True, this ain’t the first Dell Mini tablet hack we’ve laid eyes on — but what we do have here is a pretty sweet mod by MyDellMini forum member “rock99rock” (must be his confirmation name). In addition to replacing his Dell Mini 9 display with a touchscreen kit, our man re-jiggered an ActionXL motion sensing controller to allow the screen to rotate as you rotate the device. Not bad, eh? Hit that read link for some real radical instrucciones — but not before checking out the enthralling video after the break. [Via Liliputing ] Continue reading Dell Mini 9 modded into motion sensitive, touchscreen tablet (video) Filed under: Laptops , Tablet PCs Dell Mini 9 modded into motion sensitive, touchscreen tablet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Ross Rubin ( @rossrubin ) contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. As CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates would often talk about his dream of “information at your fingertips.” The company he co-founded, though, is now taking literal steps toward that goal. By the end of the month, Microsoft will have released three new devices or platforms that embrace or extend touchscreen support — but the impact touch will have on each varies significantly by their legacy, usage, and manufacturers. Windows has long had touchscreen support.

Everybody’s favorite hackintoshable netbook, the Dell Mini 9 , has yet another identity—it can be converted into a pretty fantastic internet slate PC /tablet. A MyDellMini forum member by the name of Rob is the man responsible for this elegant mod, turning his Del Vostro A9 (business version of the Mini 9 ) into a Windows 7 touchscreen with a 16GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, 1GB of RAM and an Intel Atom N270 processor. Rob is also planning to add an accelerometer to automatically adjust the screen orientation and a small USB fan to help keep the temperature down. If you think you are up to doing a similar conversion, Rob has laid out details of the build in his forum post. [ MyDellMini via Slashgear ]

Hey, what’s this attractive looking dude? Well, from the looks of it, it’s Gateway’s not-yet-announced or previously spied tablet PC . A tipster with access to a seemingly infinite number of photos of this bad boy also shot over a spec sheet of the purported EC18T, and here’s what we’re looking at. This 11.6-incher is going to boast an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a Mobile Intel GS45 Express graphics chipset, and it’ll run either Windows 7 Home Premium or Basic. Of course, none of this is official information, and we have no info on pricing or availability yet

While all the other kids on the block are letting themselves become duly distracted by Google Chrome OS , at least Skytone is still out there in the trenches, fighting to get its Android-powered Alpha 680 netbook to market. Initially it looked like this one would be making the scene sometime this summer , and although this has not come to pass, the OEM ( Airis ) is still strutting it in front of vendors and threatening us with an eventual release. According to Le Journal du Geek , who managed to get its hands on one and snap plenty of pics, the device is still “not really stable.” (Take your time, guys…) Hit that read link for plenty of glamor shots of the this stark white, 7-inch resistive touchscreen wonder — you’ll be glad you did. Filed under: Laptops Alpha 680 Android netbook spotted, still unavailable originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

Sheesh — whatever happened to TabletKiosk , anyway? Aside from one random slate PC tailored for the medical industry, we haven’t seen anything meaningful from these guys since 2008. And yes, that includes the present day. Oh sure, the company’s newest trifecta of machines — which includes the 7-inch eo a7330D, 7-inch eo TufTab a7230XD and 12.1-inch Sahara NetSlate a230T — may use the incredibly mighty Atom CPU now, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all uglier than sin itself. In fairness, all three are designed more for the enterprise market than for fashion conscious consumers, but still, we’re struggling to see any design improvements here compared to the wares this outfit was pushing way back in 2007. If you truly believe that beauty’s on the inside, hit the read link for all the dirt

The new Archos 5 Internet Tablet is indeed powered by Android , and improves all around over its predecessor , with more storage and a better interface. But something’s still missing. The Archos 5 improves on some of the complaints we had about the previous Archos 5 . Archos has upped the storage with loads of options—it now comes with flash (8GB or 32GB) or an HDD (160GB to 500GB). The flash version’s way thinner, at .4-inches. The metal backing felt nice in my hand.

I know, another tablet rumor right? But stay with me on this one. Taiwan Economic News’ “industry sources” are saying it’s real, and will have a 9.6-inch touchscreen, HSPDA, P.A SEMI processor, “long lasting battery” and cost $800 to $1000… The new report gets more specific than previous rumors by breaking down which Taiwanese component manufacturers will handle production. They include current iPhone screen-maker, Wintek (display), and Dynapack (up to 300,000 batteries a month). The supply chain is expected to start delivery to Apple in December

We’re probably not going to see an Apple tablet tomorrow , but the Archos 9 could hold us over. The “netblet” (yea, my portmanteau of the words netbook and tablet) runs Windows 7 , but I’m not sure I’d shell out $500. The 0.63-inch thin Archos 9 feels pretty sturdy, but one major complaint is that it feels heavy. Archos says it only weighs 1.2 pounds, but something about the balance is wrong, because it felt heavier than that in my hands. The hardware is pretty simple—a 9-inch resistive touchscreen (no multitouch) with a few surrounding physical buttons.

We’re hearing “multiple sources” are now reporting that Apple is most likely planning a keynote event — possibly for the week of September 7th. There’s also the requisite murmuring that one Steve Jobs may make an appearance — though of course, there’s also nothing more solid than wishes and fairy dust to back that one up. As far as possible product launches go, well, there have been significant whisperings about upcoming iPod / iTunes developments as of late, including the company’s reported dealings with major record labels . This would fall in line with Apple’s habit of releasing iPods every fall, and we’ve heard plenty about upcoming iPod touches which boast, among other things — a camera and microphone . Daring Fireball has also reported that these bad boys will come in 16, 32 and 64GB varieties running $199, $299, and $399, respectively