Dell Latitude XT Tablet

There aren't many Tablet PC fans around, but Dell's upcoming Latitude XT Tablet PC may just bring some more people into the club. We got a tip from reader William that the tablet is going to be launching in this year, a fact he got from some covert ops and a half hour of flirting. The specs are after the jump. Good job Will, now go find out when the Apple Tablet is coming.[dell]

Windows 7

One of the test engineers working on Windows 7, Hilton Locke, dropped a post today pimping Dell's Latitude XT that also contained this little nugget:

'I will say that if you are impressed by the "touch features" in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7. Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales.'

Multi-touch is obviously a given—it's actually possible in Vista, anyway. We're probably talking about way more in-depth input options and other more complicated interactions using multi-touch (versus the iPhone). However, more complex doesn't necessarily translate to more intuitive or better, and touch interfaces might be a case where less is more. How much of a "step up" from the iPhone or say, Microsoft's Surface venture is really a step forward before it turns into a stumbling block? [wiki]

Amtek iTablet

When Amtek are not taking the piss out of Gizmodo writers, they are usually busy cranking out tempting UMPCs. Their latest effort, the iTablet T221, packs in some great features, including a 12.1-inch LCD touchscreen (1024 x 768), Intel Core Duo (1.2Ghz), GMA 950 graphic chipset, 60GB HDD, 2GB RAM and supports 802.11a/b/g wireless networks.

The UMPC will run Windows Vista, but there is no pricing or shipping information at present. Naturally, we would be excited, but our morbid obesity is so severe, we can no longer sense our emotions. Yeah Amtek, we know we are fat, but even we have feelings, you know. We'll go drown our sorrows in a high sugar content soda.

HP MediaSmart Server

The Skinny: The mv2120 Media Vault, a junior Linux-based server with the Photo Webshare and iTunes server functionality of its big brother but a much lower cost. (They'll start at $300.) As for the big guy, he's getting some much needed updates come February, including server-side anti-virus software from McAfee; improved media streaming to Media Center Extenders thanks to Packet Video, and support for 64-bit Vista.

Windows Mobile 7

InsideMicrosoft just got a gigantic scoop of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7, due to be released in 2009. This isn't Windows Mobile 6.1—which we've seen leaks of recently—but the next full version of Windows Mobile that fixes a bunch of problems we've seen with the platform. The huge changes are multi-touch gestures (including flicking, swiping and drawing on the screen), motion gestures (shaking the phone), Windows Vista-like redesign of the entire UI, better finger-based navigation and a desktop-like Internet Explorer browser. It's totally amazing, and fixes a bunch of the complaints we had with the platform. InsideMicrosoft has the full details.[insidemobile]