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Bluetooth e-paper device uses modified Windows CE for washable tablet design

A washable computer? Well, it's what you'd want if you were worried about real viruses contaminating it, not just digital ones - and the MedTab computer is designed for medical staff - so it can get bugs like MRSA on it.

"Unlike PDA or Ultra PCs, MedTab offers the screen size and resolution necessary to view and update EMRs (electronic medical records). Unlike Tablet PCs, MedTab is small and light enough to carry in a lab coat pocket," said the manufacturer, Emano Tec.

Sadly, with a price of around $2,000, it's not going to attract buyers outside the specialist medical market that it is aimed at. It's also "locked down" without offering the end user the option of installing, or modifying, software.

The display technology comes from E-Ink corporation. That company yesterday announced that it was "ranked as the third most innovative company in electronics" - based on a Wall Street Journal survey of patent development.

Emano de-cloaked at last week's  HIMSS07 conference and exhibition in New Orleans.

Boston Globe reporter Jeffrey Krasner gave the MedTab device a big plug, quoting Eric Brown, vice president and research director at Forrester Research: "These guys have identified the characteristics that will make their device highly competitive for physicians, particularly those that spend a lot of time with patients. I see MedTab as potentially transcending the individual doctor. It could be something that a hospital would buy as a fleet, as a component of the overall hospital information technology strategy."

As laptops go, its full spec is astonishingly light-weight, being based on the new generation of e-ink display technologies.

 You can download an Acrobat version of the full spec.