On Monday I mentioned the LimePC, a handheld-sized Linux based PC. I tried to get back that day to get pics, and couldn’t find the booth again. On my journey today, I stumbled upon it. Now I’ve got some details.

For a full-function PC, this thing is tiny. That’s a business card next to it in the pic below. The LimePC currently sports a 30, 80, or 100 GB drive and 256MB of RAM. They’re working to increase the RAM to 512. on the back it provides two USB 2.0 jacks, a standard VGA connector, 10/100 Ethernet, and power. The system they had running used a Bluetooth keyboard trackball combo leaving one additional USB. They have not yet settled on pricing.

Microsoft is displaying its new table-top entertainment, ordering, and whatever-else solution (also known as Surface). The demo was very cool, but not hands on. It’s unclear if they’re fragile, require a trained hand to operate or aren’t ready for prime time. Based on the chatter I heard from those walking away, that’s what people were thinking. However, everyone wanted to take a shot at it, so the demo definitely left them wanting more. They may soon be seen at your local watering hole as the demo seemed pretty focused on dining and restaurant applications (ordering, paying the bill, tipping, etc).

IOGear had me at hello with a couple of new products. First, their Bluetooth printer device gets rid of the long wire from desktop to LaserJet and lets you move the printer off the desktop without requiring Cat-5. In addition, they’re set to roll out a Wireless 4-port USB hub. Place the hub within 30 feet of your PC and slip the dongle into your open USB port, and get rid of even more wires. The print package is set to retail for around $70 and IOGear hopes to retail the wireless HUB around $99.

The microrobot from Microsoft looks like a bug (hold the “another bug from Microsoft” jokes, please) can be controlled from your Vista or XP PC or via a Bluetooth controller. His name is HEREY. He’s got six legs, runs for over an hour on a 6 volt battery (looks like 4 AAs), and is supposed to be available for purchase next month.

To round out this trip through the floor, I thought I’d share my pick for the vendor most likely not to be here in 3 years. These guys were pushing some enormous cabinets for holding thousands of CDs and DVDs. Everything else at the show (except the HDTVs) was about smaller and more portable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Technology Showcase. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.