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Archos 9 PC Tablet Delayed

Paul Lilly — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:20 -0600

Whoever is the first to market with a next-gen handheld tablet will have accomplished what's becoming a tremendous feat: shipping the freaking thing. Michael Arrington insists that his CrunchPad hasn't entered the realm of vaporware, and Apple still continues to deny the existence of its own tablet, which the most recent rumor says will ship sometime in the second half of 2010.

And then there's the Archos 9 PC Tablet, which went up for order on October 22nd, but is still a few weeks away from shipping, SlashGear reports. If you plan on picking one up at retail, expect to wait even longer. According to Archos, the 8.9-inch Windows 7 UMPC won't arrive in stores until sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Archos didn't say what's causing the delay, and it will be interesting to see how the pushed-back launch affects sales. By the time the tablet ships, Intel will be churning out next-gen Atom chips, making the Archos' 1.1GHz Atom Z515 even more unappealing.

Image Credit: Archos

Michael Arrington Denies Rumors of Vaporware CrunchPad

Paul Lilly — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:30:26 -0600

The tech talk for much of the year has centered around upcoming tablets from Apple, Microsoft, and TechCrunch co-founder Michael Arrington, but to date, not one of them has come through. Will we ever see a next-gen tablet from one of these three? We certainly will, says Arrington, who insists that his CrunchPad tablet is "streamrolling along."

Arrington added that the upcoming CrunchPad will sell for between $300 and $400. It will sport a 12-inch touchscreen and come equipped with an Intel Atom processor (what else?).

Even though Arrington is adamant about an imminent release, some journalists wonder if the expected price tag won't render the CrunchPad irrelevant from day 1.

"While the project apparently isn't dead, I do still think there's a chance it will be DOA. For $300 to $400 I don't really see why anyone would buy a dedicated Web device instead of a fully functional computer," wrote Brad of Liliputing. "By the time the CrunchPad is available, you might even be able to pick up a touchscreen tablet style netbook in the $00 range. You can already get the Eee PC T91/T91MT for around $500 to $550."

Arrington did say he's exploring ways to cut back production costs, some of which include negotiating soft revenue and sponsorship opportunities.

Image Credit: TechCrunch via The New York Times

Nvidia Comes Clean on Mystery Tablet: It's a Tegra Prototype

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:08:09 -0600

A day after NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was snapped with what clearly resembled a tablet, the company shed some light on the mysterious device. According to Engadget, the graphics chip maker has revealed to it the true identity of the tablet. It is actually a Tegra prototype developed by original design manufacturer (ODM) called ICD.

The site also claims to have been tipped about some of the tablet's specs. According to Engadget's "credible" sources, the tablet currently runs Windows CE and features a resistive touchscreen. It went on to add that an Android-based variant, also featuring a capacitive touchscreen, is in the works. Apparently, the plan is to have the tablet ready for a March 2010 launch. The site even named T-Mobile as a likely carrier.

Image Credit: Shufflegazine

Nvidia CEO Outed as Mac-Daddy (and Mac-Husband)

Paul Lilly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:20:46 -0600

While giving a speech at the American University of Dubai, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang held nothing back in declaring his affection for Macs (while taking a dig at Intel in the process).

"Apple uses the best technology for their [computers]," Huang said. "Apple says to their customers: 'If you buy a computer from us, you can be sure we have selected the best technology inside for you'. Their promise to consumers isn't 'we've selected the best technology for you with the exception of what Intel allows us to use'. And that's why I'm all Apple! At home it's just Macs everywhere. It's Nvidia's technology in all of them but I use Macs. My son has two Macs, my daughter has a Mac, there's an extra Mac just in case, and my wife has a Mac. It's just Mac, Mac, Mac!"

Call us crazy, but we get th feeling Huang likes Macs. And that's well and good, so long as Nvidia keeps churning out high-powered videocards for those of us content to be controlled by Intel on the Windows-based PC platform.

On a side note, there's been a bit of buzz over the slick looking tablet pictured in front of Huang. The outspoken CEO didn't say a word about it -- or at least no one's reporting that he did -- leaving us to speculate. Could it be the long-rumored Apple tablet? Is it a Tegra-powered handheld? Maybe both.

Image Credit: shufflegazien.com

Accelerometer Hack Turns Dell Mini 9 into Cheap Windows Tablet

Paul Lilly — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:19:20 -0600

Correction: It was MyDellMini.com poster Rock99Rock who made the accelerometer hack. We appologize for the confusion.

With the release of Windows 7, tablet PCs are drawing a ton of attention, and if you don't mind getting your hands dirty inside a Dell Mini 9 netbook, you can roll your own.

The hack comes courtesy of Rob928 from MyDellMini.com and involves stripping off the lid, trimming down the hinges, and other somewhat scary tasks when dealing with electronics. The end result is that Rob928 was able to fuse a Dell Vostro A90 with a Hoda Technology solderless touchscreen kit. He also tossed in an accelerometer for good measure giving the homebrewed tablet the ability to automatically rotate the screen.

It's not easy, nor is it for the faint of heart, but for anyone willing to follow in Rob928's footsteps, this is one of the coolest mods we've seen in awhile.

Worklog
Video

Image Credit: mydellmini.com Rob928

Sneak a Peek at Leaked Photos of Microsoft's Courier Interface

Ryan Whitwam — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:23:15 -0600

A series of images have shown up online that purport to explain how the mysterious Microsoft Courier interface works. They consist of some professional looking diagrams and illustrations of the Courier device from the previously leaked videos.

The docs indicate that the unit will have multitouch gestures for actions like opening apps, and zooming. There’s a pen as well. It has two buttons, an eraser, and a twist mechanism to access different functions. Courier’s “home screen” is called the Smart Agenda. It displays email, weather, to-do lists, and any active items in the journal. Almost any content the device can access can be “clipped”, and stored in the journal.

There are also numerous references to “the cloud” in these images. They say that any part of your journal can be shared with the cloud. People can instantly comment on these portions via a web browser. Speaking of browsers, the courier has one, and it actually looks nice. Pages are organized like a stack of note cards to flip through.

While this may be vaporware, it is very attractive vaporware. Let’s hope it actually exists.

Dell Introduces its Extremely Rugged Tablet PC: Latitude XT2 XFR

Jason Barry — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:13:02 -0500

Dell unveiled a new ruggedized convertible tablet called the Latitude XT2 XFR today. It measures in at 1.5 inches thick making it the thinnest rugged convertible laptop on the market.

It is a “work in the field” type laptop weighing 5.4 pounds using a 4-cell battery. It features a 12.1-inch LED backlit display with multi-touch and gesture controls, Core 2 Duo processor (SU9600), and can support up to 5GB of RAM. The Dell engineers weren’t just hoping this thing could handle a coffee spill or a three centimeter drop, it has been designed to meet MIL-810G standards and is expected to be certified soon.

What does that mean? Well, for one, it can operate in temperatures ranging from minus 10 up 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It also features a thermal management system designed to keep things cool but also eliminate dust and water from entering the device.

The new laptop starts at $3,599 and will be sold in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Acer's Aspire 1420P Tablet Turns Heads, Swivels Display

Paul Lilly — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:06:55 -0500

Acer president Scott Lin says his company has big plans for the tablet PC market, and today the company put on display its new Aspire 1420P tablet during a press event in China.

The sleek 11.6-inch tablet features a swiveling LED touchscreen with multitouch support, an Intel Celeron SU2300 processor (1.2GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 800MHz frontside bus), 2GB of DDR3 memory (expandable to 8GB), a 250GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/Draft-N, a multi-card reader, optional 3G support, and Windows 7.

According to the tablet's U.S. product page (yep, this one's headed for the States), the convertible display sports a built-in accelerometer that automatically rotates images so you can "use it as a photo frame, portable cinema, or the [as] the perfect presentation tool."

What the product page doesn't tell us is when the 1420P will be released and at what price

Image Credit: softsailor.com