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Xiaomi plans to expand sales to 10 new markets, but the US isn't one of them
Looking forward to the day you can buy a Xiaomi smartphone in the US? Keep waiting. The company's founder announced the first ten countries in Xiaomi's international expansion today, and the United States didn't make the cut. A shame, perhaps, for fans of the company's affordable, well-specced handsets, but not much of a surprise -- Xiaomi's aversion to traditional sales and marketing puts it at odds with what American consumers have come to expect. Right now, the company's products are only available in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, but CEO Lei Jun says it will start selling devices in India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and in several east asian countries and emerging markets later this year. The company's also simplifying its image a little, dropping "Xiao" from its webpage URL. The newly christened Mi.com should play well in the new markets: not only does it match the MI branding the company uses on its MI2 and MI3 smartphones, but it's easier to remember, market and -- for international customers -- pronounce.
HP Mini 100 available for online ordering, Vivienne Tam safe and sound
All you crazy kids keepin' an eye on the HP Mini 110 are in for a real treat. The company is now listing the machine as available for ordering on its website, superseding the Mini 1000 (don't worry, fashionistas -- the Vivienne Tam model is still available, at least for the time being). As reported previously, these guys are priced at $279.99 (Mi Edition) or $329.99 (XP Edition), with the 6-cell battery option adding $40 to the price, and an Intel Atom N280 CPU costing an additional $25. And the Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator? Look for it next month. [Via Portable Monkey]
HP unveils Mini 1101, Mini 110 XP / Mi editions with optional HD video accelerator
HP's got more additions to its Mini netbook lineup coming your way with the 1101 and 110 XP / Mi. All three models sport a 10.1-inch widescreen LED, autosync software for easier connectivity to your primary PC, and the standard 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 / 1.66GHz N280 processor options with GMA 950 graphics, VGA output, 3 or 6 cell batteries, and 802.11b/g. The Mini 110 XP edition takes the trend even further with -- and we're sure you're surprised here -- 1GB RAM and 160GB HDD or 32GB SSD, as well as optional WWAN and a Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerator, which HP claims will let you watch 1080p video smoothly -- yeah, we'll believe it when we see it. Those who go with the company's Linux-based pet Mi can bump up to 250GB HDD and 2GB memory. As for the Mini 1101, it looks like it's basically the business-centric 110 with XP and Vista as your OS choices and no apparent video enhancer. As for pricing and availability, the Mini 1101 is coming at ya on June 1st with a base price of $329, while Mini 110 will follow shortly after in black swirl on June 10th, and white swirl / pink chic on July 8th. Those will start at $279 with Mi and $329 if you want Windows XP instead.
HP's exclusive Mobile Internet Ubuntu skin not so exclusive anymore
Crazy kids and their crazy hacks have extracted all the juicy goodness of HP's Mini-purposed Mi software for Ubuntu, including the launcher (pictured), the OS skin, and some application skins, and unleashed it for all Ubuntu users with an eye for black and some hacking skills of their own. From what we can tell, it's not exactly a breeze getting the mod up and running -- and most successful folks still cite a few tweaks they'd like to make -- but it's free, so we won't look a gift theme in the resource files... or something like that. Instructions are in the forum, a bit more inspiration is after the break. [Via Ars Technica]
HP UK spurns Linux in its new netbook offerings
Looks like anyone in the U.K. hoping to buy a new HP netbook with Linux is going to be sorely disappointed. For reasons unspecified, the company's decided not to offer the Mini 1000 or the Mini 2140 with a pre-install of Linux -- standard options for the U.S. versions of both. Current U.K. HP Linux offerings include the 2133, but it's an older model, so the lack of it for the newer models may signal a trend moving forward. HP will apparently offer its Ubuntu-based Mobile Internet Experience as a download, however, so all hope's not dead. Well, you can't always get what you want, can you?
HP's Mini 1000 Mi up for order
That magical "Mi" shell for Ubuntu that HP's built for its new Mini 1000 netbooks is now available for order (as rumored), with configurations starting at $330 for the 9-inch version. Since it's a custom build, it'll take about nine days to ship, but the gift of commercialized open source is forever. If you're still unconvinced, be sure to check out our hands-on look from a few months ago.[Thanks, Devin H.]
