Google Tablet in the works …

Google Tablet mockup discussed here.

tablet netbooks smartbooks and e-readers

Touch Books / Smart Books with Detachable Keyboards

• Always Innovating’s TouchBook
• Freescale’s Tablet Smartbook at CES

Freescale announced a $200 tablet reference design that it hopes will come to the market via an OEM partner as early as this Summer. The tablet has a 7-inch (1024 x 600) display and is powered by the i.MX515 processor (including the ARM Cortex A8 chip), 512MB RAM and 4-64 GB of flash storage.

More SmartBooks arriving in 2010

E-Readers

• Barnes’ and Nobles’ Nook
  • the Nook’s FAQ
• Amazon Kindle and Kindle DX

What we are looking for and waiting for is a machine that has these features and specifications:

Features

• Ebook Reader
  • Annotate Ebook Documents
  • Obtain Ebooks from multiple sources
  • Read PDF’s
  • High Quality Reader screen
• Email Reader
• Webcam / Skype
• Touch Screen
• Stylus writing
• Word Processing
• Web Surfing
• Play Videos

Specifications

• Light, Thin, Carryable – small form factor
• Less than $500
• 9″ or 10″ viewable screen
• optional physical keyboard

Will 2010 be the year that we find this?

Ubuntu 9.10 Skype

Skype has some linux compatible builds available for use that are pretty straightforward to use.

Skype

To get Skype working on Ubuntu 9.10 I ultimately had to:

1. Download latest Skype for Linux from Skype.com The available ubuntu 8.10 versions, both 32-bit and 64-bit, worked for respective systems for my installations Ubuntu 9.10.

2. For my Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Communicate STX I had to do this to deal with a Quickcam/ Ubuntu bug:

   sudo mv /usr/bin/skype /usr/bin/skype-bin; echo -e '#!/bin/sh\n\nexport LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so\n\nskype-bin' | sudo tee -a /usr/bin/skype; sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/skype

3. On the Volume Control , Gnome Volume Apple, right-click, sound preferences, Unmute input, and select the webcam as the input device.
   I have PulseAudio installed, and Skype worked with it with no problem.

On the test run of the 64bit on my machine, the sound was great, the video a little sketchy.

try skyping me at gare.calhoun if you have questions or can be of help.

hope this helps