Tablets

Would you pay $30 to screen a new-release movie on your television at home? Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, and Walt Disney are all in talks with cable TV networks to offer wide-release movies streamed to your TV, so you won't have to wait the three months for titles to show up on demand or on Netflix.

Cable providers like Comcast are already testing this service, but Disney also has plans to stream films on Web-connected gaming devices like the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, with movies ranging from $20 to $30, depending on consumer interest. The services look to solve Hollywood's recent decline in DVD movie purchases in the face of online piracy.

Last year, physical disc sales dropped 13 percent over the previous year's sales. Although there's no word yet on when companies will officially release the solution, won't this just open up self-pirating to anyone with a living room TV and a HD Flip video camera?

In case today's show title spawned dirty thoughts in your head, Pink Kisses is really just a paid service that helps newly single women get through a rough breakup. The Texas-based company offers clients a variety of chocolates, personalized text messages, e-mails, flowers, and even virtual gifts to help women set new goals for their lives and forget about the man (or woman) that broke their heart.

Prices range from affordable all the way up to an unbelievable $272 services that offers three days of encouraging text messages, two "life coaching session," flowers, and "better than sex" truffles. It sounds kind of depressing until you consider how simple the NSFW male equivalent of Pink Kisses would be.

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Sharp is planning to launch a new, cloud-based e-bookstore and two tablets in the Japanese market in December.

The e-bookstore will offer approximately 30,000 newspapers, magazines, and books, the company said today. It will include an "Automatic Schedule Delivery Service" for periodicals, which will allow magazine and newspaper publishers to automatically push new editions to the user's e-reader. Sharp didn't say how much content in the store will cost; it plans to reveal pricing details later this year.

In addition, Sharp introduced two tablets, bearing the Galapagos nickname, that will work with the company's … Read more

Samsung has offered a strong hint that there's a 10-inch version of the Android-powered Galaxy Tab in the pipeline. The 7-inch Tab has attracted loads of attention with its AMOLED touch screen, built-in high definition camera, and ability to make phone calls.

While discussing the availability of the Tab in Ireland, Samsung's local grand poobah Gary Twohig appeared to confirm that there would be different sizes. We could be putting two and two together and coming up with 10, however: although some reports have taken this to mean there will be a 10-inch version, the original report has … Read more

Target will start selling Apple's iPad on October 3, the company announced at a news conference in Minneapolis today.

Target will carry all six versions of the tablet, including the 16-, 32-, and 64GB versions of the iPad with Wi-Fi and the iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G. Prices will start at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model, which is the same price that Apple sells the device for.

A Target spokeswoman told CNET in a phone interview today that the iPad will be included in a special store promotion beginning October 17 that gives customers a 5 percent discount … Read more

With all the latest and greatest iPhone competitors sporting Google's Android 2.2 OS, it only makes sense that an iPod Touch competitor would take the same strategy.

That's the gist behind the Archos 32, a pocket-size, self-described "tablet" running Android 2.2, and available now for less than $150. Like the Touch, you get most of the benefits of a multimedia-friendly smartphone, without the hassle of carrier contracts or monthly bills. With it, you can browse the Web, check your e-mail, listen to some tunes, watch a video, and even extend its features by installing … Read more

With consumers and analysts guessing which companies plan to take on Apple's iPad, BookMaker, a Web site dedicated to online gambling, has calculated odds (click the "Entertainment" link on the site) on who will be next after Research In Motion to debut an iPad-like device in 2010. It's been widely reported that RIM plans to show off its BlackPad sometime next week, and the gamblers are hoping to cash in when the next company shows theirs off.

The lines show HTC as the frontrunner with an even money payout, followed by Nokia with one and a … Read more

First it was to be one of HP's biggest product launches of 2010. Then the project was killed. Then it wasn't. So might the HP Slate actually live?

A new video that appeared on YouTube today purports to be a review of a close-to-final prototype of the touch-screen tablet. It shows a device that looks similar to an iPad, but a bit thicker, and running Windows 7. Also included: a 3-megapixel camera, an SD card slot, a microphone, physical button to launch the on-screen keyboard, home key, lock button, and "control-alt-delete" button. It's also described … Read more

Dell is readying its second Android-based tablet, CEO Michael Dell said today.

He gave few details other than that it would have a 7-inch screen during his mention of it on stage at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. No price, name, shipping date, or tech specifications were provided.

Dell did not immediately respond to a request for further details. It could be that the device Dell spoke of today is the rumored "Looking Glass" tablet we saw earlier this year, which is purported to be a 7-inch tablet running Android.

The 7-inch tablet would join Dell's 5-inch Streak, … Read more

The much-discussed BlackBerry tablet may finally come to fruition as soon as next week.

It's been talked about for months, but Research In Motion has yet to acknowledge that such a device exists. But today The Wall Street Journal reported that the Canadian smartphone maker may reveal its own iPad-like tablet at its developer conference in San Francisco, which starts Monday.

The Journal's unnamed sources say the device is not ready for shipping to customers, but will by sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.

The BlackBerry tablet--sometimes referred to as the "BlackPad" since RIM … Read more