3 Prototypes From HP, In Outline 104
tekgoblin writes "Since the recent HP buyout of PALM we have been waiting for what HP may have in store for us. Well HP's CTO Phil McKinney has tweeted some pictures of 3 new devices that could be released in the near future." Note: the pictures' most relevant bits are blacked out with the subtlety of an expurgated FBI document, but they have me curious, especially about the wrist-worn device.
Those are awesome.. (Score:5, Funny)
..designer frames. The black boxes.. eh..
Re:Those are awesome.. (Score:5, Funny)
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Both you and GP where close...
If you zoom in the screen reflections you will only get the *back* of the devices.
You were closer, however what needs to be done is to zoom on the screen reflections looking for the eyes, then zoom into those and zoom again on the respective eye reflections to get the image of the front of the devices.
On a serious note, I have lost every desire to buy HP devices. Nowadays they are *very* poor quality.
The last thing I bought was an HP notebook about 10 years ago... it lasted for
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I thought you were being serious. Don't you watch CSI?
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But if you look at the distorted images in the guys spectacles, then even without mythical enhancement, you can see what I think is his arm and the conventional laptop. So without firing up the Infinite Improbability Drive to power the image processor, there is visible information in the picture.
Maybe the best way to avoid information leaking would have been to not take any pictures, then reassign the guy who suggested taking
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When I look at these pictures, all I think is "Jackal. A jackal. Is it a jackal? It's a jackal! A jackal!"
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How do you know there is anything actually there? His hand could be empty and nothing on his wrist.
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It's like, how much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black.
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We haven't considered that HP may of been able to invent hand-held blackholes.
If it means the cost of manufacturing requires a LHC per device, in theory it should be cheaper than the iPad.
MS Paint Prototypes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's some photos of my hand with black bocks over everything. But they're prototypes. I swear. Please don't buy something from Apple.
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Maybe they're flexible LED screens with blacks as good as the old CRTs. That I'd buy.
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I was thinking the phone looked more like an HTC Desire.
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Oh, I thought HP was buying Amazon.
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Here's some photos of my hand with black bocks over everything. But they're prototypes. I swear. Please don't buy something from Apple.
It's sad. Sad in a middle aged business man who buys a Vanilla Ice album to be "down with the kids" sort of way. Why don't they just churn out the grey corporate stuff like they do so well ?
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Because they can see how many billion's in profits Apple is racking in every quarter from the three new market-defining products they've introduced in the past 10 years [iPod, iPhone, and iPad].
And they so want to be hip and cool and down with that and jiggy with it.
Worthless article (Score:4, Insightful)
What the fuck is this? One short paragraph and three photos showing black rectangles?
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Maybe the featured device is a printer that automatically obfuscates any important details!
If that's their new product they'll sell a million of them to governments around the world ;-)
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Note: the pictures' most relevant bits are blacked out...but they have me curious, especially about the wrist-worn device.
That's his ESD strap. You've been trolled.
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My first thought was no way - I don't see any wire coming from the wrist. Then I thought: it could be behind his hand, I suppose. There certainly are a lot of wires in the photos.
Still, I don't think it is one. Why would you need one to hold a finished product in a case? OTOH, it is HP, so maybe you do need one.
It's a pretty lame attempt to try and muster interest in HP with these blacked-out images.
Oh well, one good thing was seeing this [novationmusic.com] on his desk and learning what it is.
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It is disappointing when there's so many good articles in the 'hose.
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Well you aren't supposed to actually read it.
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Here's to hoping (Score:4, Insightful)
WebOS is a decent piece of software...here's to hoping HP leverages it intelligently.
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Indeed. I think it's arguably a more elegant operating system than Android or iOS. I look forward to seeing what's next, especially since my Pre is getting a bit long in the tooth.
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The pre has been out for 14 months now.
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The Pre was introduced at CES 2009, which is in January. So it's been "out" for over a year and a half.
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At least it's more open for user modifications from what i can tell. Android seems to be heading towards iOS level shackles to gain favor with carriers and such. Hell, not only do Google put very specific requirements on what devices they allow even the free section of Market on, you need a Gmail account to access said free section. And that account can (or did this change recently?) not be changed unless you reset the whole device. And even then each carrier can decide what apps they want to allow onto the
Re:Here's to hoping (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's hope they use it intelligently.
Why use a pretentious three-syllable management-wank-speak word in place of a perfectly acceptable single-syllable word which means the same thing?
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Because it's there.
HEY-OOOHHH
Re:Here's to hoping (Score:5, Informative)
Probably because "using" something and "leveraging" it are not the same thing.
They could "use" WebOS in any number of different pieces of hardware, but if the hardware they put it in doesn't really benefit from what WebOS can do (e.g., with the multitasking and Synergy, especially), then they haven't leveraged it well at all. Leveraging a product means you use it in such a way to make other products attractive, as well.
For example: Let's say HP decided to put WebOS exclusively on tablets. You could certainly argue that tablets are a good use scenario for WebOS, but they certainly couldn't be said to be leveraging WebOS well, if that were the case.
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Why does no one mimic Apple where it counts? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ooh! Look! They've invented paper and the $0.99 solar-powered calculator!
HP's already announced and seemingly canceled amazing new Win7 tablet. They've bought WebOS and then suggested that they're going to stuff it in printers, so forget about tablets for now. So what are they doing here? More stuff that doesn't exist or won't leave the lab? Or won't be sold until I've already bought my iPad 2?
Why don't these companies mimic Apple where it matters? Don't rumor, tease, prototype, spin, et cyk? Shut up until you've got something work talking about...and then release it!
Re:Why does no one mimic Apple where it counts? (Score:5, Insightful)
They'll release it as soon as they figure out how to require it to use up an ink cartridge once a week.
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Problem solved: all HP devices will automatically located HP printers on any network in range and send advertisements to the printers at random intervals.
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Except, of course, that Apple is the master of rumour and spin (the rumours of an Apple phone went on for years before they actually released it). HP is just doing it wrong: they release pictures through official channels instead of sending words to fanboy bloggers. Then again, the community of HP fanboys is very small, if it exists at all.
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http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/
Re:Why does no one mimic Apple where it counts? (Score:4, Insightful)
They've bought WebOS and then suggested that they're going to stuff it in printers, so forget about tablets for now.
They've already confirmed the WebOS tablet for Q1 2011 (once in an all-hands meeting and once in the quarterly results conference call), and have said a couple of times that the Win7 tablet is not dead.
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Why don't these companies mimic Apple where it matters? Don't rumor, tease, prototype, spin, et cyk? Shut up until you've got something work talking about...and then release it!
http://theweek.com/article/index/104971/Apple_Tablet_rumors_A_comprehensive_timeline
Tablet rumors began *in 2003*. Apple is the master of rumor, tease, prototype, spin, etc. They never come right out and say anything, but they keep nudging you with their elbow while waggling their eyebrows suggestively in the direction of their projects going "Eh? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge. Nudge nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more...know what I mean? A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?"
A new low (Score:5, Insightful)
Come on now guys. This is embarrassing.
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It's Sunday. This is just the Slashdot way of saying that this is an open thread and you can talk about whatever you want since the entire story is offtopic.
So I was thinking, tritium-deuterium fusion is soo overrated. Proton-boron fusion is where it's at.
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Absolutely. But the ideal of aneurotic fusion isn't quite with us yet. What I want to know is, why isn't anyone investing heavily in IEC fusion?!
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How did that go?
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
BTW just today I started tinkering with ActiveDesktop... it is really cool what you can achieve with a bit of HTML and "stealing" data from some web pages...
No enhance?? (Score:3, Funny)
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Is that a reflection of the device in his glasses? Zoom in and enhance!
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It looks like a pair of headphones to me
Oh look, a [REDACTED] (Score:4, Funny)
Wow, that's incredible! I have a [REDACTED] but it doesn't run [REDACTED] operating system, nor does it have [REDACTED] feature!
I can't wait to see what [REDACTED] HP comes out with next!
"subtlety of an expurgated FBI document" (Score:2)
Meaning that all will be revealed as soon as somebody fiddles with the metadata a bit?
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I've seen it happen. Sometimes EXIF data contains a thumbnail image of the uncensored pic.
It's a new type of GUI interface! (Score:3, Funny)
All black controls labeled in black on a black background.
(With apologies to Douglas Adams [wikipedia.org])
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I guessed wrong (Score:2)
Note: the pictures' most relevant bits are blacked out with the subtlety of an expurgated FBI document, but they have me curious, especially about the wrist-worn device.
I thought at first it might be a two-way video wristwatch - but the guy wearing it doesn't look like Dick Tracy at all.
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I thought at first it might be a two-way video wristwatch - but the guy wearing it doesn't look like Dick Tracy at all.
I'm not sure about Tracy, but you got the other bit right.
I have been expecting this for a while now (Score:5, Interesting)
Computers and personal storage can get as small as imaginable. It takes decreasing amounts of power to process and store data. The more power is being used for wireless I/O and display devices.
What I am guessing we are seeing here is that the data processor and storage device is on his wrist. Using a low power, high speed data link, the hand-held devices are little more than a display with input functionality. So, he picks one up, and the wrist device connects to it and that becomes his hand-held device. He picks up another, and THAT becomes the hand-held device. For an even more enhanced experience, a wireless I/O device and client software can be connected to your desktop PC, and you can sync and exchange data with your wrist device and also use the PC for its console.
And since the wrist device needs little to no controls, it is pretty trivial to make it rugged and durable. And since it's attached to your wrist, it isn't getting lost or misplaced quite so easily.
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Will it also double as a watch?
Re:I have been expecting this for a while now (Score:4, Funny)
I hadn't considered that possibility. However, with the right attachments, it could also be used as a screwdriver and to open cans and bottles.
Re:I have been expecting this for a while now (Score:5, Interesting)
Put out a few pictures of nothing, and let the geeks speculate on what it is. Then mine the responses for the best ideas. Voila, a plan for the future!
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IMO, it would be a better idea for it to be the other way around; have a microsd and low power bluetooth inside the watch casing with the battery. Store things like program personalization profiles, bookmarks, ebooks, and maybe some mp3s in there, and authorize other devices to access them. This works out nicely because the watch can probably do all this and still be the same (small) size and have the same long battery life that we expect out of watches, still be waterproof, and since it's strapped to your
Could this be... (Score:1)
Take that, CERN! (Score:3, Funny)
Incomplete Redaction? (Score:2)
In both images, there is a partial view of a white item that looks very much like a wristband device off to the right, sitting on the keyboard-ish tablet.
Perhaps this is the same item as what's been blacked out on the subject's wrist?
Why would anyone (Score:2, Interesting)
Aside from people who just do not like Apple, why would anyone buy this vs an iPad. All this HDMI hype means nothing when your video has to be your own, and while the iPad does not have this yet it's possible it can in the future. Apple has a lock on app developers and most people can tell that the same apps made for other systems by the same developers are nothing more than enough to silence people crying for that app on that platform, it has just enough features to make it usable, but usually half of wh
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"people who just do not like Apple"
I think you underestimate just how many of us there are. Aside from that, any HP product is probably going to be 2/3 to half the price of the competing Apple product, and likely be more open as well.
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That has already happened. We are just waiting for the other shoe to drop now. Lets compare some history shall we.
Apple Computers: Released an overpriced PC that was eaten alive by cheaper more functional competitors.
Apple Inc: Releases an overpriced tablet that will be eaten alive by cheaper and more functional competitors.
Apple Computers: Sues Microsoft over allegedly infringing the "look and feel" of their OS claiming ownership to basic elements. Ap
They missed one! (Score:2)
This is so not for old people... (Score:1)
Henry for school of product design (Score:2)
Likely candidates (Score:2)
The tablet doesn't look too different (in size) from this [mashable.com], does it? The watch is probably similar (other than color) to the one in the picture, isn't it? No idea about the handheld device, although I assume it's a phone, and that it's probably running WebOS. I'd be very surprised if it looked radically different from the Pre or Pixi (although from the looks of it, my imagination goes more towards a Pixi look than a Pre one.
Of course, I could be completely wrong on all counts, but I'd be surprised if the
The wearable... (Score:2)
Remember the pocket-watch? (Score:2, Interesting)
It's obvious what the devices are. (Score:2)
The large thing is a touchscreen-driven digital notepad. It doesn't have storage capabilities but it will help you be more engineery by wiping itself unless you write your notes in RPN.
The small thing is a next-generation printer cartridge with built-in "retina" display, which not only enables it to show you how much ink it has left in realtime but also makes it more expensive by a full order of magnitude than the printer itself.
Back to the future (Score:3, Informative)
This wouldn't be the first wristwatch from HP. The company sold the HP-01 [hpmuseum.org] from 1977 to 1980. It was a calculator watch that was very advanced for its time (At $750, it should have been!).
HP - Innovate (Score:1)
Wow!
A pad device! AND some sort of phone! Maybe a SMART PHONE! GO HP!!!
How timely!
I think I figured out the black rectangles! (Score:2)
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seriously...? (Score:1)
Mark Hurd filed to dump US$30-million of HP shares (Score:1, Interesting)
http://www.financialpost.com/news/Mark+Hurd+filed+dump+million+shares/3445806/story.html
HP authorizes $10B share buyback
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/08/30/business-technology-hardware-amp-equipment-us-hewlett-packard-share-buyback_7886721.html?boxes=Homepagebusinessnews
Ten billion dollars.
HP could set up a research and develop department to develop a WARP DRIVE.
HP could put a base on the Moon!
HP could own the moon for 10 billion dollars.
Instead, it is a cheap ass stunt to drive up the price of shares
Black squares can't hide things... (Score:1)