Cable clutter tangles us all up at some point when we are trying to charge up (you should see the number of cords hanging out of the sockets in our hotel room.) But their are some solutions out there to help with the mess. Bluelounge has some unique offerings for just that kind of problem. The new line of products are being launched at CES. I like the looks of the Sanctury as it could fit nicely on my desk.

More pictures after the Read More link.

At the Sands Convention Center Matt and I stumbled across LinPus Linux, a company that makes an interesting Linux GUI Front End for all sorts of devices. They were showing them off on what they call Ultra-Mobile PCs, but then as this week has proven more often than not, that moniker is quickly loosing its definition.

But none of that matters. We walked away with installs of the distro and we’ll be checking it out probably after we return to our respective homes. If you check out the pictures you’ll see that the front end is very touch orientated, so I would imagine that LinPlus will be making a bid for some Mobile Internet Device action as well, just like the Packard Bell Easynote that you see pictured below.

More photos after the Read More Link.

UPDATE: The Live Stream has concluded. Thanks for joining in.

Ok, Rob, Matt, and Warner are hunkered down at the BlogHaus and we’ve got a dual live stream set up that you can watch by clicking this link. We’ll have a chat up and running on the same page, but apologies ahead of time if we’re heads down doing some work and miss a question or two.

UPDATE: Buzz Bruggerman of ActiveWords sat in for a bit. Great stuff

On Tuesday, Sierra and I spent some time with Asus' newest UMPC, the R50A. As you'll see, we had some performance issues with it, but they could be early production models. Guess we'll find out as folks begin to get them in their hands.

Enjoy!

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The CES 2008 Tablet PC/UMPC Meetup was an amazing success. The count was 102+, so I’ve been told. The passion for Tablet PCs and UMPCs was obvious and almost overwhelming (or so said a first few timers.)The generosity from OEMs including Lenovo, HP, Motion Computing, TabletKiosk, Fujitsu, ProClip, Otterbox, TechSmith, IT Cases, and sponsors such as jkOnTheRun, Microsoft, Tablet Lawyer, and MobileDemand, was greatly appreciated by all. Four Tablet PCs/UMPCs were given away including the HP TX2000, A Lenovo ThinkPad X61, a Motion Computing Tablet PC of your choice, and a Fujitsu U810 UMPC.

In addition to the giveaways there were a number of Tablet PCs and UMPCs present for the event that folks brought with them, and also a few new devices that are currently on display at CES 2008 made the event as well.

Lora Heiny did a wonderful job pulling this all together with assistance from quite a few folks in the community. All in all it was the place to be for info, viewing and talking Tablet PCs, good food, and good fun. All of us on the GBM Team were really touched and really grateful for all the wonderful comments that people took the time to come up and tell us about how much they appreciate the work (actually it is fun) on GBM.

We’ve got a running stream of photos on this Flickr feed (we’ll be adding more) that you can check out, and if you recognizie youself in a picture leave a comment with your name and the photo number here on this post and we’ll get it added in on the feed.

Seirra and I spent some time at the Samsung Booth where they have the Q1 Ultra Premium set up in a unique display. As you can see from the video you sit and sort of drive the Q1, while what you have on the screen is displayed above you. Clever, but to my why of thinking and interacting actually makes one of my bug-a-boos about the split keyboard more prevalent. I’m not a fan of this keyboard because I keep having to look left and right as I type with each thumb and find that distracting. In any event, Seirra gets in the drivers seat and takes the Q1 Ultra Premium for a drive.

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On Monday, we let everyone know about TabletKiosk's new Ultra Mobile PC, the eo i7300 Ultra-Mobile PC. In this video, we get more indepth with the new eo, the new dock for the Sahara i440D, and the TabletKiosk / Getac Rugged Tablet PC.

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At the Tablet PC meetup last night, MobileDemand announced the "unreleased Tablet PC" that I had brought with me from Colorado Springs - the xTablet T8700 Rugged Tablet PC. It features a 1.2 ghz Core 2 Duo processor, support for 2 GB of RAM, and SSD support. It has an 8.4" screen that can switch between active digitizer and touch at the press of the button.

More details will soon be available on their website. Until then, stay tuned for an exclusive InkShow video review of this new tablet pc from MobileDemand. In addition, they have sent me a docking station and complete auto mount kit which I'll be reviewing in some follow-up InkShow video reviews.

Yesterday, Sierra posted about our interview with Intel's Pankaj Kedia. Watch our video interview with Mr. Kedia, and take a look at several of the new MIDs, including one from Aigo featuring a qwerty keyboard.

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Sierra and I spent some time at the Microsoft booth at the Convention Center and one of the things we found there was a nice display of Motion Computing’s Tablet PCs. The M1700 and the C5 were both on display. This was the first time I’ve gone hands on with the C5 and boy was that a delight. While this slate Tablet PC is aimed at the medical market, I’m really glad to hear that Motion is wide open to other markets as well. The reason? I know this Tablet PC can work well in my work in the theatre.

Another interesting feature of the C5 that was on display is the intriguing hand strap for the Motion C5. Later, at the Tablet PC/UMPC Meetup, Motion CEO Scott Eckert told me that this unqiue handstrap came from a user’s suggestion. By the way, Rob will be posting up a fantastic interview with Scott, and John Doherty, one of the co-founders of Motion Computing, who also is one of the original designers of the M1200 and M1300 series of Motion Tablet PCs. You won’t want to miss that one. Stay tuned.

Rob and I just got done talking with Pankaj Kedia with the Intel Ultra Mobility Group about the wealth of new MID devices being introduced at CES 2008. Intel has 10 partners who are announcing products here at CES, all based on the new Menlow low-power platform. In the Intel showcase there are MIDs from Aigo, ASUS, BenQ, Clarion, Compal, Digifriends, EB, Gigabyte, Lenovo, LG-E, LiteOn, Quanta, Toshiba, USI, and Willcom. We'll have a video up later which shows off the Aigo and the Lenovo devices, both aimed at the Chinese market, although the Aigo is identical to the Gigabyte which will have broader distribution. The Toshiba is pictured at the right in its docking station.

The devices on display are all very different from each other. Most include keyboards of some sort, but not all. Intel has provided samples and is working with 25 partners on new Menlow MIDs, so expect to be seeing a lot of new announcements as the year progresses. The goal is to have new announcements every month or so at events around the world. Intel is seeing the primary usage models for the new MIDs revolving around entertainment and location/GPS applications.

Intel is expecting MIDs based on the new Menlow platform to release in Q2 and Q3 of 2008. Price points will vary depending on the exact device and OEM options, but generally looking at about $500 and up for Linux based MIDs and about $600 and up for Windows based devices. (After all, Windows is decidedly not free.)

Intel also provided a sneak peak at the upcoming Moorestown platform launching in 2009-2010. Watch the upcoming video for more info on this new platform.

Matt and I had had a brief stop with the folks at InPlay this morning. InPlay bought FinePoint. the company that made the digitizers for some earlier Tablet PCs including Gateway.Now they are working with several other OEMs in addition to working with resistive screens and also developing capacitive touch as well. We will be sitting down for an interview with InPlay tomorrow.

Warner and I stopped by the PlanOn booth to see how they were doing this year.  While we were there we got a chance to look at one of their new mobile devices.  Its called the Printstik - VERY small mobile bluetooth/USB printer.  Seems like Warner is ready to order one right away.  We have some video of it in action that will be posted a little later tonight.  But, for now we have a still shots to share with you.

Instant-on with full internet is a mobile person's dream. Looks like we are getting closer to that with DeviceVM's Splashtop. Their software is installed to the computer's motherboard, and provides instant-on full access to the internet.

At show DeviceVM announced that Asus is shipping the Splashtop software on four new motherboards. They said to expect their software on notebooks and other mobile pcs's soon. They are actively seeking OEM partners. Meanwhile, they said that USB implementations are on their roadmap.

Video coming soon.

While we were at the BlogHaus last night, Stacy Wolff, HP's Director of Notebook Product Design, stopped by. Stacy was instrumental in the design of the HP's TC1x000 Tablet PC series, including the current 2710p. It was a great to get some insight and background history into the design of the TC, and how HP got to where they are today. If you listen closely at the beginning, you'll learn where the name "TC" came from....

Enjoy!

By the way, I've had a couple people ask about the equipment we used to record and produce the interview:

• OQO Model 02 - used it to edit, produce, and upload while at the BlogHaus. It did take about 40 minutes to encode the video after editing, but given the mobility aspect, I couldn't be happier.
• Flip Video Ultra with a Monopod for recording the video and audio.

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We got some great private time with the Surface, including some demos only seen by a few people.

This is some totally cool stuff.

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Sunday night, Rob and I were hanging out and blogging at the BlogHaus when we ran into Ian Dixon of The Media Center Show Podcast. For his podcasting tools he was using an HP 2710p Tablet PC. He did some audio with both Rob and I and the podcast is up. Here’s the link to the The Media Center Show Podcast #138. Give it a listen.

The LG MID has captured a lot of attention. Sierra and I got a close look at it today at both the Intel booth and at the LG booth. We both like the form factor, and I like the feel of the keyboard, but it feels curiously like LG took the OQO form factor and rounded off the edges a bit. That said, it feels great in your hands. Unfortunatley we won’t be seeing this MID here in the US, as LG will only offer them in Europe, Asia, and Canda. I’m not sure I like the way the stylus is stored in a portable case that is tethered to the unit instead of the usual garage. LG also calls this a UMPC (Boy do we have confusion in this space regarding naming and branding.) Anway here are some pics.

More after the Read More link.

Looks like the Origami Team just released the Origami Experience 2.0 according to the Origami Project.com. Their are four applications in 2.0.

• Origami Central updates the original OE application to allow users to access media, but has added a fully-optimized browsing experience for UMPCs and a RSS reader. The media features have also been extended.
• Origami Now offers one-touch access to your info whether it be email, calendar, RSS feeds, weather, you name it. It is all on one screen.
• Origami Picture Password is being touted as a real breakthrough for using mobile devices. Instead of a password or finger print, you access a series of pictures.
• Touch Settings which offers the same functionality as 1.0.

No link available on OrgiamiProject.com for downloading yet, but we’ll update this post when it is available. Perhaps we’ll see more of this at the Tablet PC/UMPC Meetup tomorrow.

Not surprisingly, Fujitsu is pushing the U810 pretty heavily, with the T2010 running a close second. The P1610 is also on display and is apparently scheduled for a much needed update to the processor as well as an update to the already excellent screen.

The U810 also had a beautiful case on display. This leather case is a perfect form fit but still allowed use while in the case as well as access to all of the ports. Made out of a soft leather, it is sells for $59 on Fujitsu's site.

The case allows the extended battery to fit through a hole in the back.

All ports are accessible.