CeBIT 2011 : Archos introduced color e-book and a tablet..

French supplier of electronic devices, Archos has chosen an exhibition CeBIT for the release of e-books with seven-inch color touch screen. Also at CeBIT they presented Arnova - their first tablet of the budget line. New items were displayed in the Planet Reseller pavilion, which can be attended only with an invitation.

A device for reading electronic books Archos 7ob has a seven-inch screen with resolution of 800x480 pixels, combined with a resistive touch panel. The configuration includes 4 GB flash memory which can be expanded via SDHC. In addition to reading (including materials in both PDF and EPUB), the unit provides playback of sound recordings and video recordings, as well as access to web-resources using a wireless Wi-Fi 802.11b/g. It also features USB port, which serves only to communicate with the PC (for charging the batteries you need to use the charger).

According to the manufacturer, one battery charge will power seven hours of video playback. When viewing web-pages the number goes up to eight hours, and you can read books for more than ten hours. Archos will cost $179 in US. The company also revealed the first phone in new line - Arnova - eight-inch tablet with Android 2.1, which will also cost $179. Sales of the tablet will start in three weeks.

 

Netronix to release a 9.7-inch tablet..

Netronix, known for his collaboration with the Pocketbook in the production of electronic books, thinking about the release of Tablet PCs. A prototype of the product was shown at a recent trade show in Hanover, CeBIT. Despite the fact that only a prototype was shown at the exhibition, its appearance did make a very positive impression.There is still not much information on new Netronix device. The prototype runs on Android 2.2, and was equipped with a capacitive touch screen with the same diagonal as that of the iPad - 9,7 inches. Hardware platform for the prototype is SoC Freescale i.mx51. We also know that the tablet has a Micro USB port and USB (!), headphone jack and a pair of built-in speakers. It is assumed that after they finish their device it will go on sale around mid-May. And the cost of it can be half the price of the basic iPad - about $250.

Laptop tracks gaze, taking eye-tracking out of lab..

It tracks your gaze and figures out where you're looking on the screen. That means, among other things, that you can play a game where you burn up incoming asteroids with a laser that hits where you look. In another demonstration this week, the computer scrolled a text on the screen in response to eye movements, sensing when the reader reached the end of the visible text.

In the future, a laptop like this could make the mouse cursor appear where you're looking, or make a game character maintain eye contact with you, according to Tobii Technology Inc., the Swedish firm that's behind the tracking technology. The eye tracker works by shining two invisible infrared lights at you. Two hidden cameras then look for the "glints" off your eyeballs and reflections from each retina. It needs to be calibrated for each person. It works for people with or without eyeglasses.

Rather than a replacement for the traditional mouse and keyboard or the newer touch screen, the eye-tracking could be a complement, making a computer faster and more efficient to use, said Barbara Barclay, general manager of Tobii's Analysis Solutions business. Tobii has been making eye-tracking devices for researchers and the disabled for nearly a decade. The laptop is its way of showing that eye-tracking could expand beyond those niches, Barclay said, calling it an "idea generator."

The laptop is made by Lenovo Corp., and incorporates Tobii's eye-tracking cameras in a "hump" on the cover, making the entire package about twice as thick as a regular laptop. But future, commercial versions can be slimmer and are perhaps two years away, Barclay said.

Lenovo and Tobii made 20 of the laptops and planned to demonstrate them at the CeBIT technology trade show in Hanover, Germany, on Tuesday.

Tobii's current, standalone eye-trackers cost tens of thousands of dollars, but Barclay said the cost of adding consumer-level eye-tracking to a commercial laptop could be much less. New ways to use computers have been proliferating in recent years. Touch screens are becoming popular on smart phones and tablet computers such as the iPad. Nintendo Corp.'s Wii game console brought motion-sensing technology to the masses. Microsoft Corp. released an accessory for its Xbox games console last year that uses an infrared camera to sense the movement of bodies in three dimensions.