From Tablet Enhancements for Outlook developer Josh Einstein:

Got a surprise for you tomorrow. I’m just too physically exhausted to write about it now.

Josh has been working hard on TEO 3.0 for a good while and has added some amazing functionality to the Tablet PC utility. I hope this is his big surprise. If not, we’ll take what Josh can give us, he’s a good guy. Lucky for us Tablet PC users today is not April Fool’s Day and Josh isn’t just fooling around. I hope.

Eric Mack posts that he will soon be evaluating a brand new wide-screen Tablet PC from a major OEM that no one seems to know anything about. He mentions that everyone will be surprised at just who the OEM is and speculation is high about who this might be. I am going to be watching Eric’s blog very closely to see who is about to release a new wide-screen convertible. According to Eric the OEM says he’ll “be very happy with the display resolution and size” and since we know Eric likes big screens with very high resolution this is a statement that makes me very curious indeed.

Eric Mack is the most persistent and clever person I know. When he has a problem he does not rest until he comes up with a viable solution. Eric is using a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC and the M4 is not, how can we put this delicately, power stingy. He has solved this problem in typical Eric fashion and has written about it on his blog. What did he do? Why, he built his own extended battery pack and charger, of course. Eric is the only person I know who has the parts and tools in a hotel room on a business trip to build such a battery pack. Heck, I don’t even know anyone else who has a high-current wheelchair battery charger! Check out Eric’s article on his blog and he’s graciously given me permission to post a photo of his MackPack (click to enlarge):

What is rumored to be the next generation ThinkPad Tablet PC, the X60 with a dual core processor, has appeared on French retailer Graphiland’s web site. The x60 appears to be similar to the currently available X41t with the addition of the core duo processor, and still runs at XGA resolution. According to the site the new ThinkPad Tablet PC will be available April 6th for 2140 euros.

(via slashstar)

The sleuthing of Hugo Ortega gave us all a glimmer of hope that Toshiba was secretly working on an Origami device and the reaction of consumers was very positive. A lot of people have said that they would feel better about the Origami if one of the major Tablet OEMs stepped up to the plate and released a device. Unfortunately, Toshiba’s Matt Codrington has responded to a comment on Hugo’s blog and the answer is not what we consumers wanted to hear:

I’m sure Dan will agree with me when I tell you that our discussion had many points of reference, and although a device like this is a possible extension of the next mobile platform, I’m not sure it meets a real need? Too heavy to carry in your pocket, and probably can’t be used for extended periods [outside battery life] with a 7″ screen?

So…I hope I’m not going to disappoint your readers when I tell you that although Toshiba is going to continue to be at the leading edge of technology there are no plans to bring an ‘Origami’ type UMPC device to market. Having said that things are always in the works……

It is unfortunate that Toshiba not only won’t be entering the market but based on Matt’s “not sure it meets a real need” comment is not the outlook we consumers wanted to hear about the Origami. Too bad.

A good GPS navigation unit is one of the most useful items you can put in an automobile. About the only way I can think of to make them more useful is to implement full voice activation. Speak your commands and presto, the unit does what you want. Next month the NOVOGO V series will ship and promises to provide exactly such a feature. The V series is a set of handheld GPS devices with advanced voice command features. The portable nature of the NOVOGO V series devices gives the best of both worlds, GPS you can use anywhere and also put it in your car where it’s most needed. There are two options that will be available, 1 GB and 1.5 GB and they will retail for $599 and $699 respectively.

(via MobileMag)

I told you car modders were hot to get Origamis installed into their cars. A new website, OrigamiCar, is soon to release software designed to control your car audio system from a UMPC/ Origami. I hope they add voice control to this, it would be absolutely cool. Oh, and throw in GPS navigation while you’re at it, and video playing, and…. I better stop now before I have a geek meltdown. Here is the feature list and a photo:

• Designed specifically for Microsoft UMPC devices
• Designed for the 800 x 480 native resolution that UMPC’s use.
• Intuative Touchscreen Interface
• Everything is easily accessable using just the touchscreen.
• Easy to use (even when driving at 65mph!)
• Buttons are large enough to select without having to concentrate on the screen. Moving to previous/next tracks can even be done without even looking at the screen.
• Access the music YOU want to play quickly and easily
• Scrolling through your collection is easy using either the onscreen dial or the new click and drag scroller – the further you drag, the faster the scrolling.
• No more trying to select the tiny windows scrollbars.
• Integrates into your existing Microsoft Media Player music library.
• Change the way it looks
• Create your own color themes or use other themes from others.
• Origami Car ships with ‘theme builder’, a seperate application that lets you quickly build, copy, edit and change themes and preview the results onscreen.

While geeks everywhere were sleeping all snug in their beds two of the longest running mobile technology websites were feverishly rolling their two sites into one. Brighthand and BargainPDA have long been great resources for mobile device enthusiasts and they promise to continue doing what they’ve always done. The merged site will continue operations as Brighthand and the new site design is really neat and clean. Much success with the new venture, folks!

Rumors have been swirling for a few weeks that Microsoft is secretly working on an iPod killer. I have heard rumors that described everything from an iPod-like audio player to a cellphone with audio capabilities, a la the ROKR. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Fortune Magazine that the software giant is interested in going after the iPod, and even hinted that an audio player/ cell phone is in the works.

“In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music? There’s going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months.”

(via Gizmodo)