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I’ve never heard of Piixl but that doesn’t mean they can’t hold a place in my heart. This 3GHz Core 2 Duo machine mounts right behind your HDTV and will cost about $4,000, a pretty penny for something so thin and innocuous.
Called the EdgeCenter 3770 the device is designed to run home theatre and kiosk applications and remain completely out of sight. It’s a clever solution to the thorny problem of convincing the rich and famous to stick computers into their living rooms. Available right about now, but in the UK.
London, the 12th December 2009
PiixL Ltd, a London based Technology Start-up, is excited to announce the release of their new EdgeCenter range this week! The EdgeCenter is a totally new breed of Media Center Computer, designed to be mounted directly behind flat screen TVs through their VESA mounting interface, for example between a flat screen TV and a wall mount mechanism. Only 30mm deep and adjustable to fit screens sizes ranging from 37 to 70 inches, the EdgeCenter stays quiet and invisible while leaving all the useful controls, I/Os and Physical Media readers accessible right behind the edge of any flat screen TV!
Beyond its striking design, a few features instantly single out the EdgeCenter from any other Media Center Computer available today:
- Ultra flexible design: already available with processors ranging from Core2 Duo to Two-Way Core i7, optional Discrete 7.1 Audio, up to four TV Tuners and the latest generation of Graphic cards, providing both Media Oriented and Power Users the perfect solution!
- Easy to use: The first ever computer with built-in PowerLine networking! Comes with Windows 7, MyMovies extension pre-installed and a choice of of accessories carefully selected for a one-stop, all-in-one platform.
- Durable: Unmatched components quality sourcing, all aluminium chassis, and a truly future proof Design where
all components can be upgraded at PiixL’s facilities.
The cellphone market in Shenzhen is like a flea market where everyone is selling the same thing. If it looks like an iPhone, it’s here. There are hundreds of models, hundreds of odd names, and hundreds of people arrayed along the inside of a huge room. There are four or five floors of this mess. This is the Shanzhai market.
Shanzhai is a strange amalgam of counterfeiting, national pride, and Robin Hoodism. The word itself means “mountain fortress” and suggests a romantic image of brigands working together to outwit the rich and powerful. It’s been called a reaction to the cellphone monopoly but in reality it’s a sort of personal test, more akin to the piracy “scene” than anything else. Shanzhai products are, in their early stages, more like graffiti tags than anything else. Every fake iPhone is someone’s way of saying “I’m here, I did this, and I beat the big guys.”
We wander through the hall. Everything here is the same. It’s all the same processor, all the same mainboard. Each phone has two SIM card slots, runs quad-band, and has a touchscreen. The UIs range from poor to horrible and the prices are as fluid as the market itself. Design cues come from almost every source, although Apple is number one. Recently the N900 is a popular model on which to base counterfeits because it looks like an iPhone with a keyboard. Even older phones like the G1 are inexplicably getting copied, proving there’s no accounting for taste.
Shanzhai manufacturers can’t sell in China or developed nations. They can barely even export out of their own countries and resort to shipping many of their devices on trucks over the border and into southern Asia where they slowly dissipate into India and Africa.
Many phones are caught up by customs because of the software on board. Shanzhai manufacturers like to put all kinds of junk onto their phones. TV tuners are popular, as are emulated arcade games. Tetris, for example, will get your phone trapped in customs immediately. Huge deals have been torpedoed because someone stuck Super Mario Brothers on a phone. Sure, the phone looks just like a fake iPhone but the real problem is a silly block game. I found one phone with a game called Super Shrek Brothers, which was essentially SMB with all of the tiles changed. Mario looks like a little green alien. It’s all very strange.
Shanzhai is hard for us to understand. Why manufacture these things at all? The real draw is the “brand.” Buyers like to think they’re getting a modern, popular phone. Shanzhai manufacturers maintain that ruse with a passion. The secondary draw is the sense of accomplishment. This is akin to model rocketry or model railroading – the real value is in the details and when your peer group sees what you’ve done you get a boost in street cred. That these phones are later mass produced is a different matter entirely. The initial effort is focused on the creation of the object and not mass production.
In the end, Shanzhai cannot hold. China will soon be leading the world in designed objects. HTC is a major player and soon Foxconn will be opening retail stores. China is changing.
Tomorrow: The Price Problem
This is part of a week-long series on China. Read more articles here.
Toshiba Japan has announced a slew of new and updated notebooks today, and one of them [JP] is a monster of a notebook (more will be posted later). The Qosmio G60/97J is basically a high-end computer, digital TV and Blu-ray player rolled into one.
The notebook is powered by a Core 2 Duo P8700 processor (2.53GHz) and has 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD, GeForce GT230M, Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, an HDMI port, and Windows 7 on board.
It also features a 18.4-inch full HD LCD screen, not one but two TV tuners (so that you can record a TV program while watching another), a Blu-ray drive, harman/kardon speakers and Toshiba’s self-developed SpursEngine processor (which is supposed to boost the quality of video recordings). Toshiba also throws in a remote control.
The Qosmio G60/97J weighs 5kg and is sized at 442.6×294.2×41.5mm. It will hit Japanese stores at the end of next month for $3,200. A trimmed down version, the GX/G8K, with weaker resolution (1,680×945), a 400GB HDD and no TV tuners or SpursEngine processor, will be available for $800 less.
No word yet from Toshiba concerning a possible worldwide release.
