ideas

Amid Lenovo's unveiling of several Android tablets, a Windows alternative still remains. The IdeaPad P1, also announced today, adopts a similar appearance to the Android IdeaPad K1 tablet, but with a Windows 7 operating system and PC-oriented specs and features. It's like an iPad that runs Windows.

The 10.1-inch 1,280x800-pixel multitouch display also works with an optional stylus. A 0.3-megapixel Webcam handles video calls, but the IdeaPad P1 conspicuously lacks a rear camera. The rear panel comes in either Clementine orange or Silver gray, resembling the back of a Netbook.

The IdeaPad P1 comes with either 32GB or 64GB of SSD storage and up to 2GB of RAM. OS options cover the gamut from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional. Connection options are sparse: a single USB 2.0 port, a microSD card reader, a SIM card slot for optional 3G, and a docking port. The P1 also has 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. … Read more

How do you get from point A to point B without your favorite backseat driver spewing commentary and driving tips? Well, now you can enjoy that familiar nagging even when you're alone in your car.

The new Mary On Board, a humorous dash-top device, gives criticism, driving tips, and navigational "advice" in two languages.

Mary On Board creator Dan Finkelstein said he was inspired by his wife (named Mary) to create a device that would "backseat drive" for him when she wasn't around.

Finkelstein explained that he was distracted by a phone call one day while driving, only to be reminded to move into the right lane by his wife, who was "motioning wildly and saying repeatedly, 'right lane!'"

So Finkelstein, who had been laid off from Unisys after 25 years, took on the task of inventing Mary On Board. The device was developed through the aid of a Utah-based company, Design My Idea.

The device is about as helpful as a Magic 8 Ball when it comes to dispensing actual directions. Instead, it offers about 15 preprogrammed sayings in English or Spanish, including "I so need a brake pedal on my side," "Admit it! You're lost because you wouldn't ask for directions," and "Don't you think you should slow down?"

The gadget retails for $19.95 on the company's Web site and through Things You Never Knew Existed. For every unit purchased, $1 will be donated to the National Kidney Foundation, Finkelstein said.… Read more

Lenovo's new IdeaPad K1 tablet could launch soon with a $500 price tag, according to a photo allegedly of an OfficeMax store placard leaked today to Engadget.

With a launch date that Engadget says "looks to be fast approaching," the K1 is expected to be one of the two 10-inch Android tablets that Lenovo has promised will launch this summer.

The alleged placard includes these specs: 10.1-inch multitouch screen, 1,280x800 resolution, cameras in front and back, built-in Wi-Fi, support for Adobe Flash, and up to 10 hours of battery life.

Tech site TechConnect has reported … Read more

Lenovo plans on hitting the tablet market this year with devices aimed at both Android and Windows.

In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires reported this week by The Wall Street Journal, (subscription required), Lenovo president and Chief Operating Officer Rory Read revealed that the company will launch two 10-inch Android tablets this summer followed by a 10-inch Windows tablet later in the year.

One Android tablet, named the IdeaPad, will be geared for the consumer market, while the other, with the ThinkPad name, will be marketed toward the business crowd. Both tablets will run Honeycomb and be priced anywhere from $450 to $900 depending on their configurations, according to the interview. Lenovo's current tablet, the Android-powered LePad, is only available in China.

Some tech sites, including TechConnect and Pocket-Lint, are pointing to the IdeaPad tablet as the IdeaPad K1, a device that's already received some buzz and was reportedly listed on a few retail sites, such as Buy.com, according to Engadget.

TechConnect describes the K1 as powered by a Tegra 2 processor with… Read more

BERMUDA TRIANGLE--Last Saturday morning, about three dozen people, most in their twenties and thirties, packed into a small meeting room on board the Celebrity Century, a cruise ship floating somewhere between Miami and the western islands of the Bahamas.

They were eagerly listening to a talk by Scott Parazynski, the former NASA astronaut who is, at present, the only person on the planet who can claim to have both reached the top of Mount Everest and flown in space.

Parazynski flipped through a breathtaking slideshow of photos from, literally, the edges of the world with a combination of war-story nostalgia, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Between its ThinkPad and IdeaPad brands, Lenovo had a ton of laptop announcements at CES 2011. While many are basically revamps of existing lines adding new processors, there are a few standouts: the ThinkPad Edge series has bold, higher-end ultraportable models, and the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid tablet/laptop has finally emerged as a real product.

>>One year later, the IdeaPad U1 rises as a Windows 7 laptop/Android hybrid

>>IdeaPad S205 and S100: 11.6-inch AMD Fusion ultraportable and 10.1-inch Atom Netbook

>>IdeaPad B, V, G, Y and Z series updates … Read more

They may not be shocking, but they're certainly sleek. Lenovo's new 10- and 11-inch IdeaPads feel like a side-by-side comparison of where ultraportable laptops are heading in 2011. 11.6 inch is the new 10, and we'd better get used to it.

Announced today, the IdeaPad S205 is yet another 11.6-inch laptop using AMD's Fusion CPU series. The design looks a bit like a ThinkPad, with a 98 percent full-size "Accu Type" keyboard that's new to Lenovo this year. An AMD dual-core E-350 CPU comes with integrated graphics and promises more of … Read more

A year ago, Lenovo's bold concept device, the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, astonished us not only for its neat transforming design and its detachable tablet, but for anticipating the year in tablets to come. Indeed, we're still wondering how laptops and tablets can play well together.

Back then, the U1 had a tablet running a Linux-based Skylight OS developed by Lenovo, while the base laptop it attached to had undefined specs. Now, the U1's specs are clear: Windows 7 Home Premium and a 1.2 GHz Intel CULV Core i5-540UM CPU, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB … Read more

For larger laptops, CES 2011 seems to be more about gradual improvements than whole-scale innovation. Lenovo's newly-announced IdeaPad lineup updates seem to confirm this theory quite well: better processors, improved graphics, and Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0, an engineering tweak that Lenovo promises will offer extremely fast boot times. Though it can be pretty difficult to suss the differences out among the various lines of IdeaPads, we'll give you a rundown.

The IdeaPad Y570 and Y470 lead the pack, with second-generation Intel Core processors, and GPU options including Nvidia's new GeForce GT555 switchable graphics. These laptops have … Read more