Bites from the Apple: The Phantom iTablet

If you were hoping to see the Apple tablet computer--aka, the iTablet or iPad--finally get revealed to the masses in early 2010, your wait just got rumored to be longer. While the gadgetosphere had been pinning its hopes on this timeframe for this phantom piece of magical technology that will change the technology world that we live in, the newest rumor out of has Apple delaying the iTablet until the second half of 2010 in order to include a model with an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen in addition to a more standard and less expensive 10.6-inch TFT LCD panel. A 9.7-inch OLED panel is estimated to cost about $500, which would make this top-of-the-line version of the iTablet retail for between $1500 and $2000. The LCD version is estimated to sell for about half the OLED's price.

However, monster Apple stock analyst Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray discounts the high pricing of the OLED panel model and believes that the tablet device will ultimately retail for between $500 and $700 in order to place it in pricing context between the iPod touch at $199 and MacBook at $999 (via AppleInsider). He also added that timing is irrelevant from an investor standpoint, as expectation for sales in 2010 are low--with the focus being on "whether the tablet is real."

In other phantom iTablet news, Conde Nast says it is preparing a digital version of Wired Magazine that tailored to the tablet device for a mid-2010 launch, and it plans to create similar digital versions of its complete lineup of magazines (which includes The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Lucky).

• Speaking of wished-for tech phantoms, Mac Life asked five prominent members of the gadgetosphere to come up with the next Apple game changer, and Tekzilla video podcast host Veronica Belmont came up with her take on an Apple e-reader/iTablet (seen at right). Others include a bunny-eared iPhone (for improved reception) from Gizmodo's Brian Lam and a 3D rapid prototyping machine from Make editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder.

• The latest competing updates to the two biggest Windows virtual machine titles are out--Parallels Desktop 5 and VMware Fusion 3. Ars Technica provides a very detailed review of VMware, while Chris Pirillo posts an excellent screencast overview/review by Bwana, a moderator of one of his chat rooms.

• Last spring, a goodly chunk of my iTunes library got corrupted and I lost about 100 CDs that I'd digitized into my library during the period when this corruption happened. Luckily, I was able to recover some of those digital files by grabbing them from my iPod using The Little App Factory’s iPod Rip software (as you can't just drag files from an iPod to your iTunes client). Kirk McElhearn at Macworld also offers some happy iPod file hunting advice for those comfortable using the Terminal.

• While we're on the subject of iPod Rip, The Little App Factory has been in a legal dispute with Apple over the name (Apple doesn't like the use of one of its products). The CEO of the software company pleaded directly to Steve Jobs to help them with their problem, and Jobs replied with a very zen answer (via Gizmodo):

  Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

  Steve

  Sent from my iPhone

  And thusly, it's been renamed to iRip.

• If you're having trouble deciding which of the new crop of iPods to give this holiday season, check out Macworld's iPod Buying Guide for some tips.

• Liam Cassidy of The Apple Blog notes a recent class action lawsuit against Apple over its delay of the MMS picture/video messaging functionality--which is now in full effect on the iPhone--and wonders who really uses it since images sent via email seem to suffice for him. I wondered the same thing until recently, when I was at Ikea and faced with procuring a few new lamps without my wife at my side. But wait, I had MMS now! And through the magic of picture messaging I was able to secure the go-ahead on my proposed purchases (and thus avoid a trip back to Ikea for a return).

• The 1Password utility (which, as the name suggests, keeps track of your web passwords as well as credit card information for online shopping and secure notes) has been officially updated to version 3.0. This has become one of the most important and oft-used pieces of software in my arsenal, and is well worth the purchase (via Macworld).

• I use Yojimbo from Bare Bones Software as my main repository of hoovered links, digital scraps and such, but Web Worker Daily makes a good case for Shovebox (included in the recent MacHeist nanoBundle) as a suitable competitor to Yojimbo--especially as you can extend your saved data to your iPhone with an app (something that Yojimbo doesn't provide).

  

• Add Magellen to the list of iPhone navigation apps with its RoadMate 2010 North America app--currently available at a special introductory price of $79.99. Magellan is also releasing a car kit that will work with the original iPhone and iPod touch (due to a built-in GPS receiver (via Electronista). With the competition hotting up, TUAW notes that Navigon has dropped the price of its MobileNavigator North America app by $20 to $69.99 through November 30.

• And if you're not sure which iPhone GPS navigation app might be right for you, check out this handy overview at Art of iPhone (via Textually).

• Steven Sande at TUAW shares his experience setting up a Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server and warns that while basic services such as basic file and print services and Time Machine backups are pretty easy for neophytes to configure, the Server part of this product really does require some advanced experience.

• Here's another good tip from Steve at TUAW--using the the Dropbox file synchronization service to host an iWeb-created web site for those who don't have a MobileMe account (though, it should be noted, that this isn't a solution for large-scale hosting--mainly for testing or creating pages for family).

• Out here in Seattle--a city long associated with Microsoft (though its campus is in the eastern suburb of Redmond)--we've got a new mayor who was elected to shake things up as far as policy and priorities. But he's also shaking things up in the realm of office PC politics by announcing that he's looking into the possibility of the mayor's office using Macs instead of the ubiquitous Windows-based PC (via The Slog). The new mayor, Mike McGinn, is also already an iPhone user and has requested iPhones for his staff instead of the usual CrackBerries.

• And finally... the evolution of the mobile phone--from the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the iPhone--in Russian matryoshka doll style by artist Kyle Bean (via PopGadget).

  
  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Comments

[James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil on December 23, 2009 at 09:50 AM]

Unless the iTablet (or whatever) includes a telephone, what can it do that already cannot be done by any netbook or tablet PC? I have a 10 y/o tablet that contains over 800 ebooks, will let me view videos, play games, has a GPS function and wi-fi.

True the display is not good by current standards, but it was cheap and it is far better than and current ebook reader. What will the iTablet bring to the table? A better display? Better battery life? Or something I really need and want?

Even as a Mac fan, I don't see it happening.

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[wholesale dropshippers on February 08, 2011 at 03:14 AM]

You are right James but there is possibility that your ten years old wifi may not support latest features to access full wifi features and usb port, otherwise for only reading purpose that old one is enough to fulfill your need.

[MTS Конвертер on October 11, 2011 at 07:40 PM]

The public may not have known what the messages meant, but it helped pay for them. The skywriting stunt was supported by city and state public funding, according to the High Line's website. http://www.mts-converter.ru
"I wanted a narrative trajectory towards something optimistic at the end, which was the last message, 'Now Open,'" she said of the work. http://www.mts-converter.ru/mts-converter-for-mac.htm