Gadgets, Hp | featured news

Hewlett Packard donates its mobile system software, WebOS, to the open source community and says it will continue to invest in the project. The tech company acquired the software when it bought the smartphone maker Palm for $1.2bn (£767m) last year. HP used the code to power its short-lived range Touchpad tablet computers before it abandoned the product line.

Hewlett Packard says it has reviewed a plan to sell-off its personal computer division and it now intends to keep it.

Zombie tech? The products you thought were dead at HP may not be quite dead just yet. The HP TouchPad, the highly praised WebOS operating system, and the entire PC division are still on the chopping block, but sources at HP say that with the new CEO Meg Whitman, the butcher's blade hasn't yet fallen.

The TouchPad is dead, but Hewlett-Packard is giving it a hell of a wake. HP has slashed the price of its $399 tablet computer to $99 after killing the product on Thursday, sparking a buying frenzy. Finally, an Apple competitor has found a price low enough to start a shopping stampede. And why not? Sure ...

In a dramatic reshuffling, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will end its tablet computer and smartphone products and may sell or spin off its PC division, bowing out of the consumer businesses.

Google and HP proved that companies can make tablets with UI as usable as the iPad, if not moreso. Now, with the iPad 2 being announced next week, Apple is the one that needs to play catch-up.

The booming popularity of tablets has been a mixed blessing for Asus. The Taiwan-based electronics vendor makes takes a hit each time consumers opt for tablets over the laptops and netbooks it makes. At the same time, Asus is investing in tablets, unveiling four models at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Most of Asus’ tablets won’t launch until later this year, however, when a glut of other tablets from companies ranging from Motorola to Research In Motion to HP will also be on sale.

Hewlett-Packard showed the fruits of its acquisition of Palm on Wednesday. The technology giant demonstrated a new tablet device and two new smartphones, as well as disclosing plans to bring its webOS software to computers and printers.

Remember that disappointing HP tablet with Windows 7 from January everyone thought it was scrapped? Well, it's called the HP Slate and it's out now for a whopping $799. Before you get click-happy on HP's website, though, you might want to have a look at this: put alongside other tablets, the HP Slate could disappoint you, again.