Demo conference stars 2 gadgets: Touch Book, VUE
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- You don't see many physical gadgets coming out of the high-tech Demo conference anymore, the confab made famous as the launchpad for Palm Pilot and TiVo. What typically emerges now are tools and services around social media and productivity.
Still, executive producer Chris Shipley says she saw more consumer hardware in advance of Demo than even during boom times, though only a few made it onto the conference stage. Times are tough, and Demo took a hit in attendance and in exhibitors: 39, down from more than 70 in peak years. Here's my take on a couple of interesting products this time around, a netbook computer with a twist and a network of cheap consumer webcams. Caveat: I haven't tested these yet.
A touchy netbook
It's easy to dismiss Always Innovating's Touch Book as another of the seemingly ubiquitous and cheap netbook computers. The light and compact machine has a slightly undersized qwerty keyboard and 8.9-inch display.
What makes it unusual is that you can detach the keyboard and transform it into a stand-alone touch-screen tablet. It's magnetized so you can hang it on the fridge to access the family calendar, or use as a digital photo frame. For that matter, you can use it as a frame even if the keyboard is attached, by propping it up in an inverted "V."
Netbooks are not meant to serve as your primary computer. They aren't going to beat regular laptops in any speed tests. They have relatively wimpy processors, are stingy on storage and memory, and exact other trade-offs. But they're easy to travel with and carry penny-pincher prices. So it goes with Touch Book. It weighs just 2 pounds and costs $399 with the keyboard; 1 pound and $299 if all you buy is the tablet.
It's an "open source" Linux machine that can't run Windows XP or Vista, though you can load either Windows CE (the core behind Windows Mobile) or Android — the operating system Google is pushing on cellphones.
Touch Book has an iPhone-like accelerometer you might use to play games. In fact, Always Innovating founder Grégoire Gentil says it can run actual iPhone apps. I suspect Apple may have something to say about that.
