AceNik's Portal

The BlackBerry tablet is here, and it looks astoundingly nice. Nicer than anybody expected it to be. Here’s what you need to know about the PlayBook, in 10 easy steps.

We’ve seen numerous announcements of tablet computers in recent weeks, as the R&D labs of the world push out their hastily assembled attempts at competing with Apple’s game-changing iPad. But are any of them up to the job?

Last week alone saw ViewSonic, Toshiba and Samsung all officially unveil new models of keyboard-less computer, with a mish-mash of operating systems and screen sizes hoping to somehow build themselves a market in the wake of Apple’s market-leading device.

It was possibly the worst-kept secret in tablet-land (more so than the iPad), but the final specs have now been revealed for the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It’ll run Android 2.2 (Froyo) and comes in a 7-inch flavor—for now.

It’s one of those moments where the final product actually exceeds expectations based on previous leaks.

Today Cisco has unveiled the Cius, a 7-inch business tablet capable of capturing and displaying high-resolution video among a bevy of other business oriented tasks for which the device is geared. With collaboration and communication portability in mind, the device weighs in at 1.15 pounds and supports HD video streaming, multi-party conferencing, and all the messaging and browsing you could ever need for business use.

Taiwanese chip maker Mediatek recently finished development on a new 3G system-on-a-chip processor designed to do the heavy lifting on Android devices. While Mediatek has begun shipping sample CPUs out to manufacturers, full-scale production won’t begin until the end of the year.