Saving space and souping up mobile storage were among the top priorities as hardware vendors offered sneak peeks at their summer wares. At the Digital Experience mini-trade show here last week, IBM showed off its new compact desktop computer that is due to be announced next week. Sans a monitor and keyboard, the ThinkCentre S50 Ultra Small is about the size of the Manhattan Yellow Pages, said IBM officials in Somers, N.Y. Like the S50 Small, the S50 Ultra Small opens like a briefcase for easy access to parts. The S50 Ultra Small should be available to the public in July.
Others touting diminutive offerings included PalmOne Inc., which introduced a Bluetooth-compatible GPS (Global Positioning System) device for its Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 handhelds. The device, priced at $299, is small enough to fit inside a pocket or on the dashboard of a car. It comes bundled with GPS software from TomTom Inc., of Concord, Mass., that provides two-dimensional and three-dimensional maps of the United States and Canada. The device will be available June 11, said PalmOne officials in Milpitas, Calif.