Acer unveiled the world’s thinnest Ultrabook at CES with the Aspire S5. The device measures only 15 mm at its largest point. It weighs less than 3 lbs. and has a 13.3-inch LCD.

The computer features “Acer Green Instant On” for fast boot up times. The service provides instant-resume functionality which essentially means that the Aspire S5 will go from sleep mode to awake in 1.5 seconds. It will also ensure that the battery life will last several weeks which is a life-saver for any laptop user who has found their battery dead after only a few days in sleep mode.

It also features “Acer Always Connect” which is part of Acer’s new AcerCloud service. This allows users to connect their Ultrabook to any smart device for easy retrieval of all documents and media stored on the Aspire S5. The other advantage of the service keeps users constantly connected with their favorite social services by keeping Facebook, Twitter and Outlook email services open during sleep mode. This allows the user to see all updates instantly upon resuming their work.

The Aspire S5 keeps up the slim form factor of Ultrabooks with a black chassis that is built to look good while being sturdy enough to protect the computer.

The S5 is Acer’s first ultrabook to feature what they dub the MagicFlip I/O port panel which is located just beneath the hinge. It allows access to a variety of I/O ports including HDMI, USB 3.0 and 20 Gbps Thunderbolt.

The innards of the Aspire S5 are nothing to scoff at with an Intel Core processor, SSD storage, Dolby-home theater v4 and a battery life that lasts 3 times longer than traditional batteries.

The Acer Aspire S5 will start shipping in Q2 2012.

Acer is looking to compete more aggressively with Apple’s popular Macbook Air line, so it will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to this. 2012 is looking to be the year of the Ultrabook so expect to see more announcements during CES.

Acer announced at CES the AcerCloud service which will connect personal smart devices and PCs across their network.

The service’s main feature is their Always Connect service which allows users to retrieve media and data files anytime even when their main PC is in sleep mode. As long as the PC remains in sleep mode, smart devices with AcerCloud can wake up the PC through Wi-Fi to access all data that is on the user’s PC. AcerCloud will use a combination of local and cloud storage to give user’s access to all the data they need.

Acer is stressing that users can create, acquire and consume on different devices. They use the example of being able to take photos on a smartphone, then view them on a PC later without having to transfer any data. All of it is already stored on AcerCloud for easy access across all supporting devices.

They announced PicStream which allows users to seamlessly back up all their photos on their PC while sharing them with other smart devices. Photos are backed up permanently on a PC while all photos are accessible for 30 days on the cloud servers.

In a move to compete with the convenience of Google Docs, Acer announced AcerCloud Docs which will allow users to update documents on their PC, upload them to the cloud and then stream them to a multitude of devices for meetings. Once again, the files will be permanently stored on a PC, and accessible on their cloud servers for up to 30 days.

The final new software that will accommodate the new AcerCloud service is the clear.fl Media application. This allows users to access any of their multimedia off the cloud for streaming or to download for offline viewing.

AcerCloud will be bundled with all Acer consumer PCs free of charge starting Q2 2012. It will also support all Android devices, while future support is planned for Windows-based phones. The service will be available in America, Europe, Asia and China.

This move further solidifies cloud storage as the future. As more people move towards mobile computing, whether it be on phones or tablets, they will need more space to store all their data. It’s not much of a surprise to see Acer jump in the ring, but it will be interesting to see if any other major PC manufacturers jump in the cloud storage business during CES.

The Acer Iconia Tablet is going to undercut the iPad 2 price, releasing at $449.99, cheaper than the $499.99 price tag for the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2. Will the lower price point put the Iconia’s tech standards below the iPad 2?

Technical Specification Comparison

16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2

Processor: 1 GHz A5 Apple processor
Memory: 512 MB DDR2 Ram
Storage: 16 GB
Display: 9.7 inches (1024×768 px display)
Battery Life: 10 Hours (general usage)

Acer – Iconia Tablet A500

Processor: 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 250
Memory: 1GB DDR2 Ram
Storage: 16 GB
Display: 10.2 inches (1280×800 px display)
Battery Life: 10 Hours (general usage)

Breaking down the base tech comparisons, the Acer tablet has the iPad 2 beat in both virtual memory and display resolution. Along with the tech specifications, there are some key differences in the features offered by the tablets.

The Iconia will allow users to connect a microSD card up to 32GB for expanding storage, while iPad 2 users will be stuck with 16GB. Iconia users will be able to connect their tablet to HDTVs with an HDMI port. In order for iPad 2 users to utilize this feature, they have to purchase an Apple Digital TV Adapter. Tacking on an additional $39 to their purchase.

The Iconia sacrifices its size to be able to outperform the iPad 2. It weighs 1.7 lbs compared to the 1.33 lbs of the iPad 2. It also has a bit more depth at 0.5 in compared to the iPad 2′s .346 in form.

Another interesting aspect to the tech battle is the device will utilize Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). The tablet OS is a relative newcomer when compared to iOS, and will have a lot to prove as more devices release with Honeycomb. This could possibly be Iconia’s biggest roadblock, as many iPad users enjoy the simple and intuitive iOS interface.

Along with iOS, Acer’s device is going up against the Apple name and reputation. While many Android powered mobile devices are hitting the market, none of them are taking down the iPhone/iPod/iPad alone. Acer is a reputable computer technology corporation, but they have no where near the user base Apple has in the US when it pertains to mobile devices.

I’m impressed with everything I’ve seen regarding the Acer Iconia Tablet A500. Their price tag is affordable, they’re providing tech equal to or greater than the iPad 2, and even adding features the iPad 2 and some other tablets lack. We’ll have to wait for April 24th and beyond to see what kind of impact the device can make, but it has all the ingredients to perform well.

Lanci, a former employee at Texas Instruments, went to Acer when they acquired the TravelMate laptop business from TI in 1997.  He became president of the company in 2005, and was named CEO in 2008.

Acer has recently overtaken Dell as the 2nd largest maker of PCs, but has hit a rough patch as of late.  According to Bloomberg:

The resignation comes less than a week after the company lowered its sales forecast, which led to a four-day, 18 percent rout of the stock. Analysts at 10 brokerages including Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) have lowered their investment ratings on Acer since March 25, citing concerns about earnings.

Lanci’s resignation passed a Board of Directors today, as they explain that they held different views about the direction the company was taking.  From the press release:

On the company’s future development, Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members, and could not reach a consensus following several months’ of dialog. They placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation.

While the company assures that this change will not affect business as usual, interim CEO J.T. Wang expresses that the company will be moving into the mobile device market.  “Acer needs a period of time for adjustment,” he says.

“In his role as President and CEO, Lanci has contributed significantly toward Acer’s growth. The company expresses its true appreciation for Lanci’s efforts and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors,” said Wang

According to VentureBeat who has "learned from multiple sources," Acer will launch Chrome OS devices at the Computex Taipei show in June. Unfortunately, that appears to be the extent of what has been learned about these devices. We don’t know if they’re tablets or netbooks or what, but most likely netbooks, as that has been what Google generally associated Chrome OS with from the beginning. Though there has certainly been speculation about touch technology in Chrome OS.

Here’s how Chrome OS is designed to work:

According to MG Siegler, who dug through some Chrome OS developer notes, any devices shown at the Computex Taipei show are unlikely to include a complete version of Chrome OS, and that while Google claims development is on schedule, devices aren’t supposed to be ready until the second half of the year.

We’ll be covering Google I/O next week, and we expect to see some news on both the Android and Chrome OS fronts.

"A person familiar with the situation" said the loss will occur over the next 12 to 18 months, according to Scott Morrison.  Which obviously involves a lot of assumptions about the long term.

Also, for whatever it’s worth, Morrison wrote, "Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo acknowledged that losing the deals could cost it some share, but said the estimate of three percentage points was higher than its calculations suggest.  Prabhakar Raghavan, who is responsible for Yahoo’s search strategy, declined to be more specific."

Still, depending on whether you prefer to start with the February standings from comScore, Hitwise, or Nielsen, the predicted loss would leave Yahoo with a market share of 17.6, 14.0, or 13.7 percent, respectively.

It’ll be interesting to see if Yahoo responds with any sort of extra push to have people reinstate it (or set it for the first time) as their default search provider.

Granted, the test drive was useless from any sort of practical perspective.  “[A] write-up of time spent behind the wheel of a car designed entirely for show and never for go will help you in no way to make a purchasing decision,” notes Wert.

But the experience still sounds like a blast, and, unlike what occurred with an old Microsoft-Edelman scandal, all the parties were clear from the start that this was just a temporary loan.

Ideally, someone could mesh that experience with Wert’s – pass out real Ferraris, instead of an Acer Ferrari 1000 notebook, or the keys to a half-baked concept.  But beggars – and bloggers – can’t be choosers, so . . . on with the Camaro convertible.

There were some strict ground rules on Wert’s test drive – no accelerating past “roughly 25-30 mph (I say roughly because there’s no working instrumentation,” for one.  Also, “The seats aren’t the real ones, so you’ve no idea what the sight lines are going to be like in the real thing.”

Then – and I can’t help but laugh at this – Wert writes, “[T]he heat from the engine was causing the paneling on the concept to warp a bit – taking some of that design balance and turning it into an amusement park hall of mirrors.”

Still, as a car enthusiast, I can imagine few bigger rewards for one’s work.  Bloggers everywhere should take heart.

Did Acer’s Laptops Disappoint?

The angst proved palpable after PR firm Edelman began contacting a large number of bloggers who write about Microsoft and offered them Acer Ferrari laptops preloaded with Vista. Although the laptops were being made available with no strings attached, a lot of people began complaining loudly about the campaign.

Many bloggers expressed concern about being compromised by such a lucrative gift. Others complained that plenty of bloggers quietly accepted the laptops without comment, and likely no plans to disclose their arrival.

They may have something to talk about now, if they didn’t plan to do so previously. Inside of Acer laptops, there is an extra library file present that according to security firm F-Secure could pose a problem if compromised:

Improved security has been a mantra recited by Microsoft throughout the half-decade it took to build Vista. Even the disclosure that a bug has already emerged targeting Vista hasn’t done much to alter their stance.

As F-Secure noted, LunchApp is an Acer component, added by the OEM to machines destined for market. Microsoft doesn’t control that code. But if a bunch of blogger machines suddenly ‘lost their lunch’ so to speak over an exploit hitting LunchApp, Microsoft will very likely hit the windshield of blame like a big juicy bug. Splat!

—

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Concisely, here’s what’s happening:

1. A few days before Christmas, Microsoft (or Edelman – the lead PR agency for the launch of Vista – depending on which blog post you read) emailed a number of influential US bloggers to ask them if they’d like to receive an Acer Ferrari notebook computer pre-loaded with Vista.

2. No strings attached:

while I hope you will blog about your experience with the pc, you don’t have to. Also, you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away to your community, or you can hold onto it for as long as you’d like. Just let me know what you plan to do with it when the time comes.

3. Bloggers start posting about the invitation they received; some have already received the computer and blog their first impressions/opinions.

4. Others criticize Microsoft and Edelman with accusations of bribery. Words such as ‘astroturfing,’ ‘payola’ and ‘PayPerPost’ abound.

5. Confusion starts to take hold as some bloggers report that Microsoft is asking for the computers back.

6. The first murmurings start that this is another developing ethics scandal for Edelman.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but what on earth are all these people whingeing about?

Oh wait. From scanning some of the blog posts and comments, it looks like many of the whingers are those who didn’t get an invitation from Microsoft!

Be that as it may, what seems to be the fuel for much of the critical blog commentaries and comments to posts is disclosure. Or rather, lack of it at the outset – few of the bloggers who first started posting mentioned the fact that they’d received the computer from Microsoft for purposes of review. Some of them have subsequently posted updates to their posts with the disclosure.

It’s all a bit messy, a situation that could have been largely avoided if there was a clear requirement that any blogger receiving the laptop must disclose that fact. That wasn’t the case.

If I’d been writing the invitation email, I would have included a sentence that might read something like this:

If you accept this invitation and receive the computer, you must make full disclosure in any blog posts you may publish that you received the machine and software from Microsoft for the purposes of review.

This isn’t bribery or astroturfing or anything nefarious like that. But without the requirement to disclose, you have ambiguity and opacity – things that got Edelman into trouble with Wal-Mart blogger relations programmes a few months ago and earlier this year.

Take into account, too, that with Microsoft, it’s a fair assumption that you can’t please most of the people most of the time.

It’s a tactical PR cock-up, that’s what it is.

Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

It’s so bad, Acer is calling it a price hike, saying that Home Basic will be completely rejected and Home Premium is the real cheapest version.

Is that fair?

The features most prominently missing (and most likely to make you sad) in Home Basic are Windows Vista Media Center, the all-in-one interface for recording TV, enjoying music and video, and streaming media throughout your home; and Windows Aero, the slick-looking UI update with live previews, transparency and better performance on the latest 3D hardware.

While the more technically inclined look at Home Basic as not being the “real” Vista, a regular user won’t notice anything missing at all.

The geeks already know to buy Windows XP Media Center Edition, and Vista Home Premium is about the same price. If Home Basic was eliminated, the more “basic” users would lose out on a chance to save a few bucks (and keep commodity PC prices low), and gain little from the better versions of Vista. Plus, Home Basic can become Home Premium by merely entering your credit card number; no difficult work involved.

I think Home Basic is awful, but only for me. I’d never run it. But I know plenty of people who would go for it, and don’t see why they should pay extra for frosted glass borders.

Comments

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.