Hasta La Gadget!

Avid watchers of tech know that Apple is almost as good at requesting patents (though, its record of defending them is somewhat less impressive) as it is at actually creating compelling products. Three years after initially filing for the design of a “portable multifunction device” with a multitouch interface, the USPTO has awarded the Cupertino crew a rather broadly worded patent that’s sure to raise few eyebrows amongst its competitors. The language could easily be interpreted to cover practically any device with a multitouch screen, be it tablet or smartphone — which we’re sure Jobs and co. are excited to add to their growing stockpile of claims to gestures and capacitive displays. Whether or not Apple actually uses its recently granted patent to go lawsuit loony against its market rivals remains to be seen but, chances are, it’ll stay quiet for the time being — those battles with Sammy and Lodsys are already consuming plenty of precious resources.

Apple granted broad patent for ‘portable multifunction devices’ with multitouch screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week, Acer unveiled a handful of back-to-school laptops, and today, the outfit’s showing off gear for kids who’ve got a teensy bit more room in the dorms. The company just trotted out a pair of desktops, along with the beastly 23-inch T231H multitouch monitor. Both towers have a staid black chassis with Acer’s clear.fi media streaming software on board. Of the two, the M series (pictured) is clearly for power users, with Core i3 and quad-core AMD Athlon II x4 processor options, 6GB of RAM, 1TB of hard drive space, optional discrete graphics, and a storage tray on top housing four USB 2.0 sockets and headphone and mic ports. The X series, meanwhile, has a trimmer, more compact design, and a modest spec list featuring Intel Pentium dual-core and AMD Athlon II X4 processors, 4GB of RAM, and integrated graphics. As for that 1080p display, it has an 80,000:1 contrast ratio and tilts between a 5-degree and 60-degree angle — not unlike that swiveling HP all-in-one that came out earlier this year. They’re all up for grabs now, with the M and X series starting at $500 and $398, respectively, and the monitor fetching $330. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Acer intros revamped desktops, 23-inch multitouch display for kids with ginormous dorm rooms

Acer intros revamped desktops, 23-inch multitouch display for kids with ginormous dorm rooms originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you can never have enough screen real estate while working, you might want to give Champtron’s 65-inch behemoth a look. It’s a 1080p Sharp panel imbued with the ability to recognize two touch inputs at a time — which can be fingers or “any” other sort of stylus — which should prove pretty damn useful when you’re trying to Photoshop a little extra sheen atop Steve Ballmer‘s glorious dome. As an added bonus, the dimensions of this screen make the Windows 7 UI extremely finger-friendly. Hell, it borders on being fist-friendly when exploded to a 65-inch size. See video of this champ after the break.

Continue reading Champtron’s 65-incher can recognize two-finger touch, make for a decently spacious second screen (video)

Champtron’s 65-incher can recognize two-finger touch, make for a decently spacious second screen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s Super AMOLED may have beat Toshiba to the in-cell capacitive touch punch, but we’re still happy to see other LCD panels dropping unnecessary layers. Featured in a GPS mock-up, Toshiba’s 7-inch 1024 x 600 R&D display touts 10-point multi-touch over 38,400 sensors — that’s one touch sensor for every four pixels. It may not be the first LCD to abandon the standard touch layer for integrated capacitive support, but we wouldn’t shy away from a tablet or embedded screen featuring this 1mm wonder. We’ll have to wait though; Toshiba’s in-cell tech is still in R&D, with no word when or if we might see it in commercial devices. Check out the video after the break for a quick hands-on.

Continue reading Toshiba’s in-cell integrated 7-inch capacitive LCD ditches touch layer, extra girth (video)

Toshiba’s in-cell integrated 7-inch capacitive LCD ditches touch layer, extra girth (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve somehow not heard of the ThinkPad X1 yet, you join us at a good time. The well leaked laptop has shown up at an X Series comparison site, put together by Lenovo itself, where yet more specs have been made known. The 13.3-inch display is dubbed a SuperBright HD inifinity panel, which to you and us simply means it’s built using IPS technology. There’s also an integrated fingerprint reader, a buttonless touchpad, USB 3.0 connectivity, and a promised 10-hour battery life with a slice battery. Weighing in at 1.36kg (3lbs) and measuring about 16mm (0.625 inches) in thickness, it’s described as Lenovo’s thinnest ThinkPad yet. Last time we heard, we were told to expect it on May 17th, guess those webmasters are getting the show started a little early. One more glamor shot of the X1 can be found after the break.

[Thanks, Jesse]

Continue reading Lenovo adds ThinkPad X1 to laptop comparison guide, outs IPS screen, USB 3.0, and optional SSD

Lenovo adds ThinkPad X1 to laptop comparison guide, outs IPS screen, USB 3.0, and optional SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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