WELCOME TO THE WINDOWSFORDEVICES.COM WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

                          July 8, 2004

               by Rick Lehrbaum -- Editor-in-chief

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_____________________ * * * TOP STORIES * * * ____________________

SNEAK PREVIEW OF A PORTABLE MEDIA CENTER REFERENCE DESIGN
While wandering the exhibitor aisles at Embedded DevCon, we were drawn
to a slick looking reference design board in the Freescale (formerly
Motorola Semiconductor) booth.  The Portable Media Player Reference
Design, a.k.a. "Jazz", runs Windows CE and is compliant with Microsoft's
Portable Media Center (PMC) standard, according to Freescale.
Read full story


INDUSTRIAL DISPLAY PANELS RUN WINDOWS EMBEDDED
Beckhoff, a German industrial automation equipment supplier, recently
integrated embedded PCs into its line of industrial display devices.
The formerly passive displays have thus become independent controllers
with integrated intelligence running Windows CE and XP Embedded.  The
new "Ethernet Panel" products use Ethernet to communicate with PLCs
(programmable logic controllers) and other factory floor devices.
Read full story


A POCKET PC FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
VisuAide has announced what it calls the first "mainstream handheld PC
accessible to the blind and visually impaired."  The Maestro is an HP
iPAQ Pocket PC running Windows CE that has been made accessible via the
addition of text-to-speech technology and a tactile keyboard membrane
overlay on the PDA's touch screen.
Read full story


HOMES GETTING SMARTER, BUT SLOWLY
As the prices and complexity of home networking products have decreased
and as consumers have begun to demand more enabled products to plug into
their networks, the Internet enabled smart home is getting closer to a
reality, according to In-Stat/MDR.  However, the hi-tech research firm
reports that the evolution of the smart home has not been happening as
fast as most companies involved had predicted, and that several factors
will be crucial to the advancement of the enabled home and its
associated products.
Read full story


CAMERA PHONE AS UNIVERSAL TRI-CORDER
An interesting whitepaper published by DeviceForge.com describes
research into innovative and futuristic uses of camera phones being
investigated in Intel's research labs.  Cell phones are already much
more than a communication device.  They are used as debit/credit cards
to purchase food, services, and gas.  Now, the global proliferation of
camera phones brings more opportunities to use mobile phone devices in
different capacities -- and the best part is that these applications
require no additional hardware.  In Intel's research, camera phones are
used as pointing devices, authentication devices, storage devices, and
even as user interfaces for systems that, because of cost and/or form
factor, aren't able to accommodate a display of their own.
Read full story


INTERVIEW WITH SR. VP OF MICROSOFT'S MOBILE & EMBEDDED DIVISION
Microsoft believes that its impending release of Windows CE 5.0,
including more flexible licensing and commercial derivative provisions,
is likely to be a major factor driving innovation in mobile and embedded
devices.  This interview with Pieter Knook, senior VP of Microsoft's
Mobile and Embedded Devices Division and Communications Sector Business,
discusses the company's embedded device strategy, the motivations that
led to commercial derivatives, and the new reliability and performance
enhancements in Windows CE 5.0.
Read full story


REPORT: TABLET PC MARKET WILL REMAIN PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL UNTIL PRICES FALL
The effort put forth by Microsoft and its hardware partners to introduce
the Tablet PC into horizontal and vertical commercial markets has only
been partly successful, according to In-Stat/MDR.  A recent report from
the high-tech market research firm reports that the device, which was
designed to counteract sluggish commercial PC sales, has been adopted in
vertical markets, such as health care, real estate, and insurance.
However, horizontal commercial markets have been somewhat hesitant to
adopt a new PC form factor in a world of slow-growing IT budgets.
Read full story


IS THE SMARTPHONE A SMART IDEA?
Microsoft has spent years trying to crack the PDA and mobile phone
market with limited success so far, according to an article at CNET
News.com. CNET interviews Ya-Qin Zhang, who recently assumed the role of
corporate vice president for Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices
Division.  Zhang is the man Microsoft is counting on to turn things
around, the article says.  In the interview, Zhang discusses Microsoft's
view of the smartphone market and how it plans to succeed.
Read full story


REPEAT:  EMBEDDED DEVCON 2004 SPECIAL REPORT
Did you miss last week's newsletter due to the U.S. Fourth of July
holiday?  If so, catch up on all the exciting news from the Embedded
Developers' Conference held last week in San Diego via our Embedded
DevCon 2004 Special Report.
Read full story


OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS FROM THE PAST WEEK . . .

*  Starter kit for tiny XScale SBC includes Windows CE
   Read full story

*  Development kits support Windows CE 5.0
   Read full story

*  Major update to Basic language package for Windows CE, Pocket PC
   Read full story

*  Notebook-style handhelds poised for comeback?
   Read full story

*  Suite integrates Pocket PC apps with enterprise databases
   Read full story

*  Cypress unveils USB 2.0 support for Media Transfer Protocol
   Read full story



. . . and that's not all.  Check here for the latest breaking news:

                WindowsForDevices.com News Page


______ * * * "COOL DEVICES" QUICK REFERENCE GUIDES * * * ______

 
 Handhelds and PDAs
 
 Cellphones and IP-phones
 
 TV set-top boxes/devices
 
 Windows-based webpads and slate-type tablets
 
 Thin client terminals & devices
 
 Other smart devices

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 June 17, 2004
 
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 June 3, 2004

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