The Best New Tablet [BestOfTheBest]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5727948/the-best-new-tablet

Tablets! Tablets tablets tablets. They're the hot ticket at this year's CES. Just about everyone's got one (not that everyone should). We've parsed, prodded, and played with the main contenders. And this one's best. Well, these ones.

Our Favorites

Motorola Xoom
It's been a too-long wait for a usable 10-inch Android tablet, much less one that makes us blush. But the Xoom looks like the platonic ideal of a Honeycomb slate: dual-core 1GHz processor, 2-megapixel front camera, 5-megapixel rear camera and 1280x800 display. And did I mention she's a looker? Xoom's at the head of what's soon to be a very large pack right now, but it's hard to grant it a clear-cut victory based on promise alone. Until Google's tablet-friendly OS makes the scene, we won't know what it's like to actually use Xoom.

BlackBerry PlayBook
But you know what's here, right now, running Quake 3 in 1080 and a slideshow at the same time without breaking a sweat? BlackBerry's business-minded PlayBook tablet. It's 7 inches of wow, with an OS that purrs and hardware—a pixel-dense 1024x600 display, 5MP rear and 3MP front-facing cameras, dual-core 1GHz processor—that keeps up with just about anybody. And while there's nothing flashy about the design, it's got the kind of perfectly competent, sturdy build you'd want for a business tablet. So why is PlayBook not a winner? Well, we're still not entirely sold on the 7-inch screen, and BlackBerry's got a long ways to go before its app cupboard doesn't feel so bare. But in terms of tablets you can use, right now, here at CES? It's tops.

Runners Up

Asus Eee Pad Slider
We're into the Asus Eee Pad Slider mostly for the sheer audacity of it. It's a 10.1-inch tablet that goes the Tegra 2 route, meaning it'll have plenty of graphics horsepower. Oh, and if you want a physical keyboard? It's lurking right there beneath the display, just waiting to slide out. Unfortunately that sliding mechanism's a little jerky right now, and while the form is decidedly different, I'm not ready to say that it's better. Not just yet, anyway.

Dell Streak 7
The 7-inch version of Dell's Streak has all the guts of a show pony—Tegra 2 processor, a 1.3MP front and 5MP rear camera—but the real story is that Streak 7 is the first tablet that can tap into T-Mobile's 4G wonderspeeds. Even if you love a 7-inch slate, though Streak's going to be hobbled, at least at first, by running Android Froyo instead of Honeycomb, and by a WVGA screen that'll seem a little dull next to its sharper competitors.

Honorable Mention

LG T-Mobile G-Slate
Lenovo LePad

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Delicious Overkill: The Gratuitously Overclocked 5 Ghz Core i7 Monster [Computers]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5728039/delicious-overkill-the-gratuitously-overclocked-5-ghz-i7-monster

Sometimes a computer at CES is interesting because it's functional and intuitive. Sometimes a computer is interesting because it's the size of an air conditioner, filled with heinously tacky neon lights, and overclocked to hell. Guess which one this is!

I found Origin PC's 5 Ghz, liquid-cooled "Big O" sitting on a dusty stretch of carpet in Creative's booth. Alone. Neglected. I asked a rep about it and he didn't even know why it was there. Was he feeling insecure because the computer is so fast? Perhaps. It wasn't even hooked up to anything. It was just humming along, its red tubes pulsing, green lights throbbing. Speed for its own sake. If it sounds like a sexual experience, that's because it was. The enormo-box reminds me of a bygone era in computing, when clock speeds trumped all—and just reading "5 Ghz i7" made my heart dance. CES is supposed to be about neat things we'll be using effectively in the future, but sometimes I'm okay with REALLY FREAKING FAST NEON COMPUTER, WATCH OUT, too.

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Somebody Tell Ebert That Video Games Are Now Art [Art]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5728168/somebody-tell-ebert-that-video-games-are-now-art

Roger Ebert may not think highly of video games as art, but MoMA does. The latest installation at their MoMA PS1 gallery is playable video game, which lets you run through a 16-bit Communist China landscape as a Red Army soldier.

Created by Chinese artist Feng Mengbo, Long March: Restart is a side-scrolling brawler where you battle ghouls, monsters, and military foes with the help of Coca-Cola cans characters from the Mario and Street Fighter franchises (it's undetermined at this time if there's a boss level where you battle a giant e-waste monster). The game follows the events of the Chinese Communist Party's "Long March" in 1934, when Mao Zedong's army had to retreat across 5000 miles of rough terrain to escape Chinese Nationalist forces.

On the more techie side, eight projectors were required for the installation, which is about as widescreen as it gets, and there are two screen for your gaming enjoyment. The mainscreen shows the video game in standard format. The second screen behind the gamer is scaled up relative the avatar's position on screen, so that the gamer can experience the virtual world from the perspective of the avatar. The exhibit is up through April 4. [MoMA PS1 via Complex via Hypebeast]

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Hauppauge debuts Broadway live TV streamer for iPhones and iPads, WinTV-Aero-m receiver for PCs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/hauppauge-debuts-broadway-live-tv-streamer-for-iphones-and-ipads/

It may look vaguely like an accessory to a late-80s PC that's sprouted antennas, but Hauppauge's new "Broadway" live TV streamer does have a few more modern tricks up its sleeve: it can stream live TV to your iPhone or iPad. That can be done over WiFi in your house or over the internet anywhere else, and the device packs a multi-format receiver that can tune in both digital cable TV channels and ATSC over-the-air broadcast channels (or analog TV, for that matter), which are all conveniently compressed for streaming. Alongside it, Hauppauge has also rolled out its new dual-format WinTV-Aero-m USB receiver for PCs (pictured after the break), which will let you receive Mobile Digital TV broadcasts designed for mobile TV reception, as well as high definition ATSC digital TV broadcasts. Look for it to be available soon for $69, while the Broadway streamer will be available in "about six weeks" for $199.

Continue reading Hauppauge debuts Broadway live TV streamer for iPhones and iPads, WinTV-Aero-m receiver for PCs

Hauppauge debuts Broadway live TV streamer for iPhones and iPads, WinTV-Aero-m receiver for PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Iogear GW3DKIT wireless 3D media kit banishes your components to the closet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/iogear-gw3dkit-wireless-3d-media-kit-banishes-your-components-to/

We went hands-on with Iogear's wireless HD system last year at CES, and now we've managed to do the same with a prototype of the boutique brand's new GW3DKIT 3D wireless streamer. The kit consists of a 3D transmitter and receiver that each feature four HDMI inputs as well as one component, composite, VGA, and USB input. Each box also features one HDMI and USB output. Together the system is designed to stream full 1080p 60Hz HD video / 5.1 audio along with 3D content over WiFi (802.11n) from as far as 100 feet away with supposedly little latency or wireless interference. Iogear says to expect the system sometime in Q1 of 2011, and no official pricing is available yet, but we've been told it would be around $499 by Iogear's CES booth staff. If everything performs as advertised, it sounds like a great solution for you home theater minimalists out there who prefer components out of sight. We'll reserve official judgment though until we can go eyes-on with some extended tested. For more information, be sure to check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Iogear GW3DKIT wireless 3D media kit banishes your components to the closet

Iogear GW3DKIT wireless 3D media kit banishes your components to the closet originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 05:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds! .

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