If the iPad is going to cause any sort of revolution in computing it is going to be the massive choices that people will have to buy non-Apple slates.

The number of announced slates for Android, MS and Linux is gaining everyday.

One of the most recent that stands out from the crowd for its design is from Aigo, the giant electronics manufacturer. Though slates have yet to be proven they are throwing their hat into the ring with an iPad-esque design.

The Aigo slate is said to have Android OS onboard with, from what the pictures show, is one more USB port than the iPad at one.

If all of these announcements are telling us anything about the soon to be slate market beyond being crowded, there will be pricing pressure from the very beginning. All of these manufacturers are hoping to catch the same lightening in a bottle that was the netbook land rush.

I’m not quite sold on the necessity of having a laptop, netbook, smartphone and slate in my personal computing arsenal. The first three on that list, yes. They all serve a real purpose for needs that a user may have whether it is crunching video, writing up documentation or making a call. From what I’ve seen slates come up short on all things except web browsing.

Regardless, slates are going to be amassing and hitting the markets very soon. This will be an interesting year to see which company goes deep in slates and what their outcome will be.

Via [Cloned In China]

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The Chinese Are Coming With Slates and Tablets is a post from: TechStartups.com

At the end of last week our gadget guy, John Federico,  picked up a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch tablet. He wrote a short piece describing the device and is preparing a follow up piece on it this week.

I couldn’t help but use his post as an impetus to return to my roots of design and go out and pick up a tablet myself.

Though I would love to have the touch I thought it would suit me best to get something that I knew I could be happy with, pen only. I did it up and feel like I’m 25 again computing with a purpose.

If you’ve never used a pen as an input for a computer then you won’t understand much of this. The pen is mightier than the mouse and will shred any work flow thrown at it. Every action with a pen input device is quicker.

Of course you have to learn how to use it first. This can take some time to get used to the required tablets are a fixed version of your screen. Meaning that the every position on the table corresponds to a Cartesian coordinate on the monitor. The pen and tablet know your X and Y at all times and it is static – unlike  a mouse that is loosey goosey (that is a technical term used in the biz).

All of this of course got me to thinking about alternative input devices for computers and got me stuck on pens. Why aren’t their any simple pen shaped mice, sans tablet?

I hit the internets and found that there are a few. Most of them are ugly sticks that aren’t very much like a pen at all. They lack a refined vision to make a simple pen like input device and rely on “ergonomic design” to create sculpted shapes – think CueCat but vertical.

After some more time I came across the Pen and Mouse (P&M) from a Korean company called IVS. They come in two wireless varieties, a 2.4 GHz via a USB dongle and a Blue Tooth version. I’ve only found them for sale on eBay and most of them on eBay UK. Pricing is around $75 for both types.

I am hesitant to drop the money on one without knowing how it will perform. But as far as form factor and input style it looks like a very appealing alternative to tablet input devices. And it is something that can be used when out of the office just like a normal mouse.

So thank you Bamboo for inspiring me to think about human computer interaction and so much so that I wrote this post about it.

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Bamboo Tablet Brings It All Back: Pen Computing is a post from: TechStartups.com

Have you ever had to “borrow” wifi while on-the-go? Many of us have especially if you’re a mobile professional and all around Captain of The Internets.

It used to be that nearly everyone left their WiFi access points (WAP) open allowing visitors to jump on the network, check email, the jump off. These days I find that most are WAPs are locked down with a password or sometimes even with MAC address filtering. (That’s geek speak for only allowing specific machines on the network, regardless of whether or not they have a password.)

Or, like me this particular week, you could be at a conference where the WiFi is pretty good but you’re sometimes out of range.

This is where the BearExtender n3 comes in.

The $44.97 device plugs into one of your available USB ports and sits atop your screen, as shown above. After installing the appropriate RailLink drivers, you’re ready to go.

According to one reviewer, even “good” signals became “excellent” with the BearExtender turning an Airport signal rated at 57% to 100%. The company claims up to four times the range of your typical WiFi antenna. Upload and download speeds are also (anecdotally) said to be quicker.

This would have been great this week while I’ve been attending Affiliate Summit West. It’s small enough and cheap enough to be worth throwing my gear bag.

If you’ve ever looked into some of this gear then you may already know one of its more revolutionary traits: the price. It’s closest competitor, the Quickertech Quicky, costs $225.

[TUAW]

Disclosure of Material Connection: http://dsclzr.us/0

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The BearExtender n3 Cranks Up Your WiFi to Eleven, Cheap is a post from: TechStartups.com