HP reportedly planning Windows 8 tablets using Intel and Qualcomm processors

HP CEO Meg Whitman recently told investors that the company will be shipping Windows 8 products by the end of the year, and now CNET is reporting some possible details about its tablet plans. According to the site, HP is working on at least three different Windows 8 tablets, powered by chips from Intel and Qualcomm. The two Intel models are said to utilize the chipmaker's 32nm Atom Clover Trail platform, and will come in two distinct form factors. The first is reportedly a laptop / tablet hybrid — a device type that some of HP's competitors believe in — while the second is a more traditional tablet aimed at business customers. The third product is said to be powered by a Qualcomm processor, though no additional details are given. CNET reports that some of the three models are already being readied for commercial production, which lines up with Whitman's statements last year that the company would ship Windows 8 tablets by the end of 2012.

Whitman previously outlined the dual-pronged strategy in an interview with CRN earlier this month, noting that the company would move forward with x86 tablets first, because "we don't know when the delivery is for the software on an ARM chip." Tablets certainly haven't been the friendliest game for HP, with the company's Slate 500 and Slate 2 failing to impress, to say nothing of the fire-sale special HP TouchPad. Still, it's clear Whitman feels HP must be competitive in the tablet market, and is counting on Windows 8 to help it get there

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Synaptics and others to support Nvidia DirectTouch for improved touchscreen performance

We all know the pain of a laggy touchscreen experience, and Nvidia is working on a solution with its DirectTouch architecture that uses a Tegra 3 chip to process touch input. The technology was originally announced at CES this year, but now it looks like we're closer to seeing DirectTouch make its way into a future tablet or smartphone, as touch controller companies Synaptics, Cypress, Atmel, N-Trig, Raydium, and Focaltech have jumped on board to build controllers that support the technology.

DirectTouch offloads some touch processing onto a low-power fifth core on the Tegra 3 chip, unlike current touchscreens which have a discrete module that accomplishes the task. Nvidia's solution hands off the touch processing duties to the primary cores of the Tegra 3 when CPU-intensive programs are being used on the device. According to Nvidia, the technology will result in improved touch performance — especially with multiple finger inputs — because the Tegra 3 is far more powerful than traditional touch controllers. It's also supposed to simplify the internal design and increase the battery life of devices that use the technology, since there's no discrete touch module taking up space and constantly consuming energy. We haven't yet played with a DirectTouch-enabled device — we hope to see one at MWC this week — but if the video below is any indication, the improvements look promising.

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The father of pinball games, Steve Kordek, passes away at 100

Engineer and game creator Steve Kordek — who almost single-handedly invented what we think of as the modern pinball game — passed away Sunday at the age of 100 at his home in Park Ridge, Illinois. Pinball gaming was an evolution of what was 70 years ago called a "pin game": a user would release a ball, and then try to navigate it through a forest of pins to reach the goal at the end. Several other manufacturers tried to modify the games with an array of mechanical flippers, but it was Kordek who created a version with two flippers placed at the end of the tilted playing field in 1948. Kordek's version quickly took off, and the pinball game was born. Kordek also took the step of powering his flippers with DC current, providing them greater power and bounce, rather than the AC current used by other models.

Though he was employed by gaming company Genco at the time of his dual-flipper invention, Kordek later moved on to work for Bally Manufacturing and Williams Manufacturing, where he created games like Space Mission and Grand Prix. With the clink and clang of pinball ingrained in our collective cultural awareness as deeply as any other form of entertainment, it's safe to say Kordek has left a lasting impression. We've included some videos of Steve Kordek-designed pinball games below.

Image Credit: Marcin Wichary (Flickr)

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