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In an unusual publicity exercise Razer goes for crowdsourcing to decide on the specs for the "Project Fiona" tablet-- asking Facebook users what they actually want inside the tablet "designed for gamers by gamers."

To think we assumed the Fiona was just a fairly interesting concept design that was never to be seen or heard of again, like the Switchblade and Blade gaming laptops.

But what do the people want inside a 10-inch Windows 8 tablet? Power, mainly. Consensus demands an Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU and at least a mid-tier discrete GPU for "hardcore PC gaming on the go at medium settings." Weight and thickness be damned-- gamers would rather have a chunky device twice as thick and heavy as the iPad.

Other features demanded are detachable controllers and a price ranging from $1300 to $1500.

If you recall, "Project Fiona" was first shown off at CES 2012, last January. It looks like most other 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablets if not for a pair of gamepad-style handles attached to the sides. Razer provides no firm release date, although what looks like a variant of the device (labelled RZ09-0093) made its way through the American FCC back in October 2012...

Go Razer Project Fiona Specs (Facebook)

Go FCC Razer Tablet Documents

Go Razer Reveals Project Fiona

Will eReaders go the way of the dodo within the next few years? IHS iSuppli believes exactly that, reporting the market is "in an alarmingly precipitous decline."

That the devices will collapse soon after a fairly spectacular rise might not surprise some-- not when tablets are breaking records for both customers' hearts and wallets.

According to iSuppli 2012 eReader shipments will drop by -36% to 14.9 million units, down from 23.2m in 2011, before contracting even further by -27% (to 10.9m units) in 2013 and to just 7.1m units by 2016.

If such totals are the case, no wonder the analyst describes 2011 as the peak year for eReaders. The numbers also represent a shift from growth to collapse unprecedented even in a market as notoriously volatile as CE. The eReader took consumer space by storm on 2006, with shipments growing from 1m to 10.1m (up by a factor of 10) from 2008 to 2010.

Acer improves on the C7 Chromebook with the C710-2605-- a laptop with an 11.6-inch display following the Google model with more storage, memory and a bigger battery.

Alongside 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD and a 5000mAh battery, the Acer Chromebook also carries a 1.1GHz Celeron processor, built-in webcam, x3USB HDMI and VGA ports.

Internet connectivity comes through either 802a/b/g wifi or ethernet LAN.

This being a Chrome OS machine Acer also throws 2 years worth 100GB of cloud-based Google Drive storage.

Go Acer C710-2605 Chromebook

Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch rebuts HP's claims of "funny accounting." In an open blog addressed to the HP board, Lynch rejects "all allegations of impropriety."

The former CEO raises a lot of good questions about the HP allegations:  the due diligence, the independent auditor report, and lack of specifics in HP's accusations.

Either Lynch is a great cover-up artist or something stinks... And that begs the question: if Autonomy is NOT guilty of funny accounting, then who is?

Go Read Mike Lynch's Answer to HP Accusations