Android Tablet gives iPad run for the Money

Notion Ink demoed its final version of the Android tablet called Adam prior to Mobile World Congress 2010. In the video cofounder Rohan Shravan shows off some awesome hardware innovation.

It was demonstrated in an area outdoors which was partially shaded and fully exposed to bright sunlight. This was done to show how wonderfully the tablet adapts in either condition; beautiful LCD display in normal lighting and crisp monochrome display in direct sunlight.

Unlike the Apple iPad, Adam has a camera that conveniently swivels 180 degrees. Imagine the use cases: turn towards yourself to have video chats, turn away 90 degrees to record a lecture or seminar while working simultaneously, turn another 90 degrees to take a picture of someone in front of you. Let’s not forget to throw in multi-tasking capabilities.

Another interesting feature places the touch pad on the back, very interesting to control touch screen operation without looking. The Adam tablet also features 3 USB ports, one HDMI out port for full HD in 1080p, eco-friendly using a tenth of the power, and boasting 24 hours of battery life(more than 10 hours viewing full high definition video).

Notion Ink plans to customize the Android operating system it will ship with, plus open up the API for developers to write apps for the larger screen. Although the final software was not ready for the demo, they noted they will have split screen virtual keyboards to allow typing with thumbs on the tablet. Look for it in June 2010 with a price point of $327-$800.

Below are side by side specs compared with the Apple iPad courtesy of Technoholik. See more exclusive photos at Technoholik’s Flickr stream.

	Apple iPad	Notion Ink Adam
Screen	9.7 inch 4:3 IPS LCD (1024×768)	10 inch Transflective LCD Pixel Qi screen (1024×600)
	1024×768 pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)	Low power full color black & white mode
OS	iPhone OS 3.2	Android, Unbuntu, Chromium
CPU	Apple A4 processor	nVidia Tegra 2
		Dual Core 1GHz + Graphic
Internet Browser	Safari	Firefox, Chrome
Outputs:	VGA, Dock connectors (extra)	HDMI, 3x USB
Video Out	720p	1080p
Camera	No	Yes, 3 Megapixel with Autofocus
Battery	Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music	16 hours, 160 hours on backlight off mode
Wireless	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA/GSM), Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA/GSM), Bluetooth (US Edition)
Weight	1.5 pounds	1.7 pounds
Other:		RF, ambient light sensor. AGPS, Proximity sensor, accelerometer, Touchpad
Multitasking	No	Yes
Adobe Flash 10.0 support	No	Yes
Storage	No	Yes, (SD Card slot)
Price	$499-$829	$327-$800
Availability	April/May	June/July

via Android Tapp

What are your thoughts? Comment below!

Microsoft's Hyper-V Server 2008 for free?

Microsoft is giving away its Hyper-V Server 2008 for free. Below is the full article from SD Times.

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I generally stay away from Windows reporting, as the vageries of Microsoft's licensing and distribution poilices are beyond me. I am the free software guy, here at SD Times. So it delighted me to find that there is, in fact, a free version of Windows out there. Can you believe it? It's actually included with the Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. The package includes the core of Windows Server 2008, presumably packaged up by AIK. Not only that, but the license included with this package is quite different from other Windows packages.

First of all, this version of Windows checks its validity certification once in the first week. Then never again. And it has a 100 year grace period, so you really don't have to ever stop using it. According to the license included with the software, you can actually redistribute this ISO, as well! Can you imagine? A free Windows you can redistribute? Clause 5 of the XP EULA is gone, too, so you can presumably embed this OS, or even use it as a server for commercial purposes without owing Microsoft a penny.

Now, there are obviously Windows-things missing from this image, but the license says you can do anything you need after install, as long as it's only about managing systems. That's a wide berth for use, though: even Notepad can be used for management. Of course, you can't modify the disc image before redistribution. Or at all, really.

As the open source guy, it seems a bit silly that this is news, but evidently, this is all unheard of in Windows land.

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Article: http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2010/03/22/Have-some-free-Windows.aspx