Just because most of us bought iPads doesn’t mean that any of you should. There are plenty of devices, out now or coming soon, that can do some things as well—or better. Here’s a roundup of the best: More »
In a recent interview during a trip to the US, ASUS chairman Jonney Shih told Forbes that his company is working on “at least two” tablet PCs. The news, of course, comes just ahead of the release of Apple’s iPad, which is set for this Saturday. One of the tablets, according to Shih, will run a Google OS–likely Chrome. The other will be based on Microsoft Windows.
Shih, whose company helped lead the netbook explosion, sees such a tablet co-existing with the space. “Netbooks are the best combination of personal computing and cloud computing,” Shih told Forbes. “But between netbooks and smartphones and e-readers, we think there will be a space for something like a tablet or slate PC.”
The tablets–the Google-based on,e especially–will focus on delivering multimedia content.
We’ve been hearing talk of an Eee Pad since the end of 2009, even getting a sort of unofficial, official confirmation of its existence from ASUS exec Eric Chen. Now company chairman Jonney Shih has confirmed not only one tablet, but two. “Netbooks are the best combination of personal computing and cloud computing, but between netbooks and smartphones and e-readers, we think there will be a space for something like a tablet or slate PC.” This is where ASUS will insert a pair of models set to be unveiled sometime this year. One is said to run a Google OS of some sort, either Android or Chrome, the other running Windows. We’re expecting some level of hardware differentiation between the two as well, but at this point we don’t know anything else — except that the Google flavored version “will have a lot of media.” We like media.
ASUS’s Jonney Shih confirms two tablets, one for Googlites, one for Microsofties originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
If Apple had its way, we expect that the iPad would go down in history as the device that nearly single-handedly destroyed Adobe’s empire of Flash. While HTML5 has been in development for years, content providers like the Wall Street Journal, NPR, CBS and more have only begun transitioning video services to the new standard (and subsequently, away from Flash) now that it’s time for Cupertino’s big release. But this week, Adobe has found an ally in Google, which has just announced that the Chrome browser — and more importantly, Chrome OS — will not merely support but natively integrate the technology. In the short run, what this means is that the Chrome browser won’t require you to download Adobe Flash Player or spend time updating it before back-to-back YouTube viewings and marathon Newgrounds sessions. In the long run, Google explains that it intends Flash to become an integral, seamless part of web design up there with HTML and Javascript — and if we extrapolate, an integral part of its new Chrome OS as well. Pardon us for thinking out loud, but it sounds like Google’s found an exclusive feature to highly tout, when it inevitably brings a Chrome OS tablet to market.
[Thanks, Adam]
Chrome brings Flash Player into the fold, trains it to kill iPads? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
Call it Apple’s populist paradox. The Macintosh’s human-centered design inspired its being called the “computer for the rest of us,” but the Mac also long been associated with exceptional creative individuals, a message Apple has driven home in campaigns ranging from “wheels from the mind” to “think different.” In the early days of the Web, it was said that Web pages were created on Macs and viewed on PCs — and served on Unix workstations.
Should the concepts in a video detailing a new Microsoft-developed device dubbed Courier come to fruition, though, Microsoft and Apple may find themselves on unfamiliar sides as an old rivalry turns to the new frontier of convergence tablets, with Apple providing the workaday access product and Microsoft providing a niche but empowering tool aimed at creative professionals.
Continue reading Switched On: Courier courts the creative
Switched On: Courier courts the creative originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Seton Hill University hands out iPads to students originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There are certain cultural differences one has to know about when doing business in in various parts of the world. While consumer electronics have been somewhat unifying, idiosyncrasies remain. Take the tablet, for example. What we here in the States refer to as the iPad, folks in Europe are calling the WePad–a strange difference we’re chalking up to the use of the “royal we.”
All right, that’s not entirely true. Actually, it’s not true at all. The WePad is an iPad competitor designed by German manufacturer, Neofonie. The tablet features a built-in Webcam and runs Android. And now it boasts some major support in its home continent. Europe’s biggest publisher, Gruner + Jahr, has seemingly given the tablet its stamp of approval.
The company’s CEO Bernd Buchhol reportedly showed off the device during the company’s annual press conference. German newspaper BILD is also said to be in talks with Neofonie. An official list of content partners is expected to be revealed on April 12th.
Archos 7 Home Tablet up for pre-order, could ship first week of April originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Seeing as how it’s still March–and the iPad hasn’t actually gone on sale yet–it seems a tad too early to start talking real year-end shipping numbers for the Apple iPad. That, however, is exactly the manner of speculation that tech analysts thrive on. Morgan Stanley, for one, is more than happy to get in the game.
Katy Huberty, an analyst for the company is predicting that Apple will ship some 2.5 million tablets between March and May. Projected to the end of the year, that number should hit around 8 to 10 million units.
“We continue to believe the market under-appreciates longer-term iPhone/iPad demand,” Huberty wrote on the subject. “Negative investor sentiment on the iPad centers on the lack of a ‘killer app’ or new technology. Near-term, we believe iPad will target the sizable sub-$800 consumer notebook market, which equates to 30 million units in the US and 120 million units globally. Medium-term, newly introduced content (books, magazines, video) and iPad-optimized apps could broaden the addressable market and strengthen iPad sales momentum later this year.”
Huberty also expects the company to sell more than six million of the devices by year’s end.
Apple today confirmed that its “magical” (the company’s word, for the record) is set to go on sale this Saturday, April 3rd, at 9 AM. The much hyped tablet will be available at all Apple Store locations, as well as “most” Best Buys.
Customers who pick up the tablet through the Apple Store will receive free set up. Apple will also be hosting workshops for the iPad, beginning this Saturday.
As confirmed earlier, the tablet has already begun shipping for those users who bought the device the first day it was available for pre-order.
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