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Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2
I’ve tried out quite a few variations on the Windows 8 theme just lately – touchscreen notebooks mainly – but I’ve been dabbling with Boot Camp and virtual machine incarnations on the desktop too but without the finger friendliness. So trying out Lenovo’s business-centric ThinkPad Tablet 2 seemed like it would be an easy …
India may can low cost Aakash tablet project
The Indian government may pull the plug on its ambitious but misfiring plan to put a low-cost Aakash tablet in the hands of 50 million students across the country.
The project has been hit by repeated delays since its 2011 launch, when British manufacturer Datawind was contracted to build 100,000 of the Android tablets.
Now the …
Touch screens and greasy mitts: All you need is glove
Something for the weekend, sir? Currently, my most generous client has conspired to have me surrounded by shiny glass and plastic rectangles between the hours of 6pm and 6am. Working night shifts always seems a little exotic at first for namby-pampy light-lubbers like myself but the novelty eventually wears off as vitamin D levels decline.
iMac monolith …
Microsoft Surface Pro sales CANNIBALIZING Surface RT
The bad news just keeps coming for Microsoft's vaunted line of Surface fondleslabs, with sources reporting that sales of the devices continue to disappoint.
Redmond has sold just around 1.5 million of the devices to date, Bloomberg reports, citing sources who claim knowledge of the company's sales figures.
That's a little more …
Stats-crunchers toss ebooks into Blighty's 2013 inflation basket
The Office for National Statistics has added ebooks to the basket of goods and services used to calculate Britian's rate of inflation, while Freeview boxes have been tipped out.
The ONS said that ebooks were needed in the shopping basket that represents the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI) in the UK, as …
Ten ten-inch tablets
Product Round-up Does it make sense to own both a smartphone with a 5-inch screen and a 7-inch tablet? Arguably not. I can’t think of anything that I can do on my Nexus 7 that I couldn’t do equally well on a Samsung Galaxy Note II. Granted, the Nexus 7 makes a perfect partner for my Motorola Razr i, but if I used a Note II as my ‘phone’ I’d want …
News Corp challenges iPad with $299 education tablet
News Corporation is getting into the fondleslab business via its educational arm, Amplify, with a cheap Android slab aimed at schools.
"We want to transform the way teachers teach and students learn," said Amplify CEO Joel Klein in a statement. "Technology has revolutionized the world, but not the classroom. Our hope is that …
Apple takes aim at accessory makers, files iPad stand patent
If you were among the 25,000 or so Apple faithful who crowded the exhibit hall at this year's Macworld/iWorld "Ultimate iFan Event" a couple of weeks back, you're certain to agree that the last thing the iMarketplace needs is yet another iPad stand. Apple, however, disagrees.
As part of its weekly patent-application release, the …
Four firms pitch hi-def DRM for Flash cards
Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba have begun licensing their new DRM technology for memory cards to anyone who feels the world needs yet another copy protection technology for HD content. They hope many content providers do indeed want a new DRM system, specifically one that secures content but doesn’t prevent content …
Dell takes aim at iPad, uncloaks enterprise-level Win8 tablet
MWC 2013 Dell has updated its Windows 8 tablet line, and in doing so has juiced the industry's increasing realization that fondleslabs are here to stay, belong in the enterprise, require enterprise-level security features, and are not just for playing Angry Birds.
"At Dell, we have – unequivocally – the most secure, most manageable, and …
Fondling again: HP slates new tablet for April
HP has used Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as the stage to launch into the Android tablet market, with the new Slate7, a 7-inch unit based on Android Jelly Bean 4.1.
Shipping from the mobility unit headed by ex-Nokia executive Alberto Torres, who joined HP last year, the Slate7 will arrive in April (which previous experience …
WTF is... Miracast?
Less than six months ago, there were just a handful of Miracast-certified products listed in the Wi-Fi Alliance’s kit database. Now there are nearly 150. A spectacular improvement for a little known technology. So what is it?
Miracast was formally launched in September 2012, but it was Google’s announcement a month and a half …
iPad? Pah. Behold the EYEPAD, patented by Sony for the 'PS4'
Sony has filed for a patent in Europe on the EyePad, a fondleslab with glowing edges that could be a controller for the PlayStation 4.
The fresh paperwork, which was published this month after Sony submitted it last July, "is typically a panel, tablet or slab-like device comprising one or more illuminated regions, two …
Kiwi cops to buy 6,500 iPhones, 3,900 iPads
New Zealand Police will acquire 6,500 smartphones and 3,900 fondleslabs to improve the force's efficiency.
The force says using the devices will mean each cop gains 30 minutes of time a day, which when will add up 520,000 hours of time savings or the equivalent of putting an extra 345 officers on the street.
The Police's …
Fashionably slate
Comment It’s not easy being a television manufacturer these days. Most homes, especially in the West and the wealthier parts of Asia, now have a large flat panel TV, thank you, and don’t need another one. Sales, then, are not as strong as they once were, pushing down prices and, in turn, whittling production margins from razor thin to …
Microsoft Surface Pro launch: It's easy to sell out of sod all stock
Microsoft’s Surface Pro went on sale on Saturday, but stockists almost immediately ran into shortages, provoking anger and frustration among potential fondlers.
Redmond officially launched the 64GB and 128GB versions of its Intel tablet chunkster online and at selected retail outlets in the US and Canada at the weekend.
But it …
Nemo cancels Microsoft's Surface Pro launch
Microsoft’s super-select, invitation-only Surface Pro launch event in New York has been cancelled thanks to a big fish.
The general manager of Microsoft’s Surface team Panos Pany tweeted that he wouldn’t be able to attend the event at Best Buy in Times Square because of blizzard warnings hanging over the New York City area. …
Microsoft's Surface Pro team takes on Reddit to finesse fondleslab
In a canny PR move, the team behind the Surface Pro has hosted a discussion on the internet forum Reddit to answer questions about Microsoft's latest fondleslab.
These kinds of online forum discussions are risky, since they can't be tightly controlled. President Obama's attempt came across as slick, while others have been …
200 million office workers gagging for a... Microsoft Surface?
Microsoft Surface tablets are top of office workers' wish lists, research from Forrester has found, in a surprising discovery from its yearly survey of global information workers.
That means 200 million people want their employers to get them a Surface this year, states Forrester in the report 2013 Mobile Workforce Adoption …
Review: Seagate Wireless Plus Wi-Fi hard drive
In the week Apple finally released an iPad with a storage capacity greater than 64GB - double that; 128GB to be precise - Seagate made its Wireless Plus available. Of course, if Apple’s Flash mark-up wasn’t so colossal, or it had had the wit to either built a Micro SD port into its tablets or allow USB mass storage devices to …
Review: Dell XPS 10 Windows RT tablet and dock
Windows RT: unholy fondleslab abomination or clever integration of a grown-up desktop and touch-friendly tablet UI? Opinions veer wildly and violently between one and the other extreme.
The newest and first non-Nvidia Tegra 3 receptacle for Microsoft’s alleged problem child is Dell’s Asus Transformer-esque XPS 10. On paper, and …
Review: Living with Microsoft's new Surface Pro
While the Surface RT was aimed at Apple's iDevices, its posh Pro cousin is Microsoft's Windows 8 showcase in the PC space, and on midnight on February 9 the first units will go on sale. But we got one early, lived with it for a week, and have, ahem, surfaced to tell of our experience.
Microsoft is adamant that the Surface Pro is …
Apple still top for slab-fondlers despite FLOOD of Xmas tablets
Apple is still riding clear at the top of the global tablet market, though it has lost 8 per cent of its share of sales since the same time last year. Its tablet rivals, meanwhile, experienced triple-digit growth compared to the final quarter of 2011.
This is according to the latest stats from IDC, which showed Samsung and ASUS …
Is your Surface Pro a bit full? Slot in an SD card, it's not from Apple
Comment There's massive internet coverage today of a major "issue" with the forthcoming Microsoft Surface Pro slab, the latest attempt by Redmond to unseat Apple's iPad line from its global tablet throne. It's being widely reported that the Surface Pro arrives with a lot of its onboard storage already full up: but this is a foolish …
Tablets BEAT DOWN laptops in 4-to-1 Xmas bloodbath - analyst
Bow down before the might of the tablet. If you were unsure who is the master now, look no further than numbers from the UK wing of GfK, a market watcher which tracks over-the-counter sales.
According to its data, more tablets were sold in December 2012 - no doubt as Christmas prezzies - than notebooks purchased in October, …
What ereader decline? Kobo pumps up the volumes despite grim forecasts
A chirpy Kobo has claimed it now has more than 12 million registered users, four million of them creating ebook buyer accounts with the company during 2012.
It lauded its device sales too - well, its e-ink kit, not its Android-based tablet offerings - insisting it had captured 20 per cent of the world ereader market in 2012. …
Report: Tablets to outsell ALL PCs by 2016
It was claimed by one market watcher this week that tablets will outsell notebook computers during 2013. By 2016, says another, slates’ share of the PC market will have surpassed all other devices combined.
The research firm in question is Canalys, and it reckons Wintel’s share of the PC market will drop from 72 per cent in 2012 …
Review: HP ENVY x2 Windows 8 convertible
The flourishing market for tablet computers has left people wanting more. Those using tablets at work invariably end up buying a keyboard and regularly curse the limitations of a mobile operating system. Those using a Windows laptop at work often wish they could occasionally dispense with the keyboard for convenient touchscreen …
Silly Rabbit! Like Trix, color e-readers are for kids
CES 2013 If you're expecting rich, vibrant colors on your next ebook reader, you're going to be disappointed – the laws of physics are against you.
"Somebody like the National Geographic is still not going to be happy with our product," Sriram Peruvemba, chief marketing officer of E Ink, the company that creates the e-paper displays for …
Panasonic pitches Ultra HD 4K x 2K monster tablet
CES 2013 Asus has an 18.4-inch tablet-cum-all-in-one-desktop-PC on display this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but Panasonic has it beat: the Japanese giant is showing off a Windows 8 slate that not only packs a 20-inch display but sports an Ultra HD resolution.
Yes, Panasonic’s mammoth fondleslab contains 9.8 million pixels …
Razer uncages Core i7, GeForce megaslab for hardcore gamers
CES 2013 Games peripherals specialist Razer is finally bringing to market the concept gaming tablet it introduced at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
A year after unveiling "Project Fiona" at CES 2012, Razer used CES 2013 to unveil the Edge - geddit?! - a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-based 10.1in, 1366 x 768 pixel megaslab. It's …
Review: Vodafone Smart Tab II 7 budget 3G tablet
Tablets with 3G connectivity continue to command what I think is an unreasonable premium over their Wi-Fi only siblings. Granted, the 3G Google Nexus 7 is only 40 quid more than the equivalent Wi-Fi model but you can’t have 3G at all with the cheaper, 16GB tablet. The 3G iPad Mini, meanwhile, carries a £100 mark-up.
Vodafone …
Intel bets the farm on touch-enabled 'convertible and detachable' Ultrabooks
CES 2013 To hear Intel tell it, the days of the good ol' laptop are numbered, and the future belongs to touch-enabled convertibles – laptops that lead a double life as both clamshells and tablets.
"We fundamentally believe that there's a convergence happening between what traditionally have been notebook computing and tablet computing, …
Microsoft burgled, only the APPLE iPADS stolen - cops confirm
A savvy sneak slipped into a Microsoft campus, stole five iPads and left all the Microsoft products untouched, according to cops.
More than $3,000 in Apple kit was nicked from the research and development complex in Mountain View, California, over Christmas. There was no sign of a forced entry at Building 5 on La Avenida Street …
Review: Dell XPS 12 Windows 8 tablet-cum-Ultrabook
Making a laptop with a screen that spins within its bezel isn’t a new idea. Early in 2011, Dell tried the trick with its Inspiron Duo netbook, but sadly that proved to be a woefully poor device. Now Dell is trying again, this with Ultrabook hardware and Windows 8 as the basic ingredients.
It helps that, unlike the Duo, the new …
The LINUX TABLET IS THE FUTURE - and it always will be
The year of the Linux tablet is, like the year of the Linux desktop, destined never to arrive.
That doesn't mean we won't see Linux on a tablet, but you'll see Linux on a tablet the way you see it on the desktop - clinging to a tiny percentage of the market.
There is of course Android, which does use a Linux kernel somewhere …
Cheaper, slimmer Google Nexus 7 rumored for Q1 2013
Google may be readying a revamped model of the middle sibling in its Nexus line of Android devices for as early as the first quarter of 2013, if the supply-chain snoops at Taiwanese tech news site DigiTimes are correct.
Sources in the tech manufacturing sector are whispering that the Chocolate Factory and its manufacturing …
University of Western Sydney hands out 11k iPads
Every new student at Australia’s University of Western Sydney (UWS) will be given an iPad next year.
Founded in 1989, UWS has six campuses spread across Western Sydney, a sprawling region characterised as the working-class heart of the city, as opposed to the more affluent coastal suburbs. The university is probably not many new …
It's official: Mac users are morally superior to Windows users
The online donation–management company Qgiv has analyzed the charitable-giving patterns of 165,000 people and found that Mac users are far more benevolent than Windows users.
Qgiv analyzed 320,000 donations given through their donation platform from November 2011 through November 2012, and discovered that the average donation …
iPad mini to outsell iPad, get Retina Display? iPad to slenderize?
It was close. We Apple fanbois nearly had to endure an entire week without an iPad rumor, but as the week drew to a close those intrepid rumor-mongers at DigiTimes gifted us with two – in the same brief article, no less – and NPD Display Search added a third.
Rumor #1: According to the ocasionally accurate Taiwanese market …
Analyst offers cut-price fondleslab recipe
SSA Digital is a little-known Chinese company that is very good at two things.
One is getting spam through the filters here at Vulture South, which is the only reason we know about the second thing at which it excels: making seven inch tablet computers so cheaply it is prepared to sell them for just $US40 apiece in lots of 10, …
Review: Apple Mac Mini 2012
Update On 10 December 2012, Apple posted the called for Mac Mini HDMI-centric firmware update, after this review was written and published. We will be testing the machine with the new code, and will report back here shortly.
I should say right up front that, much as I quite like the Mac Mini’s form-factor, looks and, more particularly …
