Tablet styled netbook at CES 2009 running both Cloud and Windows XP.

Meanwhile, Phoenix Technologies is looking to both decrease the time it takes for you to do something useful on your netbook and improve overall battery life on the system.

Through the use of its HyperSpace virtualization software, the company is looking to provide netbook users a way to interact with their netbook while it boots up an OS like Windows or Linux. For Phoenix, it’s all about instant-on capabilities for the netbook. You’ll be able to run applications such as browsers, media players, VoIP, and email within 10 to 15 seconds of turning on your netbook while Windows continues to boot in the background.

On the power efficiency route, Phoenix is looking at how to apply more aggressive power management techniques including ways to shut down unused components that could potentially provide upwards to an hour of extra battery life while users are surfing the web. Like Good OS, Phoenix plans on showing off their new software at CES 2009 (which we’ll be at so look out for coverage on this).

You can read more about this at PC World.com

Another adventurous soul has gone ahead and installed the Windows 7 pre-beta on a netbook system. This time it’s David Meyer over at ZDNet UK and the target system is the Apricot PicoBook Pro netbook. Here’s a brief excerpt from the posting:

“Up and running, and with reasonable speed, too. I haven’t tried sticking Vista on the Apricot PicoBook Pro - I’m fairly confident it would be a disaster - but Windows 7 actually seems to work on the bloody thing!”

This isn’t too surprising considering many other users have reported similar experiences on their respective netbook systems. The best part is – Windows 7 is a long way from being feature complete and optimized. I expect good things to come for the OS and netbook systems!

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ARM and Canonical Ltd announced a new alliance last week to bring the Ubuntu Desktop OS to the ARMv7 processor architecture. According to the Canonical press release,

“The combination of a commercially supported, optimized Ubuntu distribution for ARM, together with Canonical’s ability to tailor solutions to specific ARM technology-based devices and OEM requirements, ensures that highly-optimized systems can be rapidly deployed into the fast growing mobile computing market.”

The new OS version will target the ARMv7 architecture including the upcoming ARM Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 processors which are expected in next generation netbook devices.

With this alliance in place, netbook manufacturers can now potentially develop netbook devices leveraging both ARM processors as well as a full blown Ubuntu Linux OS optimized for the platform. This is exactly what ARM needs if they intend to be a force in the netbook marketplace.

[Check it out via NetworkWorld]

While we may not see an actual Apple branded netbook system anytime soon, this certainly hasn’t deterred folks from installing OS X on a netbook system. However, at least one person has taken this a step further by not only installing OS X but also physically modifying an MSI Wind netbook – making it look like what a possible Apple netbook could look like (if they would only make one of course). The end result? Say hello to the “MacBook Nano”.

The transformation process from an MSI Wind to the “MacBook Nano” also happens to be documented pictorially on Flickr.com. Very cool stuff though ..I can’t say that I will ever spend the time to do something like this.

[Check it out via eWeek, MacRumors.com]

Is Linux on netbooks doomed? That’s the question posed by two new articles hitting the net – one over at the Industry Standard entitled “Netbooks: An opportunity for Windows, and a threat to Linux” and the other over at InformationWeek entitled “Linux on Netbooks: Doomed Already?”.  The basic argument isn’t exactly new here. Consumer demand and familiarity with Windows is helping to drive the platform’s popularity over Linux – despite the fact that Linux offers flexibility and of course, a free/low cost platform.

Ian Lamont of the Industry Standard also points out that Microsoft is making a concerted effort to ensure Windows 7 runs well on netbooks. The company might not be able to sell Vista on netbooks but they’ll be damned if they’re not going to make Windows 7 work well for these systems. 

All of this points to a possible decreasing demand for Linux enabled netbooks (notice we’re not saying that Linux itself will become unpopular – just for netbook systems). Sure, Linux will certainly remain popular with computing enthusiasts and do-it-yourselfers but the average Joe will likely opt for a Windows equipped netbook than a Linux variant.

Yet Serdar Yegulalp points out an important aspect of Linux – the OS provides “a far greater degree of malleability than with Windows.” Unfortunately we’ve yet to see the “malleability” fully realized on the netbook platform. Most vendors have have failed to add the extra oomph to the table - instead opting for simple user interface enhancements such as a simplified launch-pad UI or large visual icons on top of an otherwise complex OS.

There is hope though – one company that seems to have slowly paved the way for innovations with Linux is HP with their recently announced Mini 1000 MIE. The company announced that they not only created a new user interface on top of Linux, but they’re focused their efforts around digital content – making it easier for users to readily access music, videos, photos, email, the web, etc.

That’s a step in the right direction.

What we need now is innovation from the Linux front. In order for Linux to stand out ahead of Windows on the netbook platform, hardware vendors need to think outside of the box. Linux provides many unique opportunities that are simply not addressable with Windows. As Mr. Yegulalp points out, you could make “instant-on” a real possibility with Linux and netbooks. This would certainly be out of the question with Windows. How cool would it be for you to simply flip open your netbook and be up and running in 2-3 seconds?

Companies can also rethink how they shape netbook systems. Why stick with a clamshell design? How about creating inexpensive netbooks using a slider design? How about adding extensive touch capabilities into Linux – turning it into an awesome touch platform for vertical markets.

The ultimate goal here is for IHVs would be to play up to Linux’s strengths and not expose its weaknesses through poor user interfaces and difficult setups. Linux is certainly not dead on netbooks although it is possibly facing a decline in popularity. If there’s ever a time to think outside of the box for Linux, it would be now.

WinHEC just finished last week and News.com has some interesting additional tidbits about Windows 7 – especially with how it relates to netbooks.

First off, a Microsoft rep at the show floor portion of WinHEC confirmed that there would be a “lite” version of Windows 7 for netbooks. A trade show picture shows a booth with the title “Windows 7 for Netbooks” although it’s not clear if this is the working title for the lite version.

As expressed at the PDC and now at WinHEC, one of the design goals for Windows 7 is to shrink down resource consumption – making sure it will run on all platforms – from low end netbooks/nettops to high end server boxes. Given that Microsoft would love to see the death of Windows XP, making sure Windows 7 works well on a netbook seems like an obvious path for the company.

The same rep stated that the lite version of 7 would run on 1GB of memory and 16GB of SSD. You can bet that the OS will be optimized for SSD platforms too.

Also, to no one’s surprise, expect dual core Atom netbook systems at some point next year. The interviewed Microsoft rep stated that vendors would indeed be rolling out dual core Atom netbooks – even if they were going to use processors designed for nettop systems. Be damned Intel! (OK, I added that one). While vendors wait for a mobile dual core Atom, it makes complete sense for them to utilize the desktop version – especially if the market demand is there.

I’m just salivating at the thought of carrying around a sub-3 lb, sub $500 dollar dual core Atom netbook.

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