tablet

Despite finally breaking a year's streak of quarterly losses, Sony's press conference Thursday will likely be remembered mostly for a quote that's already being mocked by tech blogs.

During a press conference to announce its earnings, Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda expressed his company's interest in competing in the touch-screen tablet market with Apple. According to ComputerWorld, he said:

"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product...Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."

Seems reasonable enough, right? Lots of companies would--and will--follow Apple's lead. It's just the nature of business, and we expect it. But it's important to point out why Sony is being mildly ridiculed for this quote: because in most observers' eyes, this is exactly what's wrong with the company. The gadget maker that used to be at the forefront of innovation is rarely first at anything anymore--with the exception, it should be noted, of the Sony Reader, the first modern e-book reader. But over the past decade they've gotten beat at their own game in several major categories: music players (Apple), televisions (Samsung), and video games consoles (Microsoft and Nintendo). … Read more

If analyst predictions are any indication of what the iPad will see in actual sales, it's going to be a good run for Apple.

In a research note to clients on Wednesday, Needham & Company's Charlie Wolf predicted Apple would sell two million iPads in fiscal 2010 and an additional six million devices in 2011, according to a report on AppleInsider.

What's interesting is that Wolf says more than half of the iPad sales would be drawn from the iPod Touch. Many have said that the iPad looks like a larger version of Apple's iPod Touch. … Read more

All the recent frenzy over the Apple iPad might be too much for the tech nerds of the world to handle. Tuesday, Josh Topolsky of Engadget reported on a disturbingly high volume of "ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening" comments on the Web site and took action by indefinitely closing all comments on the blog. We appreciate Josh's wake-up call, although vocalizing one's opinion through anonymous blog comments is just another extension of the Internet.

We definitely empathize with the site's moderators, however, who must be tearing their hair out trying to protect Engadget visitors from trolls, predators, idiots, and all the other lobos on the Web. Good luck with that, guys!

In other tech news, TechCrunch gives us a first look at Google's interpretation of a modern tablet device, as imagined by Glen Murphy, Google Chrome's designer. The video you see on the site is just a mock-up, however, so don't get your hopes up! At this point, we'll take just about any tablet that doesn't have an Apple on it.

We can't thank our buddy Props Guy Jim enough for making the awesome "The 404 Bunch" poster you see to the left. Jim is the same gentleman who came through with 3k temporary tattoos, so thanks again! Look for a full-size poster coming to a 404 studio near you.

The Web is buzzing about some mock-ups from Google that depict modified versions of the Chrome OS running on tablet form factor hardware. While still very early on in development, the designs have shown some insight on where Google is with the yet-to-be-released operating system, which is due out later this year. Find out more about what the mock-ups show, and some of today's other top stories by tuning into today's show.

Today's stories:

Google shows off Chrome OS tablet ideas

Twitter resets passwords after phishing attack

Film studio blames money woes on economy, tech

Office 2010 hits the release candidate stage… Read more

Who could resist the months of hype that paved the way for Apple's iPad debut last week? Apparently not Google, which has shown its interest in tablet computing with its browser-based Chrome OS.

On Monday, Glen Murphy, a user interface designer for Google's Chrome browser and the Chrome operating system based on it, pointed to image and video concepts of a Chrome OS-based tablet that went live two days before the iPad launch. Apparently nobody noticed initially, because only now did Murphy tweet, "Apparently our tablet mocks have been unearthed."

The site also shows the array of devices Google envisions for Chrome OS.

"While its primary focus is Netbooks, Chrome OS could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices. Each would have vastly different input methods, available screen space, and processing power," according to the Chromium form factors site. Chromium is the name of the open-source developer project that underlies the branded Chrome product.

It's possible that Chrome OS could be an easier sell on tablets than on Netbooks, the class of device on which Google said it plans to launch Chrome OS. Netbooks often are used as general-purpose PCs, so the browser-based philosophy of Chrome OS is a more jarring transition.

Today's tablets, in contrast, tend to focus more on a collection of specialized uses such as reading books, surfing the Net, and chores that only require light typing. With that approach, Chrome OS' break from the PC world could be less jarring. The tablet market isn't as big as the Netbook market, though. … Read more

Close to a year after launching its excellent graphics tablet, the Intuos4 series, Wacom releases an updated version with Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Available only in the medium-size version for about $399, $50 more than its USB-only twin, the Intuos4 Wireless becomes a great option for artists and illustrators on the go--or even sedentary ones with an aversion to wires.

The Wireless model runs off a replaceable lithium ion battery that charges via the USB connection. You have to charge it before going wireless, as well as be physically connected to install the driver. After that, Bluetooth setup is fairly typical. You switch the tablet on and press a button to initiate the "I'm here!" broadcast and wait for your system to discover the tablet, which is essentially treated as a mouse. Note that the tablet doesn't ship with a dongle, so if your system doesn't have Bluetooth you'll have to deal with that separately.… Read more

The Google-powered maps for the iPhone and iPod Touch have been a mainstay of the iPhone OS since its inception. With the iPad, the maps app gets some subtle new features.

More importantly, and perhaps harder to convey in words, is the fact that the screen real estate afforded by the iPad transforms the app from a squinting approximation of a map into a full-fledged map replacement. Holding it in my hands, I couldn't help feeling a little like Dr. Evil, plotting my course for world domination.

There are a few things to know right off the bat. First, all versions of the iPad include an integrated digital compass, which the maps app can use along with Wi-Fi triangulation to approximate your location and orientation.

Also note that you'll need to invest in a 3G-capable model if you really plan on utilizing the iPad as a proper "Where the heck am I?" kind of map. Not only will the 3G-enabled iPad ping nearby cell towers as an additional means to determine your location (along with Wi-Fi signal triangulation), but the hardware on the 3G models includes extra assisted-GPS hardware, providing a true GPS experience that you can't get on the Wi-Fi only iPads.

Technical details aside, what's so special about maps on the iPad? Well, as the hands-on video at CNET TV demonstrates, the map's street view mode feels all the more godlike on a nice, big, capacitive touch screen. With the screen nearly three times the size of the iPhone's, you can literally see the steam coming off a cup of coffee, or in the video's Lombard Street example, you can see an enthusiastic tourist giving the thumb's up. In short, street view is much more impressive on iPad than it is on the iPhone, though no more practical. Contrasted with a comparable laptop screen, iPad's capacitive touch screen makes the experience feel like spinning a digital globe. It's fun. … Read more

We saw a few tablet-esque devices at CES earlier this month, and they were getting interesting. Then on Wednesday, as expected, Apple threw its "i"-obsessed hat into the ring with the iPad which, as is typical when Apple does something, caused the tech reporting world to go all crazy.

You heard about the iPad, right? If not you can google it on Bing.

Anyway, there are now tablets--plural--out there. Which means there's a good chance that you, as a gadget enthusiast, will either be buying one or at least entertaining the idea of buying one … Read more

It's hard to argue the fact that this week's Apple iPad launch disappointed the tech crowd, and not just because of that inexplicable name. Despite its lovely design, beefier core apps, and new e-book features and store, the iPad is hampered by a well-documented string of missing features: a camera, 16:9 support, Flash support (seriously?), multitasking, SD card slot, HDMI or high-res video output support, USB ports, GPS, and so on. Plus, it's exclusive to the AT&T network (again: seriously?) in this iteration, the pricing scheme is overly complex, and while I'm not … Read more