Hasta La Gadget!

Is Barnes & Noble planning a follow up to the Nook? Well, duh. The company scored hits with the first Nook and the Nook Color–it even managed to eat into some of Amazon’s massive Kindle market share with the device. Like any other company with a business sense, Barnes & Noble did the logical thing, applying for trademarks by the boatload.

A number have surfaced recently, including “Nook2,” “NookSmart,” “Nook Kids,” and “Nook Cook.” Of course, it’s impossible to say whether the company actually intends to use any of these specific names or whether it’s just covering all of its bases. 

It’s also impossible to know whether the applications are intended for hardware, software, or sections of the online bookstore, though “Nook2” certainly seems to hint at a sequel to the original E-Ink device.

The key to creating a good treadmill seems to be the ability to do whatever one can to completely district the runner from the fact that he or she is exercising. By that standard, the new Trailrunner is one damn fine treadmill. Even the most immobile of geeks can find something to like in this thing.

The Trailrunner 4.0 features a 10-inch Android tablet, which lets the user check e-mail, read the news, and surf the Web, as long as a WiFi connection is present. The tablet also features information about your speed, distance, time, calories, and more (it is a treadmill, remember).

A built-in speaker lets you listen to music without the constant thumping of headphones. The treadmill is also connected to iFit Live, so users can track their progress online. The Trailrunner 4 runs $2,999. Happy New Year.

The tech industry has a week or so of downtime between the Christmas holiday and CES, so what better time to explore some of the latest Apple rumors, right? Here’s one from DigiTimes, that Taiwan-based seeming endless source of so much on-going Apple speculation.

According to the site, the next version of the iPad is due out in 2011 “with mass production to start as early as the later half of January.” No big surprise there. Apple will apparently be sending out 500,000-530,000 units in that initial shipment. What is interesting, however, is the suggestion that the iPad will come in three different flavors: Wi-Fi, UMTS (i.e. 3G), and CDMA (ala Verizon–and a lot more carriers in other countries, for that matter).

Says DigiTimes,

The sources pointed out that about 60-65% of current iPad shipments are 3G models, indicating that consumers prefer models that are able to connect to the Internet all the time, therefore Apple is aiming to work even more closely with telecom carriers by offering more wireless solutions for iPad 2 to satisfy market demand.

After the jump, we’ve got a look back at the weird year that was, including lost iPhones, sex robots, time-traveling wireless customers, and exploding cell phones.

Hey, guess what? We’re going to get another tablet at CES in January. No huge surprise there–we’re anticipating an utter deluge of the devices at the show. Motorola is seemingly attempting to undercut some of those last minute iPad/Samsung Galaxy Christmas purchase with a little teaser of its own announcement.

The company used its @MotoMobile Twitter page to kick off speculation, tweeting, “Might want to hold off on that tablet purchase until 2011.” The page linked to a tongue-in-cheek CGI tour of the “evolution of tablets,” including such detours as the Rosetta Stone (“Good graphics, but weight makes for difficult portability”) and the Ten Commandments (“Excellent durability, but zero flexibility”).

The company also used the occasion to take potshots at the competition, the iPad (“It’s like a giant iPhone, but…it’s like a giant iPhone”) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (“Android OS, but Android OS…for a phone”). The video finishes on a shot of what we’re led to assume is the shrouded unannounced Motorola tablet.

Not a lot of info here, but between the Samsung comment and the fact that Motorola has had some recent success with Android, as of late, we can probably assume that the thing will run Google’s mobile–the tablet version. The goofy little animated bee also hints at the use of the Android “Honeycomb” build. As for a name? The Motorola Evolution, perhaps?

Check out the video, after the jump.