Asus shipping 300,000 Eee Pad Transformers following closely behind the iPad

While many of you may be enjoying iPad 2, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer has made quite an impression for the Android fans in the tablet segment. Besides having the unique keyboard dock, it contains nothing less than what you would expect from current tablet. Packing a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, it's undeniably at top notch in terms of hardware specifications. One thing Asustek didn't quite succeeded is to sustain the market demand with enough supply. Shortage of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer is happening al around the globe. This may well be thought to be an unexpectedly high demand but according to Softpedia, Asustek managed to ship only 10,000 units of these lovely gadget instead of the supposedly 300,000 units in the month of May due to component shortage. Jerry Shen, CEO of Asustek says that he expects to sell 300,000 of these devices this month, totalling with 400,000 units ship in April and May to be the second most shipped tablet tailing the iPad 2. Let's just hope they solve the component shortage for such demands.

SOURCE  Softpedia, Taiwan Economic News

Glasses free 3D comes to iOS devices through i3D app (video)

i3D is a new app that can create a glasses-free 3D display on iDevices, using a technology known as Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP). Developed by the folks from the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction (EHCI) Research Group, HCP uses a front facing camera to track the movements of a user's head, allowing the app to adjust the display accordingly. The result is a monocular 3D screen that creates the illusion of looking into a box. If the concept sounds a little familiar, it could be because Google unveiled a similar headtracking feature for Ice Cream Sandwich during the opening keynote at this month's I/O event. And by "similar" we mean "pretty much the exact same thing." i3D is now available for free in the iTunes Store and runs on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth generation iPod Touch. You can compare both iOS and Ice Cream Sandwich 3D generators after the break (Google's demo kicks off around the 16:50 mark).

Gigabyte's S1080 Windows tablet undressed by the FCC

Looks like Gigabyte's S1080 tablet, which landed in Taiwan earlier this month, is getting ready to hit shelves here in the US. The 10.1-inch Windows 7 slate stopped by the FCC, where it got cracked open and had its silicon-packed innards exposed for the camera. There's nothing new to glean here -- specs are still the same (dual-core Atom, 320GB hard drive, etcetera) and we haven't heard anything about a much-needed price drop, but if you want a quick peak under the hood, check out the gallery after the break!

LG's MeeGo smartphone and tablet prototypes to be demonstrated next month

You may have written off MeeGo handsets after Nokia all but abandoned the OS -- LG hasn't. While the company doesn't have any "definitive plans" to release a MeeGo smartphone commercially yet, LG is willing to show off some ports of MeeGo on multiple prototypes, including tablets and smartphones, at next month's MeeGo conference in San Francisco. With any luck, LG will use the spotlight to announce its intentions, proper like, and make a MeeGo handset running Intel silicon a retail reality in 2011 .


VIA  Engadget
SOURCE  Meego Experts

Dell's 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates

Well, well, what have we here? A pair of 10-inch Dell tablets, one running Windows 7 on those fancy new Oak Trail chips from Intel and the other pushing Android 3.0 with a Tegra T25. We already saw these devices leaked in February, but now we have some specs and release dates. The Wintel powered Latitude ST boasts a resolution of 1366 x 768, 2GB of RAM, up to a 128GB SSD, GPS, an accelerometer, both front- and rear-facing cameras, an 8-hour removable battery, and "1080p video output," which we assume means HDMI-out. The Android-flavored Streak Pro opts for a 1200 x 800 panel, but keeps the pair of cameras (and two mics) for video chats, while adding an unspecified mobile broadband radio and slathering Dell's Stage UI on top of Honeycomb (whether or not that's a good thing is purely a matter of taste). Pricing is still up in the air, but the leaked roadmap indicates the Streak Pro will land in June, followed by the Latitude XT3 convertible tablet in July, and the Latitude ST in October.


VIA  NetbookNews, Engadget
SOURCE  AndroidCentral

Apple sues Samsung for 'copying' the iPhone and iPad

Whoa! In the world of big-time lawsuits, this must be just about the biggest. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has sued Samsung Electronics for copying "the look and feel" of its iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. This relates to the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the iPhone 3G / 3GS models, and the slightly less obvious Epic 4G, Nexus S, and Galaxy Tab (presumably the older 7-inch model, since the newer ones aren't out yet) devices. The claim for intellectual property infringement is phrased as follows:

"Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products."

The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California on Friday and seeks injunctions against Samsung, damages (both actual and punitive), and a finding that the infringement was willful. Lest we forget, the rarest outcome in such legal tussles is for an actual judgment to actually be handed down, so the greatest likelihood is that this will just lead to another round of grudging handshakes and licensing going one way with money going the other way, but still, it's fun to see the big dogs barking at each other.

Another aspect to these proceedings that shouldn't be overlooked is that, on the software front, they boil down to iOS versus Android (again). When Apple calls Samsung uninventive in its user interface, it's talking more about Android's perceived imitation of the iPhone's interface than whatever TouchWiz tweaks Samsung has slapped on top. And hey, if you're going to sue Google indirectly, you can't leave a major player like Samsung outside the courtroom, it just wouldn't be fair.


VIA  Engadget
SOURCE  Wall Street Journal

Viewsonic G Tablet gets firmware update with Flash, USB peripheral support

Viewsonic's G Tablet may not have made much of splash when it debuted last fall, but it's certainly been picking up a bit of steam as of late. A recent price drop brought its cost down to just $280, and hackers have even managed to overclock its processor to 1.4GHz and get it running CyanogenMod 7 to boot. Now Viewsonic itself has given the tablet a further boost, with a new firmware update bringing support for both Flash and USB peripherals, which can apparently also be used with a docking station. The update's of the over-the-air variety, and should be waiting for you if you haven't turned on your G Tablet in the past few days.

SPECIFICATIONS

1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 - Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU 512MB DDR2 memory 2D/3D Graphics processing HD Video encode and decode Ultra-low power GeForce GPU 1080p video playback processor OpenGL ES 2.0 32-bit LP-DDR2, DDR2

More details on the specifications at Viewsonic GTablet




SOURCE:  Viewsonic, engadget

Conceptual 'Fujitsu Lifebook X2' folds into quarters, makes regular notebooks look lame

Being that doomsday and the robot apocalypse are nearing quickly, now seems an appropriate time to gaze into the future of laptop design, right? Well, maybe those anomalies aren't actually around the corner, but you know us -- we always fancy a warm cup of concept tea. Designer Park Hyun Jin over at Yanko recently posted some renders of the Fujitsu Lifebook X2, a laptop-like invention of his fervent imagination that allows for two orientations thanks to its four folds. The design features a full QWERTY keyboard that can be used when the notebook is folded out in full, as well as a half-folded option with an onscreen keyboard, pictured above. Naturally, we'd love for this concept design to become a reality, but we can't wrap our brains around the seam between the two screens. Well actually, we could probably get used to it.

VIA  Engadget
SOURCE  Yanko Design

Photoshop Touch apps and SDK extend desktop functionality to iPad and other tablets

Any discussion about Adobe and the iPad seems to always devolve into a Flash vs. HTML5 debate. For today at least, Adobe's hoping to temporarily refocus the conversation on a trio of new tools that extend desktop Photoshop functionality to the iPad via native iOS apps. First up is Adobe Eazel, an iPad drawing app that lets you create a five-fingered painting on the iPad before transferring it back over WiFi to the Photoshop application running on your Mac or PC. Adobe Nav turns the iPad into a Photoshop companion device by extending live controls and menu bars from the Photoshop workspace to the iPad's display. Finally, there's Adobe Color Lava which turns the iPad into a hi-tech color mixing palette. Of course, these are just the first in what Adobe hopes to be a full range of Photoshop extensions hitting app stores just as soon as devs get their talents around Adobe's Photoshop Touch programming tools (consisting of a Photoshop scripting engine and enhanced SDK) for Android, BlackBerry, and iOS devices (available for Mac and Windows platforms today). Expect to see the Eazel, Color Lava, and Nav Photoshop Touch apps arrive next month -- alongside the 5.5 update to Adobe's Creative Suite (and free Photoshop update for CS owners) expected on May 3rd -- with prices ranging from $1.99 to $4.99. Until then, why not feast your eyes on a video preview posted after the break?

EraThink EraPalm runs like a netbook, looks like a portable gaming handheld

Looking at this odd bird of a device on display at the China Consumer Electronics Fair inspires tired cliches about mating gadgets. But really, it took a wild night between a Windows 7 tablet and a portable gaming console (with a possible cameo by a UMPC) to spawn the EraThink EraPalm. This handheld runs Windows 7 and has a 5-inch (800 x 480) capacative touchscreen that slides out to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard -- all of which is reminiscent of the extinct OQO Model 02, except for the gaming controls flanking the display. Newpad spent some with the little guy, and reports some netbook-like specs including an unspecified Atom Z processor, 3G connectivity, and Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, and USB ports. (Then again, it does one better with GPS and support for 1080p video.) Want a closer gawk? Click the source link for a couple more hands-on shots.


VIA  Clonedinchina, Engadget
SOURCE  Newpad

How to Jailbreak Your iPad 1 Using RedSn0w (Mac) [4.3.1]

These are instructions on how to jailbreak your iPad on the 4.3.1 firmware using RedSn0w for Mac. 

Step One
Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage

Download RedSn0w from here and place it in the Pwnage folder. Likewise, download the latest 4.3.1 firmware from below and place it in the same folder.

4.3.1 (iPad 1): iPad1,1_4.3.1_8G4_Restore.ipsw

How to Jailbreak Your iPad 1 Using RedSn0w (Windows) [4.3.1]

These are instructions on how to jailbreak your iPad 1 on the 4.3.1 firmware using RedSn0w for Windows.

Step One
Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage

Download RedSn0w from here and place it in the Pwnage folder. Likewise, download the latest 4.3.1 firmware from below and place it in the same folder.

4.3.1 (iPad 1): iPad1,1_4.3.1_8G4_Restore.ipsw

Acer Iconia Tab A500 released: dual-core Tegra Honeycomb Android tablet for $450

Acer Iconia Tab A500 has just been announced by Acer, and is a Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet that has similar specifications to the Motorola Xoom. More specifically, Acer Iconia Tab A500 comes with a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 250 CPU, a 10.1-inch 1280×800 screen, 1GB of RAM memory, 16GB storage, dual cameras (5 megapixel back and a 2 megapixel front), HDMI-out. Powering the Iconia Tab A500 is a pair of 3260mAh Li-ion batteries that according to Acer grants the A500 8 hours of battery life when playing HD video. If you’re in the States, you can have all this for a mere $450 USD (approx 310 EUR), with preorders starting today through Best Buy’s website.


VIA  thegadgetsite

Packard Bell Liberty Tab announced, a Tegra 2 tablet which looks suspiciously like the Acer Iconia A500

Packard Bell has announced the Liberty Tab. It has a 10.1 inch capacitive touch screen, runs on Android 3.0 Honeycomb and has a Nvidia Tegra 2 SOC. It looks exactly the same as the Acer A500 Iconia. The screen of the Packard Bell Liberty Tab has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels and can be connected via HDMI to an external display. 1GB RAM and 32GB storage capacity, which can be expanded with SD cards. The tablet supports 3G, WiFi-N and Bluetooth 2.1.
In addition, a micro-USB interface is available for connection to external equipment,  and GPS is also supported for positioning. Its front camera has a resolution of 2 megapixel, and the rear facing unit 5 megapixels. The Liberty Tab will be available in red and white. It appears that Packard Bell has used a custom UI on top of Android Honeycomb. Its pricing is yet unknown. The Liberty Tab should be available around June.


VIA  thegadgetsite

Israeli parody details the rise and fall of Apple's iBoy, humanity as a whole (video)

For those unaware, Eretz Nehederet is effectively the Israeli equivalent to The Onion, and on the 1st of April, they covered the hardest-hitting piece of Apple news to cross their news desk in quite some time. That news, friends, is the iBoy. Available in a variety of skin tones, religious beliefs and languages, this iPad-adorned human is both the best and worst thing to happen to mankind... well, ever. There's no word on when it'll be on sale, but it's fairly clear that "divorce" and "alcohol" are about to take a backseat to this guy when studying factors that rip families to shreds. Click and weep as you see fit.


VIA  Engadget
SOURCE  Mako