Posts Tagged ‘Toshiba’
60 GHz Wi-Fi Products Now Possible 7Gbps
Wi-Fi and WiGi are teaming up to bring three spectrums to consumers, including 7 Gbps transfers.
Monday the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) jointly announced a cooperation agreement that will allow Wi-Fi equipment to access the 60 GHz frequency band, and to provide better speeds in the current 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Devices that will support all three bandwidths will be able to achieve up to 7 Gbps although the range will most likely be limited to in-room transfers. Still, this is good news for consumers who want to stream Blu-ray movies to a living room HDTV.
“60 GHz device connectivity will be an exciting enhancement to the capabilities of today’s Wi-Fi technologies,” said Wi-Fi Alliance chief executive officer Edgar Figueroa. “It will expand the utility of Wi-Fi, used by hundreds of millions of people every day. From its inception, the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices, making it a compelling input as we begin to define our certification program for 60 GHz wireless.”
In a separate announcement, WiGig said that it published its unified wireless specification for the unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum. It also launched its royalty-free Adopter Program which allow members to develop products that use the spectrum “to deliver multi-gigabit-speed wireless communication.” Cisco, Hitachi, Panasonic, and Toshiba have already jumped on board, and may have tri-band products ready by the end of the year.
“With this announcement today, and with our new partnership with the Wi-Fi Alliance, we are one step closer to fulfilling our vision of a unified 60 GHz ecosystem,” said Dr. Ali Sadri, WiGig Alliance president and chairman. “We welcome all companies to join with us as we continue to drive the industry forward.”
Toshiba Moving to 3D Memory with New Factory
Toshiba plans to take NAND to a new level…vertical!
The completion of a new factory in western Japan will undoubtedly kick-start Toshiba’s plans to mass produce a new generation of memory chips sometime in 2011. This will be the fifth factory in its overall manufacturing kingdom residing in Yokkaichi, and will initially produce conventional NAND flash chips. However Toshiba said that it will take the factory into new territory by developing new types of 3D memory.
Don’t left the label fool you: 3D memory doesn’t mean “holographic” or something that requires special glasses (a recent trend that has now even entered into Playboy territory). Rather, the company plans to build vertically as well as horizontally. The new 3D approach is an answer to fears that packing components together horizontally will eventually reach a limit. Electrical interference also becomes a factor, growing worse as technology advances and nanometers grow smaller.
But 3D manufacturing won’t come for a while. During a Tokyo news conference, Toshiba president and CEO Norio Sasaki said that the company won’t start construction of the facility until July–first phase production of its 20nm NAND memory won’t begin until Spring 2011. The first production line capable of producing 3D chips will launch sometime after that, however Sasaki wasn’t more specific.
Both SanDisk and Toshiba have been working together on 3D memory chips since 2008 with the anticipation that the new factory would be capable of bringing the technology to fruition. The factory is also part of Toshiba’s push to achieve an 8-percent annual growth in its semiconductor business over the next three years.
Toshiba Enters Digital Camcorder Market with Trio of Camileo HD Camera Models
Toshiba has announced its new foray into the digital camcorder market. The electronics giant is hoping to enter with a bang with their recently unveiled Camileo line – so far comprising of three low-cost, compact HD camcorders.
Traditionally know for producing laptops and netbooks, this is a big step for Toshiba. If all goes well, it will be interesting to see what other kinds of digital camcorders they produce, and also if they venture into more unknown territory in the future.
But first, let’s take a look at the three camcorders they’ve got in store for us so far:
CAMILEO S20 (pictured above)
5-megapixel sensor
4x digital zoom
Measurements: 2/3 of an inch thin, 3.5 ounces
MSRP: $179.99
CAMILEO H30
10-megapixel sensor
5x optical zoom
4x digital zoom
3-inch LCD touchscreen
Weighs 8 ounces
MSRP: $249.99
CAMILEO X100
10-megapixel sensor
10x optical zoom
10x digital zoom
3-inch LCD touchscreen
Weighs 9.5 ounces
MSRP: $399.99
Details are obviously slim, but all three are capable of shooting full HD 1080p video, have SD/SDHC card slots (fits up to 32GB) and include HDMI and USB 2.0 cables.
The CAMILEO line is already available for pre-order at Toshiba’s website, and the camcorders will hit shelves nationwide on April 19.
Toshiba Launches Laptops Pre-loaded With Windows 7
Toshiba has rolled out its flagship Consumer and Commercial models pre-loaded with Windows 7 Operating System.
Toshiba’s range of Notebook PCs feature high definition (HD) CSV screens, LED display, multi-touch control panel, power saving Eco-Utility, higher battery life, new patterns, 3D HDD protection, Fingerprint recognition and Face recognition using HD Auto macro integrated wide angle web-camera.
Toshiba Notebook PCs are now available in all screen sizes from 10.1-inch to 16-inch including Tablet PC models.
For all existing customers, the company has also introduced a free upgrade offer program from Vista to Windows 7. Toshiba provides International Limited Warranty on all models including parts and labour.
The Portege M900-D3212 comes with leather texture finish and is available in Luxe Brown. It is equipped with a 13.3-inch Wide High Definition (HD) Screen with Clear Super View (CSV) technology and Nvidia Graphics Controller with 512MB of dedicated Video memory.
The Satellite M500-D4311 has a Champage Gold Aero design, a 14-inch Wide LED backlit flush screen and a chrome border that encompasses not just the Notebook PC but also the Touchpad console, speaker grills and hinges. This notebook also comes with a backlit keyboard that allows the user to work comfortably even in dark areas and during night. The Satellite M500-D4311 provides the best-in-class multimedia experience with features like Nvidia graphics controller, 512MB dedicated video memory, Harman/kardon speakers and 1366×768 resolution in 16:9 aspect ratio. This notebook can be connected to an LED/LCD Television using the HDMI-CEC REGZA link to deliver high definition multi-media experience to a larger audience.
The new Satellite L500-D5310 and L510-D4311 come in a Black casing with Breeze ID color. The glossy appearance runs on the LCD cover and keyboard alike. This new model of Satellite Notebook PCs are equipped with DDR3 memory that provides better performance along with power saving features. Both these Notebook PC’s comes pre-loaded with Intel Core2 Duo Processor, 3GB of Memory and a 320GB HDD.
The Satellite L500-D5310 is the lightest Notebook PC in the 15.6-inch display category at just 2.72 Kgs. The model boasts of features like High Definition 15.6-inch screen with Clear Super View technology, stereo speakers, HDMI and USB/eSATA port, USB sleep-n-charge function and full-size 104 keys keyboard.
The Satellite L510-D4311 provides superior multimedia experience with its Nvidia graphics controller, 512MB dedicated video memory and a 14-inch LED screen with Clear Super View technology. This model also comes with HDMI, USB/eSATA port and USB sleep-n-charge functions.
Toshiba to Develop Tablet PC with Two 7-Inch Screens
Toshiba is reportedly developing a tablet with two 7-inch displays, which folds like a book. That would make it the latest in a long line of companies-both big names and start-ups-who have toyed with these dual-display devices.
The concept makes some sense. A design with two displays maximizes the screen real estate while keeping the size down. You can mix-and-match different display technologies and operating systems to serve different applications in a single device. And the success of touchscreen smartphones, and more recently the Apple iPad, demonstrates that many users are willing to forgo a physical keyboard. But so far the dual-display has been DOA.
Asus, HTC, MSI and Sony among others have all experimented with these devices, either as full-blown tablets or e-book readers, but there’s no sign any of them are coming to your Best Buy anytime soon. The Microsoft Courier project generated a lot of excitement, but never made it out of the incubator. One Laptop Per Child scrapped its XO-2 dual-screen tablet, and instead plans to release updates to its standard XO netbook. OLPC will eventually offer a standard low-cost tablet, the XO-3.
Then there are the dual-display e-readers. Start-up Kno demonstrated its device at the D8 conference, but its unwieldy tablet, which consists of two 14-inch displays, has puzzled reviewers. The Entourage Edge is a hybrid device-the company calls it a “dualbook”–with a 9.7-inch E-Ink display on one side and a 10.1-inch LCD tablet running Android on the other. It’s a novel concept, but the device is much thicker than an e-book reader or tablet, and doesn’t really excel at either.
Aside from Apple, no company has yet figured out how to deliver a great experience on a standard tablet, let alone one with two displays-sometime using different technologies and input mechanisms. Google is still working on versions of Android and Chrome OS tailored for tablets. And Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently admitted that the company has a lot of work to do on Windows 7 tablets to catch up with the iPad.