10/21, 10:40am
Fujitsu shows off new Windows 7 notebooks
Earlier this week, Fujitsu added more notebooks to its line preloaded with Windows 7. The line centers on the 12.1-inch LifeBook T4310 and T4410 tablets with multi-touch capability, the 15.6-inch LifeBook A1220 mainstream notebook, and the 10.1-inch M2011. The T4310 and T4410 are meant for use by students and mobile professionals, respectively, each with 12.1-inch multi-touch screens with a 1366x768 resolution, 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo processors and 2GB of RAM.
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10/16, 5:00pm
Fujitsu LifeBook P3010, P3110 ready
Fujitsu has opted for an unusual end-of-week introduction for a pair of new notebooks in its LifeBook mix. The P3010 and P3110 are the company's first netbook/notebook crossovers and have 11.6-inch screens as well as a long 6.7-hour battery life that can be pushed to 7.2 with an eco mode toggle. They also borrow a technique from Apple that will share a DVD drive on the local network to read or burn discs instead of having to use a physically attached USB optical drive.
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10/13, 5:20pm
Fujitsu outs desktops, notebooks with multi-touch
Fujitsu in Japan is showing off a range of new desktop and notebook PCs, including the Deskpower F/ER-series all-in-one desktop and MT Series and Biblo NF/ERs notebooks. The F-series offer a model with a 23-inch, 1920x1080 or 20-inch, 1600x900 multi-touch display. Powering either is Intel's 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, along with 4GB of RAM. Options include a Blu-ray model, 1TB of combined hard drive space and a choice of digital and analog TV tuners.
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10/13, 3:15pm
Plastic Logic says bookstore rep wrong
Plastic Logic today denied reports that it would have a color e-book reader ready by spring. The company tells PCPro that the Barnes & Noble contact was "misinformed" and further insists he wasn't speaking in an official capacity for the American book retailer. A color reader is still in development but isn't due to ship this year, a spokesperson says.
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10/07, 1:30pm
Buffalo intro USB 3.0, 125MBps external drive
Buffalo hhas launched its first USB 3.0 hard drive in the DriveStation HD-HXU3. The 3.5-inch external disk uses the much larger bandwidth to attain transfer speeds of up to 125MBps, or between 3 and 4 times faster than the company's currently available USB 2.0 drive. In order to take advantage of the new standard's speeds, a card will be sold alongside the drive to install into host computers.
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09/30, 4:40pm
Dell, LG, Lenovo suffer criticisms
Activist group Greenpeace has released a new edition of its Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks major high-tech corporations in terms of their alleged environmental friendliness. Among the companies favored by Greenpeace's press efforts is Apple, which the group notes recently disclosed its carbon emissions. Apple has risen in rankings from 11th to 9th, aided not by the disclosure but by being the "most progressive" computer maker in terms of removing product toxins.
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09/22, 12:30pm
Intel Tangent Bay concept
Ahead of its Developer Forum, Intel has demonstrated a new notebook concept it hopes might be more widespread. Nicknamed Tangent Bay, the prototype embeds three OLED multi-touch screens in the main body and makes theses a central part of the interface. They can be used to play media without taking up space on the main display but can also interact with each other: a video queued in one can be played on the other. Content can also be dragged to and from the sub-displays as well as the main LCD.
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08/19, 4:35pm
Fujitsu Celsius Ultra PC
Fujitsu's Celsius Ultra gaming PC, which is claimed to be the fastest air-cooled gaming system around, has been priced and images have been captured, as it has been tested by an independent source. The 3.33GHz Intel Core i7-powered system sports dual EVGA GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards set up in a 4-way SLI configuration on a single board. Each card has 1.8GB of dedicated RMA. The cards' cooling capabilities haven't been modified, though their speeds have been slightly increased. There is also 12GB of RAM onboard.
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08/12, 12:30pm
Gartner on iPhone sales
Apple has managed to hold on to its position as the third-largest smartphone maker in the world, says Gartner. The firm's research director, Carolina Milanesi, notes that Apple sold over 5.4 million iPhones in Q209, many times the 892,000 sold in the same quarter of 2008; the difference represents a greater growth than for any other smartphone company. By the end of the 2009 quarter, the business had reached 13.3 percent of worldwide sales. A third-place position was first achieved in Q308, on the back of much wider international distribution.
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08/06, 11:55am
Apple Tops Tech Sup Ranks
Apple has maintained a decisive lead in technical support rankings for 2009, according to a new Laptop study. Of ten major companies tested, only Apple managed an "A" grade for its help, earning it across both its ability to solve problems on calls and online; it also kept hold times to under five minutes and located its support only in North America. The company is further helped by having a dedicated retail network that can address questions in person, the magazine adds.
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07/10, 11:30am
No News Corp e-book reader
In a recent interview, Rupert Murdoch has denied rumors of News Corp. developing its own e-book reader. When prompted on the possibility of the development of such a device, the CEO responded to the Wall Street Journal by saying he "[doesn't] think that's likely" to occur in the near future. Murdoch did, however, expand on it, hinting News Corp. is involved in talks with hardware manufacturers on wireless readers for books, newspapers or magazines.
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06/16, 1:15pm
Clearwire 4G in Atlanta
Clearwire on Tuesday officially released its 4G WiMAX wireless broadband network in Atlanta, making it the largest city in the US to offer the service. The service, CLEAR, is available to about three million people in a 1,200-square mile area, offering users DSL-like cable speeds wherever they are, wirelessly. Running on a WiMAX radio system from Motorola, the service is said to deliver realistic download speeds between 4 and 6Mbps, with burst speeds greater than 15Mbps. In comparison, existing 3G networks provide download speeds between 1 and 1.7Mbps.
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06/11, 11:25am
LG Aims for No 2 Spot
LG's mobile chief Skott Ahn today told the press that his company is planning to claim second place in both the overall and smartphone markets by 2012. The Korean company expects its total phone share to remain a flat 10 percent in 2009, or third place behind Nokia and Samsung, but also anticipates moving up much more quickly among the more advanced devices, where it doesn't yet count among the top five. Much of the boost should come from its deal with Microsoft for Windows Mobile phones, but at least one Android phone is due this year.
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05/20, 10:35am
Gartner Phone Share Q1 09
Apple has managed to more than double its smartphone market share from year to year in the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner data. iPhones jumped from 5.3 percent of the industry in early 2008 to 10.8 percent a year later. The jump has made Apple the third-largest smartphone maker in the world and gives it twice as much share as HTC, which had just 5.4 percent of the market and grew slowly even with the launch of Android phones.
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05/12, 3:00pm
Group effort scanners
Three companies, Fujitsu, FileMaker Inc., and Acordex, have combined resources in order to target the low-cost, high-speed document scanning market. The companies have integrated Acordex's DocKeep Pro with FileMaker Pro 10, to help produce high-speed scanning using Fujitsu's fi-6130 and fi-6140 document scanners.
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04/30, 4:30pm
Toshiba, Fujitsu HDD deal
Toshiba Corporation and Fujitsu Limited on Thursday today announced the terms of the definitive agreement, following the pair's memorandum of understanding completed in mid-February. Under the agreement, Fujitsu will transfer its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba, with a target completion date of July 1st.
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03/18, 11:10am
Fujitsu FLEPia
Fujitsu on Wednesday claimed an achievement by launching the FLEPia. It not only claims the title of the first shipping device with a color e-paper screen, showing 260,000 colors at once on its 768x1024 display, but also supports touch input through a stylus. Users can read e-books and other documents but also browse the web, check e-mail, and edit Office documents thanks to an onscreen keyboard and built-in Wi-Fi.
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03/17, 5:00pm
Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners
Fujitsu on Tuesday introduced two new scanner for PC and Macintosh users with the ScanSnap S1500 and the nearly identical, but white, ScanSnap S1500M, respectively. Compared to previous scanners from Fujitsu, the latest ScanSnap scanners are faster, at 60ppm when scanning black and white documents or 20ppm on color documents, while being easier to use thanks to a more intuitive software interface, the company claims. Image scanning speeds are rated at 40 images per minute. Both S1500s can automatically detect page size, orientation, color setting and whether both sides of the page are printed. A new intelligent paper feed detection system uses ultrasonic tech.
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02/25, 4:25pm
Fujitsu LifeBook A1120
Fujitsu on Wednesday announced the upcoming release of its LifeBook A1120 notebook PC which is due to replace the current LifeBook A1110. Like the predecessor, the new notebook has swappable lids that lets users customize the look of the computer, but the notebook has upgraded hardware that increases system performance. Processing power comes from a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, while RAM can be upgraded up to 4GB. Storage can be optioned up to 250GB on a 5,400RPM SATA hard drive.
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02/17, 11:25am
Fujitsu Sells HDD To Toshi
Fujitsu this morning said it has struck a deal to transfer its hard drive business to Toshiba. A memorandum between the two will see Fujitsu spin off its storage efforts into a separate company and let Toshiba buy an 80 percent stake in the project, with Fujitsu eventually letting go of the remaining 20 percent. The decision is largely prompted by Fujitsu's potential $112 million loss in the division.
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01/30, 9:45am
Fujitsu Built for Android
Fujitsu has revealed that it plans to push Google's Android platform deep into home electronics with a new initiative known as Services Built for Android. The program will see the Japanese company offer its consulting, engineering and other expertise to help run the open-source mobile OS on embedded hardware. This could include media devices like portable media players as well as cellphones, GPS devices, set-top boxes and even thin-client PCs, according to Fujitsu.
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01/27, 7:30am
Fujitsu Quits HD Head Biz
Fujitsu on Tuesday said it would exit manufacturing hard disk drive read and write heads by the end of March. The move follows a "broader strategic review" of its overall hard drive business and will send employees working specifically on the drive heads at the Japanese company's Nagano plant towards other factories. The plant itself will also continue running as it makes boards for servers and telecoms equipment.
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01/19, 1:55pm
Fujitsu waterproof phone
Maker of fingerprint sensors, AuthenTec, announced on Sunday that Fujitsu has started shipping the F-01A handset, the world's first with IPX5 and IPX7 waterfproof specifications and a fingerprint scanner. The handset is being offered by Japan's NTT DoCoMo wireless provider, and can remain submerged under up to nearly 3.3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The phone is also the first to utilize AuthenTec's TouchStone packaging, which includes AuthenTec's TrueNav technology that lets the AES1711 fingerprint scanner double as a touchpad for navigating the phone's controls.
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01/14, 4:45pm
Foma F905i Taiwan launch
Japanese wireless provider NTT DoCoMo and handset maker Fujitsu on Wednesday announced the Foma F905i handset will be offered in Taiwan. Offered for the first time outside of Japan, the handset will support traditional Chinese characters and therefore enable users to access the Taiwanese carrier Far EasTone's i-mode mobile Internet service. The handset has a swiveling 3.2-inch, 480x864 display and features a fingerprint scanner usually found in notebook PCs for security.
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01/14, 3:25pm
Toshiba Fujitsu HDD Talks
Toshiba on Wednesday revealed (reg. required) that talks are currently underway to investigate buying Fujitsu's hard drive business in a deal estimated to be worth roughly $448.8 million. No details have been revealed, but Fujitsu itself has acknowledged the talks and says that Toshiba is one of "several" candidates for a possible deal, which in the past have also included Western Digital.
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01/13, 12:35am
HandyDrive MMH2 UB series
Fujitsu has announced the HandyDrive MMH2 UB series of 5400 RPM external hard drives with USB 2.0 connections. Available capacities will include 500GB, 400GB, 320GB, and 250GB, with each 2.5-inch HDD protected by a lightweight housing that measures 137.5mm by 83.5mm by 15mm. Included support software can be used to manage partitions or password lock the drives for protection against data theft if the device is lost or stolen.
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12/15, 1:15pm
Fujitsu intros notebooks
Fujitsu recently introduced a number of new notebooks in six new series, with a pair of Atom-powered, 5.6-inch convertible PCs in the LOOX U series as the headliners. At the same time, the computer maker has released details for the 16-inch Biblo NW, the 12.1-inch Biblo LOOX R, 14.1-inch Biblo S, 14.1- and 13.3-inch Biblo MG, and the 15.4- and 15.6-inch Biblo NF.
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11/17, 1:25pm
Fujitsu intros SAS HDDs
Fujitsu on Monday announced the launch of its 2.5-inch, 10,000RPM MBD2 RC- and 15,000RPM MBE2 RC-series of 6Gbps Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) enterprise hard disk drives. Compared to the previous-generation drives, capacity is doubled thanks to Fujitsu's use of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology, which also reduced power consumption to class-leading levels, according to the company. As part of the company's Green Policy Innovation program, the drives in both ranges feature halogen-free construction and are RoHS-compliant.
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11/11, 9:20am
Fujitsu intros green HDDs
Fujitsu on Tuesday announced the upcoming release of its 2.5-inch MJA2 BH- and MJA2 CH-series hard disk drives, both 5400RPM, SATA units with 500GB of capacity. The MJA2 CH drives sport AES hardware-based full disk encryption (FDE) with a 256-bit key size. This hardware-based encryption offers greater security than software-based protection, as the user password is not obtainable when the drives are powered off.
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11/04, 4:20pm
ScanSnap S300
Computers were supposed to give us the paperless office, but anyone who uses them knows that they create more paper than ever before. While paper can be convenient for storing information, it’s not always as convenient to store or share with others in large quantities. To solve this problem, Fujitsu offers a unique portable device called the ScanSnap S300.
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11/04, 3:00pm
Fujitsu intros U820 tablet
Fujitsu has recently released a sequel to its U810 convertible netbook with the U820. The U820, available in two models, uses a 5.6-inch, 1366x768 resolution touchscreen display and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU along with 1GB of RAM. Windows Vista Home Premium comes preloaded on the 60GB standard hard disk drive or an optional 120GB disk. A shock-mounted 64GB solid-state drive will also be a standalone option. Windows Vista Business is likewise a choice with a different software bundle.
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11/04, 9:00am
Fujitsu LifeBook N7010
Fujitsu today claimed a minor first for the notebook industry with an update to its LifeBook portables. The N7010 has a unique secondary, four-inch touchscreen that runs at the same time as the primary 16-inch screen. The second view gives users a way to control media playback or launch apps without intruding into the main display; built-in apps give users access to Windows' Quick Launch icons or to playing content in Windows Media Player, but users can also drag apps into view as though it were a standard secondary display.
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10/20, 10:45am
Fujitsu LifeBook P8020
Fujitsu has quietly launched a substantial upgrade to its LifeBooks through the P8020. The ultraportable carries over the unique bezel-free 12-inch LCD of the P8010 but adds a newer, faster Centrino 2-era platform as well as one of the company's few multi-touch trackpads. Owners can perform gestures with one or two fingers, including an Apple-like pinch motion to zoom in or out as well a circular motion for uninterrupted scrolling, much as with iPods.
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10/16, 4:00pm
Fujitsu LifeBook T2020
Fujitsu has announced the launch of its new 12.1-inch LifeBook T2020 convertible tablet notebook on Thursday. Chief among the upgrades compared to the T2010 model it replaces, the new notebook includes a choice of 1.2GHz or 1.4GHz ultra low voltage Core 2 Duos and an eventual solid-stage drive option. Standard RAM is set at 1GB, but it can be upgraded to 2GB or 4GB. The 1280x800 display can be swapped for an outdoor viewable panel of the same resolution.
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10/09, 4:00pm
Fujitsu tablet PC spotted
The Fujitsu ST6000-series Internet tablet PC first unveiled late last month has been spotted again, undergoing testing at the FCC, suggesting the product is that much closer to production. According to the included owner’s manual, the 12.1-inch tablet will sport a maximum 1600x1200 resolution and not, as previously advertised on the company website, 1920x1200. Other specs, however, such as its 1GB of RAM expandable up to 4GB and choice of two hard disk drives or a solid-state drive, are confirmed.
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10/09, 9:00am
ASUS Touch Eee PCs Enroute
ASUS plans at least a pair of hardware upgrades to its Eee PC line that will point to the future of netbooks, the company's division manager Samson Hu said today. The executive now says the PC builder plans to unveil touchscreen Eee PC models at the Consumer Electronics Show in January; no details are available, but the company expects them to be catalysts for sales. It's unclear whether they would be tablet models or traditional folding designs, though Fujitsu and GigaByte both already have early models of their own.
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10/03, 4:20pm
Toshiba Fujitsu HDD unit
A Toshiba executive on Thursday said the Japanese electronics company would consider purchasing Fujitsu’s hard-disk drive unit if Fujitsu approached Toshiba, says a Friday WSJ report. The news comes after last month’s rumored bid by Toshiba to acquire flash-memory maker SanDisk, in an attempt to stop its sale to competitor Samsung, which Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida denied at an industry event, according to the same report. Nishida feels the current relations between Toshiba and SanDisk are fine.
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10/02, 12:05pm
Fujitsu Multi-Touch 2009
Fujitsu senior product director Paul Moore in an interview published today revealed plans by his company to introduce multi-touch computers while simultaneously downplaying the significance of the technology. Following in the footsteps of an early development in Dell's Latitude XT, Fujitsu tells Wired it plans to release PCs in mid-2009 that accept multi-finger gestures but plans to limit these to fixed and convertible tablet PCs rather than extend them to all its notebooks.
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10/02, 12:05am
Fujitsu in talks with WD
Fujitsu and Western Digital are allegedly in conversation over the purchase of Fujitsu's hard drive business sector, an inside source tells Reuters. Despite fierce denial on Fujitsu's part, the news sent the company's share price shooting up 3.3 percent on the Nikkei market to ¥620 (~$5.80), since Fujitsu's hard drive unit is currently losing money. The sale talks come as Fujitsu faces increased competition from Seagate and others, as well as plummeting storage prices.
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10/01, 4:45pm
Fujitsu Life Book A1110
Fujitsu on Wednesday has launched interchangeable color panels for its newly released 15.4-inch LifeBook A1110, which let users customize and bring life to their notebook. Thus far, three standout colors are available apart from the standard black LCD cover, including patterned blue, pink and green colors. The covers are meant to snap on and off easily and repeatedly. Apart from the colorful covers, the A1110 also features a more functional removable dust filter that traps dust and larger particles before it enters the notebook and can be removed to facilitate its cleaning.
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09/29, 4:25pm
Fujitsu Stylistic ST6012
The Stylistic ST6012 tablet PC has appeared on Fujitsu’s website over the weekend, revealing particularly high-end specs. The 12.1-inch, 1920x1200 touchscreen tablet has a 1.4GHz ultra-low voltage Intel processor working with at least 1GB of RAM, and support up to 4GB. Potential buyers will be able to choose between a 64GB SSD drive or a 320GB hard-disk drive, among others. For data access on the go, a 3G UMTS module is built in, while access to hot-spots is made via a dual-band, three-antenna Wi-Fi connection.
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09/08, 9:30am
iPhone aids Q2 smartphones
Some 32.2 million smartphones were sold worldwide in the second quarter of 2008, says the Gartner research group. While this was a 15.7 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago, the poor surrounding economy is said to be hurting the ability to buy such expensive products, whether new or as a replacement. The market was in fact buoyed substantially by the release of Apple's iPhone 3G, along with a slate of other touchscreen devices, all of which should help restore normal growth in Q3. Smartphones continue to account for about 11 percent of total phone sales.
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09/01, 12:30pm
Fujitsu LifeBook at FCC
Fujitsu will soon be adding a new ultra-portable LifeBook notebook PC to its range, according to an FCC filing online. The P1630 would effectively replace the current P1620 but retain the former's 8.9-inch touch-screen display good for 1280x768-pixel resolution. It will, however, use a new ultra low-voltage processor, Intel's Core 2 Duo SU9400 running at 1.4GHz.
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08/29, 12:50pm
Fujitsu Amilo Mini Ui 3520
Fujitsu is taking its first steps into the realm of netbooks like the Eee PC and Aspire One, reports indicate. The Amilo Mini Ui 3520 (photo below) is an 8.9-inch system, and relies on a 1.6GHz Atom processor, along with 1GB of RAM. Unlike some other netbooks however, there is said to be no Linux option for its operating system, only Windows XP Home.
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08/08, 3:00pm
Fujitsu U2010 Official
Fujitsu today used Singapore as the venue for its next most recent update to the LifeBook U series. Already previewed in basic form, the 5.6-inch convertible tablet switches from the A110 processor to a faster and more efficient 1.6GHz Atom that gives it as much as eight hours of battery life with an optional extended battery and 64GB solid-state drive. In an unusual addition, the ultra-mobile PC also has its own FM transmitter to pipe sound to a nearby radio and save the trouble of porting external speakers.
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07/15, 4:45pm
Fujitsu Centrino 2 laptops
Fujitsu today introduced six new notebooks and tablet PCs based on the Intel Centrino 2 mobile platform announced last night. The two tablet PCs are the LifeBook T5010 and T1010, both sporting a 13.3-inch display. The main difference between the two is the use of the Centrino 2 vPro business chipset in the T5010 and the regular Centrino 2 in the T1010, with less security and no remote access options. The T5010 also features a modular bay that allows the optical drive to make room for a secondary battery.
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07/09, 11:40am
Fujitsu Downplays SSDs
Fujitsu has no near-term plans to create solid-state hard drives (SSDs) of its own as the technology still isn't as fast it should be compared to hard drives, the company's business development VP Joel Hagberg says. He acknowledges that many notebook manufacturers are opting for the flash-based medium but argues that its performance advantage isn't as broad as other storage makers would claim. Many SSDs are very fast at random access for reading data but quickly falls apart when writing data or reading large amounts of data in a row, he says.
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07/02, 9:25am
iPhone Sought in Japan
Japanese cellphone users are most eager to have the iPhone 3G over any other smartphone in or coming to the market, according to a new study by iShare. The research group says that 57.9 percent of all those responding to a survey said they most wanted the Apple device, which placed well ahead of others despite the study method allowing multiple answers. Second place belonged to the Japan-made Willcom D4 UMPC and phone crossover at 35.8 percent, while the more conventional Willcom 03 was third at 33.1 percent.
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07/01, 2:45pm
Fujitsu FCRAM Technology
Fujitsu on Tuesday unveiled a new version of its Fast Cycle RAM (FCRAM that it believes should give the performance of conventional memory with the power of mobile memory. By using a 64-bit wide interface, the chipmaker can produce memory which is faster than two typical 16-bit DDR2 memory sticks while also dropping the resistors that consume much of the power; a 256-megabit (32MB) edition of the new FCRAM chip uses about 70 percent less power, or one watt less, than ordinary RAM.
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07/01, 9:30am
Fujitsu LifeBook P8010
Switching away from its normal emphasis on work systems, Fujitsu today has unveiled the LifeBook P8010 LE. The limited-run notebook gets a glossy, pink gold hue on its back and is one of the PC maker's few systems to integrate 3G cellular access; a built-in HSDPA modem gives it high-speed Internet access in most 3G-capable countries. The 12-inch portable is also relatively rare in using a lid design that allows for extremely narrow side bezels around the display that gives Fujitsu an opportunity to shrink the notebook design without compromising on the screen size.
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