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CHERLYNN LOW: We've heard
about Intel's Project

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Athena program for a while now.

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At least since CES.

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And here at Computex, we're
are finally getting a few more

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details about the actual
specifications, as well as

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the timing as to when
the first laptops

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compliant with the
program will be shipping.

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Here at the Intel
Technology Open House,

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we also got a chance to check
out some of these early Athena

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laptops, including
the Lenovo SI 40,

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the HP Envy with
wooden inlay, as

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well as Acer and Dell systems.

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According to the specifications,
Project Athena labs also

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will not only be
really thin and sleek,

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but they'll also
last really long.

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They're supposed to clock at
least nine hours of battery

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life, and up to 16
hours of video playback,

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as well as enable something
called Instant Resume, which

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sounds a lot like a
feature that's already

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available on a lot
of Microsoft devices,

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but really has a
different spin on it.

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Using something
called User Awareness,

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Intel is taking sensor data from
things like a proximity sensor

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to detect if a user is actually
seated in front of the laptop.

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According to Intel, you
can set the actual distance

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requirements, whether it is 50
millimeters or 5 meters away

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from the laptop, and
then set a sort of time

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out program so that when
the proximity sensor notices

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that you're not actually
there, it can dim the screen

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after a certain period
of time, and then

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set the device to go to sleep.

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This way, your laptop is not
up and running while you're

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not actually seated
in front of it,

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and then wasting its battery.

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There's a lot of different
names for this concept

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here at the
Technology Open House.

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It was codenamed Mohawk
River, but that probably

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also refers to a beta--

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or proof of concept--

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that uses a camera to
recognize your face.

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When it notices that there
are no faces in the scene

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for a certain amount
of time, the system

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will set the display
brightness to slowly

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go down to the very, very
dimmest before timing

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out completely.

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Now this is very similar to
what the proximity sensor does,

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except for it's
looking for faces now.

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The reason it's not actually
rolled out to Project Athena

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devices yet is because there
are some kinks that Intel has

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to iron out, especially
for when there are

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multiple faces in the frame.

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Now the proximity sensor also
helps with the instant resume

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feature.

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When it notices
that you're near it,

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it will turn the
computer back on,

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and then immediately use Windows
Hello to recognize your face

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and log you back
into the computer.

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We've heard a lot of different
types of programs that

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want to make laptops
better and Project

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Athena is just one of them.

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But that doesn't mean that
we're completely bored by it.

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In fact, the future of PCs
actually looks pretty promising

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given all of the effort that
chip makers and PC makers

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alike are putting into it.

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So for all of the
most exciting PC news

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there is, stay tuned
to engadget.com.

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