Hasta La Gadget!

The Wikipad lives! After several delays, the company is ready to bring its gaming contraption to the market. The final model is different from the concepts, but it’s more portable, cheaper and much more slick. I want it.

The Wikipad’s messages is still the same. With controls wrapping around a 7-inch screen, the Wikipad attempts to be Android’s Game Boy — it looks more like a Sega Game Gear. The company hasn’t announced an exact ship date but it’s coming this Spring.

The original Wikipad used a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 screen and a Tegra 3 chip. It was to cost $500 and would probably have failed. Hard.

As Engadget explains, the company delayed the 10.1-inch model for refinement, but as it was approaching launch, the screen manufacturer discounted the Wikipad’s panel. So Wikipad charged forward towards making a smaller model, which was apparently already on the roadmap.

The 7-inch Wikipad still rocks a 1280 x 800 screen, just in a 7-inch form. The gaming controls still backpack onto the tablet, which, still uses a Tegra 3 chip. And now at $249, the tablet actually has a chance to make it in the market. The Wikipad has a chance to be what the PS Vita should have been.

The portable gaming world is missing a device like the $249 Wikipad: A serious, but still affordable gaming platform that can multitask. Sony missed a big opportunity with the PS Vita. The hardware on Sony’s latest portable is fantastic. It’s a powerhouse of computing, but the user experience, and reliance on physical media, stifles its ability to be something other than a gaming machine. And at $249, the PS Vita should be able to browse the web with ease and support a rich, even if it’s limited, ecosystem of apps.

Android gaming could be the next big thing. With dedicated gaming devices like the OUYA, Game Stick and the Wikipad, there will suddenly, almost overnight, be a whole batch of devices craving new games.

The 10-inch Wattpad is still coming, per the company’s president of sales. Look for it by Christmas 2013 and expect Tegra 4 power.

One of the most-rumored features of the mythical Apple television set is Siri integration that would allow you to naturally ask questions and issue commands to your TV, but Microsoft may beat Apple to the punch, if a new report from The Verge is accurate. Microsoft already has some voice features built into the current generation Xbox, but the next-gen console will get much-improved abilities including natural language processing powers, the report claims.

New voice-based abilities include the option to wake the new Xbox from sleep mode with an “Xbox on” command, as well as a system that can use Kinect to detect people in the room and offer up multiplayer game suggestions. Users can also query the new Xbox to ask it what their friends are currently playing, tell it to pick up playing a movie where it was last left off and more. The new system will also be much better at vocalizing responses to voice-based user input, according to the report, which should make the overall experience feel much more like an ordinary conversation.

Natural language input for Smart TV platforms is a trend that’s just starting to find its sea legs. The tech was discussed at CES this year by many CE companies including LG as part of their upcoming or shipping platforms, and language processing industry leader Nuance launched its Dragon TV platform last year at CES, to be offered up for integration into OEM hardware and cable/satellite services that want to start building in NLP functionality.

Microsoft is clearly interested in more than just games with the Xbox, and the next generation version of that console will probably take its efforts to be the locus of the living room further still. Building a Siri-like experience into that platform is one way to increase its value proposition over competing, more affordable devices like the Roku and current Apple TV, for users who might not be so interested in the gaming side of the equation.

We’ll see the next Xbox at E3 this year, but also possibly before if Verge’s sources are correct, at an event similar to the one Sony is holding on February 20th in NYC. Both consoles are also expected to make their official commercial debuts later this year, in time for the holiday shopping season.

Apple had a new patent application published by the USPTO today, describing an unlocking method for digital devices that uses image identification to properly recognize an authorized user. The system would present a user with photographs from their iPhoto or iCloud collections, and then ask them to identify who or what the subject is in order to unlock the device. The item in question could also be an object or series of images.

The authentication process would work by displaying at least one image to be identified from the user’s library, though it could also display a number in succession if users are looking for more security. It’s highly likely that someone close to you will recognize another individual depicted in photos on your phone, for instance, but if you’re worried about granting access even to that inner circle of acquaintances, it becomes increasingly unlikely they’ll be able to identify each of a series of more than one picture.

Different means of input are also described in the patent, from a multiple selection list of choices for one-tap entry, to using an on-screen (on an iOS device) or physical keyboard (on a Mac) to type in the exact answer, to just speaking the name of the person or object aloud. Combined with voice recognition, you can see how the third option would provide yet another layer of added, personalized security, which would be very hard to beat via conventional machine-based security workaround tools.

If the system uses objects instead of people, the patent describes a process by which users would offer up unique, alternative nicknames for recognizable monuments and landmarks. So, for example, a picture of the Eiffel Tower could actually be linked to the phrase “The Big Stick.” Since no one else is likely to use quite the same idiosyncratic alternate names for highly recognizable objects, the system should remain fairly secure.

In most cases, Apple’s current passcode unlock system is probably sufficient for the needs of users, but should the company want to meet the needs of privacy sensitive users, a method like this that’s highly personal and hard to hack could be of considerable benefit.

Ubuntu’s recently announced mobile operating system certainly has some panache, which has prompted more than a few nerds (myself included) to become enamored with it. Thankfully, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth has just recently given us a clearer idea of when to expect it — he told the Wall Street Journal that the first Ubuntu-powered smartphone would see the light of day this October.

That is, of course, if everything pans out the way that the Ubuntu team hopes. It’s not unheard of for mobile platform launches to miss their intended launch windows after all — BlackBerry 10 was famously slated for a 2012 launch before being delayed until last week.

Sad to say, the rest of Shuttleworth’s chat with the Journal wasn’t nearly as revealing. Though we’ve seen the nascent mobile OS running on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus both in the initial announcement video as well as at CES, Shuttleworth declined to offer names of any confirmed or potential hardware manufacturers Canonical may be working with. Even so, Canonical’s fondness of the one-time flagship device doesn’t end there. Developers will be able to tinker with Ubuntu on the Galaxy Nexus starting sometime this month (though the fact that it was originally supposed to be released last month may not bode well for Canonical’s launch window).

Shuttleworth also mentioned that the mobile OS would make its official debut in two major markets this fall, but you guessed it — there’s no hard word on which markets he’s actually talking about. But he did concede that North America is a “key market” for Ubuntu. That said, Canonical may do well by tackling some less-developed markets right out of the gate.

Canonical’s Jane Silber noted that when Ubuntu for phones was first revealed that the appeal of Ubuntu phones extends far beyond the enterprise, adding that Ubuntu’s native apps and stylish UI could make it a popular choice for more basic smartphones. Some of the other upstart players are looking to expand the reach of their mobile operating systems by taking a similar tack. Carriers like Telefonica are planning to use Mozilla’s Firefox OS as a means of getting more low-cost, feature-rich devices into the hands of consumers in markets like Brazil. Attempting to make a splash where mobile OS allegiances have not quite had a chance to settle yet could give Canonical an edge, as those regions become more digitally developed.

The PC market is fast shifting into a touchscreen world, and Apple is leading the charge. Some new numbers from the analysts at Canalys note that in Q4 of 2012, one in every three PCs shipped was actually a tablet, and that Apple’s iPad accounted for about half of them, or one in every six PCs shipped.

Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling tells me that by “tablet,” Canalys means any computing device with screen of seven inches or more. By combining PC and tablet numbers — a logical thing to do, given that many are substituting tablet purchases and usage for PC purchases and usage — Canalys figures that worldwide PC shipments are actually on the rise — up by 12% on last year to 134 million units for the quarter. That’s in contrast to figures from Gartner, which in January noted that Q4 PC shipments were down by 5% on last year — without factoring in tablets.

Adding Apple’s iPad sales to its Mac sales puts it into the lead among PC vendors. The company shipped 27 million PC units in Q4, giving it a 20.1% share of the market. The number-two vendor was HP, whose market share is based on its PC prowess. It shipped 15 million PCs, for an 11.2% share of the market. That let it edge just ahead of Lenovo, which shipped 200,000 fewer units.

Still, Android continues to make inroads. Canalys points out that this is the first quarter where Apple’s iPad has not accounted for more than 50% of all tablets shipped — it was 49%, as it happens, with Android accounting for 46%.

Apple’s savior was the iPad Mini: “Apple timed the launch of the iPad mini well,” writes Pin-Chen Tang, Canalys research analyst. “Its success proves there is a clear demand for pads with smaller screens at a more affordable price. Without the launch, Apple would surely have lost more ground to its competitors.” Indeed, that fact may well encourage Apple to look at more sizes and price points for its iOS devices in the future.

Overall, Canalys points out that the tablet market grew by 75% in Q4 to 46.2 million units, and that full-year shipments were 114.6 million units. Given that trend, Lenovo, which has been making some interesting hybrid models incorporating both touchscreen and keyboard features, could well pull ahead of HP if the latter doesn’t make some significant tablet inroads in the next couple of quarters.

Meanwhile, Samsung is at the other end of the spectrum: its strong performance, placing it into fourth place with 11.7 million units (9% market share) is based mostly on the success of its line of Galaxy Tab tablets. It shipped 7.6 million of these in Q4, a rise of 226%.

Dell, which is hoping for a turnaround as a private company, rounded out the top five. Dell’s reputation “continues to fade,” Canalys writes, resulting in a 19% drop in shipments in the quarter. “A turnaround in fortunes is likely to take years,” they note — so just as well that Dell will not have to answer so quickly to the markets for its performance.

As other analysts have pointed out, Windows 8 has so far had little impact on worldwide PC shipments, and an almost negligible impact on tablets — with only 3% of tablets shipped in the quarter based on Windows 8.  That has had a knock-on effect both for Windows and for those who make devices using the OS. “Microsoft’s involvement in the Dell buyout raises eyebrows in the light of its recent aspirations to become a hardware vendor,” Canalys notes. “But it is not likely to solve Dell’s problems as even Microsoft struggles with pads.” Equally difficult was Windows RT, which failed to break even 1 million units at 720,000 shipped. “The outlook for Windows RT appears bleak,” noted Tim Coulling, Canalys senior analyst. He believes the only way out for this is for Microsoft to drastically reduce the licensing price, cutting further into its margins on the product.

Western Europe’s slow economy also continues to weigh things down.

Amazon, selling only tablets and no PCs (yet?), didn’t make the top five but still managed a substantial volume shift. Its shipments were 4.6 million units, almost mirroring Dell’s decline with growth of 18%. With the Kindle Fire now selling in more markets worldwide, it will be interesting to see if Amazon can see a big boost this year or if it will be stymied by Apple and Samsung. For now, international is doing a good enough job to offset some small declines in the U.S., where the launch of the higher-priced Kindle Fire HD not proving to be a runaway success as the initial launch of the Kindle Fire was a year ago.