When you’ve defied the medical odds and lived 50 years longer than what medical experts said, devised some of the most important theories in physics and cosmology, and become a multi-million book selling author, then maybe you can have your PC’s delivered to you by Intel personally. Until then we can get a small glimpse into the relationship Stephen Hawking has developed with PC component manufacturer, Intel.

This story begins in 1997, when Hawking was working with AMD to help him with his custom PC needs, due to the motor neuron disease which left him with very little physical functionality. According to Travis Bonifield, the Intel application engineer who works with Hawking personally, the relationship began when Intel’s Co-Founder, Gordon Moore spoke personally with Hawking, “Stephen and Gordon met at a conference around 1997. Gordon noted that Stephen was using an AMD machine. Gordon asked Stephen, ‘Would you like to use an Intel computer moving forward? We’d be happy to build that for you and support it.‘ ”

If you’re wondering what’s powering Hawking’s latest PC, which is updated every 2 years, he’s sporting a Lenovo X220 tablet PC, with an Intel Core i7 processor. What’s really cool about the custom build is how it recognizes Hawking’s commands for his voice synthesizer.

Originally, Hawking would use a clicker which he could highlight various commands or words and then communicate them through the synthesizer. However, the nerve which allowed him the use of his thumbs would degrade which required Intel to devise a new solution. They eventually developed an infrared sensor which hangs off of Hawking’s glasses. The sensor detects light changes as he twitches his cheek, and allows him to select commands. Which is amazing. Watch it in action below.

Bonifield has been working with Hawking since 2001, when he took over the position from a previous engineer. One aspect of the job is having to deliver the PC’s from America to England, where Hawking lives. Bonifield mentions one of the less than glorious aspects of the project, “I actually take two systems out to Stephen [one is a backup]. One year I packed them in cases, checked them in as luggage and the airlines lost them for three days. The year after that I thought I’d ship them ahead of time. They got held up in customs for 3 days. This time I got lucky. My luggage showed up with me [laughs].”

Below is a photo of Bonifield holding up a replica of the custom PC he developed for Hawking, and a video of Hawking’s grad assistant installing it.

“While there is growing competition for streaming movies – it’s mostly on PCs and web-enabled TV –very little downloading is available on mobile devices,” the company says. “Movie DRM for the mobile is not the same as movie DRM for PC, (companies like Amazon/Blockbuster have created their own players to solve the download problem on PC, but are unable to both stream and download movies to mobile devices).”

Lenovo and mSpot have together developed their own DRM solutions for mobile movie downloads, using Microsoft’s PlayReady.  

According to mSpot, it’s the only player that is able to serve the “very fragmented market” cross platform with both iOS and Android.

“Amazon, Apple and Blockbuster boast the ability to download and instantly watch – but they are actually referring to TV shows; movies require a full download before you can watch them, (Apple states in their video tutorial, that you can start watching right away -while downloading), but fail to mention this doesn’t apply to movies,” mSpot says. “Amazon and Blockbuster have built their own DRM-enabled movie players, but users must still download the entire movie before watching.”

The company also points out that Blockbuster used to support iOS devices, but no longer offers this.

This last week was a big one for Covario. They had their annual conference. They changed their name. They announced a 16M funding round. They rolled out some cool new products. And, drum-roll please, they announced a partnership with Semphonic.

Well, maybe that wasn’t the lead. But the partnership is an interesting one – especially since some people might think we are competitors. Fortunately, neither they nor I really see it that way. Here’s the thinking behind the partnership.

Covario’s solution requires companies to feed information about online success back into their reporting solution from the web analytics tools. Makes sense, right? But a lot of their clients (and keep in mind these are mostly very complex multi-channel enterprises) have a hard time doing this: not only do they struggle with getting the web analytics set up right, they struggle with figuring out what the proper optimization goals need to be.

That’s our bread-and-butter, of course. In addition, Covario’s clientele heavily overlaps our areas of focus. They have more technology and probably less Financial Services and Media than Semphonic, but the types of clients (multi-channel, international, complex) and the focus on sites without traditional eCommerce events is very similar. So we’ll be providing these implementation services to Covario clients to make sure they get the best advantage out of all that slick enterprise reporting!

And while Semphonic does have a SEM reporting tool, it’s nothing like Covario’s. CampaignTracker isn’t an enterprise data integration tool – it doesn’t even remotely tackle that function. It isn’t an Enterprise tool at all, and it isn’t for PPC or SEO channel management. It has a fundamentally different purpose, different price-point and different set of users. These two products may live in the same galaxy, but they don’t co-exist in the same solar system. And let’s face it, Semphonic is a consulting company – that’s the heart, soul, core (and revenue) of our business. So when we started talking together, I think both sides quickly realized a partnership was possible.

Best of all, I really like the people there. They are very easy to talk to and do business with. They are smart. And their customers obviously like them a lot. I think the whole corporate culture was apparent in InflectionPoint; it’s a culture that I like and suspect most clients will too.

Their similarity in style to Semphonic was very obvious at InflectionPoint. In fact, there were many aspects of the conference that reminded me of X Change. Since we started X Change, I’ve developed a whole new interest in and (grudging) appreciation of Conferences. I notice lots of things I never thought about before.

This increased attention is a bit ironic, because I mostly don’t like Conferences. I’m not much of a schmoozer; I don’t really enjoy speaking (funny, because I love talking!); and I’ll be honest and admit that I find most conference presentations a bit tedious. Then, after a long day of being kind of bored, I’ll return home to the obligatory mountain of emails we all get and have to do my work.

This complaining is mostly a way of getting to the fact that I thought InflectionPoint was pretty damn good. A couple of notable wins:

    * Extremely limited self-promotion

    * No speakers over breakfast, lunch, dinner

    * Very polite involvement by sponsors (no time-wasting fluff)

    * Outstanding attendees

Unlike most company conferences, the chest-beating was amazingly minimal – they let their customers do almost all the talking. A great strategy since the customers had really good things to say. This reminded me of X Change – but since X Change isn’t designed as a Semphonic customer-only event I think their restraint is even more surprising.

Like X Change, they didn’t pollute breakfast and lunch with speakers. I hate having to speak while people eat. And I hate having to eat while people speak. They served good food, too. Major kudos!

They gave partners sponsorship slots but didn’t waste everybody’s time with long-winded sponsor plugs. We don’t do any sponsor slots at X Change, but this was as nicely handled as I’ve seen. Good job by the sponsors as well.

Most important – they brought together a really good group of people. Part of this is the fact that their products play mostly to very large efforts in very large companies. So they get really serious people involved. The panel I was on included truly senior interactive marketing folks from iVillage, Lenovo and Siemens plus David Falls from DoubleClick. And that’s pretty typical of the whole Conference make-up. Outstanding.

I was deeply impressed by the sophistication of that group. Not something you hear me saying every day. I especially enjoyed chatting with Barry Kresch – whose particular challenges at iVillage are very common in our media client-base. It seemed like we’ve done a lot of similar work and come to similar conclusions about how to effectively measure media sites.

I’m still not that big a fan of panel presentations. They feel a bit like political debates – more sound-bites than real discussion. That’s why I love X Change’s Huddle format. But I’m glad X Change is special that way – we need some kind of special sauce!

Ultimately, what impressed me most about the conference was the emphasis on providing value to their customers. As a consulting company, that makes me feel very comfortable with Covario. Not every software company spends more time listening to their customers than talking at them. Not every? Not many.

It must have been an amazing, exciting, draining week for the people at Covario – with so much news plus a big conference.  Congratulations guys. I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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While advertising continues to bring us greater efficiencies and cheaper costs, it’s also driving our need for faster turnaround and rapid deployment. When you can test 100 ads online within a week, you need a solution that can keep up with that pace, without breaking the bank.

I’ve seen two stories recently that suggests that marketing could follow technical support and end-up outsourced to a country with cheaper labor costs.

First, the NYT reports on Publicis’ efforts to build a global digital advertising network that uses offshore labor.

?There?s a chance to invest right now in China, India, Russia and Brazil, which will pay off big over the next five years,? Mr. Kenny said. ?These economies are going to boom, and ads there are going to go directly to mobile and directly to the Internet.?

Beyond the growth potential, Publicis executives see these economies as important sources of low-cost labor for a Digitas subsidiary called Prodigious, a digital production unit that works with all agencies in the Publicis Groupe. Prodigious already uses workers in Costa Rica and Ukraine to produce copious footage for companies like G.M.

The other story relates to Lenovo’s decision to move all of its worldwide marketing to Bangalore, India.

The new center offers these services to all of Lenovo’s operations outside China, said Rahul Agarwal, vice president for marketing at Lenovo India…Lenovo decided to establish this operation in India because of the availability of high quality marketing talent in India, Agarwal said. Expertise in consumer marketing is going to be particularly important as Lenovo gets into the consumer market, he added.

Of course, many companies have found that the costs associated with offshoring are often not worth the headaches that come from language barriers and lower quality work. That said, if you’re involved in marketing, you’d better not take for granted that cushy gig you have. Just like those in the technical support and web development world, you could soon learn that your work can be done for a fraction of the price by someone else.

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Lenovo’s announcement comes after competitor Dell entered the Chinese market in March by offering its affordable personal computer aimed at beginning Chinese users.

Buyers of the new PC will use a television set as the monitor. The new PC will be available later this year and will retail for $199 to $399.

"Our focus is to get down to the rural market," said company spokesman Jay Chen.

Chen said Lenovo latest move was not in response to Dell entering the market and that the company has been selling low-cost PC’s targeted toward rural Chinese families since 2004.

"It’s a natural evolution. We are not responding to our competitors," Chen said. "After three years of market development in low-tier markets we have gained experience and understanding."

Around 800 million people live in China’s rural areas and incomes average about $560 a year but are increasing at annual rate of over 10 percent according to the AP.

Lenovo said it has plans to set up a rural sales network of 5,000 dealers to reach farmers and other people.

Lenovo is the third-largest makers of PCs, behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

The damage might be likened to one stab wound, as opposed to Caesar’s twenty-three.  It’s actually not even as severe as that, since, as the NewsFactor Network reported, “Lenovo . . . plans to continue to work with Google in other areas.”  Individual users will of course be able to switch their computers back to the Mountain View-based company’s product line, as well.

Just the same, Microsoft is acting as if it had a new empire to rule.  “Building strong partnerships is a key element of the Windows Live strategy,” said Steve Berkowitz, the company’s senior vice president of the Online Services Group, in a statement.  “Working with a globally scaled PC maker like Lenovo, we can help millions of people worldwide use Windows Live services to connect to the people and information they care about most.”

There’s no telling how much cash (if any) changed hands here – Microsoft and Lenovo have been tight-lipped on that subject – and other arrangements between the companies (again, if there are any) remain unknown.  As for the future – look for this to happen again.  Justin Osmer, a Microsoft senior product manager, said that “Microsoft would seek similar deals with other vendors to integrate Windows Live Toolbar with PCs,” according to the Washington Post.

Lenovo is the world’s third-biggest computer manufacturer, so if Microsoft moves on to number two . . . .  Et tu, Hewlett-Packard?

Then the company itself stepped in to say Kardonski’s statement had been “misinterpreted,” and that another announcement on the matter will be issued.

Kardonski’s original quote, as posted on CRN’s website: “We will not have models available for Linux, and we do not have custom order, either . . . What you see is what you get. And at this point, it’s Windows.”

Although there doesn’t appear to be much ambiguity in those words, Lenovo’s quick denial may mean there’s hope for Linux yet in this matter.

Lenovo is a large and fairly important manufacturer, employing 19,000 people worldwide.

Dropping Linux, the most prominent open-source operating system, would inhibit the spread of the free software. But it is that precisely that spread – Linux is becoming more and more common – that makes it less likely Lenovo would drop Linux as an option.

One other concern is that Microsoft might have put Lenovo in a position where the manufacturer would have to offer Windows exclusively.

Lenovo is big enough to have some bargaining power, though, so this probably isn’t an issue.

Many individuals have reacted to Kardonski’s statement with words of disappointment and distress; Linux users are generally viewed as fiercely loyal to the operating system.

With the Linux market projected to exceed $35.7 billion by 2008, the cult may gather many more followers – so long as manufacturers such as Lenovo continue to offer it as an option.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

Until this discovery, Lenovo only offered a ThinkPad X41 with a convertible tablet feature, and it’s still the only model listed on their website. But as Core Duo discovered (though they have just a sliver of doubt left as well), listings for Tablet ThinkPad X60 and X61 have been posted on a French retail website

Originally slated for an April 6th release date, the retailer site recently moved it back to May 5th. The specs for Tablet X60 are as follows:

Intel Core Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB)
Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC OS
1GB of memory
12.1″ XGA Display (1024768)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
100GB HDD
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
up to 7.5 hours battery time

TabletPCReviewSpot.com has screen captures here.

Some speculate that a convertible version of the X60 line will make it the next must have. Adding the tablet to a notebook that already has a slew of great features – long battery life, light weight at 3.5 pounds, thin casing at 0.5 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches, high portability without sacrificing performance – will make this line that much more desirable.

The X60 line also includes Fingerprint Reader Client Security offering bio-protection of the sensitive material inside. And if stolen, they can be tracked through Computrace – but only if the thief manages to get it online.

Plus the Intel Duo Core processors inside make a nice addition for multitasking on the go. One drawback, if the specs listed on the French website are correct, is the display, which doesn’t appear to have been upgraded from a 1024 X 768 resolution.

Who knows if The Lenovo Tapes is a carefully crafted viral marketing campaign or just the work of a Lenovo fan. Either way, I’m betting these videos will help the Chinese computer manufacturer reach a huge audience.

Never worry about dropping your laptop again!

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Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world’s most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.