OMG! Techonology... brilliant and cheap

It was last week we read about the wireless chargers.

There are three basic technologies for wireless charging: radio, resonance and induction.

Radio charging is well suited for charging low-power devices at long distances -- some 30 feet away. This technology is ideal for trickle-charging advance RFID chips affixed to, say, palettes loaded with products in a warehouse.

Resonance charging makes sense for robots, cars, vacuum cleaners and other applications that require massive power over minute distances -- essentially making contact with plastic, but not metal.

Toothbrushes now, and random gadgets will very soon, use inductive charging. This technology uses a coil to create an electromagnetic field across a charging station surface. The device then converts power from the field back into usable electricity, which is put to work charging the battery.

(Meanwhile, researchers at MIT said this week they have come up with a way to wirelessly supply power that could lead to the development of gadgets that don't require batteries at all.)

Read more

And now there are affordable laptops and other tech gear so cheap...

You've no doubt heard that Dell plans to sell PCs at Wal-Mart. It turns out that the prices of these systems will be extremely low. A Dell Dimension E521 with a dual-core Athlon chip, 1GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, Vista Home Premium and a 19-in. monitor will cost less than $700. (Note that Vista Home Premium by itself would cost you $200.)

Meanwhile, Asus announced at Intel's Computex a $189, full-size, solid-state Linux laptop that boots in just 15 seconds from its 2GB flash hard disk. Called the 3ePC, the low-cost PC isn't a humanitarian effort for third-world kids, but a consumer product that will be sold in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

A tiny Windows XP laptop called the Via Mobile ITX made another price breakthrough at Computex. The laptop sports a 7-in. touch screen, plays DVDs and does other things similarly sized Ultra-Mobile PCs don't do. You can buy "modules" that give it cellular data, WiMax, Bluetooth or other capabilities. The price? Just $699.

Read more here

Eee PC 701


So, if I want to by an Asus 3ePC, is it going to really cost me only US$190? Wow! A real laptop that boots in 15 seconds!!!