Gear Factor in Review

Fujitsu is showing off its unique take on the UMPC at the Japanese Design Exhibition in Milan this week. Rather than employ a touch screen and stylus for text entry, Fujitsu's model includes a fold-out, full-size keyboard. Folks who prefer typing the old-fashioned way will love this idea; the people sitting next to them on the commuter train, not so much. Though the expandable keyboard strains the concept of "ultra mobile" a bit, it's an interesting solution nonetheless.

Bitstream

Engadget posted the other day that Taiwan's Asustek Computer might be manufacturing an initial run of 1.2 million Intel-powered notebooks. Now it's confirmed. It's been speculated that the line would be called "MacBooks," but it appears the new laptops will keep the "iBook" nomenclature and boast 13.3-inch LCD panels. Apple will start selling them in June.

iKey

MobileWhack

Inoda + Sveje

We'd grown so used to whining about how Europe and Asia have so many cool things we don't, that we hardly know how to act now that Philips is bringing a Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld to the United States.According to a statement by the company, the new handhelds will be six times smaller (nope, that's not a typo) than the company's previous version. As much as we like downloading static snippets of previously aired shows on our EV-DO phones, we're more than ready to take live DVB-H broadcasts for a spin.

TrackStick

Alvarion

The Lazy Drinker