With smartphones having already conquered features phones, tablets are now poised to topple PCs in terms of global shipments, according to new data from IDC.

The micro-blogging site this week quietly filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, before announcing the move - of course - on Twitter.

The deal should close by the end of the third quarter of Dell's fiscal year 2014; it was first proposed in February, but faced a challenge from Carl Icahn, who made his own bid with Southeastern.

Chromebooks are expected from HP, Acer, and Toshiba, while Asus is working on a Chromebox, a mini PC running Chrome OS for people who want some screen flexibility in their Chrome OS experience.

The changes must first be approved by EU member states and the Parliament before anything comes into effect, so specifics are likely to change as the debate evolves.

The Safari team will probably disagree, but Opera has boasted that Coast is "so elegant, intuitive and refined that it should have come with the iPad."

Windows 8.1 RTM was provided to PC makers in late August, but in this new app-driven age, developers as well as PC makers need some time to test out a new OS before the final release date.

The Toughpad 4K is aimed at creative types like engineers, architects, and designers, as well as sales, marketing, and media professionals, and can withstand drops of up to 76cm.

All models feature a backlit keyboard with automatic light level control and large multi-touch touchpads with full support for Windows 8 gestures.

The Transformer Book T300 is a Windows-based laptop that turns into a tablet, the Transformer Pad is Android-based but does the same while the Trio can switch between the operating systems.

Both tablets run a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and have 1GB of RAM; The MeMO Pad 8 will be available in a 16GB version, while the 10.1in will come in 8GB and 16GB models.

Asus has made significant updates to its Fonepad lineup at IFA, outing new 6in and 7in Android tablets that can also make phone calls.

Alongside its impressive looking Liquid S2 phablet, Acer has also unveiled the Iconia A3, a 10.1in "couch mate" slate, as well as two smaller additions to its tablet line.

Other sites have already tried to replicate Trending Topics, but it has largely remained Twitter's domain; that might all change, however, with this news.

By 2011, WIMM Labs had built an Android-based platform optimised for a small screen, as well as a small, modular hardware component with a 1.4in display.

LG first teased its tablet earlier this week in a brief YouTube video; ITProPortal will be at IFA this week, so stay tuned for a hands-on look at the G Pad.

Macgillivray joined Twitter from Google in 2009 at a time when Twitter was really just starting to pick up steam, testing verified accounts and contending with a few outages here and there.