Lenovo’s U1 is a netbook with removable tablet

Everyone’s all excited about that Freescale gizmo, but it looks like it may have competition. The Lenovo U1 has a similar convertible design, though with a slightly more rounded look. It’s also different in function: when docked, it runs Windows 7 on the dock’s low-power Intel processor, but once detached it uses an ARM CPU to run a lightweight Linux distro. Not sure how it’s going to handle the segue if you’ve got work in progress and need to dock it, but I’m sure Lenovo has that handled.



Here are the specs, broken down into tablet and dock portions:
Tablet:

• 1.6 pounds
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• 512MB DDR1 RAM
• 16GB SSD

Dock:

• 3.8 pounds (with tablet attached)
• Intel Core2 Duo U4100 processor
• 4GB DDR3 RAM (max)
• 128GB SSD

One other major difference: the U1 starts at a thousand dollars. I get the feeling Freescale might be the more attractive proposition to most people. We’ll see ‘em both at CES, though, so we’ll let you know.


[CrunchGear via PC Magazine]

Skiff Reader: The Largest Yet Thinnest eBook Reader to Date [Skiff]

It's bigger than any Kindle or device from B&N. Optimized for magazines and newspapers, the Skiff Reader offers a durable 11.5-inch (1600 x 1200) 'Metal Foil' touchscreen display, but it's still just a quarter of an inch thick.
Connecting to the upcoming Skiff digital store via Wi-Fi and Sprint's 3G network, the Skiff Reader will support yet unannounced content partnerships including books, specially focusing on large format print like above-mentioned magazines and newspapers—including "visually appealing layouts, high-resolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates." And with a screen that's nearly two inches larger and significantly sharper than even a Kindle DX, the Skiff Reader certainly seems well-positioned for this role—even though it's still just black and white.
There's no word on price or availability (more specific than 2010) just yet, but when the Skiff Reader is available, you'll be picking one up from Sprint.
[Gizmodo]

Freescale ARM Cortex-A8 tablets! Some less than $200! The future! Now!

You know what’s so hot for Y2K10? Tablets. If you want to get just about anybody in the technology journalism industry all riled up, just talk about tablets. It’s also a good way to make small talk. Texas-based Freescale, purveyor of fine ARM Cortex chips for various mobile devices, is getting in on the tablet madness full force by promising to demonstrate strange and wonderful $200 smartbook tablets running Android and Linux at CES this week.
Consumers will be able to purchase the aforementioned tablets “as soon as the summer of 2010,” according to Freescale’s recent press release. Ah, summer. That’s such a hot time for tablet computing. Summer Y2K10 will always be remembered as the Summer of Tablet.
So what can we expect?

“The Freescale tablet includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and also features a 3D desktop framework with touch screen/QWERTY keyboard support. 3G modem and RF4CE protocol options are available. The tablet’s modular approach to 3G connectivity lets systems designers select carrier-specific air interfaces appropriate for different regions. Modules can be pre-certified by carriers and selected to match a range of features and performance targets. This method makes it easy to migrate quickly to new modem technologies as they are introduced.


Example smartbook platform applications intended to run on the tablet include a web browser with Adobe Flash Player and multimedia plug-ins, a media center, PDF and image viewers, a mail client, an RSS reader, an office suite, handwriting utilities and various widgets for Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Weather SMS and other applications.”

Sounds a bit like the common smartphone, except for the whole “web browser with Adobe Flash Player and multimedia plug-ins” part. They’ll be a bit larger, too. The reference design from Freescale features a 7-inch display with 1024×600 resolution and a weight of just over 13 ounces. Other specs include 512MB of RAM, between 4GB and 64GB of built-in storage, various connectivity options, USB ports, webcam, and an accelerometer.

And perhaps most importantly, Freescale is ballparking the price tag at around $200. While I’m still not personally sold on the idea that we need something to fill the imaginary gap between smartphone and laptop, there are plenty of others out there who are ready to buy a tablet.



[TechCrunch via BusinessWire]

World's tallest building opens, named Burj Khalifa [Buildings]

Just a few minutes ago, Dubai officially opened the world's tallest building. Until now, we thought it was going to be called the Burj Dubai, but get used to the name of the tallest building in the world: Burj Khalifa. Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad surprised everyone when he named the gigantic building after Sheikh Khalifa, president of the United Arab Emirates.

How tall is it? Until now, the height of the $1.5 billion building was an official secret, but we have the number for you: its 828 meters, or 2717 feet tall. That's 1000 feet taller than the previous recordholder, the 101-story Taipei 101.

The half-mile-high building is the tallest man-made structure ever built, eclipsing even previous recordholder, the 2,121-foot Warsaw radio mast. Another amazing record: the fastest elevators in the world, traveling at 40 mph.

[DVICE via Burj Khalifa via Times Now]

Invetech Delivers World's First Production Human Tissue Printer [Medicine]

Or, as they call it, a '3D bio-printer.' Essentially, it allows scientists to build tissue cell by cell. It's that cool sci-fi medical stuff we all dream about.

'Scientists and engineers can use the 3D bio printers to enable placing cells of almost any type into a desired pattern in 3D,' Murphy said. 'Researchers can place liver cells on a preformed scaffold, support kidney cells with a co-printed scaffold, or form adjacent layers of epithelial and stromal soft tissue that grow into a mature tooth. Ultimately the idea would be for surgeons to have tissue on demand for various uses, and the best way to do that is get a number of bio-printers into the hands of researchers and give them the ability to make three dimensional tissues on demand.'

The system includes software that enables engineers to build a model of the tissue before layering cells with laser-calibrated print heads. So, it seems pretty similar to a standard 3D model printer. Hopefully, most of us will live to see the day when we can have new hearts and livers printed on demand. That would be handy. Teeth would be great in the short term too. That whole Polygrip lifestyle where corn cobs and apples could lead to disaster does not seem appealing.
[Gizmodo via Livescience]

Thorium, the Next Uranium [Science]

Wired has a fairly epic look into a material that could make nuclear power both clean and safe called thorium—named after the Norse god of thunder. Of course, scientists recognized its promise back in the 1950s.
Whereas uranium is extremely rare, requires purification and creates waste that will be with us for hundreds of thousands of years, thorium is extremely common, burns more efficiently in reactors and leaves less, less radioactive waste (that can't be turned into a nuke).
In fact, if it weren't for the Soviet Union building uranium reactors in the 60s (and us responding in typical Cold War fashion), we'd probably be using thorium today.
But as Wired explains, thorium may be poised for a comeback. [Wired and Image]

Google Tablet: Google and HTC To Launch Apple iSlate Rival [RUMOR]

Google is working on a tablet computer with HTC, the company that built the hardware for the Nexus One “Google Phone“, according to a report.


The report claims that HTC has “been working closely with Google for the past 18 months” on “several working models of a touch tablet”.


Are Google and HTC about to challenge both the iPhone and the Apple tablet, rumored to be called iSlate?


Australian news site SmartHouse, which first published the story, pits the Google/HTC offering as a direct rival to Apple’s tablet ambitions. But the device might equally prove a threat to Microsoft: getting Google Chrome OS into consumer’s hands is key to the operating system’s success.


Skeptics might argue that Google will never promote a tablet computer of its own: that would endanger its relationships with other hardware makers. And yet the Nexus One proves that Google very much will tread on toes if the move makes strategic sense.


What do you think: could a Google Tablet rival the iSlate? Or will this rumored device never see the light of day?

[Mashable, image via Gizmodo]