Pepper Pad 3 Draws Hordes at the Sands

Though officially unveiled back in Sept. 2006, the third edition of the portable Pepper Pad is wowing crowds at the Sands this year and appears to be one of the few UMPCs that has drawn any significant attention here at the show.

The Pepper Pad 3 includes a 7-inch touch screen and easy navigation to videos, Web content, games, radio, photos, music, instant messaging and much more. Designed for use primarily as a entertainment device, the unit sports a 20GB HDD, AMD Geode LX800 processor and 256MB of SDRAM. With built-in WiFi, as well as Bluetooth 2.0 and dual IR emitters and receivers, the unit can also be used as a remote access point for home automation systems and a controller for television and stereo equipment.

While much of the buzz at the booth this morning was surrounding the company's unique OS (and its portability to the OLPC unit also on display at the booth), the system is attracting attention from a wide variety of attendees here at the show (as well as throughout the industry) because it is a Linux-based system with significant opportunity for expansion, modding and increased functionality with minimal effort.

For more information, visit www.pepper.com.