Apple makes a lot of money selling touchscreen tablets, smartphones, and portable media devices. In fact, the company now makes more money from iOS products than it does from pricey laptop and desktop computers running OS X. So when you look at the latest versions of OS X which offer support for full-screen apps and gesture-based controls, you’d be forgiven…
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Intel is showing off a reference design for an ultrabook with a touchscreen display. It’s not a convertible tablet, since you can’t fold the laptop flat and still use the touchscreen. It’s just a notebook — with a touch-sensitive display. You can use the touchscreen much like you’d use any phone or tablet touch interface. You can pinch to zoom,…
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Microsoft Research has developed a new capacitive touch technology called PocketTouch that works even when you place a piece of fabric between your finger and the touchscreen. This could let you control music playback or even send text messages on a phone without removing it from your pocket — or even sticking your hand in your pocket. Since you can’t…
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Google Android may have originally been designed to run on phones small enough to fit in your pocket, but it turns out the operating system works pretty well on 7 and 10 inch tablets as well. But why stop there? Martin Drashkov couldn’t think of a good reason, so he started to build an Android system with a 23 inch…
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Google insists that Chrome OS is designed for laptop and desktop computers with a keyboard and touchpad. But behind the scenes there’s work underway to build a touchscreen-friendly version of the browser-based operating system. We’ve seen evidence pop up a few times recently. Now web developer François Beaufort has compiled a version of Chromium with the Touch UI installed. Chromium is…
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Next month Kobo will begin selling the Kobo eReader Touch for $129.99. It’s a new eBook reader with an E Ink display, much like Kobo’s existing offering. The difference is the new model will have a touchscreen, letting you navigate through eBooks with touch navigation rather than a directional pad. At just under $130, the Kobo eReader Touch will be…
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The first notebooks running Google Chrome OS will go on sale next month, and Google says right now its targeting the operating system at notebook and desktop computers, not tablets. But behind the scenes we’ve seen plenty of evidence that Google is also considering how to make Chrome OS tablet-friendly. The latest clue comes from some new developer APIs for…
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It’ll probably be another year or so before Microsoft is ready to officially release Windows 8, but leaked copies of an early build of the system have been making the rounds for the past few weeks and a handful of people have been kicking the tires to see what makes the OS tick. One thing that’s becoming clear is that…
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According to a new press release from Neonode, the Swedish company behind the zForce optical touchscreen, a deal has been struck with Asus. “Later this year” you can expect to see devices utilizing the innovative screens later this year. Neonode CEO Thomas Eriksson says zForce offers a cost savings over other touchscreen options, so it’ll be interesting to see what…
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It’s not always easy using an operating system built for desktop and notebook computers on a tablet. That’s one of the reasons the Apple iPad has been such a success — the operating system was built from the ground up for touch navigation. But the folks at Canonical are doing their best to add touch-friendly features to Ubuntu Linux. One…
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Google has repeatedly stated that the company’s Chrome Operating System will initially target laptop computers with versions for tablets and other devices coming later. But last week the developers working on Chrome added an alternate new tab page designed for touchscreen devices. Google Chrome OS is basically an operating system based on the Google Chrome web browser, and like the…
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Research in Motion hasn’t announced an official launch date for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet yet, but signs are pointing to a March 27th release. While you’re waiting to get your hands on the tablet though, you can pick up a spare touch screen digitizer or a complete touch screen with bezel for the tablet from True Supplier. OEM components…
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