Transmeta's goldfish conquer fear of Windows

SMALLER CHIP FIRM Transmeta came out with a ton of toys this year at CES. Some were Efficeon based, others more conventional Crusoe based, but all were small, low power, and light. One thing no Transmeta device lacks is portability.

The first thing it showed me was the OQO uPC ( here), a frighteningly portable PC. This device, due out in a few months, is based on a 1GHz Crusoe, with 256MB memory and a 20GB HD. This much power fits easily in your hand, is much smaller than a VHS tape, and only a tiny bit heavier. It has a slide up five inch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, runs WinXP, and is high tech. I say high tech because it has the one thing that signals technology, white LEDs. Remember, blue LEDs are SO last year. This thing will eat alive any smartphone or PDA, and play PC games to boot. Not bad.

Moving on, there were some things packing serious functionality, but presented in a fun way. The tablet in the fishtank, complete with goldfish, nicely demonstrated the device's water resistance. Add in the large rock they had to put on it to keep it from floating, and you have something that you would not be afraid to take on a boat drin^h^h^h^h fishing with you. The Transmeta staff assured us that while the goldfish were initially petrified of the thing, hiding in the corner, they have since gotten over their initial fear of Windows, and now get along with most Redmond OSes.

The next interestingly presented device was a Xybernaut tablet. Unlike most of the Xybernaut devices, this one is not wearable, but it is ruggedized. It has monstrous rubber end caps that strap on and prevent most damage to the unit. With them on, you would have to try pretty hard to damage the machine without directly hitting the screen. If you are the more caring type, you can pull the bumpers off in about 10 seconds and have a small and light tablet.

Getting back to the meat of its business, Transmeta was showing a new Sharp Mebius Muramasa notebook. This little thing is thinner than my Nokia 6360 phone sitting next to it, and about as light as you could ask for.

While this model is Japan only for now, the previous one with a Crusoe chip rather than an Efficeon, is available now in the US. We would be shocked if it didn't make it worldwide soon. Expect a price in the $1500-$2000 range, probably closer to $1500. After lugging a 10+ pound notebook around, I would think very hard about dumping the 17-inch screen I have for eight pounds savings. µ