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

"There's a lot yet to come," Microsoft Windows unit CFO Tami Reller tells Reuters-- the company hopes for a boost in Windows 8 sales after a "solid" start as more W8 devices from Acer and HP should hit the market.

Reller continues "over the next couple of selling seasons we'll have [touch laptops and convertibles] across all form factors and all price ranges."

Microsoft says Windows 8 device sales were not hit by consumer preference to the alternatives (as in iPads or Android devices) or the current negative market outlook. Instead the company blames a limited device volume due to a constrained touchscreen component supply.

Mind, the Surface tablet still has to set the market on fire-- IDC estimates Q4 2012 Surface shipments total just 900000 (compared to 22.9 million iPads in the same period), even if the more business-friendly Surface Pro only launches this week.

The "little brother" of the Raspberry Pi micro-PC family, the Model A, is now available in Europe-- ideal for customers wanting the credit card-sized computer at an even lower price.

Just like its popular Model B brother, the Model A board carries a 700MHz ARM-based Broadcom CPU, but has just 1 USB port, 256GB of RAM and lacks an ethernet connector. It also cheaper ($25, down from $35) and uses even less power than the Model B.

"It’s what we said we’d do all along, and we can’t wait to see what you do with it," Raspberry Pi Foundation community manager Liz Upton says.

Model B Pi sales total 1 million since launch in February 2012. The bare-bones PC found use in a wide variety of projects-- one even got to reach an altitude of 40km attached to a high-altitude ballooon! That, or simply install XBMC on one for a cheap-as-chips HTPC solution...

Go Raspberry Pi Model A for Sale in Europe

Customers complaining about all the man hours they waste cleaning smartphones and tablets? No more-- Japan's Takara Tomy has an adorable mechanised solution with the "AutoMee S."

Looking like a palm-sized Roomba robot, the AutoMee S trundles on 5 tires (3 for maneuvers, 2 for cleaning) over devices, with sensors making sure the little robot does not fall off the edges while performing its duties.

Takara Tomy says the robot takes 4 minutes to clean a smartphone and 8 minutes for a tablet, and it even makes a "cute" sound once finished. Too bad the company denies responsbilities for potential damages to devices or their software...

The AutoMee S will be available in Japan from March 2013, with no mention of an international launch. No lie, we kind of want one.

Go AutoMee S

The Arctic MC001 PC gets an update-- the MC001-XBMC, a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) created in partnership with XMBC developers OpenELEC.

As a result the MC001-XBMC carries the latest version of the XBMC platform, 12.0 aka "Frodo".

It carries a dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom CPU, ATI Radeon HD 5430 graphics, 2GB RAM, 1TB HDD and supports AirPlay and DLNA streaming. Connectivity includes wifi and ethernet together with VGA, SPDIF, HDMI, USB and 3.5mm audio.

Control comes through either bundled IR remote or Android/iOS device apps, and OpenELEC 3.0 allows TV tuner and PVR functionality. A variety of add-ons also extend features to internet radio, online video and music-on-demand services.

Go Arctic MC001-XBMC