HP on Tuesday released its open-source Isis browser in the wake of its recently opened-up webOS platform. Meant for developers and dubbed Isis Project, the web browser engine is said to be fast and comply with current standards. It's based on the Enyo framework for webOS and uses both QtWebKit as well as JavaScriptCore.
An investment note from JPMorgan analyst Mike Moskowitz on Tuesday downplaying the likely impact of Windows-based ultrabooks was backed by support from PC resellers. He saw most competitors pursuing the MacBook Air and going for "more of the same" in computers, largely trying to replicate what they'd seen before instead of trying something new. The emulation was ironic for an industry that had initially downplayed the Air, he said, although he saw there being a number of practical competitive issues as well.
Apple has taken first place in a Harris Interactive poll on corporate reputations. The company scored a quotient of 85.63, giving it enough to beat out last year's winner, Google, which in the new poll has claimed second place with 82.82. Remaining companies in the top five include Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Kraft Foods.
Apple now represents about a fifth of all technology sales in the US, new NPD data showed Monday. By the end of 2011, 19 percent of revenue in the US was related to an Apple product. The company was now the top company selling technology in the US, topping HP, Samsung, Sony, and Dell even when the others could include their sales from all categories.
Apple on Monday took the step of asking the Fair Labor Association to orchestrate "special voluntary audits" of its last-stage suppliers. The investigations, which include Foxconn plants in Chengdu and Shenzhen, began the same day. They include both interviews with "thousands" of workers over conditions as well as inspections and document reviews.
An escaped USA Today presentation has uncovered some of the real results of mobile news app downloads. GeekWire's copy showed a wide gap between downloads for the iPad and Android tablets: at over 2.9 million downloads, the iPad version had more than seven times the downloads of Android, which had 390,000 combined. The ratio on Android was heavily skewed by the Kindle Fire, which at 260,000 downloads had managed twice as much interest as every other Android tablet combined.
HP on Wednesday began selling its most direct competitor to the MacBook Air, the Envy 14 Spectre. The pseudo-ultrabook starts at a relatively steep $1,400 with a 14-inch, 1366x768 display, a 1.6GHz low-voltage Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid-state drive. Options can take it to a 1.8GHz Core i7 and a 256GB SSD.
New Gartner data breaking down European computer market share has shown poor results for almost every computer builder outside of Apple. Continent-wide, both market leader HP as well as Acer, Dell, and Toshiba were all dropping market share. Only ASUS (up 1.5 points) increased share based solely on its own merits among the top five; Lenovo's gain was inflated by its acquiring Medion last June.
Future Tap has updated Where To?, its iOS tool that can help find the closest and best rated restaurants, shops, and services, with support for five additional navigation apps. Building upon existing support, version 4.1 adds integration with Sygic, Waze, Navfree, Navmii, and Navigon Urban. Additionally, the update includes multiple images for listings, additional reviews, and landscape support for the homepage viewer. Where To? 4.1 can be purchased in the App Store for $3, with the option to add a 3D Augmented Reality mode through a $1 in app purchase.
HP has taken a potentially major step in its direction by approving a vote on a measure (PDF) that will let shareholders determine some of the board of directors. Any large shareholder holding three percent or more of stock for more than three years will have the option of nominating as much as 20 percent of the board. HP would be required to accept the nominations.
Microsoft's roadmap for Windows Phone was given a possible outline in a rumor Saturday. Tango, the first minor update, was pegged by Digitimes contacts as going live in March or April if Microsoft clinged to its roadmap. The rumored second Tango update would arrive in mid-year.
HP is among the many companies embracing 3D technology, and its 2311gt monitor aims to make the technology an affordable upgrade. The 23-inch monitor works as a standard 2D display, or as a 3D panel when combined with passive 3D glasses. In our full review, we will see how the company’s passive 3D technology stacks up against pricier active-shutter tech.
Apple and AT&T are leading computer and phone support in conditions that are still on the decline, Vocalabs found in a pair of studies of phone help quality. Apple was still out in front by a significant margin in computers, with 54 percent very satisfied to 49 percent of HP owners and 44 at Dell. The figure for Mac help was still down a full 19 points from the first half of 2010, however, where Dell and HP had always been at their lower levels.
A California Superior Court Judge has thrown out a suit over a settlement between HP and Oracle over Oracle's hiring away then HP CEO Mark Hurd. Oracle had claimed that HP has tricked it into the settlement by withholding information about its intentions to bring in a new CEO, Leo Apotheker. Oracle considered Apotheker as "toxic" to any relationship between the two companies.
A quick leak Monday has uncovered that webOS chief architect Brian Hernacki has left HP. Details were short from The Verge's source, but the webOS team member had come in during 2009. There weren't indications as to where he was going next.
HP has announced that Larry Babbio Jr. is stepping down from his position on the company's board of directors. The departure marks the latest move in a series of changes within HP's leadership, including the addition of six new directors to the company's board within the past year.
Friday signaled the second anniversary of the iPad's introduction and what has since been interpreted as the start of a shift in the entire computing space. Apple's tablet was unveiled this day in 2010 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco by its late co-creator, Steve Jobs. It would only go on sale April 2, but it proved to be polarizing from its unveiling, even for Apple loyalists.
Rambus' litigation campaign suffered a possibly fatal setback Friday after the USPTO pushed word that it had invalidated the final patent out of three the company has been using to sue a large part of the technology industry. Having quietly made the decision on Tuesday, the patent office's appeals board left Rambus without any of the patents it has been using to sue NVIDIA, Hynix, HP, and others. The first two had been scrapped in September.
HP's newly departed Jon Rubinstein has explained his reasons for going in an interview Friday. He clarified to The Verge that he had planned to leave not long after HP bought Palm and agreed to stay one to two years, both to help transition webOS to HP and out of affinity with Personal Systems Group head Todd Bradley. Whether or not the TouchPad succeeded was incidental, as Rubinstein had already decided beforehand that he wouldn't stay permanently.
HP has confirmed that former Palm CEO and one-time Apple executive Jon Rubinstein was leaving the company. Representative Mylene Mangalindan explained to AllThingsD that Rubinstein had "fulfilled his commitment" to stay for one to two years after HP's acquisition of Palm. He wasn't leaving for another company and isn't believed to have some other specific goal.
Despite being discontinued, HP's TouchPad tablet is up for sale again, at Woot. It's a refurbished 32GB model, priced at $220, or about $70 more than the last refurbished 32GB TouchPads sold on eBay. Shipping is a much more manageable $5 for the new sale, however.
Dell is trying an unusual strategy to try and steer ultrabook buyers towards the XPS 13 on Thursday. Nicknamed the Ultrabook Challenge, the demo campaign Thursday amounts to a blind taste test for the thin-and-light notebooks. Starting in San Francisco first, those at the corner of Chestnut and Scott, and later at Fisherman's Wharf, are being asked to pick an ultrabook based on "look and feel" with all the branding covered up, ostensibly to avoid bias.
Apple has faced both internal tension over as well as misleading statements from its Chinese suppliers, an in-depth investigation has uncovered. Focusing primarily on Foxconn, the New York Times spoke to numerous current and former Apple executives who said that, while there were improvements in the years since Apple began auditing factories, the company has so far stopped short of a hardline approach that would get a supplier like Foxconn to change.
HP has acted on its promise to open-source webOS with an important change that could affect the devices that use it. Now called Open webOS, it's moving to a common Linux kernel that will let hardware makers use much more typical drivers and bring it to hardware beyond what HP originally intended. The OS will sit under an Apache 2 license, which will let others copy code as long as they include the license and attribution.
PC maker HP has agreed to pay a civil fine of $425,000, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) revealed. The fine is a result of HP failing to immediately report a possible defect of its lithium-ion batteries, as required by federal law. The flaw, like with most batteries, could result in a fire.
HP showed the changing roles of netbooks on Monday with the introduction of its first new netbook for 2012, theMini 1104. The 10-inch netbook is focused on schools and business and primarily adds Intel's faster Cedar Trail-era 1.6GHz Atom N2600 for faster graphics and overall performance. It comes with Computrace Pro and a TPM security chip to help track the netbook if it's stolen.
Newly uncovered details behind Apple's original iPhone launch have underscored the reasons why manufacturing jobs aren't likely to return to the US in large numbers. Referring to Apple's well-known decision to switch from plastic to glass for the original iPhone's touchscreen, the New York Times understood that Jobs was furious the iPhone couldn't be put in a pocket with keys and avoid display scratches. The only way to get scratch-resistant glass in a timely way was to go to Foxconn's plants in Shenzhen, where Apple from a sudden midnight notice could have them producing 10,000 units a day with the updated model inside of 96 hours.
Researchers at HP's labs in India are showing off a prototype for an intelligent set-top box that could bring Internet browsing and web-based TV to the millions of Indian residents. The Vayu Internet Device (VInD) lets people receive Internet content on even basic TV sets and manage all screen operations using a basic TV remote control. The device has been designed with the premise that most Indians can't afford a computer, the Internet access, and services that a PC could provide.
The CyanogenMod TouchPad team has now officially released the previously teased CyanogenMod 9 software for the HP TouchPad over on the RootzWiki forum. This alpha release will allow users to run Android 4.0 on the discontinued tablet. As the software is at an early stage, however, many features do not work.
HP reshuffled its leadership again on Tuesday with the decision to promote Bill Veghte to Chief Strategy Officer. The step up, which will still give him responsibilities as VP of Software, will see him head not just the company's more recent cloud initiatives but the operation of open-sourcing webOS. Veghte has the "knowledge and vision" to keep the company on top, CEO Meg Whitman said.
HP has unwrapped a super-sized interactive display wall. The VantagePoint combines six high-resolution displays to create a seamless 11-foot by 4-foot (132-inch diagonal) screen. HP sees multiple applications for the wall including executive briefing centers, showrooms, retail, financial services, automotive, airline, home goods, and government.
HP TouchPad owners finally may soon be able to run Android 4.0 on their tablet. The CyanogenMod team has released a preview (below) of their upcoming CM9 build for the device. The upcoming version is much more fully featured than previous renditions of the Android port, and will incorporate almost all functionality except the camera and video playback.
Beats and Monster Cable have ended their partnership together on headphones, the two sides revealed this week. The two are now focusing independently on their own headphones. A pair of sources for Bloomberg added that Monster purportedly wanted more credit for the designs than Beats was willing to give.
HP has posted updates for webOS. It now has webOS 3.0.5 available for owners of the TouchPad, which the company initially launched and then quickly shelved last summer. It's also making a separate release, webOS 2.2.4, available to Pre 2 and Pre 3 smartphone owners.
Fall 2011 was the worst season for PC growth in the US in a decade, IDC found in preliminary results. The overall PC field shrank 6.7 percent compared to what it had in late 2010, based partly on hard drive shortages triggered by Thailand flooding. However, the iPad and other tablets like it, combined with a tough economy, meant many didn't want PCs, particularly in the "difficult competitive landscape" of the US as well as Western Europe.
In spite of two previous quarters of gains, computer industry shipments slipped 1.4 percent in Q4 2011 to 92.2 million units, according to preliminary Gartner estimates. The research firm had been forecasting a 1 percent drop. "Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments," analyst Mikako Kitagawa is quoted as saying. "While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate consumer PC demand in that region. The healthy professional PC market as well as growth in emerging markets could not compensate for the weaknesses in mature markets, with overall growth still negative."
We had an opportunity to try the HP Envy 14 Spectre this evening. The ultrabook is HP's most advanced and bears an uncanny similarity to a cross between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro through its attention to design. Is it a replacement for a Mac, though, or a try at riding Apple's coattails? Read on for our take.
HP brought its new 27-inch Omni27 all-in-one desktop system to CES, enabling Electronista to take a closer look at the system. An HP rep did not shy away from comparing the device to Apple's 27-inch iMac, before noting the $500 price gap, though the features are clearly different.
Today's Deals from DealNN include discounted desktop computers, printers, and more. Buy.com this week is featuring the refurbished HP Debranded 25.5-inch Touch Screen All-in-One Desktop Computer, complete with Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 2.13GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Currently featured at DealNN, this computer can be purchased for only $599 and offers savings of up to $351.
HP at CES officially unveiled the recently leaked Envy 14 Spectre ultrabook, which was expected thanks to the multiple hints. The ultrabook reserved online now, and promises a 14-inch HD screen in a 13.3-inch sized body. Its screen is covered by Corning's Gorilla Glass, as is the top of the lid and the touchpad. This is a first in the industry. There are also Beats by Dr. Dre-certified speakers onboard, and the ultrabook weighs 3.79lbs. To go with the audio theme, users adjust volume through an aluminum analog dial. HP Wireless Audio lets users stream wireless music up to four external devices or a KleerNet-supporting device.
HP has teased the Envy Spectre for the second time ahead of CES 2012. The new notebook looks as though it will be the first Envy notebook to fall into Intel’s new ultrabook category. As the photo (and the video below) shows, the new device appears to be quite thin as well as sport the look of the recent HP Envy 15.
HP hoped to cut into the territory of Apple's iMac with CES introductions by launching its first 27-inch all-in-one desktop. The Omni27 forgoes touch but is the first without touch to use HP's Magic Canvas, a widescreen-optimized space for apps, movies, and photos. Beats Audio and direct HDMI video input turn it into a media system both on its own and for other devices.
HP rounded out its CES introductions with a trio of Compaq displays. The 23-inch L2311c Notebook Docking Monitor takes its cue from Apple's Thunderbolt Display and uses USB 3.0 or 2.0 to feed both the display, Ethernet, a webcam, and four USB ports through one cable, whether it's a Windows PC or not. A separate power connection can charge any HP-made notebook that uses up to 90W of power.
HP has teased that it might have more at CES than it has told the media in a teaser slipped out Monday. Called just the Spectre in the video (below) seeded to Engadget and multiple other sites, and believed to be part of the Envy line, it looks to be an extremely thin notebook with a flat lid. Very little else is shown other than patterns that infer the very thin design.
Recently departed webOS Community Manager Chuq von Rospach has added to the explanations for why webOS was failing with new details of his own. While careful not to blame HP solely or even primarily for the platform's decline, von Rospach noted that the culture fostered under ousted CEO Leo Apotheker only exacerbated what's cast as a revolving-door culture. He likened it to the nadir of Apple's leadership under Michael Spindler, who preceded Gil Amelio and was well before the clarity and lean organization that defined Steve Jobs' return.
New scoops both public and private have suggested that Palm, and later HP, may have ultimately had hurdles at the corporate level, not just technical, to ever challenging Apple or Google. WebOS didn't have either the needed management or engineers to bring it to completion, a New York Times source said, and there were few WebKit-savvy developers weren't already working on iOS or Android. This was compounded by a rush to finish the OS in nine months, which required taking shortcuts such as skipping proper APIs (app programming interfaces) until later, hurting the ability for third-party developers to sign on.
(Update: the letter is posted) Ousted HP chief Mark Hurd late Wednesday lost an appeal against a ruling that will make an accusation letter public. The Delaware court determined that the contents discussing the Jodie Fisher involvement were only "mildly embarrassing" and weren't protected the same way genuine trade secrets might. It wouldn't violate California privacy rights, and many of the details had been leaked to the public and weren't overly detailed, the court argued.
HP had tried to sell webOS before it settled on open-sourcing the platform, according to a rumor on Wednesday. Sources for VentureBeat claimed that HP had supposedly been asking for the same $1.2 billion that it paid for Palm in 2010 to avoid taking a loss. If it had been talking to Amazon and other companies, they may have balked given that HP was charging the same price for a division whose hardware had since been taken off the market.
Intel ushered in what might be the swansong for netbooks on Wednesday by finally shipping Atom processors based on its Cedar Trail platform. Confirming rumors of another delay, it was shipping the 1.6GHz N2600 and 1.83GHz N2800 with the expectation that they would be available in early 2012. Familiar netbook supporters Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba had pledged new systems using the chips.
HP's stillborn TouchPad Go has been given its first and possibly only review on Tuesday in a sign that it might have been the tablet HP should have launched first. The seven-inch tablet handled by webOS Nation has the same 1024x768 display as before and the faster dual-core 1.5GHz chip from the 64GB TouchPad, making it not only as capable but giving it a much sharper screen. While the cameras weren't high quality, it had a five-megapixel rear camera and was much more useful than the front-only camera on the 9.7-inch TouchPad.
