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3 reasons why you shouldn’t buy Google’s Chromebook Pixel
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Google, PC / Laptop,
Today Google announced the Chromebook Pixel, an often-leaked touchscreen notebook computer that runs Chrome OS and is optimized for web browsing and cloud storage. The problem is that there is nothing that really sets the Chromebook Pixel apart from just about any other notebook computer to make it a compelling buy. In fact, it looks like a pretty stupid buy.
PRICE
Let's talk about the price of the Pixel for a moment. You can buy a fantastic Windows 8 PC or MacBook Air for the same price, both of which would blow away the Pixel in terms of usability. The Chromebook requires you to be connected to the Internet to be useful in any way, since it relies on cloud-based apps. A Mac or PC allows you to actually install apps on them, which you can launch when you are away from Wi-Fi, and get work done in.
Click to continue reading 3 reasons why you shouldn’t buy Google’s Chromebook Pixel
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Google Chromebook Pixel: 1.8GHz, 2560 x 1700 touchscreen display, $1,299
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, PC / Laptop,
Today Google announced the Chromebook Pixel, a touchscreen notebook that seems to be Google's most confusing product offering. What's so weird about the Chromebook Pixel? We'll get to that shortly--first, let's go through a rundown of the specs.
Google is touting the Chromebook Pixel as the perfect notebook computer for anyone who spends the majority of their computing time in the browser and using cloud services. It's got a 12.85-inch display with a 3x2 aspect ratio, offering 18% more vertical space than a 16x9 display offers. Google is proud of this display, what with its 2,560 x 1,700 pixel resolution with 239 ppi density and 400nit brightness. Oh, and it's also a touchscreen, so you can interact with it directly with your fingertips.
Click to continue reading Google Chromebook Pixel: 1.8GHz, 2560 x 1700 touchscreen display, $1,299
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite offers illuminated touch display for $119
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
During this morning's Amazon Kindle event, the new Kindle Paperwhite was announced. This is the e-ink Kindle you've been waiting for is you've wanted to read in the dark. The Kindle Paperwhite sports an illuminated capacitive touchscreen front-lit display that is so subtle that it doesn't cause eye strain. Jeff Bezos made mention that the new Kindle Paperwhite offers 25% more contrast that previous models that used the Pearl e-ink displays, and has 62% higher resolution with its 212 pixels per inch. Equally impressive is that fact that it gets 8 weeks of battery life while using the light. It's all touch with this one, so don't expect any hardware buttons (other than a power button we'd guess,) but it's 15% more responsive than last year's Kindle Touch.
If you wanna get your hands on one, expect to pay $119 for the Wi-Fi Kindle Paperwhite, while the 3G model is priced at $179. They ship on October 1.
Read More 
| Kindle Paperwhite
Apple secures iPhone patent that could be huge blow to rivals
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Editorial,
Apple has been awarded its long sought-after patent on the iPhone. Intellectual property experts say it's so broad and far-reaching that the iPhone maker may be able to bully other smart phone manufacturers out of the U.S. market entirely.
Some three-and-a-half years after filing for a patent on the iPhone, Apple on Tuesday was awarded U.S. patent number 7,966,578 for "[a] computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, [that] comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content and also including other content of the page, on the touch screen display."
That's just the beginning of the abstract for Apple's iPhone patent, which the company filed back in December 2007. It gets quite a bit more technical in its full form, but there's one thing patent experts consulted by PCMag agree on—Apple has been awarded an incredibly broad patent that could prove to be hugely problematic for other makers of capacitive touch-screen smartphones.
Apple's patent essentially gives it ownership of the capacitive multitouch interface the company pioneered with its iPhone, said one source who has been involved in intellectual property litigation on similar matters. That's likely to produce a new round of lawsuits over the now-ubiquitous multitouch interfaces used in smartphones made by the likes of HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Research in Motion, Nokia, and others that run operating systems similar in nature to Apple's iOS, like Google's Android, said the source, who asked not to be named.
Click to continue reading Apple secures iPhone patent that could be huge blow to rivals
Deal of the Day: 20% off Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH22K touchscreen camera
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, Hot Deals,
Today eBay has our Deal of the Day with a nice deal on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH22K touchscreen camera. This is a 14.1 megapixel digital camera, with 3-inch touchscreen display. they usually sell for $170, but this deal offers it at 20% off, bringing the price down to $135 - and shipping is free. Head on over if you wanna check it out:
Save 20% on Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH22K
Don’t forget, if you’re looking for other deals, be sure to check out our Newegg Promo Code thread. Oh, and if you're on Twitter, be sure to follow @TechPromos for the latest deals, or you can Like TechPromos on Facebook.
Read More | Lumix FH22K camera deal
2010 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90z
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, PC / Laptop, Family,
We can definitely appreciate a well-built all-in-one, and Lenovo is known for their rugged build quality. That's why we're recommending their touchscreen M90Z in our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide - well, that, and we found an absolutely amazing deal on it on Amazon (51% off!) Even better? We're gonna be giving away one of these bad boys right here, right now. Details on that below, but first, let's talk about the M90z. For the price, you're getting a 23-inch LCD display that rocks an Intel Core i5 650 processor, 4GB of RAM, Intel GMA HD graphics, DVD burner, SD card reader, webcam, and multiple USB ports.
So, how do you win this thing? We've got three ways for you to enter:
Facebook:
Head on over to the Gear Live Facebook page and Like us. Then leave a comment on our wall. You can do this once per day until the contest ends, and each comment will count as an entry!
YouTube:
Check out our YouTube page and subscribe. That will give you an entry into the contest!
Twitter:
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet about our contest: “Hey @gearlive hook me up with the Lenovo M90Z! http://gear.lv/e-m90z” (Click here to tweet this now)
There you have it, three ways to enter. You must reside in the US to be eligible. The contest runs through Monday December 20, and we will announce a winner, who will be chosen randomly from all eligible entries, on the 21st. Oh, and if you don't win, don't worry, a few of our pals at other sites are running a similar contest, and we've got the full list for you after the break.
Click to continue reading 2010 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90z
Read More | ThinkCentre M90z
2010 Holidy Gift Guide: Freehands touchscreen-compatible gloves
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Features, Women, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,
If you're looking for some inexpensive-yet-functional items from our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide, today we've got some gloves that any owner of a smartphone with a touchscreen might appreciate. Freehands makes gloves that allow the wearer to use their touch-enabled device, which keeping their hands warm. They have some models where the gloves have fingertips that can be pulled back for the thumb and forefinger, and others where the gloves have material in the fingertips so that you can tap away while keeping all your digits nice and toasty. Prices start at just under $20.
Read More | Freehands gloves
What is this tiny Apple touchscreen device for?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Displays, Rumors,
If tw.apple.pro is to be believed, this is another leaked piece of an upcoming Apple product. What you are looking at is a 1.2-inch by 1.2-inch touchscreen display. Of course, that leaves us wondering, what the heck would Apple do with a touchscreen display this tiny? Could this be the display for the next iPod shuffle, finally bringing visual cues to that device? Could it be for an upcoming remote control? Or a watch? Something else? Let us know your thoughts!
Bleeding Edge TV 341: Sling Touch Control 100 universal remote
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Accessories, CES, CES 2010, Features, Home Entertainment, Podcasts, Videocasts, Videos,
At CES 2010, we caught up with Sling Media, who gave us a look at their Sling Touch Control 100 remote control, which they see as the next generation in controlling your TV programming and home theater. The remote incorporates the SlingGuide interface, and you can even manage DVR content without disturbing television viewing. The Sling Touch Control 100 has a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, and a 480x272 resolution.
A big thank you to Bing for sponsoring our CES 2010 coverage!
Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader: $260, color touchscreen, pre-order now
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds,
Someone over on the Barnes & Noble web team seems to have jumped the gun, because the official Nook site was up for a few minutes, before quickly being pulled down. Luckily, we were able to get in, and even pre-order a unit, before things got pulled. The B&N Nook e-reader runs Android, and looks like it’ll give the Amazon Kindle a run for its money.
The device features a 6-inch screen, with a 3.5-inch color touchscreen beneath it. This gives you a quick method to browse your library, the store, and input text into the device. Definitely much easier than the Kindle’s hard keyboard. The device measures in at 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5-inches, and weighs 11.2 ounces. You get 10 days of battery life if you turn off wireless, and the battery takes 3.5 hours to go from empty to full when plugged into a wall outlet. Speaking of wireless, the Nook actually sports both a 3G connection from AT&T, as well as built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g. Definitely an advantage over the Kindle, because even if you have poor cell reception, you can just connect to Wi-Fi to download a book. The Nook also includes 2GB of internal storage (enough to hold 1500 books,) a microSD slot for adding even more storage, MP3 playback, built-in speaker, headphone jack, and micro USB port for charging and syncing.
So, aside from the above, what sets this thing apart from the Kindle? For starters, you can lend books to friends for up to two weeks at a time, and they don’t even need a Nook of their own. They can access the Nook book content on an iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, or Mac. The lending of literature is one thing that went away with the Kindle, and we are happy to see it return with Nook. The Barnes & Noble store also has over a million titles available for download, with more than 500,000 of those being free ebooks. The Nook can also read PDFs, something the Kindle 2 can’t do.
The Barnes & Noble Nook is available now for pre-order.
Read More | Nook
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