Former Palm head Jon Rubinstein leaves HP, taking a long-deserved break

Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who spearheaded engineering for the iPod, and then proceeded to revitalize Palm, has officially left Hewlett-Packard, the company confirmed today.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected. Rubinstein was reportedly a no-show at HP since former CEO Leo Apotheker killed off the company’s WebOS devices. Even before that his role at HP was reduced with a change to a vague “SVP of innovation” title.

An HP spokesperson told All Things Digital, … Continue Reading

Check out this giant game of Pong (video)

Hewlett-Packard showed off its giant VantagePoint touchscreen recently by playing a giant game of Pong on the interactive screen. The screen consists of six 47-inch monitors connected in an aluminum frame. HP’s Carlos Montalvo squared off against blogger Adrian Covert of Gizmodo for the Pong demo.

The HP VantagePoint system runs PC titles and is targeted at retailers and businesses that want to visualize cool stuff. Retailers may be particularly interested in creating giant games … Continue Reading

HP unveils giant 11-feet by 7-feet touchscreens for retailers and businesses (video)

Hewlett-Packard sure knows how to build big stuff. Today, the world’s biggest computer maker is taking the wraps off its wall-sized 132-inch touchscreen displays that can be used in high-end retail displays or battlefield control rooms. HP hopes this will take its digital sign business to the next level.

The HP VantagePoint system — 11 feet wide by 7 feet high — is driven by two computers with one graphics card and six monitors. Yet … Continue Reading

The magical (and sometimes ridiculous) gadgets of tomorrow

Brian Lam is the editor of Wirecutter, a list of the very best gadgets.

Hello! I just found a handful of wonderful technology in Las Vegas, an oasis in the desert, at CES, the country’s biggest electronics show.

There are over 100,000 people here to see roughly 20,000 gadgets brought to the light of day in less time than it takes for a rattlesnake to shed its skin.

Without hype, these are the gadgets that … Continue Reading

The Envy 14 Spectre: HP designs a cool Ultrabook with a Gorilla Glass cover

Hewlett-Packard has designed a cool laptop that even Apple aficionados might admire for its creative use of glass materials. The new Envy 14 Spectre is a beautiful new 14-inch Ultrabook with a cover that is made out of durable glass.

The cover of the sleek laptop, known as an Ultrabook for its thinness and responsiveness, is made out of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, a damage resistant glass that can be used to protect the screens of … Continue Reading

HP shows its new CES products early as the tech circus draws near

Hoping to grab the limelight before the giant tech circus of the Consumer Electronics Show next week, Hewlett-Packard is unveiling several new computer products today.

The products show that HP continues to emphasize industrial design along with a practical, low-cost approach to computers. It hopes to match rivals such as Apple on the look, feel, and ease-of-use of products, without high price tags. These aren’t revolutionary products (HP is smart not to wait until CES … Continue Reading

Tough negotiator: HP wanted $1.2B for webOS and Palm’s assets (exclusive)

$1.2 billion. That’s how much HP paid for Palm last year, and it’s also how much the company was trying to sell its Palm assets for over the latter half of 2011, VentureBeat has learned.

As baffling as it may seem, HP was trying to rid itself of Palm without taking a loss on its purchase, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told us. When asked for confirmation about the pricing, an HP representative … Continue Reading

HP open sources webOS, plans for tablets in 2013 (updated)

After shopping webOS around to major companies like Amazon and Qualcomm, HP has decided to make the platform available to the open source community, the company announced today.

The move allows third-party companies to use webOS, but HP will still be able to guide development of the platform. HP says it will be an “active participant and investor in the project.”

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected … Continue Reading

$99 HP Touchpad sale on eBay starting 12/11, but they’re refurbished

Didn’t get your $99 HP Touchpad WebOS tablet the first time around? The company is holding an eBay sale for refurbished Touchpads starting on December 11th.

The company sent out a memo to employees detailing the sale, which prices used Touchpads at $99 for a 16 GB version and $149 for a 32 GB tablet. This follows HP’s late August sale where Best Buy stores sold new Touchpads for the same price. That sale drove … Continue Reading

As Palm bidding continues, HP wants a sweet deal to keep webOS in printers (exclusive)

For some strange reason, HP is still really hot on the idea of mating webOS with its printers — to the point where it has become a crucial part of its negotiations to sell off its Palm assets.

In addition to settling on a good price for the Palm goodies, HP is also demanding that potential buyers license webOS back to it on the cheap for use in printers, a source with knowledge of the … Continue Reading

Meg Whitman: HP getting into research, out of big acquisition deals, and “reducing drama”

Meg Whitman said Hewlett-Packard wants to grow more organically in the future.

“If we get out of the big M&A business, we have to invest in R&D,” the chief executive of HP said Monday on her first analyst conference call.

HP is still digesting its $10 billion acquisition of Autonomy, a commercial software company, which was heavily criticized because it commanded so much of HP’s market value in exchange for a gain of about a … Continue Reading

Meg Whitman’s first HP analyst call: We’ll get back to business fundamentals in 2012

Hewlett-Packard will get “back to business fundamentals” in 2012, said Meg Whitman, the newly appointed chief executive of the world’s largest technology company, in a conference call with analysts today.

Whitman’s words will be closely scrutinized on Wall Street, since HP is seen as a bellwether for the overall tech economy.

At the same time, Whitman warned that the macroeconomic problems of the world economy and flooding in Thailand make the company cautious about its … Continue Reading

HP beats earnings estimates in Whitman’s first quarterly report

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard reported better than expected earnings today, beating expectations despite a tough world economy and fierce competition.

The report for the fourth fiscal quarter ended Oct. 31 was the first since Meg Whitman took over as chief executive of the technology industry giant in September.|

HP reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.17 a share on revenue of $32.3 billion, compared with $1.33 a share and revenue of $33.3 billion a year ago.

“HP has … Continue Reading

HP’s earnings this afternoon will determine if Whitman is on right course

Hewlett-Packard will report earnings today for the first quarter since Meg Whitman took over as chief executive of the technology industry giant in September.

Whitman wasn’t CEO for the entire quarter ended Oct. 31, so she won’t be entirely responsible for the company’s earnings performance. Leo Apotheker preceded Whitman in the top job but he was fired in September as the board lost confidence in his ability to communicate HP’s strategy. Analysts expect HP to … Continue Reading

HP chases MacBook Air with Folio13 Ultrabook

Hewlett-Packard introduced its first business-focused Ultrabook laptop today as it chases after Apple’s vaunted MacBook Air.

The new HP Folio13 is only 18 millimeters thick, weighs just 3.3 pounds, and has up to 9 hours of battery life. It brings new meaning to the description “thin and light.” Apple pioneered the category in January 2008 with its first MacBook Air, and now Intel wants to enable a whole raft of such machines across the whole … Continue Reading

HP unveils new quad-core high-end Envy laptops

Hewlett-Packard started unveiling its fall line of premier laptps today with the introduction of two new HP Envy notebooks.

Born from the Voodoo PC brand (which HP acquired) and meant to take on Apple’s best, the Envy line of laptops exudes power, performance, high-tech technologies and craftsmanship.

HP’s new Envy machines come with 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch screens. They have backlit keyboards with an advanced proximity sensor that illuminates when a user gets near and then … Continue Reading

HP is not sure what to do with webOS, says CEO

In a company meeting Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman said she isn’t sure exactly what move to make with the company’s hobbled webOS operating system, reports The Verge.

HP paid $1.2 billion for webOS’ creator Palm in 2010 with the intent to run the operating system on its mobile devices, such as the TouchPad. However, the company’s former CEO Leo Apotheker decided to shutter the line of webOS devices months ago. Now that Whitman has … Continue Reading

HP forges ahead with a new Slate 2 tablet for $699

Hewlett-Packard may have shuttered its line of TouchPads, but the company certainly isn’t out of the tablet business.

The company announced that it plans to refresh its Windows 7 Slate 500 tablet, which will focus on the business/enterprise market of consumers.

The Slate 2 isn’t much different from the first model. And like the previous version, it features a 1024 x 600-resolution, 8.9-inch screen and includes a stylus. HP, however, has upgraded the Slate 2 … Continue Reading

HP technologist Phil McKinney to retire so he can advise startups

Phil McKinney, the talkative chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard’s PC division, announced today he was retiring from HP by year end.

He said in his own blog post he will spend his time promoting his new book, teaching workshops on Killer Innovation, and hopefully taking on board seats and advisory roles at startups “since I will no longer have to worry about conflict of interest or other corporate restrictions.”

While McKinney’s post was positive, his … Continue Reading

HP is selling ultra cheap TouchPads again (but there’s a catch)

Hewlett-Packard is offering its previously discontinued tablet computer, the TouchPad, for the low price of $149.

The catch is that you only get that price when you purchase a new PC from Best Buy, according to the retail store’s website.

HP first released the TouchPad at a $499 price point in July to dismal sales, which prompted the company to reduce the price by $100 the following week to spur sales. Eventually, HP decided to … Continue Reading