source – engadget.com/ By Ross Miller

Acer’s dual-screen Iconia laptop is bold, for sure — eschewing a physical keyboard for another display — but its LCD panels are also mighty glossy. If you’ve got a light in the vicinity above you, there’s gonna be glare — we saw it on stage, and we just saw it now in person. That said, the screen is clear and the touch functionality is pretty clever (five fingers open up a widget where you can scroll through other touch-friendly apps). The keyboard, on the other hand, is pretty hard to use — even the rep admitted there’s a learning curve. You can’t rest your fingers down without hitting something, of course. We managed to browse to Engadget, but it took several tries. Check out the photos below!

Update: Now with video! It’s after the break.

Acer Iconia first hands-on!

SAMSUNG ADDS A TOUCH OF CLASS TO PC MARKET WITH NEW ALL-IN-ONE
Scintillating style coming to the UK in stunning 20″ and 23″ models

London, UK – May 11, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader in consumer electronics and world leader in IT technology, today announced its entry into the UK desktop PC market with the launch of two new ultra-stylish touch-screen All-in-One PCs for the home; the powerful, super-slim 23 inch U250 and ultra-stylish 20 inch U200.

The Samsung U200 and U250 will be available exclusively at PC World and PCWorld.co.uk from May 2010.

engadget : Eager for more of Samsung’s outlay? Good. Officially unveiled today over in the UK, the company’s new 23-inch U250 and 20-inch U200 all-in-one PCs are going where loads of AIO machines already have: the multitouch galaxy. The former offers up a full 1080p resolution, while the latter steps down to 1,600 x 900; both of ‘em ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, and the company would have you know that these two mark its “first venture into the home PC market in the UK.” Regrettably, the excitement was tempered by the lack of a real specification sheet, but we’re told they’ll ship later this month for those who couldn’t care less about nuts, bolts, gigahertz and megabytes.

This is just a rumor at this point, but it’s definitely one we’d file in the believable column. According to NewGadgets.de, HP’s planning to update its 12.1-inch tm2 convertible tablet with Core i3 and i5 processors in June. Considering we’ve heard that Intel will be releasing its Core i5 ULV processors around then, this certainly makes sense — after all, we’d expect HP to swap out the current Core 2 Duo ULV processors for something more powerful, yet power efficient. Time will tell if the new chips make it into the multitouch laptop, but it’s good to know that HP’s still working on at least some sort of Windows 7 tablet.

ASUS Launch Next Generation Eee Top PC ET2010

Specifications – ET2010PNT

Specifications – ET2010AGT

ASUS Eee Top ET2010

Microsoft releases Windows 7 Touch Pack to the general public –  free for download.

The Touch Pack includes:
Microsoft Blackboard, an intricate game of physics in which you solve a puzzle by creating a fanciful machine on a blackboard.

Microsoft Garden Pond, a tranquil game that takes place in serene Japanese water gardens.

Microsoft Rebound, a game in which you use your fingertips to control Tesla spheres with an electrical field between them to catapult a metal game ball into your opponent’s goal.

Microsoft Surface Globe, a program that you can use to explore the earth as a flat 2-D map or as an immersive 3-D experience.

Microsoft Surface Collage, a program that you can use to explore and interact with your photos and arrange them as a desktop background.

Microsoft Surface Lagoon, a screen saver and interactive water simulation, complete with a meditative rock arrangement and playful, shy fish.

If anything from the above sounds interesting and right for you touch enabled PC, follow the download link to Microsoft’s Windows 7 Touch Pack (size 239MB).

HP is working on a slate PC with an 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor. We’ve known that much for ages. What we haven’t really known is how the Windows 7 tablet will stack up against the competition, because all we’ve seen to date is the information HP wants us to see. But the folks at Conecti.ca got their hands on a real, pre-production model and the verdict is… that it’s alright, but nothing too special.

I have to say, I’m disappointed but not surprised. I’ve spent some time with a number of convertible tablets with Intel Atom processors and various versions of Windows, and they tend to suffer from a couple of problems. The operating system just isn’t that easy to navigate using touch-only controls — even with Windows 7 Home Premium’s advanced multitouch gesture support. And they tend to feel sluggish when performing some tasks, such as auto-rotating the display. I suspect this is at least partially due to the low power processor.

What is interesting is that the Spanish site conecti.ca has removed their early review of the HP Slate from their site by a direct request of Hewlett Packard Mexico. What this could mean is lets hope HP will do a little more work to improve the performance of the Slate. It turns out in the end that close cooperation between Software and Hardware producers is vital for delivering a good product in the end(as is the case with Apple and the iPad).

There are netbooks and then there’s the HP Mini 5102. Or at least that’s always been our impression of the 10-inch business and education targeted laptop, since it isn’t every day that you see what’s supposed to be a secondary system with a 7,200rpm hard drive, durable aluminum chassis, spill resistant keyboard and capacitive touchscreen options. Or you know, a $415 starting price. The Mini 5102 doesn’t fall into the same class as those $299 netbooks — considering our review unit rings up at $668 and all — but does the extra dough really pay off in a noticeably better shrunken computing experience? We’ve been on a mission to find out just that over the last few days, so hit the break for our full review.

for the entire review pls visit engadget.com

“Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Apologies for breaking into the fairytale cliché but lets admit it, we all have narcissistic tendencies! A little self-obsession is healthy and only makes you more confident. So why this sudden interest in vanity, you may ask? Well because we decided to do a round up of the most cutting edge mirrors out there that range from the surreal to the sublime! So without further ado, here are 17 mirrors which can help you can admire yourself.

The Interactive Mirror at the DIESEL GINZA Store (Japan) is what every girl dreams off! It is able to take high-resolution shots of you and then you can decide whether your butt looks fat in a dress or not! Check out the super cool video below. Philips is all about designing for the future and that is why we simply love them. Check out their Interactive Mirror, which even makes chores like brushing fun. You can also check the weather and traffic updates.

You don’t need to only see your own mug in a mirror. Thanks to the technology developed by DND Casa, a Korean design company, you can equip your room with television-equipped mirrors. Imagine watching your favorite TV show anywhere you can fancy.

Get use to the horror of aging! The Persuasive Mirror gives you a glimpse into the future ,so not exactly for the faint-hearted. The Persuasive Mirror aims at helping people by “using one’s reflection to improve lifestyle.”

The Carole Mirror is quite the wise ass as it gives you advice on anything and everything. The mirror also has the tendency of spouting random proverbs, which may just perk you up after a hard day.

Drawing smileys is so passé when the bathroom mirror steams up! Check out Mirror Games, which lets you,play games like Noughts and Crosses, crossword, pipe etc on its surface.

The Wooden Mirror is a stunning piece of work and visually is quite striking. Designed by Daniel Rozin , the mirror uses 830 square pieces of wood, 830 servo motors, control electronics, video camera, computer, wood frame. This one is more of a piece of art rather than a utility object.

BlogLitStudios Interactive Mirror provides quite a psychedelic experience. Is actually has a touchscreen interface that will be loved by iPhone fans! You can doodle on it, enjoy the graphics and do everything, which is fun. Check out the video below to catch all the action.

Not all mirrors are frivolous. The Earth Mirror aims at making you a better citizen of this Earth as it will be able to record your daily, monthly and annual usage of water.

Another Daniel Rozi original. After featuring the Wood Mirror we now focus on the Weave Mirror, which has been made of 768 individual strips that have been woven together.

Candy and Candy the Intelligent Mirror was designed for a Mayfair home and boy do I want this bad. Equipped with a 50inch plasma screen with a hidden camera and a control panel, you can check out all your angles by hitting record, play and pause.

The LED Mirror by Suck UK is not just a concept and can be bought by us mere mortals too. The mirror acts like a scrolling LED board and you can access time, date, program and save personalized messages.

Fans of Goth will appreciate the Scary Interactive Mirror that has been designed by William Gurley. Use the magic wand and become a wannabe Harry Potter.

The Stocco Maitre Touch Screen Mirror will let you groove to your favorite tunes while you maintain personal hygiene. . The Maitre mirror is available in sizes from 90cm to over 2m and party from supporting a MP3 player also provides an interface for radio, date and time, a barometer and more.

When you get tired of preening into the Philips MiraVision, use it to catch your favorite movies and show. This LCD monitor mirror sure makes for a great conversational piece.

The Infiniti Interactive Mirror is something right out of Minority Report. The installation features three 8′ high by 3.5 ‘ wide panes of mirrored glass placed side by side where the projected image with the users image meshes and makes for a surreal experience.

We all know how important texting is to mankind! Hence we approve of the +336+, designed by Robert Stadler. The mirror is able to receive SMS messages sent from a mobile phone.

Like the rest of the world, we’ve been drooling over multi-touch here at Lifehacker, but now DIY web site Instructables has a guide to combining that with our other favorite hobby: building stuff.

This isn’t your typical Lifehacker weekend project; you’ll have to shell out quite a bit for the materials (about $2500, or $1500 if you already have a computer lying around). However, if you have need (or want) of a multi-touch surface in your home, making it yourself will still cost you quite a bit less than buying it. You’ll need quite a bit of tech, such as a projector, computer (any recent one will do), a PS3 Eye Camera, as well as some acrylic sheets for the surface itself. You’ll also need some software for this project, but it’s our favorite kind of software—free. The project is pretty involved, but you can’t argue with the final product—it’ll certainly be the coolest piece of furniture in your house. Hit the link for the full how to, and if you’ve ever pulled something like this off, tell us about it (and show it off) in the comments!

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

A few months ago, some videos leaked from Microsoft showed a book-like device with two touch screens and a stylus. The user is seen researching, creating and designing content in a manner that looks both intuitive and innovative. Called Courier, the product doesn’t (yet) exist beyond the conceptual videos, but it shows Microsoft is thinking in some new ways. Ross Rubin discussed Courier’s role for creative professionals last week but I think there’s even more at stake here — I think the concept shows computing models are evolving. Here’s what Courier represents to the market:

The pen isn’t dead. The pen’s been searching for a place in computing for more than a decade. We’ve seen experiments in all different types of pen computing from the PC to the PDA and the phone. They’ve all pretty much failed, and today’s hot commodity is capacitive touch. Microsoft’s Courier video shows how the pen can play a prominent role in the evolution of computing interfaces. While fingers are great for many things, there are tasks better served by the ability to manipulate at the pixel level. Handwriting and the ability to take written notes is one of them. Content creation and painting is another. It’s clear Microsoft knows all this — in addition to Courier, there’s the Deskterity project that melds pen and touch on Surface.

Microsoft can move beyond Windows. It wasn’t that long ago that Microsoft thought the UI for other devices and platforms needed to mimic Windows. Windows CE devices all had tiny start menus and task bars which were totally unusable in a small form factor. The result were clunky devices trying to replicate a desktop experience designed for a large screen with input from a mouse and keyboard. One of the reasons that Windows 7 slate PCs look so un-interesting is that Windows 7 just wasn’t designed with those devices in mind. The net result is that Microsoft appears to be designing and optimizing for the form factor. We’ve seen this before with Surface and the beginnings of a new design with Windows Phone 7. If Microsoft can make the Courier experience familiar enough that consumers can embrace it while optimizing for the dual displays and pen we could see a nice breakthrough in next generation UI.

Tablets aren’t just about content consumption. The Courier UI shows a lot of interaction between the user and the device for content creation. While designers are the example shown, Courier appears optimized for researching, note taking, journaling and other tasks that might require a combination of different media types interacting. As appliance computing becomes more common, users will need both the ability to consume as well as create and interact. Courier shows some new thought and how we might evolve beyond mouse and keyboard while still able to create and design.

The Courier video is impressive not only for technology it showcases but the thinking behind it. UI enhancements such as the “book spine” that holds content placed on the clipboard and the integration of connected content show some out-of-the-box thinking that’s refreshing to see from Redmond — it’s cool that Microsoft is thinking about life beyond Windows and what it might look like. I’m personally hoping that there’s more than just some conceptual animation and Microsoft is able to turn this set of ideas into a real product offering.

If you’ve been patiently waiting on a low-cost NVIDIA Ion 2 system it looks like today is your lucky day since it looks like Lenovo has scored an early lead in unleashing the wrath of the new Atom / GeForce combo. Available sometime this month, the 18.5-inch C200 all-in-one isn’t going to replace that Core i7 rig for ripping through Command & Conquer 4, but its Intel dual-core Atom D510 CPU can handle the light productivity while its GeForce G210 GPU will automatically turn on — thanks to Optimus — to deal with some Spore or 1080p video. Unfortunately the C200 only has a single touch, 1366×768-resolution display and a standard integrated DVD drive rather than Blu-ray, but we guess we can’t expect much more for its appealing $499 price tag. Lenovo will also offer a sans Ion and touch version of the C200 for $399. We told you today was going to be your lucky day! PR and press pics for your viewing pleasure below.

Now let’s see the main specs of the Lenovo C200 All-in-One touch PC series:

• CPU up to Intel Atom D510 dual core
• Operating system up to Windows 7 Home Premium
• 18.5” HD 16:9 widescreen display (with optional single-touch Touchscreen)
• Graphics chip up to NVIDIA ION 256 MB
• Up to 4 GB DDR2 memory, up to 500 GB HDD for internal storage
• Integrated high-speed 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity options
• DVD reader/writer
• USB 2.0 connectors, 6-in-1 Card Reader
• Integrated stereo speakers, webcam
• Adjustable stand (angle of -5 degrees to 25 degrees)
• Wireless Bluetooth® keyboard and mouse

Lenovo C200 press shots

This post is the first one of the many that will speak about All-in-One Touchscreen Desktop PCs, which are gaining more and more popularity thanks to the increase interest in compact devices with touch support. Today we’ll talk about the latest announced models from the Asus EEE Top series of desktop All in Ones, the ET2010PNT, ET2010P, ET2010PN, ET2010AGT, ET2010AGT and ET1610PT models. The first five are 20 inch models and the last one is a 15.6 inch model, all touch, but not all multitouch enabled.
The ASUS Eee Top ET2010PNT and ET2010PN are powered by the Atom D510 CPU running at 1.66 GHz with Nvidia Ion 2 graphic chip, 2 GB RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium OS. The ET2010PN model has a smaller 320 GB hard drive (vs 500 GB) and no multi touch on the display. ET2010P uses the D410 Atom CPU at 1.6 GHz with Intel NW10 graphics and non touchscreen display.

ASUS Eee Top ET2010AGT and ET2010AG models are powered by Athlon X2 250u CPUs at 1.6 GHz, ATI Radeon HD 5470 512MB graphics. The ET2010AGT features a touchscreen display, double the RAM (4GB) and a 500 GB Hard drive. Both have HDMI and DVD burners. From what I understand all 20 inch displays have 1440 x 900 pixels resolution.
Eee Top ET1610PT is the low budget model, with a 15.6 inch screen, Atom D410 CPU, 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM and Intel GMA 3150 graphics chip. Windows XP is the standard OS here. I would stay away from this model, even if it seems a cheap alternative is worth spending mode on a more potent models with touchscreen display.
Price and availability are still unknown but I bet it will be sooner rather than later this year.

original source : Slashgear

Why carry around a netbook and a smartphone when you can have a netbook / smartphone? Why indeed. Especially when you can have something as sensible as the BPhone, which is now finally available for the completely reasonable price of $569.99 (unlocked, of course). That will get you a not-quite-pocketable convertible device with a 5-inch touchscreen, along with a 624MHz Marvell CPU, ARM Linux 2.6 for an OS, 256GB of flash storage, built-in Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS, and quad-band GSM connectivity on the “phone” side of the equation. Sound like just the thing you’ve been looking for? Hit up the link below to get your order in.

[Thanks, BrianB]

The day the iPad was launched it got two main complaints: (1) The name was atrocious and (2) It was underpowered and lacking some simple niceities. Say what you want about the WePad name – in terms of taking the closed Apple approach and bringing it to the masses with Android’s open community nature – I think “We” works very well. But more importantly, the specs rock.

With an 11.6-inch screen, 1.66GHz processor, front-facing camera, 2 USB ports, SIM slot, MicroSD slot, Flash, Adobe AIR, and ability to use all open eBook standards, the WePad bests the iPad in all of those categories. You can see the full comparison at TechCrunch.com.

But the sugar gets sweeter. In addition to all the above, you’ll be running Android and will have access to Android Market in addition to the WePad marketplace which is said to include distribution of newspapers and magazines that are optimized for the device. Produced by a German company called Neofonie and it should be available in April in Germany.

I think its safe to say the Neofonie WePad could be a HUGE hit… and if it is… there are a ridiculous number of Android lovers and unimpressed Apple-loving-iPad-haters that might jump aboard if its made available globally.

I want to acknowledge something – better specs are great, but if they can’t be offered at an affordable price, none of this will matter.

Remember that ultra-low-cost Android-powered tablet that Marvell was showing off back at MWC this year? It seemed neat enough considering the aggressive goal of getting it into Chinese customers’ hands for somewhere around $100, but there was a single unforgivable problem: the iWonder logo was upside-down. Fatal flaw, right? Well, not to worry, because Marvell’s back with the iWonder here at CTIA, and this time the logo’s facing precisely the same direction as the display (in landscape mode, anyhow). We’ve also learned that the tablet is being produced in a wide variety of colors — we saw white at MWC, black here — so if you’ve ever dreamed of owning a cherry red Google-powered tablet that’s as big as your frickin’ skull, Marvell knows a guy who knows a guy who can probably hook you up.

Anxious to find out more of the rumored and soon to be launched 11.6 inch Acer 1825PT/1825PTZ convertible netbooks?

Well, the guys at Newgadgets.de have a 10 minutes video presentation of this new series and if you weren’t craving for one of them before, you definitely will after watching this clip. Check it out below.

All in all, it seem that this new Acer line will finally be able to bring a proper touch-experience in a mini laptop (unlike the Asus T101MT which was kind of sluggish), thanks to the ULV hardware inside and capacitive display. And since these 1825PT/1825PTZ devices are Acers, they’ll hopefully come with a proper price too.

Stay tuned for more info on them in the following days.

Take everything you thought you knew about multitouch and throw it out. Okay, keep the Minority Report stuff, but throw everything else out. What we’re looking at here is a 22 megapixel display, stitched together from the output of no less than 28 projectors (7,168 x 3,072 total resolution), which just happens to respond to touch-like input in a fashion even Tom Cruise would find fascinating. You don’t have to actually touch the wall, floor-mounted cameras pick up your gestures in 2D space and a 30-node computer setup crunches all the computational and visual data to deliver some buttery smooth user interaction. For demo purposes, the makers of this system grabbed a 13.3 gigapixel image of Tromso and took it for a hand-controlled spin. See the mesmerizing show on video after the break.

We’ve been rumoring a WiMAX “HTC Supersonic” for a while now, and Sprint just dropped the hard news: the phone will be dubbed the HTC EVO 4G, will be released this Summer and it’s easily the best specced phone we’ve ever witnessed. The hardware is of quite obvious HD2 descent, but with Android onboard and some nice aesthetic tweaks, the EVO 4G takes on a life of its own. The handset is centered around a 480 x 800 4.3-inch TFT LCD, with a Snapdragon QSD8650 1GHz processor under the hood (the CDMA version of the QSD8250 in the HD2 and Nexus One), and even a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM — hello app storage! Even the battery is bigger than the HD2, and the camera is an 8 megapixel monstrosity with flash, that’s capable of 720p video, and is augmented by a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for good measure. The phone features HDMI out (though you’ll need an adapter for turning it into a TV-familiar HDMI plug), 802.11b/g WiFi, and an 8GB microSD card. There’s that still-rare Android 2.1 underneath an updated version of HTC’s Sense UI. But… despite all these wild features, what actually sets the EVO 4G apart is the fact that it’s Sprint’s first 4G phone. The handset runs a combo of EV-DO Rev. A and WiMAX, with calls still being made over CDMA and the EV-DO / WiMAX options for data. Interestingly, it sounds like concurrent data and voice use might be possible for the first time on CDMA carrier in this way (killing AT&T’s well-advertised differentiator), though Sprint says that’s still in the testing phase. One other new feature is the Sprint hotspot app, another MiFi-style connection sharing number, which is obviously aided greatly by the WiMAX on board and can support up to eight concurrent users. Follow after the break for our hands-on impressions and videos of the phone in action, including an up-close-and-personal test of the touchscreen keyboard. Below you’ll find galleries of the phone by its lonesome and up against the Nexus One and iPhone 3G.

Update: We’ve got a graph comparing the Nexus One and Droid with the EVO spec for spec, and there’s also a pictorial shootout with the Desire and HD2. Pick your comparo poison!

HTC EVO 4G press shots

HTC EVO 4G hands-on

HTC EVO 4G vs. iPhone vs. Nexus One

read on entire article with Video Reviews at engadget.com