Unboxing time! This time it’s the new HP Mini 110, the new netbook that was launched in Bejing during the HP Touch The Future Now event. I was blessed to have won a unit of the HP Mini 110 thanks to the HP Power To Change contest and all the people who put me as their referrer when you guys downloaded the application.

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Daniel, DK, Nicole & Farinelli

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[07:25] Nokia Ovi Store opens for business
[10:10] Microsoft launches My Phone beta
[11:00] Microsoft publishes maximum Windows 7 specs for netbooks
[13:32] Intel delays Core i5 platform debut to early September

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[15:48] Hewlett-Packard Touch the Future. Now. event

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[36:00] HP Power to Change

On my way back from Beijing, I decided to do a video tour of Singapore Airline’s in-flight entertainment system, and check out the tech that’s found on the system. Oh, and sorry about the accent. That’s what happens when you can’t hear yourself.

As promised, here’s where Billy Tan, Business Development Manager for Thin Clients at HP introduce HP’s new Thin Clients to us at the HP “Touch the future. Now.” event in Beijing.

As you can see, the machine is really pretty cool, if only it were available to consumers, which I bet would happen eventually.

Don’t forget to check out my post about the HP Thin Clients.

This is a pretty neat accessory that all notebook users would be able to appreciate. Hooking up just a single USB 2.0 cable to your notebook when you get home or get to your office and getting everything from video out to ethernet immediately. What’s so cool is that because it’s a USB 2.0 product, you can use it on any Windows machine of any brand. And since DisplayLink drivers (which the device is based on) are available for Macs, you can probably get it to work on a Mac too! (Emphasis on the “probably”)

HP introduced a new line of ProBooks at the “HP Touch The Future. Now.” event in Beijing. Most of us know about the exterior changes, such as new materials, the chicklet keyboard etc, but not many of us know about the changes that happened inside. I was fortunate enough to have Philip from HP present to me some of the enhancements in the new ProBooks, enhancements that I could really appreciate, and maybe you might too.

Part 1

Part 2

I was fortunate enough to have a personal demonstration of their Thin Clients by Billy Tan, Business Development Manager of Thin Clients at HP, and here’s what I learnt.

Even though they’re called thin-clients, they actually personal computers running on an embedded operating system. Instead of normal storage, the system uses RAM and ROM, ROM to store the operating system (an embedded version of Windows XP) as well as any custom software, and RAM to run the programs. They can run stand-alone without a server, and if you need to store data, you can hook up a USB thumb drive or hard drive. In fact, the machine they launched yesterday, the HP t5730w, has a hidden USB compartment on the top where you can securely hook up a USB thumb drive for the user to save their files.

The advantages for a business to use thin clients include:

• Low cost to buy (The above unit, according to Billy, costs US$375, including the monitor, keyboard and mouse)
• Lesser support required (After the software is locked, each time a user restarts the machine, it resets the entire system, thus the need to store data on external storage)
• Easy replacement (Since all the data is off the machine, HP provides one-to-one exchange for their thin clients within the 3 year warranty)
• Consumers only 15 watts

You can see how this system is really suitable for things such as cloud computing, point-of-sales, telephone support operators etc.

As of now, the thin clients are not available to consumers, but I brought this up to Dennis Mark, VP of Desktop Systems Unit at HP this morning, that there are a lot of enthusiasts and hobbyists who would love to be able to buy this as a “part”.

Take the example of a Car PC enthusiast. They would love this machine because it’s:

• Cheap
• Durable and shockproof (The machine is completely solid-state)
• Consumes so little power a car battery can support it
• Boots up super fast
• Since it’s solid state, no “shut down” required (Billy demonstrated how you can just pull out the power to turn it off without damaging it), just let it switch off together with the vehicle when you cut the engine.
• Once you put in your custom front end software and lock the machine, each time you reboot it restores itself, making sure that once it works, it will stay that way.
• Plus it’s super small.
• Music, movies, maps can be stored on a thumb drive and updated easily by bringing the drive home.

See what I mean? There are so many interesting applications for this thin-client for consumers, especially enthusiasts! Car PCs, home security, set top boxes, even robots! With this Thin Client, people can build their own electrical appliances easily!

Link: HP Thin Clients

P.S.: Once I’m back in Singapore, I will edit and upload the video where Billy demonstrates the HP thin clients to us. Stay tuned, or follow our twitter feed!

A short video of the HP Pavillion all-in-one desktop computer that was launched at the HP Touch The Future Now event.

A second more detailed first look with more information on the HP Mini 110, taken live at BeiJing at the HP Touch The Future Now event.

I did a comparison with the HP Mini 1000 too, so check it out.

Here’s a video where I took a quick look at the HP Mini 110′s design changes verses the HP Mini 1000. More updates coming as the day passes. Or follow the Singaporean bloggers and journalists there:

• http://www.twitter.com/geekonomics
• http://www.twitter.com/cnetasia
• http://www.twitter.com/danieltsou
• http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/geekonomics