tablets

Apple allows cash sales for iPad

When Apple first started selling the iPad, it didn't allow consumers to buy its tablet with cash. The idea, the reasoning went, was that forcing people to buy the iPad with a debit card or credit card would help ensure that no one violated Apple's two-iPads-per-person rule.

But all that has changed. Recently a California woman named Diane Campbell went to an Apple store in the hopes of buying an iPad with greenbacks. She was turned away by the store's employees, who cited the no-cash policy. After she contacted KGO, an ABC television affiliate in California, the … Read more

IDC: 46 million media tablets by 2014

In a trend kick-started by the Apple iPad, more than 46 million media tablets are expected to ship in 2014, according to the new "Worldwide and U.S. Media Tablet 2010-2014 Forecast" released by IDC on Thursday.

Up substantially from the 7.6 million tablets likely to ship this year, that forecast points to a compound annual growth rate of 57.4 percent. Of course, that includes not just the iPad but other tablets following its lead and competing in the marketplace, including the new Archos 7 Home Tablet, a tablet from the likes of Intel, and a … Read more

HP: WebOS headed to Internet-connected printers

When Hewlett-Packard announced its intentions to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion a few weeks ago, the company had big things in mind for Palm's WebOS. On Tuesday during the conference call for HP's second-quarter 2010 earnings, CEO Mark Hurd revealed some additional detail on the company's plans for the mobile OS.

HP will acquire Palm "in order to enhance our intellectual property...in the connected-mobility space. We expect to leverage WebOS into a variety of form factors, including slates and Web-connected printers," Hurd said Tuesday.

"With a whole series of Web-connected printers, as … Read more

RIM tablet said to be 'companion device'

So that RIM tablet? It's not going to be a tablet in the standard sense.

Boy Genius Report said on Thursday that it confirmed with multiple sources that the upcoming Research In Motion tablet will be a "companion device." Where have you heard that before? Oh right: The ill-fated Palm Foleo. The "best idea" Palm founder Jeff Hawkins' ever had that was canceled after its announcement but before a single product was ever shipped.

Why did Palm cancel the Foleo? For the same reason RIM will find out soon enough: companion devices don't really … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1226: BP summons the old ones (podcast)

In the Soviet Union oil leaks get nuked. That's not a Yakov Smirnoff joke, it's apparently history. So we discuss whether we should do that in the Gulf of Mexico. But Steve in the chat room points out it might summon Cthullu. We also discuss the impending release of Office 2010, and the appearance of a second lost Apple iPhone 4G prototype. Those people can't keep anything in the lab anymore can they?

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1226

Microsoft Office 2010 takes aim at … Read more

Intel tablet heralds iPad rivals

An Intel executive's brandishing of a tablet design on Tuesday means rivals to the Apple iPad are a certainty.

And the first serious Intel-based designs will show up at Computex in June. "People ask me, are you serious about trying to participate in the tablet market? The answer is yes...The message is stay tuned for Computex," Intel Vice President Mooly Eden, who heads the chipmaker's client group, said at the Intel investor meeting on Tuesday.

Intel, not surprisingly, sees distinct advantages for devices based on its upcoming dual-core Atom for Netbooks and tablets. "(People) … Read more

Intel shows tablet, dual-core Netbook

Intel showed two future products--a dual-core Netbook and tablet design--at its 2010 investor meeting Tuesday, and didn't waste time in touting the advantages of an Intel-based tablet over the Apple iPad.

Intel Vice President Mooly Eden, who heads the chipmaker's client group, flourished a tablet and didn't mince words when comparing it with the iPad (though he didn't mention the iPad by name).

"You'll have USB, you'll have SATA (Serial ATA connector for storage devices), a cheaper memory solution, and you'll even be able to connect to your printer," he said. &… Read more

Verizon: We're making a tablet with Google

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed plans Tuesday to release a tablet computer running software from Google at some point, but did not elaborate on timing.

The Wall Street Journal spoke to McAdam, who said "we're looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience." The two companies signed a partnership last year to develop a family of mobile devices based on Android, although it's not clear if McAdam is referring to Android, Chrome OS, or just Google applications running atop something … Read more

Intel CEO: 1 million PCs shipped daily, tablets growing

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini, speaking at the chipmaker's 2010 investor meeting Tuesday, talked about market growth for PCs, tablets, and "smart" TVs.

"In 2010, for the first time, PCs cross a million a day. A million PCs a day--built, shipped, and sold in the industry. By 2014, that number basically doubles, it approaches 700 million units (annually) as the near-addressable market for our company," he said during an event that was streamed on the Web.

And within five years, Intel expects to be shipping a billion chips per year in all device markets, he … Read more

Springtime laptop and tablet buying advice

There's never a bad time to update some basic laptop-buying advice, and with this spring's new crop of laptops and new components (and some left-field competition from Apple's iPad), we decided it was a good opportunity to create a new version of our laptop buying guide video. Think of this as a video compendium to our more-detailed Laptop Buying Guide, which covers the ins and outs of laptops across different size categories and price ranges.

To get into the laptop mood, we went down to the new Best Buy location in New York's Union Square (ironically, … Read more