Word: pc
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...travel clocks and other tiny devices to update you on news, sports and weather via a wireless Internet chip. Gates is also pushing Smart Displays--thin, $1,000 computer screens you can take with you around the house and write notes on, as you would with a tablet-style PC...
...them. Consumers no longer feel the need to upgrade to the latest hardware every time Intel unveils a speedier microprocessor or Microsoft releases a heftier version of Windows. According to the consumer technology-research firm Odyssey, home users nowadays are perfectly willing to go almost five years between PC purchases. Meanwhile, the computer industry, mired in its worst-ever sales slump, is desperate to dream up a compelling innovation that will put the forced back in forced obsolescence...
...tablet PC push may come as a surprise to those who thought the tech business was about crushing primitive methods of communication. But geeks have been unsuccessfully trying to develop and market a computerized writing pad for years. Raise your stylus if you remember the Apple Newton, which flopped in 1992. Engineers seem convinced that most of us prefer handwriting to typing and desperately desire to be freed from the shackles of keyboards. And now that computers are getting better at recognizing handwriting - the Newton was laughably inept in that regard - PC manufacturers are once again trying to sell...
...chance to test the industry's hypothesis using the TravelNote C100, the new tablet PC from Acer. Reasonably lightweight (about 2 kg), with a 20-GB hard drive and an 800-MHz Pentium III processor, the TravelNote looks and performs like a normal laptop computer. The screen, however, swivels around and folds back over the keyboard, creating a writing slate. A stylus serves as both a pen for note taking, and as a mouse for operating programs. Using the machine's built-in Wi-Fi (wireless-fidelity) link, for example, you can write a URL into the Internet Explorer browser...
...tablet PC also allows text input via the touchscreen's virtual keyboard - a necessary alternative, because Microsoft's handwriting-recognition software remains irritatingly inconsistent. The Acer works better than the Newton, but it interpreted my handwritten phrase "Jack ran down the hill" as "Jade full dam its lull." I may have earned a C- in second-grade penmanship class, but my handwriting isn't that...