From this interactive command tablet those in charge of America’s armed forces will be able to take control of soldiers, drones and other such assets. However, they will not be able to control the soldiers fully – that’s years away – but they can issue orders of troop placement etc.

The screen is 36 inches by 24 inches, and when those in charge touch a screen to where they want to move assets a message is then sent to those on the ground who will have to issue the orders. To make sure that the message is received an instant message is then sent back to those who are issuing the orders on the AAI built device. Now we just hope that it is not BBM being used, as we do not want an outage in the theater of war?

The US Army has not even agreed to use the system yet, but AII are doing all they can to persuade them to do so. Wired believes that this will be a great system for Uncle Sam, but the one major issue is a dwindling budget, as they have overstretched their resources due to constant conflict in the Middle East. We have no idea how much the technology will cost and what AAI will call it, so give us your best ideas.

Reuters is reporting that there will be a Wi-Fi only model offered for around $600, according to chief executive Sanjay Jha. He said when taking on the likes of Apple Motorola have to provide “premium products”. He also said that most of Motorola’s products will be using Google’s Android OS this year, and may even be boosted by the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft.

Jha added “it’s possible that some of the other players concentrate on Android”, but did say he would like to see other operating systems remain on the market. It was also hinted that the company was looking into having its own app store. It is thought the Xoom will be available from February 24.

The price may be too much for many people to pay, but it may get subsidized by the carriers if you sign up for a two year contract. But with the likes of Motorola and Samsung announcing their new tablets before any official news from Apple about the new iPad, will this benefit Apple?

It can only be a short time before Apple show their hand, and surely a lot of people will wait to see what the new iPad will bring.

Is $799 too much for the Xoom?

Engadget are showing an advert which is allegedly from Best Buy, which shows the Xoom is coming on February 24th, and priced at $799.99. It was thought before that the Motorola Xoom would indeed be priced between $700 and $800. The advert in question also shows some data tariffs which begin at $20 per month for 1GB of data, or if you need more it goes up to $80 for 10GB.

PCWorld has recently managed to get some hands-on time with the Xoom, and was impressed with build quality, but did find it was quite heavy. The screen displayed images beautifully, and was found to be really responsive.

One thing that did concern was the Honeycomb camera application, with the on-screen button and navigation feeling awkward. But after only a small time with the Xoom it wetted the appetite to spend more time with it.

Is $800 too expensive for you to consider the Motorola Xoom?

Samsung not only supply chips to other brands, such as Apple but also use it in their own devices. One such device is the recently released Galaxy Tab and the soon to be released Gloria Tablet, as well as a host of their smartphones. Brooke Crothers from CNET News believes that this is something that Intel will not be able to compete with, so how can they keep onto that number one spot?

Crothers even points to the fact that Samsung is in an even better position, as they have a tablet device that is going toe-to-toe with the iPad, and some would say that it is better than Apple’s tablet – not sure that Apple fans would agree with that?

However, Mark Hachman from PC Mag reports that Intel has a plan for 2011, and that is to introduce 35 tablets using their Atom processor. They will also have a number of smarphones using this low-powered chip, but they still hold on to the fact that it is the netbook that will help keep sales of the Atom processor healthy.

You have to admire Intel for sticking by the netbook, but surly 2011 will be the year of the tablet? Samsung seems to know this, let us hope that Intel catches on before it is too late. Although let us not forget the fact that Intel also has to fend off Qualcomm as well.

Susan J Campbell of Gadgets.TMCnet is reporting that Blackberry is also planning getting in on the act with a tab nicknamed the BackPad. There is also a rumored Palm Pad and a Microsoft Solution. The biggest threat is expected to come from Android products, but not all will be a success. We may also be seeing the iPad 2 taking on all the newcomers to the tablet market.

Samsung may be Apple’s main competitor with the Galaxy Tab which is based on the popular Android powered Galaxy S range of phones. The possibility of this being available on all the major US carriers will further strengthen its appeal.

If rumors are true Apple are already planning their defense by using Target stores to sell the iPad from October. Last week we had Google saying that Android may not be ready for a device the size of the iPad. This could mean we see a smaller device first, or tablets using Google’s Chrome operating system.

The iPad has done for tablets what the iPod did for mp3 players, and has become the bench mark for everyone else to beat.