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iPad hit hard by the slowing tablet market, while Surface sales surge. Tablet sales worldwide are starting to slow down, according to the latest figures from IDC, and it seems the cooling market is having a particularly chilling effect on Apple.  All in all, the analyst house has predicted growth for this year will be just 7.2% for the whole tablet market, compared to over 50% in 2013.  The figures make particularly grim reading for Apple, which has actually seen a 12.7% decline in sales compared to last year.  At 16% growth, IDC's end-of-year predictions look a little brighter for Android, but...

All of the dozen different "doorbuster" Android tablets Bluebox examined were found to include unpatched Android vulnerabilities including Masterkey, FakeID, Heartbleed and Futex, while more than a quarter were sold with security misconfigurations or active backdoors installed. Bluebox discovered Android's Masterkey "zombie botnet" vulnerability last year and detailed FakeID super malware earlier this summer. While Google has released patches for both flaws—in addition to Android's Heartbleed and Futex bugs—the fact is that major retailers are actively promoting new Android products that still harbor these unpatched vulnerabilities. Several devices also ship with remote exploits wide open, block access to Google Play...

It turns out that support page name-checking the Surface Pro 3 wasn't a typo after all. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the all-new Surface Pro 3, but this version is more than a mere spec boost over the Surface Pro 2: It's a whole new entry in the Surface lineup, and one designed "to replace your laptop." The Surface Pro 3 blends full Core i7 power—Surface head Panos Panay calls it "the thinnest Core product ever created," designed in close conjunction with Intel—with true tablet sleekness, sheer screen size aside. The Surface Pro 3 measures in at a mere 0.35-inch thick...

Asking for opinions on the best budget tablet. Something big enough for me to work on -- i.e., be able to type easily and see the display without holding it six inches from my face. Not worried about communications -- as long as it's got WiFi built in (which I'm sure they all do), I can use my cellphone as a mobile hotspot to transfer/send files. This is intended to be a replacement for a working laptop/notebook. And again -- "budget" is the keyword. Thanks all!.

Despite receiving support from nearly all of its hardware partners, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Windows 8 has yet to catch on as a tablet operating system. Last July, Microsoft took a $900 million writedown on its Surface tablet. Though sales have improved, Windows tablets remain largely in the minority -- IDC's most recent data shows Microsoft's operating system with just 3.4% of the global tablet market.But even that modest success could soon unravel. Both Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) appear poised to aggressively target the enterprise tablet market in 2014, perhaps the only market where Windows tablets have an...

Sales of iPads jumped with the introduction of the iPad Mini, but are otherwise stagnant. Ritchie King/Quartz Apple sold 5.4 million fewer iPads in its most recent quarter than it did in the same three months a year ago. That’s despite having introduced a whole new iPad, the Mini, in the intervening year. The drop in iPad sales, from 17 million to 14.6 million, is all the more surprising because iPhone sales continued to grow, from 26 million to 31.2 million.Use of those iPads, however, is running in the opposite direction. Data just released from Adobe show that, as of...

My wife and I are considering a tablet after deciding that a smart phone is overkill for our needs. We are looking to spend $200-$300. My wife likes to read alot and we are primarily looking for something that we can use, on the road, much like a windows platform lap top.Given that criteria I lean towards a Kindle from what I've read. But, as always experience of Freepers is always welcome and always seems to cover bases we haven't considered.

Intel Introduces Ultra-Low-Power Chips Based on High-Performance Micro-Architecture Intel Corp. on Tuesday announced its first microprocessors that belong to the lineup of ultra-low-power chips it has to offer, yet are based on high-performance Haswell micro-architecture. With power consumption of only around 4.5W, the new Intel Core central processing units will serve various hybrid and 2-in-1 devices.Less than a year after announcing its intention to deliver Intel Core processors operating at less than 10W and two months after delivering Core processors operating at 6W scenario design power (SDP), Intel has confirmed a new 4th generation Core i-series “Haswell” processor will be...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Google Inc. /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG -0.05% said a new Nexus 7 tablet will be priced at $229 for a 16 GB version; $269 for 32 GB and $349 for an LTE version. The 16 GB and 32 GB versions will be available next week

Four things you might have thought you knew, but which might not be true, as brought to you by the geek section of Real Clear Politics. I found at least three of them directly relevant to me, and the fourth one is doubtless of interest (or at least a subject of heated debate) for many of the rest of you. How many of these things are true and how many are just inaccurate popular perception?The first one is that the desktop PC is dead. The headlines couldn’t be more final. “The Death of the PC Has Not Been Exaggerated” reads...

A U.S. trade agency says it is banning imports of Apple's iPhone 4 after finding the device violates a patent held by rival Samsung Electronics. Because the phone is assembled in China, the import would end Apple's ability to sell new iPhone 4 devices in the U.S. The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington issued a final ruling Tuesday in Samsung's suit against Apple. The panel issued a limited import ban and a cease-and-desist order for AT&T models of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G.....

Although Microsoft is staying mum about Windows 8 tablet sales, research firm Strategy Analytics has some slightly encouraging news. In the first quarter of 2013, Windows 8 and RT devices accounted for 7.5 percent of the tablet market, with 3 million units shipped. That’s up from 0 percent a year earlier, before Windows-based tablets were feasible. Granted, 7.5 percent of the market isn’t a huge number. In a statement to CNet, Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Shah referred to the Windows tablet market as a “niche,” set back by “limited distribution, a shortage of top tier apps, and confusion in the...

On May 5, 1907, The New York Times published a column written that same morning by Mark Twain on the news of his death the day before. “You can assure my Virginia friends,” said Twain, “that I will make an exhaustive investigation of this report that I have been lost at sea. If there is any foundation for the report, I will at once apprise the anxious public.” The event led to the oft-misquoted phrase: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Everyone it seems, loves a good untimely death So much so, the Wikipedia maintains a list of...

The PC is in trouble. Big trouble, if you believe research firm IDC's new data, which shows that shipments of PCs plunged 14 percent in the first quarter of this year. That's the sharpest decline in sales of personal computers since the firm started tracking the industry in 1994. Since the numbers have been released, technology experts and pundits have hypothesized about the causes of the ailing personal computer market. IDC, specifically, cited Windows 8, Microsoft's new computer and tablet operating system, as one of the main reasons people turned away from buying computers. That's certainly a possibility, but one...

While most companies have no plans to upgrade to Windows 8 yet, we keep hearing about those who do. IT departments are more likely to bring Windows 8 into the company as a tablet instead of upgrading all the company's PCs to the new operating system. That's according to an informal poll of 700 IT execs taken by Fiberlink, which makes software for tracking mobile devices. In another survey of 175 small businesses by iYogi Insights, 29% had no tablet and are considering Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets rather than an iPad. Of those that already had an iPad,...

While the base-level 32GB version of the Surface RT tablet from Microsoft sold out online in less than 24 hours after launch last week, as of yesterday all versions of the tablet have been moved into sold-out status. The backorder for the 32GB version without an included keyboard is now up to three weeks, while the 32GB version with keyboard and the 64GB model (which also includes a keyboard) are now on up to a two-week back order according to shipping estimates on Surface.com. Microsoft is planning to build between three and five million Surface tablets this quarter, on par...

Samsung today brought out early technology relics in hopes of busting Apple's design patents for the iPhone and iPad — the very ones Apple has pointed at it like howitzers. The South Korean technology giant called upon a pair of experts — one in person, another by video deposition — to make the case that others had beaten Apple to the punch, effectively rendering those patents useless. Samsung’s argument relied mainly on foreign patent designs and an early prototype for a tablet that never made it into commercial production. However, Samsung also brought out a real product, Hewlett-Packard’s TC1000...

Apple Controlled Nearly 70% of Media Tablet Market in Q2 Total available market of media tablets in the second quarter 2012 increased significantly from 18.7 million units in Q1 to nearly 25 million units in Q2. Thanks to the launch of the third-generation iPad, Apple managed to sustain its leadership position with 68.2% market share. Meanwhile, Asustek Computer and Samsung Electronics are closing in and shipments of their tablets are increasing faster than sales of Apple iPad. Total worldwide tablet shipments for the second quarter of 2012 are estimated at 25 million units; up from 18.7 in the first quarter...

  To get full profile OpenCL 1.1 conformance ARM has submitted its Mali-T604 GPU to Khronos in order to get Full Profile OpenCL 1.1 conformance, bringing desktop GPU computing features to the mobile, embedded and smart-TV markets. ARM is actually the first GPU supplier to submit its GPU for Full Profile OpenCL conformance with Khronos, an organization that handles Full Profile and embedded profile OpenCL 1.1 certification. According to ARM, GPU computing is a growing trend that uses the performance of the GPU in order to augment the CPU for certain applications where the GPU is more effective thus providing...

An indie developer working on a new version of its signature title for Microsoft's new tablet said its compatibility with the Xbox 360 controllers presents some interesting advantages for the player and new challenges for designers. Creative director Jake Kazdal and the rest of the crew at 17-Bit (formerly Haunted Temple Games) are prepping their turn-based strategy title Skulls of the Shogun for the Microsoft Surface, according to a blog post on Wired's GameLife. Kazdal said players can control their game with the touchscreen display, a mouse and even an Xbox 360 controller, thanks to the USB port provided by...