New Products

Fear not, gadget geeks, for in future issues we'll fully cover the new ASUS Eee PC—so much so that you'll grumble “enough already!” The Eee PC is a new, ultraportable Linux-based laptop starting at (this is not a typo) $259 US. ASUS is marketing the 700 model (2GB Flash storage, 256MB of RAM) to first-time/elderly computer users, low-income households and K–12 education, while the 701 model (4GB Flash storage, 512MB of RAM) is mainly for PC owners seeking convenient mobility. Both models feature preloaded Xandros Linux, Intel Celeron-M 900MHz processor, 7" display, 10/100Mbps LAN, 802.11 b/g wireless, three USB 2.0 ports, MMC/SD card reader, VGA out, Windows XP compatibility/drivers, built-in camera (optional on the 700) and a four-cell battery. There are no optical drives; both models weigh in at 0.9kg/2lbs. At the time of this writing, ASUS projects that dealers should have the Eee PC by late September 2007.

www.asuseeepc.com

Who knows where you'll find Linux next? One sure spot is the embedded brain inside Olive Media Products' new OPUS 307S audio system. The OPUS 307S, part of Olive's OPUS N°3 product line, is a stylish audio component that goes in your stereo rack and contains all of your digital music on its 250GB hard drive. The OPUS can store up to 700 CDs in lossless quality. Improvements on the OPUS 307S over previous Olive devices include perpendicular recording technology for lower power consumption, higher storage density, improved long-term reliability and inaudible operation. In addition, Olive will preload up to 300 of your CDs for free.

www.olive.us

Move over Swiss Army knife, Lantronix has released its new SecureLinx Branch (SLB) Office Manager product, an IT management appliance that integrates a console server, power management and an Ethernet switch into a 1U rack-mountable device. With SLB, system administrators can securely manage a diverse range of servers and IT infrastructure equipment in branch/remote offices from anywhere via the Internet. SLB allows enterprises to avoid the cost of dedicated technicians and other expensive overhead at each satellite location.

www.lantronix.com

A year ago we saw Lenovo tepidly dip its pinky-toe into the Linux waters by certifying and supporting its ThinkPad T60p notebook with user-installed SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED). This year finds Lenovo frolicking in the balmy Linux Sea, offering SLED preloaded and supported on its business-oriented ThinkPad T Series. Lenovo says that strong demand for Linux notebooks from customers made the preload option inevitable. Preloaded ThinkPads will be available to the general public in Q4 2007.

www.lenovo.com/linux

We've been tracking the buzz surrounding Sendio's I.C.E Box, an e-mail security appliance that reputedly blocks 100% of spam with no false positives. Although the I.C.E. Box has been shipping for several months, its Linux credentials recently came to our attention. Shunning the antispam filter approach, the I.C.E. Box performs a one-time verification that the sender of the message is someone with whom you indeed wish to communicate. The result is an end to the junk while maintaining legitimate communications. The appliance integrates seamlessly with any e-mail server and LDAP environment. A built-in Kaspersky antivirus engine also is included.

www.sendio.com

Software development with open-source code is great, but it can be complicated. This is why Black Duck Software created protexIP/development (now v4.4), “a platform that helps companies govern how their software assets are created, managed and licensed.” protexIP helps developers and legal counsel in managing the use of code from open-source projects who have explicitly decided to switch to GPLv3 and those that have not. Also included is an enhanced KnowledgeBase, a library of open-source and vendor-added code software components with detailed licensing information for more than 140,000 components.

www.blackducksoftware.com