Electronics, Gadgets | featured news

Most televisions and all MacBooks still lack a touch screen. When will this change? When will all displays be converted to touch screens? It could take some time. While the PC industry has embraced Windows 8 with a wide variety of touch screen devices (including laptops and desktops), some manufacturers are reluctant to enter the realm.

One reason some people waited in long lines to be the first to get the new Nintendo Wii U console has nothing to do with the games. With Wii U devices all but guaranteed to be sold out at retailers around the world this Christmas, some buyers immediately put their new consoles on Ebay. Wii Us are already selling for over $500 on the site. There were well over 2,500 consoles listed on the world’s largest auction site just hours after it went on sale on November 18 at the Nintendo World store in New York City and around the globe.

Black Friday Shoppers Black Friday is just a few days away, and with consumer confidence creeping back to levels not seen in some time, I think consumers are ready to open their wallets again after 5 years of economic uncertainty.

Nintendo's Wii U hits stores this weekend, testing the videogame giant's strategy of pushing pricey hardware in a videogame market increasingly geared toward mobile gadgets.

AT&T, Verizon and Sprint announced Friday the arrival of the 4G LTE models of Apple's iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. Apple's iPad mini is a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad. The mini tablet features at 7.9-inch screen with 1,024 x 768 display resolution, front- and rear-facing cameras and 1080p HD video recording.

Samsung sold more than 97 million mobile phones in the third quarter, besting Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone by more than 74 million units. According to Gartner (NYSE: IT), nearly 428 million mobile phones were sold during the quarter. Approximately 23.5 million of those phones were manufactured by Apple — 97.9 million were made by Samsung.

Shortly before midnight on Monday two criminals accessed a cargo building in John F. Kennedy airport and managed to steal $1.5 million worth of iPad minis. According to The New York Post, the pair used the airport’s own forklift to load two pallets containing the Apple (AAPL) tablets into their vehicle.

The Wii U’s main selling point is a new touch-screen controller that is a cross between the iPad Mini and a traditional video game controller.

CEO Steve Ballmer told French daily Le Parisien that sales of the company's first tablet "are starting modestly." Ballmer also said that the supply shortages were a "good sign." He added that Microsoft will "fix this problem quickly" as the company increases capacity, which is part of its overall strategy.

Apple Inc and HTC Corp announced on Saturday a global patent settlement and 10-year licensing agreement that ends one of the first major conflagrations of the smartphone patent wars.