pcs. tablets

NEW YORK--Acer on Friday launched two new touch-screen notebooks and a tablet, hoping to attract buyers and stem its steep declines in the PC market.

One notebook, the Aspire R7, features a 15.6-inch touch screen and a hinge that allows users to rotate and flip the screen to convert it in tablet. The company moved the keyboard closer to the edge of the lower tray and shifted the trackpad closer to the screen, which it said should make it easier to use the touch screen. The $1,000 product will be in stores in mid-May, with an exclusive U.… Read more

week in review Apple unveiled a new iPad, resetting the goal line again even as competitors scramble to catch up in the burgeoning market for tablets.

The new iPad--not the "iPad HD" or "iPad 3" as previously rumored--offers a higher-resolution Retina Display similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It offers a resolution of 2,048x1,536--or 3.1 million pixels. It also features an updated processor--which the company boasted was four times as fast as the nearest competition--as well as a 4G connection.

Apple also cut the price of two models … Read more

A lot of people are betting that 2010 will be the year of the tablet computer.

Of course, we've heard such predictions about tablets before. This time, the reasoning goes, is different, because the devices will have more sophisticated touch screens and consumers are more used to virtual keyboards. Most importantly, Apple just might be jumping into the fray.

Tablets, you may recall, are either laptops with a screen that twists and folds flat and uses a stylus or fingertip for input, or something more like an oversize iPod Touch that's used for tasks like checking e-mail, getting on the Web, and watching videos.

True, market researchers at DisplaySearch predict sales for all touch-screen devices will be growing from $3.5 billion this year to more than $6 billion by 2012. But if 2010 is going be the year of the tablet--meaning regular folks start buying these en masse--someone has to get it right.

So far, we're still waiting.

Toshiba, Archos, Fujitsu, and Lenovo have touch-screen tablets coming our way in the next few months, none of which should revolutionize our already established expectations of tablet PCs.… Read more

This product is so new, it doesn't even have a name. Yet.

During the announcement of the new ToughBook notebooks, Panasonic also took the opportunity to show off one of its upcoming Intel Atom-based tablets. This white unit is meant for use in the medical field. Aside from a touch-screen display, it has features like RFID and a fingerprint sensor built in. You probably won't see this ToughBook in stores anywhere but don't be surprised if you see a nurse keying in your particulars and medical history on something like this in the future.

The company will … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Never mind the nail-biting lead changes down the stretch, or the dazzling display put on by league MVP Kobe Bryant here at Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Try also to forget Jack Nicholson holding court from his usual spot at Staples Center. Shrug off the fact that Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, David Beckham, and Hugh Hefner are all sitting a few feet away. One of the biggest stars in Los Angeles Tuesday night stayed quietly out of sight.

Logging the mind-boggling amount of statistics produced in a single National Basketball Association game is an intense undertaking. And the … Read more