tablets

Does it still make sense to buy a laptop?

Last summer I asked if it still made sense to buy a desktop PC.

After all, laptops are cheap, portable, and powerful enough for most computing tasks. The folks who need desktops are those diminishing few who play graphics-intensive games and work on photos, videos, CAD stuff, and the like.

In the eight months or so since I posed that question, tablets have taken over the world. Apple unveiled three iPad models in the span of about six months. Amazon and Barnes & Noble introduced bigger and more-powerful Kindles and Nooks. Google gave us the Nexus 10. And Microsoft jumped … Read more

The killer iOS 7 feature the iPad needs: Touch-pad support

It took using the Microsoft Surface Pro to make me remember an article I wrote a year ago, about productivity on an iPad.

I love using the iPad. I also love some of its keyboard accessories. As a product, it's superior to a Surface Pro. But that doesn't mean it's the perfect laptop replacement. And that's still, in my opinion, largely because of one little touch pad. Or, a lack of it.

The iPad never claimed it was a laptop replacement. It stands in its own, hard-to-define "post-PC" territory. Yet, accessories have sprung up … Read more

Brilliant toilet paper ad shows true limits of technology

The paperless society is upon us. It has us enthralled by its shiny lights and geometric screens. Whenever we look at paper, we see it with a vague nostalgia, marveling at our retrograde nature for ever having trusted it.

But then along comes this profound ad for French toilet paper brand, Le Trefle.

It asks us first to consider how annoying it can be to live with one of those people who believes that every gadget represents a better future.

It asks us if we could tolerate living with a man who insists that he and his tablets are somehow … Read more

Razer Edge Pro tablet pre-orders shut down due to high demand

Demand for the Razer Edge Pro has already managed to exceed supply, forcing its manufacturer to curtail its pre-order program.

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan broke the news this week via the company's Facebook page:

We've had to stop taking pre-orders for the Razer Edge Pro as the pre-orders have gone beyond our forseeable manufacturing capacity (i.e. all stock is sold out for the months to come). We're doing all we can to get manufacturing lines up and running so please bear with us.

We're doing everything we can to get more units out in the … Read more

How Microsoft's Surface tablet was born

Microsoft faced a few key challenges in developing its Surface tablet, according to team leader Panos Panay.

In an interview with the Verge, Panay offered some tidbits detailing the tricky evolution of Surface. The Surface team's general manager said that Microsoft had two goals in mind for Surface RT, code-named Georgetown: news of the tablet couldn't leak beforehand and it had to be ready to ship when Windows 8 launched.

Right from the start, Microsoft wanted to try to build the tablet without upsetting its Windows 8 OEM partners, Panay said. Whether it achieved that goal is debatable.… Read more

Tablet shipments now expected to hit 190 million this year

A predicted surge in sales of smaller, lower-cost tablets will bump up the number of shipments this year, according to a new report from IDC.

The research firm now expects global tablet shipments to rise to 190.9 million in 2012, up from its prior forecast of 172.4 million. IDC also sees an average rise in shipments of 11 percent from now through 2016, leading to more than 350 million tablets shipped by the end of 2017.

"One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size," IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani said … Read more

More Americans opting to cut cord on traditional TV

While the vast majority of U.S. residents own televisions and watch them regularly, more and more people are opting to toss their cable plans and use other devices for entertainment.

A new report by Nielsen finds that those people who have elected to go "Zero TV" have more than doubled since 2007. Currently, more than 5 million people don't have broadcast television in their home, while in 2007 just 2 million didn't.

Despite these numbers sounding big, cord-cutters are still just 5 percent of the U.S. population. And, as Nielsen wrote in a blog … Read more

Sprint's Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 goes Jelly Bean

Sprint today announced an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

As is the case with other Android 4.1 updates, this version of Jelly Bean will give users new and enriched features such as Google Now and Project Butter. Other noteworthy additions include actionable notifications as well as smarter widget placement and arrangement.

Sprint is also using the upgrade to include a couple of bug fixes and minor details. The device's self activation client is getting a small tweak, and a Wi-Fi Qualcomm driver fix helps automatically connect to most recent … Read more

Barnes & Noble's 'Free Fridays' adds apps

When it comes to free stuff for your tablet or e-reader, Amazon rules the roost.

The Amazon Appstore is home to a kajillion freebies for Kindle Fires, while the Kindle Store offers literally thousands of free Kindle e-books.

Barnes & Noble, on the other hand, offers a comparatively limited selection of free apps in its curated store, and I couldn't even find a "free books" section in the Nook Book Store.

At least there's Free Fridays, which gives you a free e-book every week. Today, for example, you can get the Nook edition of David Rhodes' "Driftless," … Read more