Week #4 guys! We’re rolling at a pretty good pace. In this one we cover a few more Mobile Games, give a shout out to a listener with a special request, and found out about a new “toy” to play with. We had to run this podcast a bit short due to a special guest appearance by Luna, the Husky.

In this Podcast:

• Desirai Labrada, GT= SickNdehed
• John Henry, GT= PsychoVandal
• Jeffrey Pia, GT= Xx InStyle xX
• Cheyne Sutherland, GT= o XEROPAIN o

Mobile Games:

• Sky Burger
• Sushi Cat
• The Creeps!

Other Mentions:

• Halo: Reach
• Holo-Toy-iTunes Download

AMMIH Podcast #4

The third time’s the Charm….
BTW: Today is SickNdehed’s Birthday, and we’ll be busy poppin’ heads in Reach! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

In this Podcast:

• Desirai Labrada, GT= SickNdehed
• John Henry, GT= PsychoVandal
• Jeffrey Pia, GT= Xx InStyle xX
• Cheyne Sutherland, GT= o XEROPAIN o

Mobile Games:

• Hot Plates
• Monster Dash
• Hollywood Hospital

Other Mentions:

• Apple Game Center
• Plants Vs. Zombies
• Halo: Reach
• Sussman Zombie
• Auntie Dot

AMMIH Podcast #3

It seems we have a new competitor in the social competitive gaming platforms. The big three: Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam, are to be expecting Apple’s new platform to drop in and try it’s hand out in this game. Right now, it is tough to say if Apple can cut a significant slice of this market away from the other big names.

Naturally, Steve Jobs announced this upcoming platform for the next iPhone/iPad firmware at an Apple event hosted by his company. Their aims are to bring a lobby system similar to Xbox Live to their selection of games. Apple is also touting that they are building in support for the Game Center into the toolkits provided to developers of iPhone/iPad software in an attempt to get an edge over the other competitors.

iPhone and iPad users, sit down and discuss what this means to you and how you think you will use it. This next update is scheduled (as of right now) for launch next week. We’ll see if Apple is ready to make this step or if they need to iron some things out first. It ultimately will fall down to the developers to take advantage of this new feature set.

So, many of you were skeptical about my articles (parts 1 and 2) a few weeks back around the suspected leak of the new iPhone model. Well since then there has been another siting of the alleged iPhone 4G, this time on the Vietnamese site TaoViet. To further fuel the fires of suspicion, Walmart just dropped the price on the 16GB model 3GS to under $100! It makes perfect sense that they would be getting rid of their inventory just prior to the release of a new model.

The first iPhone launched in 2007, the 3G in 2008, the 3GS in 2009. I’m not very good at the maths, but I believe that means we’re just about due for a new model some time soon. With the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is coming up in just two weeks, I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple will use this event to announce the new iPhone 4G.

Too much, too soon? The 3GS is a very popular model and has sold very well despite missing a few highly-publicized features (*coughFlashcough*). Also Apple fanboys’ wallets are still recovering from the recent iPad launch. Will there be a market for a new iPhone model? Maybe not… that is, if it was just a new version on the AT&T network. The Wall Street Journal, however, reported rumors that a CDMA-capable version of the iPhone may go live later this year. That means Verizon and Sprint may soon get the iPhone and the AT&T exclusivity deal may be close to an end.

All this seems a bit too predictable though, and if there’s one thing Apple is not known for, it’s predictability. Only 2 short weeks to the WWDC folks… what do you think Steve’s got up his sleeves? Let me know what you think below!

The Epock Times – Slashed Walmart iPhone Prices Fuel Rumors of New iPhone Release
ComputerWorld – New Apple iPhone 4G at WWDC 2010: “not disappointing”
TouchReviews – Apple’s WWDC Sells Out. Focus on iPhone 4G, iPad and apps

Last week I wrote about how a new iPhone prototype got leaked to Gizmodo and how Apple’s legal dept sent them a letter demanding the device back. So Giz agreed and returned the phone. End of story right? Not so fast!

Yesterday the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT), a special police task force focusing on computer-related crimes, raided the home of Jason Chen, the blogger (journalist?) who wrote the article and created the video of the new iPhone for Gizmodo. Jason was not home at the time so they broke down his door, taking everything from his computers, iPad, external hard drives, digital camera, and even his business cards. When Jason arrived home with his wife, police told him that they had a warrant for the search and then proceeded to frisk him and search his car.

Gaby Darbyshire, C.O.O. of Gawker Media, parent company of Gizmodo, was quick to respond stating that the search warrant was invalid. She cited the “journalist shield law” (Section 1070 of the California Evidence code) which states, in a nutshell, that members of the press do not need to disclose the sources of material for their articles. She also notes that the search was in progress when Jason returned at 9:45PM, while the warrant specifically disallows a night search.

This seemed to have stopped the investigation in its tracks, and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office determining whether or not the journalist shield law applies in this case. On the one side, people argue that it does apply and that the police should have issued a subpoena requesting Jason/Gizmodo turn specific evidence over to them. On the other side, people argue that the warrant does apply being that this is a criminal investigation of possible corporate espionage and the acquisition of what could be considered stolen property (journalists are not shielded from this).

An interesting side-note to the story is that Apple sits on the REACT board, which has spawned numerous conspiracy theories that Apple themselves prompted the police raid. As outrageous as that may sound, how many times have you heard of the police raiding someone’s house over a lost Blackberry?

So as of right now the police still have Jason’s gear, though they say they have not started examining any of the property, pending the DA’s office determination of whether the journalist shield law applies. All I can say is good luck brother, keep fighting the good fight! Due to the pending legal issue, Gizmodo has disabled comments on their main post, but feel free to leave your opinions here in the comments below!

I leave you with this truly epic skit from Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show (skip to 1:20 for Apple-related segment):

Gizmodo – Police Seize Jason Chen’s Computers

PCWorld – iPhone Prototype: Web Reacts to Police Raid on Gizmodo Editor’s House
PCWord – Police Raid Gizmodo Editor’s Home: The Fallout Continues

Citizen Media Law Project – Police Seize Gizmodo Reporter’s Computers Over iPhone 4 Leak

Wired – Expert: Invalid Warrant Used in Raid on iPhone Reporter’s Home

TechCrunch – The iPhone Leak Gets Ugly: Police Raid Gizmodo Editor’s House, Confiscate Computers
TechCrunch – iPhone Leak Investigation Pauses As DA Ponders Gizmodo Shield Law Defense

So how would you like to be fresh out of college, get a dream job for a company you love, get included in a project testing out a prototype upgrade to one of their uber-p0pular devices, then accidentally allow it fall into the hands of the press well before it was scheduled to be announced? Gizmodo released the scoop on this just a few days ago. The story goes like this…

Last month Gary Powell, an Apple engineer, took the latest prototype for the iPhone out for a test drive. It was his birthday, so he was out at a bar getting blitzed with his friends. He had even pulled out the prototype, cleverly disguised as a plain old 3GS model, and tweeted about what a good time he was having. At some point he left the bar but forgot his iPhone on the barstool. Flame if you want, but we’ve all been there.

The iPhone was found by an individual who was left un-named. The person said he tried to find the owner the next day but the phone had been remotely wiped (which ironically may have also prevented the owner from tracking him down via MobileMe. He did mention that he previously flipped through the apps and found that the Facebook app opened up to Gary Powell’s home page. He claims he attempted to contact Apple but was effectively ignored. An Apple rep who overheard the call said the person couldn’t provide any pics of the device so they thought it was either a hoax or just an imitation device. Again, flame if you want, but would you really believe it if someone told you they just found a prototype iPhone?

So 3 weeks pass. After numerous failed attempts to contact Apple, and having nothing better to do with a bricked iPhone, the guy decided to try and cash in on his ordeal. Enter Gizmodo. After seeing the device for themselves, they were convinced that it was the real deal and gave the guy a whopping $5000 for the device. The folks at Giz spent about a week verifying facts and are very confident the device was indeed the next iPhone.

So far everything seemed shady at best. Pics and video of the device looked real enough, but everything was plausibly deniable without a working OS. Not content to let Gizmodo have all the glory, Engadget posted pics of the iPad leaked from an Apple test lab and pointed out the partial pic of a device that looks conspicuously like the one in question. Convincing, right? No? How about this: Yesterday Gizmodo received a letter from Apple’s Legal department stating that Gizmodo had their device and they wanted it back. Now Apple has arguably admitted ownership of a device that previously had dubious origins. Still not convinced? Last thing I’ve got for ya are some pics posted up on a mac forum showing the device disassembled.

Here are some of the highlights Gizmodo’s hands-on review:

• The back is made of glass and no longer curved but flat, with the Apple logo and lettering in metallic silver.
• The sides are also flat and metallic silver.
• There is now a camera on front and a flash added to the larger camera on the back.
• There is a mic on top and on bottom (assuming one is for noise cancellation).
• There are 2 volume buttons on the side.
• The SIM slot is now a micro-SIM slot (same as the iPad) on the side.
• The height, width and depth are approximately the same (they say the new device is slightly smaller, but the difference looked slight from the pics).
• The headphone port, connection dock, power and home buttons also look the same.
• Since it was bricked, no info was available on the OS or interface.

So at the end of the day the question remains… was this prototype just accidentally lost, or was it part of some elaborate ad campaign to hype the iPhone to even higher levels? I’m personally more partial to the latter. As much as Giz wants to think it got Apple’s number this time around, the odds of this device just being handed to them on a silver platter seem pretty astronomical. As far as ad campaigns go, this one went viral pretty quick. Despite being a Gizmodo exclusive, it was still covered on all the major tech and mac blogs within hours. What do you guys think? Was this an elaborate viral marketing campaign, or really just a case of human error?

The Lost iPhone 4G Saga:
Gizmodo – How Apple Lost the Next iPhone
Gizmodo – This Is Apple’s Next iPhone
Gizmodo – A Letter: Apple Wants Its Secret iPhone Back
Gizmodo – Why Apple Couldn’t Get the Lost iPhone Back

Related articles:
Gizmodo – This Is Apple’s Next iPhone
Gizmodo – Apple Didn’t Leak the iPhone—and Why That Matters
Engadget – iPhone 4G: is this it?
Engadget – iPhone 4G: proof
Engadget – Apple’s 4th-generation iPhone revealed

Hot on the tail of the recent iPad launch, Apple also announced a major upgrade to the iPhone operating system. In a nutshell, there’s some really nice stuff coming down the pipe. Here are some of the highlights from today’s press event:

• MULTI-TASKING – This was one of the last showstoppers keeping me from jumping on the iPhone bandwagon. This is not a full implementation of multi-tasking, but it still looks pretty sweet and may actually be a better implementation due to improved battery and resource management. To do this, Apple will make 7 new services available to devs:
  • Background Audio – Apps like Pandora can continue streaming audio while you use check your email, browse the web, purchase the song from iTunes, or use any other apps.
  • Voice Over IP – Apps like Skype will be able to maintain connectivity while using other apps as well as when the iPhone is locked. You will remain online and can receive calls, even remain on a call while switching to other apps.
  • Background Location – GPS apps like TomTom can continue tracking your location and giving you directions while running in the background, though this continues to use more power and is better suited to in-car use where the iPhone can be plugged in. Social networking applications like Loopt and FourSquare can use cell towers via AGPS to track your general location in the background, using much less power. Location awareness can be enabled/disabled on a per-application basis.
  • Push Notifications – Apps can use this feature to have news alerts and score updates pop-up as messages on the iPhone by using a 3rd party server to send the messages via Apple’s push notification service which runs in the background
  • Local Notifications – These work just like push notifications without needing a server; applications will be able to generate pop-up messages locally.
  • Task Completion – Tasks that take time to complete, such as uploading photos and video, can continue in the background and notify you upon completion.
  • Fast App Switching – This improves on an application’s ability to maintain state and save all of its data when switched to the background, and be restored exactly as it was when switched back to the foreground.
• Folders – This feature seems very Windows-like, but after seeing some people’s home screens, it is very much needed.
  • Apps can be stacked on one another to automatically create a folder
  • Folders get automatically named based on the app’s related app store category and can be changed
  • You are currently able to see 180 apps across 11 pages; if you replace them all with folders you will be able to see > 2000 apps
• Enhanced email – Really good stuff if you have to manage multiple email accounts
  • Unified Inbox consolidate multiple accounts into a single location including support for multiple Exchange accounts and most web email services
  • Fast Inbox switching if you want to focus on individual accounts
  • Ability to open attachments with an app from the app store
  • Ability to organize by thread
• iBooks – Looks identical to iPad version (only smaller)
  • You can buy books once and read on iPad or iPhone
  • Automatically syncs page and bookmarks wirelessly
• Enterprise-specific features
  • Email and data encryption
  • Remote device management
  • Wireless app distribution
  • Support for SSL VPN
  • Multiple Exchange accounts (previously mentioned)
• Game Center – This looks like a blatant rip-off from Microsoft’s Xbox Live, but I can’t argue it seems like a feature many iPhone gamers would love to have.
  • Adding a social gaming network
  • Matchmaking feature
  • Online Leaderboard
  • In-game achievements
• iAd mobile advertising – This looks REALLY interesting. It not only opens the doors for companies to come up with new, engaging advertising campaigns, but also gives app designers and developers yet another channel to raise revenue – not just from including ads in their apps, but from developing the ads themselves.
  • Ads can be built to have the same emotion as a television commercial with more interactivity than regular web ads.
  • Clicking on an ad launches the ad interface which act like apps themselves: interactive games, play audio/video, open a map, allow purchases, all from within the app
  • Users will be able to go back to the original app, right where they left off, with a single click.
  • Apple will own and sell all of the ads, and give developers 60% of the revenue.
  • All done via HTML5
• 1500+ more APIs giving developers more functionality to add to their apps
  • Calendar access
  • Video playback & capture
  • In-app SMS
  • Photo library access
  • Improvements to Map Kit
  • Quick Look application preview

OS 4 is available now for developers, will be available for iPhone/iPod touch users this summer and iPad users this fall. iPhone 3GS and 3rd gen iPod Touch devices will have full functionality, iPhone 3G and 2nd gen iPod Touch devices will have most of the functionality but no multi-tasking.

Props to Engadget and gdgt for the awesome live-blogging and picture streams!

Engadget – Live from Apple’s iPhone OS 4 event!

gdgt – Live iPhone OS 4.0 event coverage

* UPDATE - Apple just posted up video of the press event on their website.

In case you haven’t kept up with the news, or turned on your tv in the past week, the iPad officially went on sale to the general public a few days ago and sold a staggering 700k respectable 300k units on launch day.

I reviewed the iPad a few weeks back (new readers can get up to speed here) and, for better or worse, there was nothing really new to cover on the iPad side (though I would give like give a shoutout to the Marvel comic book app which looks pretty damn sweet). I’ve added links to some of the more recent reviews below for good measure.

What did come as a surprise was how fast the competition was to jump on its coat-tails. Just two days later, the fine folks at Engadget get their hands on a shiny new JooJoo. WTF is a “JooJoo” you ask? Relax, it’s not an ethnic slur. The name JooJoo was actually inspired by the African word for “magic.” Sure it is an odd choice for an electronic device, but really, after weeks of hearing about Mac’s iPad, I’m just tired of making fun of product names. In any case, tech enthusiasts may better recognize the device by it’s previous moniker: the CrunchPad. Fusion Garage, the device’s manufacturer, renamed it after the dissolution of its partnership with Michael Arrington and TechCrunch. Despite a still ongoing lawsuit, the device somehow still managed to see the light of day. In fact, devices should be in the hands of those that pre-ordered (all 75 of them) by the time this article airs.

So on one side we’ve got venerable Apple’s iPad which Steve Jobs has called “magical,” on the other we have Fusion Garage’s device is actually named “magic.” Well this should be a no-brainer, but you may be surprised at how well the JooJoo stacks up.

First off, the JooJoo matches the iPad’s sexy factor With it’s black border and silver aluminum back. It even looks remarkably similar to the iPad, but in their defense, the JooJoo was in development well before Apple publicly acknowleged the iPad, and certainly before anyone outside of Apple had physically seen one. Winner: TIE

Next, the JooJoo’s capacitive touchscreens is significantly larger than the iPad’s (12.1″ diagonal vs the iPad’s 9.7″) and has a 1366×768 resolution which supports full 1080P HD video. The iPad falls just short with only 1024×768 resolution and support for up to 720P video. Granted, the iPad does use IPS technology which gives it better viewing angles, but seeing as these devices are meant more for a solo experience, I’m putting more weight towards the bigger screen. Winner: JooJoo

Bootup time for both devices is very fast with the iPad clocking in at about 17 seconds and the JooJoo at 9. Technically a win for JooJoo, but the difference is so small I’m going to call it even. Winner: TIE

The JooJoo supports Flash! That’s right, you have full access to everything the web has to offer. Granted it’s not hardware accelerated so video may be a bit choppy, but this is much better than no support at all. It should also be noted that on YouTube, JooJoo can mimic the HTML 5 ability to play native mpeg video files which gives you better performance when compared to the Flash version. JooJoo says it has plans to add support for other sites as well, so this is a nice alternative in lieu of full HTML5 support. I’m personally not a fan of Flash and I can’t wait for HTML5 to become more widely adopted, but I really can’t argue this as anything but a win for JooJoo. Winner: JooJoo

As far as peripherals, there is no arguing the iPad will be a popular device, so naturally there will be a slew of attachments for it. That said, the JooJoo has something the iPad mysteriously lacks: a USB port! This means the JooJoo could theoretically use many existing peripherals while the iPad is limited to new devices made specifically for its proprietary connection. Winner: JooJoo

The JooJoo has a built-in camera but the iPad recently released a camera connection kit for pre-order. You might have to pay extra for it, but I’m still calling this one a tie. Winner: TIE

Battery life is where things start to go downhill for the JooJoo. The iPad gets about 10 hours of average use or 5 hours of heavy video use per charge. The JooJoo gets only half of that at with 5 hours of average use or 2-3 hours of heavy video usage. Winner: iPad

Network connectivity options on the JooJoo are also limited to only wi-fi (802.11b/g). The iPad of course offers the option of upgrading to use cellular networks and also tosses in 802.11a/n for good measure. Winner: iPad

Application selection may be the key to the iPad’s success with tons of iPhone apps available right at launch and hordes of developers working on iPad-specific apps as we speak. Application selection may be JooJoo greatest weakness. The JooJoo is wi-fi only and does not support local application installation. This effectively means you need to be constantly online for it to be anything more than a paperweight. Fusion Garage shares Google’s vision that the future of applications is all online, but that future is not yet here. There may be a lot you can do online, but so far nothing is remotely comparable to Apple’s app store. Winner: iPad

The downward spiral continues with the user experience. Don’t get me wrong, the JooJoo does have a nice interface and using isn’t really all that bad. The main screen is grouped into 3 sections: “Be connected” for social networks, “Be informed” for news sites, and “More apps” for everything else. The interface reminds me of a slightly less elegant Microsoft Phone 7 OS. It even supports multi-tasking, which means you can keep Pandora open and connected in the background while writing an email or talking on a chat client. That said, it just lacks a lot of functionality and luxuries that the iPad has. For example, it has very few multi-touch gestures and lacks the ability to zoom-in/out that we’re all so very used to. Also there is no auto-correct or predictive text which makes the chore of typing on a virtual keyboard that much harder. Additionally, there were some annoying bugs in the demo like websites not auto-adjusting to full-screen when switching between portrait/landscape modes and cookies not being retained when the browser instance is closed. This just emphasizes how new Fusion Garage is to this industry. Winner: iPad

That brings us down to the final comparison: price. The JooJoo is strictly a web browser, and for what it does, it would be perfect at the $200-300 price point. Even a few months back when Michael Arrington was still on the project at stated he was shooting for a $300-400 price point, that wouldn’t have inconceivable. Instead, Fusion Garage has chosen to price it at a whopping $500. This is the same price as the entry-level iPad model, but even the lowest-spec’d iPad can do so much more than the JooJoo. Winner: iPad

OK so while I did trash the JooJoo in the last few paragraphs, it is important to note that the JooJoo did put up a good fight! Heck, the thing is so good it was even named one of the “10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009″ by Popular Mechanics! http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4332415.html?series=88 This was, of course, before Apple flexed its muscles. The biggest showstopper in my mind is the cost. Many of its shortcomings can be tolerated, worked around or fixed via software updates. Had the JooJoo come out a year earlier, its price may have been justified. But now, they are jumping into a market at the same price point as a device that is more functional, more familiar (since it has the same interface as the iPhone), and being sold by a company that has a HUGE fanbase. If they can’t lower the price, then they really need to up their game and offer a ton more features if they hope to stand a snowball’s chance in hell. Winner: iPad

Have an iPad or JooJoo? Let me know what you think!

* UPDATE: So I was scouring the interwebz at 3am like I do every night when I came upon an Engadget article by Paul Miller this exact same topic using the exact SAME TITLE as my post! Well since his is stamped 2 hours earlier than my post, I feel obliged to change my title. Touché, Paul Miller!

JooJoo specs
iPad specs

JooJoo reviews:
Engadget – Fusion Garage JooJoo review
Engadget – JooJoo ships to actual consumers, gets dissected for good measure
PC Mag – JooJoo: Unboxing the First iPad Contender
VentureBeat – JooJoo CEO: This is just the start of tablet era
Wired – First Look: JooJoo is no Apple iPad Killer

iPad reviews:
Engadget – Apple iPad review
TechCrunch – The Unauthorized TechCrunch iPad Review
PC Mag – Apple iPad (Wi-Fi)
Slashdot – iPad Review

CrunchPad fiasco:
TechCrunch – The End of the CrunchPad
Wired – CrunchPad Tablet Dies Stillborn

Hi folks, InStyle76 here taking over Tech Tuesdays from the mighty Ryokea. This week I wanted to cover a device that received a tiny bit of media coverage over the past two weeks: the Apple iPad.

That was sarcasm, in case it didn’t come through in writing. This device has received so much attention I actually didn’t want to blog about it because of the amount of coverage that flooded the interwebz when it was announced on Jan 27, but that would be doing you, our loyal readers, a great disservice. At the very least, I wanted to let things settle a bit so I could be objective and not be swept up in the initial waves of emotion.

First off, let me just say that I’m going to stay away from the feminine hygiene jokes as I’m sure you’ve heard them all already. For those of you who haven’t, you can get your fill here and here.

Now on to the review. Apple is known for making slick and sexy devices, and the iPad is no exception. It is approximately 9.5″ x 7.5″, only a half inch thick and weighs about 1.5 lbs. Journalists who were lucky enough to get their hands on the device have said it feels great in their hands. Its 9.7″ capacitive touchscreen LCD display is LED-backlit and uses IPS technology that lets you see the screen from any angle. The display’s resolution (1024×768) falls short of full 720p High Def, but still produces a pretty spectacular viewing experience (it should be noted that while the iPad does play 720p video, it will be scaled and will not play in full HD). The battery life is said to last a good 10 hours even while playing video or surfing the web, though I’m sure your mileage may vary. There is a standard headphone jack (YES!), built in speaker/mic and a 30-pin connector slot on one edge for charging or docking to the many peripherals that are sure to come. It also has the single “home” button on the front that makes the form-factor closely resemble that of the iPhone or iPod Touch.

While this similarity may be viewed as a strength, it also foreshadows its shortcomings as the iPad shares many of the limitations of the aforementioned mobile devices. First off, there is no Flash support. Adobe and Apple seem to have been butting heads on this issue for years, ever since the first iPhone came out. The iPad is touted as a web media device, and sites like Hulu.com would be ideal for a device like this, so lack of Flash support is disappointing to say the least. Then again, this hasn’t exactly stifled iPhone sales, so maybe it’s not that big of an issue after all. Secondly, though the iPad would have been an absolutely perfect device for video chat on Skype or iChat, the iPad has no camera. Lastly there is the lack of  multi-tasking. Really!? This is probably the biggest showstopper for me. I would think it is a no-brainer to want to listen to music while writing an email or browsing the web, especially with a device of this size and speed. I really hope the next generation of iPads will resolve some if not all of these issues.

Okay, enough poo-pooing, there are plenty of good things to say about the device too. It has a new, custom 1GHz “A4″ CPU chip which is said to be both powerful and energy efficient, hence the 10 hour battery life. It also has built-in Bluetooth 2.1 and support for all 802.11 wifi networks. The iPad will come in 2 flavors: wifi only and wifi + 3G. The 3G version will use the AT&T network in the US, which either sucks or rocks depending on your carrier and possibly what city you live in. The iPad will be sold “unlocked,” though the gotcha is that it will only support other networks via a “micro-SIM” card which is non-existent here in the US (so far it looks like T-Mobile customers are out of luck).

There were a handful of official Apple peripherals announced at launch:

The standard iPad Dock holds the iPad in portrait position while charging the device.

The Keyboard Dock is basically a standard dock attached to a full physical keyboard.

The Camera Connection Kit allows you to download pictures and video from your camera to the iPad.

My personal favorite is the iPad Case which not only looks slick and protects the iPad but also holds it in a variety of positions like landscape, portrait and laptop mode.

There are also a host of 3rd party vendors ready with a slew of sleeves, cases and other misc add-ons. MaximumPC has a nice round-up here.

On the software side, the iPad fully supports HTML 5, which may be why it shows no love for Flash (though as Tiffany Brown points out, this does little to mitigate the impact in the immediate future). It will also be able to run iPhone applications right out of the box, so you will immediately have access to over 140 THOUSAND applications. The apps can run in either native resolution (surrounded by a black border) or in full screen “double-pixel” mode. Both wifi-only and 3G versions will offer 16, 32 and 64GB storage options, though no official word on how much of that will be made available for application installations. Performance of various applications looked much faster on the iPad in native resolution, though some got a bit choppy in “double-pixel” mode (I would imagine developers could release patches to fix this if they were so inclined). Additionally, the 3G model will include Assisted GPS technology, which should make for some pretty spectacular mapping applications.

Speaking of spectacular applications, the iPad’s eBook reader, called iBooks, is in my opinion the BEST eBook app on the market! eBooks can be purchased via wifi or 3G and get displayed on a virtual bookshelf showing the book’s cover in full color. When you open a book the pages load instantly, without the lag that eInk devices have. A finger swipe produces a visual that looks just like turning a page in an real book! Overall it is an incredible reading experience. This app alone might make it worth the price… well maybe for the lower-end models at least.

Which brings us to pricing. All the pundits who were expecting this device to come in at the $999 mark were absolutely stunned when Steve Jobs announced the base iPad model (16GB, wifi only) would launch at a pricepoint of only $499. Even Wall Street agreed as Apple’s stock price spiked just after the price was announced. Of course pricing goes up from there with the max’d out model (64GB, 3G enabled) going for $829. Full pricing is as follows:

Additionally, the iPad 3G data plan from AT&T will run $15-30/month and does not require a contract.

Will this device dominate or be a complete flop like all the tablets that came before it? Right now its future is completely up in the air. There is a single factor that could decide the fate of this device, and ironically enough it was Steve Ballmer who called it years ago: “Developers, developers, developers!” The applications that become available in the next few months can make or break the iPad. It is not good enough to sit on the laurels of their iBook app (which is pretty fantastic if I haven’t said so previously) or ride the coattails of iPhone apps. They need to come up with new, innovative software that takes full advantage of the iPad’s speed and power and find the customer base that can really put it to good use (doctors, salespeople, personal assistants come to mind). Additionally, they need to get more media, entertainment and game sites onboard with ditching Flash and migrating to HTML5 – YouTube was a big HUGE win, but Flash is still the de facto standard used throughout the interwebz today.

In summary, this device just oozes with potential, but it still has a ways to go. Do NOT think this device will replace your mobile device, your laptop or even your netbook. If you do, you will be greatly disappointed. Steve Jobs himself admits that this device is in a completely new category. Apple’s hardcore fanboys (and girls) will definitely buy it for sex appeal alone, but only time will tell if there is a mainstream market for it.

My recommendation is to let the early adopters have it for now and wait until the 2nd generation comes out. Prices will drop and more functionality is sure to come. By the holidays this year, I predict that not only will Apple launch a new version of the iPad, but other companies will also join in the mix. I fully expect Amazon to release either a color-eInk or full LCD version of the Kindle to compete in the eBook market. Other PC makers like Dell and HP may also jump in with new Windows or Linux tablets. In short there are definitely some fun and exciting times ahead!

Whew, that’s a lot for just a single device! I am sure I missed some things, so I have included a few links to more info below. Hope you enjoyed my first post! Let me know what you think in the Comments below, or hit me up @InStyle76 on Twitter. See you next week!

Complete coverage of the iPad press event on Apple’s official YouTube channel

Engadget articles:

• The Apple iPad
• Editorial Engadget on the iPad
• iPad or Kindle: Will our wallets decide?
• Apple iPad: The definitive guide (so far)
• Entelligence: Lessons from the iPad launch

Gizmodo articles:

• Hands on w/ Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan
• Bill Gates on the iPad

Charlie Rose on The iPad, With David Carr (NY Times), Michael Arrington (TechCrunch) and Walter Mossberg (Wall Street Journal)

Hello again everyone, taking a break from busting up Paradiso minions to relax in my chair and flip through some news. Yes, then it is straight back to playing Bayonetta. Sad part? The guy who created it, Hideki Kamiya, will probably be more recognized for Bayonetta than the Devil May Cry series. Anyway, that’s a chat for a whole different series of articles not dealing with Tech Tuesday so let’s get to this shall we? I have bosses to kick around after all.

Lets play a game. We can call it…”This Sounds Like A Bad Idea” game. Got it? Good, now for the main star of this game this time around: the Department of Defense for the US. Starting to get a little nervous now hmm? What have they done? Well did you know that the DoD has declared Gmail as an accepted alternative for official use. You know, that whole situation fits the bill for this game waaay too well. Some things just should not be discussed outside of a closed network, if you want my opinion. This little tidbit of DoD practices comes to light with the recent hacking of multiple Gmail accounts. I give Google the credit that they do put up some strong security, but I have my doubts that is strong enough to have the DoD discussing potentially sensitive information with their service.

Digging through the pile of headlines, I came across something titled ‘Cyber Genome Project’ and noticed the mention of DARPA in the headline as well. Immediately had my interest, so I donned my bandanna and decided to infiltrate…and I think we’re done with the Metal Gear Solid reference right there. This new project by DARPA wants to create some way of imprinting a unique signature onto anything you create digitally so it can then be traced back to you. They cite DNA as their basis of this project since each person’s is unique. DARPA has stated that there will be workshops set up to test out this new tech for interested individuals in the US. Should be interesting seeing how this affects how things are copyrighted on the internet.

Apple has apparently been probing the TV networks to lower the price of the episodes they list on iTunes. Not a bad idea, and their reasoning behind it makes sense too. People tend to watch a video multiple times, the “value” of that video reduces over time so lowering the cost now will encourage more sales and make up for lost revenue later on down the road. Not a bad business move if you already have the crowd that iTunes has drawn to it. Apple is pushing for the networks to drop their prices of their shows down to a dollar. I’d consider paying a buck to see a show I happened to miss an episode of so I’m liking the sound of things so far, but honestly still am waiting to see a redesign of the iTunes program before I jump on a bandwagon anytime soon.

Well, I don’t have a funny video today. What I do have is your daily dose of lasers though. US military has been testing a drone, dubbed YAL-1, that has a laser mounted on it, the purpose of the laser is to shoot down incoming missiles. Sound cool? Of course it does, lasers are involved. Check out the thermal imaging from one of the tests.

And with that, I’m out. Time to kick around some bosses on Bayonetta then maybe finish Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment. Till next week.