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The biggest consumer electronics event of the year is around the corner, and by that we of course mean CES 2010. We'll all be there in Vegas scouting out the best of what's new, but you may find yourself asking: after Windows 7 and the launch of Core i7 laptops, what else is there to look forward to? Plenty, by our measure. Here are the trends we're expecting to see.

New Atom processors, new Netbooks
The star of the show will likely be Intel's new line of Atom processors for Netbooks. Previously codenamed Pine Trail, these new CPUs will give the Netbooks platform a performance push, we hope, making these popular laptops even more ubiquitous. Currently, Netbooks are great for some tasks, but can be frustrating to use if you need them for all-around computing. Look for added graphics and HD video performance in particular.

On a related note, hardware manufacturers will continue to try to "upscale" Netbooks, by adding features such as discrete graphics, touch screens, and HD displays--all in an effort to move prices past the low-margin $299 mark. We'll see increased stratification in Netbooks--a category previously notable for its commodity nature.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

Here come the Smartbooks
If you don't know the term already, get ready to know it, as this will be one of the hot product trends of 2010. Consider them even cheaper and smaller Netbooks toting smartphone-level processors and a pared-down OS. Small CPUs such as the Nvidia Tegra and the Qualcomm Snapdragon are what will power this next generation of devices, and almost none of them will have an operating system that will be Windows or Mac.

Expect to see most of these hybrid devices with 3G antennas, sold in cellphone stores, and subsidized by mobile phone providers, much like some Netbooks already are. Economic realities have pushed computer makers to favor value over flash in designing new systems, and at CES 2010, we're likely to see a bigger focus on Netbooks and other low-cost PCs over the extravagant showstoppers of previous years. Smartbooks could help define a new low-end pricing zone, but it remains to be seen whether they'll offer enough computing power.

(Credit: Skype)

Today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast starts off on a personal note, with Jeff detailing last night's tour of Justin's tiny Manhattan apartment. I'll concede that the space is indeed very small relative to the cripplingly expensive rent, but like any self-respecting human, I'll pay almost anything stay out of New Jersey.

Although, if I ever get tired of New York, I can always make like Rob Cavazos, aka the Wilderness Man, and embark on a 10-day camping trip to the most remote phone box in the world. It's a 10-day experiment put on by Skype and The Viral Factory to raise awareness of Skype's cheaper international calls to landlines and mobile phones. Cavazos speaks English, Spanish, and French, and is inviting everyone to call the payphone using Skype for a quick chat. Check out the Phone Box Experiment Web site for more details.

Back in January, we made a spelling error trying to use the idiom, "Good juju, bad juju." As it turns out, the expired CrunchPad is now resurrected as the "JooJoo," but CNET's Rafe Needleman doesn't think consumers are willing to pay $499 for a device that does less than a Netbook. Check out Rafe's hands-on with the JooJoo and let us know YOUR opinion in the comments below.

Thanks Austin!

Big thanks to Austin for the Nook motivation poster you see up there. And, as promised, we've got more 404 theme song remixes today, including more 8-bit awesomeness and two piano covers of Jonathan Coulton's "Mother Effers" track! Very cool stuff here, and please keep them coming! This has been the most. successful. unofficial. contest...ever!

Apple will ramp up production on its long-rumored tablet in February with an eye toward a spring launch.

That's the word from Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner who says his checks into Apple's supply chain indicate that "the manufacturing cogs for the [device] are creaking into action." According to Reiner, the tablet will have a 10.1-inch multitouch LCD display and a price point of $1,000.

Apple plans to produce as many as 1 million units per month. So assuming it needs five to six weeks of inventory before launch, we can expect it to arrive at market sometime in March or April. In preparation for that day, the company has evidently been evangelizing the device to the publishing industry.

"Contacts in the U.S. tell us Apple is approaching book publishers with a very attractive proposal for distributing their content," Reiner wrote in a note to clients today. "Apple will split revenue 30/70 (Apple/publisher); give the same deal to all comers; and not request exclusivity. We believe the typical Kindle/publisher split is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Kindle is given ebook exclusivity."

Noting dissension in the ranks, Reiner adds, "As innovative as it is, we believe the Kindle has disgruntled the publishing industry (book, newspaper, and magazine) by demanding exclusivity, disallowing advertising, and demanding a wolfish cut of revenue. The tablet is set to change that. It should also make e-books more relevant for education by simplifying functions such as scribbling marginalia."

Story Copyright (c) 2009 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.

I get really excited when I see devices like the Android-powered Vega Tablet that debuted last week. The moment I read the announcement, I started thinking of all the ways it could enhance my life.

And where would I use it first? In the kitchen, of course! After a minute or so I realized that there are five Google Android applications that I use on a semi-regular basis with my T-Mobile G1 that would be greatly improved by a device like the Vega.

Grocery List

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Webtser/CNET)

Cooking Capsules allows me to watch cooking shows on my handset so I can whip up a romantic dinner for my wife. I can also search through the Taster Collection videos and watch step-by-step instructions on how to create such delicious dishes as a tofu stir fry or chocolate pots de creme.

While this and the other apps would look nice on my handset, I would simply love to see them on my kitchen counter on a screen large enough to view across the room. The idea behind Cooking Capsules is fantastic, but I've found myself getting close to dripping marinades on my phone twice already.

I downloaded a free application called Grocery List which is exactly as it sounds. Beyond creating a list of items to pick up the next time I am at the store, Grocery List also allows me to swipe my finger across items and check them off as I go.

... Read more

The Vega tablet: killer Android device?

(Credit: ICD)

As if Apple and Microsoft didn't already make it clear (editor's note: by Apple, we mean the ever-pervasive rumors of their upcoming "slate"), 2010 looks like the Year of the Tablet. First viewed sitting on a table of an Nvidia executive, the Vega tablet will try to beat Apple's tablet (if the rumors are true), Microsoft's in-process Courier concept, and the semievaporated Crunchpad to the punch.

ICD, the manufacturer of the Vega, has confirmed the existence of the tablet as a real product, whose details will be more fully revealed at CES. Vega...Vegas...it seems appropriate.

The sleek black pad will come in sizes of 7, 11, and 15 inches, and will run Android OS 2.0. Its internal processor will be a Nvidia Tegra, which means that HD and even gaming-level graphics should indeed be possible.

The Vega tablet from the back.

(Credit: ICD)

Other specs, according to ICD:

• Resistive touch-screen display
• 1,366x768 screen (for the 15.6-inch model)
• 512

I don't remember hearing so much talk over a product that nobody has even seen, but the scuttlebutt continues, this time from Australia.

Apple is reportedly shopping its rumored tablet to media companies in Australia to gauge interest in having their products available on the device when its released, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. While specifications of the device were reportedly sent to the companies, nobody would confirm it on the record.

One thing to come out of the Australian talks that we haven't heard before focuses on pricing, and more importantly for the media companies, how much they will get to keep.

The Herald says that it expects Apple to give the media companies a similar price offered to iPhone app developers. Apple keeps 30 percent of the sales and the media companies would pocket 70 percent.

If true, that would be a significant raise for the media companies over what Amazon was offering the companies to have its content available for the Kindle. Amazon's deal was reportedly exactly the ... Read more

Episode 52 of the Digital City, where we talk about the latest Apple tablet rumors, dissect Kindles on campus, bemoan the use of single-core CPUs in 13-inch laptops, and worry about NYC's growing rep as a surveillance state.

The 404's Jeff Bakalar pops by to fill the absent Joseph's seat, as we compare notes on Uncharted 2 and complain about how hard it is to actually get any content onto a PSPgo.

Related links:
>>Newly revealed Apple patent application
>>Do Kindles really work on campus?
>>Hands on impressions: Is Uncharted 2 worth the wait?
>>Special pre-Halloween bonus: Dan as Kratos; and Dan as Marcus Fenix

>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

(Credit: USPTO.gov)

The sharp-eyed bloggers at AppleInsider have noted a newly revealed patent application related to multitouch surfaces--leading to further speculation about Apple's purported tablet PC project.

As per usual, the application came through law firm Morrison and Foerster, and was originally filed in June of this year. According to the paperwork on file at USPTO.gov, this is:

A method of performing operations on a computing system having a touch-sensitive surface, the method comprising; tracking the paths of multiple distinguishable contacts, the contacts corresponding to touch devices as they move on or near the surface at the same time, wherein tracking is based on at least shape and position data corresponding to the contacts; determining scaling motion information corresponding to two or more of the multiple contacts based on the tracked paths of the contacts; generating a scaling gesture control signal based on the scaling motion information.

This reminds us of an earlier Apple touch technology patent application we looked at more than two years ago, for a wide laptop touchpad that ... Read more

(Credit: williamcronon.net)

An interesting report from Princeton University regarding its pilot program to test Kindle DX units in an academic environment has revealed something notable: namely, that Kindles still feel awkward to students currently in college. Feedback from some students complained about the Kindle's annotation system being "too slow" to keep up with the thinking of a reader who wants to effortlessly mark up text. Others called the entire Kindle device "a poor excuse for an academic tool."

This matches a fear I've had since using my iPhone as a makeshift mini-Kindle, replacing my own reading of paper books for recreation and research: while I enjoy the portability and capacity that e-readers provide, their lack of tangible material creates a helpless feeling for those who enjoy note-taking, highlighting, or otherwise interacting with their books. Unlike my iPhone, however, the Kindle DX was intended to be a savior for universities, an educational aid to rival the old textbook industry. According to this first wave of Princeton feedback, however, it still has a long way to go.

Rather than focus on size or screens, maybe the real holy grail for e-readers of the future lies in finding ways to make digital text as easy to interact with as possible. Apple, we hope you're listening, because if the doorway's open for you to take over the e-reader industry with your magazine-redefining tablet, this might be the best path to true success. ... Read more