Slate

Coming June 24: CNET Showcase on tablets, slates, Netbooks

The first CNET Showcase event, on 3D TVs, was enough of a success that we've turned right around and set up another one.

On June 24, we'll be putting on Showcase No. 2 at our San Francisco headquarters, this time focusing on slates, tablets, and Netbooks.

We'll kick off the event with a discussion among me and two CNET Reviews experts: Donald Bell (slates and tablets) and Dan Ackerman (Netbooks and notebooks). Then we'll open up a mini trade show, giving our live audience the chance to check out the latest slim and small computers and … Read more

Does Microsoft need a Windows 7 slate?

Microsoft needs an answer to Apple's iPad and that should be some sort of Windows-based consumer tablet.

At least that is the position that analysis firm Forrester takes in a new report, which argues that tablets are "the next important computing form."

"To keep its products front and center, Microsoft needs a partner to produce a successful Windows tablet that competes with the Apple iPad," analysts JP Gownder and Sarah Rotman Epps said in a report released on Thursday. "At stake is nothing less than the future of the operating system."

Microsoft CEO … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1234: Facebook is like a nude beach (podcast)

Rafe hits us with the best Facebook analogy yet: it's like a nude beach that you have to go to, and also, it rips your clothes off. Also, we get all excited about WebOS in the HP slate until Rafe irrefutably proves how it's not going to work. And then Molly turns into Tom and says a "graduated response" to piracy from ISPs might not be that unacceptable. What!?

HP: WebOS headed to Internet-connected printers

When Hewlett-Packard announced its intentions to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion a few weeks ago, the company had big things in mind for Palm's WebOS. On Tuesday during the conference call for HP's second-quarter 2010 earnings, CEO Mark Hurd revealed some additional detail on the company's plans for the mobile OS.

HP will acquire Palm "in order to enhance our intellectual property...in the connected-mobility space. We expect to leverage WebOS into a variety of form factors, including slates and Web-connected printers," Hurd said Tuesday.

"With a whole series of Web-connected printers, as … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1221: Unbumble the Internet (podcast)

Phrases are coined left and right on today's show, from our plans to unbumble the Internet to the chat-room created phrase "gestApple," to describe the behavior of everybody's favorite door-busting-down, Ellen-berating iPhone-maker. Plus, "three-day-old tuna." It's a fun one. Also, six things you need to know about Facebook Connections (it violates your privacy six ways to Sunday) and the ensuing storm of tablet competition.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1221

Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/05/things-you-need-know-about-facebook … Read more

HP Slate killed? Not so fast

Despite glaring headlines last week that the Hewlett-Packard Windows 7-based Slate was canceled, it may not be that cut and dried, according to analysts.

In this HP Slate promotional video made back in January, HP VP Phil McKinney says the Slate running Windows 7 is a "real product. It's not a prototype or concept. We're committed to delivering it in 2010." And this relatively long testimonial from Adobe in March says the Windows 7 HP Slate "will be available in the market later this year."

Of course, HP can change its mind. And the … Read more

Digital City 80: Turning a WiFi iPad into an iPad 3G; the death of HP's Win 7 slate

This week we start by discussing the big car bomb scare in Times Square, and how our purportedly high-tech surveillance-heavy society isn't as high-tech as TV shows like 24 would have us believe.

There's still no confirmation, but after the HP/Palm deal was announced, the first thing we heard was the Win7 version of HP's upcoming tablet is on thin ice -- we examine the clues.

The iPad 3G is the other big story of the week. Dan and Scott checked out a couple of launch events last Friday, and we'll also show you how … Read more

3D desktops

It is high time I started blogging about Loaded content because goodness knows I have more to say about the day's tech news than I can fit into a 4-minute show. So here goes. I'm going to try to do these daily so that you can click the links that are pertinent to the stories that I discuss and ring in with your own comments, if you see fit.

The most recent news in today's show is the Google acquisition of Bump Technologies. A 3D desktop? Will we really be able to change our behaviors to … Read more

Is the HP Win 7 slate already dead?

Update: TechCrunch now reports that the Windows version of HP's slate tablet is indeed dead. Michael Arrington writes: "Hewlett-Packard has killed off its much ballyhooed Windows 7 tablet computer, says a source who's been briefed on the matter."

Second update: An HP PR rep has contacted us via e-mail, saying, "We don't comment on rumors or speculation."

With the news that HP is acquiring Palm, one hot upcoming device that may get suddenly shifted onto the back burner is the company's iPad-style tablet. The device is referred to in marketing materials as … Read more

HP Slate more Netbook than iPad

What is smaller than a mainstream laptop, uses an Intel Atom processor, and runs Windows? Both a Netbook and the upcoming HP Slate fit that definition, which will pose problems for the Slate when reviewers inevitably try to compare it with the iPad.

The notion of the Slate as a Netbook sans keyboard gained some ground Monday amid reports that the Slate does not compare favorably to an Apple iPad.

Though the final verdict on the HP Slate will have to wait until it is released to major review sites, its specifications already hint at Netbook-like performance, as this report last week shows. … Read more