Asustek Computer last week introduced its own-brand affordable media tablet, which is designed to secure the company’s share on the rapidly expanding market if inexpensive media slates. The novelty features low-cost hardware and previous-generation display and therefore Asus should be pretty flexible when it comes to final pricing of the MeMo Pad.

Asus MeMo Pad is based on Via Technologies’ WM8950 application processor (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 with ARM Mali-400 graphics core) and runs Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. The media tablet is equipped with 1GB of RAM, 8GB or 16GB of NAND flash internal storage, which can be supplemented by up to 32GB via the MicroSD card slot.

LAS VEGAS: A FLEXIBLE TABLET that is as thin as a piece of paper has been shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today, touting a fully interactive 10.7in plastic touchscreen display.

Developed by Plastic Logic, which has worked with Intel Labs and Queens University to develop the technology, the tablet is powered by a second generation Intel Core i5 processor and aims to replace the need for paper.

"Plastic Logic's flexible plastic displays are completely transformational in terms of product interaction," Intel research scientist Ryan Brotman said. "They allow a natural human interaction with electronic paper, being lighter, thinner and more robust compared with today's standard glass-based displays."

Remember when USB flash drives had the capacity of a couple megabytes? Those times are long gone, as Kingston introduced what they claim is the world's first 1TB USB 3.0 flash drive.

The DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0, as it's called, has read/write speeds of up to 240MB/s and 160MB/s, boasting SuperSpeed USB 3.0 certification.

The drive is available in 512GB capacity right now, while the 1TB version is expected to hit the market in Q1 2013.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced that a major update for the ubiquitous interface is currently in the works, in an effort to double today's 5Gbps transfer rate to a Thunderbolt-matching 10Gbps. The speed boost is still a bit far off, though. The updated specification should be done in mid-2013, which "will enable initial products to appear in late 2014 with a much broader availability of products in 2015."

The group is retaining the USB 3.0 denomination, even though computers and other devices will need new chipsets to take advantage of the speedier transfer rates. The same connectors will be used, but while existing USB devices can be plugged into the higher-speed ports, the USB Promoter Group says it's possible cables available today might not work at 10Gbps since they're not certified for those speeds.