Acer's New Aspire Ethos TouchScreen Laptop

This week, Acer announced its new Aspire Ethos laptops. The laptops have a secondary touchscreen, which doubles as a touchpad. The new technology is meant to help users navigate through multimedia content. The touchscreen is placed below the keyboard where a touchpad would normally be located and it displays movie and music navigation icons. According to spokesperson for the company, the icons allow you to do thing such as adjust volume or go through images.

In a press release, Acer said, "The media console is now combined with the touchpad, providing a set of commands all managed by a single key and a completely new approach to entertainment control." They also stated that the new technology leaves the laptop's surface looking clean and elegant.

According to PC World, Acer is not the only company looking to make touchpads a little fancier. Synaptics is adding gesture functionality, which allows users to perform routine tasks more quickly. They also report that Intel has suggested auxiliary screens that display widgets that allow you to do things such as type Twitter messages replace touchpads.

The new Acer laptops feature Advanced Micro Devices ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards, which are great for watching HD DVDs. They can also be bought with Blu-ray Disc drives and they each run Intel's Core i5 or Core i7 processors. The laptops also include Acer's Arcade Deluxe multimedia management software, which allows users to take more advantage of the touchpad controls and makes it easier to share content through YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr.

The Ethos 8943G will have a 18.4-inch screen and the Ethos 5943G will feature a 15.6-inch screen. Each one will have up to 1.28TB of storage through two 640GB hard drives, as well as including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Release dates and prices are not yet available.

TOSHIBA WORKING ON WINDOWS AND ANDROID TABLETS

Word is that Toshiba will soon release a dual screen tablet PC running Windows 7. The company also plans to release smaller and cheaper models running Google Android.

In functionality the Toshiba tablet, won't be much different from the iPad. The company has already said that it tablets are for consuming media and not creating it. If that is the case, then building an Android tablet is probably a better idea than building a Windows tablet because the Android platform is specially designed for touch input. Android tablets will be able to run on low power ARM processors. And now that both Google and Adobe are working on bringing Flash to Android, the device will also be able to handle Flash video - something which iPad can't.

The Windows platform, on the other hand, isn't very touch friendly, but it will be able to run all desktop applications. And since a Windows tablet will have a few USB ports, you will be able to plug in peripherals such as a keyboard or printer and use it as a fully functional laptop.

Not much is known about either tablet at the moment, so we can only guess. But one thing is certain: the tablet revolution has begun.

New Keyboard Dock for the Apple iPad

There has been quite a bit of hype lately surrounding Apple’s new iPad. Its a very interesting creature. The greatest selling point is definitely it’s sleek appearance. The shiny, brushed aluminum backed gadget is almost elegant looking. One of the reasons for this attractiveness is the absence of a keyboard. The problem with being keyboard-less is that many people will not be able (or maybe not want) to huddle over the device to punch on the on-screen keys for an extended period of time. Even when you set the iPad on a table or desk, there is still an annoying wobble that you must deal with due to the it’s slightly bowed back. Well, for iPad users who miss the traditional keyboard that comes with laptops and desktop computers, Apple has released a solution. There is now a iPad Keyboard Dock that provides you with the comfort of a keyboard while also holding your iPad upright for easy visibility. Those who couldn’t part with their keyboard can now feel completely at home with their new iPad.

The keyboard dock is very conveniently designed. It is small (0.5 x 11 x 4.5 inches HWD) and wireless. It is constructed with a brushed aluminum shell that features 77 fully separated, shallow keys that make typing on the iPad a breeze. The dock has a raised back that allows the keyboard to be slightly angled forward for ease and comfort. At the back of the keyboard, there is a power connector and a Line Out that lets you easily hook up speakers for the iPad. You’ll need a 10-watt power adapter to be able to utilize the dock, but this is included when you purchase the iPad. With that adapter, there is also a detachable USB cable that is included as well. This allows you to connect the keyboard directly to your computer so that you can sync the two devices. You are also able to use a few other accessories with the Keyboard Dock including the iPad Camera Connection Kit and the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter. Another advantage to having the Keyboard Dock is that if you have the iPad docked, the keyboard will charge your device.

If you don’t want to deal with the annoyance of attempting to type for long periods of time on the iPad then the Keyboard Dock is just what you are looking for. It will make you feel right at ease with typing anything. It will be available in late April and will be listed for $69.