Best Budget Tablet - 2013 Tablet News & Review: January 2014

Intel unveiled two reference designs on Wednesday aimed at the education market: a clamshell notebook and a tablet, each outfitted with intriguing peripherals and software for educators.

Both the 'Clamshell EF10MI2'-part of Intel's 'Classmate PC' family-and the 10-inch, ECS TR10CD1 Education Android tablet won't be sold by Intel directly. Instead, it will be up to a network of unnamed partners to deliver both to classrooms.

Intel

Intel's new Classroom PC.

'Education leaders everywhere are passionate about driving student achievement and encouraging lifelong learning,' said John Galvin, vice president of the sales and marketing group at Intel and general manager of the World Ahead Program, in a statement. 'At Intel, we believe the right technology can be transformative. That's why we are focused on designing tools that bring learning to life, helping to make students more engaged. The result is a future where people have the skills they need for opportunity and growth.'

Intel first launched the Classmate PC program in 2007, at the time part of a flurry of announcements by both Intel and Microsoft to bring computing to developing countries. Intel joined the One Laptop Per Child program that same year, which aimed to develop a similarly low-cost computer. Intel's latest EF10MI2 runs Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, although a Windows 7 and Linux version is also planned, Intel said. The Windows 8 version is expected to be available this month in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and later this spring in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, rivals like Google have designed their Chromebooks as low-cost computing devices, convincing Malaysia, among others, to adopt Google Apps running on Chromebooks inside their classrooms.

Intel

The specifications of Intel's new education tablet. (Click to enlarge.)

Intel didn't say how much either the tablet or clamshell notebook were expected to cost. The notebook uses Intel's Celeron N2805 and N2806 processors, while the tablet is based on its 1.2-GHz Z2520 'Clover Trail+' Atom platform.

What's interesting, however, is that Intel has made a concerted effort to load up both with a suite of software and peripherals designed to actually make each useful. For example, both ship with a thermal probe as well as a snap-on magnifying camera allowing students to use both the tablet and clamshell to explore the outside world. The tablet includes two applications by Intellisense-Education Lab Camera and Education Media Camera-which include tools to use the built-in magnifier to shoot pictures, and later edit and share them.

Intel

Intel's new Classroom PC uses a Celeron processor. (Click to enlarge.)

Intel's clamshell also includes an AirRage graphics package; Sparkvue, a data analysis package aimed at math and science; McAfee antivirus; and an Intel-developed classroom management app for distributing lessons, as well as a theft deterrent application. Intel's tablets also include Foxit PDF readers, Kno textbooks, and eLearning tools by Mythware.

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Wednesday, 22 January 2014

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Tuesday, 21 January 2014

37 schools to get tablet computers by May/June, state minister says

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- State minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM) Julian Robinson on Tuesday said 37 schools across the island will have access to tablet computers, through the Tablet in Schools Pilot project.

Speaking at the media launch of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Research Days 2014 at the Mona campus, Robinson said that under the project 30,000 tablets will be distributed to students in primary and secondary schools to increase the use of technology and to optimise learning opportunities within and outside of the formal school system.

'We are currently going through the procurement of the tablets. The tablets should be here by May or June. We will spend the summer rolling them out to the students and then they'll be ready for the next school term, which would start in September,' the State Minister told journalists.

Robinson also noted that the schools which are part of the pilot project will be Internet enabled.

'We will also be downloading content on the tablets, so the students won't have to buy as many books as they used to, because the material will now be available electronically,' he said.

He also pointed out that discussions are currently ongoing with publishers about converting their physical books into electronic books.

The schools selected to participate in the pilot are among those that have been assessed and found to be under-performing academically by the Ministry of Education. The Tablet in Schools pilot project was announced by STEM Minister Phillip Paulwell in his 2013/14 budget presentation in April 2013.

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Monday, 20 January 2014

Intel to subsidise Baytrail

Semiconductor giant Intel will subsidise forthcoming Baytrail-based tablet computers as it looks to elbow its way into the mobile device market.

Baytrail is the code-name for the latest generation of Atom microprocessors for mobile devices, in which Intel has trailed to rivals based on the ARM architecture.

In a meeting in November, according to reports, executives were told that the division would be plunged into loss as it sought to buy its way into the market with $99 tablet computers based on Baytrail.

Android tablets running on ARM designs - typically microprocessors based on ARM designed by one of China's growing number of semiconductor manufacturers - start at less than £40.

The subsidy is required to offset the 'non-recurring engineering costs' of shifting design teams to the platform compared to the ARM architecture that most mobile developers are familiar with. Baytrail-based devices will start appearing this year and the majority of them will carry a subsidy from Intel.

While Baytrail parts are relatively cheap compared to standard PC microprocessors from Intel, they are still markedly more expensive than ARM parts produced by Qualcomm, Nvidia, MediaTek and other manufacturers.

So far, though, there is little news from Intel over whether it has managed to persuade any big name producers to make Intel-based tablet computers. Companies such as Apple and Samsung benefit not just from using ARM-based devices in their own devices, but build bespoke systems around ARM intellectual property and, in Samsung's case, also produce the parts.

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Sunday, 19 January 2014

Spanish Property 'Golden Visas' Are A Step In The Right Direction - earsucker

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Saturday, 18 January 2014

The Tablet Is The New General Purpose Computer

Apple's latest iPad spot demonstrates that tablets have general purpose computing strengths that have never been exhibited by laptops.

Laptops have had decades in the spotlight as our portable computers of choice and were on their way to eradicating desktop machines before tablets came along. But they've never managed to exhibit the flexibility of purpose that tablets can.

Apple's spot presents examples of people using iPads in various real world situations, which is a note they've struck before. But this particular spot focuses not just on the things that people are doing with iPads, but specifically things that would be cumbersome, irritating or impossible with a laptop.

It's a brilliant rotation of the argument that tablets can't be 'seriously' used to create.

In many ways this is the realization of the dream for the original 'tablet computers' of Microsoft - something you can view with more or less irony depending on what chances you give the company of succeeding in a crowded space.

It's not that you can't use a laptop to do any of these things. I've used a laptop as a tethered shooting companion for photography for years now. Seeing instant feedback as I shoot speeds up the process and makes editing faster, it's great. But I've never wanted to use a laptop. They're bulky, they're not the right form factor and they're not optimized for easy one-handed operation (not counting the one you hold them with, thank you). And some of these cases, like diving, present an impossible challenge for laptops. They're simply not the right tool for a lot of jobs.

And I think that more of the jobs laptops aren't any good at are becoming part of our lives every day.

It's not as if laptops (or desktops) are going to go away over night, but they're definitely going to fade in importance as new general purpose computers like the tablet and smartphone grow bolder. And they'll work in concert to allow us to do stuff better - I wrote this piece on a combination of phone, tablet and computer as I've been traveling.

There will always be things that will be accomplished more efficiently with a dedicated keyboard and a device that allows us to perform several tasks 'simultaneously'. But neither of those are sacred cows limited to laptops. If you pull the thread a bit technology-wise it's not hard to see machines that run off of the power of our phones or tablets without having to have dedicated CPUs. Just flip open your display and keyboard and start typing, with your pocket computer doing the calculations.

The spot isn't just a good ad for iPads, though I think it is pretty good. It's also a case study in what makes tablets in general such good 'general purpose' computing devices. I'm under no personal illusions that Apple will maintain dominance over the tablet market forever (and I don't think Apple is either). Android is getting better with every iteration, and they've been improving rapidly in the areas that matter for the scenarios described in this spot.

To illustrate, the iPads here, for the most part, are being used in conjunction with apps written by developers for niche professional use. Those apps were written for iOS because it's a more friendly environment for niche developers to sell apps in. But there are factors shifting that balance as we speak.

Google is heavily investing in improving its developer services and even now offers features that many of the iOS developers I speak to speak about with envy. Supportive beta testing frameworks, built-in a/b testing and translation services and a bunch more stuff that just makes developer's lives easier. Which is good, because the nature of Android devices means that the testing and polishing stages of developing on Android are a massive undertaking in comparison to iOS.

There's still a sort of 'social proof' that needs to happen in the Google Play market - namely that Google needs to demonstrate Android users are willing to pay for these kinds of utilities. Even that, though, is being subjected to disruption. Recent data shows that for pay apps are even more endangered this year than they were the year before, etc. All of that plays into Google's hands fairly well with Android, though I do think that a market for paid apps with specific use cases will always exist.

I digress, as I don't want to turn this into a platform debate, but I did find it interesting that the spot was centered around not what iPads can do better than other tablets specifically, but what tablets can do better than other computers. The shift is upon us.

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Friday, 17 January 2014

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Thursday, 16 January 2014

Shopping by smartphone and tablet in UK increases by 18%

Mobile phones and tablet computers are now used for nearly 6% of all retail sales as Brits embrace shopping from the sofa, the train and under the duvet.

While total online sales rose 18% year-on-year in December to £11.1bn, according to the latest figures from e-tail industry body IMRG and advisory firm Capgemini, sales via mobile devices doubled to £3bn.

'Sales via mobiles will continue to rise in 2014, this is now mainstream,' said Chris Webster, head of retail at Capgemini. He said that the adoption of hand-held technology, as well as the development of click-and-collect' services, which enable shoppers to order online and then pick up their purchases at a convenient store, had accelerated the switch from the high street to online. 'What we usually see when a market matures is that the rate of growth slows, but it is accelerating,' Webster said. IMRG is predicting that this year total online sales will rise by 17% to £107bn after rising 16% to £91bn last year.

Shoppers' switching to the internet is already having a huge impact on traditional retailers who are having to invest millions of pounds in creating logistics networks and IT systems to cope with delivery of online orders while sales in stores fall back. Those retailers without a strong online presence, such as supermarket Morrisons, had a very poor Christmas.

But the switch to mobile shopping is causing other potentially longlasting changes. Retailers said easy-to-use and now cheap tablet computers such as Tesco's Hudl were opening up online shopping to a much broader range of consumers, including the less well-off and older.

'Tablet computers are lowering the barriers to entry. People not comfortable with technology are comfortable with tablets which are more tactile,' said Andrew McClelland from IMRG.

Sean McKee, head of e-commerce at footwear chain Schuh, added: 'Some 75-year-old shoppers are doing their first transactions online via iPads.'

With shoppers carrying the technology around in their pocket, retailers also have the opportunity to communicate with customers much more frequently, changing buying patterns. Retailers say they now see spikes in online activity late in the evening, as people shop while watching television, or early in the morning as purchases are made before work. Sunday evening is also overtaking Monday as the busiest online shopping day of the week.

About 80% of mobile sales come from tablet computers, but sales via smartphones are growing faster as retailers adapt their websites to make it easier to shop from a phone and the technology improves. Sales from smartphones nearly tripled between 2012 and 2013.

The increase in sales via mobiles is also helping drive use of click-and-collect services according to Webster, who said shoppers who preferred to buy on the move were less likely to have the kind of lifestyle which enabled them to wait at home for collections.

About a quarter of online orders are now collected rather than sent to homes and Webster said growth would continue.

Mark Lewis, online director at department store John Lewis, said the biggest transformation in retail in 2014 would be the blurring together of all the different shopping channels, from online and mobile to stores, home delivery and collection. 'Customers expect us to offer them a completely seamless service across all touch points and our job is to wire it all together,' he said.

The rise of click-and-collect could be behind a huge growth of home and garden goods sold online. Sales rose by a quarter between December 2012 and December 2013, a pace of growth only matched by lingerie. The next fastest growing category was accessories, such as belts and scarves, followed by electrical goods.

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Wednesday, 15 January 2014

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Apple's Mac ends up in tablet cannibal pot, too

Mac sales mimicked the PC industry contraction in 2012-2013; refutes theory that Windows 8 caused PC slump

Computerworld - Tablet cannibals have taken as big a bite out of Mac growth as they have out of personal computers in general, showing that Apple is not immune to the seismic shift it triggered with the iPad.

During the 12 months preceding Sept. 30, 2013, the end of Apple's fiscal year, Mac sales contracted 10% compared to the same period a year earlier.

During the same stretch, PC shipments declined 11.5%, according to research firm IDC.

Not only have the declines between Macs and PCs been similar, so has the timespan of those losses. The Mac has been on a four-quarter contraction, while PCs overall have posted shortfalls for six.

The two haven't always been in sync.

In the second half of 2009 (see chart below), both Mac and PC shipments rose rapidly as the Great Recession faded and businesses and consumers re-opened their wallets to buy new machines. On the PC side the spree was prompted by Windows 7's debut and pent-up demand for replacement PCs after buyers had spurned its predecessor, Windows Vista.

But in 2010 and 2011, as Mac sales continued a torrid pace of growth -- above 23% for four straight quarters -- PC gains could not keep up. They began slumping, going negative in the first quarter of 2011 and never climbing above 5% that year. Meanwhile, double-digit Mac gains came to a halt only in the first quarter of 2012.

The Mac's greater stamina in sustained growth was in contrast to the fading fortunes of PCs, which analysts attributed to increasing defections to tablets, and then in late 2012, Windows 8's failure to rejuvenate the industry.

Under that thesis, tablets were the primary cause of slowing PC shipments, as dollars and time once spent on personal computers were diverted to tablets. That, in turn, led to even fewer PC purchases as consumers and some businesses realized that even if they still needed computers, they could greatly extend the time between replacing systems because older machines were still able to do the tasks demanded of them.

The numbers show that the Mac succumbed to noticeable cannibalization, too, just later than the PC.

While some might argue that Mac owners continued to buy new systems even as they acquired tablets, a more likely explanation is that Apple's ability to maintain growth was caused by a surge of new users. In 2011, for example, a year when PC shipments grew by less than 2%, the Mac's share of online users -- as tracked by metrics firm Net Applications -- increased by 22%, as some consumers switched from Windows PCs to Macs.

That influx of new Mac owners masked whatever sales declines would have shown up otherwise.

The Mac's eventual contraction, which started in the fourth quarter of 2012 and continued through the first three quarters of 2013, could also be used to refute the theory that Windows 8 was the prime cause of the PC industry's slump during that same period.

Some have blamed Windows 8 for the 2012-and-later decline, saying that customers avoided buying new machines because they'd heard the OS was confusing, relied on touch or had too few apps. While Windows 8 most certainly contributed to lower PC shipments, the fact that Macs also lost momentum at the same time, and without a similar OS headwind, is a sign that all personal computers have suffered more from a broader trend -- namely, the popularity of tablets -- than from a specific operating system's problems.

Cannibalization of Macs should not come as a surprise: Apple has acknowledged the tablet threat for more than a year. However, Apple was able to accept cannibalization -- something PC makers and Microsoft have had a harder time doing -- because it had the iPad to capture deserting dollars. In the last four quarters, Apple sold 71 million iPads, more than four times the number of Macs during the same time.

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Tuesday, 14 January 2014

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Windows 8 Tablet could come of age in 2014, analysts say

The stars are aligning in Redmond, analysts suggest, and there's a good chance that Microsoft can lead the tablet race after being smothered by Apple and Android in 2013. Microsoft hasn't been in such a strong position for years.

'The tablet in the enterprise is theirs to lose,' says Aberdeen Group analyst Andrew Borg.

Everything from PC refresh cycles to the booming tablet market to trends that put the device-purchasing decision back into IT's hands are turning in favor of Microsoft.

Windows 8 tablets poised to strike

Let's start with the most dramatic, highly anticipated turnaround in technology today, as shown in a Forrester survey conducted late last year: iPads held the vast majority of BYOD tablet deployments, with Android coming on strong and Windows 8-based tablets practically nonexistent. But plans in the next 12 months show Windows 8-based tablets surging from far behind to lead the pack.

In the big picture, tablets are replacing laptops, much like laptops replaced desktops at the turn of the millennium. In 2014, the worldwide tablet market is forecast to grow 47 percent, while the worldwide PC market is estimated to remain flat after declining 9.9 percent in 2013, according to new research from Gartner. Interestingly, the PC market's slide has been halted by an uptake in Windows ultramobiles, which are smaller than tablets.

Essentially, Windows 8-based tablets are benefiting from a mass migration to a small form factor.

Then there's the PC refresh cycle that can lead to more Microsoft tablet sales, which, ironically, was prompted by Microsoft's Windows 8, whose adoption has cratered. With Windows 8, new computers won't be running Windows 7.

This means IT has limited options for the PC refresh: stick with Windows 7 PCs although they're being phased out or go to Windows 8. If it's the latter, says Borg, why not go with cheaper tablets? (Sure, IT could choose to switch platforms, but it would lose all its Windows management and control tools.)

Are businesses buying again?

Of course, all of this presumes that IT makes the purchasing decision for the PC or tablet, which, in the age of BYOD, isn't a sure thing. But the pendulum might be shifting away from BYOD and back toward IT. Emerging models such as COPE (Company Owned, Personally Enabled) are putting CIOs in charge again over what devices employees use. Truth is, BYOD PCs and tablets are too big a security risk.

Employees don't mind, either. They'd rather have the company shell out hundreds of dollars for a PC or tablet rather than having to dig into their own pockets. Employees just want a tablet for both work and personal activities. Virtual work space technology, or perhaps app wrapping, also promises to keep those activities separate, maintaining security for work-related data and privacy for personal stuff.

All Microsoft has to do is deliver a tablet that doesn't have to beat the iPad but must be in the same ballpark, in terms of an easy-to-use touch interface, quick access to media, cool apps-in essence, a tablet with a delightful user experience. Right now, though, Microsoft's Surface tablet has a split personality, Borg said. It doesn't know if it's a PC or tablet, and business people throw up their hands after a while moving between these two modes.

If Microsoft can fix these problems, the company stands to gain huge momentum and market share in the tablet enterprise race as well as the consumer and small business markets.

'Microsoft is about 75 percent of the way there, and in 2014, I expect them to get to 90 percent,' says Aberdeen's Borg. 'If Microsoft plays its cards right, they're the logical inheritors of the laptop refresh cycle.'

This article was updated at 10:01 a.m. PT to correct the date in the headline.

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Monday, 13 January 2014

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Raspberry PiPad Hobbyists are now building tablets using a $35 computer brain

Hobbyists have been assembling personal computers from their components for decades, buying the processors and other parts and putting them together in their basements. Now they're doing the same for tablet computers.

Among them is Michael Castor of Make, the publisher of geek do-it-yourself information. Here's Castor's creation, which he dubbed the PiPad:

Castor wasn't happy with the available choices for tablets. 'It seems that every day,' Castor writes on Makezine.com, 'a manufacturer comes out with a new tablet computer. Thinner, lighter, faster, but it seems that they all look about the same and accomplish roughly the same things.' As an accomplished tinkerer, he knew it was possible to design his own device-and he could make it run a version of Linux operating system software. The key was Raspberry Pi, a roughly $35 credit-card-sized computer that can be plugged into a keyboard and a screen and used to make just about anything.

The PiPad tablet works a lot like its store-bought competitors. It runs on the Raspbian operating system, a version of Linux made for Raspberry Pi. That comes with a web browser, a word processor, Mathematica (a computation system for handling data), and Python programming environment built in. It can also access the Raspberry Pi app store, where developers upload open-source versions of word processors, games, and utilities, Castor told Quartz. (That app store currently has roughly 100 offerings, making it extremely limited when compared to what's available for devices using Google's Android and Apple's iOS software.)

Not counting his time and labor (he built it in two weeks, though he spent a few months acquiring parts beforehand), Castor estimates that the device cost about $350. The PiPad is bulkier than most tablets-10.75″ long by 7.5″ wide, and 1″ thick, compared to the 0.29″-thick iPad Air tablet. But despite its unusual appearance and size, US Transportation Security Administration staff did let him breeze through airport security with the homemade device, which is cased in wood and carbon fiber.

You can see Castor's step-by-step process on Make's website. Even if you're not technically inclined enough to follow his lead, it's a great look into what, exactly, is inside your tablet.

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Can Microsoft Turn Around Its Fortunes With Windows 8 Tablets?

The stars are aligning in Redmond, and there's a good chance that Microsoft can lead the tablet race after being smothered by Apple and Android in 2013. Microsoft hasn't been in such a strong position for years.

'The tablet in the enterprise is theirs to lose,' says Aberdeen Group analyst Andrew Borg.

Everything from PC refresh cycles to the booming tablet market to trends that put the device-purchasing decision back into IT's hands are turning in favor of Microsoft.

Windows 8 Tablets Poised to Strike

Essentially, Windows 8-based tablets are benefiting from a mass migration to a small form factor.

IT Back in the Buying Saddle Again?

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Friday, 10 January 2014

Which Size Tablet Computer Is Better

earsuckerWhich Size Tablet Computer Is Better - A 7-Inch or a 10-Inch?earsuckerThere are a lot of tablet computers on the market at the moment. Apple has not really managed to fend off all of the competition, and now when people think of tablets, they do not instantly think of an iPad. Even Amazon (not known for building ... www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets

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Thursday, 9 January 2014

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Wednesday, 8 January 2014

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Call for provision of tablet computers for teachers

A call for interest for suppliers to provide tablets as well as software for use by teachers as part of a pilot project to be carried between next March and March next year was announced this morning by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

Addressing a news conference, the minister said the call, for which €80,000 had been budgeted, would close in four weeks.

The government, he said, needed to roll out the service on a nationwide basis as from the following scholastic year beginning in September 2015. The programme would be launched for Year 4 students and would gradually be extended up to Year 6.

The introduction of tablets at secondary level would be dealt with at a later stage, the minister said.

The minister emphasised that no preference would be given to a particular brand. The call, he said, was technologically neutral so as not to give any advantage to a particular supplier.

He stressed that feedback from teachers was crucial for the project to succeed and the aim of the project was to gauge their feedback prior to rolling out the project with schoolchildren.

He warned that tablets would not address literacy and other educational challenges but had to be used as part of the entire educational system.

He also announced that the ministry had appointed Emanuel Zammit director for e-learning to strengthen this particular sector.

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Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD Powers Haier Computer's First 13

LAS VEGAS, Jan 05, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Seagate Technology , a worldwide leader in storage solutions, today announced that its Seagate(R) Ultra Mobile HDD will be utilized in the latest generation of Haier Computer's 13-inch Tablet/PC-- the Sailing P13A. The company also disclosed that Haier Computer has selected Seagate hard disk drives (HDD) to be the standard in all of its PC products.

'Seagate has an ongoing strategic alliance with Haier and is committed to jointly delivering industry-leading PC products that consumers desire-- and the Sailing P13A does just that,' said Sandy Sun, Seagate's vice president and general manager for China. 'Outfitted with the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD, the P13A enables Haier to comfortably integrate high-capacity storage into its Tablet/PC enabling users to enjoy their content in a tablet form factor at home, on-the-go, wherever.'

Delivering the similar power, performance and reliability of a flash device, when integrated into a tablet the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD provides up to 7x the storage capacity of a traditional 64GB tablet. It features up to 500GB of capacity delivering the highest capacity available in a small, ultra-thin form factor while supporting over 100,000 photos, 125,000 songs or 62 hours of high-definition video and movies.

'Our relationship with Seagate extends over ten years, a partnership that has enabled us to deliver some of the most dynamic, cutting-edge products in the industry as well as fuel growth in China for both companies,' said Zhou Zhaolin, general manager of Haier Computer. 'A truly ground-breaking product, the Sail P13A delivers high-capacity storage in one of the thinnest, lightest Tablet/ PC form factors available on the market today and is a perfect example of our strategic alliance.'

To further reinforce reliability for mobile devices, the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD integrates Seagate's own Zero Gravity(TM) Sensor providing better shock management. Incorporated power modes support the drive in sleep, standby and idle enabling it to consume as low as 0.14W and support the long battery life demanded by tablets.

Leveraging the company's experience with ultra-portable applications like iPods, MP3 players, and handheld video recorders, the newly-engineered Seagate 2.5-inch Ultra Mobile HDD is just 5mm thin while weighing in at a mere 3.3oz-- about the same as a light bulb. Its slim, rugged design allows it to be utilized in new emerging applications like convertible and detachable storage.

About Seagate

Seagate is a world leader in storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com .

About Haier

Haier was founded in 1984. In the last 28 years, Haier transformed itself into the No. 1 global home appliance brand. In 2012, Haier's global revenue and profit reached RMB 16.31 billion and RMB 9 billion respectively. Based on the statistics of Euromonitor International, a world leader in strategy research for consumer markets, Haier has been the No. 1 global home appliance brand four years in a row. On the 2012 'World's 50 Most Innovative Companies' list released by the Boston Consulting Group, Haier is the only Chinese company in the top 10 and the No. 1 consumer product retailer. Learn more at www.haier.com .

Copyright 2014 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. When referring to drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes. Your computer's operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and will not be available for data storage. Quantitative usage examples for various applications are for illustrative purposes. Actual quantities will vary based on various factors, including file size, file format, features, and application software.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140105005007/en/

SOURCE: Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology Jon Piazza, 408-658-1715 jon.piazza@seagate.com

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BBC iPlayer sees record numbers over Christmas as tablets beat computers

The BBC has hailed 2013 as the year of the tablet after its popularity as a Christmas present saw viewing of TV programmes on the iPlayer via such devices pass laptop and desktop computers for the first time.

Dan Taylor, head of the BBC iPlayer, said that tablet usage overtook viewing on computers as the most popular way to access the iPlayer from Boxing Day through to 30 December.

'With new gadgets being at the top of many Christmas wishlists, we see a lot of new devices accessing BBC iPlayer over the holiday period,' said Taylor, in a post on the BBC internet blog. '2013 truly proved to be the year of the tablet and after they were all unwrapped, Boxing Day saw tablet viewing overtake computer viewing for the first time in iPlayer history.'

On Boxing Day there were 2.2m iPlayer requests from tablets, compared to 2.1m from computers.

Requests from mobile devices such as smartphones also rose significantly on Boxing Day, however at just under 1.6m they remained some way below tablets and computers.

By New Year's Eve, tablet requests had dropped back to 1.93m, just a fraction behind computer requests at 1.95m.

New Year's Day was the iPlayer's best-ever day, with nearly 11m programme requests, as computers (2.91m viewing requests) stayed ahead of tablets (2.65m).

The shift in consumer media consumption habits has been dramatic over the past year, during the festive period of 2012 tablet usage was typically less than half that of computer viewing on the iPlayer.

'Christmas Day TV is all about families gathering around the biggest screen of the house and most viewing on the day is via broadcast TV,' said Taylor. 'BBC iPlayer has an important role as a complementary platform for BBC broadcast programmes, especially on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, when requests on iPlayer really start to peak and you have time to catch-up on the must-watch Christmas programmes.'

The BBC said there were 941,000 downloads of the iPlayer mobile and tablet apps over the festive period, from 21 December to New Year's Day.

New Year's day programme requests were up 35% year on year, from 8.1m in 2012.

* To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly 'for publication'. * To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on and . www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets

BBC iPlayer: Tablets Trump PCs

By Paul Sawers, , 11:15am

This time last month, we reported that access to BBC iPlayer on phones and tablets had almost caught up with desktop. Now, the BBC reports that on Boxing Day this year, iPlayer viewing on tablets overtook computers for the first time.

As you would expect, Christmas is always a busy period for iPlayer, with all kinds of records broken this time last year. Now, with tablets becoming increasingly ubiquitous, it seems many viewers turned to iPlayer to test out their fancy new iPads and Androids over the festive period.

It's worth adding here that these figures don't include Sky or Virgin Cable, as that data isn't yet available. Nevertheless, this still means that tablets topped PCs for iPlayer viewing which is a major milestone to reach, and is a clear indication of where media-consumption is heading from a device perspective.

Around a million downloads were recorded for iPlayer mobile and tablet apps between the 21 December and January 1, adding to the 20 million downloads secured up to October 2013.

That all said, PCs actually overtook tablets again around the New Year period, so it will be interesting to see where this trend heads when January's final figures are released next month.

➤ Christmas 2013 on BBC iPlayer

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Monday, 6 January 2014

Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD Powers Haier Computer's First 13

Related:Seagate Technology (STX), a worldwide leader in storage solutions, today announced that its Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD will be utilized in the latest generation of Haier Computer's 13-inch Tablet/PC- the Sailing P13A. The company also disclosed that Haier Computer has selected Seagate hard disk drives (HDD) to be the standard in all of its PC products.

'Seagate has an ongoing strategic alliance with Haier and is committed to jointly delivering industry-leading PC products that consumers desire- and the Sailing P13A does just that,' said Sandy Sun, Seagate's vice president and general manager for China. 'Outfitted with the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD, the P13A enables Haier to comfortably integrate high-capacity storage into its Tablet/PC enabling users to enjoy their content in a tablet form factor at home, on-the-go, wherever.'

To further reinforce reliability for mobile devices, the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD integrates Seagate's own Zero Gravity Sensor providing better shock management. Incorporated power modes support the drive in sleep, standby and idle enabling it to consume as low as 0.14W and support the long battery life demanded by tablets.

Leveraging the company's experience with ultra-portable applications like iPods, MP3 players, and handheld video recorders, the newly-engineered Seagate 2.5-inch Ultra Mobile HDD is just 5mm thin while weighing in at a mere 3.3oz- about the same as a light bulb. Its slim, rugged design allows it to be utilized in new emerging applications like convertible and detachable storage.

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Sunday, 5 January 2014

Seagate Technology PLC : Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD Powers Haier Computer's ...

Super-slim Seagate Hard Disk Drive Provides Haier Tablet with 500GB of Storage and the Performance of a Flash Device

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX), a worldwide leader in storage solutions, today announced that its Seagate ^® Ultra Mobile HDD will be utilized in the latest generation of Haier Computer's 13-inch Tablet/PC-- the Sailing P13A. The company also disclosed that Haier Computer has selected Seagate hard disk drives (HDD) to be the standard in all of its PC products.

To further reinforce reliability for mobile devices, the Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD integrates Seagate's own Zero Gravity TM Sensor providing better shock management. Incorporated power modes support the drive in sleep, standby and idle enabling it to consume as low as 0.14W and support the long battery life demanded by tablets.

About Seagate

Seagate is a world leader in storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com.

About Haier

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140105005007/en/

Seagate TechnologyJon Piazza, 408-658-1715jon.piazza@seagate.com

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United States Tablet PC Market Report 2013

DUBLIN, January 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/47sn6f/tablet_pc_market) has announced the addition of the 'United States Tablet PC Market Report 2013 - 2018 ' report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 ) Initially, Apple with its iOS dominated the U.S. tablet PCs market; however, Android based tablet PCs are expected to take over Apple's share in the coming years. This research report will provide complete insights on the U.S. tablet PC market and explain the current trends and factors responsible for driving the market growth. The study will prove to be helpful for emerging players to know about the growth strategies implemented by existing players and help existing players in strategic planning.

The world has seen aggressive competition among tablet PC manufacturers after the launch of iPad from Apple. Within five months of the release of iPad, Samsung launched its Samsung Galaxy Tab to compete with Apple. Since then, the tablet PC manufacturing industry has seen the emergence of numerous players. Most tablet manufacturers such as Asus, HP, and Lenovo among others released their models of tablet PCs in quick successions, but none of them could surpass Apple's share.

The success of the tablet PCs market in the U.S. in future depends on how the usage of tablets evolves over time. The research report analyzes the tablet PC market in the U.S. based on the intended user of the tablet PC, screen size, operating platform used, and distribution channels, to get a clear understanding of the market. Our findings reveal that tablet PCs are largely adapted for personal use in the U.S.; however, with the passage of time, tablet PCs are expected to be widely used in the corporate environment as it helps in saving additional costs on desktop computers and laptops.

Depending on the operating system platform, Apple's iOS holds the largest share in the U.S. tablet PC market owing to its first mover advantage. Google's Android operating system ranks second in terms of tablet PC operating platform as most tablet PC manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola, HP, and Lenovo among others are incorporating Android operating system in their tablet PCs. The study also includes competitive analysis of all the major tablet PC manufacturers and information about their growth strategy.Key Topics Covered: 1 Preface 2 Unit Sales and Selling Price of Tablet PC by Intended Use 3 Unit Sales and Selling Price by User Interface 4 Unit Sales and Selling Price by Screen Size 5 Sales of Tablet PC by Distribution Channel 6 Tablet PC Accessories 7 Extra Features and Capability Assessment of Various Tablet PC Offerings 8 Market Potential and Future of Tablet PCs 9 Unit Sales, Import Duty and Selling Price for Tablet PC by Brand 10 Market Shares of Tablet PC Manufacturers 11 Product Competitiveness Analysis of Various Manufacturers by Category of Offering 12 Analysis of Major Tablet PC VendorsCompanies Mentioned:

ASUSTek Computer Inc Apple Inc Dell Corporation Google Inc Hewlett-Packard Company High Tech Computer (HTC) Corporation Lenovo Electronics Microsoft Corporation Inc Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. RIM Corporation Samsung Electronics Sony Corporation Toshiba Corporation

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/47sn6f/tablet_pc_market

Media Contact: Laura Wood, +353-1-481-1716, press@researchandmarkets.net

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Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD Powers Haier Computer's First 13

Leveraging the company's experience with ultra-portable applications like iPods, MP3 players, and handheld video recorders, the newly-engineered Seagate 2.5-inch Ultra Mobile HDD is just 5mm thin while weighing in at a mere 3.3oz- about the same as a light bulb. Its slim, rugged design allows it to be utilized in new emerging applications like convertible and detachable storage.

Mobile, News, Mobile www.best-budget-tablet.com For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets

Saturday, 4 January 2014

Laptops, Chromebooks, tablets: The PCs we expect to see at CES

CES comes at an awkward time of the year for PC manufacturers. The holiday shopping season has ended by early January, and the industry's next big selling season-back-to-school time-is many months away.

But in spite of the bad timing, we saw the tablet PC and netbook form factors launch at CES 2010, and Intel announced its Ultrabook definition at CES 2012 and its new Atom lineup (code-named Bay Trail) at CES 2013. So what might we expect to see on the PC front at CES 2014, which begins next week in Las Vegas?

The scuttlebutt? Not a lot that's really new. Once again, it's a matter of timing. The first wave of Bay Trail-powered devices hit the market soon after September's Intel Developer Forum, so we don't expect to see a lot of new tablet PCs launched at this CES. Conversely, the first wave of new PCs powered by Intel's fourth-generation Core processor (codenamed Haswell) arrived some time ago. For its part, AMD isn't expected to ship its Kaveri family of processors until the middle of this month.

Sounds discouraging, right? Well, call me a hopeless optimist, but I still expect to see some exciting new PC products at this year's show, and I can't wait to get there.

ROBERT CARDIN

Many new products based on Intel's Haswell and Bay Trail architectures are already on the market.

Intel headlining CES 2014 keynote

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is making the opening keynote speech this year, so he could surprise us with something totally out of the blue. Just bear in mind that Intel announced its latest Ultrabook definition when it launched its Haswell family of CPUs in June 2013. The company is not about to announce a new definition just six months later.

Lenovo, on the other hand, is the world's number-one PC manufacturer and has shipped only a handful of Haswell-powered models to date. A company in Lenovo's position takes a risk when takes that kind of deliberate approach, but it can also benefit from letting the competition make the first move. It gains an opportunity to see what worked and what flopped.

I would speculate that, at a minimum, Lenovo will announce a Haswell-powered version of its flagship Ultrabook, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch. And we could see a lot more: Lenovo is taking over the Venetian's AquaKnox restaurant for the duration of the show, and has booked the entire top floor of the Renaissance Hotel, adjacent to the convention center. No company spends that kind of dough to show off the same products you can see at Best Buy.

ROBERT CARDIN

Lenovo shipped its flagship Ultrabook, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, more than a year ago. Will the company announce a Haswell-powered version at CES?

Number-two PC manufacturer HP isn't exhibiting at CES at all, but the company could take advantage of the show's timing to announce a new product or two. Dell, now a private company, has booked two meeting rooms at the Venetian, but it won't have a booth on the show floor. That tells me the company won't be doing much in the way of grand unveilings. Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba will be quite visible at the show, but PCs are a relatively small part of their tech portfolios.

Steam Machines

One thing we will certainly see is a number of new PCs designed to run Valve's Steam OS. The Steam Machine concept is designed to compete with video-game consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Like those devices, a Steambox will connect directly to your TV, and it will come with a wireless gamepad instead of a mouse and keyboard.

We expect to see several implementations of Valve's Steam Machine design, including this one from iBuyPower, at CES 2014.

Demo kits are already in the hands of beta testers, but Valve won't be selling machines at retail. It will rely on third-party partners instead, and companies such as iBuyPower and Digital Storm have already teased their versions.

Chromebooks

Amazon recently announced that two of its top-selling notebooks in 2013 were Chromebooks, so we could see some new models at CES. Acer, Dell, HP, and Samsung already have models in that space. Lenovo does, too, but it sells its Chromebooks only to schools right now. We spotted a Toshiba Chromebook at IDF in September 2013-however, the device was never officially announced as a product destined for the U.S. market. Considering the gathering Chromebook momentum, such an announcement could very well happen at CES.

PC-related products

Manufacturers of components and products that work with PCs aren't bound by the same sales and marketing constraints that limit PC builders. So I expect to see a number of announcements that aren't big enough to catch the attention of the mainstream media, but that are interesting nonetheless.

ROBERT CARDIN

Will we see a worthy challenger to Asus's supremely powerful (and supremely expensive) RT-AC68U router at CES 2014?

There will likely be a number of 4K-resolution monitors at the show, for instance, and both of the two major GPU builders-AMD and Nvidia-have announced press conferences. Also, with the 'Internet of things' trend in full flower, I expect we'll see a lot of networking and home-automation products announced at the show.

The companies that didn't fare so well in our recent 802.11ac router roundup have had time to go back to the drawing board, and they may have several new routers and Wi-Fi adapters to talk about next week.

For more on the new products and trends we expect to see, don't the CES 2014 predictions by our own Philip Michaels.

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