TouchPad

Ahead of its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard is virtually absent in tablets, one of the hottest device markets today. And its fresh entry into the market will face an entrenched iPad ecosystem at businesses.

There's no guarantee that HP's upcoming Windows 8 Pro tablet aimed at corporate enterprise customers will stop the iPad's march into businesses, according to Rhoda Alexander at IHS iSuppli.

"It is the established leader in all of the markets. It has more of a reach into business, into education than its competitors," Alexander said, referring to the iPad. "The consistency … Read more

Extra-short show today to make room for this morning's Apple iPad HD coverage, but we'll quickly speculate about the deal-making features that would push us to run out and buy an iPad HD--we'll also talk about the possibility of a haptic feedback display, a new AppleCare+ program, and what sites you should use to sell your old tablet if you upgrade.… Read more

Looking for free, reliable cloud storage? Dropbox offers 2GB, while SugarSync gives you 5GB. Microsoft's SkyDrive raises the stakes even higher with 25GB, though for the moment it lacks any official companion apps.

Not enough? Check out Box, which is currently offering 50GB of free cloud storage to Android users who install the Box app on their smartphone or tablet. (The promotion also extends to owners of the HP TouchPad, RIM PlayBook, and other devices. See the FAQ page for details.)

Although Box positions itself primarily as a provider of business storage solutions, this deal is for personal use … Read more

When you're up against the Apple iPad, you need more than just a cool name and a low price. You need a hook. You need a feature that no one else has--not even Apple.

Whether it's the waterproof design of the Pantech Element, the stereoscopic camera on the back of the T-Mobile G-Slate (shown right), or the remote control IR blaster integrated into the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, tablet makers have really shown remarkable inventiveness when it comes to giving their slates a little something extra.

To honor these creative efforts, we've rounded up our … Read more

LAS VEGAS--LG has its Magic Motion, and Sony has its Google TV nub. And until now, Panasonic hasn't had an effective way to navigate Web content. Enter the new Panasonic touch-pad remote control.

Available on Panasonic Blu-ray players--DMP-BBT01, DMP-BDT500, DMP-BDT320--and select televisions, including the WT50 and the VT50--the new remote offers a simple touch-pad surface, with a couple of additional buttons.

This year's Viera TVs and Blu-ray players feature a beefed-up Viera Connect smart-TV service and an onboard browser, and the touch pad is designed to make it easier to navigate around Web pages and services like … Read more

Last year, it was neck-and-neck between Panasonic's VT30 and Samsung's D8000/7000 as to the best television of the year...at least until those upstarts from Sharp spoiled plasma's party.

Currently the VT30 still stands as the best TV Panasonic has ever produced, and even if there's only a tiny improvement, the new TC-PVT50 series looks ready to take on that title.

The flagship VT50 will come in two screen sizes, the 55-inch TC-P55VT50, and the 65-inch TC-P65VT50 and features all of Panasonic's current know-how with an Infinite Black Ultra Panel and new louver filter. … Read more

WebOS was destined to fail from the beginning, according to former Palm employees who spoke with The New York Times.

The mobile operating system, which powered Hewlett-Packard's famous flameout TouchPad, was intended to compete with Apple's iOS and Google's Android. But people involved in its creation say the platform was doomed from conception.

"Palm was ahead of its time in trying to build a phone software platform using Web technology, and we just weren't able to execute such an ambitious and breakthrough design," Paul Mercer, the former senior director of software at Palm who … Read more

It's been a whirlwind year for the mobile-devices business, and next year promises to be even more exciting.

Just as 2011 saw the rise in dominance of Android, Apple basically opening fire on every Android device through lawsuits, and a flood of tablets and 4G devices, 2012 should see similar shake-ups in the industry. Below are five predictions for what will happen next year. Some are based on recent conversations with industry sources, others rely on where the market trends are heading, while a few are speculation and wishful thinking.

One thing's for sure: the industry will continue … Read more

On Sunday evening, HP put the (allegedly) final batch of its discontinued TouchPad tablets on sale for cheap on its eBay store. Less than 30 minutes later, they were all sold out, and I was left slate-less, yet again.

HP entered into its great tumult of 2011 in August--a drama that has been covered in great detail on CNET--and one of the final stages of the corporate carnage came when the company began selling warehouses full of TouchPads for as low as $99. What ensued was a digital crush of bargain-hunting nearly as ugly as a Wal-Mart on Black Friday, but without the pepper spray.

HP offered a lot here and a lot there of the bargain-basement tablets, while smaller batches would briefly pop up on the sites of retailers like Barnes & Noble and OfficeMax or subsites of eBay, only to sell out again in mere minutes. Inventory systems were unable to keep up with the pace of sales, and suddenly a receipt and confirmation number was no guarantee of actually receiving a fire-sale TouchPad. Big bundles of confirmed orders were canceled, and angry customers vented on forums and on Twitter, leaving one unfortunate HP social-media manager tweeting her pleas for compassion and patience.… Read more