tablet

Touch pads compared: Apple Magic Trackpad vs. Wacom Bamboo

With the Apple Magic Trackpad creating ripples regarding the spread of touch across all Apple devices, it's important to regard a product that visited this territory last year, and perhaps even attempted it more ambitiously. The Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch, a combination multitouch trackpad and pen-based tablet that theoretically offers a killer alternative to the Apple's pad for one reason alone: its versatility.

After reviewing the Magic Trackpad this week, I realized that a Bamboo was still in a drawer in my cube, and I pulled it out to revisit. How did it compare with Apple's sleek square? And, more importantly, are there any areas where it's even better?

First off, the Bamboo is larger than the Magic Trackpad. The extra-wide Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch I have is a lot larger. It's similarly colored to Apple's tiny device, but made of a less sturdy-feeling plastic that's prone to scratching. The Bamboo Pen and Touch is a also a USB-wired device, unlike the wireless Magic Trackpad. It's also more expensive: while a $69 model offers only pen or touch input but not both, the combination pen and touch-pad combo that most users would want costs $99. The extra-large version we reviewed, the Fun, costs $199. The not exactly cheap $69 Magic Trackpad comes off as a relative bargain. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1281: Microsoft gets serious about tablets. Again. (podcast)

Steve Ballmer admits Apple knows a thing or two about tablets. The U.K. government says it's sticking with IE 6 despite the entire world saying it's full of security holes. And the U.S. Congress, realizing it's out of money, wants to bring Internet gambling back to the U.S. so it can be taxed.

T-Mobile cares

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

New Blackberry smartphone coming soon Google is set to use location aware ads Samsung will debut two new cameras LG announced its Android tablet for the holiday season T-Mobile ranks first in customer service

Android Atlas Weekly 9: Data theft disguised as a wallpaper (podcast)

A wallpaper app that steals your personal info, piracy controls coming to the Android Marketplace, and a look into the world of Android gaming. Plus, Jeff Bakalar shares an awesome tip on creating itineraries for Google Maps Navigation, and Jessica Dolcourt helps us pronounce the death of the Android phone that started it all.

Updated: The wallpaper app discussed in this episode has since been cleared of any wrong-doing by Google itself. More details on that here.

Kmart tablet probably as bad as it sounds

Update: In statements made to Laptop Magazine, Augen's CEO Gary Gofman claims that the unauthorized inclusion of the Google Android Marketplace app on the Gentouch78 tablet was an unintentional mistake, and future production runs will not include the Google Mobile Services Application Suite. So yes, it was too good to be true.

When I heard that Kmart is selling a $149 Android tablet with a 7-inch screen, I have to admit that I blew it off with a condescending snicker. No matter how you run the math, there's simply no way to turn a $149 price tag into a satisfying tablet experience--at least not yet. Logic may have gotten the better of me, though, because the demand for this Augen brand Android tablet is apparently so great, that Kmart is already issuing rain checks. In my ivory CNET tower, I forgot to calculate for the effects of a cheap price, Android fever, and blind optimism.

But before you make that dash for Kmart's blue-light beacon, allow me to explain what you probably already know in your heart to be true: the Augen Gentouch78 probably isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Professionally, it's not in my best interest to rein in consumer gadget lust--but as CNET's resident Android tablet expert I have to say my piece. To be fair, let's take a look at what makes this tablet so appealing on paper. Price aside, the Gentouch78 offers a relatively large screen, a version of the Android OS (2.1) that even Dell can't seem to deliver, an integrated Android app store, Wi-Fi, memory expansion (2GB built-in), and the predictable array of music, photos, videos, e-books, e-mail, and Web.

Now for the reality check. … Read more

Sheet music of the future

Leone's MusicReader is an excellent study in sheet music software. It offers the advanced annotating and editing capabilities of electronic sheet music in a format that can be optimized for performance or composition. To that end, it's designed to work with digital pens, touch screens, and Tablet PCs as well as laptops and desktops, with options designed for a variety of hardware configurations and environments.

MusicReader's extensive yet polite installer asks before installing extra features, such as print drivers and support for Tablet PCs, which are welcome options that not everyone will need. The installer also asks … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1278: Pad, mouse, or nubbin? (podcast)

Who knew -- Apple still makes computers, and today launched a bunch of new ones, plus a ginormous desktop trackpad to go with them. Also: The robot that will make you breakfast. Eventually. Guest: Darren Kitchen of Hak5.org!

Dell continues Streak tease

Update: Dell has published (and since removed) a "test page" stating that the Streak will go on sale tomorrow unlocked for $549, or $299 with a two year AT&T contract. We contacted Dell asking or confirmation on these details and were told that the test page in question was not intended to be seen by the pubic and may have contained inaccurate information. Furthermore, there are no plans for the Streak to go on sale or pre-sale today. In other words, we still don't really know how much the Streak will cost, when it will … Read more

India's $35 tablet--how low can it go?

India on Thursday unveiled a prototype tablet computer that would sell for a mere 1,500 rupees, or $35, with the price possibly dropping even further as R&D efforts continue.

Kapil Sibal, the country's Minister for Human Resource Development, showed off the super-cheap touch-screen device in New Delhi as part of a push to provide high-quality education to students across the country. The tablet also comes with a solar-power option that could make it more feasible for rural areas.

The Linux-based computer at first glance resembles an Apple iPad and features basic functions you'd expect to see in a tablet--a Web browser, multimedia player, PDF reader, Wi-Fi, and video conferencing ability. It has 2GB of RAM (but no hard disk, instead using a memory card) and USB ports and could be available to kids from primary school up to the university level as early as next year.

Students from several branches of the Indian Institute of Technology co-designed motherboards for the computer, which the ministry would like to see dropping to $20 and possibly getting as low as $10. … Read more

Microsoft redesigns ARM chip pact

Microsoft has updated its agreement with chip design firm ARM, making the software giant capable of designing its own chips--in theory, at least.

The new pact is an architecture license, which allows Microsoft to design its own ARM chips, much like Qualcomm does with its Snapdragon processors used in products such as the Dell Streak tablet and Google's Nexus One smartphone.

ARM is one of the most prolific chip designers in the world, with its designs used in everything from Apple's iPhone and iPad to high-tech toys and handheld calculators.

"ARM is an important partner for Microsoft, and we deliver multiple operating systems on the company's architecture, most notably Windows Embedded and Windows Phone," KD Hallman, general manager of strategic software and silicon architectures at Microsoft, said in a statement. "With closer access to the ARM technology, we will be able to enhance our research and development activities for ARM-based products."

Microsoft is not commenting further on the agreement, and details will remain confidential.

There are a couple of interesting possibilities, according to Nathan Brookwood, the principal analyst at Insight 64. "If you're going to build your own (processing) cores, that's expensive and time-consuming. You really need to think that you can outdesign the group of designers at ARM,"… Read more