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Qualcomm will offer its FLO TV on a handheld television, putting this existing service on a dedicated device for the first time.

Qualcomm's FLO TV Personal Television

(Credit: Qualcomm)

FLO TV, the Qualcomm-owned provider of a live mobile TV service, unveiled the FLO TV Personal Television on Tuesday, with availability slated for holiday season at retailers.

FLO, or "forward link only" technology, is designed for multicasting a large volume of rich multimedia content cost effectively to wireless subscribers. AT&T and Verizon already offer FLO TV on mobile phones in the U.S.

Qualcomm says the FLO TV Personal Television is "created with the single focus of delivering high-quality TV." The device receives live and time-shifted content with no buffering, downloading or waiting to view content, according to Qualcomm.

Content includes CNBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, ESPNews, Fox, Fox News, Fox Sports, MSNBC, MTV, NBC2Go, NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, CBS, CBS College Sports, and CBS News. (Editors' note: CBS College Sports and CBS News are offerings of CBS, which is also the parent company of CNET News.)

Though handheld TV is still somewhat of an unknown quantity, viewership--like that of more traditional big-screen TV-- tends to spike during major national events, according to Qualcomm. Its service saw a surge in viewers, for example, during March Madness--the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

Qualcomm cited market research from TeleAnalytics that projects a broadcast mobile TV market of $2.8 billion and 50 million users in North American by 2013.

FLO TV Personal Television subscription service starts at $8.99 per month and the device will sell for $249.99. Specifications include a 3.5-inch diagonal screen and weight of of just over 5 ounces. Its battery supports more than 5 hours of active FLO TV viewing or 300 hours standby.

The television uses a capacitive touch-screen allowing channel surfing with a finger swipe. It also includes a built-in stand and stereo speakers.

LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.

Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.

In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the iPhone. These limitations exist because the Adobe Flash player is not supported on the iPhone.

Murarka clarified that Monday's announcement was not a joint announcement with Apple. "This is an Adobe announcement. This is just something that's related to our tools and what they output, which is a native iPhone app," he said.

"So, we're not running Flash directly on the device. We're actually allowing our tools to output for native iPhone apps," Murarka explained.

He then described some limitations. "Let's take it from the developer's point of view. They have a very rich environment and language. That's in Flash today," he said. "You're not going to get all of the Flash feature set that would normally be there in the run-time."

Murarka continued: "For example, high-quality video, H.264, is not available with this product because Apple does not make available the decoders. They make you use their own UI (user interface) to play back high-quality video." Apple describes the H.264 video codec as delivering "stunning quality at...low data rates."

He also cited synchronization. "Being able to do synchronization between data and video. Those can be built as Flash applications. In sporting events (for example) using flash for data overlay. Those types of things are not going to possible because we don't have access to the APIs (Application Programming Intefaces) that would give us the video decode along with all of the individual frames so we can do synchronization," he said.

And he spoke about graphics effects. "Some of the filter effects. Some of the capabilities that as a programmer you would easily do within Flash are not available as they are not natural APIs that iPhone platform makes available to us."

Murarka concluded by saying that Adobe continues to work with Apple towards getting Flash on the iPhone. "We're not there as quickly as we would like. We're not able to put Flash in the browser. We're not able to put a Flash run-time on the device directly. But this is a good step," he said.

Industry sources are refuting a report claiming that a future fiber-optics technology was an Apple idea that was brought to Intel.

Intel's Jason Ziller showing 'miniaturized' optical module

(Credit: Intel)

Light Peak was an Intel Labs project that the chipmaker was working on before anyone was thinking of using it, according to industry sources close to the issue. Light Peak can carry data at 10 gigabits per second in both directions simultaneously and Intel expects it will reach 100 gigabits per second in the next decade.

Engadget reported last week that Apple "brought the concept to Intel and asked them to create it." Apple did not respond to e-mail queries.

Intel showed the technology to third parties, got feedback, then incorporated the feedback into the next design. Apple is an innovating force in the industry and makes requests that nobody else does and that only helps innovation, the sources added.

Separately, on Tuesday, in an interview, Jason Ziller, director of Intel's optical input-output program office, spoke more about the technology that is expected to be used on future PCs and consumer electronics devices.

"We've been working on optical for many years. Specifically, this technology the last couple of years," he said. "We've developed the technology, we've developed the specifications, documenting the technology, and we have prototype product," he said.

Ziller said Intel will be supplying the core silicon for the technology. "Intel will be supplying the controller chip and then there's also an optical module that does the optical conversion. We developed the (optical module) technology and reference design and it's going to be manufactured by other third party optical manufacturers," he said.

Companies that will be involved in the optical module production and "everything around the module" include Foxconn, Foxlink, Avago, SAE, Iptronics, Corning, Elaser, and Ensphere, according to Intel.

"All of these components will be available next year," Ziller said. "The product that we're developing now, that we're ready to ship next year is based on our current specification. Because there is customer demand for that," he said.

Ziller said initially that products may appear that have both Light Peak and other connectors, such as USB, but that the ultimate goal is to have one single connector technology. "It doesn't change the track that electrical USB 3.0 is on. That's going to continue going forward. What Light Peak allows is that USB 3.0 and, or, other protocols could, down the road, be run over optical in this fashion," he said. USB 3.0 is the next-generation USB technology that would replace the current USB 2.X technology found on virtually all PCs today.

Ziller continued. "So, it complements existing electrical protocols and enhances them to run over optical, maybe over longer cables and also together on the same cable because Light Peak supports multiple protocols running simultaneously," he said. Other connector technologies include FireWire, DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI.

"In the future, these protocols could also run at higher speeds as they evolve over time," he added.

"We'll be evaluating and looking at it as it comes forward," said Jeff Ravencraft, the USB Implementers Forum president and chairman. "We'll continue to evaluate and work with Jason's team."

Updated at 4:05 p.m. PDT: adding discussion about lack of video camera in Touch.

Broadcom chip in Apple's iPod Touch supports 802.11n wireless--not supported in the iPhone 3GS

(Credit: iFixit)

Inside Apple's updated iPod Touch lurks "n" Wi-Fi hardware, the potential for FM transmission, and room for a camera, according to iFixit.

Gadget teardown specialist iFixit on Friday said that during its dissection of the new device, it found a few "unexpected discoveries."

One of the most notable findings was a Broadcom BCM4329 chip that supports 802.11n. "This is a big deal, as even the iPhone 3GS doesn't support 802.11n," said Kyle Wiens of iFixit. The Apple smartphone, which has a very similar look on the outside to the iPod Touch, has a Broadcom BCM4325 wireless chip, only supporting 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi connectivity, according to Wiens.

"We don't know yet if 802.11n will be supported in the iPod Touch software, but at least the hardware's there," he said.

The Broadcom chip also supports FM transmission and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (enhanced data rate), endowing the touch-screen iPod with the potential to stream music to the car stereo. "But that's a lot of ifs," Wiens said.

iFixit also said the internal layout of the iPod appears to leave room for a camera in the top of the device. "There is a 6x6x3-millimeter space between the Broadcom chip and the wireless antenna."

Added Wiens: "There isn't enough depth for an iPhone-style autofocus still camera, but just enough room for the camera that Apple used in the fifth-generation iPod Nano. We did not find any headers on the board for a camera cable."

The fact that the new iPod Nano integrates a video camera and the Touch does not has become a mini scandal, as some observers claim that Steve Jobs may not have revealed the whole story behind a camera-less Touch. Jobs claimed price made a camera prohibitive on the game-oriented Touch, while blogs maintain it was more of a hardware problem.

Memory chip makers will offer more sophisticated flash drives for smartphones--technology that will be comparable to the solid-state drives found in laptops today.

The Palm Pre comes with an 8GB flash memory drive: flash drive makers like Micron Technology will market more sophisticated flash drives for future phones.

(Credit: Palm)

Today's flash drives, which typically range up to 32GB in capacity in products like Apple's iPhone, often use relatively unsophisticated techniques for reading and writing data. In general, the technology is not very different from that used in basic cell phones or digital cameras, according to Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group.

But as smartphones--and possible future tablet devices--become more like personal computing devices and less like basic MP3 players, memory chip makers will begin offering more sophisticated flash memory, said Shirley, in a phone interview.

"In nearly all MP3 players today it's almost exclusively 'raw' NAND. And at some point we anticipate moving more to a managed NAND," Shirley said. NAND is the type of flash memory chip used in all flash cards and solid-state drives.

Managed NAND falls somewhere between very basic flash drives--such as Secure Digital, or SD, cards--and pricey solid-state drives (SSDs) used in laptops and servers. "It's something in between the raw NAND that we've been talking about for cell phones and MP3 players and the full-blown SSD space," Shirley said.

"We believe this will be fairly busy (market) space in 2010," he added.

Solid-state drives used in laptops like the Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo get their performance from highly-developed, sophisticated controller chips and firmware, which manage how the data is read and recorded. Though managed NAND wouldn't necessarily reach this level of sophistication, it would begin to approach it.

The iPhone uses raw NAND with a separate controller, according to Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights, which does research on flash memory technology.

"They like to have control over the flash and the controller so they can boost performance," he said. "They're very cognizant of differentiating their products. The user experience is what is important to them. Whether it means you can download your music or video very quickly, whether it means you can find the data very quickly--that ties in to how they manage the NAND," he said.

But even Apple is looking for better performance as it looks to continue its very successful strategy of making its products different, according to Wong.

And future Netbooks may also use this kind of flash memory. Netbooks today using Intel Atom processors and the Windows operating system use, almost exclusively, hard disk drives. But a new category of Netbooks dubbed smartbooks--devices that are always on, always connected, and boast all-day battery life--are expected to come to market in 2010 packing flash drives. These small laptops may be candidates for managed NAND.

The Apple tablet, if it arrives, is an extension of a design that already has mass appeal--and does not require a leap of faith to believe it will succeed.

Qualcomm concept tablet based on Snapdragon chip

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The Apple iPhone and iPod are arguably small tablets--and consumers have demonstrated unmistakably that they love these devices. So, a larger, more versatile version of the iPod makes perfect sense.

And some not-so-small companies like Qualcomm and Intel are pushing tablet-like devices for their next-generation silicon. So this isn't just Apple (if the Apple tablet rumors are indeed true).

That said, let's not limit this potential market to Apple. A company clever enough to design a compelling Google Chrome OS-based tablet, for example, will also succeed, if an Android-based tablet design doesn't arrive first.

Semantics is one obstacle to understanding the potential appeal of a re-conceived tablet. Think of it this way: it's not a tablet in the sense of the kludgy, thick, heavy, uninspired tablets of yore. Or even the ugly, thick, heavy convertible laptops available today.

Think of it as a mobile Internet device. Or whatever you choose to call it. The point is that it's designed around wireless connectivity and real portability. It's very thin, very light, has a larger screen than an iPod, and, most importantly, comes with an inspired user interface.

There will be losers in the market, of course. PC makers who continue to sell bulky warmed-over laptops with a clumsy interface will be greeted with limited consumer acceptance--as in years past. The Apples of the world will succeed.

Here are some possible specifications that are based on what Qualcomm is proposing (since the Apple tablet is still only a rumor):

• Less than 2 pounds
  
• Under 20mm thick (0.8 inches)
  
• All-day battery life
  
• 3G/4G mobile broadband
  
• Wi-Fi, GPS
  
• Robust 3D graphics, HD video
  
• No waiting, instant-on
  

I would buy it (and that's not a shallow promise made only to buttress my argument), despite the fact I have never seriously considered a tablet in the past. Why? Simple: it's functional. More specifically, it's extremely functional as a secondary device--and its size and weight have a lot to do with this.

And, as opposed to today's Netbooks that are just downsized laptops, you could whip this device (8- to 10-inch screen size) out of your bag and it would be instantly accessible and have a screen big enough to do 90 percent of what you can do on your laptop.

As one reader said responding to a post by CNET's Rafe Needleman: "The Apple tablet isn't a computer, any more than the iPhone is a computer. The tablet is a media player that's also an information appliance. You have to judge these things by different criteria."

Another reader posed an obvious but important question: "Will we be inspired?"

And another comment, which basically crystallizes the points above and states my argument: "I see my iPhone as a mini tablet. Depending on the price, I would definitely consider buying a larger, easier to read/type device."

In short, I don't need a smaller version (i.e., a Netbook) of something I already have. As a secondary device, it should be different than my primary laptop and provide a different kind of utility.

My prediction: 2010 will be the year of the re-conceived tablet.

A rip-out-the-carpet PC refresh of both software and hardware is in the offing as Microsoft's latest operating system and new laptop designs converge later this year.

Intel's Mooly Eden, general manager, Mobile Platforms Group, speaks at the Intel Technology Summit in San Francisco

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

At the Intel Technology Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, an executive described the imminent mobile future, including a major refresh of Netbook silicon, better-designed "ultrathins," and turbo-powered high-end laptops.

Netbooks may undergo the biggest change. Models that appear after Windows 7 ships in October will see the most significant overhaul internally since the Netbook category debuted back in the spring of 2008. Intel's new "Pine Trail" Atom silicon will collapse most of the core chips onto one piece of silicon, improving the power efficiency and boosting performance.

"There will be integrated graphics inside the same (processor) core so you get better performance," said Mooly Eden, general manager of the Mobile Platforms Group at Intel, describing how the graphics processor and main processor will be grafted onto the same chip--an Intel first.

The segment just above Netbooks is ultrathins. These sleek, sub-$1,000 laptops should appear in greater varieties from more PC makers later this year, according to Intel--about the same time Windows 7 hits the streets. Aesthetics will be crucial. "You can't sell a keyboard and a screen," Eden said, describing the ideal ultrathin laptop design. "You have to sell something that somebody will desire. We need to go beyond the great CPU, great performance...to something that a normal consumer can look at say 'I want that.'"

One of the challenges for Intel is making sure these sub-one-inch-thick designs don't overheat. Eden described the use of laminar air flow technology to cool a laptop's outer skin. "This is the difference between thin comfortable and thin uncomfortable," he said.

Intel is also designing new fans that are better at getting hot air out faster. "We are putting a lot of effort into designing fans," said Eden. Intel demonstrated the fan technology at the conference Wednesday.

Intel described laminar air flow technology to cool the skin of ultrathins

(Credit: Intel)

And how does Intel see these segments breaking down into screen sizes? Netbooks will have 10-inch class displays, while the "sweet spot" for ultrathins will 13.3-inch, though some larger ultrathins may have 15.6-inch screens, according to Eden. He also said there may be "some experimentation" with 11.6-inch designs.

Higher up the laptop performance scale are Core i7 mobile processors, also due around the same time that Windows 7 hits the streets. Eden showed how the gigahertz speed--or "clock speed"--of individual mobile processor cores will instantly spike in performance to accomplish a task then, in the next instant, go idle--what Intel calls HUGI or Hurry Up and Get Idle.

HUGI is a power-saving technology: the faster a task is accomplished, the faster the processor can return to idle mode--a state that uses only the bare minimum of power. Along these lines, Eden did a demonstration of Turbo Boost technology.

In the demonstration, one of the cores (inside, let's say, a mobile quad-core chip), would jump well over the processor's rated speed. For example, a processor rated at 2.0GHz, for example, may run one of the cores at 2.60GHz (or higher) while the other cores are idle. In the gaming world, this is referred to as overclocking.

A common theme of all these laptop designs was power efficiency, above and beyond Intel's traditional message of performance. All-day computing--on battery power only--seems to be one of the major rallying cries within Intel.

Globalfoundries, the manufacturing concern spun off from Advanced Micro Devices, plans to announce Wednesday that it has signed up STMicroelectronics--its first true outside customer.

STMicroelectronics supplies the accelerometer for the iPhone 3GS

(Credit: Apple)

Globalfoundries was created last year in order to eliminate the crippling overhead that AMD was incurring to manufacture its processors. Globalfoundries now conducts business as a contract chip manufacturer, commonly referred to as a foundry.

AMD owns 34.2 percent of the company, while Advanced Technology Investment Co. owns the rest. ATIC is an investment company wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Last week, Globalfoundries broke ground on a $4.2 billion facility in Malta, N.Y., that is expected to put it among the elite chipmakers of the world. Currently, Globalfoundries manufactures chips for AMD at facilities in Dresden, Germany.

STMicroelectronics will commission Globalfoundries to make low-power chips using a 40-nanometer process, which "is ideal for the next generation of wireless applications, handheld devices, and consumer electronics," according to a statement. Production is slated for 2010.

Currently, the most advanced manufacturing processes in the chip industry are at the 34-nanometer level--which Intel uses to manufacture flash memory chips. More typically, chips are made on advanced processes ranging between 40 and 50 nanometers. Generally, the smaller the chip's geometries, the faster and more power efficient it is.

Globalfoundries would not say what specific types of chips it will make for STMicroelectronics, whose product portfolio includes memory, microcontrollers, power management silicon, and MEMS or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems.

One of the highest profile products STMicroelectronics supplies today is the accelerometer for the iPhone 3GS. Based on MEMS technology, the accelerometer allows the 3GS to determine device orientation or inclination.

STMicroelectronics was ranked among the top 5 chipmakers in the world based on revenue in 2008, according to market researcher iSuppli.

Where's your comfort zone? Windows, Mac, Linux? An unintellectual, emotional attachment to an operating environment often determines what consumers buy and may determine whether Google Chrome can ultimately compete with Windows.

In the consumer laptop space, specifically Netbooks, there isn't much hope for a Linux-based operating system like Google Chrome in the near term. So, first the bad news.

Market researcher iSuppli released a report Friday that I agree with. It begins with the usual, saying that Google's Linux-based Chrome operating system sets the stage for a battle of the Titans (Google versus Microsoft). But what it said after that affirmed my own convictions (and echoed comments I had heard before from other analysts).

"The small penetration of Linux in Netbooks is not due to any technical shortcomings," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms research for iSuppli. "Because the vast majority of people who buy Netbooks are consumers, who do not have a high degree of knowledge of the key players in the OS market, they are going with the names that they know. And in PCs, that name is Microsoft."

Asus fold-unfold mobile device concept: a compelling name-brand hardware-software package can change minds

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

The report continues: "For Google to be successful, it needs to promote and position its brand so that non-tech-savvy consumers will be comfortable buying a Netbook running its operating system rather than one from Microsoft. This will be a major challenge."

In other words, it's hard to move people out of their comfort zone, particularly if the alternative is fractured like Linux. But there's a silver lining for Google's OS. The comfort zone is shifting. If consumers spend more time on a social-networking site (Facebook, Twitter) or a Web-based productivity environment (Google search, Gmail, Google docs) that becomes their comfort zone (the so-called "cloud") rather than the Windows, or Apple, desktop.

Of course, that's all just theory unless something else happens. What's that extra something? Give consumers a high-profile, respected brand like Google packaged with a slick Netbook and more than a few more could break their ties with Windows (because it becomes irrelevant). Particularly if the price is right.

It's been done before. A charismatic device like the iPhone proves that. In that case, consumers left the tenuous comfort zone of their interface-challenged cell phones in droves and embraced the iPhone.

But this doesn't happen often. And you need a very big, truly innovative company like Apple or Google to pull it off.

Conversations I had this week with both Texas Instruments and Qualcomm executives offer hope in the long term. TI and Qualcomm are building the chips that Chrome will run on and both have been working with Google. (TI told me that they have the Chrome OS running in some form already on their silicon.) Though Intel also says it is working with Google, I suspect Chrome is more of an ARM processor play than an Intel play.

Whatever happens in the next 12 months or so will be interesting and, at the very least, can only add to growing momentum behind mobile devices using ARM processors and non-Windows operating environments.