Wacom Bamboo

via Gizmodo

Wacom seems to finally understand that sometimes a stylus isn't as good as a finger. The new line of Bamboo tablets includes one that is touch only, another that is pen only, and three with a combo of both.

The $69 Bamboo Touch is basically the product to add a multitouch trackpad to your laptop or desktop. The 5.0 x 3.5 inch surface is larger than the typical touchpad and supports all the typical gestures, including two finger zooming and scrolling. The Bamboo Pen costs the same amount and is, as you might expect, pen only. Then there is the $99 Bamboo Pen and Touch for the best of both worlds. And the $129 Bamboo Craft and $199 Bamboo Fun that are larger in size and are bundled with lots of software.

I am still most intrigued by the Bamboo Touch since I think everyone should have the goodness of a multitouch touchpad and the ability to two finger swipe all day long. The artistic folk, however, will have their eyes on the Pen and Touch combo.The new tablets work with both Mac and PCs (Win 7 support included) and are attached by a USB cord.

Tablet/Laptop Concept

via Yanko Design by Chris Burns

Wait! Don�t get your pants in a twist! This is actually a much more advanced design than the title would have you believe! The Koala Pad was a drawing tablet produced and distributed in the 1980�s for Apple IIe computers and Atari and all sort of super neat stuff like that. Well here�s something not only super neat, but super new! A fully-integrated tablet-in-laptop concept, for you new-agers!

I�m sure you remember the oldest drawing pad, the Koala, if you went to school when the Apple IIe was the main model. I do. I thought that drawing tablet was the greatest invention ever invented.

For some, that thought stayed strong. Inventors, illustrators, designers, and artists galore use drawing tablets every day! But they�re a little bit of a hassle. Why? Because they�re a whole other tool you�ve gotta take out.

But with this tablet/laptop concept from Victor Bivol, we�ve got total portability! Finally I can get a hot chocolate and double-chocolate brownie in the coffee shop and draw with all the other hipsters in my city.

CrunchPad Web Tablet Landing "As Soon As Possible" for Less Than $300

via Gizmodo by matt buchanan on 7/4/09

Mike Arrington's CrunchPad web tablet, already several prototypes in, is quickly bubbling to reality reports Bits: There's going to be an announcement in July or August, and it'll be available "as soon as possible."

Arrington's incorporated a separate company, called CrunchPad, and has apparently spent two-thirds of the last six months working on it with his 15-man team from Fusion Garage.

It's been iterated a bunch before, but worth saying again, that the Atom-powered touchscreen CrunchPad is strictly for internet consumption�it boots directly into the WebKit browser and there's no hard drive or keyboard, though you can plug in a keyboard if you want. It does support for Flash, so Arrington's claim that compared to netbooks, "most people will find it works as good as a netbook or better" for getting their internet on sounds pretty reasonable, given its 12-inch screen. Pointedly, it's not meant to compete with Apple's mythical tablet, whenever it graces the world.

I'd take the under $300 CrunchPad over a netbook any day, since it seems like it'll surpass them at the one thing they were supposedly designed to do�eat the internet. And it still blows my mind it took a tech blogger to actually make it happen.

Archos 9 Windows 7 Touch Tablet

via Gizmodo by John Herrman on 6/12/09

The Archos 9 Windows 7 touch tablet has made it through its first round of show floor pageantry, briefly falling into the the expectant hands of the guy(s) from ArchosFans. The mildly romantic encounter was captured on video, for posterity.

The most important piece of the Archos 9's hardware�its 9-inch resistive touchscreen�works quite well here. (It's on smaller screens where the difference between resistive and capacitive screen starts to stand out, but that's another story.) The rest of the hardware, barring the alarmingly creaky "kickstand," looks solid and attractive, especially considering the $650 price point. (No US release date yet, sadly).

Windows 7, as we know, is fairly well suited to touchscreens, though on this particular device I think the simple addition of smooth touch scrolling for IE would do wonders.

Sidenote: take a good look at this form factor, because it's more or less what the mythical "Apple Tablet" is said to look like. I'm torn: on the one hand, I'd love to play with one, and it could be nice browsing device for the sofa; on the other, I could see getting tired of holding my hands up to the screen all the time, since it's too big to thumb. Just sayin'!

New CrunchPad Prototype

via�Gizmodo�by Andi Wang on 6/3/09

Another�prototype�of the�CrunchPad,�Michael Arrington's web tablet, has been revealed.

Superfically, not much has changed from the�previous prototype, except the updated CrunchPad now has an aluminum case and is 18mm thinner. The software has been updated too�as you can see in the video below�and boots directly into its Linux/Webkit-based browser. As for when you can get your hands on one of these, TechCrunch is currently working with partners to bring the $300�web tablet�to the market. [TechCrunch]