Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Acer Revo 100 now available in UK, slide-out RevoPad and all

We did a bit of a double take when we first saw the press release this morning for the new Acer Revo 100. Sifting through our memory banks (and Engadget archives), we finally remembered: the "Revo 2" with Intel CE4100 shown off earlier this year at IDF. We're betting this is just a twin and the Intel version is still en route, but for now, the Revo 100's packing AMD Athlon II Neo dual-core processor with NVIDIA ION graphics, up to 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, Dolby Home Theater v3, Blu-ray drive, 802.11b/g/n, and a multitude of ports including HDMI and two mini-PCI Express card slots for expansion. More interesting, though, is the slide-out RevoPad, which can function as either a multitouch gesture pad or, when activated, a QWERTY keyboard with lit-up keys on the same surface. Software-wise, we've got Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and Acer's new clear.fi media sharing system. When's it available? Now -- at least in the UK. How much? £599.99 including VAT. We've dropped Acer a line as to US release details; we'll let you know what we hear. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Acer Revo 100 now available in UK, slide-out RevoPad and all

Acer Revo 100 now available in UK, slide-out RevoPad and all originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google demos Chrome Web Store, rolling out later today to US

It hasn't been that long since we first saw Google's web store -- mid-May, to be exact. An updated version is currently being showcased on stage at the Chrome event. The UI looks much more refined, and those who are itching to try some out yourself, it seems some of the web apps are already available, at least partially: NPR, The New York Times, Amazon Windowshop. If you ask us, they feel a lot like iPad apps for browsers and mice / keyboard. Audio can run in the background even if you move to another tab. There's offline mode, too. App purchases are tied to your Google account, naturally. There's some gaming, but from what we've seen so far ("you pop it!"), it's nothing you're gonna be focusing a lot of time on. Interesting note from the Q&A is that the apps, since they're built with "standard web technologies," will work with all compatible browsers. We've been trying to access the web store (via the Chrome browser, naturally), but it's currently hiding behind a "coming soon" redirect -- it's rolling out later today, though, at least for the US, so keep an eye out.

Gallery: Chrome Web App demos

Google demos Chrome Web Store, rolling out later today to US originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Salesforce Chatter Goes Freemium

In its attempt to bring social streams into the enterprise, Salesforce is taking its Chatter messaging service and making it freemium. Unlike most freemium services which start out free, and then add on premium features for a price, Salesforce is going in the opposite direction. Chatter started out as an additional $15/user/month service, but perhaps the uptake wasn't what CEO Marc Benioff had hoped it would be. Now most of the basic features will be free (as, arguably, they should have been from the beginning), and premium features will be available for power users at the $15 price as Chatter Plus. Chatter first launched in private beta last February, and then opened up in June. Chatter gives employees a realtime feed of what is going on in their company. You can follow other co-workers, but also documents, data, and accounts. It is tied into Salesforce.com, and all the apps built on top of the Salesforce platform (although that is now extra, see below). So for anyone who uses Salesforce, Chatter provides a realtime intelligence feed.

Who needs Whuffie â Whatâs your PeerIndex at Le Web?

Who needs Whuffie – What's your PeerIndex at Le Web?

Who are the superstars of this year’s LeWeb? We’ll it’s hard to pick from the pretty awesome line-up. However, one startup has attempted to sift the list, coming up with the top 10 “titans of LeWeb”. PeerIndex has a technology similar in some respects to Klout to do this.

However, more interestingly they are now pulling together a Twitter list of the top 200 attendees here. This you’ll be able to check their Whuffieas you trawl Le Web’s halls. Mine’s 69, what’s yours?

Meanwhile, here’s the top 10 speakers at Le Web according to Peer Index:

Chrome OS And Chrome Web Store To Play Up Web-Based Gaming At Launch

It’s now just about time for the Chrome event Google is holding in San Francisco, presumably to show off both the new Chrome Web Store and the beta version of Chrome OS. We’ll be there to cover it live, but here are a few last-minute tidbits.

First, as Google Operating System noticed, Google uploaded two new videos to the YouTube Google Chrome channel earlier today. While neither video is live, the thumbnails are and confirm that one is about Chrome OS (a tour) and one is about the Chrome Web Store.

Second, some users are reporting seeing an alert in their versions of Chrome that asks them if they want to “test drive” a new Chrome OS notebook.

Third, it looks like there will be at least two games installed by default with Chrome OS: Entanglement and Poppit, Peter Beverloo noticed the other day. It would seem that these two games (made by third-parties) will be in addition to the regular group of Google Apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, etc, that will be default apps for the new OS.

Fourth, a number of partners will be on hand to show of things for both Chrome OS and the Chrome Web Store we hear. Expect some other big games to be a part of this, we hear.

It still seems as if Chrome OS will be a bit half-baked at this time, but a very limited “test drive” should help them iron out some bugs quickly. At least Cloud Print looks good to go. More to come.