Notebooks are great and all, but what’s with the clickity-click keyboard? Those might have been useful back in the middle ages, but today they’re just taking up valuable touch-screen display space. Rip that sucker out and give me another display, for crying out loud! 

Acer has heeded that call with their Iconia Touchbook, a Windows 7-based  “twin tablet” that ditches the traditional keyboard in favor of another 14-inch LED backlit touchscreen display. Tech specs are great, with an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, and 1.3 mega-pixel web-cam. But let’s get back to that second display, which is where the wicked cool comes in.

An innovative design like this requires a whole new interface, and Acer has risen to the challenge with a customized, gesture-driven experience that makes good use of both screens. You can slide stuff around with familiar multi-touch controls, select items on a “ring” by making a claw with your hand and spinning it, and pop up an onscreen keyboard when needed. It probably doesn’t predict future crimes, but maybe in a software update.

Also bundled in are a customized touch-based browser, a journal/clipping app, a social media aggregator, and various other useful media  tools all specially prepared to make full use of the dual-tablet concept.

There was a time when the coolest thing you could do with your calculator was spell “hE110” out of upside-down numbers on the LCD display.  Apparently kids aren’t so easily impressed anymore. Texas Instruments’ new line of “Nspired Learning” calculators, led by the flagship T1-Nspire CX, represent more than just a better way to vaguely amuse yourself during class.  They’re a whole new way to teach and learn math and science.

Far from the monochrome 8-digit displays of old, the T1-Nspire comes equipped with a 16-bit 320 by 240 display that can show images and animations as well as create complex 3D graphs of whatever numbers you’re crunching.  But the real heart of the system is a digital content authoring and publishing tool that allows teachers to customize interactive lessons. The handheld unit will also connect wirelessly to an in-classroom computer and allow the teacher to monitor the progress of students and customize their lessons based on individual needs.

It’s approved for use in most college entrance exams and state standardized tests, so you can use it as a vanilla calculator too.  And it probably spells words when you turn it upside down, but using it that way seems kind of a waste.