- Justin

Background Music for 65Bits is courtesy of spinningmerkaba.

In this Episode we talk about..

1. OneKey system to make online transactions more secure
2. UOB finally launches their iPhone app
3. HP gives webOS to the Open Source community
4. Microsoft to allow open source apps in Windows 8 Store

The HP TouchPad powered by webOS, the gadget we could only appreciate after it’s no longer available (for now?). We’ve waited for years for a webOS device to reach our shores, and finally, the time has come, only to see it go away again.

Nevertheless, on this episode we take a look at what made us so excited about webOS, as well as a look at the hardware itself. All that and more, on this episode of Gear65.

Link: HP TouchPad

Last week, Justin and I went up to Fusionopolis to meet Chris Whitney, the CTO OF HP Singapore and the managing director of HP Labs Singapore, as we chatted with him all about his venture into technological innovations. Chris spoke to us about his childhood foray into technology right up to the point where he became a founding director of HP Labs in Singapore that focusses on cloud computing, mobile and immersive experiences among many others.

What struck me the most was how Chris was still very focussed on the human interaction element of every day life and using technology as an enabler and tool! Let’s hear from him as we chatted on that monday morning

In the following videos, we take a first look at some of the features of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus, an inkjet printer for the offices.

We take a look at the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus speed comparison test with a Laser Printer.

We see the water resistance of the Pigment Ink that comes with the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus.

Copy Fix productivity fixes the image of your copy by straightening and removing the background. Do note this only works for a copy, not scanning into a computer.

ID Copy productivity feature helps the user copy the front and back of an ID or cheque without a lot of hassle. Do note this only works for a copy, not scanning into a computer.

Daniel takes a look at the updated HP Minis, namely the HP Mini 210 and the cheaper HP Mini 110, and finds out the differences between them.

Link: HP Mini 110, HP Mini 210

HP announced a full suite of web-empowered e- All-in-One printers for home and business that start at S$199. These are the first web-empowered and cloud print-enabled printers in Asia Pacific that will allow instant, direct access to the Internet without requiring a local proxy PC or web appliance. This means people will be able to enjoy access to customized pages on DreamWorks and Google Calendar directly from their printers – all at the touch of a finger via HP’s intuitive TouchSmart screen.

Tech65 takes a first look at how this Print Apps TouchSmart screen looks like, and how their ePrint technology work.

Gear65 is back! This week Justin and I show you the HP Envy 15, that computer that looks suspiciously a lot like a particular laptop that we all know and love. Nevertheless it still has a head turning design, and monster specs, as we show them all to you, this week on Gear65.

Link: HP Envy 15

We’ve been talking about the future for quite a bit this month, from our presentation at HP’s Future Is event:

and on the past few episodes of Simply Geek and 65bits.

• 65bits #150 – Predictions for 2010
• Simply Geek #1 – The future of music, TV?
• Simply Geek #2 – The Future of flight, tablets and games

One trend we’ve noticed is that the way we consume content is changing as we step into the future. Just this week, Apple launched the iPad, a brand new platform that claims to revolutionize the way we consume books, magazines and newspapers. Do you believe this is a direction we’re heading towards?

The contest (ends 28th February 2010)
HP is going to give YOU, our reader, a chance to join in the discussion too! Here’s the question that we want to put forth to you. How do you think we will use technology and consume content in the future? Leave a comment using your real email address (we promise we will not use it for anything save to let you know that you’ve won, of course!) here and don’t stop the discussion!

As part of the the “Blog a Trend” contest by HP, HP will be selecting a blog that generates the best discussion, and the commenter with the most thought provoking comment from that best discussion gets to win a HP Mini 5101 (worth S$799)!

So once again, here’s our question to you:

How do you think we will use technology and consume content in the future?

Note: this contest is only open to Singapore Residents (Many Apologies to our International Readers)

We finally get hold of an HP Envy 15, a very speced out version too, and we unbox it for you to give you a sneak peak at what the HP Envy 15 is all about.

Brian Ling – Future of Design

Mina Sunico – Future of Fashion

Daniel Tsou – Future of Technology

Willis Wee – Future of Social Media

Nicholas Aaron Khoo – Future is BUB PFUSE

This week we take a new look at the special edition of the HP Mini 110, and discover why it deserves a second look despite the hard to pronounce name. If you’re interested in the HP Mini 110′s specs and design, do check out Gear65 #32.

Link: HP Mini 110 Tord Bootje

Today we got to unbox the HP TouchSmart 300 PC, featured on one of our recent first look videos, specially thanks to Melvin Yuan. This box was so huge we needed two people to do the unboxing! The HP TouchSmart 300 is essentially a 19″ All-in-one touch screen computer running on Windows 7. The unit that we received happened to be a low-end model without the TV tuner or the keyboard light, as featured at the Nothing But HP For Me event.

Back at the HP Fall 2009 launch event in Singapore, HP announced the HP Touchsmart 600 and Touchsmart 300, an update to their line of all-in-one touchscreen computers. With these two computers, they introduced a brand new version of their Touchsmart software that finally allows developers to build custom tiles for people to download and install. This new Touchsmart software is also a lot more customisable than before, and has more powerful tiles that are more than just shortcuts to external applications.

At the HP Fall 2009 launch event in Singapore, HP announced the HP Mini 311, a 11.3″ version of the HP Mini 110. This is also HP’s first netbook featuring the Nvidia ION graphics chip and an HDMI-out port.

Link: HP Mini 311

At the HP Fall 2009 launch event in Singapore, HP announced a special edition of the HP Mini 110. This netbook features a 3D imprint cover designed by Tord Boontje, and has newer software such as QuickWeb (instant web access without booting up) and Quicksync. This netbook will also feature Windows 7 starter edition.

Link: HP Mini 110 Tord Bootje