ViewSonic has announced the commercial availability of three new mobile and desktop PC products, ViewSonic VNB132 and VNB141 ViewBooks and ViewSonic VPC190 All-in-One, previewed at CES 2010.

“Our new mobile and desktop PC products truly speak to our green computing initiative,” said Sally Wang, ViewSonic’s senior director of product marketing. “Whether it’s the energy-efficient processors, sleek plastic saving designs, or minimized use of cables and other excessive materials, our ULV notebooks and All-in-One PCs are the smarter solution.”

The ViewSonic 14″ VNB141 ViewBook offers the latest ULV SU7300 Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, 2GB of RAM and 250GB hard drive.

Built for students and people on the move, the laptop provides full functionality and connectivity with two USB ports, integrated 802.11b/g/n wireless connectivity, VGA and HDMI outputs. The VNB141 also includes a 1.3MB built-in webcam, long-lasting 6 cell battery and integrated DVD RW Super Multi Drive.

ViewSonic’s thin and lightweight 13.3″ VNB132 ViewBook offers the latest ULV SU2300 Intel Celeron processor and Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.

Additionally, this device features a 320GB hard drive and 2GB internal memory. Also built for those on the move, this notebook features integrated 802.11b/g/n wireless, three USB ports, a 7-in-1 card reader, VGA and HDMI outputs, an integrated 1.3MB webcam and a 4 cell battery.

The ViewSonic ViewBook VNB141 and VNB132 are currently available for respective MSRPs of $829 and $649.

Also shipping today is the eco-friendly VPC190 All-in-One PC. With a clean, ergonomic design this 19″ (18.5″ viewable) PC features the latest Intel Atom D510 1.6Hz processor with Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, 2GB of internal memory, 1366×768 screen, built-in 1.3MB webcam, 2×3-watt speakers, integrated 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b/g wireless, six USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 card reader and built-in DVD RW Super Multi drive.

The ViewSonic VPC190 All-in-One PC is currently available for an MSRP of $629.

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Nvidia to take the 3D gaming to the living room with your shiny new 3D HDTV.

With the real foundations laid earlier this year at CES for 3D in home theaters, Nvidia today announced a merging of its 3D Vision technology with big screen gaming.

Nvidia announced its new 3DTV Play software technology that allows consumers to connect their GeForce GPU-powered desktop or notebook computer – as long as it has HDMI or DVI – to new 3D TVs supporting HDMI 1.4 and 1080p24, 720p60, and 720p50 3D formats.

Games that support Nvidia 3D Vision include World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Avatar: The Game.

Nvidia 3DTV Play software will be available later this spring and sold separately with an anticipated U.S. MSRP of $39.99. It will also be available for free for current Nvidia 3D Vision customers.

To promote its 3D tech gadgets, Nvidia has teamed up with Panasonic for a coast-to-coast 2010 “Panasonic Touch the Future Tour.”

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Convert your 1080 HD video to DivX HD for free.

DivX announced today that it released an updated software suite called DivX Plus. The suite contains four individual products: the DivX Plus Player, the DivX Plus Web Player, the DivX Plus Codec Pack, and the DivX Plus Converter, all of which can be downloaded here.

The first ingredient of DivX Plus, the Player, includes a new DivX To Go feature that transfers DivX movies to certified devices. The Web Player now enables surfers to watch HD video in their browser. PlayStation 3 consoles can even receive streams of content thanks to the suites new DivX Plus Codec Pack.

However the biggest news stemming from the new release is the DivX Plus Converter. According to the company, the previous converter was redesigned and now offers (free of charge) means to convert of 1080p HD content to DivX Plus HD, which is based on the MKV file container and H.264 codec.

“DivX Plus Software makes the HD video experience intuitive to users with all levels of expertise,” said Guto Araujo, Vice President and General Manager, Software and Services, DivX, Inc. “To the experienced user, it offers a range of streaming, converting, and web video publishing tools. Through uncluttered and easy-to-use playback screens, the software also lets all users simply enjoy full screen DivX Plus HD videos even on lower powered computers such as netbooks.”

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Microsoft pats itself on the back for not having a high-definition optical storage medium such as Blu-ray Disc.

During infancy of the current console generation, there was much debate regarding Sony’s inclusion of the Blu-ray Disc format with the PlayStation 3. The blue and violet lasers did drive costs up, but it was hard to argue with the value of a 50GB storage medium for Sony’s console.

Fast forward ahead years to today, and we’re still on the same argument but on a different scale. Xbox product director Aaron Greenberg told CVG that the Xbox 360 lack of a Blu-ray Disc drive has allowed it to take a massive lead against the PS3.

“Being $100 cheaper [than PS3] is part of the reason we’re nearly twice their installed base,” Greenberg said, referring to the North American market, according to CVG.

PlayStation 3′s added investment in Blu-ray Disc, while it does cost more, pays off with games such as Final Fantasy XIII, where it ships on one disc versus three DVDs for the Xbox 360.

“The fact that we’re able to offer a console starting at $199 is a benefit of not being burdened with that cost,” Greenberg said to Edge magazine.”For us, our bet was on digital distribution, that was the future – the ability to [play] 1080p movies with no disc, no download required; we have the largest movie and TV library, the largest HD library of any console.”

Ironically, Microsoft’s $199 version of the Xbox 360 doesn’t come with the accessory that is needed most for the company’s bet on digital distribution – a hard disk drive.

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Google has been giving a lot of love and attention to its Apps software suite to make it harder for businesses to resist a switch to the cloud. Today, the company is raising the stakes again by adding, well, more apps.

At a developer’s event tonight, Google is unveiling details of its Apps Marketplace for Google Apps, a place for companies to “discover, buy and install” third-party business apps that can be integrated into the other apps within the suite, as well as the data in them. Initially, there are about 50 companies that have developed apps for the new marketplace – ranging from Box.net and eFax to TripIt and Intuit, which is launching an online payroll app for small businesses that allows business owners a new way to run payroll, pay taxes and allow employees to review their paystubs.

I can already see the possibilities here – the travel department integrating reservations with calendars and contact lists, project managers controlling which documents are shared and with whom. And because the app integration is managed at the company’s admin level, permissions to integrate data and the controls to keep it secure is managed by the company itself.

In a blog post, company explained like this -
Once installed to a company’s domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications. With administrator approval, they may interact with calendar, email, document and/or contact data to increase productivity. Administrators can manage the applications from the familiar Google Apps control panel, and employees can open them from within Google Apps. With OpenID integration, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each. The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike. That’s the power of the cloud.

Later this year, the company is launching a revenue-sharing model to encourage developers to submit business apps for Google Apps. Under that model, developers determine their own pricing and terms for the app, Google handles the billing for the developers and collects 20 percent of the revenue as its share.

The move also brings more life to cloud-based business apps. Salesforce, which has been integrated with Google Apps for nearly two years, has an App Exchange marketplace, as well, giving business owners even more control over efficiency.

And, of course, it raises the exposure of the cloud and the efficiency tools that it offers for business customers – something that Google execs have been touting for some time now.

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