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Sometimes, even if it's vaporware, it doesn't mean its maker isn't on to something.

Three years ago, the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid caught my eye -- and many others -- at CES in Las Vegas. The idea -- a laptop that had its own detachable tablet -- seemed revolutionary, and at the time it was an idea ahead of even the iPad, which debuted just months later.

The IdeaPad U1 Hybrid was a great idea, with one problem: it never arrived. After surfacing again in 2011 as a Windows/Android detachable hybrid, it again disappeared from view.… Read more

Take a tablet; add a keyboard. Turn it into a laptop. Do it with full Windows 8. This is the dream of the HP Envy x2, and the dream, it seems, of Windows 8 in general. Break down the barrier between tablets and PCs. Create progressive computing. The future is now. Well, the future was also four months ago, when Hewlett-Packard first started showing off the Envy x2 in public.

We marveled then that the device was well-built, comfortable to hold, and, when you think about it, pretty shockingly practical. After all, theoretically, this is the best of both worlds: … Read more

Safaricom today announced a smartphone based an Intel design -- part of the chipmaker's effort to enter the global low-cost phone market.

The Yolo smartphone is aimed "cost-conscious...first-time buyers" in Kenya, said Intel, which is responsible for both the core electronics and phone's design.

That design was announced at CES 2013.

Inside the 3.5-inch Yolo is an Intel Atom Z2420 processor that can run at speeds up to 1.2 GHz and Intel's XMM 6265 modem with HSPA+ support for global roaming.

Yolo will be sold in Safaricom shops in Kenya at an … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Atom's back, and it's not just for Netbooks, or even high-end phones.

Actually, the Atom platform's been around all this time, but Intel's CES 2013 press conference laid plans for Atom's next-gen revival. We expected as much before the show started.

The new Bay Trail Atom system-on-a-chip processors are quad-core and even smaller than previous Atoms, with a new 22nm design. These processors mean better "all-day" battery life as well as better processing power -- according to Intel, up to twice as fast as current Atoms. There are Intel Atom processors in … Read more

Windows 8 PC sales aren't trending well, according to a new report. And consumers' addiction to low cost may be a factor.

A blurb on Friday from the NPD Group said Windows 8 holiday sales continue to not impress.

"The launch of Windows 8...did little to boost holiday sales or improve the yearlong Windows notebook sales decline," NPD said.

More specifically, Windows laptop "holiday unit sales" were down 11 percent year-to-year, the market researcher said.

Want more deets? The average selling price of a Windows laptop rose a hair -- $2 to $420, according … Read more

A fresh review of a Windows 8 Acer tablet by chip site Anandtech shows it beating ARM-based devices pretty consistently on central processor unit performance benchmarks but not on graphics. The site also noted a "bug" that has delayed the release of some Intel-based tablets.

"The [Intel] Atom architecture is still faster than every single ARM based [processor] core on the market today with the exception of the Cortex A15," -- ARM's newest chip design -- wrote Anandtech when it posted a review of the Acer W510 today.

Intel's Atom z2760 "Clover Trail&… Read more

A tablet from Hewlett-Packard running the full version of Windows 8 is expected to finally ship to customers, though a full Win 8 tablet doesn't appear to be imminent from Lenovo.

HP's Envy x2 laptop-tablet hybrid "convertible" was originally slated for November 14 availability but is now expected to reach customers soon, HP said.

"Customers can expect to receive an Envy x2...in January, if they order today. Customers who ordered their units on Dec. 3 or prior are expected to receive their PC by Dec. 21 at the latest," an HP representative told … Read more

Is the desktop PC on the road to oblivion? Well, let's put it this way: it's hardly an Intel priority anymore.

Yeah, desktops will still be around in 2016, but it's not something Intel -- which makes most PC processors -- thinks about a lot.

Survival in the age of the big-screen smartphone and tablet is what Intel thinks about.

A recent 75-page study from Goldman Sachs titled "Clash of the Titans" puts it, rather delicately, this way: "We believe the ongoing share shift in consumer computing toward smartphones and tablets and away from … Read more

Hackers have made their way into one of the servers of the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency, according to Reuters. The agency confirmed that the hackers stole information and published it online.

"The IAEA deeply regrets this publication of information stolen from an old server that was shut down some time ago," agency spokesperson Gill Tudor told Reuters. "The IAEA's technical and security teams are continuing to analyze the situation and do everything possible to help ensure that no further information is vulnerable."

A group that calls itself "Parastoo" claimed responsibility … Read more