Filed under: Storage

Looks like Ricoh is the latest firm with the need to flex its legal muscles a bit, in this case getting litigious with Quanta Storage and Asustek over four of its supposedly-violated patents relating to CD-RW and DVD+RW technologies. The legal proceedings were recently filed at a US District Court in Wisconsin, although Quanta and Asustek both apparently refused to make an assessment of the case — saying they hadn’t yet received notification of the lawsuit (ever hear of FedEx, Ricoh?) — and have also refused to negotiate at all before the case reaches court. For its part, Ricoh is looking for royalties dating back to 2004, when it stopped producing optical disc drives altogether. But don’t worry, Q and A, you can at least take some consolation in the fact that you’re in pretty good company when it comes to alleged patent infringement.

[Via TG Daily]

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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

The fine folks at Asus are dropping three new portable series to serve professionals with Core 2 Duo speeds and snazzy design. For starters we have the V1 widescreen laptop, with a 15.4-inch display and the full range of Core 2 Duo processors, from the 1.67GHz T5500 to the 2.33GHz T7600. Graphics are provided by ATI’s Mobility Radeon X1600, with 256 or 512MB of RAM. Hard drives range from 80 to 120GB, with a dual HDD option, and the V1 features gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 for connectivity. There’s also an ExpressCard slot, fingerprint reader, S/PDIF audio and a card reader to round out the 0.98-inch thick, 6 pound laptop. The F2 series is only slightly more modest, with processors from Core Solo all the way to the Core 2 Duo T7400, and a 15-inch XGA or SXGA+ display. There’s no digital audio, but the F2 does have TV-out and an optional 1.3 megapixel webcam. Graphics are a Radeon X1400 card running 128MB or 512MB of memory, and specs are otherwise similar to the V1. The R1F Tablet PC keeps the trend going, keeping pace with its siblings on specs for the most part, but featuring a 13.3-inch WXGA LCD and most likely integrated Intel graphics. There’s no word on price or availability for any of these models, but we’re liking where Asus is headed with ‘em so far.

[Via Laptoping]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, ASUS, GSM, GPRS

After adding a slider and flip to its stable of autofocus camera phones, ASUS is turning its attention to the candybar form factor, showing the V80 last week. Other than the autofocus 2-megapixel shooter with macro, there’s not much to write home about — though the FM recorder is kinda nifty. Other features include a QR code reader, Bluetooth 1.2, 220 x 176 display, and EDGEless Class 10 GPRS. ASUS is making a big deal about the V80′s 16mm thickness, but we’re not entirely sure why, considering that Samsung’s 9.9mm D830 alleges autofocus capability just the same. No word on availability or pricing, but thanks to quadband GSM, we might just keep an eye out for this sucker stateside.

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Filed under: Gaming

About the last thing Sony wants at this point is to see yet another disappointed PlayStation 3 delay meme post here on Engadget, which is why it’s heartening to hear — however uncorroborated — that Asustek (Sony’s supposed component partner in manufacturing PlayStation 3 motherboards) is said to be shipping 200,000 units per month now, and is ramping up to as many as 2m in October in preparations for that November launch. We have to voice a little skepticism though. No, not about the source of the information, but the causes of the delays. Despite Sony’s variety of problems developing the PS3, it was never the Cell or the console’s innards that seems primarily responsible for the delays to date; the finger we must point, dear readers, is to that Blu-ray drive, which has plagued product after product. Still, we have no way of proving the validity of the information to begin with, nor figures on these units or Asustek’s supposed ramp-up schedule, so anyone taking heed is apparently trusting the reportage of Chinese newspaper Commercial Times on this one.

[Thanks, CoreyTheGent]

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Filed under: Laptops

Information (or totally baseless and unfounded rumors, depending on how you look at it) is starting to flow about Apple's upcoming consumer laptops, which we previously learned would sport 13.3-inch displays and would be manufactured for Apple by Taiwan's Asustek. According to AppleInsider, the new MacBooks (and, yes, it looks like that will almost certainly be the name, as Apple continues to consolidate all of its computers under the "Mac" brand) will indeed have that 13.3-inch widescreen display, along with Core Duo processors running at 1.67 GHz or higher. That should be good news to those who speculated that, like the entry-level Mac mini, the MacBooks would be limited to Core Solo chips. Other specs are expected to include a built-in iSight camera, magnetic latch and MagSafe power adapter. AppleInsider also says that the computers are due to be announced sooner than the June timeframe claimed in earlier rumors. One thing we can confirm is that the new laptops won't include Lenovo's patented armor and hoverjets, so be sure to keep them away from Hummers.

("MacBook" design by William W from our WWJD 3 contest.)

Filed under: Laptops

hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/02/macbook_1.jpg" alt="" />

It’s always hard
to judge these leaks from Apple suppliers, but according to AFX news, Taiwan’s Asustek Computer has supposedly just won
a bid for an initial run of around 1.2 million "iBook"
computers with Intel processors and 13.3-inch LCDs. We’ve been operating under the assumption that Apple will call
their new consumer line of laptops MacBook, as opposed to the
pro line of MacBook Pro. Maybe we just spend too much time thinking about Apple’s naming schemes, and this probably
doesn’t change anything. We should hopefully know for sure before long, though, since it is claimed that Apple will
start selling these new laptops in June. (Image by William W from our href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/27/wwjd-3-results/">WWJD 3 contest.)

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Filed under: Handsets, ASUS, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

We know durn well that an FCC nod means absolutely nothing for a handset’s chances of stateside release, but doesn’t this seem like a no-brainer for ASUS? The quad-band P525 fills a niche that no other manufacturer has in the States, offering the versatility advantage of Pocket PC Phone Edition with the usability advantage of a traditional keypad. Granted, the device lacks EDGE or any form of 3G, but built-in WiFi makes the situation (arguably) bearable. Ah well, wishful thinking; we’re sure we’ll this thing’ll ultimately be destined for import shops at prices that leave only ASUS fanboys’ mouths salivating.

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