You are on a train and suddenly a call comes in. You pull out a mobile device from your pocket to answer the call.
Later you receive a pop-up alert — “You’ve got mail!” — you unfold the device and the image expands to twice or even four times its original size. You fire off a quick reply to your boss using the virtual keyboard. Still later, you flip through the touchscreen panel to read the latest news updates or watch a YouTube video to kill time.
This isn’t a scene from a sci-fi movie, it is the future as envisioned by Liu Yingjian (劉迎建), founder of Beijing’s Hanvon Technology Co (漢王科技), the world’s second-largest maker of e-readers.
PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP
Liu foresees the integration of PCs, cellphones, tablet devices and electronics readers into a single device that is foldable, portable and easy to use.
“We have had some client feedback saying they want to make calls from e-readers,” Liu said on Tuesday.
He predicted that e-readers and tablets would be the first products to merge.
E-readers, tablet devices, cloud computing and 3D technology have grabbed the spotlight at this year’s Computex Taipei.
Many of the new gadgets on display showed that the “trends” being discussed by tech industry experts are no longer the stuff of fantasy, but are really taking shape and likely to play an important role in life in the not too distant future.
Liu hails e-readers as a “revolutionary product” and a “critical breakthrough” that will write a new chapter in tech history.
“Audio and visual media have become digitized, now only words are not,” he said.
The revival of tablets and the emergence of e-readers is set to challenge traditional PC usage, paving the way for the next wave of personal digital products.
It is no longer necessary to be tech-centric to use gadgets because what consumers really want matters to companies. In fact, it matters a great deal to Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦). On Monday, chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) told a global press conference that “human-centric” would be the company’s product design philosophy for the future.
Tech products that the netbook computer pioneer plans to roll out will offer an improved human interface and features that are real time and real “human,” Shih said.
Despite causing a stir when it unveiled the industry’s first netbook PCs — stripped-down versions of standard notebooks that came with around 10-inch panels and a price tag of about US$500, in 2007 — the company is in less of a hurry to join the current craze for e-readers and tablets.
Asustek’s first e-reader will only hit the stores in Taiwan and the US in September.
“Our Eee Tablet offers different note templates, allowing students to scribble notes and sketches on the panels just like real paper,” Shih said.
Asustek is putting the launch on hold, in an attempt to make sure it comes up with a device that consumers really want.
In the case of the e-reader, the note-scribbling feature is pivotal as the education market is likely to account for the bulk of sales.
Asustek’s tablet, Eee Pad, will not be introduced until the first quarter of next year.
Apple Inc announced on Monday that 2 million iPads have been sold since the product launch less than two months ago. However, the iPad does not support Adobe Flash software. It also has no Web cam and USB ports.
Asustek is working to design an Eee Pad that differentiates itself from the iPad by offering those missing features.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS