Posted 01/11/09 at 06:41:29 PM by Pulkit Chandna

LG offered the first glimpse of its X120 netbook at the Consumer Electronics Show. The X120 is only the second netbook to have Splashtop instant on technology – the first being Lenovo IdeaPad S10. LG apparently calls it "LG Smart On".

In case you are still unaware, Splashtop is an instant on OS that allows you to access the internet and a few other applications without having to endure agonizingly slow boot up times.

The X120 features a 10-inch WSVGA display besides a 1.66GHz Atom processor, 1GB memory, 160GB hard drive and Windows XP. Its price hasn’t been revealed as yet.

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Posted 10/25/08 at 04:29:46 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The focus is now on eliminating the excruciating system load times that users have had to reluctantly brook till now. Dell is leading such efforts and is set to debut its instant-on technology. Users will soon get a glimpse of Dell’s new instant-on technology for Latitude laptops, according to a company executive.

The instant-on system will let users access key applications and data without actually booting the machine. If Jeff Clarke, senior vice president and general manager of Dell Product Group, is to be believed the technology will also be energy-efficient as it will provide limited access to the system without engaging the CPU.

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Posted 10/15/08 at 02:35:49 PM by Paul Lilly

Full-blown instant-on technology is considered by some to be the holy grail of computing, whereby once you hit the power button, your PC's ready to go. It's safe to assume we won't see this implemented in its entirety anytime soon, but steps have already been taken in that direction. Asus' SplashTop OS makes it possible to fire up Pidgin, Skype, or a browser all before booting into the main operating system, and similar functionality can be found on some Dell Latitude notebooks and even Voodoo's Envy. These Linux-based systems on a chip are all the rage and appear to have drawn the attention of Microsoft.

In a recent Microsoft survey sent out to select users, the software giant pinged consumer interest in "Instant On" technology. The survey notes that "Instant On takes your computer from being completely powered down or 'turned off' to being usable for a few specific activities in a very short amount of time." The survey goes on to ask participants a series of related questions, such as what value they place on Instant On technology and what types of applications would they expect to be able to use.

So what exactly does Microsoft have planned? It could be nothing, or it could be feature to pop up in Windows 7. Or maybe the next iteration of Centrino will come standard with Instant On. The list of possibilities goes on and on, but at the very least, the company's exploring user interest and is aware of the trend.

Hit the jump and tell us what you think Microsoft is up to, and whether or not you care.

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Posted 07/17/08 at 06:01:44 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Phoenix Technologies has announced that its Hyperspace firmware will serve as the inviolable bulwark of NEC laptops. Hyperspace is a Linux-based firmware which ensures that indispensable applications like anti-virus and firewall keep on running even if the main OS is dysfunctional. The firmware works in conjunction with Phoneix’s hypervisor called HyperCore.

The Hyperspace firmware is also capable of running other apps ala Asus’ Splashtop instant-on OS but the version running on NEC notebooks will only support core security apps.The introduction of Hyperspace on NEC’s notebooks will guarantee enhanced levels of security to its customers as the core security apps will be immune to even the most sophisticated malware attacks.

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