Occupying a space only millimeters wide, and supporting the Open GL ES 2.0 standard, Product Manager Remi Pedersen says that the Mali 200, and eventually, Mali 400, are designed to work in a phone that goes 2-3 days between charges. Pedersen says the first phones will appear at the end of 2009, followed by an influx of devices in 2010.

Graphically, games shown were on the level of PS2 and Xbox, able to push a decent number of pixels with a smooth framerate. A port of the original Project Gotham Racing runs on the Mali 200 GPU with virtually no lag and a decent number of polygons.

But they can also provide hardware acceleration for device UIs, process HD video and make Flash usable on mobile devices. ARM says that features such as HD video encode/decode and Flash decoding will be centered more around the multicore Mali 400, which will appear en masse sometime in 2010. And by all accounts, we can probably look forward to seeing this line of Mali GPUs in future netbooks and MIDs.

Here's quick vid of the Mali 200 in action. It's pretty smooth for a mobile GPU.

First and foremost, silver-zinc can offer up to 40 percent more battery life than traditional lithium-ion batteries and 200 + cycles at 100% discharge. ZPower claims that their product contains no toxic chemicals and is up to 95% recyclable—which I would assume means that they have addressed the problem of mercury leakage that plagues silver-zinc batteries at the end of their life-cycle. They also noted that the batteries feature a water-based chemistry that is completely non-flammable (unlike lithium-ion that has a reputation for the occasional explosion). The one major drawback of silver-zinc is the cost of the silver itself, but word is that ZPower is planning on a trade-in recycle policy that will help to offset costs. Sounds good, but we will have to wait and see if the notebook coming out next year will be important enough and affordable enough to drive sales.

Dr. Ross Dueber to Discuss First Silver-Zinc Battery
for Mobile Consumer Devices at Batteries 2008 in Nice

CAMARILLO, October 7, 2008 – Dr. Ross E. Dueber, president and CEO of ZPower, Inc., will discuss the industry’s first silver-zinc battery technology for consumer electronics at the Batteries 2008 conference in Nice, France, starting October 8th. His presentation will address the performance, environmental, and safety advantages inherent within ZPowerTM silver-zinc batteries, scheduled to launch in a major notebook computer in 2009. The annual event will be held at the Acropolis Convention Centre on October 8, 9, and 10. Batteries 2008 is a worldwide exhibition focused on power supply, with more than 400 attendees.
Dr. Dueber will discuss the next replacement for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and what power source can take mobility into the future. “At the heart of the $55 billion global battery market is the chemical conundrum of power supply,” said Dueber. “Today’s consumer has the ability to watch an entire movie on a palm-sized device—but portable power technology has not kept up. Engineers admit that they are hitting the wall on lithium polymer and lithium-ion performance. Unstable lithium-ion batteries have resulted in a high number of product recalls by manufacturers of notebook computers. These market trends are creating a pressing need for a better battery.”

Silver-zinc battery chemistry is currently poised to move into the commercial marketplace for use in consumer electronics. This new silver-zinc battery chemistry uses the latest in advanced polymers, nano-technology, power electronics and processing methods to create a battery that surpasses other rechargeable batteries for notebook computers, mobile phone and consumer electronics applications.

The advantages of silver-zinc batteries can be summed up as follows:

High Performance – Up to 40% more run time than traditional lithium-ion batteries. And with recent improvements in battery cycle life, silver-zinc batteries achieve 200 + cycles at 100% discharge and thousands of cycles at intermediate discharge.

Clean Technology – Over 95% of key battery elements can be recycled and reused. The raw materials recovered in the recycling process of silver-zinc batteries are the same quality as those that went into the creation of the battery. Environmental impact is lessened since the need to mine for new materials is minimized.

Safe – Silver-zinc batteries contain no lithium and are inherently safe. They are not subject to the recent FAA air travel restrictions now placed on lithium-ion batteries. Silver-zinc batteries feature a water-based chemistry that is not flammable. The battery is therefore free from the problems of thermal runaway and fire.

[ZPower]

[Gadget4all via Geekalerts]

Foxconn rolled out another handheld Pico Projector device at Computex this week, packing a .3-inch Texas Instruments DLP chip and 854x480 resolution into a small package roughly the size of a matchbox (just 65 grams). Though Pico Projectors have been supported by many heavyweights such as 3M, Texas Instruments and Motorola, the technology has yet to make an appearance in the consumer market. But more prototypes from different companies can't be a bad thing, right? [Aving via About Projectors]

It also features a red-yellow-green color coding system for at-a-glance availability selection. And if you have a little gambler in you, just give the cube a roll for a random excuse. In theory, the whole shebang is wireless and easy to update via the internet, but all that aside, it probably won't be hitting store shelves anytime soon. Still, the idea itself may have some potential in one form or another. [The Greener Grass]

At any rate, testing showed good video quality at around 50 inches, and it managed to get in the neighborhood of the advertised 100-inch range. Plus, the video proves you can project decent images onto someone's back. So, if you can find someone with a seriously huge ass with a thing for white pants, you can have your own mobile theater.

Microvision to Unveil Handheld 'Plug-and-Play' Pico Projector for Mobile Devices That Delivers a Home Theater-Sized Viewing Experience

Ultra-thin laser projector prototype with connectivity to mobile phones, PDAs, PMPs, digital cameras and laptops to be displayed during CES 2008

REDMOND, Wash.—Jan. 2, 2008—Microvision (NASDAQ:MVIS), developer of light-scanning technologies for display and imaging products, will unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week an advanced prototype of the first handheld, battery-powered, 'plug-and-play' projector based on the company's single micro-mirror laser scanning display technology.

Code-named SHOW™, Microvision's stand-alone pico projector intended for mobile device applications, is powered by the company's proprietary ultra-miniature PicoP™ display engine. Microvision will preview the PDA-sized, fully self-contained, battery operated, full-color laser projector to select global OEMs, mobile carriers, content providers, development partners and members of the media.

SHOW connects directly to laptops, mobile phones, portable media players (PMPs), digital cameras and other mobile devices to project large, high-resolution images and video onto any surface. The images projected can range anywhere from 12 inches (30 cm) to 100 inches (2.5 m) in size depending upon the projection distance and are always in focus. The production version of the device is expected to offer approximately 2.5 hours of continuous battery life, sufficient to watch a full-length movie without a need for recharging.

Microvision says that SHOW can project a widescreen, WVGA (848 X 480 pixels), DVD quality image — offering a very different experience from the tiny 2-inch display solutions available today on various portable devices. Designed for viewing high-quality projected images in a variety of controlled lighting environments, SHOW offers more than five times the resolution compared with competing miniature projectors that typically only offer QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels).

At the heart of SHOW is Microvision's PicoP display engine, measuring close to 5 cc in volume and approximately 7 mm thick (approximately the size of a thin mint chocolate candy). Microvision envisions the PicoP display engine being used not only in stand-alone accessory products like SHOW, but also embedded directly into mobile consumer products.

"Consumers want better display solutions that will enrich their experience in watching TV, videos and movies, in playing games, and in browsing the web from their cell phones and other mobile devices," points out Alexander Tokman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Microvision. "While mobile multi-media subscription services are on the rise, handset manufacturers, content providers and service providers view tiny cell phone displays as a barrier to stronger consumer adoption of their products and services. With Microvision's SHOW you could view and share everything ranging from YouTube videos, MSN newscasts, and Google search results to PowerPoint presentations, feature-length films, and family photos in a large, full-color, hi-resolution format instead of a 2-inch, QVGA display."

According to AP reports, Microsoft initially plans to market the Origami to tech-savvy individuals who are looking for a smaller, take-it-anywhere PC. Hopefully Redmond will let us all in on the fun come next week.

No Origami News Today - Microsoft to Introduce Origami at CeBit? [I4U News]

This week at Lifehacker: You're home, you're eating turkey, you're fielding computer questions from Mom and Dad, Uncle Lou and Aunt Mitzy. Fix Mom and Dad's computer and add some memory to that 4-year-old Dell while you're at it. Plus: Organize and charge up your mobile devices in one place, and speed up the ol' iPod with a good disk defrag.

It's that time of year again - time to celebrate stamping out the indigenous peoples over a large roasted bird and pumpkin pie, time to get your parents' computer working again. Kill spyware and viruses, update Windows, introduce the 'rents to tabbed browsing and run a backup of their important vacation photos. Consult this checklist on how to fix Mom and Dad's computer during your munificent journey down Familial Tech Support Lane this Turkey Day.

While you're doing the Geek Squad thing, crack open that box and snap in a bit more memory so Dad can play chess and check his stock prices without slowing that old 'puter to a crawl. DIMMs or SIMMs you ask? Our guide to installing more RAM will help.

Charge up your iPod, phone and Gameboy Advance all in one handy place that stows your cords and trips a breaker during a power surge. This mobile device recharging station'll get your desk in order and score you big points with your neat freak ball and chain.

iPod slow navigating menus and moving from song to song? It's a regular old disk, isn't it? Give it a good defragging to arrange your music on the platter for faster, easier access.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.