When news first got out in January 2007 about Axiotron's ModBook, yours truly was beyond ecstatic at the thought of an Apple-based Tablet. We'll, we've been waiting ever since to get our hands on one, and am pleased to say that Axiotron notified me yesterday that the ModBook is on its way to us!

Here's the kicker: Axiotron configured boot-camp with Vista, so in addition to covering the Mac OS X side of the tablet, I'll also be checking out how the ModBook holds up as a Windows-based Tablet PC.  With 512 levels of pressure sensitivity, built-in GPS, and built-in SuperDrive, it ought to be fun. I have a friend who is an awesome graphic artist, so I'll be getting his impressions of it from that perspective as well.

There will finally be a review on the ModBook Tablet from a site that knows Tablet PCs - GottaBeMobile.com!

Almost on cue, Intel has disclaimed yesterday’s report/rumor from ZDNet.de that there would be an Apple Tablet or MID or larger iPhone running Intel’s Atom chip. Though this was mentioned by an Intel exec, Hannes Schwaderer, he has now layered some nuance on the intial report/leak saying he mentioned the Apple product as an example. The funny thing about Apple rumors is that disclaimers usually cause the rumor to pick up steam. Like I said, here we go again.

Via The Guardian Unlimited

As if all of the 3G iPhone rumors weren’t enough to clog anyone’s bandwidth, it appears that yes, wait for it…. there is another Mac Tablet rumor out there.

MacRumors is reporting that according to ZDNet.de, there will be a larger iPhone running Intel’s Atom chipset. Stand back, the Apple Tablet rumor mill is cranking up again.

CarryMobile.com sent me a case for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet to review. I'm not that big of a case person, but it is a pretty nice one. It is also priced right at $28. In addition to looking at the CarryMobile.com case, I demo a case I'm using for my iPhone from CoZip.com.

Enjoy!

A sign of things to come? Or just another in a long list of iPhone rumors? It appears that Apple has included Chinese Handwriting Recognition in the iPhone 2.0 Firmware Beta according to o MacRumors.com. Chinese users can apparently draw a character on the screen with their finger and then choose from among options for the recognition.

Via MacRumors.com

Very funny. Lenovo has crafted a very clever little ad and slogan going after the MacBook Air featuring the Lenovo X300.

Via Gizmodo

When I did the InkShow on EverNote's new beta program that allows you to sync your notes among multiple devices for some reason it wasn't working on my iPod Touch. Others reported that it was working on their devices and also their iPhones. A day after posting that EverNote pushed out an update and whether it was related or not, I can now report that EverNote works swimmingly on my iPod Touch. This extends the usage of this terrific application to all of the devices I'm currently using or testing and I can't tell you what a difference that makes for my work flow.

Here's a quick GBM ShortCut using EverNote on the iPod Touch.

By the way, I've got some more EverNote Beta invites available if you're interested in trying this application out. Leave a comment on this post (make sure you leave your correct email address in the comment form. You won't see it appear but we do.) and I'll get them out within the next day.

Download the high res version.

This is still under development, but it shows off what you can do with an accelerometer beyond changing orientation on a mobile device. The folks at Hermitworks have ported Quake 3 over to the iPod Touch.

Via 9 to 5 Mac

I posted up our N-Trig interview on Thursday and wanted to pass along my own thoughts on what N-Trig's Mr. Lenny Englehardt had to say. Since I had the opportunity to speak with Mr.  Englehardt, I had the benefit of hearing repeated comments, voice inflection, and coming away with an overall impression. I think the question / answer summary I posted captures the essence of the interview quite well. Overall, I came away with the impression that N-Trig is very frustrated with Microsoft in terms of marketing ( or lack thereof ) and not talking about its superior multi-touch solutions ( (N-Trig's ), palm rejection technology as implemented in Vista, is not that impressed with Vista, and is quite thankful that Apple is generating and talking about their great multi touch products. N-Trig has become quite the beneficiary of Apple's successes.

More detail:

• I think it is a good sign that N-Trig sees a market need for capacitive touch and pen in the 7 - 8.9" small form factor. He knows a lot about what OEMs are doing, and his statement is a good sign
• A focus on the 7" to 17" market for laptops has huge implications for bringing ink and multi-touch to more folks.
• When asked about Vista and the iPhone, I found Mr. Englehardt's replies quite telling and wonder how common his feelings are with other manufactures building Microsoft-based solutions - Redmond marketing nowhere to be seen, wishing Microsoft would do more to point out that what Apple is doing on the touchpad, N-Trig and Microsoft is doing to the screen; and thanking Apple for generating great multi-touch products ( notice he didn't thank Microsoft ):

Great steps for pen and touch, not enough traction in their own software apps like Outlook, PowerPoint etc.. Vista as an OS is not a very user friendly product, way too many crashes, hangs etc. They don’t seem to be keen to scrub it and flush out all the issues. If they would push ink in their own apps and to ISV’s it would be great. The average consumer and enterprise user still doesn’t  know that Microsoft has touch and ink capabilities built into Vista, while everyone knows how the iPhone and MacBook Air work. Redmond marketing is nowhere to be seen.

also....

As mentioned above, we thank Apple for the efforts in generating great multi touch products. We wish Microsoft would do more and point out that what Apple is doing on the touch pad, we are doing on the screen.

• I also found his above statements on Vista to be quite the indictment, especially for a company working so closely with the inner workings of Vista.
• Mr. Englehardt is quite frustrated with Microsoft and their palm rejection technology in Vista, saying "Our expectation was that Microsoft would do more with handling dual-mode, and basically ignore all inputs when writing" and "We will work to improve palm rejection in dual-mode regardless of what Microsoft has in store for future versions of Windows.  We are enhancing palm rejection on our own, independent of Microsoft. Improvements will be ready sooner than one might expect..stay tuned."  Wow.....
• As someone working closely with human interaction technologies, he doesn't see the market need for a UMPC, especially when someone has a good phone and a Tablet PC. I've seen the same thing in my own experience: a Tablet PC plus the iPhone is providing me with everything I need. If I only had a desktop, though, the UMPC would be a good solution. As more people are moving to mobile computers, is the UMPC getting squeezed out? Is this where we will see the phone technology ( like the iPhone ) continue to improve, thus negate the real need for UMPC? The iPhone, for me, has the been the Origami device originally described by Microsoft - a device that I go back in to the house to get.
• Pen only or touch only solutions is not their playing field. It is the combination of pen and touch that N-Trig is focusing on, and that is a good thing for the Tablet PC space.

Check out this Apple job posting uncovered by Engadget, looking for a handwriting recognition software engineer. Notice that the technology they would be involved in may extend "beyond Mac OS X to other applications and the iPhone."

The Handwriting Recognition team is seeking an engineer who will be responsible for advancing Apple's handwriting recognition technology for Mac OS X. The ideal candidate will be an expert in the area of pattern recognition, with an excellent understanding of handwriting recognition issues. The person will also assume primary responsibility for maintaining and enhancing existing code and tools. The recognition technology you create may extend beyond Mac OS X to other applications and the iPhone.

Key Requirements
* Expert in the area of pattern recognition
* Strong design and analytical skills
* Strong coder with experience in C or C++
* Ability to work on several concurrent projects
* Track record of innovation and excellence on previous assignments

Additional Success Factors
* Well versed in the area of handwriting recognition
* Knowledge of and experience with hidden markov model and neural net algorithms
* Proven track record of writing high quality code in shipping products
* Experience in developing recognition solutions for non-Roman languages
* Experience with Unix and familiarity with Mac OS X
* Familiarity with language modeling and natural language processing
* Knowledge of Cocoa
* Excellent communication skills

Last month, I had the opportunity to speak with Lenny Englehardt,  N-Trig's Vice President of Business Development. We talked about a number of issues on the mind of GBM readers, and as you'll see, Mr. Englehardt was not the least bit shy in sharing his opinion on number of topics like small form factor devices, Microsoft, and Apple.

We had such a good conversation that we're planning a special podcast to discuss these items in more depth, as well as follow-up with some more reader questions. Follow the Read More link for the complete interview.

For those of you following along at home, I bought an Apple iPhone 16GB last Sunday. With my extensive 1 week of experience, I thought I'd give a quick update.

I love it. :)

My definition of a really great mobile device is: Any device that does what you want it to do. Now, since different people want different things out of their mobile devices, that creates both some creative designs and some heated debates. For me, the iPhone does what I want it to do, at least 98% of the time. Thus far my only complaints have been the problem with sending email through Yahoo Small Business accounts and no good way to post to GBM. However, the rich Internet experience more than makes up for those inconveniences.

I took a 3-day weekend vacation this weekend. I took my iPhone, my AT&T 8525, and my Fujitsu P1610. The 8525 I never turned on. I actually didn't intend to take it but I forgot and left it in my purse. The P1610 was my safety blanket. I was glad I had it since I had to repost my iLiad InkShow and I could do that with just a simple button click from the backup on that system. I also took my iPhone. It was my constant companion. I used it extensively over the weekend to check business hours, get dinner reservations, waste time, compare prices from the shops, you name it. I felt like a commercial. This was exactly the usage model that I envisioned from a UMPC, only I got it from my iPhone. I never used even 50% of the battery in a day. This is exactly what I would hope for this kind of device. My husband was impressed with what I could do with the iPhone, even if he does think I'm obsessed right now. He's probably right.

Good technology is technology that does what you want it to do. And the iPhone seems to be fitting my needs very nicely.

If you’re like me and enjoy using the iPod Touch as a mobile device, then you’re probably also like me and spend some time looking for ways to extend your usage. One of the best resources I have found for finding new hints, tips, and links, is Michael Connick. Michael authors the Staying Connected blog, where he’s blogged quite a bit about the Nokia Internet Tablet, but if you’re looking for Michael’s steady stream of iPod Touch tips and tricks, you’ll need to follow him on Twitter. It seems not a day goes by that Michael doesn’t offer up a gem or two in his Twitter stream.

When I bought my new iPhone on Sunday, I was very excited. I have used it quite a bit over the last couple of days and the overall user experience has been excellent.

Then I tried to send an email on my Yahoo! Small Business email account.

Now, to be fair, the problem has nothing to do with my iPhone exactly. It's a Yahoo! issue, but given the outstanding integration that Apple has managed in so many areas, this is a glaring hole.

We’ve heard stories already about the MacBook Air confounding TSA officials at airport security gates and delaying passengers. Now comes a story form Steven Levy at Newsweek that he seems to have lost his Air. And he thinks it was thrown out with the trash. I’m sure other owners of small devices (especially handhelds) have had that sinking feeling when you can’t locate your device and in a panic can’t remember the last time you picked it up or laid it down. I know I have. But, I’ve never quite had that sinking sensation with a laptop.

I’m guessing someone is going to come up with some sort of “clapper” like contraption for small devices soon, so we can locate our missing devices one day. But then that might require a dongle. Which I’m sure would get lost just as easily.

I thought I could hold out, but no, not after the announcements a few days ago. My last remaining obstacles were removed on Thursday with the announcement of the iPhone SDK and the VC funding.

Today I bought a 16GB iPhone. I love it, at least so far. We'll see how the next week shapes up, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd been looking to buy a new phone for personal use. I haven't exactly had a personal cell phone for the last couple of years. I had a number, but it was forwarded to my work cell. Since I spend about 120 minutes on the phone each month, nearly all of which is mobile to mobile, I just carried one phone and forwarded the calls.

Lately, however, I'd been getting a desire to have a personal phone separate from the workhorse AT&T 8525. The iPhone intrigued me - I love the browsing interface - but with no support for Exchange and limited 3rd party apps, I was very hesitant. Steve Jobs changed that on Thursday, so I could justify getting one now. (Or is that rationalize...)  I'm not a Mac person. This was the first time I ever went in a Mac store. As a long time Windows advocate and programmer, Macs were the "Dark Side". Even after Apple embraced the Intel processors, I still hesitated.

But I reluctantly think that Warner may be right. Apple has a fantastic product in the iPhone and it is poised to dominate the market. Intel's best hope for MIDs is to get the Atom into the second gen iPhone.

Mike Elgan writes an interesting piece in Computerworld on the cell phone-PC Connection that, if nothing else, points up just how much of an interesting transition we are in out here in mobile land. His thesis is that PC makers, especially those rushing to join the handheld market, should make cell phones work better with PCs rather than just adding new features that most users don’t take advantage of anyway.

Two examples from the article stand out for me:

He argues, well, that quite a few cell phones can serve as broadband modems, and that most users don’t take advantage of this. I think one of the reasons for that is the complexity that exists in doing so. But Elgan goes further and points to some interesting “awareness” technology that would let the computer know when you’re close by or not, that was abandoned because of a lack of hardware support.

In the second example, he points to solutions that avoid syncing in the current traditional sense, but instead lets you use the cell phone as your document/data transport device to move from location to location, having your data and your mobility at the same time. Intriguingly, this seems to ignore the entire movement to “the cloud” where your data resides out there somewhere and you can access it from any device, anytime, assuming of course you have connectivity. As we keep moving higher and higher into the cloud we’re moving more and more away from the traditional syncing methods. Business and the enterprise is still the long term key here, and watching that transition take place is fascinating. I created quite a stir with my “game over” post on Apple and its recent announcements. If you’re paying attention, Apple is working to bridge the enterprise and consumer markets as it carries us further and further into the cloud (or is that the Air?). Loren Heiny has some interesting thoughts on this as well.

I’m going to be writing more on this in the coming weeks, but I’ve really been enjoying working with the Beta of Evernote’s Web solution that allows me to collect data and seamlessly have it synced between my Tablet PC, my desktop, and my handheld. For me, personally, it is a game changer and I think that is the type of game we’re all headed for in the future. Provided, again, that you have connectivity.

Rob is still having difficulties downloading the iPhone SDK, probably because the servers are slammed, and yesterday he posted that “Apple grabbed the UMPC/Mid Market and took it away.” I have to agree with my friend and colleague and even go further. Apple opened a big door with the announcement and shut quite a few others in the process. Apple not only took the UMPC/MID market away, it will own mobile for some time to come, with everyone else playing catch up. The race to the top is over. Now everyone else can scramble to figure out who is number two.

Here’s why I think this. We’ve only seen teasers of what the Apple SDK will unlock for the future. And the teasers certainly make you want the entire show. The ability to have push email and sync with Microsoft Exchange is huge and will open the floodgates into the enterprise. We won’t see this in play until this summer but Steve Jobs, once again succeeds in sucking the oxygen out of the PR cycles throughout the spring. But come June, the mother of all converged devices will be available. And it will be available in several segments.

For those that want the boutique coolness, it will be there. For those that want it for business, it will be there. For those who want to play games, it will be there. For those that want to develop and push the envelope of the mobile experience, it will be there.

Media, SMS, phone, applications, business apps, GPS, games, you name it, you’ll have it all on the iPhone, and a lot of it on the iPod Touch, both of which will fit into your pocket. What Microsoft, Intel, and VIA are working to accomplish with UMPCs and MIDs, Apple is about to deliver. Timing is everything and Apple is not only out of the gate first, but is about to enter the final turn.

Let’s face, it the UMPC platform is quickly receding. The MID platform is still to come and is unproven. Not only has Apple loaded up their devices with potential for all segments, they’ve come in under the magic $600 price point. Intriguingly, there’s news today that last year’s great hope on the UMPC front, the HTC Shift, is finally beginning to ship in the US, but at a price point of over $1600.

With Venture Capital funding support for developers, Apple has also kickstarted an entirely new developer class, and that will be huge as well. Apple sees the long view in this. Big time. The iPhone we know today, and the version of the hardware we will probably know for the next year or two is only the beginning, and from where I sit, there are a lot of companies that would have liked to have had that as their version 1.0.

Small, $600 or under, always connected, media and the web at your fingertips, and access to your communications. I seem to remember that as the promise of the UMPC a short time ago. UMPC, we hardly knew you.

Game over.

Post Script: As I said, game over. If Apple wanted to put the last nail in the coffin of all of its other competitors, it would steal a page from Amazon’s book. Ditch the old way of thinking about connectivity charges and user fees (or is that usury?) and offer up the versions yet to come with Amazon’s connectivity model.

I've been following Engadget's reporting of Apple's iPhone press conference. Developers can download the SDK now, Exchange and SDK update support for the iPhone coming in June. iPod Touch users will have to pay for the update. Didn't they just pay for an update a couple of months ago? What's up with that?

All apps to be distributed through Apple's App Store, accessible directly through the iPhone / iPod Touch. Buy / Download / Update through the iPhone via cell or WiFi. Developers set the price and keep 70%, Apple keeps / takes 30%. Free apps won't cost developers anything to distribute through the App Store.

With this news, and VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers starting iFund with $100m in funding for companies developing iPhone apps, Apple just grabbed the UMPC / MID market and took it away.

Where was the Tablet PC $100m funding to jumpstart development? I don't recall hearing of VC companies seeing the long view in Tablet PC and starting a $100m VC fund campaign. I do remember Microsoft's Think In Ink $100k contest, though. Developers will be flocking to develop apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and not just because of the VC funding opportunities. The market opportunity is huge and there is a clear driver for the platform.

UPDATE: As of this writing, Apple's developer.apple.com site is down, and has been down for hours, due to the requests for the SDK.

I am following the news over on Engadget - HUGE news with Exchange Activesync being licensed by Apple.  I am sure more details will follow, but this is a game changer for sure.

Looks like my Tilt's days might be numbered...  Anyone else holding out for Exchange support before buying an iPhone??  I sure have been - we'll have to see how and when this all plays out...