Tech Watch | InfoWorld Staff » TAG: DEMO 07

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Laptop battery breakthrough ... maybe

TAGS: DEMO 07

The potentially most significant product introduced at Demo comes with a big caveat: It's great ... if it works as advertised.

Boston-Power's Sonata lithium-ion laptop battery is a battery that reportedly doesn't "fade." Fade refers to the loss of battery capacity that happens after repeated charges and discharge. It's why I have to get a new notebook battery at least once a year.

According to Boston-Power (no relation to Austin Powers), Sonata maintains full capacity after 1000 charges. That means you would, effectively, never have to throw out a laptop battery. In the demonstration, a HP representative came out first and offered a testimonial, and Boston-Power president Christina Lampe-Onnerud explained the product and its benefits. But there was no real demo, since it's not clear how you can actually demo a battery.

So we're taking Lampe-Onnerud at her word here. But this is what she pitched. In addition to the fade resistance, Sonata will not burst into flames (as some batteries have been known to do), since the safety and redundancy features are separate. The battery charges to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes (compared to 2-3 hours for typical lithium-ion batteries), and is compatible with current notebook formats. Reports say the maker -- in China, natch -- is reported to be environmentally friendly.

This wonder battery should start appearing in systems by this summer, with HP a likely client, though there have been no official announcements. The InfoWorld Test Center will be keeping an eye on Sonata and will report on actual results as soon as we're able to put it through its paces.

Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 03:09 PM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Laptop lockdown from afar

TAGS: DEMO 07, Security, Telecom

Here's a clear-cut winner from the Demo 07 show: the Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Endpoint Management System (a more memorable name is coming, I'm told, when the product actually gets released). The telecom multinational with the ITT and Bell Labs pedigree may have solved one of the enterprise's most intractable problems: how to safely manage and secure laptops when they're not in the office. Any number of recent embarrassing incidents involving lost laptops can attest to the severity of the situation.

The system is a 3G-based PC card that IT managers can access 24/7 -- even when the laptop is turned off. The card itself, which is always on, has a 3G modem, its own processor, a Linux OS, and battery. Remove it, and the laptop shuts off instantly, and can't be restarted until the card is reinserted. As you'd expect, it does hardware encryption of the hard drive (the encryption key is on-card). Alcatel-Lucent also threw in GPS, a SIMM card slot, and a Micro SD slot for expandable memory.

IT managers will be able to do reliable remote patch management, deactivate the laptop if it's lost or stolen, backup the hard drive to the card, even remotely delete the encryption key, rendering the PC unusable if it goes missing. For another layer of security, a VPN agent on the card ensures all data is tunneled through the VPN. I'll be interested in seeing how reliably this works, since VPN management can be tricky, especially for mobile users who may be connecting to the Net using every possible connection and configuration option.

Company representatives say this product will be available in 2007, for a price to be determined. At this point, they are not sure how they will bring it to market. Many network managers who struggle with keeping tabs on their mobile workforce will be rooting it happens soon.

Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 09:00 AM

January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Secret messages hidden in images

TAGS: DEMO 07

You may have heard of steganography, an encryption technique that lets you hide embedded messages, documents, etc. within a normal-looking image. Very James Bond. A company at Demo 2007 called Ceelox just introduced something called Scram, which puts "steg" into the hands of everyday users as well as advertisers and businesses. On the business side, Ceelox gave the example of how a company might send a bank statement or patient records to a customer, neatly hidden inside an innocuous looking image (a capability that some vendors already provide, although maybe not as seamlessly). For some users, steganography is probably more accessible than basic encryption.

But the consumer piece of the puzzle may have greater significance as Scram opens the door for user-generated steganography and offers "a secure messaging tool platform for consumers to interact with brands." In a typical scenario, a user can go to the Scram client, type in an email address, encrypt data into any digital image, and hit send. The recipient gets the image in his mailbox, along with instructions on how to authenticate his identity (so only he can view and decrypt it).

Advertisers can take the same approach, using Scram to send out marketing offers, interactive sweepstakes, and potential viral campaigns, all hidden inside an image wrapper that is, in itself, an ad. Those same advertisers can build databases of customers who have viewed and passed along Scram messages. This kind of opportunistic customer acquisition feels a bit unseemly, but I can just see something like a secret message in an image making the email rounds. And Scram works in IM clients as well.

Posted by Steve Fox on January 31, 2007 01:56 PM

January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Printer does ink-free

TAGS: DEMO 07, Hardware

I'm coming to you from the floor (well, really more like a big conference hall) of the Demo 2007 conference, billed as the "Launchpad for Emerging Technology." Historically, Demo has always been all about products, products, products -- demonstrators get six minutes to pitch their little hearts out to the crowd, hoping to win VC funding, partnerships, or press coverage. Also in keeping with the tradition, much of the stuff being shown here for the first time is cool and innovative; a much smaller percentage has any real chance of commercial success.

For the next day, I'll be doing tag-team coverage with my colleague Ephraim Schwartz, who will be posting to his Reality Check blog. First up, I'll take a shot at a few of the more intriguing consumer-ish goodies on display, starting with the ZINK printer.

ZINK Imaging's presenter kicked off his presentation by repeating the phrases "zero ink" and "printing without ink," so many times, I feared there would be no time for an actual product demonstration or explanation of the technology. Not to worry: He ultimately got to the printer itself -- a device about the size of a deck of playing cards. It has no ink cartridge or no ribbon -- just some electronics, a rechargeable battery, and a ten-pack of special paper. The paper looks like regular print stock, but is embedded with dye crystals. The presenter took a picture, hit a button, and the ZINK printer did some quick processing and spit out a vivid CMY color printout. The prints themselves are waterproof and look great, and the paper is apparently protected by multiple patents. ZINK plans to sell handheld standalone mobile printers as well as embed the printer in other devices, including a soon-to-be-announced 7-megapixel camera (no names yet). The device supports bluetooth (critical for printing from phones) and has a USB connector. Paper prices will be set by distributors, but company reps say it will be cheap -- likely something in the neighborhood of 20 cents per sheet. Business models and things like the channel for distributing the paper still need some ironing out. But a bigger questions is whether this will this play in a business document context, where you need full-size printouts (as opposed to snapshots, where the potential is high). A promising product for mobile printing, I wouldn't be surprised if ZINK gets some traction.

Posted by Steve Fox on January 31, 2007 12:20 PM