It looks like NVIDIA is quite busy with its new Tegra family of “computers-on-a-chip” these days, as it has been revealed that besides the usual mobile platforms it should be working on to support (i.e. Windows Mobile, Windows CE and Google Android), it has also been working on the up-and-coming Google Chrome OS with Google itself. NVIDIA’s GM of Mobile Business Mike Rayfield spilled the beans to JKOnTheRun’s Kevin Tofel saying, “Nvidia is “working closely with Google,” on the Chrome OS platform” and that it isn’t just meant for handheld devices.

Why would anyone want a mobile computer with Tegra on it, you ask? Well, its main selling point according to NVIDIA is that it easily supports hi-def video playback and that it uses less power than Intel’s Atom processor for the said task. Some people may find this adequate in a mobile device, but sad to say, I am not one of them. NVIDIA makes a good point in saying that the “cloud” can be a good alternative for desktop apps, but for me they will never be able to replace the best desktop programs I use (or at least not any time soon). But Chrome OS is supposed to change this, so let’s hope the products hit the market in time for a closer evaluation.

Via JKOnTheRun

China’s Skytone, which officially announced its upcoming Android-powered Alpha 680 netbook a week back, says the retail price of their product when it comes out within the next three months could be $250. For a “netbook” that only has a 7-inch screen, 128 MB of DDR2 RAM, 1GB SSD, and 533 MHz ARM processor, the Alpha 680 is raising a lot of expectations, primarily because it promises to be the world’s first netbook to be truly running Android as an OS. At its base configuration, the Alpha 680 is projected to cost the earlier mentioned $250 retail price, but it is said that the company is working on ways to bring it down by launch. For now, its specs are somewhat appealing, and the price is still quite forgivable, but we’ll have to wait for a chance at using it in real life to judge if it’s really worth any of our attention.

Via Computerworld

The talks about a netbook running Google’s Android OS which is currently on the Google G1 phone is no longer new to us.  This item was so hot that several sites already run stories about the Google netbook before. Some braveheart even managed to get the Android OS used in the Google phone to run on an Eee PC 700. And it was quite successful and has generated interest since then.

Now, the WSJ is running an article saying the HP is actually testing Android on its netbook. HP’s interest on running Google’s free open-source Android OS was due to the company’s desire to capitalize on the popularity of netbooks among PC consumers.  If HP succeed in running the OS on its netbook, then it could save a lot of money which usually goes to paying Microsoft for the default Windows XP OS on its netbooks.

The WSJ report calculates that HP could save $15 it spend on every Windows XP installed on its netbook. Deducting this from the cost of HP netbooks would either give the company more income or allow HP to sell their netbooks at a more affordable and competitive market price.

No details yet as to when HP is going to finalize this project and what are its specific details are.  In the meantime let’s just be contend in knowing that HP is doing something to bring the Google Android to its netbooks. The WSJ said so, so there’s a big chance that this might come to reality.

via Engadget

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer recently spoke about his company’s plans for the future, and he quite nonchalantly revealed that they’re waiting for Google to release a netbook version of their currently for-smartphones-only Android mobile OS. Google’s Android already competes with Windows Mobile in the worldwide smartphone market, and if this happens, then the two companies will have yet another arena to fight each other to the death in. At the moment, Windows XP has succeeded in wiping out Linux from the netbook space little by little, but Android, although also open-source, is expected to be a different story. Google probably didn’t have making a netbook version of its OS in mind when it started out on Android, but companies like Asus have already confirmed that products with this open source operating system are already in the pipeline.

Via Guardian

Here’s something that may spark yet another rivalry between Google and Microsoft courtesy of Asustek and the Eee PC. According to a Bloomberg report, Asustek was said to be  preparing to install Google’s Android OS to its low-cost notebooks, which we all know pertains to the Eee PC.

In fact, Asustek has already deployed some of its engineers to develop the said Android-powered Eee PC although there is no concrete plan yet as to whether this will be finalized and released to the market.

But Microsoft remains confident that users will still prefer to buy Windows-powered notebooks despite the affordability of an Android-based netbook.

Gartner analyst Leslie Fiering believe otherwise though. According to Fiering, Android-based netbooks have better chance of succeeding since it may operate faster than Windows-based ones.

The key here is the fact that Android like the Linux OS are very lean and very open platform.