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ViewSonic ViewPad hits US as ViewSonic today planned out the US launches of its two tablets. The ViewPad 10 is both its most direct competitor to the iPad and also one of the more unique designs. It boots both Android 1.6 and Windows 7 and has netbook-like hardware, including a 10-inch screen, a 1.66GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. The design carriers a 1.3-megapixel webcam for video chat and a microSDHC card for storage, both of which can be used in either OS. It ships the latest of the two tablets on show, arriving in early...

Apple controlled 95 percent of the emerging market for tablet computers with its iPads in the July-to-September quarter, research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) said on Tuesday. The competition in the market is, however, tightening fast with handset vendors and PC makers moving into the new category of devices, between traditional PCs and smartphones, taking a cue from the success the iPad, a 10-inch touchscreen tablet that began selling in April. The total market grew to 4.4 million tablets in the September quarter from 3.5 million in the previous quarter, the researcher said. "The tablet wars are up and running. Apple...

Ziio 7, 10 debut as 1st Creative Android tablets Creative entered into the tablet arena today with a pair of Android 2.1 tablets. The Ziio 7 and 10 both make audio their strong points and combine Creative's usual X-Fi audio processing with the use of apt-X's new audio codec. The format allows high-quality audio over Bluetooth with reduced lag, making them better fits for wireless headphones and speakers than the usual compressed sound.The two are defined by their screens, which use a high-color but 800x480 seven-inch screen on the Ziio 7 but a low-color, 1024x600 display on the 10-inch Ziio....

The debate continues over the impact Tablets are having on both the consumer PC market and Netbook demand. But what is particularly unclear is which companies are going to emerge as the biggest winners and losers?To find out, ChangeWave surveyed 3,108 consumers during October on the latest planned buying trends for PCs, Netbooks and Tablets – including the impact of the Apple (AAPL) iPad.PCs vs. Netbooks vs. Tablets The percentage of respondents saying they plan on buying a desktop over the next 90 days (6%) has ticked up 1-pt since our previous survey in August, while planned purchases of laptops...

Some of the nicest, if little discussed, benefits of using an Apple iPad tablet are that it starts instantly, resumes where you left off, and has a long enough battery life that you aren’t constantly fretting about running out of juice or looking for a place to plug it in. And it can do a lot of things for which people use laptops. What if somebody designed an actual laptop that worked this way—you know, a computer with a real keyboard and a larger screen that could run traditional computer software and store more files than an iPad? And what...

Proview, a struggling Taiwanese-owned company, has threatened to sue Apple for alleged trademark infringement, in a lingering dispute that illustrates the complexity of branding in far-flung markets.“We will sue them for damages in China and in the US,” Yang Rongshan, Proview’s chairman, told the Financial Times. If Proview does pursue legal action, trademark experts said Apple could face additional costs in selling its iPad tablet computer in China, where Proview claims rights. Proview is a contract manufacturer of flat screens that made an unsuccessful attempt almost a decade ago to market a tablet computer it called I-Pad. The company registered...

Where there’s pain, there’s opportunity.Pre-Adobe, I made my living building rich, Flash-intensive sites for Gucci, Coca-Cola, Nike, and other big brands. Doing that job today, I’d be in a jam: How could I create rich experiences that run on desktops (where Flash is the obvious, consistent (cross-browser/-platform) choice) and on iOS devices where Flash isn’t allowed? I’d have to create two versions of a everything–one Flash, and one HTML5*. Good luck getting clients to double their budgets, though, and yet they don’t want richness cut in half. So, the opportunity: Cut the cost of targeting multiple runtimes & we’ll deliver...

On this week’s episode of The Tech Night Owl LIVE, we talk with Laptop magazine’s Avram Piltch about Apple’s spanking new MacBook Air. Along with reports that the product may already be flying off the shelves, particularly the 11.6-inch version, the early reviews are nothing short of spectacular. Piltch, who is certainly no ardent fan of Apple, has high praise for this revision of this sexy thin and light notebook, and it’s not just the performance factor. You see, compared to other notebooks that use solid state storage, the Air is actually priced competitively. It may even be cheaper than...

How should one bring up children? Should one give them everything for which they ask? Or should one make them understand very early in life that some things are bad for them, whether it is physically or psychologically? This flight of philosophical depth comes to me on reading an interview in the New York Times with Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft's Bill. I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, admire or attempt to plait my eyebrows. You see, the interviewer offered her questions about Apple. The first was quite amusing: "Do you own an iPod, which is made by Apple?"...

Apple's new Lion OS will be leaner, keener and meaner than ever; it will teach Mac users a whole new touch-based way to interface with their computer, and borrows heavily from elements of Apple's also NeXT-based iOS system for mobile devices. Jobs explained that touch interfaces don't feel right in a (vertical) plane -- you don't want to touch your iMac's screen -- this means trackpads and the Magic Mouse are the interfaces for the future iOS/OS X integration (at least at present -- for the future, who knows?) In future it isn't hard to imagine touch controls evolving to...

The Mac Security Blog warns of new iOS flawIntego, billed as the Mac security specialists, has warned of a potential flaw in Apple's mobile operating system, which powers the iPhone. "An iPhone bug has been reported which allows users to bypass a locked iPhone and access certain features," Intego warns on The Mac Security Blog. "This occurs when someone attempts to make an emergency phone call, then quickly presses the hardware lock button." Intego highlights a MacRumors forum posting from jordand321, based in Wellington, New Zealand, under the post heading: 'iOS 4.1 Security Issue - Bypassing the Lock Screen to...

Microsoft has launched Office 2011 for Mac to allow Mac users to avail of the latest versions of the company's productivity software. Microsoft's Office for Mac General Manager Eric Wilfrid said, "As someone who works at Microsoft and deals with Apple often, I acknowledge that our companies compete." "Some people choose Windows, and some people choose Mac. That conflict tends to get a lot of attention, but I deal in the reality that there are customers who love their Macs and also love using Office."

A majority of web video is now HTML5-ready, according to new research from MeFeedia, showing that web standards — and Apple — are winning the day when it comes to how video is delivered and viewed online. The research shows that the amount of video viewable in an HTML5 video player has doubled in the last five months and now accounts for 54 percent of all video content online. It’s important to note that HTML5 video is not replacing Flash video on the web, but augmenting it; most HTML5 videos today are available through a universal embed code that autodetects...

Steve Jobs has apparently weighed into the debate over Apple's decision to deprecate Java on the Mac, and his terse explanation was promptly deprecated by Java founder James Gosling. According to MacRumors.com, a concerned Java developer emailed the Apple cult leader on Thursday to ask about Apple's plans for the platform, and as he's been known to do from time to time, Jobs responded. "Sun (now Oracle) supplies Java for all other platforms," Jobs allegedly wrote. "They have their own release schedules, which are almost always different than ours, so the Java we ship is always a version behind. This...

Stop. Take a deep breath. Before my headline gets you all worked up, consider what I'm saying here. The CD and other optical discs, like DVDs and Blu-rays, are obviously going to live on for a while as a way to transport media. But make no mistake that today, with two unveilings, Apple has effectively sealed the fate of the optical disc in the computer industry. Soon, it will go the way of the floppy disk... First of all, the first-generation Airs were a bad combination of underpowered and overpriced. That is no longer the case. Second, they required some...

It’s common knowledge that almost every single geek hates Internet Explorer with a passion, but have you ever wondered why? Let’s take a fair look at the history and where it all began… for posterity, if nothing else.Contrary to what you might think, this article is not meant to be a hate-fest on Internet Explorer—in fact, we’re pretty impressed with the hardware acceleration and new features in Internet Explorer 9—but keep reading for the whole story. In the Beginning There Was IE, and It Was Good? We’ve all been so used to thinking of Internet Explorer as that slow, buggy...

On June 20th, I declared that I was going to try A Month of Mac.  I took my Macbook Pro (an older model from about 18 months ago) up to Alaska, left my Lenovo x300 in Boulder, and went native Mac. I’m typing this on my brand new spiffy MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8GB RAM, with a 500GB solid state hard drive.  I can’t figure out why I’ve been so stubborn about really switching to the Mac.  This is a beautiful computer. The key to this switch was that the native mac apps (Mail, iCal, and...

"Better watch your back Exxon Mobil," Paul R. La Monica reports for CNNMoney. "No, I'm not talking about tough competition for the oil giant from rivals like Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhilips." "Exxon Mobil, which is currently the most valuable company in the U.S. with a market capitalization of $286 billion, has to listen for the footsteps of Apple," La Monica reports. "Of course, Apple doesn't compete with Exxon Mobil -- although given time I'm sure that someone will find a way to create an app that turns your iPhone into an oil rig." "But Apple now is the...

Apple Inc.'s control over its iPhone and other devices via its iTunes store was undercut Monday by a federal ruling legalizing jailbreaking, or altering the devices to install unapproved software, a practice used now by a small number of customers. The Library of Congress, which helps oversee copyright law, removed a legal cloud over altering of iPhones, iPads and iPods, to install and run software not purchased from Apple. Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at Electronic Freedom Foundation, the digital-rights organization that pushed for the change, said the ruling could open the door for third-party app stores. "Innovators now...

July 23, 2010, 4:03 p.m. EDT Some see white iPhone delay as part of bigger problem Too much focus on design and an arrogant attitude seen by public By Cynthia Lin, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. users may have shrugged off another push-back in the release of white iPhone 4s, but some of them say the delay adds to a string of recent issues that call the company's priorities into question. Customers outside Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) store in midtown New York who spoke to MarketWatch were mostly unconcerned about white versions being unavailable -- but they thought the delay...