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iPad pricing poised to jump candlestick

The Wall Street Journal has gotten word from Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope that Apple, in a meeting with CS, described the iPad pricing as “nimble.”

“While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated),” Shope wrote.

We’ll remember the iPhone was similarly “nimble,” getting slashed in a matter of months from $599 before being available at the magic $99 price point. A few versions were required before reaching that point, which is good news for the wait-and-see crowd. Hopefully I can continue to resist its lure until then.

Intel testing WiMAX on a Dell Mini 10

A new version of the Dell Mini 10 netbook appears to have been pushed through the FCC, basically the same as the existing version but with WiMAX. The new component is Intel’s 6250 with advanced 802.11n and WiMAX. No details on service provider, but I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that – Dell wasn’t involved in this.

Near as I can tell, the testing was done on Intel’s behalf. They are the applicant named on the certification and the testing focused on the WiMAX chipset. Whether Dell is actually considering this option isn’t even on the table, but it’s good to know that Intel’s WiFi + WiMAX system has cleared a hurdle to make it an option to be considered.

Gizmodo > Electronista > Wireless Goodness

Slashgear’s custom Notion Ink Adam mockups

Slashgear got some renders of the Adam tablet from Notion Ink featuring a mockup of a Slashgear digital magazine. Very cool. Also, I didn’t realize the current design (as opposed to the previous flat blimp-looking mockup) was a wedge. A slight wedge to be sure but still better than strictly flat.

They also point out that the Adam should whup the iPad in battery life (2-3 times not counting the display) and will serve up Flash. To counter the iPad’s biggest selling point, a developer challenge is being proposed with over $1M backing it. Looks like they’re taking the competition seriously.

Despite all that, there are still a lot of holes to be filled, not the least of which are release date and pricing. Quite frankly, releasing more renders at this point, after they’ve shown the prototype, isn’t very reassuring. Now is the time for more concrete stuff not abstract.

Let Lifehacker know where you stand on Tablet Computing

Lifehacker asks the question: Are You Interested in Tablet Computing? With a little more than 6,000 poll responses so far, interest looks high enough. Most are adopting a wait and see approach, but a good 20% are looking forward to joining our ranks. A meager 5% of those polled already have a tablet. If you haven’t already voted, be sure to surf over there and try to get our share bumped up to double digits.

While some will interpret this as a failure by the iPad to generate interest in tablets, it should be noted that about four times as many respondents are solidly interested in getting a tablet than the number who already have a tablet. Overall, there are more interested than disinterested, which is better than we’ve seen in years.

Color LCD Kindle with Wifi? Isn’t that called an…

Are you on a first-name basis with the movers and shakers in the LCD industry? When people ask if you know LG Philips, do you say “Know ‘em? I gave a toast at his wedding?” If you answered “yes” to the first and know the second was a trick question, Amazon might be looking for you. Per The New York Times, Amazon has posted some interesting job openings.

One job opening in particular, for a Hardware Display Manager, tells the applicant that “you will know the LCD business and key players in the market.” The key point here is the word “LCD,” which means the Kindle is possibly exploring color (unless they are hiring an LCD manager to simply gain an understanding of the color-display market).

Other job openings include Wi-Fi specialists (the current Kindle has only a 3G wireless connection), and openings for someone to “lead the software development teams that develop and maintain the applications.”

We’ve known color e-ink has been in the works, but possibly not soon enough for Amazon’s Kindle to stay competitive against dual-screen devices, such as Barnes & Noble’s nook or the Alex from Spring Design, and the new wave of tablets, such as the upcoming iPad. Possibly they’re looking at their own dual-screen Kindle, perhaps replacing the physical keyboard with a touchscreen and on-screen keyboard, and/or a color LCD version. Likewise, all their competitors sport wifi and the drive for applications is well under way. The eReader market is really heating up now.

PayPal Blocks India…Another Digital Roadblock that Limits Mobility

According to the PayPal blog, the service is all but useless in India for the time being. According to an unnamed analyst, PayPal has had to severely limit its services in India due to the government’s efforts to eliminate money laundering, especially as it relates to terrorism. The Indian government’s cracked down on services that can be used by terrorists since the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. I certainly appreciate governments’ efforts to thwart terrorism, but digital roadblocks can sure make it difficult to work from overseas.

From PayPal:

I’m writing to let you know that personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in India have been suspended while we work with our business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service.

During this time, customers can still make commercial payments to India but merchants cannot withdraw funds in Rupees to local Indian banks.

We’re trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we’re really sorry for the inconvenience that this may cause our customers in India and around the world.

In my fantasy world, I’d be able to fly to any corner of the world and live/work without much disruption to my digital lifestyle. I’d be able to use my favorite Internet services, subscribe to phone/Internet services at will and web services would work anywhere and I’d be able to complete business transactions without a whole lot of headaches.

Instead, every time I step foot outside of the U.S. I’m faced with roadblocks that make it challenging to work from overseas.

This PayPal snafu reminded me of the difficulties I had using PayPal when I was in India over the holidays. The time I had to spend online was extremely limited as we were in the midst of a crazy Indian wedding. For the first half of my trip PayPal worked like a charm. One day I logged into my PayPal account and was greeted with a message that my account had been frozen due to suspicious activity.

In order to clear up the issue I had to prove that I resided in the U.S. I had the choice of either sending in a credit card statement or allowing PayPal to call me on a land line. I had my mobile phone saved in my PayPal profile, but the system wouldn’t let me use it to authenticate my account with it. Instead, I had to allow PayPal to call my office line. It’s kind of impossible for non-geeks to receive a call on a land-line from halfway around the world, but I was able to hack something together. I logged into my Comcast account and forwarded my VOIP line to my iPhone 3GS. I then turned on my iPhone 3GS for a few minutes until the PayPal call came through with an authentication code that I had to punch in online.

Another challenge I had in India was requisitioning a local SIM card and 3G modem. The terrorists that attacked Mumbai in 2008 used pre-paid phones to coordinate their attacks. The Indian government has since made it illegal for foreigners to pick up a mobile service plan at a store. I had to have my wife’s aunt and uncle order me a Reliant 3G modem and !dea SIM card for my BlackBerry. They had to provide ID and prove residency.

I’ve run into similar digital challenges in several other countries since India’s not the only one trying to protect its populace from terrorists. But I’m not sure these regulations are doing a whole lot considering that I was able to circumvent the above two roadblocks with a whole lot less ingenuity and energy than it’d take to do something evil.

If you’ve spent a good amount of time outside of the U.S. like I have I’m sure you’ve run into digital roadblocks. What have been the most frustrating for you?   

Deal of the Day: Lenovo ThinkPad T410 14.1-inch Core i5 LED-backlit Notebook

Lenovo is offering the Lenovo ThinkPad T410 14.1-inch Core i5 LED-backlit notebook for $899 after 26% instant savings and a 10% web coupon code and including free shipping. The Lenovo T410 includes your choice of a new Core i5 or Core i7 Intel processor, 2GB RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. Visit LogicBuy for more information and web coupon.

Beware, the bubble eating (and vomiting) Surface Monster!

The Microsoft Surface Blog has a video demo of a novel interactive system that involves a little round monster eating bubbles off a Microsoft Surface… and also puking them back up when it’s full.

I admit it’s not the most practical use of surface computing, but it is a great demonstration of tangible interactivity. Instead of just recognizing an object when placed against it, the Surface actually interacts with it, causing the monster’s eye to “fill up” when it eats and empty when it, uh, releases. Adding a tangible element to touchscreen computing, which is a big advantage of Microsoft Surface. I’m just thankful the bubbles come out the same way they go in.

Hey look, it’s the iTablet!

And it’s a Windows 7 netbook in slate form. Having trouble pulling up the site (must be getting slammed), but a company in the UK called X2 is running with the “i” prefix and slapping it on a tablet with 1.6GHz Intel processor (presumably Atom) and option of 10.2″ or 12.1″ screen. About an inch and a half thick (no option on that), and no word if the screen is resistive, capacitive, active, and/or multi-touch. Specs include 250GB of storage (presumably HDD), 3G, Bluetooth, three USB ports, HDMI-out, and 1.3MP webcam. It supposedly runs Windows 7 (not sure which version is included), but the screenshot shows XP.

Via Gizmodo > Electricpig

The iPad UI picked apart in photos

Software developer Fraser Speirs has taken a hard look at the user interface of the iPad through the photos of its unveiling and posted his thoughts and analysis in a 53-piece photo set on Flickr.

Being still photos, it doesn’t peel apart the motions and gestures as Gizmodo did in their video analysis, but it points out location of on-screen buttons, how entering formulas into Numbers works, and the many little touches that separate it from the smaller iPhone interface.

Primary focus is on the iWork apps (rubbing salt in a wound for me), and Speirs uses this gallery to dispute the argument that the iPad isn’t for content creation. Such arguments aren’t new to tablets. I’m sure we’ve all read at least one critic attack pen and touch for being inferior to the keyboard and mouse for content creation. My standard counter-argument still applies: not all content is typed and too many journalists can’t think of content in any other form.

Via TechCrunch

WIPTE 2010 calling for submissions

WIPTE, Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education, just announced the winner of their 2009 contest, and already it’s time to solicit entries for this year.

The 2010 Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education (WIPTE) will be held on October 25th and 26th, 2010 at Virginia Tech.  The organizing committee now invites submissions of full papers, posters and short presentation abstracts by June 15th. The committee also invites entries to the 2010 WIPTE Video Contest with a deadline of September 15th. The video contest carries a $3,000 first prize.

Submissions in each category should describe experiences using Tablet PCs or other pen-based technology in K-12, higher education, or other teaching and learning environments.  Full paper submissions will be peer-reviewed, other submissions will be reviewed by the organizing committee. Accepted submissions will appear in a Monograph to be published by Purdue University Press and authors will present their work at WIPTE 2010.  For detailed calls and additional information see www.wipte.org

As we’ve seen, the contest has produced excellent demonstrations of the Tablet PC and pen computing in action. We have already discussed re-establishing a presence at the workshop, which is held in my neck of the woods. With interest in tablet computing on the rise this year, events like this should receive more attention and hopefully drive home the point that pen input is vital.

Microsoft responds to former VP, lists all their Tablet PC application

Alright, looks like Microsoft isn’t taking the criticism from their former VP lying down. They’ve fired back on their official blog and ripped Dick Brass’ take on zero Microsoft Office support for Tablet PCs with this…

And in response to Dick’s comment about Tablets and Office, I’ll simply point to this product called OneNote that was essentially created for the Tablet and is a key part of Office today.

In your face, Brass! Microsoft made one Office application specifically for the Tablet PC and now it’s a key part of Microsoft Office, included in the Home and Student edition. A quick breeze through the product description and you’ll see how they gush over the awesomeness of OneNote on the Tablet PC. Okay, maybe not one quick breeze, but a search of the word “tablet” in the product overview pulls up… nothing.

Yes, the big gun in Microsoft’s Tablet PC application arsenal, the one they pull out when defending their support of the Tablet PC, isn’t even promoted as a Tablet PC application. Instead, it’s pitched as a catch-all for your notes, which it is and does a wonderful job at it, but you can’t really argue it’s your support for the Tablet PC when there’s nothing in its product description that highlights its usefulness on the Tablet PC. And of course, it’s ONE app over a course of years. Apple hasn’t even released their tablet yet and they’ve got three iWork apps ready for it. I find this defense almost more embarrassing than the attack.

Former Microsoft VP explains why Office sucks on Tablet PC

Former Microsoft VP Dick Brass offers an editorial on The New York Times explaining why Microsoft is declining as a leader in technology. In particular, he points to internal conflicts that wind up derailing innovation efforts, as happened back in 2001 with the Tablet PC.

Another example: When we were building the tablet PC in 2001, the vice president in charge of Office at the time decided he didn’t like the concept. The tablet required a stylus, and he much preferred keyboards to pens and thought our efforts doomed. To guarantee they were, he refused to modify the popular Office applications to work properly with the tablet. So if you wanted to enter a number into a spreadsheet or correct a word in an e-mail message, you had to write it in a special pop-up box, which then transferred the information to Office. Annoying, clumsy and slow.

So once again, even though our tablet had the enthusiastic support of top management and had cost hundreds of millions to develop, it was essentially allowed to be sabotaged. To this day, you still can’t use Office directly on a Tablet PC. And despite the certainty that an Apple tablet was coming this year, the tablet group at Microsoft was eliminated.

Continue reading…

FastFinga breaks my resolve – ink blogging for iPhone and iPad

I had one rock solid reason to not want the iPad. One. No inking. More accurately, poor inking due to the lack of an active digitizer. Drawing and writing on the iPhone is possible via finger or a capacitive stylus, like the Pogo, but it always results in a sub-par experience for me. Well, judging from this sample from Jezlyn at Late to the Party, it’s not the inking on the iPhone that sucks – it’s me.

As many of your know, Jezlyn is a key supporter of my pet cause, ink blogging, which remains a semi-regular element of her blogging activities, and she’s done several experiments with it on different devices.

This time, she’s testing FastFinga, an iPhone app designed for taking handwritten notes, along with her Pogo Sketch, a full-sized pen version of the Pogo. The results are amazing. A tad lower than I’ve seen of her work with an active digitizer but much smoother than when she’s used a resistive touchscreen. If she’d posted that alone, I wouldn’t have known it was from an iPhone.

Continue reading…

AT&T Relents and Allows Sling on the iPhone

Looks like some things might be changing. AT&T has notified Sling Media and Apple that it will now allow Sling Media’s Slingplayer app to be run on 3G over the iPhone. When Sling released the $30 app there was a hue and cry because it was limited to WiFi only. This will be a big deal for SlingBox owners.

According to the New York Times, AT&T has been testing the app on its network and changed its tune. The Bits Blog also suggests that AT&T probably realizes that it was in an indefensible position with regards to the iPhone because it let other phones on its network use the app. Scrutiny from the government can do that to you.

A new app is forthcoming and it will be a free upgrade for those who bought the original. Of course, the cynics will say this will just slow down the AT&T network, and they may be right.