

Did Arrington actually pull off the CrunchPad WiFi tablet? - dcurtis
http://blog.dustincurtis.com/could-arrington-have-pulled-off-the-crunchpad

======
chime
Even at $300, I would buy 10 of these for my company. Touch-screen + WiFi +
Browser = ability for me to get rid of every single bulky PC on our assembly
line. If it has USB, then I can hook up a barcode scanner and completely
change how our process works. Right now, it is such a hassle to setup a PC
with touch-screen and deal with maintenance etc. Good touch-screen LCDs cost
$300 at least and it's a pain to deal with the drivers. Netbooks are good but
I don't need a keyboard and don't want to deal with a full-fledged OS. Tablets
are perfect but so expensive and a hassle to lock-down. Given all the time in
the world, I'm sure most of us could rig up something under $500 similar to
what the Crunchpad tablet aims to be. But I'd rather get a stable/solid system
that I can easily buy more of when needed.

 _crossing fingers_

~~~
jerf
If the topmost port in the fourth picture of
[http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-
updat...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-update-
prototype-b/) is not a USB port, I don't know what it is. Since a barcode
scanner is basically a keyboard, you almost certainly don't even need any
extra support from them. I think you're in luck.

(Also, I don't want to make a separate post: That link also says "we were
aiming for $200, it looks like $299 is more realistic".)

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catone
TechCrunch would never respect a company asking them to take down leaked
photos... and these weren't leaked, they were published publicly. By which I
mean: Can someone who has local copies of these put them up somewhere?
(Dustin?)

I'd be interested to see them.

Also, not sure what the netbook comment in the post really means. It was
pretty evident how big netbooks were going to be after the first Eee PC went
for sale, which was late 2007. But that doesn't really matter, since
Arrington's tablet isn't really anything like a netbook (at least, not as
they're traditionally defined now).

We're going to start to see a lot of cheap, touchscreen tablet PCs running
Linux and Android (and maybe Windows 7), though, over the next couple of
years.

~~~
wave
It is nicely designed. Here is what it looks like:

[http://zee.posterous.com/did-arrington-actually-pull-off-
the...](http://zee.posterous.com/did-arrington-actually-pull-off-the-
crunchpad)

~~~
jrnkntl
And this is what the packaging looks like: <http://bit.ly/WTxHK>

[update] pictures are back up at the original posting

------
patrickg-zill
They should add two white knobs along the bottom ... and an accelerometer that
allows you to hold it over your head and shake it to put it into screensaver
mode ...

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noaharc
I think it is astounding that Arrington (and everyone else on the team -- I'm
sure there are many) was able to pull this off. A lot of people have bones to
pick with him, and he can certainly be a little brusque (speaking as a former
TechCrunch intern), but he is one incredibly capable guy -- a consistently
excellent writer, bitingly funny commentator, and, apparently, a mean product
designer/manager. I almost wish TechCrunch didn't take up so much of his time
-- there's probably a lot more he could be doing.

------
andr
[http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-
updat...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/techcrunch-tablet-update-
prototype-b/)

Info on an earlier prototype + video. 3 months ago the software was pretty
workable and the had the hardware, albeit thicker than it should've been. So
it seems perfectly plausible that it's ready now.

------
vaksel
I actually own crunchpad.com, wonder if I should do anything with it

~~~
netcan
redirected it to the blog post?

~~~
vaksel
already doing that

~~~
veteran
not if you want to make some money out of it..you need to justify you own
domain because your have business tied to it and nothing to do with their
brand..and then only you can hold it/may be later sell it..careful, arrington
is from domain industry so it is tough party on other end ..so be smart in how
you handle.. (assuming you want money..) if not then it is pretty easy just
send email

~~~
kirse
I'd agree with this guy. WIPO is ridiculously quick to snipe away your domain
name and give it to someone with a trademark if you don't have a legitimate
business or use for the name.

I would highly recommend creating at least some fake company or intention out
of the page so you can say you wanted the domain for something else. With a
name like "Crunch-Pad" I'd suggest making it a simple Web 2.0 to-do list like
pat.io.

At least that way you could let them buy it off you if they were interested.

------
nanexcool
If the $200 price tag is real, I see myself putting one of these babies in my
bathroom in front of the toilet, another one in my kitchen. Imagine one in
your living room hooked up to your media center/TV/etc.

~~~
icey
I'll hang one in my garage for when I'm out working on something... At 200
bucks, if it gets a little motor oil on the screen, I'm not going to worry
about it too much.

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rjurney
For $200 a pop I can tile one wall of my office with them for $16,000.

That sounded smart before I typed it.

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st3fan
I'll believe it when I have one in my hands :-)

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lsb
It looks so slick, and then picture 4 is the power adapter with a guy holding
a soda can in his crotch at the top of the frame.

What's amazing about Apple (from whom they seem to have taken packaging design
cues) is not an initial sheen of beauty, but that they keep the beauty going
throughout the experience.

------
rms
Where are they getting the touch screens?

~~~
wmf
Does it matter? Aren't they a commodity?

~~~
rms
A year ago when this was conceived, no, not really, but it looks like the
price has indeed come down sufficiently to make this viable.
[http://interstore.com/product/139-1460/348348-001+LCD+KIT+R/...](http://interstore.com/product/139-1460/348348-001+LCD+KIT+R/348348-001_-_HP_TC1000_and_TC1100_10.4_XGA_1024x768_Laptop_Touchscreen_LCD_Module_Kit_Complete_Refurbished.html?ref=base)
is one I found.

------
icey
If this thing is real, I'm going to be buying more than a few of them.

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jacoblyles
Looks like the world's biggest iPhone.

~~~
hotpockets
I am going to buy one just to use it as a huge novelty phone gag.

------
mattmaroon
Now I just have to figure out how to waterproof it so I can read The Economist
in the tub.

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noodle
regardless of arrington's involvement, i really like this idea and really
would like to see it have at least some success. it could only mean good
things for the direction of netbooks.

------
jacoblyles
I would buy one if I could take hand-written notes on it. That's the ability
that I most envy my friends with tablets for.

------
merrick33
so where exactly is the address to his posterous account? I only knew of the
techcrunch.posterous.com account.

~~~
dchest
Photos were there (at techcrunch.posterous.com), but it seems like he removed
them.

------
BRadmin
CrunchGear post about it: "Leaks are always hardest when they hit home."

[http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/09/crunchtablet-hits-
the-n...](http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/09/crunchtablet-hits-the-net-a-
little-early/)

------
shimi
What's the difference between that and a Windows Tablet (apart from the
price)?

~~~
blasdel
Capacitive touchscreen! I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it would be
resistive. Almost all Windows Tablets have inductive digitizers, where you can
only use a special stylus (like a Wacom), but you get angle/distance/pressure
information.

Most new Tablet PCs also cost 6-10 times more, and have awful battery life
because they are overpowered.

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jrnkntl
As stated in the comments over there: it's a mockup. And I'm pretty sure it
is, been a while since an update on the crunchpads and all of a sudden they're
in production? Nahhh, don't think so.

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jrnkntl
Wow, the pictures are already taken off.

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ktharavaad
I want one.

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jpwagner
An iphone that does not fit in my pocket...where do i sign up?

~~~
DenisM
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Kindly refrain.

~~~
jpwagner
Apparently Oscar Wilde said that.

I thought puns were the lowest form of wit.

I also just read that wit is the highest form of sarcasm. Does that make puns
a high form of sarcasm?

~~~
nomoresecrets
Puns may be bad, but poems are verse.

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erlanger
Reminds me of the original iBook...antiquated design.

