History Of Tablet PCs (Photos): A Pictorial Timeline Of Tablets, From RAND To The iPad

Love 'em or hate 'em, tablet PCs are hot right now. But this latest development in personal computing and entertainment is nothing new, no matter how "magical" or "revolutionary" it may seem. The latest crop of tablets--including the iPad, the JooJoo, the HP Slate (to name only a few)--springs from over two centuries of research and development, starting with Elisha Gray, whose 1888 "Telautograph" (U.S. patent No. 386,815) is believed to be the forerunner to the modern tablet.