tablet

Apple enjoyed a healthy gain in consumer technology sales last year amid a down market.

The iPhone maker took home 19.9 percent of all consumer technology sales in the U.S., up from 17.3 percent in 2011, according to stats released today by NPD Group.

Based on sales, Apple proved to be the top consumer brand for the year, outshining Samsung, HP, Sony, and Dell. Beyond Apple, only Samsung's cut of revenues rose among the five, reaching 9.3 percent from 7 percent the prior year.

Together, Apple and Samsung scooped up $6.5 billion in higher … Read more

If you're eyeballing a tablet with business purposes in mind, a convertible might be the best way to go. You get a full-size QWERTY keyboard when you need one and nothin' but screen when you don't.

And if it helps you to stay in the Windows ecosystem, well, you need a Windows-powered convertible. Like this one: Lenovo has the IdeaPad Yoga 11 Windows RT convertible for $599 shipped when you apply coupon code USPYOGA2C214 at checkout. (Sales tax may apply in some states.) That's a full $200 off the original price.

If that code doesn't work/… Read more

It's no secret that the standard hand-eye coordination tests doctors use to monitor neuromuscular deficits -- typically when a patient is injured or as a patient ages -- can be subjective, relying on, say, descriptions of reflexes and cognitive status such as "mild," "moderate," and "severe."

So researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, the Beth Israel Medical Center, and Hebrew SeniorLife have been developing what they call a rapid neuroassessment device, nicknamed NeuroAssess, to measure neuromuscular performance quantitatively instead of qualitatively.

They've recently tested it on 150 … Read more

China is surpassing the U.S. as the world's largest market for active smart devices, according to new data released today.

A year after becoming the fastest-growing market for smart devices, China is expected to account for 246 million active Android and iOS smartphones and tablets at the end of February, compared with 230 million in the U.S., according to mobile analytics firm Flurry. That will reverse January's rankings, in which the U.S. held the top spot with 222 million smart devices compared with China's 221 million.

Flurry, which based its conclusions on the tracking … Read more

If Hewlett-Packard introduces an Android tablet, the newfound rivalry with Microsoft will be one motivating factor, according to analysts.

"I can see why they would go down this route instead of sticking with Microsoft for everything," said Ben Bajarin, a principal at Creative Strategies.

That may be putting it charitably. "[PC makers] are pissed off at Microsoft. That's the general mood," said Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies, referring to Microsoft's entry into the PC/tablet market with Surface.

Surface practically precluded HP from coming out with a Windows RT tablet based on … Read more

The Nook business ain't what it used to be.

Barnes & Noble announced yesterday that it expects a higher loss from its Nook business for fiscal 2013, which ends in April. The company didn't reveal specific numbers, but its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) showed a loss of $262 million for fiscal 2012.

B&N expects overall annual sales from the entire Nook Media business to be less than $3 billion. The Nook business itself includes the tablet, an e-book reader, accessories, and digital content such as books and movies. The Nook Media business … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is doing an Android tablet too, according to a report from ReadWrite.

HP's first Android tablet will be a "high-end" affair based on Nvidia's upcoming Tegra 4 chip, according to the blog.

"It could be announced soon," the report said.

This would come about two years after HP's WebOS tablet debacle. In August of 2011, the company terminated its TouchPad only a month and a half after the device's introduction.

It also ended plans for a WebOS-based phone at that time.

HP had also been slated to make a Windows RT … Read more

Don't try to repair Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet yourself.

That's the advice from the folks at iFixit, which rated the Surface Pro a mere 1 on a 10-point scale of repairability, with 10 being the easiest to repair.

The firm found that there are more than 90 screws in the device, and that there was a high risk of cutting a crucial wire just by opening the tablet, potentially destroying it. Likewise, the display assembly is also extremely difficult to remove and replace. There's also a lot of adhesive used in the tablet.

"Unless you … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook today defended the company's cash hoard, said that innovation is in the corporate DNA, added that the smartphone market may be the best ever and outlined his acquisition strategy. He also knocked the PC industry's focus on specifications and noted the iPad is the "poster child" of the post-PC era.

Cook, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, addressed Wall Street analysts and investors for the second consecutive year. Generally speaking, Cook has been much more open with investors than former CEO Steve Jobs.

The overall theme … Read more