Tech & Gadget Stream

A new trademark filing by Google has been discovered, just in time to get tongues wagging before the weekend. According to the report, Google has trademarked the term "Speedbook" under computer hardware, so speculation is that it could refer to an upcoming tablet or netbook powered by Google's upcoming Chrome OS. No actual details on what the Speedbook might be have been mentioned just yet, so until Google decides to tell us what it is, we can only guess and dream.

Heard of Redstar before? Perhaps not, as we haven't till today, but the Japanese-based company has begun to receive pre-orders of their own Shogo Linux-powered tablet. This 10.1-inch tablet device will be powered by a Freescale iMX-37 processor, featuring a 1024 × 600 resolution with multi-touch capability, 4GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, 3G support just in case there aren't any Wi-Fi networks around, Zigbee, an SDHC memory card slot and 256MB RAM. No idea on whether this will arrive Stateside or not, but if it does, it looks set to live a pretty tough life since there isn't any back-end software support such as Android Market or the App Store to prolong its usefulness.

Folks who were looking forward to getting hold of the Windows 7-powered ExoPC were probably disappointed when it was confirmed that the tablet was to be delayed by several months. Well, time has passed, and now the company has confirmed that it’s planning to accept its first pre-orders for the device from September 3rd, and are having the first 1,200 orders shipped out on September 30th. The rebadged partner slate, dubbed the Ciara Vibe, will be going up for retail in Canada from October 15th.