Beautiful Envy Packaging

Since we're taking orders on the new Envy 133 now, we thought it would be a good time to demonstrate the packaging and the contents that come inside the box. Our packaging expert Allison worked with our ID folks to design the Envy 133 presentation box to look somewhat like a Tiffany box. It lifts up like a hat box to reveal a wonderful presentation, including the Envy 133 wrapped in a microfiber polish sleeve.



Notice the top tray as it lifts out, underneath this tray are the other accessories.





So let's go through the accessories, below you will see the Voodoo Aura power connect, which includes two removable cables (just in case your power cable starts to fray after heavy usage - you don't have to replace the entire power supply, just the cable). By the way, when you hook up your Ethernet to the Voodoo Aura power connect the logo lights up to indicate when you have an I.P. address.

You'll also see the Voodoo Presentation Adapter - which is more than just an HDMI to VGA adapter. This little adapter slides into the HDMI port and automatically adjusts the display to support a projector - you don't have to lift a finger! Just plug the projector in on the other end and you're ready to present! Just be careful, too much Powerpoint can kill a person.

Lastly, you'll see our Voodoo ESATA Optical Drive, the cable folds under the device and hides in place.

Below you will see zoomed in shots of the carbon fiber. Although this is an engineering unit in the picture, the logo is NOT red on the actual unit. It's silver and chrome - and no, there are no options to how the logo can look or where it can go. It's always going to be our Voodoo Icon in silver and chrome. I should also mention the logo under the screen will also be in silver, not red.

Here are some zoomed in shots of the actual keyboard. The carbon fiber weave on the palm rest area is much finer than the outside panels. It's more of a micro-hexx design, and it's simply awesome.

The SSD Power Consumption Hoax?

This is an extended version of the article I wrote for the latest edition of Custom PC Magazine in the U.K. Once again, if you're looking for the sexiest PC Hardware Magazine in Europe (and one of the best in the world) you should get his magazine! It's full of the best hardware photography ever, and the quality of the paper is to die for.

Toms Hardware just wrote an interesting article called The SSD Power Consumption Hoax.

While they have some interesting points, I would suggest that there is much more involved with evaluating the potential increase in battery life with Solid State Technology.

A Solid State Drive can affect battery life in two situations: 1) Poor Performance, and 2) High Idle Power.

You cannot estimate the power savings of a solid state drive simply by looking at the hard drive subsystem and then extrapolating based on datasheet power specifications. That methodology does not comprehend the work being performed, and performance impacts energy efficiency. If a solid state drive can complete a workload 2x faster than a hard drive, then the entire platform can enter a power efficient state sooner.

We suspect that one reason that Tom's measured worse solid state battery life than a 7200 RPM HDD is likely that the particular solid state drive performed worse than the 7200 RPM HDD.

If the solid state drive completed the workload later, then the platform consumed more power. It also appears Tom’s chose solid state drives that use FPGAs, and these devices probably have very high idle power.

So bottom line is that power efficiency must comprehend the work being performed (during the power measurement.) A better metric is power per IOs per second. I know of at least one solid state drive that consumes only 60mWatts during idle, and it consumed less than 100mW on average in Mobilemark.

...and uhhh, a mobile hard disk drive consumes between 1 and 1.5 watts during a Mobilemark run.

So, does this mean that Tom's Hardware was right? Perhaps with their specific benchmarks - but even unintentionally, it's a pretty glorified "lets be controversial" slightly narrow view of the world. I'm not going to tear it apart - but it seems the author assumes that all solid state drives are created equal. There is a profound difference in performance and power depending on the product architecture and design. Tom's itself reported up to a 10x span in solid state drive raw performance depending on vendor, so it's interesting that this author assumed they are generic.

To put it in perspective, even if the hard drive were removed entirely, it only represents ~5% of the total battery consumption. So even if we halve the consumption with solid state we'd typically only gain 10 minutes battery life (out of 3 hours). Therefore a solid state can have a slight improvement on battery life. So what's the point of even writing about it? Ugh, wasting my time.

Trust me, this is NOT the end of the story. Stay tuned for later this year when the solid state $@#* hits the fan and spinning disk heads start to roll. There are some new players in town and they are bringing the big guns.

Evy and the Envy: Part Two

Evy had just ordered an Envy and hit me up on Facebook to tell me all about it. After hearing a bit about her life I asked if I could interview her for the Next Bench blog.

..and uhh, she kills anyone at Guitar Hero AND she plays poker. This girl is crazy! Here is part two of the interview.

rs: What is your favorite game?
Evy: The best game ever has to be poker. There's so many different facets to it: you need to have card sense, math skills, game strategy, acting ability, and a psychological understanding of your opponents to be really good at it. It's the ultimate mind-game.

rs: Speaking of mind games, I saw you playing poker with Criss Angel. Did he psych you out or what?
Evy: Magicians kinda creep me out to begin with, so I was a little off my game. I would take a re-match though.

rs: What is your favorite videogame?
Evy: These days I play Rock Band the most, but if I had to pick my favorite game of all-time, it would be Tetris. I like simplicity in videogames. I don't like having to memorize what 10 different buttons and 3 joysticks are supposed to do. I've tried playing Halo, but I would always end up staring at the sky or at my feet. Shooters and RPG's just confuse the **bleep** out of me so much that I get anxiety trying to play them. I wish there were more games that you could play on a controller with 2 buttons and a D-pad. What's amazing about Tetris though is that so little has changed to the game play in more than 20 years, but it's still just as fun and challenging to me now then when I was a kid playing it in the arcade. Tetris doesn't need any fancy graphics to keep people interested; I could play it in black and white or even on a cell phone for hours on end. I've been playing Tetris for about half of my lifetime, yet I'm constantly learning new strategies and techniques and I'm still getting better at it too.

rs: What is your favorite console?
Evy: I have two Xbox 360 Elites. I bought the second one recently because I wanted the Falcon motherboard with the improved 65nm chipset and heatsink. I play on my Xbox so much that I lived in constant fear of getting the Red Ring of Death. I wanted a back-up in case I ever have to send mine in for repair. I keep the old one in my room and I take it on the road with me when I travel. I love the Xbox 360 mostly because of Xbox Live. Online multi-player on XBL is far superior its equivalents on Wii and PS3.

rs: Why the crazy obsession for rhythm games?
Evy: I really love music, and I've always wanted to be some kind of musician or singer, but I was too impatient and lacked the dedication to stick with lessons and practice scales and stuff. Guitar Hero and Rock Band gives you the feeling that you are really playing the music, and since it's a game, it makes practicing wayyyy more fun than it would be on real instruments. I'm also super awesome at rhythm games, so maybe that makes me love them even more.

rs: So, which is it: Guitar Hero or Rock Band?
Evy: I love both games, but they each have their pros and cons to them. For instance, GH is a bit easier because the timing window is more generous than on RB, but the songs on GH are also harder. RB has way more downloadable songs, but I think the notes are charted in a more fun and challenging way on GH. For multiplayer, Rock Band is definitely better, especially if you have friends over to play, but if I was to compare them by Guitar Solo Career alone, I think that GH3 is more fun. The reason I play RB so much more often is because you have a lot more options. The guitar, bass, vocal and drums can all be played as a separate career, as well as in a 2, 3 or 4-part band. Combined with the new download content that is released every week, RB has significantly higher replay value making it a much better game than GH in my opinion. That being said, there are a million annoyances that come with RB. It seems so unnecessary to have to sign in and out of each instrument, and if you're in a band you can't just swap out your guitar for a mic for your character, you have to add a whole new character. All these extra steps really takes away from enjoying the game and just rocking-out, which makes me wonder what the developers were thinking when they designed the multiplayer.

rs: How good are you at Guitar Hero exactly?
Evy: I have yet to finish GH3 on expert, and there are some songs which I doubt I will ever be able to pass, but I would still guess that I am better than 99% of the GH-playing population. I kinda suck at crazy metal and arpeggio-laden tracks, but I'm really good at songs that have strong or intricate rhythmic elements. I'm also a total score-monger, and I try to learn the paths for optimal star-power usage. I'm getting better at metal, but I still need to work on alt-strumming, arpeggios and trills. I've FC'ed (100% full-combo'ed) a dozen songs on GH3, and 25 songs on RB so far.

rs: Seriously? How do we know you’re telling the truth?
Evy: I have some game videos that I screen-captured up on my YouTube page, and I have an upcoming heads-up GH3 competition that PokerNews.com is going to shoot. A friend of mine wants to make a video of me playing Heart Shaped Box on expert without looking at the screen. I can get 97% usually, but I want to practice and see if I can FC it first.

rs: Solved the mystery of the CRTL key yet? What's your theory?
Evy: I've spent way too much time trying to figure out what it means. I've tried coming up with a million acronyms that don't make any sense, and none of them are better or cuter than the one that "ubiks" came up with, 'Cuts Right Through Layercake'. It's definitely not a typo, and I will be admittedly disappointed if it isn't something cool... but so far my experience with the CRTL key is 'Causes Redundant Thinking Lamely'. I can't wait to get my Envy to find out what it really means!

You can find Evelyn Ng playing online poker at Bodoglife.com and poker tournaments around the world.

Evy and the Envy: Part 1

One of the coolest things about what I do is getting to connect with so many fascinating people. This includes, of course, chatting with members of the Next Bench community, but it also means meeting people in a variety of other ways.

Take for example Facebook. Many good looking women from all over the world send me Facebook requests – you know? Alright… Just kidding, I’m sure my wife would have something to say about that.

However, there was one girl who sent me a Facebook recently, her name is Evy, a self-described Voodoo fan.

Evy had just ordered an Envy, and after reading a bit about her remarkable life, I asked if I could interview her for the Next Bench blog. I swore I saw her somewhere before, and I just couldn’t put my finger on it… Until I checked her profile. ..and then I found out she can play Heart Shaped Box in Guitar Hero 2 on EXPERT without looking at the screen AND score 97%.

Here is the first part of the interview where she explains her Envy love and about technology in general.

rs: What's a girl like you doing in Vegas?

Evy: I came to Las Vegas for my 21st birthday, and I pretty much never left. I do travel a lot, but I've lived here for over a decade. I don't really love this town, because I'm spoiled coming from a great city like Toronto. I lived in Santa Monica for a year, but it just wasn't the right fit. Vegas at least suits my lifestyle. Everything is open late or 24/7, the restaurants are fabulous and you can drop a mint easily here with all the great shopping. I love my apartment and my friends here, and as a professional poker player, it just makes sense to live in Lost Wages.

rs: So you're a poker pro? How did that happen?

Evy: I had a misspent youth. I always had an aptitude for all kinds of skill games, and I liked making money, so as a teenager I hung out at the local pool hall hustling private school kids at pool, cards, board games, and even videogames. When I was 17 I took a job as a dealer in an underground poker club. I didn't know anything about poker at the time, so I really paid attention. I would see the same people winning almost every day, so I tried to learn their strategy by remembering what they did in different situations. I'd also try to guess what cards they held or predict what they were going to do next during a hand. I read some poker books, and after about a year of dealing I built up a bankroll to start playing. I was a winner right out of the gate.

rs: When did you first fall in love with all things technology?

Evy: My dad is a bit of a technophile- he has a taste for high quality a/v equipment and gadgets. I think we were the only family in our neighborhood with a LaserDisc machine. He's a watchmaker and he can fix anything. When I would hang out with him in his workshop I would be fascinated with all the tiny little parts and tools he would use. I would take all kinds of things that I thought were interesting, and disassemble them piece by piece, but I wasn't as good as my dad was at putting them back together. After getting yelled at by my mom so many times for destroying various household appliances, I eventually learned not to take things apart, but my fascination and reverence for machines and technology remained.

rs: What phone do you carry?

Evy: I have been a SideKick user since they first came out several years ago. I've had almost every version of it, but I prefer the SK Slide made by Motorola because it's a lot smaller than the Danger models. I have been told by some tech-snobs (Blackberry users mostly) that the SK is "ghetto"... but for internet browsing, text and emailing, it's by far the best phone out that I've ever tried. It's very ergonomic, the keys are not all bunched together and the browser is the only one i know of that automatically formats web pages so that the text and pictures are the right size for viewing. My best friend got me an iPhone the day it came out, and at the time I thought it was "the coolest thing on the planet", but I was wrong. After a few weeks, I got really of tired of pinching and tapping on the screen to zoom in and out, and I absolutely hated the touch-screen keyboard. I have long fingernails, so i had to use the side edge of my fingertips to type, and without any tactile response I would hit the wrong keys all the time unknowingly. The iPhone looks very impressive, but the features that make it look so cool aren't very practical in application. However, like you Rahul, I can't stand voicemail (why not just text?), but the iPhone so-called "Visual Voicemail" was pretty cool that you could go through messages individually... but it's still really Auditory Voicemail.

rs: What portable music device do you have?

Evy: I have a zillion iPods, but I use the iPod Touch the most. It's pretty, the screen is awesome for watching videos and displaying album art, and it has all the cool functions of the iPhone without all the annoyances of having to use it as my phone/texting device.

rs: What are you listening to?

Evy: My musical tastes are extremely varied. I love deep house, classic rock, acid jazz, disco, funk, R&B, old-school hip-hop, some fairly cheesy 80's music, and a lot of other stuff too. The artists that probably get the most plays on my iPod are: Stevie Wonder, Audioslave, Daft Punk, Amy Winehouse, The Strokes, Heart and Jamiroquai. I don't like 99% of the music that has come out in the last 5 years or so, and I don't like any music that has anyone screaming really loudly in it. Oh, and I hate country.

rs: So why are you getting an Envy?

Evy: The Envy is the first computer that I ever got really excited about buying, and I'm actually counting down the days until it's released. The instant-on, touchpad, and the power brick built-in WiFi access point are features completely unique to the Envy, and I'm sure that their competitors will copy them in the future. From a design standpoint, the Envy is simply unparalleled. I've never used the word "sexy" to describe a computer before, but if I had to choose one word to describe the esthetics of the Envy, it's the only word that comes to mind. Aside from the beauty of the machine inside and out, the Voodoo logo is not like your typical name-brand logo plastered onto a product. The meaning behind it (the duality of performance and style, art and technology) is not only something that I really appreciate and admire, but the logo itself looks so cool that it actually adds itself as a design element, actually improving the overall look of the computer. The Voodoo Envy 133 is the coolest thing on the planet.

Watch for Part Two tomorrow when Evy talks about poker proficiency and her crazy-mad Guitar Hero skills.

My Racing Notebook

So I got one of the first pre-production Envy notebooks. We designed it so the external carbon panels can be removed in roughly 20 minutes for paint and personalization. You'll have to excuse the depth of field in these pictures, I was using a 1.2 aperature lens. However, if you want to see much better quality images check out the images over here.

We maintain the inside carbon fiber to add a cool "two-tone" effect to the notebook. The inside carbon fiber is formed from a very fine hex-weave, the closer you look the more you appreciate it.

The nice thing about the black interior is there is no distraction if you have a bright colored notebook and you're staring at the display -one of my biggest complaints with the old Envy.

My Envy is painted in Scuderia Red (same color used on some Ferrari Enzo's). I asked our painter to add a racing stripe in the Italian Flag colors - similar to the Ferrari F360 Stradale. He actually wrapped the stripes all the way around the unit which created a beautiful effect - especially around the hinge area.

We then engraved it with a little personal message, as it's my personal notebook, "Rahul Sood's Racing Edition". You can see the engraving on the underside, it's done with a laser engraver that we recently installed in our factory. We also added the same engraving to the soft carrying pocket that the new Envy ships with.

When your new Envy notebook is closed the color you choose wraps the entire notebook complimenting the smooth spolier-lip line of the black interior - I believe not even a wordsmith can describe the beauty of this notebook. You have to see it in person to truly appreciate it, this notebook is stunning.

I can't wait to whip this out at the security line at the airport...or Starbucks... it's going to be a gong show.

Revolutionary Tech

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly includes a list of what it calls the 25 gadgets and innovations with the biggest effect on pop culture since 1983. The list includes the DVD Player (as number one), Napster (number two), realistic CG characters (number six), and Game Boy (number 20). While I agree with a lot of them, it makes me think about other, more recent, technologies that will surely change the landscape of pop culture.

Now, please excuse me while I give our own product props, but with pure confidence, I can say that the Voodoo Envy has revolutionized the Windows PC notebook. In a few short weeks its design and unique functionality has blown people away – at least based on what we showed. Now we just have to deliver, and believe me deliver we will.

Other revolutionary innovations? The Wii. It absolutely changed the way people game on their consoles. I am also confident that Guitar Hero and Rock Band will revolutionize the music industry by creating a new way to monetize music. PhoneTag, a product I truly couldn’t live without, has definitely revolutionized voicemail. The iPhone of course changed the smart phone industry – no doubt about it. I believe Tag will revolutionize the watch industry with their belt driven Monaco V4, if it ever shows up. ...and the HP Touchsmart IQ500 has revolutionized desktop PCs. Have you seen this thing?

What products would you add to your list?

Okay, so you're a fan...

This, my friends in the blogosphere, is the latest article I wrote for CPU Magazine. It's essentially a follow up of the cakeknife incident that stirred up a major hornets nest amongst the Mac Fan community. Much respect to all of you out there, don't take life so seriously! Anyways, read on...

It was a joke, on my birthday. It’s okay to laugh. . . .

Until recently, I hadn’t felt the wrath of Apple fans since the time we successfully installed Windows on an old pre-Boot Camp iMac. I remember we made Windows work in order to do some performance comparisons and posted it on my blog. I received a ton of comments along with mail from Mac fans, most of whom accused us of making it up, some asking how we did it, and then a month or so later, Apple released Boot Camp.

Before I go much further, I should try and give you some context as to what it’s like being a “youngish” CTO at HP with 20- to 30-something-year-old friends. In 2001, after Apple launched its iPod, I was watching closely to see how the media and the public reacted to a technology that wasn’t entirely new, but that was packaged and marketed in a somewhat revolutionary way.

Shortly after the launch, we witnessed cool companies jumping at the chance to create accessories for the iPod. Burton Snowboards, for example, created an iPod-compatible vest, complete with controls built in below the front pocket. Back then, I knew that Apple was on to something, but getting people to listen was a bit of a struggle. While Apple continued to focus on cool design and customer experience, the iPod started to make inroads as a brand with young people while the rest of the industry was focused on selling volume devices.

In the years that followed, Apple continued to create meaningful experiences and beautiful software, mostly appealing to young people as they continued to build their business on the back of music. It was during this period that the people I hung around with started to buy Apple products for their cool factor, and even though many of my friends own Voodoo products, Apple was their choice for mainstream computing.

Several years later, I find myself working at HP, and as I’ve said before, I love this company. HP understands what the market lacks and is good at meeting those needs, but this becomes increasingly difficult as HP caters to markets on a grand, global scale. We sell millions of systems a month to people from all walks of life. We are managing three brands (Compaq, HP, and Voodoo), a massive number of SKUs, and we are growing at an incredible rate. It’s hard to imagine a company the size of HP growing further, but the fact is we are, and we realize the challenges that are ahead of us.

We are creating beautiful devices that are cool, simple to use, and meaningful. We relaunched Voodoo on June 10th, a process that began with our old Web site beginning to burn down on June 6th. We are even working on our own internal software to make the overall experience better.

Anyway, back to my friends. I have friends from many backgrounds, but the common thread we all share is our love of technology. I take constant ribbing over the Mac vs. PC debate, but I like to think that I have a good sense of humor. We all enjoy the Apple ads with the young, hip Mac guy and the stiff, middle-aged PC guy.

So for my birthday, I went to my friend Jeff’s house for a party with some friends. They surprised me with a cake, and when Jamie from PhoneTag jokingly handed me a MacBook Air as a gift, I immediately cut the cake with it. Everyone was in hysterics, and really, it was just a joke. I can build notebooks in my sleep; I assure you no Macs were harmed in the taking of the photo.

Well, Jamie posted it on his blog, and I wrote an explanation on mine, and all of the sudden it was everywhere. Mac fans were going crazy; I received more than 150 messages from various mediums in a period of two hours. Many recognized the joke, while others were simply unreasonable.

Why is it that some people can poke fun at PC and Windows users all the time, yet when someone makes a simple joke by cutting a cake with a fairly sharp lookin' product, he gets blasted by a bunch of angry fans? Whatever the answer is, I applaud Apple for successfully maintaining a fan base—it’s no easy task—and I humbly suggest to Apple fans that it’s OK to laugh at yourself once in a while.

Check out the latest CPU Magazine at www.cpumag.com.

Technology Zen

The Omen is featured in today’s Wired Gadget Lab in an article on monolithic gadget designs. The writer includes Omen in a list of five gadgets that he says “eschew external frills for elegance and timeless appeal. Technology Zen, if you will.”

I don’t think we could be happier with a descriptor like this. Since the birth of the brand, we’ve been adamant about stunning, clean, timeless design, and based on the reviews we’ve seen over the last week, Omen and Envy are both being recognized as such.

One point: the article goes on to call the Omen a “high-end, overclockable gaming machine.” This isn’t the first article I’ve seen referring to the Omen in this way. True, the Omen can push limits in gaming, but I’d hate for it to be primarily labelled as a gaming machine.

Unlike our HP with Voodoo DNA line, which features PCs that have been designed primarily for gaming, the Omen and the Envy have been conceived to bring the Voodoo brand to those beyond the gaming community.

When we first launched this community site I referred to the duality of the Voodoo brand—the light and the dark sides of the mask in our logo, which represent the gaming side and the performance computing side. There will always be consistent elements in everything we produce—style, performance, detail, excellence—but not everything coming out of our labs has the same purpose.

Complaints, Planes and Automobiles

It’s good to be home. To say that I’ve been on the road a lot lately would be a huge understatement.

With a job like mine I get to travel to some pretty cool places, so please don’t think that I’m officially complaining, but when it comes right down to it there’s no place like home.

That’s not to say I never get the travel bug when I’m home. As you may know, I’m the kind of guy who likes to have my cake and eat it too.

The good news is when I do get the urge to hit a racetrack or fly in a 747, I do it, thanks to some kick ass simulators I’ve set up in my house.

I installed the flight simulator as a bit of a test of my own mettle. Flying isn’t exactly one of my favourite things to do. I wouldn’t call it fear as much as I’d call it hate.

No, I’d call it fear. Seriously, I hate flying.

So, to get over my own worry that some pilot will choose the bit-too-warm fish sandwich and keel over during a trans-Atlantic flight, I’ve installed an uber-realistic flight simulator in my home. I can fly anything from a Lear Jet, a Helicopter, or even a Jumbo Passenger Jet. So I guess you could say that I’m fairly confident with some coaching from a co-pilot or ground control I could safely land a 747.

Driving is an entirely different story. I could insert any number of car analogy here, Greg, but let’s just say that for me it’s pure pleasure and pure adrenaline. So, to complement my flight sim, I’ve got a loaded racing simulator, which includes a full racing seat, pedals and steering wheel.

My race sim of choice is R-Factor, which I used to practice for the Ferrari Challenge at one of the best race tracks in the world, located in Mt. Tremblant, near Montreal. The Ferrari Challenge was a truly amazing two day experience where we had the opportunity to tear up brand new Ferraris – some with as little as 30 miles on the odometer – including four F430 Scuderias!

By practicing at home first I figure that my lap times and learning curve came down significantly. It’s amazing how real R-Factor is – and the tracks are very close to reality.

If you’re a racing enthusiast and can get your hands on a racing simulator I definitely recommend it (we do sell the complete kits by the way, I think around $15,000 will get you up and running with an amazing setup). …And uhhh, if you’re scared of flying – I do recommend a flight simulator, it really helps with all the weird noises, bumps, and all the other nerve-racking stuff that happens in the air – at least you know what’s going on.

A New Blackbird Has Landed

The last seven days have been a roller coaster ride for us in the Voodoo Business Unit, and this week is ramping up to be another exciting one.

Last week, we not only launched Omen and Envy into the world, we also put the HP Blackbird 002 onto store shelves for the first time since launching in September. To top that off, the Blackbird made its debut at an MLG event over the weekend.

Now, we’ve got a new announcement around Blackbird, sure to cause some buzz in the gaming community. Today, we’re taking orders for the latest and greatest Blackbird: the Exhilaration Edition. If I may be so bold, this machine kicks ass. Decked out with new components, this Blackbird features a configuration that hasn’t been seen before. I’m so stoked about it that I’m personally signing every single one that’s built. Based on the excitement over the other announcements we’ve made this week, I could be in for a case of carpal tunnel.

Check out the specs for the Exhilaration Edition.

That Voodoo That We Do...

For years, working at Voodoo has been one of my greatest passions. Ever since 1991 I can rarely remember a day when I didn’t look forward to waking up in the morning so I could get to work. After HP acquired Voodoo my personal love for this brand has only increased in magnitude.

So you probably noticed the Voodoo website burning down over the last few days, and today it’s either refreshed (or about to be refreshed). The new website marks the launch of the new Voodoo portfolio and an exciting new chapter in HP’s history. This has to be the most exciting day of my career at HP – even though there have been other special moments, like the Blackbird launch, the acquisition, all the events, etc – today is the highlight.

For years Voodoo has been treading the thin line between “Luxury/Bespoke” computing and “Gaming”. We have calmly walked that line – while also balancing our marketing messaging between sophistication and gaming with plans to clarify our direction as we folded into HP.

That said, here’s the story:

I recently wrote an article about Audi’s acquisition of Lamborghini. The purpose of this article was to illustrate the dramatic effect that Audi had on Lamborghini and visa-versa.

In 1997, Lamborghini shipped roughly 200 cars a year worldwide. The cars were beautiful, exotic, and high performing. The only thing Lamborghini seemed to lack was consistent engineering and quality control, and rightfully so – each car was hand-built and the small scale production did not allow for the same core engineering quality control Audi enjoyed.

Ten years later (the equivalent of two years in the computer industry), Lamborghini now ships over 2500 cars annually. The cars are every bit as aggressive as before, but the quality is a thousand times better.

New Audi cars are more beautiful – look at the TT and the R8. Audi and Lamborghini clearly share important DNA, and to us this is the key to a successful strategy.

Since the beginning of the HP – Voodoo acquisition we have been crystal clear about our strategy. Leaving no questions on the table, the press and analysts really believed in our plans, and they continue to support us. I guess the real reason they support us is because we haven’t said anything that doesn’t make sense. We have slowly been clearing the way for a successful future, and now it’s time to expand on it.

Since the acquisition, we have focused on one product. HP Blackbird 002 with VoodooDNA is easily the most exciting high performance gaming PC ever. Even though it was launched in September of 2007, it is still a product beyond compare. This speaks volumes to the level of engineering and innovation that we put into the Blackbird, and to our ongoing commitment to excellence.

HP Blackbird 002 with VoodooDNA has earned many editors’ choice awards, innovation awards, and design awards. Simply put, it continues to wow the critics. And due to the overwhelming success and the halo effect that it has had on the HP brand, HP management has encouraged us to continue to develop products branded “HP with VoodooDNA”.

HP management also wants us to improve Voodoo the way Lamborghini did from 1997 to 2008, so we are refreshing the entire Voodoo portfolio with HP engineering and quality control while also expanding our levels of personalization and customization. This is a huge deal for us as it allows us to build the coolest personal computers ever.

So we’re creating two sets of products under two different brands, “Voodoo”, and “HP with VoodooDNA”. In order to successfully create both lines and remain relevant we decided to create two different distinct design languages, targeting somewhat distinct customers.

Like a brooding muscle car that snarls and spits as you shift through the gears, “HP with VoodooDNA” will continue to smash performance and innovation limits. The HP with VoodooDNA portfolio will feature aggressive lines, futuristic design, incredible engineering and kick-ass performance. As you have witnessed with our first product, HP with VoodooDNA will continue to be designed primarily for gamers.

Of course you don’t have to be a gamer to buy one as we all know Blackbird is capable of so much more. By using VoodooDNA on our HP machines we are committed to ensuring that they meet Voodoo’s insane attention to detail and performance denominator.

While we parallel “HP with VoodooDNA” with muscle cars, the “Voodoo” portfolio falls into a more “exotic car” category. Featuring simple, clean lines, high quality materials, deep personalization, and of course incredible performance, Voodoo is where high technology and art fuse together. Over the last eighteen months we expanded our Calgary facility, enlarged the team and added two additional high end paint booths and a new fantastic laser etching machine. The new Voodoo portfolio continues to be designed for customers who want something stylish, different, and ultra personal.

You’ll notice our new website is completely different. It’s simple, modern, and currently features two products. The new Voodoo ENVY, and the new Voodoo OMEN. You will also find a new unified community called “The Next Bench”, and links to our HP with VoodooDNA portfolio which currently includes HP Blackbird with VoodooDNA.

Also, subtle but interesting, there is a dark side and a light side to the Voodoo logo. The dark side represents the aggressive, almost reckless side of Voodoo. The dark side is our gaming side – the VoodooDNA side.

The light side represents the clean, elegant, stylish, and personal side of Voodoo – the new Voodoo. The common denominator is performance, quality, and innovation.



While there are so many cool little features of the new ENVY such as the amazing out of box experience and the personalization options – I am going to focus on a few of the stand-out features.

.70 inch thin
This is the thinnest notebook we have ever created. Thanks to our fantastic R&D team, and major support from Intel’s innovation group we were able to shrink the platform to fit in an extremely thin form factor. You might even say at a consistent .70 inches thin, this is arguably the thinnest notebook on the market.

Carbon Fiber chassis with beautiful Carbon Fiber weave
By using rigid Carbon Fiber we were able to design in a removable battery without sacrificing build quality. This notebook exudes quality, with extreme HP engineering through and through.

Voodoo IOS Quick Boot System
When you first press the power switch on most personal computers you typically wait as the BIOS loads, the memory count goes by, and the system proceeds to tell you hardware information before you get to the OS. This is the difference with the new Voodoo ENVY: When you enable the Voodoo IOS, you are immediately greeted with a menu when you press the power button! As we mentioned at our launch HP is placing a big emphasis on our own software solutions. We designed the look and feel for the new Voodoo IOS to be simple to use and easy to manage.

How it works: Envy customers can choose to boot into an optimized Windows Vista, and Voodoo IOS includes a Linux operating system which takes seconds to load. So if you’re at the airport and you simply want to browse the web using an optimized version of Firefox, chat with your friends on Skype, instant messaging using Pigeon (an instant messaging client which allows for MSN, GTalk, Yahoo, and more), view photos or listen to music – you can do all of this without the need to boot into Windows.

13.3” Ultra Bright LED Backlit display with mega hinge
This is the thinnest, brightest display we have ever used on a notebook. We also included a tiny ambient light sensor because we know it’s all in the details. The ambient light sensor allows the display to automatically adjust brightness unless the user overrides it. The hinge is tough and smooth – and allows for a smooth closing and opening action like you would expect from a high end device like the Voodoo Envy.

Voodoo Aura PowerConnect with Ethernet Port
The notebook is so thin that we simply cannot build in an Ethernet port in the chassis. Rather than using a non-standard cable or dongle that you’ll likely leave at home when you go on a last minute trip, Voodoo opted to include the Ethernet port in the power brick! You never forget your power brick at home. Even better, the cables on the power brick are totally removable, so if you find over time they’re wearing down, rather than buying an entirely new brick you can simply replace the cables.

High quality tactile keyboard with auto backlight feature
If you’re like me you’ll remember the old school keyboards from the early 90’s where they delivered the best tactile motion when typing. Our engineers did some serious soul searching when they developed this keyboard which also features an auto-backlight. How does that work? Simply put, when you place both hands over the keyboard to type the entire keyboard illuminates.

Extra large integrated carbon fiber touchpad with multi-touch and auto-toggle
This touch pad is awesome. It’s extra large so you can use different parts of the surface for scrolling and various motions. Typically a large touch pad like this could get in the way of your typing causing the cursor to jump across the screen. The cool thing about this touchpad is once you start typing with both hands it disables itself! Remove one so you can type and navigate, and the touchpad re-enables itself.

Intel Core2 Duo Processor with low voltage platform
As mentioned above, the good people at Intel figured out a way to shrink their incredible platform into a tiny form factor. Thus the Voodoo Envy was born over a year ago – however we did not launch until now due to the added engineering HP applied to the platform.

HDMI Port with pocket presentation adapter
The new Voodoo Envy is so thin that we simply couldn’t put a VGA adapter on the system. We chose HDMI as it offers both audio and video out to all new HD TVs and many new monitors. We also included a tiny HDMI to VGA adapter with a built in IC that makes the system “think” it’s hooked up to a secondary display the second you hook it up. So as soon as you plug in this adapter your Envy automatically adjusts the resolution for any external projector – it’s perfect for presentations! You no longer have to fumble around with the video settings when you’re doing a presentation – you can have confidence that we’ve done all the work for you ahead of time.

Full Screen Video Conferencing with Dolby audio
The new Voodoo Envy features a low light full screen video conferencing camera with special microphone. Thanks to some special audio tweaking you can now use Skype without a headset, and it sounds and looks amazing.

Believe it or not, the sound on this notebook is fantastic. Even though it’s tiny, we have optimized the codec to deliver clean crisp audio.

Dual USB with ESATA+USB Combo
Another cool HP innovation is the all in one ESATA+USB combo port. This port allows us to hook up an ESATA hard drive or optical drive while borrowing the power from the USB. This means you only have a single cable going to the device, with no extra power adapter necessary.

ESATA Ultra Thin Slot Load DVD + CD Burner
We have all seen USB optical drives, but the performance just isn’t that great. Our drive is different; it uses SATA technology thereby delivering some of the fastest throughput of any optical drive on the market. This allows for fast downloads and installation of your software. When you’re finished using it the cable tucks neatly away into the base of the drive making it simple to store in your bag.

New Omen


As much as we’re proud of the new Voodoo Envy, we are equally pleased of the Omen. If you’ve followed the innovative history of the original Voodoo Omen you would know that this system has won every major award in the industry. The unique monolithic structure of the Omen clearly represents the pinnacle of high performance computing. Omen’s feature set promises to completely alter the perception of what a premium performance machine can be:

Classic Voodoo Style
The clean lines and square edges of the Omen set the standard for the sophisticated look that will define all Voodoo-branded devices. The all-aluminum extrusion chassis gives the Omen a classy aura of sophistication and adds to its durability and cooling capabilities.

Quick-release Liquid Cooling
As always, we’re ensuring that the machine is always cool under pressure. Aircraft-quality quick release cooling pipes instantly seal coolant, allowing for painless removal and upgrades of components. And unlike any other system in the industry, brass cooling pipes are built directly into the aluminum Omen chassis – reducing interior clutter and improving air flow.

Convection Thermals
The Omen represents one of the first desktop systems to turn the motherboard 180 degrees to allow air to flow from bottom to top. This innovative approach to thermals makes the Omen the quietest high-performance system available. It’s also one of the first systems to feature quad radiators for maximum cooling and performance with impressively quiet acoustics.

Naturally, the above is just a taste of Omen’s capabilities. You really need to see it to believe it, so perhaps a video of us showing it off is fitting.

In any case, it’s 3:34AM here in Berlin… I cannot go on much longer as I have to be up in the morning to do our presentation on the main stage. On behalf of our entire team at HP’s Voodoo Business Unit, we invite you to enjoy the new Voodoo! Oh, and don't forget to check out our new Next Bench Community! Hosted by Greg Vederman and yours truly, we will feature daily blogs, videos, and an awesome forum for you and your friends to share ideas and information!

The Smoke is Clearing...

Great news folks! All that is left is smoke, and the smoke is about to clear. Stay tuned for more!

Good news, the fire is almost out...

The Internet Firefighters have been hard at work extinguising the flames at the Voodoo website. We hope the fire will be over soon so we can assess the situation!

Fire!!!

The Voodoo website is on fire! Firefighters are on the scene working on the blaze...

Audi & Lamborghini...

I haven’t really had time to update the site lately as I have been on a whirlwind travel schedule. Between getting my wisdom teeth removed I have also found myself in Atlanta, NYC, DC, and Toronto. Next week I’ll be in Montreal, and then Seattle – and finally San Francisco, and San Diego before heading back to Calgary. Then Europe… ahh yes, my life isn’t getting any easier, but I don’t expect you to feel sorry for me.

I wrote this article for Custom PC Magazine in the U.K and thought I would include it on the blog.

In this industry there are quite a few of us who appreciate cars. I appreciate them so much that we built a strategy around a direct parallel in the car industry. In 1997 Audi acquired Lamborghini. Back then Audi cars had some of the coolest ground breaking technologies in them including the highly regarded Quattro all wheel drive system. Although the design of Audi vehicles was somewhat “boxy”, they were incredibly good - and more importantly they had unique innovations that Mercedes or BMW did not. Audi made quality cars packed with incredible innovations, and I think if there was one thing that was obvious it was that their style was somewhat conservative.

In 1997 Lamborghini shipped a little over 200 vehicles for the year. Their cars featured aggressive design, no compromise service, and great performance, but the quality was somewhat inconsistent. Believe me I know, imagine getting stuck inside the car with no way to open the door. Yes, it’s true, the cars had many problems, not least of which was the fact that the door latch would get stuck – and in the event of a vehicle fire you were basically screwed. So you would end up dropping well over a hundred G’s on a car and sometimes you would catch yourself in a very embarrassing situation. That was over ten years ago, mind, and a lot has changed since then.

Since the acquisition of Lamborghini, Audi invested a great deal of resources into the company to get them moving in a positive with profitable growth direction. Not only are new Lamborghini cars such as the Gallardo and Murcielago amazing, but they leverage innovations from Audi such as the Quattro AWD system. All Lamborghini’s now feature all wheel drive! The quality of their cars has never been better – if you ask anyone now with a Lamborghini what they hate most about the car it’s likely the attention they get from driving it around (and we know how much they really love the attention).

2007 Lamborghini Murcielago

On the flipside, Audi has completely changed their outlook. Their designs are more aggressive, and their vehicles continue to raise the bars of innovation and engineering. Take for example the Audi R8, one of the best cars ever released by any car manufacturer. Audi has certainly come a long way – and while ten years ago they struggled to position themselves as an alternative to BMW or Mercedes, they have now put themselves ahead of both companies in many aspects.

2008 Audi R8

I always tend to borrow analogies from the car industry to get people to understand parallels between what they’re doing to what we’re doing. It also sets an attainable vision for all of us to consider as we go forward.

Pay attention to this blog, because soon we’ll have a huge announcement. We look forward to sharing it with all of you!

Games for your Mom...

I wrote this article for the latest issue of CPU Magazine just after we returned from GDC. Check out the latest issue over here!

Last month in this space, I wrote about my own confusion surrounding Games for Windows. We had a meeting with Microsoft at GDC, and while they still face challenges, it does seem that they are dedicated to making good on their initiative based on what they said at the meeting. Whatever it is that Microsoft is trying to do, we’re all in agreement that the PC Gaming experience needs to be improved.

Speaking of improving PC Gaming, a group of us had an interesting meeting with the WildTangent team during GDC. As many CPU readers know, Alex St. John, the widely known “father” of DirectX, is the CEO of WildTangent and also a regular CPU columnist. I have always liked Steam’s approach to digital downloads, and their DRM system is pretty well managed. I always have thought that Gabe Newell is a genius, and when I heard that Alex St. John felt he had a good alternative to Steam, my interest piqued.

I always thought WildTangent was about making games easier for my mom to play, and as much as I like looking at Bejeweled, I can’t see myself playing it until my 50th birthday.

Well, surprise, surprise, Alex’s team has been working on a really cool core gamer module that will allow you to play AAA gaming titles (think Company of Heroes or Call of Duty 4) free with ads or on a pay-as-you-go basis. You can even choose to buy the game outright if you’d like and have it downloaded directly to your PC so you can start playing immediately.

The way it works is simple: You log in to your game software and, using a standard gamepad or mouse, you choose a game from a list of titles. If the game is already installed, you may choose to play it. Otherwise, you can cue it up for a download to play later.

Sounds a lot like Steam, right? Not quite. The cool thing about this software is you don’t have to buy the game in order to play it. You can choose to either watch an ad from a sponsor (if there is currently a sponsor) or pop a few virtual WildCoins in to play. WildCoins are the currency WildTangent developed to facilitate its pay-for-play system on casual games, and now they’re alluring to hardcore gamers, as well.

Another way to look at this is you no longer have to worry about spending $50 on a game that sucks; you can play it for $1.50 until you close the application. Or if you prefer not to spend any money you can choose to watch an ad for a particular sponsoring product prior to playing and then play. For those of you who prefer to buy the game outright, WildTangent also gives you the option just to buy it and download it to your hard drive.

So it’s cool to see dedication like this in the PC space, and it gives me big hope for the future—a future where PC gaming should be as easy as consoles, yet deliver the richness you can only get on a PC. That said, the more we try to port console content to the PC, the greater chance we have of killing the creativeness of developers.

Now, who was it who said that PC gaming is dying again? Make no mistake: PC gaming is growing. It grew last year and the only thing that’s changing is the distribution model. WildTangent is definitely doing some wild things, and as long as the gaming experience on the PC gets easier, I’m all for it.

This brings me to the PCGA (PC Gaming Alliance) announcement at GDC. I was representing HP for our PCGA “go or no-go” decision, and since the announcement, people have been asking why we chose not to become a founding member.

While we believe it’s important to make PC gaming easier, we don’t believe that PC gaming is in trouble, and perhaps once we work out our own plans in the performance PC space, we’ll revisit this initiative. For the moment, I’m still enthusiastic about the future.

Interview with Notebookreviews.com

I recently answered some pointed questions for the fine people at NotebookReviews.com. This site is a fantastic resource for those looking for information on new notebooks and notebook technology.

Check out the interview with yours truly by Perry Longinotti over here.

by Perry Longinotti

What happens when you combine a PC gamer, a brilliant entrepreneur, and HP's industry muscle? You get Rahul Sood, one of the biggest names in the world of PC gaming and now the man raising HP to new levels in the world of luxury and gaming computers.

Rahul Sood is the chief technology officer of the HP Voodoo Business Unit (VBU), part of HP 's emerging businesses group. Sood oversees the technical strategy and product vision for Voodoo's cutting-edge products, including the Voodoo Omen and Envy product lines, the award-winning HP Blackbird 002 and other products with the "Voodoo DNA" brand.

Sood joined HP in November 2006 after it acquired VoodooPC, a gaming computer company he founded in 1991. As founder and CTO of VoodooPC, Sood was the first to bring liquid cooling and active liquid chilling to the high-performance gaming PC market. These innovations helped VoodooPC's Omen desktop earn the coveted Ziff Davis Editors' Choice award in the Ultimate Gaming Machine competition for five years in a row.

Since joining HP, Sood was instrumental in the design and architecture of HP Blackbird 002, the VBU's flagship product.

NotebookReview.com contributor Perry Longinotti spent some time asking Sood some serious questions about notebook gaming, Voodoo, and HP's plans for the future. Here are a few highlights:

Two segments of the notebook market that seem to be generating a lot of interest right now are Gaming Notebooks and Ultra Mobile PCs.

Let's start with Gaming Notebooks first as that is a VoodooPC forte:

I had a chance to interview Ravi a couple of years ago during a factory tour article - this was before the HP acquisition. At that time, he mentioned that Voodoo was pursuing its own notebook chassis design. Can you update us on that?

Yes. One of the biggest hurdles we faced in the past was getting the ODMs to take us seriously based on our volume commitment, distribution channel, and market size. Even though almost all of them were familiar with the Voodoo brand and believed in us, they couldn't get past the other issues. So this is simply another reason why we merged with HP.

It's amazing how quickly things have changed since. People are calling on us to introduce us to new technologies on a daily basis. ODMs are no longer asking a billion questions, they are excited to work with us, and we now have a team based in Taiwan working for the Voodoo Business Unit (VBU). It seems that everyone is stoked about our future.

Several folks in the NBR forums asked questions along similar lines, how does Voodoo deal with the perception from some people that your notebooks are simply re-branded Clevos? On the desktop side you can point to extensive in-house fabrication as the differentiator, it must be a lot tougher on the notebook side.

Well, for the most part your community is right. How can I argue that? The notebook business, especially in the channel, is bloody challenging.

Prior to the acquisition Voodoo always did our best to differentiate our notebooks by modifying thermals, software, and adding different levels of personalization. In fact, we were the first to offer gaming notebooks with custom high quality automotive paint jobs. Then others came into the market and the space became very competitive and extremely stale. Let's face it; there are only so many ways you can paint a product before you ask yourself what the heck you're doing in the business.

Joining HP has taught us a ton about notebook development. The mainstream notebooks that HP have created feature some cool long lasting imprint designs, quality finishes, and quickplay innovations. Although Clevo notebooks look appealing from a feature set standpoint, from a reliability and engineering standpoint you just cannot compare them to any of the tier 1 companies.

There is a significant difference in engineering and testing that goes into HP notebooks. It's somewhat unreal to me, the development cycle tries our patience, but the results speak for themselves. The bottom line is we are in the business of selling notebooks, not hand grenades.

Comparing Voodoo pre acquisition to today is like comparing a Lamborghini from the early years to the ones of today. Audi brought in significant R&D and engineering resources to Lamborghini allowing them to create some of the best cars they have ever created including the Gallardo and Murcielago. On the flipside Lamborghini brought in some style and edge which allowed Audi to create the new award winning R8 (car of the year in Robb Report Magazines).

What's my point? Tell your community to stay tuned. We're working on some obvious holes in our portfolio.

Are there any plans to develop Voodoo notebooks using existing HP chassis as a starting point rather than more commonly available ODM units?

That's a great question. The 20" HP HDX consumer notebook (aka the Dragon) is an incredible system for gaming, yet we haven't gone ahead and used the same chassis. The fact is HP has afforded us the resources and time to dream up the ultimate portfolio which will be authentic to the Voodoo brand.

We also renamed our business unit from "The Gaming Business Unit" to "The Voodoo Business Unit". This quiet announcement, while seemingly small, has profound implications on our charter.

Mainstream notebooks makers seem to be targeting gaming-capable notebooks as a growth category with some offering high end features such as Nvidia 8800m GPUs at the $1200 price point. How does this trend affect Voodoo's pricing strategy?

In the past Voodoo branded products have never put price ahead of everything else, however "customer value" continues to be (and always has been) very important to the team. I'll say it again, value is huge, and without it we'd be nowhere today. That said, the definition of a good value always changes, and if you don't spent time to revisit it over and over again you'll never be successful at this business.

HP scale has made it possible for us to ensure that we can deliver a killer value in our systems. For example, if you compare a high end Blackbird 002 with our competition, there is no comparison. Blackbird is built better, engineered better, and includes a much better out of box experience -- and you absolutely get what you pay for. You can assume that as we fill out our portfolio we'll keep this in mind.

Why does Voodoo use AMD processors in high end notebooks when Intel products perform better?

Indeed Intel processors currently perform better in most instances. However, HP is agnostic; we offer both AMD and Intel processors in many of our machines including those that fall under the Voodoo Business Unit. That said, as we move forward into our own "grounds up" designs, you can rest assured that we'll use nothing but the best technology in our flagship devices.

On the subject of Ultra Mobile PCs:

Andrew asks: What are your thoughts on this new push for budget $300 / $400 laptops such as the Asus Eee PC and Everex Cloudbook? We know that HP is planning to enter this segment; will Voodoo bring a high end companion device to market?

Though I cannot discuss future HP product possibilities, I do think the ultra mobile is an interesting space. We are actively pursuing new attractive markets in our business unit.

Some general questions: