Splashtop in the U.S. and Japan will have a Yahoo search bar for quick Web queries.
(Credit: DeviceVM)Computers loaded with Splashtop will soon be able to do very quick searches as soon as the pre-boot phase of the machine starts.
Starting in September, notebooks and Netbooks with Splashtop will have instant access to a search bar on the instant-on desktop, Splashtop maker DeviceVM is planning to announce Thursday. In the U.S. and Japan, the default search engine will be Yahoo; in China, Baidu; and in Russia, Yandex.
"Instant on" is essentially a "pre-boot" environment that allows users to get a PC up and running in seconds instead of the minutes it takes to power up and launch a browser with a standard full-featured operating system. DeviceVM makes Splashtop available to hardware manufacturers that embed it in a computer's BIOS. Current customers include Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, and LG.
Currently, Splashtop users can get quick access to a dashboard of predetermined local and Web-based apps, but the appeal of instant-on is to get you online quickly. So there are apps like Skype, a Mozilla browser (not Firefox), links to online photo services, and streaming music sites. When the search bar is added in September, it takes one more step out of the process of launching the browser from Splashtop.
The search bar can be customized--if you prefer Google or Bing, you can set that up too--but deals with Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex include a revenue-sharing agreements with the Splashtop maker, though DeviceVM would not provide details of the arrangement.
The instant-on environment is especially handy for Netbooks, since they're primarily meant to be used for Web-based work anyways. But DeviceVM director of product manager Dave Bottoms said that up to six local applications can also be added to Splashtop. And if enough corporate customer are interested, that one day might include Outlook, he said.
The Asus M50 is one of five laptops to incorporate the Splashtop technology, under the name Express Gate.
(Credit: Asus)
Five new laptop models from Asus will incorporate DeviceVM's Splashtop instant-on software, the software maker said Thursday.
The Asus M70T, M50V, M51T, F8Va, and F8Vr will be the first laptops on the market to include the "rapid-start platform."
We've seen the technology, which Asus has licensed from DeviceVM and rebranded as Express Gate, before. It was first introduced last fall on a single Asus motherboard, and recently expanded to Asus' full P5Q series of motherboards.
Splashtop differs from the intant-on media players already found on many laptops because it's actually an embedded Linux OS with both Firefox and Skype. The advantages are threefold: The quick on/off feature means you don't have to wait to load Windows when you want to hit the Web--a boon for travelers who just want to hop online for a few minutes while waiting to board a flight. It also means you can turn off your laptop while in transit, instead of wasting battery life on standby mode. And the Linux base means the Splashtop browser isn't vulnerable to viruses that target the Windows OS.
The laptops announced Thursday are expected to be available at the end of June or early July. More laptops featuring the Splashtop technology are expected in the coming months, though a detailed release schedule hasn't been released yet.
Virtualization technology lets apps--even entire servers--coexist with localized software, for example, your computer's operating system. Virtualization's value to consumers and businesses is in producing fast, resource-saving experiences that boost productivity for businesses and consumers. Four newly launched companies using this technology share their products at Thursday's Under the Radar Conference, hosted at Microsoft's Mountain View, Calif., office.
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First up is DeviceVM's Splashtop, a virtual operating system that hopes to break the cycle of long computer boot-up times by producing the Splashtop desktop a few seconds after the BIOS screen blinks on. You can access the Web, photos, videos, chat, and Skype while Windows finishes loading. You can switch back to the main OS to access Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, and other powerhouse apps.
The full-media Web launcher is based on Firefox with Adobe plug-ins. The interface has large, cartoonish, but pleasant-looking, icons for accessing the apps.
Splashtop, which is aimed squarely at consumers, will be integrated into Asus laptops and will be known as ExpressGate on those machines. For some OEMs partnered with DeviceVM, which weren't mentioned by name, Splashtop will add value as a premium service. For others, it will be integrated into every laptop model.
Is Kirill Sheynkman's third Silicon Valley start-up a flexible stab at managing virtual machines in the cloud? His answer: Virtualize a scalable database and sell it as a server to business clients, mostly other start-ups. Elastra Cloud Server stores client data on Amazon's Web Services, taking care of speed and security (though doubt has been cast on the latter issue.)
JumpBox is an open-source app-installer that runs on any major virtualization platforms for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The idea is that each "JumpBox" removes the pain point for users, start-ups, and departments tackling the often thorny and time-consuming installation of open-source products, for techies and non-techies alike. JumpBox sees itself as an enabler and time-saver. A $200 yearly subscription gets the user the 20 open-source apps like MediaWiki and Cacti Network Graphing System in addition to future releases. That's just the introductory price for the company, launched in July 2007. Expect it to rise within the next six months.
The judges pointed out that JumpBox has a lot of commercial competitors, and that users might be reluctant to download and install the open-source apps themselves, which are free already. CEO Kimbro Staken responded that their value-add is trust in a flawless installation and saving two days or more of a workers' time trying to install apps like Trac. Additionally, JumpBox lets companies store sensitive data within their own firewall instead of on the Web.
Universant is a next-generation application modeling environment that helps companies build complex business apps in-house. Universant gathered the most common components for software used to manage corporations into one place. Companies can use Universant's runtime environment in the cloud to build and test apps for free. When it comes time to deploy and distribute that software, Universant opens its pockets.
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