Displaying items by tag: TouchPad

Touch as a form of input for a computer system is rather old although most people regard it as a new technology. It was even around long before the move to flat display panels happened. These touch input methods were often very rudimentary, but they got the job done. If all you needed was to hit a button on a screen for a point of sale system then making a matrix that could detect this was not that complicated. As the technology developed it split into different facets. One of them, the touch screen, is what you most often hear about when someone talks about touch. It is this that Microsoft and others are talking about when they say touch is the future. I say they are wrong.

Synaptics, the inventor of the touch pad back in 1995, is looking to revolutionize the touch industry again. On the 17th of August we had a conversation with Synaptics about their new innovation, the ForcePad, and how it and some additional technology could push the mobile and desktop experience to a new dimension. After looking through the all of the details and talking with Synaptics, we think there might even be hope for Windows 8.

It looks like the cheapest Android Tablet on the market is now the HP TouchPad. Ever since HP announced the death of the WebOS division (the moved into another department) the rapidly changing company has been trying to unload all of the hardware they have sitting around. To accomplish this they dropped the prices on the TouchPad from $499 (16GB) and $599 (32GB) to $99 and $149 respectively. This price has caused something of a rush on them and most of the stores that carried them are all sold out. Now while many are snapping these up, there are some that are not interested in a product that will have an OS that is not going to truly be supported anymore.

Well, have no fear. The gang known as Team-Touchdroid has found a way to get Android running on this hardware complete with full multitouch capability. Team-Touchdroid in combination with the group CyanogenMod (the ones that are responsible for most of the Rooted Android ROMs) have been working hard to make your new inexpensive investment pay off in a big way. Their progress has been amazing; the pair have already gotten 2.3.5 running on the device and now have added the full ten finger multitouch to the party. We are sure it will not be long before they achieve their goal of porting HoneyComb to these now very cheap but hard to find tablets. Check out the video below

Source Team-TouchDroid

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Not all that long ago we talked about HP’s decision to pretty much kill off its WebOS platform and with it the HP TouchPad. Right after those announcements we saw the HP TouchPad prices drop down to $100 in some cases. There was a rush on them and people ran out to get them. Well now, thanks to precentral.net we are finding out a little more about what HP has in mind. It seems that the WebOS development team is heading to the Office of Strategic Technology while the hardware side gets left with the Personal Systems Group.

Of course these items lead to interesting questions. With WebOS going to the Strategic Technology Office will it end up being licensed out as a product on its own? Will we see the new owners of the TouchPad hardware (and the rest of the Personal Systems Group) buy this software from HP’s core business?

We do have some insight into the whys of this event, but the final outcome of everything is not clear. HP needed to do this to help prevent some liabilities that come from selling both hardware and software (that they own and license). But, what on earth does HP plan to do once this is all over? We know they do not have the moxie to go head to head with IBM (which appears to be who they are modeling themselves after) so why the shift and the drop of the consumer side of their company?

We will continue to see if we can find out some more solid answers than what is available at the moment. If you want to read the documents that appear to say this is going happen click the source link below.

Source precentral.net

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