Interesting reading from PC World / IDG News on Microsoft's ULCPC program, and their decision to exclude touch screens from the ULCPC effort. It is quite puzzling to me why Microsoft would exclude touch screens from the ULCPC area. JKKMobile offers up his own commentary.

Here is a snippet from PC World.

Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs, one effect of which will be to limit the hardware capabilities of this type of device, IDG News Service has learned.

Microsoft plans to offer PC makers steep discounts on Windows XP Home Edition to encourage them to use that OS instead of Linux on ultra low-cost PCs (ULPCs). To be eligible, however, the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard drives to 80G bytes, and they cannot offer touch-screen PCs.

The program is outlined in confidential documents that Microsoft sent to PC makers last month, and which were obtained by IDG News Service. The goal apparently is to limit the hardware capabilities of ULPCs so that they don't eat into the market for mainstream PCs running Windows Vista, something both Microsoft and the PC vendors would want to avoid.

It looks like things are finally looking up for InPlay Technologies, as they have signed a development agreement with Blue Cube LCD.

InPlay Technologies (NASDAQ: NPLA), a developer of innovative human interface devices for electronic products, has entered into a development agreement with Blue Cube LCD, a leading display integrator. Under the agreement, Blue Cube is utilizing InPlay’s integrated digital pen and capacitive touch input solution to design computing platforms for OEM customers.

“We are pleased to enter this new relationship with Blue Cube, a company known for its innovative custom solutions. Blue Cube serves a roster of well-known OEMs, making this a strong validation of our technology,” said Ramesh Ramchandani, president and COO, InPlay.

InPlay’s design integrates its patented, active digital pen and multi-finger capacitive touch input, allowing the user to choose the most natural and effective input means. The active digital pen optimizes handwriting recognition and allows for added digital features. The capacitive touch screen offers a quick, proximity sensing, intuitive interface for cursor selection and navigation.

“We always keep an eye toward the latest technology,” said Jason Meyer, Blue Cube CEO. “InPlay provides a compelling package with its digital architecture, progressive roadmap for touch integration and feature enhancement capability. This unique technology allows us design flexibility and gives our customer a leading-edge interface solution.”

InPlay’s patented digital computing system allows the user to communicate directly with the computer or other electronic device via an active RF signal. The digitizer behind the LCD screen employs bi-directional electromagnetic technology to communicate with the pen as it moves across the surface, reporting the tip status, sensitivity, pen position, and other details. The active digital pen optimizes handwriting recognition and allows for added digital features not easily achieved with analog products. InPlay offers OEMs the choice of battery-powered or battery-free, cordless or corded pen products, all designed to meet a wide range of markets from smartphones to tablet PCs.

About Blue Cube LCD

Founded in 2003, Blue Cube LCD is a premiere display integrator for customers in a wide range of industries including avionics, marine, industrial, medical and automotive. Blue Cube is dedicated to excellence in display products and has introduced a number of technological advancements in the field. Its headquarters and manufacturing facility are located in Charles City, Iowa. For more information, visit www.bluecubelcd.com

Don’t want to wait for Microsoft Surface to make it to a location near you, or impatient with the pace of Surface becoming a consumer product. Why not do it yourself?

Eyebeam is taking multi-touch tables open source with Cubit, and have put their info online for those who want to roll their own. Cubit was demonstrated at the recent Maker Faire. Not many details on this to report at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll hear more in the future, which means you’ll be waiting for this table as well.

Via Engadget

This time coming from HP for the HP Pavilion tx2000z. Mike Rowe, known from the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs, takes on the tx2000z and comes clean with usages. There are five videos in the series, each one showcasing Tablet PC features. Each video is around 3-5 minutes. They're a lot like the series - funny and kinda silly.

Maybe this is the start of actual Tablet PC marketing. Hope springs eternal.

In this interview with Brett McAnally, Dell's Director of Business Notebooks, we talk about the launch of the Latitude XT Tablet PC, choosing N-Trig as its digitizing partner, the potential for an Inspiron / Vostro type of Tablet, and more. Enjoy!

Brett, thank you for the opportunity to talk about Dell’s Latitude XT. It has been four months since the release of the Latitude XT. How has the response been in your target market?

We’re really pleased with the response so far.  Thankfully, the feedback has confirmed what we expected, that usability is really valued, whether it be in the form of small size/weight, bright panels and multiple input options- especially touch. We’re getting great tips on what is good and what needs work for next time – it’s a learning process and there’s lots to do as we want to improve, but at least we’re hearing that we’re off to a good start.

Warner and I had a great time at the Microsoft MVP Summit last week. More than the visit to Microsoft, I really enjoyed spending some time with my good friend, Warner. While there, we took the opportunity to record this video, showcasing the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC and the HP tx2051z Tablet PC. In addition to putting the two Tablet PCs head to head, we have a great time talking about Tablet PC issues in general, touch, ink, and more. Consider this InkShow to be a video podcast!

• Download the high res version here ( 28 minutes, 186 mb, WMV)
• Watch the embedded version below
• Visit Dell.com
• Visit HP.com

At CES 2008, we brought you word that Wacom was going to be bringing capacitive touch out this year. Today, Wacom is announcing their capacitive touch technology and will be unveiling it May 20 - 22 at the International Society for Information Display Exhibition in Los Angeles.

Here are the details via PRNewsWire:

Wacom introduced new innovation in capacitive touchscreen technology, called Reversing Ramped Field Capacitive (RRFC) touch, that will be publicly unveiled at the International Society for Information Display Exhibition, booth #1129, May 20 to 22, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

Wacom's patent-pending technology employs newly designed low-power circuitry and reversing ramped electro-static fields to provide pinpoint precision and drift-free performance to touchscreen users. The technology can be integrated into dual-input applications with Wacom's market-leading EMR pen-input technology for Tablet PC OEMs or work by itself on other platforms that require only a finger touch interface. With this newly developed technology, Wacom can provide true flexibility to OEM partners seeking best-in-class interface solutions.

"Our new proprietary RRFC touch technology is exciting on a couple of fronts," said Shawn Gray, Wacom's Director of Touchscreen Operations. "New controller processing methods and system design provide extremely accurate pointing at much lower power consumption levels and without increased cost. These factors and others, such as ease of integration and stability, position Wacom RRFC touch as a natural alternative to resistive, surface acoustic wave and infrared touch technologies. Any OEM should seriously look at Wacom's solution when deciding to move beyond resistive touch solutions on portable devices or when seeking to find new and exciting capacitive touch performance in AC-powered applications."

I couldn't wait to post up here that I have this GETAC TabletKiosk unit out of the box.  I already have a bunch of images and a quick video showing a walk around of the device.  Even had the GPS fired up for a few...  There will be tons of video and images (I will post on Flickr soon) over the next couple of weeks as I give this things the 'CES' rugged test :).  Below is a quick shot of the unit - stay tuned for more real soon! Click on the image for a full High Res version

Another highlight of our visit with Microsoft Research was getting to know the man behind Microsoft Surface - Andy Wilson. His office is full of adaptive interaction - a dream for people who love touch, pen, multi-touch, speech, and more.

I can't share a lot of what he showed us, but this video demonstrating rough terrain, video object interaction with real objects shows quite nicely the kind of work he's doing. Along those lines, this video of two people playing checkers just blew me away. Be sure to peruse the rest of his site for a lot nuggets.

I would love to be a fly on the wall just watching Ken Hinckley, Raman Sarin, and Andy Wilson work. It excites me tremendously to think about what lies ahead in the natural input / adaptive technologies we talk about frequently here.

By the way, you can check out the fruit of Andy's work by checking out some of the AT&T stores where Surface is now deployed.

Tiffany Boggs over on Tablet PC Review gives the HTC Shift a once over - and more!  If you haven't read enough, and you want some input about the Shift from an experienced reviewer of Tablet PC's, then head on over and give it a read. Just make sure you don't expect too much from those benchmark numbers when you get there :)

 After spending a week with the HTC Shift we really got a chance to see what it can do. This tiny tablet is quite the power house. I had no problems surfing the Internet with it or navigating through applications. It sports a Intel A110 800MHz processor and has a 40GB hard drive. The touchscreen was practically flawless and I enjoyed using my finger more then the pen. Although, the pen was helpful for more intricate navigating.

After reviewing the iRex iLiad e-book reader, I have been really excited about the possibilities of combining the e-ink / e-paper display with touch and inking capabilities. InfoWorld is reporting from the Display 2008 exhibition in Tokyo on a new display "developed by E-Ink, Taiwan's Prime View International, and Japan's Seiko Epson. It combines a conventional electronic paper display with a touch panel and a newly developed control chip." E-Ink makes most of the e-paper displays with which we are familiar, including the displays for the iLiad and the Amazon Kindle.

The new control chip developed by Seiko Epson appears to be the key element of the new display. The chip can refresh the screen up to 50 times per second and can control a screen with four times the resolution of current displays, up to 2,048 x 1,536 pixels. This refresh speed increase should dramatically improve the writing experience, potentially eliminating the pen lag I saw on the iLiad.

The new display and chip are slated to release in August, so maybe we'll see devices built around this technology in the near future.

DT Research, makers of the WebDT series of durable Tablet PCs, will announce tomorrow the WebDT 520 Rugged Fixed-mount Tablet, a new MIL spec, rugged Tablet PC that can be fixed mounted in harsh environments like forklifts, warehouses, and boats. The new system is being offered at affordable prices for a fully rugged system.

I got an opportunity to speak with David Hale, the VP of Program Management at DT Research, about the forthcoming WebDT 520. DT Research is very optimistic about the market for the WebDT 520, particularly given how well it compares to the competition on weight and price.

The WebDT 310 and WebDT 360 are the current durable offerings from DT Research. Because of their attractive size, weight and price, the 310 and 360 are sometimes used in environments that would be better suited for a fully ruggedized system. The big difference between durable and rugged is exactly how harsh an environment the device has been built (and tested) to withstand. The new WebDT 520 retains many of the attractive features of the 310 and 360, while upgrading to a fully ruggedized system that meets MIL-STD-810F shock and vibration requirements and offers IP65 water and dust proof protection. With a 12.1" touch screen, up to 2GB of RAM, and multiple storage drive options, the WebDT 520 can be configured to run either Windows XP Pro or Windows XP Embedded. Not many Tablet PCs are offered with an XPe option, which makes this system capable of being locked down to only specific applications, an important feature for security and many custom applications.

Lots of videos all around the net of this HP tx2051 - This time it's JK over at jkOnTheRun that is taking his video look at the new offering from HP.  Below is the video that can explain why he says it's 'a powerhouse that is easily the fastest Tablet PC I have used'.  With all these reviews, maybe I should take a look at this unit instead of the Toshiba M700 I've been drooling over.

Most of us won't have the pleasure of seeing a Surface computer in a AT&T store. However, we can live vicariously through this video demonstrating what customers in those 4 cities will touch and experience for themselves:

Last night a few friends and fellow Tablet PC MVPs swung by GBM headquarters in Seattle, and of course everyone was checking out some of the hardware we are lugging around for the MVP Summit. There was a lot of interest in Rob’s Dell XT certainly, although some found it surprsingly heavy to hold. But the real head turner of the evening was the HP tx2051. With a price point fully loaded coming in around $1700 and both an excellent touch screen and an active digitizer that allows for great Inking, this new model from HP is really catching folks attention.

I'm pleasantly surprised I have to say. When I checked out the HP tx2000 at CES back in January I wasn't turned off by the Inking at all, but now that I have my hands on a review unit HP tx2051, I'm more than pleased with the Inking on this Tablet PC. And yes, it is a Tablet PC. Yes, HP bills it as an Entertainment PC and there is nothing wrong with that. It has tons of bells and whistles and is set up to rock and roll with Windows Media Center. It even comes with a remote.

But what impresses me is the fact that is a touch screen along with an active digitizer and HP seems to have gotten this part right, at least in early testing. I spent an evening taking notes in rehearsal after I shot this ShortCut and it was an effortless note-taking experience.

I'll be reporting much more on the HP tx2051 over the next period of time. But for the moment, take a look at this GBM ShortCut and see how this Tablet PC Inks. (Watch out for the flying stylus.)

Download the High Res Version.

The replacement screen for my Dell Latitude XT arrived today. I was quite hopeful that it would address the gridding issue I've been talking about.

I am pleased to report that the new screen is quite the success. I do not see near the amount of grid that I previously saw. It is now only visible when the screen is off or very dim. Even when it is off, it is nowhere near as visible as it was before. Under normal brightness and working under fluorescent lighting, it is practically invisible. On the old screen, under the same conditions, all it took was a slight tilt of my head and I could see it.

Needless to say, I'm very, very pleased. So much so, that any thoughts of returning it have vanished.

This was the technician's first time working on a Latitude XT and he remarked at well it was built compared to other notebooks he's worked on. We worked together to figure out how best to take it apart and put it back together.

While the technician was here, I took the liberty of photographing the process. You'll get to see the XT as never seen before. Follow the Read More link for the complete unveiling.

Dell's entry in to the Tablet PC space was a highly anticipated one. Being so late to the game, they needed something to set themselves apart from their competition. That differentiator is the N-Trig digitizer allowing for capacitive touch + ink with the promise for multi-touch.

So how did they do with the Latitude XT Tablet PC? In my opinion, it the best touch + pen experience on the market. It is smooth, soft, and accurate, allowing for a more intuitive user experience than currently available in passive or other dual-mode offerings.

In this InkShow, I focus on the pen and touch experience of the Latitude XT, demoing the various input modes, as well as comparing it to the Lenovo X61 Multi-Mode touch Tablet PC. Stay tuned for more upcoming InkShows on the Latitude XT where I cover the various features more indepth, the software, accessories, and more.

• Download the high res version here (30:29, 225 mb )
• Watch the embedded version below
• Watch the Unboxing here.
• Visit Dell.com for more info
• Visit N-Trig.com

All GBM InkShows and Podcasts are sponsored by TechSmith.

James Kendrick raises an interesting discussion topic in his post this morning about the premium Tablet PC users pay for Tablet functionality, especially now as the move to Ultra-Low-Cost PCs (ULCPC) is in full swing. JK describes himself as an unusual Tablet PC owner in that he is dependent on taking notes all day. I ride in that same boat using my stylus as an oar. Inking on a Tablet PC is crucial part of my work flow, and like JK, I’ve been reasonably content to pay a premium to take advantage of what Tablet PCs offer me.

The reality is that the perception of that premium is about to change in an unfavorable way for the future of Tablet PCs. The difference in price will look much larger to many. The rush to capitalize on the ULCPC market is on in a big way (see Rob’s earlier post about Dell) and while we might see touch screens on the ULCPC we won’t see active digitizers, much less capacitive or dual mode screens on these new low costs (low margin?) contenders.

JK’s point is a simple one and it is has echoes my pleas for OEMs to pay attention to the Inkers out there for the UMPC platform, which is now headed to the dead pool. If you don’t need the Inking capability of an active digitizer Tablet PC, or at least a touch screen with good Inking capability, then why spend the extra dough if what you are after is a mobile solution? While those of us who have been bitten by the Tablet PC bug, know that Inking is a big part of the picture, mobility is just as big a factor, if not more so. I can certainly attest to the fact that the new HP 2133 Mini-Note could serve many a mobile warrior’s need, if they don’t need an Inking solution.

Face it folks, the Tablet PC niche is getting smaller as mobile computing possibilities grow, and it will continue to shrink. Price point, and to some extent touch (without Inking capability), will be the decision factors for mobile devices in the future. Asus rocked the market and everyone is now in follow the leader mode. Asus grabbed the attention and focus in ways that Microsoft could have only dreamed about for the Tablet PC on its release, and later the UMPC. Let’s just hope the incredible shrinking Tablet PC niche doesn’t shrink completely away.

Steve “Chippy” Paine picked up some news from the IDF (Intel Developer’s Forum) that the 3^rd generation of Intel’s Classmate PC, due in late 2008, will offer touch capabilities. Running Intel’s Atom platform, we’re looking at prices in the $300–$450 range.

I’m curious how the evolution of these ultra-portables seems to be occuring. First they are released without touch capabilities, then we quickly hear about the possible addition of touch to the mix. I’m sure it is a cost factor in the rush to take on Asus’ first-out-of-the-chute market share, but I find it intriguing nonetheless. I wonder what would happen if an OEM came out with a first-gen touch ultra-portable?

Or is that a ULCPC?