touchpads

Buzz Out Loud 1479: At Area 51, Tupac is still alive (Podcast)

Hackers are targeting everything from defense contractors (for obvious reasons) to PBS (for slightly less obvious reasons related to their journalistic integrity), and frankly, we were sad to hear that Tupac actually isn't alive somewhere in New Zealand. Also, my report from Area 51, what Apple will deliver at WWDC, and the best Lady Gaga/KFC chicken Photoshop we've ever seen. --Molly

Buzz Out Loud 1474: More pain for Sony (Podcast)

Sony is expecting $3.2 billion loss for its fiscal year and Sony's BMG Greece music site is hacked revealing more customer data. Google's idea of being a truly open platform goes through more growing pains and HP creates a whole new numbering system. That's "one plus" for you my friends.

The 404 755: Where the Verizon iPhone is too damn cold (podcast)

Hundreds of Appleheads lined up last summer for the release of the Apple iPhone 4, but the turnout for today's Verizon iPhone 4 offering is significantly more dismal thanks to the frigid temperatures. Nevertheless, our CNET TV team braved the weather to bring you coverage, so check it out!

HP announced three new WebOS devices yesterday, and shoppers can now pick between small, medium, and large: the HP TouchPad, HP Pre 3, and HP Veer.

The Veer is essentially a microscopic version of the Palm Pre, with a QWERTY keyboard, and we like its 3.6-inch capacitive screen, but we're mostly excited about the latest version of WebOS.

Unfortunately, former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein announced yesterday that due to hardware constraints, HP had to break its promise that the first-generation Palm smartphones (Pre, Pre Plus, Pre Pixi) would get the 3.0 update. They won't.

So, basically, you'll need to buy into the new HP ecosystem if you want to benefit from new features like instant sync and the ability to receive and answer texts and calls on your HP TouchPad.

HP's newest tablet PC sounds good (for now) with a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 9.7-inch touch display with the same resolution as the current iPad, and a single 1.2MP front-facing camera, but we're wondering if it's too little, too late for HP to enter the market, especially since there's already chatter about an Apple iPad 3 coming this fall.

We hate to spend so much show time speculating, but the Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday that confirms the next iPad 2 will not feature the the iPhone 4's retina display, which could mean that the iPad 2 upgrades will be to the original as the iPhone 3GS was to the 3G. It's all speculation at this point, but we're excited to see how app developers will respond to WebOS diving back into the mobile market.

Much thanks to Sean from Vancouver for saving us from a video voice mail drought! He left us this message that features impressive production value and a live guitar. Thanks, Sean!

We were also flooded with voice mails responding to yesterday's discussion about how much detail to include with the ESRB rating on the back of video game boxes, so thanks for your input!

More importantly, the Internet is not without vigilante justice, as the good folks at Reddit and Rock, Paper, Shotgun have already taken up arms against John Brandon, the original Fox News "reporter."

Episode 755 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1404: HP For the Win! (podcast)

The HP Veer, Pre3 and TouchPad showcase WebOS in all threes sizes and we like! Smartphones pass PCs in sales, and while smartphones take over the world, OnLive is going to be streaming games to you on your phone. Kent German and Antuan Goodwin guest host and we talk monkey feet.

Amazon.com has the Adesso SlimTouch 2.4 GHz (WKB-4000US) Wireless Mini Touchpad Keyboard for $82.84, after $11.15 savings.

Save $11.15 on the Adesso SlimTouch 2.4 GHz (WKB-4000US) Wireless Mini Touchpad Keyboard from Amazon.com >> Regular price is $93.99 >> Sale price is $82.84 >> Savings $11.15 (11.86%) >> Click here for deal

Buzz Out Loud 1278: Pad, mouse, or nubbin? (podcast)

Who knew -- Apple still makes computers, and today launched a bunch of new ones, plus a ginormous desktop trackpad to go with them. Also: The robot that will make you breakfast. Eventually. Guest: Darren Kitchen of Hak5.org!

The best (and worst) laptop touch pads

Though battery life, keyboard, and processing power are all very important parts of the laptop experience, it's the touch pad that can really make or break a mobile PC. These tiny slabs of plastic or metal (or glass) are responsible for navigating everything from Web site buttons to document creation to photo editing--which means that a badly designed touch pad can really ruin your day.

It's true that many laptop users hook up to an external mouse when their machines are docked or parked on a desk--but in nearly every other situation, whether lounging on your couch or sitting at an airport or coffee shop, it's just you and the touch pad, attempting to replicate the wide variety of movements and tasks associated with the traditional mouse. (If you recall, we caught some serious flack for predicting the eventual end of the mouse-driven computing era recently.)

Fortunately, PC users have become increasingly acclimated to the idea of touch interfaces on tech products, thanks to everything from iPhones and iPads to touch-screen all-in-one desktops (and even ATM machines). We're already tuned to accept touch pads as our primary methods of input, but that also makes flawed ones all the more aggravating. So, what makes a good one?… Read more

Amazon.com has the Coby MPC7058 8GB Touchpad Video MP3 Player for $47.15, after $22.84 savings.

Save $22.84 on the Coby MPC7058 8GB Touchpad Video MP3 Player from Amazon.com >> Regular price is $69.99 >> Sale price is $47.15 >> Savings $22.84 (32.63%) >> Click here for deal

R.I.P. the computer mouse, 1972-2010

Largely overlooked amid the overwhelming iPad hype is its biggest potential achievement. Apple's touch-screen quasi-PC may have finally struck a fatal blow to the long-standing king of input devices, the computer mouse.

Make no mistake about it, the era of the familiar PC mouse is coming to an end. It may not be a 2012-style apocalypse (and the mouse will surely hang on in some form for many years to come), but the door is slowly shutting on the universal acceptance of this single iconic piece of hardware that we have equated with personal computing for decades (for argument's sake, let's agree to date its lifespan from the 1972 invention of the ball mouse, and its use as a consumer device from the 1981 Xerox Star). Replacing it is an array of touch input devices and icon-focused operating systems that are built (not always for the better) around expediency over flexibility.

Long before the iPad, touch-screen tablet PCs had been around for years, occasionally enjoying a brief surge in consumer interest, and then fading away again, as users discovered that touch navigation was not really ready for prime time. Apple's iPhone, and later the iPod Touch, changed all that, bringing actual one-to-one touch to the masses for the first time.

But on the PC side, this only made the sluggish, temperamental touch screens found on most tablets even more glaringly obvious; we frequently described these devices as having a rubber-band effect. You'd drag a finger across the screen to move an icon, and it would follow behind by half a beat, as if on the end of a rubber band. The takeway was that touch was workable on tiny handhelds, but not well-suited to larger laptop screens.

The iPad's disruptive success in building a larger touch environment that has received almost universal praise puts the lie to that theory. It may not be as productivity friendly as your ThinkPad, but add a Bluetooth keyboard and Apple's iWork apps, and you've got a reasonable approximation of a laptop experience in many cases.

But even before the iPad, PCs that traded the mouse for a fingertip have been making significant strides. HP has led the way with its TouchSmart line of all-in-one desktops and convertible tablet laptops. Again, the experience wasn't entirely seamless, but each successive generation of these systems has seen further refinement of their specialized touch interfaces, which sit on top of Windows, hiding the mouse-driven desktop from view. Asus also did an decent job with the custom interface on the Eee PC T91, a touch-screen version of the popular Eee PC Netbook (despite that system's other flaws).… Read more

Temporarily disable laptop's touch pad

It qualifies as one of the major annoyances of notebook-computer users: inadvertently moving the cursor by brushing against the touch pad while typing. One person I know actually taped a business card over his laptop's touch pad. Well, what the technique lacks in elegance it makes up for in simplicity.

But what if you want to disable your touch pad only when you have a mouse or other input device plugged in? That's my situation. When I'm using my laptop at a desk or other semipermanent location, I plug in a USB tablet to give me more … Read more