tablet

CNET TV Apple Byte: Is it the Apple iPad?

The big question this week seems to be, "what will Apple call its tablet computer?" Brian Tong takes a look at that and many other tablet rumors in this week's Apple Byte. Also in the show, Apple consults Microsoft about replacing Google as the default search engine in the iPhone OS, a man survives the earthquake in Haiti with his iPhone, and Amazon copies Apple's iTunes revenue sharing for it's e-book business.

Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums. Do you have questions, issues, or stories you would like … Read more

Social media is finally about the media

What does the maelstrom of hype around the launch of Apple's tablet device have in common with Google's announcement that select Sundance Film Festival titles will be available for rent on YouTube, or Digg founder Kevin Rose's comments to the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper that the social news site he founded has "drastic" changes ahead?

A lot, actually. They're all signs that for the first time since the social media craze started to explode a few years ago, the emphasis is finally on "media."

Thank goodness: we'd had enough time … Read more

Some non-tablet announcements we'd love to see from Apple

If Steve Jobs and company are paying attention, we've got a handful of requests for the upcoming Apple press event. I know we're all very excited about the mythical, but still unconfirmed, Apple tablet, but there are some other Mac products that could use a little attention as well.

The MacBook line of laptops is a big part of the company's product mix, and though we're not going off the reservation by saying we're generally very fond of the current generation of systems, there are still a few missing features that should be filled in. … Read more

Rivals will vie with Apple for tablet spotlight

Technology from Intel, Marvell, and Nvidia is powering some intriguing alternatives to the imminent Apple tablet.

News about the Apple tablet, when it emerges, will likely blanket the Internet for some time after the device is announced, obscuring tablet efforts from rivals. Nevertheless, there will be at least a few designs that should warrant some attention. Here are some potential high-profile alternatives:

Intel and OpenPeak The world's largest chipmaker (which, let's not forget, supplies millions of laptop and desktop processors to Apple every year) will, of course, not be a bystander in tablet competition. And one of its strongest contenders for this market is a future Atom chip codenamed "Moorestown."

In a recent interview at the Consumer Electronics Show, Pankaj Kedia, director of Intel's Global Ecosystems Program for Mobile Internet Devices and Smart Phones, said that the Moorestown "system-on-a-chip" processor will ship in the first half of this year. And during a CES keynote, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini brandished a tablet using Moorestown from a company called OpenPeak.

On Thursday, I posed some questions to Dan Gittleman, chief executive of OpenPeak, and Brian Woods, the company's chief marketing officer.

OpenPeak designs and develops products for companies like Verizon and Telefonica--two of its current customers. I asked Gittleman to describe how the tablet demonstrated at CES would be used. "We don't expect it to be a full PC replacement but rather a much more convenient platform for accessing a lot of services that you currently get on a PC: news, Facebook, weather, streaming music, casual games, etc.," he said in response to an e-mail query.

The tablet could also be "the ultimate control panel. A great security panel, baby/house monitor, home energy monitor," Gittleman said. Woods added that announcements of devices will happen "over the course of the next several months" and in the second half of the year.

Chip supplier Marvell Marvell recently showed me a few tablet/e-reader devices that are powered by its Armada processors and other Marvell silicon such as its Wi-Fi chips. Allen Leibovitch, senior marketing manager for Marvell's application processor business, demonstrated… Read more

Report: Apple tablet could earn $3 billion in a year

There has been a lot of speculation as to what Apple's rumored tablet will look like and how it will work. One analyst is now speculating on how much potential revenue the device, expected to be announced next week, could bring the Mac maker.

Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital estimates that Apple will sell each tablet for $600, according to an AppleInsider report. At that price, the "base case" scenario of 5 billion units sold during the first year would bring Apple an additional $2.8 billion in revenue.

Of course, we all know how important price … Read more

What iPhone news might January 27 bring?

Though the long-awaited Apple tablet is expected to take center stage at Wednesday's Apple event, we can't discount the possibility that the company will drop some iPhone news as well. After all, January has brought us updates to Apple's handset ever since the very first iPhone was unveiled at MacWorld 2007. And now that Apple is no longer attending the MacWorld party--that event has been moved to February--the January 27 jamboree would serve as a natural forum for any iPhone news.

So what can we expect? Now that we have multimedia messaging, the list of missing "must-have features" is narrowing. But even so, we still have an iPhone wish list and many people still hope that the iPhone will jump to another U.S. carrier.

For your convenience we've wrapped up the most rampant speculation here. As of now, all of these rumors remain just rumors, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to spread them around. After you're done reading the dish, be sure to click on the poll to tell us what you expect to happen.

New OS If any iPhone news breaks on Wednesday we expect that this will be it. Apple hasn't unveiled a major iPhone update since last march (that was iPhone 3.0) so we're certainly due for an upgrade. The most probable scenario is that the iPhone could see its user interface revamped to go along with the mythical tablet. And on a related note, AT&T could finally enable tethering so the iPhone could connect to the tablet.

Outside of the tablet, other OS changes are very possible. The Boy Genius Report is predicting we'll get multitasking, expanded multitouch functionality, syncing changes for calendars and contacts, and more graphical UI enhancements. We also could see more home screens and better app organization on the device.

A new handset We consider this prediction somewhat less plausible. Over the past two years, Apple waited until June and its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference to introduce new hardware and we expect that the company will do the same in 2010. But then again, Apple loves pulling "one more thing" surprises out of its hat, so anything can happen. Among the rumored features for a fourth-generation device are a 5-megapixel camera, a camera flash, and an OLED display. We've heard of a removable battery as well, but we're pretty doubtful that will ever happen.… Read more

HP Compaq AirLife 100 almost official

While slate tablets seem to be all the rage these days, let's not forget that there exists a majority who feel lost without a physical keyboard. The HP Compaq AirLife 100 is rumored to be a Qualcomm Snapdragon-equipped, Android-powered "smartbook" with the battery life of a PDA-phone. However, it lacks compatibility with Windows operating systems.

Besides battery life, the advantages of using a smartphone platform can override the fact that most users are still more comfortable with the Windows environment. For one, the AirLife will probably have access to the Android app store with applications optimized for … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1150: Up the creek without a Bible

The FCC is coming for the schools and churches just like that crazy guy on the corner told you! On June 12, it'll require anybody using a wireless microphone that operators in the 700 MHZ spectrum to stop using that mic. That's right. The purge is coming! For microphones!. Actually, it'll affect Broadway shows, too. Will the FCC be able to round up the ne'er-do-wells? Will Google ruin U.S.-China relations? Well, that's another story. Literally.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1150 … Read more

More Apple tablet rumors: 3G, dock connector

The Apple tablet rumors are going to keep coming until the company finally releases this thing. Tech bloggers, and now even the mainstream media, can't help themselves from wondering what Apple will or won't do with the forthcoming device, which is widely anticipated to be introduced at Apple's media event scheduled for Wednesday.

Here's the latest roundup of speculation about the tablet.

• The tablet will have a 3G connection, and there are two carriers being considered for it, says Fox News. Apple is in talks with AT&T and Verizon, but the details are still … Read more