That shopping site for closeouts and other deals, Woot, it at it again and today they have the 32GB HP TouchPad on sale for $219.99 (USD). The tablet is refurbished, but it comes with a 90-day warranty from HP. If you aren’t familiar with the TouchPad, the tablet has a 9.7-inch screen. It has 32GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 1.3MP camera.

The Touchpad can be hacked to run Android, which is what many people have been doing with them. HP-issued updates for webOS are unlikely since the tablet is discontinued – although with webOS recently open-sourced, it might still have some sort of life going forward. If you want one, you should the tablet right now before the deal expires.

If you were paying attention to all of this you may have been one of the lucky ones that got some bargain prices on the last day of their retail stores. The Veer was selling for $50(USD), the Pixi for $25(USD). If you bought 4, the Pixi was just $15(USD).

[via Engadget via Geeky Gadgets]

HP, a few TouchPad buyers, and some developers are now baffled by reports that a few of the TouchPads shipped out arrived to the buyers packing Android on board rather than WebOS. Some devs contacted HP and wanted to know what version of Android was on the devices and HP played the dumb card.

HP claims it never authorized the shipping of Android on the TouchPad, and went so far as to say there was no chance that those tablets shipped from HP with Android on them. HP is investigating how Android ended up on the tablets and for now, we don’t know anything. I bet this is a big hoax, but if it’s not let’s be honest, getting a TouchPad with Android already on it saves a bit of time with the hack.

[via PCWorld]

The HP HD 5210 allows 720p video streaming and recording in full 1080p (which is cool for shooting HD YouTube videos). There’s an auto-focus lens and HP’s TrueVision auto light exposure to help with the overall look of your video. The software also allows you for one-click uploads to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The camera swivel mount will allow it to pan 270 degrees. There are two noise-cancelling stereo microphones included. It can also take still photos with a 13MP sensor, and has a 5× digital zoom. The HP HD 5210 Webcam costs $99 (USD) and will be released September 21st.

[via Ubergizmo]

The TouchPad didn’t exactly impress the reviewers in most instances, but at $379.99 (USD) the price is low enough that some users will be willing to give it a shot (that’s about $120 off the regular price).

The TouchPad has 16GB of storage inside and a 9.7-inch screen with capacitive touch. The tablet also sports webOS for the operating system, WiFi, and a 1.3MP front mounted camera for video calls. The processor under the hood is a 1.2GHz Snapdragon. The battery is a 6300mAh unit that should keep you surfing the web for hours, but there’s no 3G connectivity built in.

The tablet will ship for $5 more, and these are brand new products, not refurbs.

Mike had a bunch of parts he was going to put in the trash, and decided to give them new life as a robotic sculpture. He gathered up discarded circuit boards and parts from friends and family too, and managed to build a robot with quite a personality.

He’s got body parts from Dell, AMD, IBM, Maxtor, Toshiba, Sharp, Gateway among others. Nice touch there with the CPUs and flash drives for his brains.

I especially like the eyes – which came from some old Canon and HP digital cameras. You know that thing they say about the eyes being the window to one’s soul, right?

All in all, it’s a loving tribute to technology that at one point was an integral part of someone’s livelihood, education or entertainment. I think we need to build an entire shrine to old technology filled with these guys.

[via Total Geekdom]

X313Xkillax has a video of a HP Slate prototype up on YouTube. He boots it up with Windows 7, but ultimately, it’s possible that another OS will have to be used, since Win7 isn’t really well optimized for finger operation (there’s some basic multi-touch support, but it’s pretty weak compared to dedicated mobile OSes.)

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s an interesting looking tablet, but will it really be able to tackle the iPad? I doubt it, but we’ll see. It’s got two cameras, making it already better equipped than the iPad from that perspective, but the Windows-based OS and apps will need major refinement for it to be a viable competitor.

Now how they counted up all of those colors is anyone’s guess, but the 30-bit per pixel, but the HP ZR30w LCD screen has ‘em all, and you will believe! The 30-inch screen also sports a higher-than-high-def resolution of 2560×1600 and Super-IPS display technology. We’re not quite as excited by the 3000 to 1 dynamic contrast ratio, but those numbers are almost always B.S. anyhow.

While the insane color count is way more than any human could ever see, the other specs on the monitor do sound pretty nice. And while $1299 sounds reasonable for a 30-inch display of this caliber, you’re just a few hundred bucks short of an entire 27-inch iMac, which offers a similarly high-res IPS screen. But it only displays “millions of colors”. Damn.

[via CrunchGear]

The printer “turns three-dimensional CAD drawings into tangible prototypes by extruding partially molten ABS plastic in extremely fine layers one atop the other, forming the entire 3-D model in a single piece from the ground up.” The Designjet 3D can only print using ivory-colored plastic…

…while the Designjet Color 3D can print using up to 8 different colors.

I hope in the future we can just download an image of anything we want and then print it in 3D. But that will probably result in the rise of collectible toy pirates.

HP says that retail prices for their 3D printers will start at €13,000 (approx. $17,500 USD). If that’s too rich for your blood, you could always just spend $1,000 on a Makerbot.

[via Popular Science via Geek]

The dual-purpose of memristors could also lead to processors that use up a lot less power and generate a lot less heat, which means memristor-based devices will be more efficient, and hopefully cheaper to maintain, compared to today’s transistor-based machines.

Memristors can also be stacked three-dimensionally, whereas transistors can only be crammed into a chip in a linear fashion. More memristors = more powerful processor. And, going back to the memristor’s dual-purpose, eliminating the distance between the processor and storage will lead to a faster computer. I’ve also heard that memristors can cook a mean omelet. Memristors can also drink a case of beer and still pass the breathalyzer test, whereas the uncool transistors can’t even finish a bottle without having rashes pop up over their arms. Memristors also know that those last two statements are lies.

[via Pop Sci]

This is one area in which I think the TouchSmart software really shines, combining multiple music sources all in a single touch-based interface. At its most basic, the TouchSmart Music app can discover all of the music on your PC, and lets you easily browse through albums in cover flow, album art or text grid lists. And the software is capable of working with either the same library format used by Windows Media Center or iTunes, so you’ve got a choice if you’re migrating from an existing library.

The TouchSmart Music app can run in the background while other TouchSmart Applications are running, so you can browse pictures, surf the internet, take notes, read recipes or even watch videos while you listen to music. But the really cool thing in the app is the relatively seamless integration with both Pandora and Rhapsody, both of which give you an endless music library.

I’ll start with Pandora, as it’s the simpler of the two interfaces. Just log in with your existing Pandora account (or create a new one), and it pulls in any already existing artist mixes on the right side of the screen. You can choose to play individual artist-inspired Pandora playlist, or jump right to a QuickMix of all of your Pandora artists and related tunes. The left side of the Pandora interface features artist bios, related artist info, and is the one place you’ll see advertising in the TouchSmart interface. I kept getting ads for Wendy’s cheeseburgers, but your mileage may vary. And now I’m hungry.

On the right side of the interface, you can thumb up/thumb down and skip music. One cool thing with HP’s Pandora is that you can put the Music app in the background, and all the artist info, ads, etc, go away and all you get is a small playback control in the upper-right corner of your screen with track and artist info. Of course, you’ll occasionally hear ads on Pandora, but what do you want for free?

Rhapsody, the all-you-can-eat subscription music smorgasbord is also nicely integrated into TouchSmart Music. The Rhapsody store is available as an additional link in the header of the Music app, and with the appropriate subscription (currently $12.99 USD/month), you can surf and listen to all the music you’d ever want as if it were just part of your personal library. You can easily create playlists by just dragging the tunes you want from the left side of the screen to the right using your fingertip.

I had a couple of random issues with the Rhapsody service in which the album art turned up blank, but that seemed to be a transient issue, and is no longer happening. Other than that, the Rhapsody component worked flawlessly, and also supports background playback so you can do other things while the music plays. I also really like the Playlist Central area, which is great for discovering new music based on editorially-selected playlists.

One other unique feature in all the TouchSmart Music apps is the touch-based search. Just write the name of the artist, album, song or keyword with your fingertip, et voila!…

About the only thing not to like about TouchSmart Music is the fact that you can’t co-mingle playlists across your media library, Pandora and Rhapsody, but I’d definitely file that on the “nice to have” list. As is the case with video and Live TV, you can alternatively use the bundled Windows Media Center apps, but unlike Live TV, I couldn’t see any significant advantage over using the TouchSmart Music app unless you have a Zune membership. Personally, having the Pandora integration is what really made me a believer. I think I have Pandora running on some device of mine hours a day lately.

As I mentioned in the first part of this article, the TouchSmart has a completely admirable built-in audio system that’s more than sufficient for use in a small room. It won’t blow you away if you’re a serious audiophile, but if you don’t want to clutter your room with lots of wires and speakers, you definitely can get by without extra hardware. And there’s always the audio out ports if you want to use an external sound system.

Since this is the final article in my three-part review of the TouchSmart 600, let me bring it all in for a landing. Overall, I’ve been very impressed with this hardware/software combo from HP. The all-in-one form factor is great for bedrooms, offices, and larger kitchens, and if you don’t want to have both a TV and a computer in those rooms, it’s a no-brainer. With a built-in digital HD tuner, 1080p video resolution, and robust media playback and management capabilities, you could definitely live with one of these as a standalone entertainment system. And the HDMI port on the side is a real bonus, since you can hook up a gaming console or satellite receiver and use it like an HDTV too.

There are definitely areas for improvement in the TouchSmart software,  specifically in the area of Live TV, where the playback and channel-surfing experience isn’t as smooth as Windows Media Center. However, there’s enough meat in the TouchSmart app suite – especially with the addition of Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and Rhapsody – to make it a compelling interface for day-to-day operation. And lest we forget that there’s an entire (reasonably) powerful Windows 7 PC packed in this box as well. You can surf the web, run productivity apps, play games, and do everything I’ve described in this series – all in a single slim box that actually looks quite nice sitting on your desktop. And while the touchscreen interface might not really be necessary (with the mouse, keyboard and included remote control), it still is pretty cool, especially for the media playback apps.

If you do decide you want to get your mitts on one of these, you can find the TouchSmart 600 over at Amazon with prices ranging starting around $1100 (USD) depending on configuration.

Or you could just enter our TouchSmart contest, and win one for yourself

So to refresh your memory, the TouchSmart 600 features a large 23-inch 1080p BriteView LCD screen, which can also double as an HDTV. For movie playback, the system has a built-in Slot-loading Blu-ray player, which can also burn DVDs.

I put the Blu-ray player through its paces with a copy of The Dark Knight, which really looks beautiful on the wide, bright screen of the TouchSmart. The interface for movie playback is clean and simple, and lets you use the touchscreen to control the play, pause, volume and scrub controls for your discs. I also like the little visual chapter indicators on the scrub bar. I did find one minor annoyance with movie playback – when you press any on-screen control, a floating D-pad controller comes up in a separate floating window, and you have to close it separately – it doesn’t fade out like the rest of the controls. I also couldn’t figure out a way to get the advanced menu features on my Blu-ray discs to play, so if that’s important to you, you should research this further. And why the app is called “MediaSmart DVD”, even though it plays Blu-ray discs is anyone’s guess. No biggie. Still, it looks great, and if you’re looking for content to show off the screen, this is it.

The other day, I tried the TouchSmart with both over-the-air HD broadcasts and a direct HDMI connection from my PS3. But once you pop in a native 1080p Blu-ray disc, you’ll really see this thing shine. There’s really no comparison in image quality to any other video format besides a digital 1080p file.

In addition to physical media playback, the TouchSmart software also includes applications for Hulu and Netflix. Both of these apps work great, and the TouchSmart Hulu app offers a cleaner interface than the standard web-based version. It also offers touch-based controls which make it easy to select content and scrub through scenes with just your fingertip. There’s also a nice little image thumbnail that pops in as you scrub through the scene to help you navigate. It takes a second to refresh, but once you get a hang of it, it’s pretty slick.

By comparison, the Netflix app is pretty austere. It looks very nice, and offers smooth playback of standard-def content in your Instant Queue. I still wish that Netflix would allow you to modify their instant queue in their viewing apps though. For now, you still have to surf to Netflix.com or use one of the myriad Netflix phone apps to edit your queue.

The Netflix app does have a clean, simple cover-flow like interface for selecting movies using their DVD box art, and when a movie is playing back you can scrub with your finger and see preview stills to guide you through your movie.

Video playback on both Netflix and Hulu were smooth over my 802.11n wireless network on my 6mbps DSL connection. However, I didn’t see any streamed content beyond SD resolution on these services. At least not by my naked eye. That said, the TouchSmart handles HD streamed content from sites like YouTube without a hitch – just not in the TouchSmart interface.

I didn’t get a chance to check out surround playback during movies, but the TouchSmart does offer a SPDIF optical output which should provide your surround system with what it needs to engulf you with big movie sound. The speakers inside the TouchSmart are more than capable of projecting sound in a small room, such as a bedroom or den though.

If you were just looking for a Blu-ray player and a 23-inch LCD monitor, you could probably score both of those for less than $500 total. But remember, the TouchSmart 600 is a true multi-purpose computing and home entertainment device. You can surf the web, play digital media files, listen to Internet radio (more on this in my next post), play your game consoles, and do everything else you’re used to doing with a Windows 7 PC in one box. Not too shabby in my book.

In my next post, I’ll be telling you how the TouchSmart handles your digital music collection and my conclusions on the system. Stop back by later this week to find out more. And don’t forget, if you read all of the articles, you’ve got chance to win a TouchSmart 600 too.

Since this is the first post in the series, I thought I’d take a minute to walk you through the TouchSmart 600′s hardware. The particular configuration I had my hands on was the 600-1055. The system features a beautiful 23-inch widescreen display, powered by NextWindow’s optical multitouch technology. Since the display uses an infrared touch technology, it can only handle two points of input, but that’s enough for manipulating simple media interfaces and handling gestures like flicks, pinch and zoom with aplomb. The system also has a high quality sound system built in, and the audio is certainly as good as anything you’d find built into a good television these days. It’s no substitute for a full surround rig, but it’s fine for a small room. And of course, there is an SPDIF optical output if you really do want to hook the TouchSmart to a proper surround system.

Under the hood, there’s a serviceable Core 2 Duo P7450, running a 2.13GHz, and the system has 4GB of RAM and a speedy 7200RPM 750GB SATA hard drive, perfect for recording television programs and handling other media utility work – right in the sweet spot for this machine. The system ships with Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit edition, so they didn’t skimp on the OS, either.

My first objective with the TouchSmart was to see how well it would work as a TV/DVR. The timing for this couldn’t have been better, as my brand new 58-inch Samsung plasma died and we had no TV in our living room for the last month (eeegads!) So while I wouldn’t normally recommend using a 23-inch display as your primary television, it worked for us in a pinch. The TouchSmart’s display size is definitely better suited to a bedroom, or maybe an office or den. It’s just a little large for most kitchens, but they do offer a 20-inch model as well.

So, back to the TV/DVR thing. There are a few ways to slice and dice this on the TouchSmart, and that’s part of the beauty of this thing. You can watch live television using the computer’s built in Digital ATSC tuner, and using either the included TouchSmart software or Windows Media Center, you can view live programs, and record them for later playback. I personally preferred the Windows Media software for this, as it works with the bundled remote control, and was a bit zippier than the TouchSmart interface. That said, the TouchSmart version does work well if you plan on primarily the touch screen for input, so maybe it would be good in a small room where you will be right by the screen all the time.

I recorded several programs in both the foreground and background, and didn’t run into any problems with playback quality, even for 720p and 1080i HD broadcasts. Oddly enough, I did run into some stutter on HD content in the TouchSmart app during live TV though, but it’s possible some sort of background task (maybe anti-virus or system updates) was hogging resources. This only occurred once or twice in my experience. The recording worked fine, even in the background while other tasks were going on, although since there’s only a single tuner, you won’t be able to record two programs at the same time like you can with some DVRs. However, I couldn’t figure out a way to pause or scrub that program while the program was recording using the TouchSmart software. It works fine with a live program that you’re not currently recording, though, so go figure.

That all said, I felt that the program guide interface for the Windows Media side of the house was much easier to read from a distance and found more APG program data than the TouchSmart version managed to muster. That said, the system includes both interfaces, so its your choice. Here’s the TouchSmart running Windows Media Center Live TV for comparison:

In addition to over-the-air television, the TouchSmart software includes apps for Netflix and Hulu, both of which performed admirably, and featured touch-enhanced interfaces with bigger buttons, and nice scrub bars for jumping through content. I’ll be covering the DVD/Blu-Ray and streaming video capabilities in more detail in my next post.

But what if you’ve got a satellite or fiber-optic receiver? With most desktop PCs, you’d be out of luck. There’s an S-Video input and an IR blaster output if you want to use a set-top tuner with Windows Media Center. And while you can’t use the built-in media or touchscreen software to watch from one of these devices in high-def, the TouchSmart has a handy HDMI input on the side, which lets you flip out of computer mode, and use it just like a regular HDTV.

I tried it with both my DirecTV HD DVR and my Sony PlayStation 3, and it worked great with both. My only issue with this input is that there’s no decent cable management for it, whereas all the other ports on the computer are neatly tucked behind a cover, this cable ends up sticking out of the side of the display. That said, It’s a minor complaint. More computers need to include this feature. There’s also a component RCA and stereo audio input there too, but I’m not really looking forward to watching crappy old video signals on a beautiful 1920 x 1080 LCD, are you? On the other hand, God of War III looks mighty nice.

Overall, I’d say the TouchSmart 600 is a fine performer for watching and recording television programs, and there are numerous choices for how you get your digital content into the system. I wouldn’t say it’s an ideal living room system because of the relatively small screen size, for a bedroom or office, it’s perfect. And while the TouchSmart software itself may not be as refined as Windows Media Center for TV viewing, the hardware is quite capable, and it’s your choice which interface to use.

Over the next few days, I’ll be talking about my experiences with movies and streamed content, as well as music and audio on the system. Be sure to swing by again for more details. And if you’re really attentive, you’ve got a chance to win a TouchSmart 600 for yourself.

How’d you like to get your hands on a brand spankin’ new HP TouchSmart 600 computer for free? Well, all you’ve got to do is keep an eye on Technabob for the next week for your chance to win.

Over the next week, I’ll be posting three more articles documenting my experience living with the HP TouchSmart 600 as an all-in-one media/entertainment PC. All you need to do for a chance to win is to read all three articles, post a comment on each one for a chance at the loot.

The folks at HP were kind enough to loan me a TouchSmart 600 for the last couple of weeks, and they’re providing the prize for one lucky Technabob reader too. The TouchSmart 600-1055 we’re giving away features a glorious 23-inch widescreen 1080p display, and has built-in Blu-Ray player too. The system has a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 CPU, 4GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, and an NVIDIA Geforce GT230M graphics chipset. It’s also loaded up with an over-the-air digital HDTV tuner, and even has an HDMI input for connecting your video game systems. The system also includes HP’s touch-based TouchSmart suite of media and home productivity apps, as well as Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit edition.

I won’t give away all the system and software details until I post my articles later this week, but I think anyone who gets their grubby little mitts on one of these will be very happy with the prize.

When you say HP we immediately think about notebooks, but the company makes all sorts of other products like printers with ink cartridges costing more than the printer and a line of cameras. HP has unveiled new cameras at PMA 2010. The cameras include the CW450t, PW460t, SW540, and PW550z. HP unveiled some digital camcorders called the V5061u, V5560u, and the V1020h.

The CW450t and the PW460t are touchscreen digital cameras with 2.7-inch and 3-inch LCDs respectively. Both offer 4x digital zoom and store images to SDHC cards. Pricing is $109 for the CW450t and PW460t for $149. The SW450 is a 2.7-inch LCD camera with 4x optical zoom priced at $129. The PW550z has 5x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch LCD priced at $149. The camcorders include the 1080p V5601u and V5560u. The V5560u has 5x optical zoom and sells for $199 with the V5061u going for $169. All these cams and camcorders will ship this spring. The V1020h camcorder records in 720p, has a built-in USB connector for $109, and will ship this summer. It sort of seems like the HP 2010 line is circa 2008, but at least they are all rather cheap.

The new LED-powered HP Notebook Projection Companion will project up to 60-inches up to 8.5 feet away. Measuring in at just just 4 x 3 inches and weighing less than 1 pound, this little device sits squarely between regular full-sized projectors and those pico-projectors that we’ve been hearing about, but that deliver underwhelming images.

It pumps out 100 lumens and has a contrast ratio of 800:1. It’s resolution is 858 × 600. It actually doesn’t look too bad in its brushed aluminum case. It works well and is way brighter than pico-projectors. I’d rather have a larger screen if I had a presentation to give, but if you don’t have the choice, this gizmo should do the job. The projector will be available on January 15 and will sell for $499 (USD).

[via Engadget]

In his words: “As soon as White Wanda appears, the camera moves. Black Desi gets in there…oh nope! No facial recognition there.”

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Desi and Wanda were right to post this on YouTube – maybe it’ll get HP to respond and fix the problem. But I think the two should have tested the software on other people too. Who knows, maybe Desi has something on him – aside from his skin color of course – that borks the software. What do you humans – regardless of gender, race, religion, or preference of computer – think?

[via CrunchGear]

Each DreamScreen features a bright, high-resolution LCD color screen, and has built in speakers so it’s a completely self-contained media playback device. And if you don’t want to bother streaming media from your PC, the DreamScreen has a built in 6-in-2 media card reader and a pair of USB ports too. Video formats supported include MPEG 1, 2, 4 and H.264, while you can listen to audio in MP3, AAC, WMA and WAV formats.

In addition to media playback, you can access Facebook and view updates without getting up from your chair. There’s also a slideshow integration with Snapfish, so you can upload photos to their site and view them on the DreamScreen. HP has also been kind enough to provide access to streaming digital music via Pandora, and HP’s own “SmartRadio” which aggregates Internet radio from around the globe. There’s also a built in calendar and alarm clock, so you might want one of these on your bedside table instead of a traditional alarm. There’s no word on future plans to roll out additional Internet services, but I’m hopeful HP will release more integrations in future.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only major downside I can see to the DreamScreen is that it’s crying out for a touchscreen surface. For now, you have to navigate using the buttons along the sides of the screen, or using the included wireless remote. Hopefully, HP will make a touch-enabled version in the future. I also wish there were an open standard for widgets like there is with the Chumby.

The DreamScreen 100 features a 13.3″ display, while the DreamScreen 130 has a 10.2″ screen. Both devices have 800×480 screen resolution, so the smaller display just has smaller pixels. The DreamScreen 100 lists for $249.99 (USD) and the DreamScreen 130 is $299.99, but you can find both models over at Amazon for a few dollars less.

chrixx claims that that’s a 10kg (22 lbs) wooden pallet. See what I’m getting at? He orders a tiny thing, something that should only weigh “barely 300g”, and he ends up with this monstrosity: “…I had to drag this pellet [sic] from my apartment lobby, into the lift, out of the lift, into my home, cut it open, remove the contents and discard all the junk packaging.”

I think chrixx shouldn’t complain about removing the contents of the box – come on man – but damn HP. Your packaging peeps must have been high or bored when they processed this, because all that chrixx ordered was…

… a power cord. How about it guys? You think this is real or what?

[via Geekologie]

Mmmm sexy. Taking advantage of the iPhone’s accelerometer, the calculators have a simplified version accessible when viewed vertically; the landscaped version gives you their full functionality. The apps actually use the original ROM code, but because of the iPhone’s superior specs they run faster than their real-world counterparts. Unfortunately, good looks plus ultra geeky functionality make for high prices: the 12c sells for $12 (USD), the 12c Platinum is $20 and the 15c is $30, although I’m pretty sure they’re still cheaper than the real ones.

[via Macworld via The Raw Feed]