The Android Tablet Cometh

Hold on to your hat Apple a slue of android powered tablets are set to rock the market place to it's core, well maybe. While there have been a few cheap attempts at displacing the iPad, no serious competitor has made it to the market yet but just in time for Christmas are offerings from  Samsung, Toshiba, ViewSonic and Archos with screens ranging from 7 to 10 inches in size and some boasting 1080p resolution, usb interfaces, and of course adobe flash support. The android tablets are set to debut at anywhere from $299 for the Archos 101 Internet Tablet to arround $1000 for the Galaxy Tab by Samsung putting them all around the $499 and up offers for the various iPad models.

It will be interesting to see if the iPad will continue to dominate or if the trend being felt in the smartphone market will carry over into tablets. My prediction is that the lower priced Archos will be a winner, I'd love to see the Galaxy Tab do well but the price point may be a sticking point unless it is subsidized by carriers on a contract. All in all, the android operating system is gaining favour and could propel android powered tablets into compelling alternative status.

Greenpeace Rates Tech Manufacturers Eco-friendly Practices

Nintendo has been given a 0.3 out of 10 by Greenpeace in its March Guide to Greener Electronics. Remarkably this is an increase over the December ranking in which Nintendo scored a 0.0! Other electronics companies fared better with Microsoft coming in at 4.7, Sony at 7.3, and Samsung and Toshiba tied for the top spot at 7.7! Perhaps Mario and Luigi should be paying more careful attention to what is being flushed down those pipes! Wired blog post here.

Toshiba Makes It Official - HD DVD Is Dead

A press release today on Toshiba's website states "Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products." The ax has fallen swiftly and decisively with the company saying "Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand." This should come as no huge surprise to anyone as the supporters of the format have been dropping like flies over the last several months, just glad that I didn't buy that XBox HD DVD drive!