Reports: Microsoft's 'Courier' tablet to compete with Apple

Microsoft is working on a tablet-style computer that could compete with Apple's rumored device, and may be in the final stages of prototyping, according to multiple reports on the Internet yesterday. Other features include the ability to use either a stylus or multi-touch gestures to operate the Courier, as well as a camera embedded in the device's case. The device, which Gizmodo first reported on, has been dubbed the "Courier" and resembles a book more than a traditional tablet, as it sports dual 7-inch screens that face each other when the system is opened. Gizmodo posted a concept video demonstration of the Courier as well as several images - although not photographs - of the device on its site Tuesday.

Others have confirmed the Gizmodo account. According to Gizmodo, the Courier is in the "late prototype" stage, and is being created by Pioneer Studios, a group within Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division, which is also responsible for the Xbox, Zune and Windows Mobile. "Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies," said "The Paperboy," an anonymous writer for Gizmodo. CNET's Ina Fried , for example, said sources told her the Courier is legitimate, although it's only one of several design prototypes being explored by a team led by long-time Microsoft executive J. Allard, the Entertainment & Devices group's chief technology officer. "Very interesting idea," said Allan Krans, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "It combines a lot of technology that's been proven, including the Kindle, and the touch interface of the iPhone seems to be there." Krans noted that the Courier seems to blend several past and present Microsoft technologies, including its attempts at promoting pen-style computing in the 1990s and its much newer gesture-based, tabletop "Surface." But the reason why something like the Courier makes sense now - as opposed to the aborted efforts by Microsoft to back pen computing, and this decade's lackluster Tablet PC concept - is because of the company's rival. "The iPhone really changed the way that people interacted with a device like this," said Krans today. The latest round of speculation about Apple's entry came last week, after a Taiwanese publication cited industry sources who claimed that several component suppliers are building parts for an upcoming Apple tablet computer , which will launch in February 2010. Those sources said the Apple device would sport a 9.6-in. screen - considerably less display real estate than the Courier's two 7-in. screens - and will rely on a processor created by P.A. Semi, the Santa Clara, Calif. microprocessor design company that Apple purchased over a year ago . "The Courier looks like a really nice way to do this form factor," said Krans. "It won't have the screen limitations of an iPhone, and would be larger than Apple's rumored tablet." A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to react today to the Courier reports, saying, "Microsoft makes it a practice not to comment on rumors and speculation." Apple has also been the target of talk about tablets.

MIT creates nanotube process that could shrink, speed chips

Researchers at MIT have found a way to grow the carbon nanotubes that manufacturers need to build smaller, faster computer chips. A key issue that must be resolved: dealing with the tiny copper wires that connect transistors in a processor. As chipmakers like Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices inc. work endlessly to find ways to build smaller and smaller chips , they often run into a multitude of problems.

As the chips shrink in size, so do the wires, making it increasingly difficult for them to maintain the level of current needed to meet performance requirements. Using carbon nanotubes is an interesting idea." The question engineers have faced to date, he added, is "how do you do it?" Gilbert Nessim , a researcher at MIT, said that chip manufacturers have consistently run into trouble by trying to build the nanotubes on a metal surface, which is needed to ensure an electrical contact. That's where the nanotubes come into play. "When we shrink chip features, the interconnections between the transistors get smaller - just like everything else," said Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat. "And when they shrink, the performance isn't the same. Efforts to build carbon nanotubes on metal can face significant problems due to the heat required in the manufacturing process. The MIT scientists used a combination of techniques to create a new process for using nanotubes.

The excess heat, for example, could cause the metals to form alloys that are not conducive to nanotube growth. The techniques included vaporizing the metals tantalum and iron, which settle in layers on a silicon wafer. The researchers also pump ethylene gas into the tube. Then they placed the coated wafer at one end of a quartz tube, which was inserted into a furnace. The gas decomposes at high temperatures and the iron on the wafer catalyzed the formation of carbon nanotubes.

Intel, long looking to create the next generation of chips, is an underwriter of the MIT research. Nessim noted that the technique is based on processes already commonly used in the semiconductor industry. which should make them eaasier - and cheaper - for manufacturers to adopt. Nessim said the semiconductor industry has been interested in finding ways to replace copper wires with nanotubes, but has been slowed by the effort to find a reasonable way to deal with the metal issues. "I hope this [research] may revise that enthusiasm to some point," he said. "At some point, they'll be stuck with copper that does not work and they'll have to find an alternative. He noted that the shift would would entail some reworking of the manufacturing process. "We won't go the way of carbon nanotubes until we've depleted current techniques," he said. "You don't go to something brand new and make a huge investment until you have to. We hope that our insights ... have eased a little bit of some fabrication issues and hope this will match the requirements that they have." Intel, in a statement responding to questions from Computerworld , said they hope such research breakthroughs can help the company switch copper wires to nanotubes by some time after 2015. McGregor suggested that a transition from copper to nanotubes could be some 15 years away.

We don't move at revolutionary steps. Replacing the transistors with nanotubes would be the next step along that line. "You won't replace the connections without looking to replace the transistors," he added. "The first step would be to replace the connections with nanotechnology. We move at evolutionary steps." But McGregor did say that he thinks replacing the copper connectors with nanotubes would just be the beginning for the technology in chipmaking. The second step is to replace the transistors." The transisto r, which acts as a switch, is the building block for the processor. It's even been called the most important invention in the 20th century.

Mac News Briefs: Vectorworks 2010 products unveiled

Nemetschek North America released the 2010 versions of its Vectorworks line of design software. Building on the integration of the Parasolid 3D modeling core in version 2009, the 2010 edition adds bi-directional associativity features and an intuitive, 3-D modeling environment that features unified views and easy-to-use 3-D snapping for accurate modeling. Tuesday's announcement includes new versions of Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Machine Design, Fundamentals, and Renderworks. Vectorworks 2010 also extends Nemetschek's relationship with Siemens PLM Software by integrating the D-Cubed 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager (2D DCM) into the software.

The major improvement in version 1.1 is the addition of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, including support for ten different languages. The VectorWorks Web site lists all of the more than 80 new features in the new 2010 version as well pricing information.-Jackie Dove OCR technology added in Prizmo update Creaceed on Tuesday announced Prizmo 1.1, an update to its image-processing application that allows people to scan documents using a digital camera. Users can save the resulting file in a number of formats, including PDF, RTF, and text, and the contents are indexable by Spotlight. An Intel Mac or PowerMac G5 with at least 64MB of VRAM is required, with 128MB of VRAM recommended. Prizmo 1.1 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later, and is compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. A license for Prizmo costs $40.-Dan Moren Wolfram announces webMathematica 3 Wolfram Research updated webMathematica, adding new performance and development capabilities for its technology for adding dynamic content to the Web. webMathematica 3 integrates both Mathematica 6 and 7 with the latest Web server technology, making the tool ideal for creating Web sites where users compute and visualize the results directly in their browsers.

Pricing information for webMathematica 3 is available by contacting Wolfram.-Philip Michaels Black Ink update offers bug fixes Black Ink 1.1.7, the latest version of Red Sweater Software's crossword puzzle-solving application, was released on Thursday. Other changes in webMathematica 3 include expression language and custom tags that provide a more concise way to call to Mathematica from Web pages; a queuing system that executes long-running or asynchronous computation jobs; support for Wolfram Workbench; a new configurable logging system for tracking different types of errors; the ability for users to write REST and SOAP Web services; and improvements to the kernel monitor and kernel interaction. The update fixes problems with getting puzzles from the Chronicle of Higher Education, removes the now defunct Sydney Morning Herald source, and fixes a number of bugs, including one that could cause downloads to stop working until the app was relaunched. Black Ink requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later and costs $25 for a license.-DM There are also a number of improvements to multi-character answer support.

HP adds Snow Leopard printer drivers after customer complaints

Hewlett-Packard has added support for an additional 38 printer models or printer series to Snow Leopard, delivering on a promise made shortly after the release of Apple 's new operating system when angry users complained that older devices didn't work after upgrading. According to HP, 38 DeskJet, OfficeJet, and LaserJet drivers were added to those made available on Aug. 28, when Apple launched Snow Leopard . Although a list showing only the new drivers has not been published on either Apple's or HP's Web site, the complete list available on the former has been updated to include the new drivers, said Rick Spillers, a member of HP's Mac Connect team. On Thursday, Apple posted a printer driver update for Mac OS X 10.6 , aka Snow Leopard, but did not call out the specific drivers added to the 51MB driver download.

Among the newly-supported printers are the HP 910 inkjet printer, the DeskJet D1300 series, the OfficeJet 5500 series and the LaserJet M1120. Almost immediately after Apple started selling Snow Leopard, users who upgraded began griping on the company's support forum that their long-reliable printers were not being recognized by the new OS. Others became angry when an HP representative told them they should buy a new printer if a driver wasn't available for Snow Leopard. HP 1280 working!!!" crowed another user, "omarz," in a message Thursday. "I just update[d] to Snow Leopard 10.6.1 and now suddenly it was detected and it's working!" A driver for HP's PSC 1200 series was one of the 38 included in yesterday's update. After Thursday's update by Apple, several users reported on the same support forum that they were now able to use their formerly-bricked printers. "Today, I downloaded all the update software for printers and Mac [Snow Leopard], and everything now works fine," said someone identified as "AndyGump" on the same thread where users complained two weeks ago. "Incredible! HP's Spillers recommended that users update to Mac OS X 10.6.1 before applying the separate driver update. "Make sure that the printer is turned on and connected via [a] USB cable before launching Apple Software Update," said Spillers in an e-mail reply to questions. Apple built support into Snow Leopard for some printer makers' all-in-one devices, adding the functionality to the Image Capture application.

Spillers also said that there has been confusion about how owners of HP all-in-one devices - which both print and scan, and in some cases also fax, documents - get their hardware to work with Snow Leopard. "The other interesting thing I've found is trying to educate customers on the new scan interface for HP inkjet All-in-Ones that we've integrated with Snow Leopard," he said. HP has posted instructions on how to use its all-in-one printer/scanner hardware with Snow Leopard on its customer support site. Looking at the [support] forums, it seems that HP is the only print vendor really participating ... not sure I see much input from other print vendors." Snow Leopard users can manually download the HP driver update from Apple's site, or install it using the Mac's integrated update service. Spillers also took a shot at HP's rivals. "In general," he said, "HP did a great job providing full updated 10.6 drivers for almost all of our products, including LaserJets going back 10+ years.