We have all seen the current generation of Windows XP and Linux netbooks that sport Intel’s Atom processor.  Most feature CPUs with a clock speed of around 1.6Ghz.  ASUS, the company which popularized the netbook with its advent of the Eee PC now raises the bar with the use of Windows 7 and dual core processors, namely the Intel Core 2 Duo CULV.  These ultra low voltage processors will allow better multitasking for netbooks as well as provide additional battery life of up to 12 hours with it’s powerful 8 cell battery.  This new “UL” line which launches first in Korea will also feature Altec Lansing speakers and “Splendid Video Technology” making it a worthy video playback machine.   With Windows 7, which was proven to have a significant performance increase than Windows XP when given at least 2GB of RAM, it will be a pleasure to use.  As of this moment we are not sure which version of Windows 7 will ship with the UL series, but it would be a great idea to get Windows 7 Professional.  With Windows 7’s ease of obtaining printer drivers and the Professional edition’s ability for location aware printing, the UL series is sure to be the popular road warrior.  The UL series will launch at the end of this month in 4 models: the UL20A, UL30A, UL50 and the UL80.

Source: Aving USA

Ilium Software has recently provided users with a glimpse into their future development plans.  In short, it looks like they are going to be taking the same path as a lot of developers.  Diversity of portfolio is key, with them addressing the Mac OS with a version of eWallet, news of a recent update to eWallet for iPhone, and a glimpse into the future of ListPro for iPhone.  Additionally, Ilium indicates that some behind the scenes updates occured on Windows Mobile apps as they were readied for the Windows Mobile Marketplace.  Finally, it looks like Ilium is being cautious, and rightfully so from my perspective, as they watch the Android and WebOS spaces, but I’ll let you read their comments about these platforms so as to not dilute their message.  See below for the full text.

Development Update

via Ilium Software Blog by Marc on 10/20/09

Since a lot of questions about platforms and release plans have come up in the other blog posts, I thought I’d take a second to write a quick update. I hope this helps to answer some of your questions! Keep in mind that in many cases I won’t be able to give specifics, but I will do my best to tell you what I can.

So, if you want some insight into what’s happening at Ilium Software, read on after the jump!

Wait! What? Why no specifics?

A few reasons. The main one is that there is a lot of stuff I’m not allowed to tell you. We have NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) with a lot of people, and the work we’re doing is almost always covered under one of these. I’m just not allowed to tell you some of the things I’d like to.

Also, I recently compared this job to doing improv. The nature of our market means that everything is changing all the time these days. Trying to get specific about something that hasn’t happened just causes problems when circumstances change (and then I can’t explain why due to the first issue I mentioned!)

A Note on Etiquette

I know people have some strong feelings about our products, and sometimes that comes out in blog comments. If I feel that a comment really isn’t constructive or isn’t civil, I will remove it. For a long time I never did this, but I’ve found that there are a lot of people who want to talk about these things but get turned off by too much “passion” so I want this to be an environment where they can be heard.

That said, if you have a “passionate” comment you’d like to make – just email me personally and I’ll reply to you. Send it to info@iliumsoft.com and put Attn: Marc in the subject.

So without further ado, on with the show…

eWallet for Mac: Let’s jump right in shall we? Here is the status:

• We’re still planning to release it!
• We already gave a version to a high level beta team to play with.
• I’m expecting a new build within the next couple weeks.
• I personally think it rocks.

This is quite literally ALL I can tell you right now. Again – we’re not posting this to convince people to hold out for it – we’re just letting you know what’s up!

eWallet for iPhone: We’ve heard your requests and we’re working on it! As you know we added Copy & Paste recently, and just last week we released eWallet Lite.

eWallet for Windows, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry: All of these platforms are getting attention right now. I can’t say much more but we’re pretty excited about what is in store and we think you’ll like the results.

ListPro for iPhone: Here is the rundown:

• It’s still in development.
• A version exists that we’re using in-house.
• Creating a good sync solution is still a VERY challenging issue.
• We’ve set our sites farther than the “read only” solution we talked about a long time ago.

Like eWallet for Mac, this is ALL I can say about this right now.

Windows Mobile: We did a lot of behind the scenes work getting the Windows Mobile applications ready for Marketplace and we’re quite happy with how that is going. We have additional updates in the works and are very happy with the platform (from a developer and sales perspective.)

Android: Look, I like Android a lot but so far it hasn’t proven itself as a strong market for software development. We already have a lot on our plate and developing versions of our products for other platforms is a HUGE task. It eats up lots of time and lots of money. As a result we need confidence in the platform if we’re going to embrace it. So far, despite its good points, I still don’t have confidence in Android. That could change but I’m still in a wait-and-see mode.

Palm’s WebOS: Palm is a fighter – I’ll give them that. Unfortunately, none of the things I’ve talked about in the past regarding Palm have changed, and although they are seeing moderate success with their application market, it has a long way to go before it’s a strong competitor. Like Android, I’m watching this one close but so far we haven’t committed one way or another on WebOS.

NewsBreak for <InsertYourFavoriteDevice>: We don’t have plans for other versions of NewsBreak right now but the requests keep coming in so we’re leaving our options open!

I’m sure I’ve skipped things people want to know about so feel free to post them below!

I hope you like “scary” colours and shades, because there are some pretty massive discounts going on at Speck right now. I know the company for their CandyShell and fabric iPhone cases, but there’s something for everyone, really. They also make hard shell notebook cases, GPS shells, and much more! Did I mention you can save a whopping 50%? Ok, just making sure.

Check out the whole selection at SpeckProducts.com! The sale is on until Halloween!

  The never sleeping GMail guys have released the new "Import mail & contacts" feature.

The new feature can be found in GMail "Settings", and will allow you to import from Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL, or other webmail or POP3 accounts.

Once selected the "Import mail and contacts" button, a new browser window will ask you to insert the full email address you want to import from.

Regrettably, I don’t have other email accounts to try, but for sure this will be handy for many, so find below the help page of the feature:

Note: This functionality is not available to Google Apps customers. For mail migration options for Google Apps click here.

If you’re switching to Gmail from another email provider, importing contacts and messages from your old email account can help you make the transition without having to do a bunch of housekeeping.

To get started, follow the steps below. Before you dive in here, keep in mind that you’ll need to have access to that email account for this process to work:

1. Click the Settings link.
2. Under the Accounts and Import tab, click the Import mail and contacts button.
3. In the new window that opens, enter the email address of the account you’d like to import contacts from. Click Continue.
4. Enter the password for your other email account and click Continue.
5. Select all the checkboxes that apply:
   • If you choose to import contacts, the information in your contacts list in your old account will be imported to your Contacts section in Gmail.
   • If you select the Import mail checkbox, your existing messages in that account will be imported to your Gmail inbox.
   • If you want, you can also select the Import new mail checkbox so that messages sent to your old account for the next 30 days will be imported to your Gmail account. These messages won’t appear in Gmail immediately once they’re sent to your other account, but should update within a day or two.
   • Finally, you can automatically apply a label to your imported messages to indicate that those were sent to your other account.
6. Click Start Import. The import will continue if you leave the Settings page or sign out of Gmail.
7. Your contacts and/or messages will be imported. It may take 24-48 hours before you see your imported messages, so don’t worry if they’re not there as soon as you click OK. You can check the status of your import by clicking the Accounts and Imports tab on the Settings page. Once the import is complete, you’ll see a confirmation message at the top of your inbox.

The complete list of supported email providers can be found here, and seemingly GMail is not included.

SCOTTEVEST/SeV have renewed their site, and they are celebrating it with a 20% discount coupon.

Go visit SCOTTEVEST, give a look and, if you have feedback on the new design, be sure to email your feedback at newsite@scottevest.com.

While you are there, don’t forget to use the coupon code NEWSITE for 20% off anything between now and noon ET tomorrow, Friday, October 23.

Sooo, tempting… by the way, what do you think about this?