What is in a product name? Everything! Would the iPod have been as successful if its name was iMP3? It is possible, but likely not. A good name lets you build a strong culture around it, so coming up with a good name is vital to any business. But sometimes what’s even harder is coming up with the translation of a name. We’re all aware of the marketing mishaps that come back to haunt companies. Just take Ikea, I could probably come up with a dozen product names that don’t work well in English.

We at DeviceVM need a Chinese name for Splashtop. Rather than having me come up with something that gets lost in translation, our China office would like to enlist some creative individuals that can help us come up with something. If you think you have what it takes to come up with a name and is fluent in Chinese we welcome you to join our contest. There’s a number of prizes that will be given away, but the deadline is February 5th so you better hurry. You can find more details about the contest here.

This just in: Laptop Magazine has awarded Splashtop 2.0 with the Best of CES award. We are all pretty thrilled about it here at the office. A big thank you to the team and all their hard work. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get Splashtop 2.0 to where it is, and this award just proves that it was all worth it. Here is what Laptop Magazine had to say:

“The Instant On operating system found in every notebook brand from ASUS to HP to Lenovo, won us over all over again by adding shortcuts, lots of shortcuts”

If you have not heard about Splashtop 2.0, here is the run down: better mobile 3G experience, customizable dock, instant search, and visual navigation of bookmarks and browser history. There is more info in my last post or you can check Laptop Mag’s in-depth video run through here.

It is hard to keep up with all the exciting news here at CES. It seems like every second there is something drool worthy that pops up. This year at CES there are definitely some drool worthy netbooks from your favorite manufacturers. Which leads me to some exciting netbook related announcements: Splashtop 2.0 is official, and on top of that our software will now be powering all of the popular netbooks from the leading manufacturers - Asus, Acer, and HP to name a few.

So what’s new in 2.0? Well it’s a significant step in every category: it’s even faster than before, has a better 3G connectivity experience, it’s touch optimized, and has a slew of other new features like:

• A redesigned application dock that let’s you add your favorite apps and sites.
• Ability to customize the look and feel of your desktop with stylish wallpapers and personalized packages.
• Instant search, which let’s you search even before launching the browser.
• Visual navigation of your favorite sites and history.

The new Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t, a touch-enabled netbook, will be the first to feature Splashtop 2.0.

Lastly I’d like to welcome the latest addition to the family - EeePC netbook line. The EeePC single handedly rocked the industry three years ago, and they continue to do so with the innovative swiveling tablet-netbooks like the EeePC T91MT, which of course includes Splashtop

It is only a day and a half until the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas. This year DeviceVM will be at Pepcom - Digital Experience showing off our latest technology. We’re going to have some exciting announcements coming soon, so stay tuned.

2009 was a busy year for netbooks. According to Display Search worldwide shipments are expected to hit 33 million units, that is a 103% jump from 2008. Even the very definition of a netbook is jumping around with each manufacturer molding the netbook in its own way. LG, for example, is differentiating itself through software: The LG X-120, one of the first netbooks to boast 3G cellular connectivity, includes Smart ON that’s powered by Splashtop. Engadget did a great review of it and ended up calling Splashtop “LG’s biggest asset” – we were proud to say the least.

Thanks to AT&T and Radio Shack (The Shack), the X-120 is now available in the U.S. for the first time for $179.99 with a 2-year contract. For those not interested in a subsidized netbook, I picked mine up today for $399 off contract.

If you want to learn more about the X-120 you can take a virtual demo of it on LG’s site.  I’ll leave you with this video I took of Splashtop booting up for the first time on the X-120.

LG X-120 booting Splashtop

Let’s face it: we all have a folder full of digital photos that never get viewed, shared, or worst of all - never backed-up. Local apps that manage photos never quite get the job done and typically only accomplish one thing - moving that digital shoe box into a fancy user interface where photos never get viewed, shared, or backed-up. Granted you could probably accomplish those task individually with multiple local apps, but as the complexity increases our desire to follow through with an action diminishes. Fortunately, there’s a plethora of photo web apps that act as an all-in-one solution.

Facebook is a social networking platform, or so they say. Over 70 percent of monthly Facebook visitors spend their time viewing or uploading photos. And with over 21 billion photos uploaded, Facebook has undoubtedly become the de-facto standard for photo sharing on the Web. The team over at Facebook have done a phenomenal job in making the experience as simple as possible.

Flickr is another popular photo web app, and it’s the app of choice for many pro and pro-consumer photographers. Flickr offers a compelling set of features - simple but powerful editing tools, geotagging for photos, and versatile sharing tools. But the biggest draw for Flickr is it’s large community of users. It’s an amazing arena to share and showcase photographs to friends, family, and other photographers. And of course, with unlimited storage it’s a quick and easy way to do back-ups for your photos.

Fotki was built with a similar premise as Flickr. What started as a photo sharing site for a close circle of friends has blossomed into a photo printing, selling, and blogging site. The interface is slick and streamlined and makes browsing public photos fun.

SmugMug offers unlimited photos, unlimited storage, no ads, easy uploads, and sharing - it’s easy to see why it’s an up and coming web app. There’s an option for a Pro account where users can even sell photos as stock art.

Now Get Instant Access to Outlook Without the Windows Wait.

With a slew of new Windows 7-based products hitting the market this holiday season, PC reviewers, retailers, and gadget-hounds will undoubtedly be buzzing about them.  Lucky for us at DeviceVM, our Splashtop-powered, instant-on environment is the perfect companion for Windows 7. And we have lots to share about some of the innovative new ways to enjoy Splashtop!

For example, Acer is now shipping the new Aspire One Pro 531, a revamped netbook targeting students and on-the-go professionals. In addition to shipping with Win7 Starter Edition or Home Basic Edition, this Intel Atom-based netbook sports all the sweet specs you’ll need – a 10.1” LCD screen, integrated 3G, 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, and webcam – making it the perfect mobile companion system. But what really separates this product from the crowd is a practical and powerful new implementation of Splashtop, called “InstaBoot.”

Within seconds of booting up, users are greeted with an elegant start screen (pictured below), that delivers instant access to your personal communications suite, seamlessly synchronized with Outlook Email, Calendar and Address Book (supporting Office 2000 / 2003 / 2007 versions). Directly from the PIM desktop panel view, you can quickly scan daily appointments and your “to-do” list, read through your email messages, and look up contact information with the greatest of ease – even when no network connection is available.

In addition, Acer’s InstaBoot also includes “Insta WebGrab,” a handy program for one-click capture of web pages for quick access to maps, driving directions, flight information or whatever page you want to keep at your fingertips. And of course, what environment would be complete without the Splashtop browser (based on Firefox), with built in Flash support — if your flight gets delayed there’s always YouTube.

Great for students and business travelers alike, the Aspire One Pro will be available in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific markets at competitive prices. Check it out and let us know what you think.

The Broadband Taiwan show just wrapped up in Taipei. The event featured makers of communications hardware involved with WiMAX and 3G wireless tech. Here is a photo of Kevin from our Taipei office helping out in the Ericsson booth at the show.

Ericsson is a power house in the 3G equipment space. Among the things they demo-ed were netbooks with instant-on Internet access over 3G - a major area of focus for us, and the reason we were there to help showcase these systems.

Splashtop is shipping on many netbooks already, and we are adding more and more models through our collaborations with PC OEMs. And 3G web access is increasingly common on netbooks with instant-on browsing capabilities of Splashtop.

3G + instant-on is a perfect combination for netbook usage.

Web applications, or web-apps, are full applications that can run in the browser, accessible from any computer with Internet access. Everybody here at DeviceVM is a firm believer that this is the future of applications. If you take a quick glance at the applications I have open, a majority are web-apps - Gmail, Twitter, Google Docs, Mint, and Flickr. I do use Photoshop quite often and as of this time I’m unaware of any web-app powerful enough to replace it, but I’m sure I’ll find something someday. In the meantime, I’d like to share some cool web-apps that I’ve come across while stumbling around the Net.

It is no secret that Netbooks – the small, ultra-portable and arguably underpowered cousins of larger, more powerful PC notebooks – have turned the PC industry on its head. Since Asus first ushered in the EeePC a few short years ago, the market has been flooded with a slew of netbooks. Today’s models are sporting larger screens, bigger keyboards, more memory and typically feature Windows XP as the de facto standard operating system. While Forrester Research declared an era of the third form factor back in January, the lines between netbooks and notebooks are increasingly blurring.

The key difference, as GigaOM recently posited, is that netbooks nail a sweet spot in the market where traditional notebooks often fall short on the 3P triangle: Performance, Price and Portability.

“Currently, a notebook can excel in one or two of these areas, but not all three… Enter netbooks: They provide enough horsepower to do the majority of everyday computing tasks, tend to average around $350, and are light and small enough to carry all day long.”

Recognizing this ‘holy grail’ of computing, the November print issue of Wired magazine recently dubbed a netbook, the Samsung NC20, as its “computer of the year,” citing price ($550), ‘everyday’ performance (Via vs. Atom) and portability (3.3 lbs with a 12” screen) as its key selling points. [The only critical thing missing in this package may be the instant gratification of Splashtop to make portability even more pleasurable].

But given this year’s sweeping global recession, the most critical attribute thus far may in fact be Price– cost-conscious consumers the world over have been snapping up netbooks at an amazing clip. Even the WSJ’s Walt Mossberg has taken to reviewing netbooks, which he recently referred to as the sole bright spot in an otherwise awful economic climate. To put an even finer point on it, research firm DisplaySearch forecasts 33M netbooks shipping this year—2X over 2008—while notebook shipments have remained flat Y/Y for the first time. [See table below]

So on the eve of the Windows 7 roll-out, let’s take time to reflect on the 3Ps of netbook goodness, the potential impact of a new OS and imagine what might happen to this fast-changing product category over the coming months. On the positive side, look for more performance gains – new chip sets, bigger screens, more memory – and serious portability enhancements with longer battery life, better power management and smarter networking with integrated 3G. The question mark is around price – can PC makers keep upping performance and portability while maintaining the attractive price point that lured consumers in the first place? Or are we destined to see further blurring of the line between what makes a netbook vs. a traditional notebook?

Answer: “yes, but.” The “but” in this equation really depends on Windows 7. Unlike Vista, Win7 should run well on netbooks, according to Microsoft. But will it further the current trend of increasing screen size while maintaining affordability, a luxury afforded by XP-based netbooks. That remains to be seen – several reports indicate Windows 7 Starter OEM edition will cost $45-$55 per copy, which is OK for a new $1000+ notebook, but way out-of-whack for a $300-$500 netbook. While Amazon is currently showcasing an equal number of netbooks and notebooks shipping with Windows 7 (28 of each), it seems that price points have increased over comparable XP-editions. Using the popular Lenovo S10-2 as an example, a comparably-equipped netbook shipping with XP Home lists for $329, while the Win7 Starter version costs an extra $20.

At the end of the day, we at DeviceVM are extremely bullish on the future of netbooks as a distinct new form factor that deserves new “post-notebook” thinking. Regardless of which flavor of Windows suits your fancy or budget, the experience is made even better when complimented by an instant-on, web-enabled, browser-driven environment like Splashtop. And while Splashtop is currently shipping on flagship netbooks like the Lenovo S10-2 (referenced above) and S12, the new designer HP Mini 110 by Studio Tord Boontje, and the super-slick LG X130, we also look forward to sharing details of a new generation of devices from leading PC makers shipping robust new variations of Splashtop to complement the brand new Win7 environment. How will Splashtop fair in the Win7 world? Stay tuned…many more good things to come.