slate

'Seamless computing' ties all your gadgets together

Imagine if you could cut and paste information among your smartphone, tablet, smart table, and big screen. Better yet, what if you could flick objects from one device to another?

Software developer Nsquared has tied together a Windows Phone 7, Slate tablet, Microsoft Surface smart table, and Kinect-controlled big screen into one seamless computing experience. The video says it all (see below).

There are some nifty moments: Put your smartphone down on a Surface--a horizontal touch-screen display that doubles as a table--and the e-mail on the phone screen automatically shows up on the smart table beside the phone, larger. No need to do anything but put the phone down.

Here's another nifty moment: Look at a 3D model of a home on a large projected screen, choose replacement door handles using a separate application on your tablet, then flick them onto the big screen where they're rendered and incorporated into the model. Then grab another door handle from a Silverlight-enabled Web site and likewise flick it into the model. And for the piece de resistance, take a picture of a lamp with the tablet, crop the lamp from the background, and flick it into the model on the big screen.… Read more

DisplayMate puts tablet screens in their place

I love conducting in-depth analysis of technology; however, the problem with such analytic endeavors is that the deeper you go, the more time it takes to reach your goal.

This is why I'm always impressed with the abyssal depths of analysis DisplayMate's Ray Soneira travels when he covers display quality. In his latest article, the man gets downright subterranean.

Soneira takes the iPad 2, Xoom, and Asus Transformer and completely scrutinizes their screens on the basis of brightness, contrast, color quality, screen reflectiveness, viewing angle, and backlight power consumption. That's pretty much anything and everything important when … Read more

This Day in Tech: Google Wallet and Offers, Amazon opens Mac download stores

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Thursday, May 26.

Google Wallet, Offers make their debut Services combine coupons, discounts, and payments at the time people buy things through their phone. Trials start now, with full launch this summer. More

Amazon opens up Mac downloads stores The e-commerce heavyweight launches a pair of online venues targeting Mac users with digital downloads. So far Amazon's stocking about 250 games and apps. More

Senate panel gives OK to antipiracy bill The Protect IP Act makes it through the … Read more

Ballmer: Windows 8 will debut in 2012

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday that Windows 8 will debut in 2012, although the company later called his comments a "misstatement."

Speaking at a developers conference in Japan yesterday, Ballmer touched upon a variety of topics from Windows Phone to search engines to cloud computing. But the CEO emphasized that Microsoft is working on the next version of Windows and spilled a few details about Windows 8 as the company prepares to make the transition from Windows 7.

"We're obviously hard at work on the next version of Windows," Ballmer said, according to a … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1-inch: The iPad 2 of Honeycomb tablets

Editor's note: The full review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 can be found here.

If there's one thing I've realized in my short stint covering tablets, it's that apparently there can never be too many Honeycomb-based products in the wild. Today, at Google's I/O conference, the company gave away 5,000 Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1s. CNET was fortunate enough to have a few good men in the field willing to wade through cell phone belt holders and short sleeve button shirts to get us one.

Design and features The first thing that struck us upon taking the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of its box was its slight profile. In fact, when lying next to the iPad 2 we honestly can't tell which tablet is thicker and unfortunately we don't have a micrometer handy to get down into the business of microns.… Read more

Acer Iconia W500 Windows tablet (hands-on)

Tablets are big news, but that usually means Apple's iPad, Android tablets, or even the BlackBerry Playbook. Windows, by far the largest operating system on consumer PCs, has been largely left out in the cold.

It's ironic, as Windows tablets have been around for years, in the form of slates and convertible laptops with touch-screen lids that rotate and fold down over the keyboard. To date, none of these has been terribly successful, largely because they failed on both the software and hardware fronts. The Windows OS is simply not designed for fingertip (or even stylus) input, and the CPUs used to power most Windows tablets have been so underpowered as to make these devices mostly useless.

Stepping into the ring following the launch Apple's second-generation iPad is the Acer Iconia W500. Similar to Lenovo's (still MIA U1) Hybrid and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, the 10.1-inch W500 consists of a touch-screen slate and a separate keyboard dock. When combined, the two halves form something close to a traditional laptop. The W500 is $549 with Windows 7 Home Premium, or $619 with Windows 7 Professional. Both versions have 2GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. Acer also has a dockless Android version, called the A500. … Read more

Web speed tests: Tablet tournament!

Yes, I'm a huge Mortal Kombat fan. This should be evident to anyone after watching the video above. However, I can't take credit for the whole tournament idea. That was the brainchild of my producer, Jamie Yee (she's actually a hidden Easter egg in the video, if you watch closely). Jamie's a huge sports nut (or at least, an San Francisco Giants nut) and apparently thinks only in terms of brackets and tournaments.

Anyway, last week was a fairly busy week for the CNET tablet reviews team. Donald Bell and I received three new tablets in the span of only a few days.

With all that glamorous reviewing we were doing, I didn't really have the bandwidth to conduct any official speed tests, until now.

As I alluded to before, we split the tests into two rounds. The first round, featuring the Acer Iconia Tab A500, T-Mobile G-Slate, and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, would determine which tablet would take on the Xoom and iPad 2 in the final round.

So yeah, it's a two-round tournament. We thought about extending it, but decided that doing so would involve too much repetition in the video.

Check out the results below (or above if you prefer your results in talkies form).… Read more

Kindle app updated for Android Honeycomb tablets

Amazon.com has updated its Kindle Android app with features designed to tap into the Honeycomb interface currently found on the Motorola Xoom and T-Mobile's LG G-Slate.

Available now at Amazon's Appstore for Android, Kindle for Android 3.0 is geared for all Android devices but takes special advantage of the larger displays and other attributes offered by Honeycomb-powered tablets.

The updated version offers a virtual bookshelf that stretches across the screen to let people visually browse and view titles at the Kindle store. The new interface also provides quicker access to customer reviews, recommendations, and other items … Read more

Dialed In #170: Playing with the PlayBook (podcast)

The BlackBerry PlayBook finally arrives at CNET for review and Dialed In picks it apart to see what makes it tick. Sure, we're grumpy about a few things (like AT&T fudging on the BlackBerry Bridge app), but we did like the new tablet's browser. We also go 3D with the LG Slate, Nicole talks of her love for the LG G2x, and Sprint's CEO introduces a new eco-friendly phone while also complaining about AT&T. Bonnie was off on assignment so we didn't spend our usual 20 minutes piping her in from New … Read more