WebOS Lives! (Update: And HP’s Still Making Tablets)

In the most dramatic stay of execution since Robin Hood shot an arrow through Little John’s noose, HP has decided that webOS will live on as open source. And there was much merriment and backslappery throughout the land! Also: good work, HP. This couldn’t have worked out better. More »

Best Buy offer 32GB HP TouchPad for $150 with a PC

When HP decided to discontinue the TouchPad tablet and drop the price to just $99, it wasn’t surprising to see the devices fly off the shelves. The market was there for a tablet that performed at the right price point, and led us to suggest every tablet should be $99. Supplies soon dried up, but […]

Engadget Primed: SSDs and you

Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day — we dig deep into each topic’s history and how it benefits our lives. You can follow the series here. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

If you’re a storage aficionado — and who here isn’t? — you’ve probably heard a lot about SSDs, those friendly solid-state disks promising dramatically improved performance over their magnetically inclined brethren. No doubt you’ve heard about the advantages, thanks to NAND storage that makes them silent, shock resistant, energy efficient and lightning quick. Yet you’ve also heard the horror stories: drive slowdowns, controller failures and manufacturer recalls. And adding to all those anxiety-producing headlines, there’s the price premium. While most magnetic drives average around a nickel or dime per gigabyte, even consumer-grade SSDs still run $1-2 per gigabyte, often for drastically smaller-capacity drives.

Three years ago, Intel launched its X25-M and X18-M: the “M” stood for “mainstream,” and the pair of drives were designed to reintroduce solid-state storage to a cost-conscious consumer market. (Perhaps more importantly, they were also meant to solidify Intel’s standing in the nascent SSD realm, up to that point a chaotic, Wild West-style domain. But we’ll get to that.) For most users magnetic drives still remain king, with solid states appealing primarily to a niche of enterprise IT professionals and modding enthusiasts. How did that happen — and should it be different? After the break we’ll look at how and why SSDs haven’t (yet) conquered the storage world, and examine whether they’re poised to do just that.

Continue reading Engadget Primed: SSDs and you

Engadget Primed: SSDs and you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zombie Steve Ballmer and four other geeky costume ideas

It’s time for Halloween, and what better way to get into the spirit than to dress up in a scary costume? However, anyone can buy a mummy mask, a vampire cloak, or a Spiderman suit. What if you want to geek it up a little bit? Here are our suggestions for Halloween costumes that will […]

HP’s Todd Bradley refutes webOS shutdown rumors

HP’s Todd Bradley showed up on Bloomberg last night for a quick round of webOS damage control. Following a report from The Guardian, saying the company would in fact kill the webOS division, Bradley referred to the report as an “unfounded rumor.” He went on to say that “accolades for the operating system are broadly known” and that the company is focusing on how to “effectively utilize that phenomenal software.” Of course, there’s always a chance that the best way to utilize the troubled OS is to sell it to the highest bidder, but Bradley said HP will weigh all the “data and information” before making “the right decision.” For now, the operating system’s still kicking it in limbo. The full interview awaits you at the source link below.

HP’s Todd Bradley refutes webOS shutdown rumors originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP ‘officially’ out of TouchPads, Best Buy can still help you out

Looks like the tablet that wouldn’t die is finally dead — well, kind of sort, for now. HP sent out a note to let the world know that it’s “officially out of stock” of the zombie TouchPad. It’s not all bad news, however — apparently you can still pick one up at Best Buy, so long as you buy an HP computer at the same time. Mourn another quasi-death for the webOS slate with Boyz II Men after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading HP ‘officially’ out of TouchPads, Best Buy can still help you out

HP ‘officially’ out of TouchPads, Best Buy can still help you out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Guardian: HP shutdown of webOS division said to be ‘imminent’

Could the writing have already been on the wall for webOS when former VP of worldwide developer relations Richard Kerris left HP for Nokia this week? While nothing is yet confirmed, The Guardian is now reporting that HP will indeed finally shut down its webOS division, which could affect up to 500 jobs (either through reassignment or layoffs — we’ve previously heard that some layoffs had already begun). That word comes from some unnamed internal HP sources, who reportedly expect an “imminent closure,” with one employee adding that “there’s a 95% chance we all get laid off between now and November.” For its part, HP remained noticeably mum on any news about webOS when it announced that it would hang onto its PC business this week, and its decision to use Windows 8 on tablets certainly didn’t do much to inspire the webOS faithful.

The Guardian: HP shutdown of webOS division said to be ‘imminent’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP to announce ARM-based servers next month, throw Intel a curveball

Sources close to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal say that HP is primed to help ARM wrestle its way into the server game next month, citing unannounced plans that may challenge Intel’s corner on the market. HP is said to be working with Calxeda, an outfit with dreams of outclassing today’s servers by selling OEMs an ARM-based system on a chip that can be used to build high performance racks with low energy footprints. ARM, HP and Calxeda all declined to comment, although a spokesperson for Calxeda mentioned that it has a product release event scheduled for November 1st. Intel doesn’t seem too concerned, and told the Wall Street Journal that ARM architecture still had a few hurdles to jump before it was ready for the server game. “We believe the best-performing platform will win.” Spoken like a true sportsman, Intel. Game on.

HP to announce ARM-based servers next month, throw Intel a curveball originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP will keep PC division, hope alive

There’s been plenty of speculation about what the future holds for HP and its Personal Systems Group — a group that CEO Leo Apotheker seemed intent to shed — but the crew now led by CEO Meg Whitman has just confirmed that division is staying home, where it belongs. Meg says the company “objectively evaluated” the idea of spinning PSG off but decided that keeping it in-house is “right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees.” Or, maybe her reserve wasn’t met. Either way, the press release after the break goes on to confirm that the board believes PSG will continue to “drive profitable growth” in these challenging times. Maybe good ‘ol Leo was right when he said “You still need larger machines to handle heavy-duty tasks.” Heavy indeed.

Update: Oh, and in case you had any doubts, HP is actually going to use Windows 8 (when available) to make its tablets appealing. And now you know.

Continue reading HP will keep PC division, hope alive

HP will keep PC division, hope alive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Kerris moves from HP to Nokia, becomes Global Head of Developer Relations

Well, that certainly didn’t take long. Just a couple of days after leaving HP to “pursue an opportunity outside of the company,” ex-VP of Worldwide Developer Relations for webOS Richard Kerris has now turned up at Nokia, where he’ll be serving as the company’s Global Head of Developer Relations. As you may recall, Kerris only took on the HP job at the beginning of this year, having previously served as Chief Technology Officer at Lucasfilm. He’s also not the first individual to chart this particular course — designer Peter Skillman also left Palm / HP last year to take on a similar gig at Nokia, where he’s since had a hand in the N9 and the company’s new Lumia 800.

Richard Kerris moves from HP to Nokia, becomes Global Head of Developer Relations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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