slate

Top 5 CES trends

CES 2010 was full of the usual electronics wonderment, but some trends were more frequent or more prominent than others. We took a gander about the show floor and tallied up the five top trends from the show.

Take a look at the video then come back here for a chance to win the swag bag.

Fingers-on with Stantum's touch-screen Dell tablet prototype

At CES 2010, Dell got a lot of attention from its concept model 5-inch slate. Though only briefly shown at Dell's CES press conference, we got a chance to play around with a demo unit behind the scenes, and came away feeling like it was a slightly jazzed-up smartphone, rather than a true tablet PC.

Although that concept device may never be released, we've spent the past two days tapping, swiping, and flipping on a new Dell tablet PC, with a 10-inch multitouch display and powered by an Intel Atom processor.

The device is actually a prototype tablet built by French multitouch technology company Stantum. The company started with a stock Dell Mini 10 Netbook, deconstructed it, removing the screen and keyboard, and rebuilt it with a resistive touch screen--all to demo its touch-display know-how.

If that sounds like a familiar concept, you may have read our review of the Axiotron Modbook, which is a touch-screen Apple tablet device made from a reconstructed MacBook laptop.

Hands-on with the prototype Turning on the tablet for the first time, our expectations were modest, as the system uses an older Intel Atom Z520 CPU, which can barely run a non-touch-screen Netbook under the best of circumstances. And though overall performance was sluggish, we were actually very pleasantly surprised by how speedy and responsive the touch interface was. … Read more

Apple lawyer confirms tablet existence?

Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag on Wednesday issued a call for readers to send in photos of the Apple tablet, in exchange for a cash prize of up to $100,000. On Thursday, Apple's own lawyers responded with something almost as good as pictorial evidence of the yet-unannounced device: a cease-and-desist letter.

Attorney Michael C. Spillner of prestigious Silicon Valley firm Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe dashed off a letter to Valleywag's parent company, Gawker Media, beginning with this:

"I am writing on behalf of Apple regarding the notices on Gawker.com and Valleywag.com Web sites that Gawker Media will pay someone a financial reward for sending you photos, video, or a sample of an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product."

While it's not actually a confirmation, the letter, chock full of claims of infringements on Apple's trade secrets, does lend credence to the endless speculation that the device--"an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product"--does actually exist.

There are hundreds of bits of speculation that float around the Internet on a daily basis related to Apple. It's not often that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company responds--surely it does not mind all of the free marketing that results from the endless speculation about its products. But when it does respond, particularly with threats of legal action, it's a strong hint that the person or blog is on the right track.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1143: Google is sorry... you feel that way?

Google apologized to China for miscommunication over its scanning of books. But that didn't stop it from scanning the books. Or even get it to apologize for scanning the books. Also Microsoft Word is no longer sold, at least for a brief period of time. And the Apple rumors are ramping up.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1143

Microsoft Word injunction goes into effect http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10432510-56.html

Warning, Nexus One users! Dangerous fees may lie ahead http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/warning-nexus-one-users-dangerous-fees-ahead.ars… Read more

The coolest laptops of 2010's show

LAS VEGAS--We saw dozens of new laptop models at CES this year, and though the vast majority of them were next-step upgrades of existing models, there were a handful that really grabbed our attention, either because they brought something new to the game, or because they were excellent examples of their category.

We've already rounded up the various slate/tablet devices, so we'll concentrate on traditional laptop-shaped systems (although we'll make an exception for the Lenovo U1 Hybrid, which docks its tablet screen to become a standard Windows 7 machine).

Check out the gallery below for shots and details … Read more

Harry McCracken talks tablets, slates

CES was awash with nontraditional PCs like tablets, slates, smartbooks, and Netbooks. Harry McCracken, founder and chief blogger at Technologizer and former editor-in-chief of PC World, talks with Larry Magid about the nontraditional PC devices he saw at CES and one device that has never been seen in public--the Apple tablet that is rumored to be announced on January 27.

McCracken thinks that Apple's sofware is what will distinguish its device from the ones he saw at CES.

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HP VP talks laptops, new slate prototype (podcast)

Philip McKinney is vice president and chief technology officer for the Personal Systems Group at Hewlett-Packard, where he oversees the group's long-range technical strategy and research and development. At the Showstoppers press event at CES, McKinney was walking around with a couple of new latops PCs and a new portable VGA pico projector.

Larry Magid and McKinney talked about these products, but Magid couldn't help but ask about HP's slate PC prototype that Microsoft Steve Ballmer showed off during his keynote address. McKinney wouldn't go into much detail about this unannounced product, but Magid got at … Read more

Apple looms over CES from afar

LAS VEGAS--The most buzzed-about device at CES 2010 wasn't even on display here.

A tablet or slate computer from Apple was basically all anyone wanted to talk about, and it's not even a confirmed product yet. As a result, Lady Gaga might be the only thing that was actually at CES 2010 that could even be described as generating large-scale buzz.

We can partly blame both Apple and Google for this. Google sucked all the air out of the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, two days before this whole show even got started, thanks to its introduction of … Read more

Slate mania grips PC makers

LAS VEGAS--Call them tablets or slates, but companies at CES seem obsessed with showing off the possibilities of PCs stripped of their keyboards and touch pads. These slate devices are essentially handheld screens that do some or most of what your laptop does, but with touch controls and, often, 3G data access.

We've seen several versions this week, in situations ranging from extensive hands-on demos to arms-length sneak peeks of devices that may or may not ever see the light of day. Of course, all of these products are operating under the very long shadow of Apple's still-unannounced tablet. (… Read more