Last week we noted the resurfacing of the long-gestating rumor of the Apple tablet-ized touchscreen-enabled Mac (dubbed by many as the iTablet or iTouch) via a news report from The China Times that said the device could be announced in the fall of this year. Well, the march from rumor to reality is advanced again this week as AppleInsider posted an exclusive story that seems to definitively place the iTablet–or, as AppleInsider refers to it, the “reincarnation of its beloved-but-defunct Newton MessagePad”–in Apple’s product release roadmap for 2010:

(T)he past six months have reportedly seen the critical pieces fall into place. Jobs, who’s been overseeing the project from his home, office and hospital beds, has finally achieved that much-sought aura of satisfaction. He’s since cemented the device in the company’s 2010 roadmap, where it’s being positioned for a first quarter launch, according to people well-respected by AppleInsider for their striking accuracy in Apple’s internal affairs.

That means that the device, which is expected to retail for somewhere between the cost of a high-end iPhone and Apple’s most affordable Mac notebook, is bound to turn up any time between January and March…

Naturally, this pronouncement has produced many a ripple through the gadgetosphere, including Gizmodo believing that the new iTablet will take over the MacBook moniker (as the 13-inch unibody MacBook just recently went Pro), the Mac Observer pondering whether the iTablet is really Apple’s next stab at the Apple TV, and Jason Schwarz Seeking Alpha going so far as to declare the “iTouch Tablet is about to change society as we know it” based on its ability to take full advantage of affordable, download-on-the-fly mobile apps among others.

I don’t know about wholesale societal change, but I can certainly see that light, nimble, wirelessly connected (Wi-Fi and cellularly) touchscreen PCs are the next step in personal computing. All I have to do is look at my own toddler and some of his compatriots who constantly clamor for the iPhones that their parents sport. At just 2-1/2, they’ve already mastered the basics of the touch user interface, and they get frustrated when other devices with LCD screens don’t offer the same easy touch controls. Apple has a long view of where computing is going and it looks like they’re ready to make a bold technological statement. The question remains, though, whether the public is truly ready for this device and willing to fork over the dough so that the iTablet doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Newton. But for now, onto the Apple-y goodness from the week that was…

• In other rumor mongering, it’s looking more and more likely that the new iPods that get announced at Apple’s traditional September iPod redux rollout will be getting cameras based on leaks of cases for the new iPod nano and iPod touch. Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be any camera-enhanced iPod classic coming down the pike, and CNet’s Fully Equipped blog surmises that the iPod classic is being put out to pasture.
• Apple reported strong financials for its third quarter (which ended June 27), with an acceleration of MacBook sales, a 134 percent year-over-year increase in iPod touch sales, and a profit of $1.23 billion. The new MacBook lineup–with lower priced entry-level model and improved battery life in the Pros–seems to be quite popular, as HardMac reports that MacBook sales in June were up 25% in year-over-year comparisons.
• Navigon announced the availability of its turn-by-turn navigation iPhone app for North America (as well as for Europe) this week, and iLounge has a detailed review of it (giving it a disappointing C grade). Other recently released GPS navigation apps include the one-time-fee-based XRoad G-Map apps (introduced at Consumer Reports) and AT&T’s subscription-based AT&T Navigator app (video review at Insanely Great Mac). And the 9to5Mac blog reminds us that TomTom’s iPhone software should be released by the end of summer.
• Sascha Segan wonders whatever happened to the Apple TV over at PCMag.com. As an owner/user of an Apple TV, I wonder, too.
• Remember Apple’s first iTunes-enabled mobile phone? It wasn’t the iPhone, but the Motorola ROKR, which debuted five years ago this weekend (via 9to5Mac).
• Professional videographers can rejoice now that Final Cut 7 got released this week–now with the ability (for the first time) to burn a Blu-ray disc.
• And Palm Pre owners can rejoice as Palm has re-enabled iTunes compatibility with the release of the WebOS software update 1.1… at least until Apple issues a new updated to iTunes that kills it.
• A couple of Apple-related items of note from Etsy, an online storefront for hand-crafted goods: a wall clock made from the side panel of a Power Mac G3 (via Macworld) and a felt iPhone case (via Cult of Mac) in the guise of a happy Mac Classic computer.
• I’ve recently ditched my old Timex clock radio and replaced it with the Touch Flip Clock app running on my iPhone (which is plugged into an Apple dock). Thanks to my early rising toddler, I don’t need an alarm clock, but if I did I’d check out some of the more robust alarm clock apps (as Touch Flip Clock is a bit limited) enumerated over at Wired’s Gadget Lab.
• Nicole Martinelli at Cult of Mac suggests five Apple Store locations diehard Apple fans should visit before they die. I’m looking forward to the possibility of visiting the two currently under-construction Paris locations (via HardMac)–including one at Le Louvre–next spring as my wife and I gear up for a long-overdue trip back to the City of Lights.
• I’m a bit of a public radio junkie, and so I was thrilled to see that the Public Radio Player app got updated to 2.0 with the ability to listen to on-demand shows as well as live streams of public radio stations from across the country (NPR as well as smaller local public stations, such as the excellent KBCS from Bellevue Community College here in Washington). Many of the NPR on-demand shows are already available as podcasts, but the Public Radio Player provides instant gratification via streaming (instead of having to wait to download podcasts and then subsequently sync your iPhone or iPod touch).
• And finally… The Daily Show covers the battle of two iPhone fart applications (with potential civil rights implications???):

  The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10ciFeudwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorJoke of the Day

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Quarterly results for Apple are due to be released on Tuesday (July 21), and while they’re expected to be good, they sadly won’t take into account my personal Apple stimulus program that I initiated last week with the purchase of two of the new crop of iPhones (one for me, one for my wife) and the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro (heck, even my mother-in-law chipped in with a new 13-inch MBP). And I’m loving the new features that both of them brought. While i’s great to have video recording and the cut-and-past feature rocks, the best thing about the iPhone 3GS truly is its faster processor. I’ve been using OmniFocus (link opens in iTunes) as my task management application since last summer, but it opened and synced so slowly on my EDGEy/OG iPhone that I had pretty much given up on using the iPhone app and just used the desktop software. But with the combined speed increase in both processor (which makes opening the app nearly instantaneous, where before it took several seconds) and cellular connectivity, I’m finding myself returning OmniFocus on the iPhone and feeling better about spending the dough for both desktop and iPhone apps (which totaled about $100).

I’m loving how solid the unibody MacBook Pro feels, and both how silent it runs and how quickly it responds from sleep. My first impression of the glossy screen was a big wow–the colors and brightness were so much better than my 2007 model MacBook Pro. However, I’m starting to understand some of the complaints about the glossiness of it–with the main problem being reflection. My wife and I watched a movie on the MacBook Pro and I had trouble not concentrating on her mirrored image on the screen, plus my limited use of the MBP in directly sunny conditions have been challenging. AppleInsider reported this week that Apple has heard enough complaints that it’s considering offering matte display options (currently now only found with its 17-inch model) to the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros.

• The image above comes from Balmuda Design, which offers the NumberKey iPhone app that turns your iPhone/iPod touch into a 10-key pad (connecting to your Mac or Windows PC using Wi-Fi).
• The big rumor of the week is yet another re-hash of the long-gestating iTablet rumor… but this time it’s being reported by a reportedly reputable journalistic source–the China Times (translation link via The Apple Core). According to the report (via Gizmodo and Ars Technica among others), Apple will release its take on the netbook in October for $800.
• My colleague Jeff Carlson writes in the Seattle Times about his experiences using DropBox to network remote computers and synchronize files between several different Macs, and then using Growl to receive notifications that files have been synced. And Macworld’s iPhone Central reports that an iPhone version of DropBox is being readied for release, which will enable you to sync files between your iPhone and Mac.
• 9to5Mac reports that the Fring iPhone app has been updated with push notifications for both incoming VoIP calls and instant messages (IMs)–which can transform an iPod touch into a much more workable phone alternative. Before this update, The Apple Blog also did a survey of 10 other IM apps with a handy comparison chart, and crowning the free, multi-network-receiving IM+ Lite as the champ. The IM+ with Push app adds, as the name suggests, push notification and is currently on sale for $4.99 in the App Store.
• As Tom noted earlier this week, the latest version of iTunes has killed the Palm Pre’s syncing capability with Apple’s music management software. TUAW offers Pre owners some alternative ways to keep the music syncing–including The Missing Sync and Salling Media Sync.
• Arggggh… when will EA (Electronic Arts) release its FIFA series soccer game to the Mac? TUAW reports that FIFA 10 will be coming out in October on a slew of platforms save for OS X for the Mac and iPhone. Rather than focus on the big guns in its arsenal, it seems that EA is going small by creating a micro-studio devoted to low-cost iPhone gaming called 8lb Gorilla, and it’s come out with its first release called Zombies and Me (link opens in iTunes)–which MobileCrunch finds underwhelming even for $0.99.
• Over at the iTunes Store, you can party like it’s 1985 with its hot new sales concept–digital 45s (as noted in Macworld). Now as an oldster who still owns all of his 7-inch singles (including my highly prized Japanese/Spanish version of The Police’s”De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”), I kinda like this concept. In the old days, many bands would often pair a hit song with an unreleased B-side, and the iTunes Store pulls together some interesting chestnuts by Prince, Van Halen and Michael Jackson from the mid-1980s. It’ll be interesting to see if this concept has legs with contemporary artists.
• And finally… speaking of the decade when video began to slowly but surely kill the radio star, Gizmodo has posted a re-imagining of what today’s Apple web site would look like with products from 1983:

  

  And from the Apple Matters history section, a reminder of the birth of Aldus Pagemaker (which has since morphed into Adobe’s InDesign) back on July 15, 1985.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Statistics can always be manipulated to highlight whatever an individual party is selling, but when it comes to the PC sales market, which overall has been hard hit by the economic downturn, the second quarter of 2009 ended up as not quite as bad as predicted, which has got to seen as a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, the industry is still very much in a slump. It’s just that according to estimates by IDC Worldwide, instead of being down a forecasted 6.3% worldwide at the end of Q2, it was only down 3.1%. Huzzah!

Beyond this factoid, a few other things can be gleamed from the numbers. Looking just at the domestic market we can see that as compared to last year, the players are the same, only that Apple was overtaken by Acer and Toshiba, dropping from number three to number five overall, losing about one percentage point in marketshare. The caveat here is that these numbers are debated by industry watchers. Another point is that Dell’s woes continue, as they dropped nearly six percent marketshare, now barely holding off HP for the top spot. So, where did all those percentage points go? Into XP stuffed Netbooks, and thus into the coffers of Acer and Toshiba. If this trend continues you have to wonder what the numbers for the rest of the fiscal year will look like, especially with Windows 7 on the horizon. We shall see.

   

–Tom Milnes

It’s not like there was ever much doubt that Apple would follow through on what was a pretty clear threat last month to limit the Palm Pre’s iTunes access, or that Palm knew the move was coming, which it just what happened with the iTunes 8.2.1 update. Such is the way of things in the market I guess, but still it seems kind of silly.

I’m no anti-trust attorney, but I’m willing to bet that it is Apple’s right to do whatever they want with their software app. I’m also willing to bet that the right people over at Palm have had various pieces of code queued up for a good long while and are now re-working those into a patch as I tap away in order to get their Pre users back iTunes functionality ASAP. Pity the poor Pre users who actually use iTunes in that they are caught up in this cat-and-mouse affair. I suppose it could be said that they just could have gone with an iPhone if they are so inclined, but Apple could have also have just belittled the Pre as a device lacking support. Oops, I suppose that is what they just did. Still, as long as their own devices continue to sell like hotcakes it seems like Apple wouldn’t care that much who was spending money at the iTunes store, just as long as money was being spent.

Regardless, looks Apple gave the Pre a little less than a month before they pulled the iTunes plug. Any guesses on how long it is before the Palm Pre patch releases to get them back on? Something tells me that it will be significantly less than a month. As amusing as the old cat and mouse treatment can be, if I were in the Palm Pre boat I’d be looking more and more at other content options, because they surely are looking at you too.

–Tom Milnes

After a few weeks’ hiatus due to holiday (both of the vacation variety and firecracker variety) and a home construction-enforced retreat, my RSS reader is bursting at the seams with Apple-y news, views and ephemera, so let’s get right to it:

• The Tap Tap Tap blog shows with some charts culled from the Memory Status iPhone app how the additional RAM added to the iPhone 3GS helps it live up to Apple’s hype about speed.
• While the new iPhone 3GS features a new 3G cellular chip that’s compatible with the new 7.2 Mbps HSDPA 3G network that AT&T will be rolling out starting later this year (and already supported by many European networks), it seems that Apple chose to not include the faster HSUPA upload speeds with the chip. Glenn Fleishman in Macworld explains that the 3GS still uses the older UMTS speed (capped at a max of 384 Kbps, though real-world speeds rarely reach that height) instead of the up to 1.9 Mbps speed of HSUPA.
• Everyone knows a new iPod touch is coming in time for Apple’s annual back-to-school push (usually early to mid September), and it looks like the 3rd generation device is already being tested in the wild–but will it have a camera?
• The App Store turned 1 this week. Macworld takes a look at a distinctive dozen apps that have been released during its first year.
• With Amazon cutting the price of the Kindle by $60, the Apple-centric wing of the gadgetosphere has inevitably started to ponder whether this is connected to upcoming competition with the long-rumored Apple iTablet.
• Instapaper, one of my fave iPhone Apps, has gotten an upgrade on its Pro version to 2.0 (on sale now for $5 at the iTunes App Store). If you’re not familiar with it, Instapaper allows you to save longer articles or blogposts from the Web and download them to your iPhone so you can read them even when not connected via cell signal or Wi-Fi. The best part of it is that it can strip out all the extraneous ads and imagery so that it’s just text. Macworld reviews the new 2.0 version (giving it 4.5 mice) and notes that it now offers RSS feed capabilities as well as the ability to move stories to an archive folder.
• Yepp, Microsoft’s got another laptop hunters ad (posted over at 9to5Mac).
• While Greenpeace still is after Apple to get greener in its manufacturing, one sustainability consultant has found his new iPhone to be quite a green purchase as it replaced several other devices he was using or planning to purchase.
• VLC (aka, VideoLAN Client), my favorite multimedia Swiss army knife, is finally out of beta and has achieved version 1.0 status. The free download offers better stability as well as frame-by-frame playback and support for playing through AirTunes (via Macworld).
• Fast Company lists their 10 favorite Mac-only apps that will make Windows users drool, including the Delicious Library media collection application. Regarding DL, however, there’s a bit of bad news–its iPhone app has been pulled from the App Store due to it running afoul of some Amazon contractual terms (as DL pulls info from Amazon’s product database)… which is a bummer.
• Intuit won’t release a new version of its Quicken financial software for the Mac until 2010 (via Ars Technica)
• The Apple Blog reports that Apple has started to replace defective or cracked iPhone screens while you wait at the Genius Bar. However, if you’re past the warranty period and need to do some DIY repair work, Jeff Carlson documents that painstaking of fixing his wife’s iPhone screen over at TidBITS.
• Lifehacker documents how you can set up push Gmail notifications on your iPhone using the Growl notification software on your Mac and the Prowl iPhone app. In addition to Gmail, you’ll also be able to see your other Growl notifications (such as to-do reminders from OmniFocus or new tweets from Tweetie or Twitteriffic).
• If you’re thinking about using AT&T’s turn-by-turn GPS service (a $10 monthly subscription), check out TUAW’s take on the thing to decide if you want to pull the trigger or wait for software from TomTom or Navigon.
• I still don’t own an iPhone 3GS. My plan was to get one last weekend at the University Village Apple Store here in Seattle, but they ran out of 16 GB models by the time I got there (even after checking availability earlier in the day) and it seems all stores have been experiencing inventory problems this week (I could got either way with white or black, but I’m also getting one for my wife who requires black… which seems to be the most popular of the models).
• And finally… the first music video shot on an iPhone 3GS (though, as pointed out on Mobile Crunch, where this was sourced, it’s not the first iPhone-shot music video–but it is the first from Apple’s official video capabilities):

  Music Video Shot on iPhone from Kenny Mosher on Vimeo.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

The Palm Pre debuted to a series of mixed reviews, but I have to admit I still want one.  The full keyboard, the multitasking functionality, and Linux-based OS are just too much for a gadget nerd like me to resist.

But I still didn’t stand in line for one when it was released, and I have to admit it’s because the iPhone has its hooks in me good and proper.  Or, specifically the App Store.  I know it’s not fair to compare a software library that’s been around a year to one that’s been around a few weeks.  But it’s close to time for me to re-up my phone contract and between the Pre and the new iPhone 3GS, I’ll probably end up going with the iPhone.  Here are three applications that are swinging my decision–note that I’m not saying that these are the “best” iPhone apps, just the ones that don’t yet have an equivalent on the Pre and I would be sore to have to go without.



1) Stanza–This eBook reader that supports both eBook purchases through Fictionwise and a huge library of free books through sites like Project Gutenburg is pretty much essential for me.  It’s rich in features including page resume, Coverflow for book covers, full settings for changing orientation, font size and more, and even the ability to download eBooks from your PC and share them with friends (using a matching desktop app).  While there’s been talk about porting Lexcycle’s Stanza to the Pre, there’s no definitive timeline (as far as I know).


2) imeem Mobile–Both the iPhone and the Pre have Pandora, which is a great application, but the recently-released imeem app takes it a step further with the ability to upload your entire music collection to imeem and stream it to the app, so you don’t have to take up storage space on your iPhone.  It also has other features from the imeem.com site, such as Spotlight artists, recommended music, and featured stations.  And if you find new music you can’t live without, you can click in the app to go straight to that artist’s iTunes page.  Pandora’s fantastic, but the ability to jump within one app between new music and my own uploaded favorite tunes makes this one a winner for me. 3) The Quest–There are a lot (a lot) of casual games for the iPhone, but The Quest is one of my favorites.  I’m a huge fan of old-school RPGs, and this is a classic dungeon-crawler with surprising depth.  I may be dating myself by saying it’s the closest you’ll ever get to a portable version of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, but needless to say The Quest has chewed up time on many a plane and bus ride.  The game is actually a port of the original game for Pocket PCs so the sprite-based graphics aren’t cutting-edge but serve well enough and evoke serious nostalgia for old-school gamers.  You can choose from a wide array of custom race/class combinations and there’s plenty of gear and magic to pick up along the way in order to overcome the baddies.  The huge game world has day/night and weather cycles, you can enchant your own gear and brew your own potions, and the main story plot is well-written along with plenty of side quests, with multiple ways to solve most quests.  Plus, there’s even a miniature card game you can play in the inns that’s simple but fun.  Highly recommended if you’re looking for a portable game that’s a little deeper than Sudoku.

–Aric A.

The Palm Pre has been riding fairly high on a wave of publicity since its launch just a few weeks ago, so much so that Apple seems to have decided that it might be prudent to take a little wind out of the smartphone’s sails by announcing that, although the new device’s claim to be able to seamlessly synch with Apple’s iTunes store may be true at the moment, that may not be the case for very much longer. Sound a little draconian? Sure enough, but business is business and anyway, this move is built into Apple’s existing company line, which says that,

“Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with,
non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over
time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide
syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.”

So, be forewarned new and potential Palm Pre owners. Apple is a jealous guardian of its markets. If you were hoping to be able to download music and movies to your heart’s content via iTunes, think again, or at least do it quickly. No doubt Palm will be ratcheting up its plans for its own apps store for the Pre, the App Catalog, but that’s a good way off and there’s pretty much no chance that it will feature anything to match the entertainment media of iTunes. So, although it is definitely premature to write off the Palm Pre, it is probably not too early to remove its equally premature mantle of iPhone killer.

–Tom Milnes