March 25 - 12:35pm EDT   ASUS' Eee PC sequel will have a touchscreen implemented after all, according to new claims by screen producers in the company's home area of Taiwan. Regardless of assertions by ASUS head Jerry Shen that the new Eee PC would go without a touch-sensitive display, the PC builder is said to have ordered low-cost, resistive touchscreens that will be used with the micro-notebook when it launches in April. The technology is considered less elegant than capacitive touchscreens (such as that for the iPhone) but will add just $10 US to the cost of building one of the ASUS systems. [full story]

March 19 - 8:50am EDT   ECS today took away the mystery of its CEBit expo presence with the formal launch of the G10IL, its first entry in the new netbook class and a direct rival to ASUS' Eee PC. The system is now known to be based on an Intel Atom processor and is one of the few very small portables to ship with 3G support. An HSPA modem allows the system to reach the Internet through cell networks with up to 7.2Mbps downloads and 2Mbps uploads; the modem is tri-band and supports US frequencies as well as Asia and Europe, ECS says. [full story]

March 6 - 12:25pm EST   Computer builder ECS is joining the competition against ASUS' popular Eee PC, reports say. The former is said to be developing the G10IL, a subnotebook system with mostly unknown specifications, including exact size, storage and processing power. It does however have a webcam and three USB 2.0 ports, along with an Ethernet connection and a 56K modem. Optical storage is omitted; Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth may be present, but the company has not said as much. [full story]