Microsoft Awarded Patent for Dual-Screen Tablet

Gone but not forgotten.

Microsoft killed off its fascinating dual screen tablet, the Courier, in April of this year and, while the company said in a statement that it would be evaluated for use in future offerings, Redmond also stated, "We have no plans to build such a device at this time."

Disappointed, we came to terms with the fact that Microsoft's 14-inch (2 x 7-inch touch screens) digital journal would never come to pass. However, a recent application to the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office leads us to believe Microsoft was definitely serious about the Courier. Despite the fact that Robbie Bach told TechFlash in May that the Courier was never a device, rather it was a project and incubation leading to innovations that could find their way into other Microsoft products, this patent filed in January suggests Microsoft was, at one time, committed to a product that looked strikingly similar to the Courier.

Microsoft received the patent this week and TechFlash reports that this kind of patent is good for 14 years, so Microsoft has until 2024 to do something with this design.

Microsoft's Concept All-in-One PC for Windows 8

This is Microsoft's ideal mainstream PC that will take advantage of what Windows 8 will offer.

Aside from peripherals and game consoles, Microsoft doesn't design hardware – at least not complete PCs. But found in the leaks of Windows 8 is a concept design of an all-in-one PC that Microsoft figures would take advantage of the new OS features.

Notably is the multi-touch screen that's able to resolve at least five different points and the mandatory DirectX GPU for HD video. The all-in-one would also pack things that machines don't have these days, like proximity sensors (for automatic sleep and wake), light sensors (for automatic brightening and dimming).

Fujitsu Launches 12-inch Convertible Core i3 Tablet

Fujitsu this week revealed the Lifebook TH700, a convertible tablet packing Intel's Core i3 CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium and 4GB of DDR3.

Boasting a 12.1-inch, WXGA, LED backlight display (with a pen-and-capacitive-touch dual digitizer) on a bi-directional hinge; Intel's Core i3 (2.26GHz) processor; 4GB DDR3; 320GB of storage; a full size, spill-resistant keyboard; WiFi; and Bluetooth, the TH700 is an impressive machine, even if a 6-cell battery is a little disappointing. As far as aesthetics go, it's not exactly stunning but it's not ugly either, just a bit industrial looking.

Fujitsu rolled this one out pretty quietly and is offering a $50 rebate on top of the $1,149 starting price. It'savailable now from Fujitsu's website.

Microsoft Creating App Store for Windows 8?

Microsoft wants Windows 8 to 'have an app for that' too.

These days the talk of App Stores is all about Apple for its iPhone and iPad, as well as the Android Marketplace for those running the Google Mobile OS. RIM, Palm and Nokia are also players in the apps market, so it's definitely the new way to distribute software.

Microsoft could be planning the same sort of thing, but for the full-blown desktop OS Windows 8. According to the leaked slides, Microsoft wants to make it easy for users "getting applications they want, that they can feel confident in, that they can use on any Windows 8 device."

Windows 8 won't be confined just to the desktop and laptop space; Microsoft is aiming to make the operating system suitable for slates, laptops and all-in-ones. While Windows 7 already accomplishes this, the addition of the App Store makes it more crucial for Microsoft to ably handle software offerings consistently across the various form factors.

Next 4G Phone from Sprint is the Epic 4G

Meet the next 4G handset, the Epic 4G.

Sprint's HTC EVO 4G is a monster smartphone and the nation's first 4G handset. Packing a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4.3-inch (480×800) LCD touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera (capable of shooting video in 720p), HDMI out and Android 2.1, the EVO 4G is hard to match.

However, rather than let the EVO 4G enjoy the 'superphone' moniker alone, Sprint yesterday announced the next 4G phone, the Epic 4G. The Samsung device previously known as the Galaxy X, the Epic 4G boasts a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU; 512MB of RAM; 1GB ROM; a 4-inch super AMOLED touchscreen display with multitouch; a slide out QWERTY keyboard; WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot support for up to five devices; Bluetooth 2.1; a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video and Android 2.1. There's 16GB of storage included and this is expandable to 32GB. Of course, there's also the all-important WiMAX, which Sprint says can deliver peak download speeds of more than 10Mbps (3-6 Mbps on average).