Sony Reader Wi-Fi review: in-depth first look

Friday, September 30th, 2011

The announcement of the new Amazon Kindles caused all manner of excitement in the PC Pro office this week, until we realised Amazon actually had no plans to release the most exciting products in the UK. What a let-down. Still, that does at least give other manufacturers a chance to steal a march, and that appears to be exactly what Sony has done with its new Reader Wi-Fi, of which we have an early sample.

The first thing to notice when you pick up the Reader Wi-Fi is how light it is. It tipped our scales at just 162g, which makes the current Kindle look positively portly. With no keyboard it’s small enough to slip into an inside jacket pocket, and although it does feel a touch plasticky, it’s well made and the soft-touch plastic rear gives you a nice grippy surface to hold onto.

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Is this the first sign of a touchscreen Chromebook?

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Those of you on the beta channel of Google Chrome may have noticed the new-look homescreen on version 15 of the browser. Gone is the single page containing your most-visited websites, apps and bookmarks. In its place comes a tabbed-based homepage that allows you to flick between the various options.

One thing is immediately obvious from this revamped design: Google is designing for touchscreens. Look at those large finger-friendly icons for the bookmarks — which aren’t entirely dissimilar to the bookmarks in the early betas of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8.

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Toshiba Libretto W100 dual-screen laptop: first-look review

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Microsoft’s Courier tablet might be languishing somewhere in a Redmond wheelie-bin, but Toshiba’s Libretto W100 has turned the keyboard-free concept into reality. With dual 7in touchscreens, a miniature netbook form factor and no sign of Intel’s weakling Atom, the Libretto takes a daring stride into the future.

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Extreme handwriting recognition on the Dell Latitude XT2

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

This is my first and possibly only handwritten blog entry…

that’s because ‘an in a cramped airplane._ seat and the ride is d little bumpy. that, and everyone who can see what lam dough watching me avidly’ The XT2 uses windows7 pen extensions and as a long ten fan of the concept of pen computing I touchscreens and the business of handwriting instead of keyboarding.

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Can Lexmark change the way we buy printers?

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Lexmark’s inkjet printers have had a pretty rough ride from PC Pro in recent reviews and Greg Caster, senior development manager for inkjet R&D, admitted to me yesterday that its 2008 range was simply a step behind its competitors. To change that, Lexmark is finally moving to individual inks for its next all-wireless range of inkjet all-in-ones, and introducing a fantastic touchscreen interface that I’ll come to later.

But the real news for me – and for anyone who ever has trouble choosing a printer – is the way Lexmark’s eight-product line has been assembled.

Currently, buying a printer is a confusing experience, with too many competing manufacturers, each with too many printer ranges that contain too many similar models and accept too many different cartridge types. Even within a single manufacturer’s product range, the variation in quality and speed can be staggering.

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The multi-touch election night

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

“I’m Wolf Blitzer, and you’re in the THE SITUATION ROOM!!!” Duh-duh-du-du-duhhhhhhhhhh.

Poor old Dimbleby over on the Beeb didn’t stand a chance. He was doddery and indecisive, while the hapless Jeremy Vine stumbled around his CGI results room like a bad weatherman, eyeing the monitors as he fumbled to touch areas of a screen that clearly was there but had been made to look like it wasn’t there, if that makes any sense to you. No? Me neither.

Over on ITV, Alastair Stewart tried his best, but in between every sensible guest he was forced to put questions to the insufferable “comedian” Jon Culshaw, whose Obama impersonation was indeed true comedy, being suspiciously similar to his Bush impression and his McCain impression, both of which sounded like his Gordon Brown, all of which sounded like Jon Culshaw.

But CNN was there to rescue us all from election night Hell. Despite the most brilliantly inappropriate name on TV, Wolf Blitzer proved a slick and knowledgable host, helped by a team of thinly disguised body-builders whose parents never quite grasped the concept of first names. (more…)