We’ve seen similar offerings from Motorola lately in the Atrix 4G , but this convergence of phone and tablet is the first of its kind. Asus has just demonstrated a device that it’s (somewhat unfortunately) calling the Padfone at Computex in Taipei.
The idea is that you take a phone, slide it into a tablet-formed “dock” and then continue to use the same device but just in a different function. Once docked, you’ll get the larger screen, some additional battery power and I/O ports but we don’t know any of the fine-point details just yet.
So your phone then drives a tablet, giving it 3G capability and keeping you from having to synchronize data or use cloud services to keep information accessible. Interesting.
There’s no word yet about pricing, as the device is more proof of concept than retail-ready. Asus says that the size might change, as well as nearly every other detail. Rest assured though, we’ll be keeping our eyes on this one.
Meet The Little Printer: A cloud-based design object that prints from your phone
Coming in 2012, The Little Printer is a small taste of the future with a hint of the past. The small, smiling box wirelessly connects to the cloud and will print almost anything you like in a beautifully designed, bookmark size page.
The Little Printer is the latest creation of The BERG, a London-based design consultancy that specializes in product invention. You’ll be able to use it to print out your to-do lists, your friends Foursquare checkins, your daily calendar or a mini newspaper from your favorite news site. Launch partners for Little Printer are Arup, Foursquare, Google, the Guardian, and Nike. “Little Printer is more like a family member or a colleague than a tool,” writes Matt Webb of the BERG.
The Little Printer will come with an accompanying Android and iOS app, so you can configure the printer and set up printable subscriptions wirelessly. Check out what the app looks like here:
The Little Printer is the first product to connect to the BERG Cloud , the company’s new cloud based technology system. “We think of it as the nervous system for connected products. Built to run at scale, BERG Cloud could as easily operate the Web-enabled signage of a city block, as the playful home electronics of the future,” writes Webb.
Watch the Little Printer’s debut video here:
Kobo launches Vox, ‘the first social eBook reader’, with Facebook integration
Kobo Vox is the latest eBook reader in the Kobo family and it is referred to as ‘the first social eReader’. In this case, social means that you’ll be able to connect with your friends and other readers on social networks; that way you can discover new books through Facebook, the company says .
During the recent Facebook’s f8 conference , Facebook selected Kobo as its only eReading partner, which makes the Canadian company the first eReading platform to be integrated with Facebook Ticker and Timeline to enable further reading discovery and entertainment.
Vox, based on the Android 2.3 OS, will be equipped with a 7-inch color touch screen which will be great for reading, but also for browsing the web, e-mail and social networks as well. You can even watch movies on your Kobo.
As Michael Serbinis, CEO at Kobo says:
Kobo Vox is available for pre-order today in Canada and the US with price starting at $199.99.