Is the Apple iPad “magical”?
Today was 2010’s first iDay- the announcement of a new or updated Apple product, predictably following months, or in this case years of feverish speculation. Steve Jobs gave the gathered press the first glimpse of the super-tablet himself, proudly declaring the new iPad not just revolutionary, but magical. It is undeniably sleek, beautiful, and impressive to look at but is it necessary, especially for people already toting around iPhones or iPod Touches, along with a MacBook or a MacBook Air?
Here are the specs:
-9.7″ LED backlit, fully multi-touch display, with IPS technology (IPS provides wide viewing angles and good color reproduction, important for a tablet that you may use both laptop-style, and as a media player). There’s also a special fingerprint-resistant coating, obviously good for a screen with a touch interface.
-Up to 10 hour battery life for video, music, and wifi surfing.
-Half an inch thick, weighs 1.5 lbs, 9.5″ high, 7.5″ wide.
-Wifi, Bluetooth, and optional 3G through AT&T (yay, not). Assisted GPS on 3G models only.
-On-screen keyboard only- but wide enough, apparently for something approaching touch-typing. Jobs typed with all his fingers, not just thumbs during the demo. There’s also an optional hardware keyboard which also charges the iPad.
-The iPad will run all current iPhone/iPod Touch applications, plus have its own iPad-only apps.
-The iPad is an advanced e-book reader, using the iBooks app for reading and the iBookstore app for browsing and buying books. iBookstore has licensing deals with some of the biggest publishers so book selection should quickly get competitive with the Amazon Kindle’s, plus iBook supports the EPUB standard, which offers thousands of free books. The best part? The Amazon Kindle and BN Nook use low-powered e-ink displays which are easy on the eyes and give great battery life, but they are not backlit or in color. The iPad is both, and while battery life is sure to be less than the Kindle’s, 10 hours is still really, really good.
-iWork, Apple’s answer to MS Office will be available for the iPad. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (Apple’s versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) will be $9.99 each, a great price for a full featured app.
What are the advantages of the iPad over the iPhone or iPod Touch? The screen, obviously is almost three times the size, a huge improvement for web surfing, watching videos and viewing photos, email, and working on documents. The on-screen keyboard, which will surely elicit much discussion, won’t please everybody, but will surely be more comfortable for typing longer docs and emails, and there is the optional hardware keyboard.
LG’s Lotus Gets Elite
LG and Sprint are continuing their partnership with the release of the successor to the stylish Lotus phone. The LG Lotus Elite has all the looks of the original Lotus, but has stepped it up a notch with a few exclusive features.
One of the new features on the Elite is the 2.4-inch external touchscreen that allows users to easily navigate all their pertinent information without having to open the phone. The screen has a 320×240 resolution which makes for a vibrant phone experience. Other features include the new three dedicated shortcut keys for social networking, email, and text. The social networking button, dubbed Social can be mapped to a person’s favorite social network.
Sony Wants You! $10,000 Scholarship up for Grabs
Contrary to popular belief, there are more than a few girl gamers out there, serving up their own brand of pwnage with a smile. When it comes to game development, women continue to be an underrepresented segment of the industry. Sony Online Entertainment is doing their part to remedy the situation with the G.I.R.L. scholarship.
The G.I.R.L. (Gamers In Real Life) program was created to affect how women are portrayed in video games. And there’s no better way to change the machine than to work from within. In conjunction with the program there is also a scholarship was created with the express purpose of recruiting into the fields of video game production and design.
Cast Your Vote for Computer Engineer Barbie
Now that geeks are considered sexy, we techies are finally being appreciated for our sparkling intellect, and almost obsessional love of tech. In my mind, we were always sexy, but it just took mainstream society awhile to catch on. Now one of our most treasured mainstream childhood icons might be getting in on the geek sexy angle.
Mattel creator of the iconic Barbie doll is asking people to vote on the dolls next career. Since her debut in 1959, Barbie has had over 120 careers. She’s been an astronaut, a rock star, and a veterinarian. Hey, she has to pay off the mortgage for that dream house and Ferrari somehow.
Listed among the possible careers is computer engineer. I can think of no better way to show the next generation the coolness of tech than presenting some lucky youngster with a shiny ne “Computer Engineer” Barbie. Please lend your vote and let’s initiate Barbie into our ultra-cool society of tech.
The results on the voting will be available on February 12. So vote and keep your fingers crossed.
Via CrunchGear
Ritmo Advanced Pregnancy Sound System
Any expectant mother can tell you, it’s never to early to start communicating with your child. Besides having extended conversations while baby is in-utero, music has been proven to assist with positive fetal development including displaying “advanced intelligence, coordination, and learning abilities.”
Nuvo Group’s new device helps deliver soothing sound to your baby with the Ritmo Advanced Pregnancy Sound System. Kind of like a speaker system for your unborn bundle of joy, Ritmo is a lightweight belt that fits comfortably around mommy-to-be’s tummy. The belt has four built-in speakers that utilized patented Safe&Sound Technology to make sure that the sound level is perfectly safe for baby’s ears. The belt also comes with a controller used to plug in an mp3 player.
