CrunchGear

LaVie Touch: NEC’s Windows Tablet Comes With DVD-Drive, Other Add-Ons
Watch This: Former Nokia Exec Acquires Meta Watch’s Connected Watch Business
Gadgets Week In Review: Balance

LaVie Touch: NEC’s Windows Tablet Comes With DVD-Drive, Other Add-Ons

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 02:18 AM PDT

NEC announced [JP] the so-called LaVie Touch for the Japanese market today, a tablet with two rather special features: it’s powered by Windows 7 Home Premium, and it comes with a total of three hardware add-ons out of the box: a mix between stand and DVD-drive (dubbed “Multistation”), a wireless mouse, and a wireless keyboard.

In other words, it won’t be possible to purchase the tablet by itself.

Here are its main specs:

10.1-inch IPS LCD panel with 1,280×800 resolution
Windows 7 Home Premium OS (SP1, 32bit)
Office Home and Business 2010
ExTouch UI
Atom Z670 (1.50GHz) CPU
Intel SM35 Express chip set
2GB memory
64GB SSD
IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
1.3MP camera
ports: 2xUSB, HDMI, SDHC
10.6 hours battery life
size: 263×183×15.8mm, weight: 729g

NEC plans to roll out the LaVie Touch in Japan next month (price including the add-ons: US$1,230).

Watch This: Former Nokia Exec Acquires Meta Watch’s Connected Watch Business

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 01:08 AM PDT

A group of investors led by Juha Pinomaa, former President of Suunto and a former Nokia exec, has acquired the connected watch business of a company called Meta Watch, as well as related IP assets.

Joining Pinomaa as investors and key managers are Bill Geiser and David Rosales, who previously led the Watch Technology Division of Fossil, the now-former owner of Meta Watch.

Connected watches are nothing new, but Meta Watch has made a name for itself with its developer-friendly approach. Aiming to reinvent the wrist watch as a simple but powerful mobile accessory, the company’s platforms enable developers to extend the interfaces of a range of mobile devices and applications to their products.