ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Your customers might find good use for a portable scanner-- which is where the Doxie Go self-contained scanner comes in.

The Doxie Go is battery powered (doing 100 scans on a single charge) and carries expandable built-in storage saving up to 600 pages or 2400 photos. It scans at 600dpi resolution, with automatic contrast, rotation and cropping functions.

The company includes Doxie 2.0 software-- allowing users to sync scans online and create searchable pdfs (via ABBYY OCR technology) and multi-page stacks.

It sends scans to PC using USB connection, while an optional iPhone Sync kit sends scans directly to iDevices.

The Doxie Go is already available for pre-order, and should start shipping from November 2011.

Go Doxie Go

Global Acer revenues slide further down-- reaching $3.8BN and crashing by -30% Y-o-Y in Q3 2011 according to its latest financial results, with total quarterly losses totalling -$36M.

Meanwhile consolidated revenues for the first 3 quarters of 2011 decline by -28% to reach $347.2BN.

These are not good times for Acer-- once the biggest PC vendor in EMEA according to Gartner. The analyst now says Acer crashed by -39.3% in the EMEA Q3 2011, holding 13.6% market share (down from 21.7% in Q3 2010) and losing the top spot to HP.

Again, we ask-- What's really going on at Acer?  The fall of Acer coincides with the departure of Gianfranco Lanci, the European CEO who ran the Taiwanese vendor since 2008. Under Lanci, Acer thrived until the general PC industry disruption from the iPad tablet boom. Lanci's resignation was attributed to his disagreement with the Board over strategy and direction. But now it seems you can add "operations" to the list of Acer woes.

Gartner blames Acer for having "poor performance and prolonged inventory clearance" dragging the EMEA PC market down. Such poor inventory management will have a "permanent impact" on Acer, and the competition will only take further advantage.

Acer's decline is actually an exception amongst vendors seeing (at least some) growth, even in a market as troubled as Europe. The company still hopes to make way in tablets-- a market firmly entrenched by the iPad. Most vendors appear to have given up on the tablet dream, putting focus back on getting PCs to increasingly cautious retailers.

This is clearly not the case for Acer, and it will suffer further as a result.

Go Acer Q3 2011 Results

Go Gartner: Q3 2011 EMEA Market Remains Weak

Amped Wireless announces 2 additions to its wifi solution range-- the SR600EX smart repeater and AP600EX access point, which the company claims both boost wifi signal coverage to up to 1.5 miles.

The 2 devices are ideal for both indoor and outdoor use, complete with weatherproof enclosure, 600mW amplifier, high gain directional antenna and included wall mount and pole mounting kit.

The SR600EX repeats signals from a wireless access point or router, and carries a bi-direction antenna and x2 network ports for connecting additional PCs, network switches and other devices.

Meanwhile the AP600EX adds extreme range, high speed wifi access for existing wireless networks with a simple plug-and-play setup for both indoor/outdoor use and building-to-building applications.

Go Amped Wireless SR600EX Smart Repeater

Go Amped Wireless AP600EX Access Point

Sony will soon start shipping the first Playstation-branded 3D Display, a 3D monitor aiming for gaming use with SimulView, a different display take on 2 player gaming.

The 24" active 3D display comes packaged with 1 pair of 3D glasses, an HDMI cable and a copy of the MotorStorm Apocalypse game, and offers Edge LED backlighting, 240Hz refresh rate and an integrated subwoofer.

Inputs includes x2 HDMI 1.4 and component, plus stereo headphone output.

The big feature Sony is pushing is SimulView-- a 2 player function giving each player a full 2D screen while wearing 3D glasses. The feature is excusive for the 3D display, and is currently compatible with the games MotorStorm Apocalypse, Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 3, and Super Stardust HD.

Go Playstation 3D Display