The HP EliteBook 2730p was a tough little convertible tablet, and its successor— HP’s EliteBook 2740p —is no exception. The 2740p meets the same rugged MIL-STD 810G military standards, and adds a capacitive touch screen and Core i5/i7 goodness. The 12.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) LED display includes anti-glare and optional outdoor view, and can be operated with a pen, your finger, the keyboard, or some combination thereof. Under the hood, you’ve got your choice of Core i7 or Core i5 processors, but there’s sadly no discrete graphics option. You’ll get up to five hours out of the standard six-cell battery, but can add on an HP 2700 ultra-slim battery for an additional six hours (listed).

HP’s ProBook s-series wants to be your everything: punchy enough for work, stylish enough for home. And with a new brushed aluminum industrial design and Core i3/i5/i7 processing power, they may just bridge that gap. HP’s rolling out four new ProBook models, ranging from the 13.3-inch 4320s to the heavy-duty 17.3-inch 4720s. In addition to those speedy Arrandale processors and “caviar” and “bordeaux” aluminum finishes, the new line-up also features optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4350 discrete graphics (compared with the previous generation’s Radeon 4330 , HD LED-backlit displays, and an optional 2MP camera. The ProBooks also feature DayStarter, a feature that lets you view your calendar to distract you while your computer loads, and ArcSoft TotalMedia Suite audio and video editing software. WIth an optional 9-cell battery, the battery life is listed at an impressive 10 hours.

Something is happening in PlayStation Network land this evening, and it isn’t good. Known cryptically as Error: 8001050F , all we know right now is it won’t allow users to log into their accounts or play online. According to one user over at the official PlayStation boards, the error does not prevent him from using the Internet via his PS3, but logins have become nigh impossible. Several other users chimed in after that comment to report identical problems. Who amongst the Gizmodo population can’t access PSN right now to play MAG or any of the other online games at your disposal

So, the Sony Vaio P has a clone. Congrats, Sony! Too bad the mimicry ends with the aesthetics: The appearance is spot on, but the insides are decidedly sub-par. The Atom processor is a less powerful than the processor offered in the Vaio P, and the memory maxes out at 1GB. If you’re comparing, that’s a full GB short of the original. Since this is a clone however, the price is really the only area where one could say it “competes” with Sony’s premium-priced Vaio P. The clone offers a 160GB for about $300, as well as a $380 model with 350GB storage, 2Gb ram and 3G

“Larry, your new speakers look great, really they do. But…something’s off. I can’t put my finger on it, but they just sound, I dunno, kind of wooden . You know?” Because they’re inspired by trees! Haha. I kill me

If passed, something called the Digital Economy Bill over in the U.K. could do the unthinkable in this, the digital age: Ban open wifi spots. The ban comes as part of a bill that seeks to limit copyright infringement, or something. In summary, schools, small businesses and even libraries would have to effectively become their own ISP and manage the wifi hotspot—or face hefty fines.

When we previewed the Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible netbook/tablet earlier this month, it was just on paper. The plucky little netbook looked promising, for an Eee PC , but this latest string of hands-on previews is just plain ugly. The 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet portion, for example, struggles with basic tasks, touch recognition and responsiveness. The previewer rated the T101MT “poor” in these areas. Calibrating the device improved responsiveness slightly, but there were still areas of the screen, like the top, where the software struggled to keep up with the user’s input

Give this Lego Avatar helicopter a few aerodynamic tweaks, a slightly more powerful engine and a pilot spouting off canned, predictable dialogue, and I could easily see it taking flight, literally, to fight the Na’Vi. I mean, the rotors appear to be spinning at quite a clip in that video don’t they? Enough to sting a stray finger, in any event. Looks pretty sturdy too, which is incredibly important should the pilot happen to have a James Cameron-sized ego. [ Nowhere Else via CrunchGear ]

What’s better than one hands-on report to whet your appetite ahead of the release of a new gadget? Why, two of them, of course, and it’s the convertibleASUS T101MTgetting the stereo impressions. The machine has …

Well, that didn’t take long. Already analysts are crawling out of the woodwork to put the seemingly miraculousBloom Box fuel cellin its place as yet another energy saving technology that won’t perform as advertised.
This week …