HP COMMUNITY

When HP started out, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard took on all sorts of odd contract jobs—Harmonica tuners, automatic toilet flush sensors for Stanford…but one of the first tech support calls that Packard made for the company – about 70 years ago – was for a bowling alley. The foul line indicator Hewlett and Packard created wasn’t working properly. But there was Dave, sleeves rolled up, troubleshooting.

We gave everyone a peek at HP’s slate device during CES 2010 and people got excited. Last month, we let you see a little more about what our slate can do – and you guys lit up the Internet with comments.

During New York’s Fashion Week, Vivienne Tam’s spring 2010 collection had models carrying an interesting accessory. Vivienne calls it a “Digital Clutch.” We call it the HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam Edition. The 2.7-pound, 1-inch thin netbook fits into purses and bags as well as matches Ms. Tam’s sense of style. And yours – you can order it now.

Here at HP, we’ve been focusing a lot on touch screens in the past couple years. Today we have TouchSmart PCs and notebooks, printers, iPAQs and most recently, there has been a lot of buzz around the slate videos we’ve posted since CES. Yes, our ground-breaking mobile device is coming out this year, but I want to clear something up. People assume that HP is new to the touch space – since the iPhone and other touch devices have surfaced. What many don’t realize is HP’s more than 27-year history with pushing touch technology forward.

What has 12,500 plastic bottles worth of plastic and just set sail from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia? Answer: The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran constructed almost entirely from recycled materials.

Readers may remember HP TouchSmart PCs being used in the VIP Luxury Suites at Sun Life Stadium during this year’s Super Bowl. IdentityMine, creators of the Super Bowl specific touchscreen applications, were, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, creating an application on the TouchSmart PC that the Bowl-winning Saints used to their advantage.

In the past few years since HP introduced the TouchSmart PC line, it's captured imaginations. Since the release of Windows 7 (with its native multi-touch display support) and the TouchSmart SDK we are starting to see a lot of cool, new applications being explored by developers. Whether it's an app you can download and use or an inspired commercial program, we're talking with the developers to find out what they are up to and get their take on the touch community. It's a regular series and we're always on the lookout for new developers to profile.

HP is always trying to do their best to reduce, reuse and recycle. At this past CES, HP displayed their green technology with their more energy efficient PCs and monitors. HP not only works to reduce energy usage in their products, but also does their part to lower the environmental impact of the product’s construction – right down to the packaging.

Before the big game between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts last Sunday, fans huddled around touch screens in VIP Luxury Suites at Sun Life Stadium. People were thumbing through past Super Bowl highlights. They were playing a sports flashcard game. And they were doing it on HP TouchSmart PCs.

Most of us have seen one of the latest 3D movies that have hit theaters, such as Avatar, Monsters versus Aliens and Up. As the emergence of 3D begins to translate from the theaters into a home experience, it is important to understand what is needed in order to create, produce and distribute good 3D content. Quality content, after all, benefits everybody. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I chaired a workshop at the Sundance Film Festival with a panel of professionals from different industries: DreamWorks, Sony, Disney, NBA and NCM Media Networks. We came together to discuss the challenges and considerations to bringing a rich 3D experience to the consumer. During the session, each of the panelists shared their experiences and thoughts on film, television and advertising.

We have been bombarded with requests for more information on the slate HP previewed at CES 2010. As you might expect, we won’t reveal the details until it is officially announced and available later this year. What I can tell you is more about our vision for the product and the development process behind it.

So, something came up and you couldn’t make it to Las Vegas this year for CES. Tell you what - just follow along with me for a quick tour of crazy touchscreens, awesome gaming rigs and other cool gadgets that caught my eye. And if you’re too distracted by all the blinking lights and cool bits of tech (absolutely no shortage of those at CES!), I’m the guy with the cool Hawaiian shirt holding the mike – Magnum P.I., eat your heart out.

Just because I'm back from CES doesn't mean the information will stop flowing. Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline, the radio network program that covers consumer electronics and technology, not to mention been covering CES for the last 15 years, has yours truly on the show talking about the Mini 5102, Pico projectors, and the usual CES chit chat.

When you go to the store, the computers on the store shelf have more stickers and badges than a NASCAR racer. Well Nigel Dessau from AMD took a second to tell us how they propose to make the PC-buying process a whole lot simpler – by actually telling people what the computer can handle.

As the news from CES filters out to the Internet, everyone is chipping in their 2-cents on what the big things coming out of CES 2010 are. From predictions to trends, to even just hot new items that those in the industry are interested in seeing, there is always news from those in the know. And with HP @ CES covering the excitement from the floor of CES 2010, we’ve got plenty of the above to share with you.

HP fans wanted a laptop that was sleek, stylish, and powerful, so we built the ENVY 15. Now we’ve taken an extra step to make it more accessible. HP is now offering the HP ENVY 15 starting at only $1,299.99.

Hey gamers—yeah, I’m looking at you. Playing on some monster machine is one thing, but I’m looking at the future and, in particular, the HP Compaq L2105tm monitor. This model has a whole lot going for it besides being able to project a pretty picture at 1920 by 1080-pixels (and with a 1000:1 contrast ratio). You see, this is a 21.5-inch multi-touch panel

Just because you’re getting geared up for another semester, doesn’t mean that you’re saddled with some boring choices for your book bag. Coming out of CES this year, I spotted a couple of interesting options that’ll help you at school—and with a couple extracurricular activities.

I just touched down in Las Vegas for a little show called CES. In my few minutes here, I’ve already unintentionally overheard numerous discussions on slate form factors. Those discussions are just about to go into high gear, as Steve Ballmer is showcasing an upcoming HP slate in his keynote…which is right about now.

Usually CES revolves around bigger screens and more powerful PCs...But this year, it’s also about being green. In fact, I a number of interesting green technologies are on display. I’m proud to say that at HP we have long placed an importance on green technology, and we are putting an even greater emphasis on this in some of our most recent products that we announced this week.

It feels good to touch—way better than being forced to mouse around if all you want to do is push an on-screen button. Well, we’ve come a long way in the past few years with HP’s TouchSmart PC line, but I think we’re finally turning a corner. Prices are coming down, more touch apps are becoming available, we’re seeing good touch screens appearing on devices of all sizes and shapes and now we have multi-touch screen support in Microsoft Windows 7. You don’t think that’s a big deal? Well, just check out what’s coming out of this year’s CES from HP.

It’s always good to get a little recognition for hard work. Well, HP recently won not one, not two, but four awards for what we’ve done with some of our killer computer designs. The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design AND The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies announced the 2009 International Award winners. It’s a great honor to be among the awarded (as you can see here) -- this is a collection of the world‘s most prestigious global awards for new product design and graphics.

Here at The Next Bench we all know the meaning of community. Whether it be Envy, Touch, or Voodoo, everyone here at The Next Bench knows the meaning of sharing. Since it happens to be December, we thought that we would pass along a few easy to use suggestions to help you give back to your friends, family, and the other communities in your life.

This week has been a memorable one. The popularity of Desi and Wanda’s YouTube video has shown the true power of social media.

Here at The Next Bench we all know the meaning of community. Whether it be Envy, Touch, or Voodoo, everyone here at The Next Bench knows the meaning of sharing. Since it happens to be December, we thought that we would pass along a few easy to use suggestions to help you give back to your friends, family, and the other communities in your life.