CherryPal's CherryPal
Posted on 07/22/2008 1:16:28 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Buzzword chimera the size of a paperback
Start-up CherryPal is taking pre-orders today for its partly cloudy "desktop" that mashes web-hosted computing, going green, open source, and social networking into a 10 ounce box.
The (self-titled) CherryPal systems are $249, and surprisingly won't require a monthly subscription despite the fact that most of its storage capacity and several of its features hosted in the cloud.
Note: we still haven't seen a working unit with our own eyes. According to CherryPal, as of Friday the boxes were still being given the fine tooth courtesy of US Customs and Border Protection's best and brightest.
CherryPals are thinned-down computers running an ultra-low power chip from Freescale. They've got 256MB memory and 4GB solid-state capacity. (We've covered the specs and company M.O. more thoroughly here.)
CherryPal's CherryPal
Hold the phone — only 4GB? That's where an internet connection taps into a private CherryPalCloud account (yes, you are detecting a naming theme) with 50GB hosted on Amazon's SS3 service. The account is also used to serve future application, share public data, and even as a platform to network your socials or whatever kids do these days.
Maintain grip on aforementioned phone — so what pays for the romp in the clouds month-to-month? The same sets of firm round orbs that make internet commerce possible. Eyeballs folks, we're talking advertisements.
This is pretty important, as it's not abundantly clear on the CherryPal website. (Actually, we're being diplomatic. It's not mentioned at all as far as we can see.)
According to CEO Max Seybold, beginning in the fourth quarter the company will be ready to roll out its real business model. Folks running Ad-Block may want to sit down for this: advertisements will run when the computer is loading an application.
Now the company says most applications will load in only a handful of seconds, and Seybold promises never to artificially delay a load for the benefit of ad screen time. But we'd say its a pretty big omission in the literature.
This is especially glaring when the company says its guided by the values: Green, Fair, and Open. Those last two bits mean CherryPal vows to keep things honest and open-source with its customers. Seybold told us that the company will soon be describing in detail how the advertising works.
In other words, it's probably a case of CherryPal not knowing what's ahead itself. The company does say the ad technology doesn't allow anyone to view any information about its customers though.
The systems run on a highly customized Debian Linux, although users won't actually see the OS. Everything is done via a browser based on a modified version of Firefox. Apps that are available at launch are the OpenOffice suite, a homebrew media player that supports "all common file formats," a CherryPal instant messenger, and iTunes. Yes, indeed the iTunes.
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The CherryPal desktop is a tiny PC designed with the user in mind. It does all the things you do every day: surf the web, keep in touch with your friends, listen to iTunes, watch videos, word processing, presentations and spreadsheets, all without the hassle of a traditional PC.
Yet another attempt to birth the thin client. It’ll seem great all the way up until you can’t connect to the cloud, then people will remember why thin clients are the past.
CherryPal out sweetens Apple with 2W, ultra-cheap PC
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The CherryPal device strikes us as somewhere between a thin client and a full-fledged PC. The thin client part of the machine caters to the cloud angle where you’re tapping into software over the network. On the PC side, you find some local storage and enough horsepower to run semi-demanding applications on the device should the need arise.
When we posited this idea to Seybold, his look indicated that we’d got it all wrong. The man sees CherryPal as a true PC. Period. And it’s going to run software faster than your Vista or – dare we say it – Mac OS X-addled machine.
Again, al lot of the magic apparently happens through CherryPal’s mysterious cloud software delivery component.
But, er, Max. The kids love their iTunes, and you need a local component and quite a bit of storage for that. How will you appeal to the youngsters without iTunes on this machine? We can’t see Apple lending a helping hand.
"It was an important requirement for us that iTunes works without restrictions," Seybold said.
Intriguing.
We suspect that CherryPal will sell access to the software bits as some type of subscription service, although it’s, of course, not talking about that either.
"It will be very, very affordable," Seybold said.
Okey dokey.
Anyway, Seybold believes that the CherryPal team, which is also considering a laptop down the road, is inventing the future.
"This is a historic event with cloud computing," Seybold said. "In the past, you’ve had players like HP and Dell trying to build isolated computers. They have almost no intellectual property and are just assemblers.
"The market is desperately asking for greener devices, and we’ve got something that’s like an Asus EEE PC except much more powerful and at a much lower price."
And the CherryPal name? Well, we’re told that Cherry arrived because cherries are sweeter than Apples. Boo-yah! And the Pal bit points to the community aspect of sharing software via the cloud.
Someone please send us a puppy so we can tweet the hell out of it.
The isn’t anything new. MSN had WebTV years ago. It was my folks introduction to the internet.
Trying to figure out the display...ah,,,you supply that....
Uses Freescale's fast triple-core mobileGT processor
And it connects to the cloud via WiFi 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
Specs page :
The CherryPal™ C100 desktop is about the size of a paperback book,
There’s always a way to lose the cloud, for this it will probably be total inability to hit the internet. Lightning storms, guys fleeing the cops (hit one of the cable company’s main junctions), in a building built by a paranoid company so it has lots of shielding (worked in a building that killed most cellphones). The internet is never quite as universally available as a thin client computer really needs.
This is a joke. It’s way to expensive for what they are trying to do and it’s a way low-powered PC. You can get a complete and far more capable PC for that kind of money.
Super Mini Me...Company : CherryPal
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Freescale's fast triple-core mobileGT processor delivers exceptional multimedia performance and feature-rich user interfaces, while only consuming as much power as a clock radio. CherryPal uses 80 percent fewer components than a traditional PC, and because it has no moving parts, it operates without making a sound and will last 10 years or more.
And they have a Premium support service:
At least when the systems are X86 based you can run other software on them without too much difficulty.
This is PPC based. If you don't mind recompiling applications from source, which sometimes works smoothly, and other times ends up being a royal pain, you can run other software on what is basically equivalent in power to a decade old PC running Linux.
Otherwise you're stick with the limited functionality of the software it comes with and the web based software.
Unless you have a need for a tiny, low power (in both computing power and electric power) machine, save yourself the $250. Just stop by a recycling center that takes old computers and ask a person dropping one off to give it to you instead. What people are throwing away will likely have comparable processing power, more storage capacity, and more memory.
The Eee PC at least makes sense because its small size and power consumption are of significant benefit in a mini-notebook.
This comes in at the price of a gaming console, but with far less computing power.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) - Beta
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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.
Amazon EC2's simple web service interface allows you to obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides you with complete control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon's proven computing environment. Amazon EC2 reduces the time required to obtain and boot new server instances to minutes, allowing you to quickly scale capacity, both up and down, as your computing requirements change. Amazon EC2 changes the economics of computing by allowing you to pay only for capacity that you actually use. Amazon EC2 provides developers the tools to build failure resilient applications and isolate themselves from common failure scenarios.
Amazon EC2 Functionality
Amazon EC2 presents a true virtual computing environment, allowing you to use web service interfaces to requisition machines for use, load them with your custom application environment, manage your network's access permissions, and run your image using as many or few systems as you desire.
To use Amazon EC2, you simply:
***************************See the Link********************
Well the only thing that might be attractive is somethin special coming out of the cloud,...it seems to me...and I don’t see anything yet for me....
Myripple to launch its mini form factor pc 'ripple mini chocolate'
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SEOUL, Korea (AVING) -- Myripple(www.myripple.co.kr) released its successor model of ripple mini pc 'ripple mini chocolate' based on Mini-ITX form factor. Powered by Intel Atom processor(1.6Ghz, 533FSB), i945GC-Northbridge and ICH7 southbridge chipsets, it measures 15 x 210 x 80mm. It is available in Korea market for 209,000(KRW).
MSI to launch its Atom-based nettop 'WIND PC' available for 300$
,img src=http://image1.aving.net/2008/07/23/20080723162316967.JPG>
SEOUL, Korea (AVING) -- <Visual News> MSI launched its Atom-based nettop 'MSI WIND PC' in Korea market. Equipped with Intel Atom processor(1.6Ghz), 1GB of DDR2 memory and 160GB HDD, the WIND PC features 4W of low consumption and 30dB of noise reduction level.
Suggested price is 299,000(KRW).
All Visual Internet News of Goods
( aving.net )
Intel Atom CPU Review : Introduction
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For a few months, we’d been hearing talk of a new dedicated Intel processor for MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), intended to compete with ARM processors. Initially known by the names Silverthorne and Diamondville, the processors in this new line will be called "Atom". These chips have a few surprises in store.
Atom CPUs are surprising for more than one reason: they have modern functions (EM64T, SSSE3, etc.) grafted onto an older architecture The Atom is the first in-order x86 since the Pentium. Power management and fabrication costs are the two imperatives Intel seems to have been guided by, at the expense (with no attempt made to hide it) of performance. So, no, don’t expect a competitor to Core 2 Duo. But what does the Atom really have to offer? We’ll see that as this piece unfolds.
Mini Linux PC breaks $100 barrier
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Sep. 27, 2006
Taiwanese integrator E-Way Technology Systems is shipping a tiny, 200MHz x86-compatible mini PC for $99, in single quantities. The TU-40 is passively cooled, comes with 128MB of RAM, and can run lightweight versions of Linux, such as Puppy, the company says.
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The TU-40 appears to be physically identical to another sub-$100 PC announced last month, and said to be capable of running Puppy -- NorhTec's MicroClient Jr. (pictured at right). However, the TU-40 has a 200MHz CPU, instead of the 166MHz CPU previously reported available in the NohrTec PC. bttt for layer
bttt for later
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