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whats not fair is RIM backdooring their product to appease third word oppressive regimes.

They didn't. Prove it or shut up.

Uh, yeah. They did.

Neither of those links say anything of the sort. If you actually read into the issue you'll see the primary issue is:
The main problem is that the smartphone ecosystem does not comply with local regulations because it sends data outside the country.
And that the solution is to have a server in the country. WRT data encryption it is based on a symmetric key system, which as RIM said, isn't able to be decrypted as it goes through RIM's servers, the solution they have provided is a method to track email - if necessary - and then the security agencies can subpoena the corporation for the decrypted email.

whats not fair is RIM backdooring their product to appease third word oppressive regimes.

They didn't. Prove it or shut up.

Uh, yeah. They did.

The point is that the sensor in this telescope is curved, so that the curve of focus coincides with the sensor making it possible to create aberration free images. I tried to find a description of the sensor in the SST but was unsuccessful. I think the Kepler telescope's sensor approximates this technique by tiling 42 flat CCDs along a parabolic surface. I'm not sure if SST does the same thing or actually managed to manufacture a curved individual CCD like this one, although presumably much larger: eye shaped camera is shaped like an eye (engadget article)

Well there IS an official Minecraft port on the way to Android and iOS

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/23/minecraft-coming-to-android-too/

(1) They look like ass. Bulky day-glo green and white plastic. The design aesthetic is clearly intended to make them undesirable to thieves.

(2) OLPC has always, always been hyped to hell and back. Why should anyone believe any claim about power *now* when earlier claims have been lies?

Let's first take a look at the higher-res main camera. At his WWDC keynote, Jobs said that getting great looking images wasn't just about upping the camera's megapixels, but had more to do with grabbing more photons. Increase the photon count, let more light in, and your images will look better, the thought goes. So Apple's using a newer backside-illuminated sensor that's more sensitive to light in addition to upping those megapixels -- and we must say, pictures on the iPhone 4 look stunning. Our shots looked good right out of the gate, with few problems when it came to focusing or low light. With the flash on, we managed decent if somewhat blown out results (fairly common with smaller LED flashes) though impressively, the iPhone 4 was usually able to take completely useable and even handsome photos in fairly low light without the flash. It seems like that photon situation is definitely in play, because even shots taken in fairly dark lighting came out looking good. Autofocus worked well in most situations, and we were actually able to get some impressive looking macro shots (see the flowers and Penny below). In general, we'd have no trouble using the iPhone 4's camera as a stand-in for a dedicated camera.

Engadget Review

I genuinely prefer using my iPhone to my "prosumer level" Sony digital camera from a few years ago, they both shoot at 5MP, which "isnt great" by todays standards, however, the resolution is more than enough for little old me :-)

It's always with me, its very, very thin, beautiful, and takes lovely photos, wait, I said GORGEOUS photos ;-)

Could it do with Optical Zoom? Sure, and my Sony has "Night Vision" mode via IR photography. Big whoop, I'd rather use my iPhone than carry a seperate camera with me, even if the other camera was as slim...and if it could also upload images over 3G or wifi, directly onto Facebook, Flickr, videos to YouTube, have GPS...

Next up, using your phone as a calender, as a clock, and as a navigation unit :-)

I would also say the 30 FPS 720 HD video off my iPhone makes for GREAT movies too, although there is off course the "wobbly sensor" action common to such video cameras.

Heres a compressed video, YouTube does take a lot of the quality out, still looks great.

http://coexistingwithnonhumananimals.blogspot.com/2011/03/chicken-friend-salad-video.html

Best wishes :-)

I think google did the right thing - get the critical mass - then use the leverage.

see:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/31/google-tightening-control-of-android-insisting-licensees-abide/

From Engadget 'official quote: "Samsung takes Mr. Hassan's claims very seriously. After learning of the original post this morning on NetworkWorld.com, we launched an internal investigation into this issue. We will provide further information as soon as it is available."' http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/samsung-reportedly-installing-keylogger-software-on-r525-privac/

"Samsung takes Mr. Hassan's claims very seriously. After learning of the original post this morning on NetworkWorld.com, we launched an internal investigation into this issue. We will provide further information as soon as it is available." posted here

Oh god longer than that even. Microsoft has been trying to get people to buy tablets with Windows on them since before they even had a product. In the early 90's GO developed an OS for tablet PCs called PenPoint, which Microsoft promptly killed by announcing that Real Soon Now you'd be able to get Pen Windows instead and it would be much better. After almost two decades all they have to show for it is an announcement that you don't need to buy the new iPad because Real Soon Now you'll be able to see a demo of the new Windows 8 tablet and it will be much better. It's kind of sad really.

Here are a couple of multitouch resistive screens:

http://wmpocket.com/toshiba-introduces-resistive-screen-with-multi-touch-capabilities/

http://wmpoweruser.com/fujitsu-releases-resistive-multi-touch-screen-likely-too-late-for-windows-phone-7/

This claims to be a software-only upgrade:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/

this.
when i buy windows i go lenovo. the machines are still built like tanks and work fantastic.
i actually convinced my boss to let me buy a lenovo in a company of dells. mind you others are or may be better but lenovo just works perfectly for me. my x61s has been running solid for 3 years now and i just got the x201 which should tide me through for another couple of years.
if in the ultra portable space try the x220 (to be released soon) otherwise try the T series. u cant go wrong with either option.
For the AC above. checkout the x220
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-review/

I've worked onthis in the past. Metering Internet usage isn't easy to get right as VZW discovered.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/03/verizon-agrees-to-refund-customers-90-million-for-wrongful-data/

Only raw measurements (bit counts at the interface) can be collected without significant processing. On a multiplexed interface figuring who got what isn't trivial.

I hate the marketing ideas that add cost and complexity to the network to reduce revenue. Metered billing seems very likely to reduce usage so people pay less than they did before. Sure the markups look great, but mailing DVDs is a cheap alternative @~$0.15 or less per gig. Great bandwidth, high latency, negative cool factor.

Fair charges are hard to define. Retries? Port scans or ping storms? Pure noise bad packets. Lots of failure modes cause increased counts. Do we really want to incent the carriers to do bad maintenance?

Disk has gotten cheap and fast, a user who records every bit going across his own interface is in good position to beat up an ISP billing group. I think metering may cost them to do, I suspect it's a loser even on wireless where the delivery costs are higher, as it drives users to find a wifi hotpoint. The only thing it is good for is making full wiretaps cheaper by cost sharing the common equipment.

Actually Nokia started this with Apple, not the other way around. From what I recall, Apple's countersuit against Nokia involved unreasonable licensing terms (Nokia wanted more from Apple than from others it had licensed the tech to including demands for generous cross licensing from the iPhone patent pool), and they also accused Nokia of pulling a Rambus (establishing a standard and then later coming in with submarine patents on their own designs).

From TFA:

In October 2009 Nokia sued Apple for patent infringement claiming that a number of Apple products used Nokia technology as it pertains to wireless connectivity and GSM networks. Never one to back down from a legal fight, Apple countersued and accused Nokia of infringing on 13 patents held by Apple.

An interesting read regarding the back and forth between Nokia and Apple:
[ref: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/apple-countersues-nokia-for-infringing-13-patents/ ]

Apple also says Nokia wanted unreasonable license terms for the patents, including a cross-license for Apple's various iPhone device patents as part of any deal, which Apple clearly wasn't willing to do. That's in stark contrast to what Nokia says it wants in its lawsuit -- all it's asked the court for is past due license fees on its patents. (Which is odd, if you think about it: Nokia wouldn't come to terms on a license that didn't include iPhone patents, but it'll spend the cash on litigation for past due fees? That seems silly.) Oh, and if you're just in this for the bitchy quotes, here you go:

As Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, stated at Nokia's GoPlay event in 2007 when asked about the similarities of Nokia's new offerings to the already released iPhone:"[i]f there is something good in the world, we copy with pride." True to this quote, Nokia has demonstrated its willingness to copy Apple's iPhone ideas as well as Apple's basic computing technologies, all while demanding Apple pay for access to Nokia's purported standards essential patent.

Nokia wasn't interested in just getting fees for it's patents. They badly needed an 'in' into the smartphone market and they knew it. They also demanded the rights to cross license various iPhone patents as part of their lawsuit against Apple. They basically were shut out of the smartphone industry and Apple being the new guy on the block in the phone industry probably looked like their best chance at that.

Yeah the reviews are "great" :

"With our trusty Droid 2's 1Ghz OMAP3 chip, we saw a slight but noticeable boost in framerate when playing a YouTube trailer at 480p, which admittedly only took that particular video from "unwatchable" to merely "fairly jerky." With the Tegra 2-toting Motorola Xoom, however, 480p videos ran perfectly smooth, even as the tablet had trouble rendering 720p content as anything but a series of images."

Pretty pathetic but that's flash: it's always going to work as it should next release, promise.

OSX is what Linux wants to be when it grows up.

OS X is what Linux on the desktop would look like. Developers using common libraries, accessing common APIs, extending the features of the UI to prevent odd workflow behavior, scripting to automate repetitive tasks, and a command line that allows tuning.

I used Linux for about 2 years before OS X released. From a desktop non-hardcore-user perspective, very little has changed for OS X, they still have many more similarities to NeXT/OpenSTEP spec than OS 9. The Linux desktop (and very much Solaris desktop, since they developed together) has gone from Gnome 1.4 (which had many CDE & RISCOS-like behaviors) to Gnome 3 & Ubuntu Unity which use (proven) ideas from the OLPC project. And you can't ignore XFCE (which uses GTK), LxDE, WindowMaker, and Enlightenment on a refrigerator , which show that these all are practical ways to administrate a Linux computer. Mac OS X doesn't have the ability to do that because it decided where desktop computing ends and server administration begins.

What about the Galaxy Player?

It's pretty much a Galaxy S without the phone guts. Sadly, it hasn't come out yet, and it will come out with FroYo (although they have stated that, just as the Galaxy S, it will get Gingerbread).

1, 2 and 3.

HTH.

Well, I don't know about Sprint, but Verizon doesn't do that:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/27/verizon-wireless-opens-network-to-any-apps-any-device-in-2008/

And it's not that hard to order an unlocked iPhone out of Canada, starting at about $550.

And it's absolutely not true that phones purchased outside the US don't do 3g here. See above-mentioned iPhone from Canada. iPhones from most countries will do 3g in the US.

AT&T also plans on using it's 700MHz range for LTE, at least according to a reference on Engadget.

It has been known since 2009 that the 3GS is capable of HD output using nothing more complicated than Apple's own Component AV cables. The reason it was throttled down for the native apps, so it was assumed, was for one of two reasons: either that Apple could claim accuracy for their battery life (HD video is more of a resource hog, and therefore a battery drain), or that the 3GS couldn't quite handle the bitrate of HD video.

I should add - it was throttled down for NATIVE apps, but for third-party apps that could oputput video formats not supported natively (using FileApp to play .avi files or CineXPlayer for DivX videos, to give two examples), it wasn't. So it was possible to load an HD video onto a 3GS or an iPhone 4 and stream it to an HDTV in a larger-than-VGA (640 x 480) format.

Once Apple updated to iOS 3, only the iPhone 4 was able to stream that HD video onto a larger screen. 3GS users now get an on-screen message saying that HD streaming using the Apple AV cables is not supported. Sound will play from the TV, but video will not.

So it wouldn't surprise me if there is some reining in, some restricting, elsewhere on my 3GS.

iPhone receives calls whatever state it's in

Unless you're holding it wrong.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/16/netflix-for-android-leaks-out-doesnt-seem-to-stream-video-righ/

Fuck them up the ass with eight feet of red-hot wrought iron, curare tipped fencepost and no lube.

Read only I think, and only to read data off of stickers and such not as a payment system.

Nexus S and Nexus One get Android Gingerbread 2.3.3, fixes random reboots and writes NFC tags

IE9 and FF4 aren't really full-release yet, so I can see why someone might include those in their compatibility list.

Internet Explorer 9 has now been released, although it was after the summary was submitted. But Safari was released a long time ago, and it was Safari that gave us WebKit which powers Chrome. It seems bizarre to label it a "Chrome compatible" browser when it should be the other way around.

Anyway, the linked site says "works best in chrome or firefox 4", so not only do they mention Firefox but they also do not use the term "Chrome compatible".

However, I did find an article on this subject from the day before this was submitted here that said:

Google Chrome may have come out of Pwn2Own unscathed, but you can rip through any website it (or another HTML5-compliant browser) displays -- just pull out your handy Katamari Damacy ball and wreak havok on the page. Na NAaaa, na na na na na na na, na na na na na naaaa...

Hmmm... It seems that something got lost in translation.

I don't really like the normal tablet style of iPad. I mean, it works I guess, but people are more used to holding books. I got interested in tablets after I saw Microsoft's Courier, but it looks like they cancelled it.

Correction: You can't cancel what never was. The Courier was never a serious project; it was merely a way to counteract growing Apple tablet rumors.

Is there any other more natural feeling tablet? It would be much better than the usual ones. Since all the Android devices are quite much clones of each other, I hope someone uses this to their advantage and makes a device like Courier. Or Microsoft should continue their project. It's really interesting anyway.

And entirely impractical in terms of battery life, weight and cost. That's one of the very many reasons it could not have been a serious project in the first place.

We just all grew up with dead-tree books. That's why we, quite naturally, want to hold something in a familiar form-factor. But there is almost no advantage in the dead-tree-publishing world taken of that form-factor. In other words, information on each page is almost without exception simply a linear presentation of the data. Once in a great while, you will see a book take advantage of a two-page "spread"; but those are pretty rare instances that are more than made up for by the many, many advantages of electronic reading devices, not the least of which (he says, being over 50) is the ability to make print larger. Plus, color publishing is no longer a truly premium-price publishing choice, etc, etc. Not to mention that, when reading in bed, that "fold-in-the-middle" habit of books is actually quite annoying to have to constantly deal with. And, as I said, any two-display device would be horrendously heavy, costly, and expensive. There's a reason you haven't seen "Courier-like" tablets. They simply aren't practical.

In other words, stop being bound (no pun) by the familiar. It's a new day for publishing. Get with it, or GTFO. ;-)

I don't really like the normal tablet style of iPad. I mean, it works I guess, but people are more used to holding books. I got interested in tablets after I saw Microsoft's Courier, but it looks like they cancelled it.

Is there any other more natural feeling tablet? It would be much better than the usual ones. Since all the Android devices are quite much clones of each other, I hope someone uses this to their advantage and makes a device like Courier. Or Microsoft should continue their project. It's really interesting anyway.

Apparently dual-booting not running on top of Win.. Was a bad summary. Read this article for example: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/hp-picks-up-phoenixs-hyperspace-hypercore-and-flip-instant-on/

Oh yeah, and Firefox is the only browser that doesn't support H.264 even if it's installed in the system. How am I supposed to watch those HTML5 H.264 videos?

Not for long though, google chrome is also dropping this patent trap.

I would think that the cash prizes would offset the value of the hardware. Google was a offering 5 grand more than Apple. Macbooks don't cost that much. http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/googles-paying-20-000-to-hack-chrome-any-takers/

It's not going to be installed on top of windows.

It's going to be instant-on.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/hp-picks-up-phoenixs-hyperspace-hypercore-and-flip-instant-on/

the engadget pictures speaks for itself
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/08/early-mid-week-shocker-research-says-we-are-overly-reliant-on-g/

I have traveled down some roads which the GPS says are continuous state roads but are closer 4 wheeler trails.
The GPS makes no claim to accuracy of the maps they provide. There is nothing quite like being out in a storm only to find out that the short cut your GPS maps show as roads are really dirt trails.

It happens far to often. It is why I don't rely on GPS. Useful yes, but in a jam I have two eyes, two ears and a brain between them

Not on the market yet, but it has been confirmed

They're not getting any cash : http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/debunk-elop-never-said-microsoft-is-paying-nokia-billions-of-do/

That article is pure speculation. We don't know what Nokia is getting.

WTF are you talking about ? They're not getting any cash : http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/debunk-elop-never-said-microsoft-is-paying-nokia-billions-of-do/

I think it's pretty obvious that Nokia are being given hundreds of millions, possibly billions in order to transition to Windows Phone 7. Companies don't make such radical u-turns and run straight into their enemy's camp without a large financial incentive behind it.

That doesn't mean Nokia are being paid in cold cash. It might be in the form of licence fee waivers, marketing assistance, premium developer support, advertising revnues, app store revenues / waivers, server licences etc.

That "someone out there" is Vincent Cerf, the father of the internet, and it works.

Hi, everyone. Reading articles about Apple's Post-PC outlook (such as this one), it's interesting to think about where Apple is headed, as it provides a good context for their recent announcements.

First, it should be clear that Apple wants to extend their walled-garden approach to their entire line of products. This would allow them to provide a consistent user interface and good interoperability (something they'll continue to tout to sell consumers on their Post-PC products). It will also allow Apple to translate success in one area (e.g., strong iPad sales) into other markets (e.g., stronger Mac sales with Lion's interface echoing the iPad's). Finally, it will allow Apple to monetize other services (as they already have with 3rd party application and subscription sales).

At the iPad 2 announcement, Jobs gleefully boasted that Apple has the largest number of registered user accounts with credit cards of any online vendor, and Apple's certainly interested in billing those accounts as much as possible.

One obvious area where Apple could try to pull ahead is in data storage and synchronization. Apple is actually worse at this right now than many other vendors (e.g., using iTunes to get a Word document onto an iPad), as they've avoided implementing simple, consumer-centric solutions (e.g., WiFi syncing to iPhones, iPods, and iPads from Macs/PCs) so they could build the infrastructure necessary to implement an Apple-centric approach. The $1 billion data center they're building in North Carolina is obviously for something bigger than just music streaming.

It's likely that Apple will try to pull more customers into Ping and MobileMe. Whereas Google has to implement roundabout connectors to allow users to synchronize their calendars and office documents, Apple actually controls the OS and APIs used on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Apple could simply force all applications, including 3rd party applications on the iPad and iPhone, to use Apple's cloud data store by changing the SDKs and development agreements for their iOS devices.

In iOS and in Mac OS 10.7 Lion, a multitasking application is supposed to gracefully "suspend" when a user switches to another application. If the application isn't used for a while, iOS/Lion actually can save its state and reallocate its resources for other applications to use. In Lion, this has even lead Apple to remove the open application indicator lights from the dock. In Apple's new computing paradigm, applications merely have a "state," they're never "closed" or "opened."

Now, imagine Apple extending this paradigm to applications running across devices. An end user could open a document for editing in Pages on her office Mac, then, without doing anything, could leave work, open Pages on her iPad on the train home, continue editing the same document, and so on. If data and application states are synchronized through the cloud, users don't have to worry about file versioning, backup, etc. The possibilities become even greater when multiple applications and file sharing with multiple users are involved.

Apple is in the best position to make this sort of computing paradigm possible, since they already have such large markeshare across multiple devices.

Having wireless carriers' cooperation in providing lots of cheap bandwidth to customers will be critical in enabling their vision. In this regard, Apple has recently moved from being at the mercy of a single carrier (AT&T) to having leverage over two carriers (AT&T and Verizon). The WiFi hotspot feature that Apple has just added to the

Hi, everyone. Reading articles about Apple's Post-PC outlook (such as this one), it's interesting to think about where Apple is headed, as it provides a good context for their recent announcements.

First, it should be clear that Apple wants to extend their walled-garden approach to their entire line of products. This would allow them to provide a consistent user interface and good interoperability (something they'll continue to tout to sell consumers on their Post-PC products). It will also allow Apple to translate success in one area (e.g., strong iPad sales) into other markets (e.g., stronger Mac sales with Lion's interface echoing the iPad's). Finally, it will allow Apple to monetize other services (as they already have with 3rd party application and subscription sales).

At the iPad 2 announcement, Jobs gleefully boasted that Apple has the largest number of registered user accounts with credit cards of any online vendor, and Apple's certainly interested in billing those accounts as much as possible.

One obvious area where Apple could try to pull ahead is in data storage and synchronization. Apple is actually worse at this right now than many other vendors (e.g., using iTunes to get a Word document onto an iPad), as they've avoided implementing simple, consumer-centric solutions (e.g., WiFi syncing to iPhones, iPods, and iPads from Macs/PCs) so they could build the infrastructure necessary to implement an Apple-centric approach. The $1 billion data center they're building in North Carolina is obviously for something bigger than just music streaming.

It's likely that Apple will try to pull more customers into Ping and MobileMe. Whereas Google has to implement roundabout connectors to allow users to synchronize their calendars and office documents, Apple actually controls the OS and APIs used on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Apple could simply force all applications, including 3rd party applications on the iPad and iPhone, to use Apple's cloud data store by changing the SDKs and development agreements for their iOS devices.

In iOS and in Mac OS 10.7 Lion, a multitasking application is supposed to gracefully "suspend" when a user switches to another application. If the application isn't used for a while, iOS/Lion actually can save its state and reallocate its resources for other applications to use. In Lion, this has even lead Apple to remove the open application indicator lights from the dock. In Apple's new computing paradigm, applications merely have a "state," they're never "closed" or "opened."

Now, imagine Apple extending this paradigm to applications running across devices. An end user could open a document for editing in Pages on her office Mac, then, without doing anything, could leave work, open Pages on her iPad on the train home, continue editing the same document, and so on. If data and application states are synchronized through the cloud, users don't have to worry about file versioning, backup, etc. The possibilities become even greater when multiple applications and file sharing with multiple users are involved.

Apple is in the best position to make this sort of computing paradigm possible, since they already have such large markeshare across multiple devices.

Having wireless carriers' cooperation in providing lots of cheap bandwidth to customers will be critical in enabling their vision. In this regard, Apple has recently moved from being at the mercy of a single carrier (AT&T) to having leverage over two carriers (AT&T and Verizon). The WiFi hotspot feature that Apple has just added to the

Hi, everyone. Reading articles about Apple's Post-PC outlook (such as this one), it's interesting to think about where Apple is headed, as it provides a good context for their recent announcements.

First, it should be clear that Apple wants to extend their walled-garden approach to their entire line of products. This would allow them to provide a consistent user interface and good interoperability (something they'll continue to tout to sell consumers on their Post-PC products). It will also allow Apple to translate success in one area (e.g., strong iPad sales) into other markets (e.g., stronger Mac sales with Lion's interface echoing the iPad's). Finally, it will allow Apple to monetize other services (as they already have with 3rd party application and subscription sales).

At the iPad 2 announcement, Jobs gleefully boasted that Apple has the largest number of registered user accounts with credit cards of any online vendor, and Apple's certainly interested in billing those accounts as much as possible.

One obvious area where Apple could try to pull ahead is in data storage and synchronization. Apple is actually worse at this right now than many other vendors (e.g., using iTunes to get a Word document onto an iPad), as they've avoided implementing simple, consumer-centric solutions (e.g., WiFi syncing to iPhones, iPods, and iPads from Macs/PCs) so they could build the infrastructure necessary to implement an Apple-centric approach. The $1 billion data center they're building in North Carolina is obviously for something bigger than just music streaming.

It's likely that Apple will try to pull more customers into Ping and MobileMe. Whereas Google has to implement roundabout connectors to allow users to synchronize their calendars and office documents, Apple actually controls the OS and APIs used on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Apple could simply force all applications, including 3rd party applications on the iPad and iPhone, to use Apple's cloud data store by changing the SDKs and development agreements for their iOS devices.

In iOS and in Mac OS 10.7 Lion, a multitasking application is supposed to gracefully "suspend" when a user switches to another application. If the application isn't used for a while, iOS/Lion actually can save its state and reallocate its resources for other applications to use. In Lion, this has even lead Apple to remove the open application indicator lights from the dock. In Apple's new computing paradigm, applications merely have a "state," they're never "closed" or "opened."

Now, imagine Apple extending this paradigm to applications running across devices. An end user could open a document for editing in Pages on her office Mac, then, without doing anything, could leave work, open Pages on her iPad on the train home, continue editing the same document, and so on. If data and application states are synchronized through the cloud, users don't have to worry about file versioning, backup, etc. The possibilities become even greater when multiple applications and file sharing with multiple users are involved.

Apple is in the best position to make this sort of computing paradigm possible, since they already have such large markeshare across multiple devices.

Having wireless carriers' cooperation in providing lots of cheap bandwidth to customers will be critical in enabling their vision. In this regard, Apple has recently moved from being at the mercy of a single carrier (AT&T) to having leverage over two carriers (AT&T and Verizon). The WiFi hotspot feature that Apple has just added to the

For now you can "still get Opera the old fashioned way."
Soon Apple will be http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/03/editorial-its-apples-post-pc-world-were-all-just-living/
"Apple doesn't just want to own the market -- it wants to own the idea of the market." ie a big tamperproof vending machine?

My guess is that they just "copied & pasted" the idea from Brenden Malacuso's Recompute. Very cheezy, Asus, to take that to market without paying a royalty to the guy who came up with the idea, or at least a tip of the hat & a mention in your marketing materials. I think I'll put my next GIGABYTE mobo in a case based on Brenden's design, homemade from my own leftover moving & Newegg shipping boxes, and see if I can find a "donate" link to offer Brenden a modest reward for his ingenuity. Asus: give credit where credit is due; you just happened to come out with this design less than four weeks after engadget.com features it? I call BS. You stole that design.

If you still have your iPad and haven't upgraded to something new by the time the battery dies, Apple sends you a replacement iPad (not a replacement battery, but an whole new iPad) for $99.

Sure a battery probably isn't $99, but you get a new iPad with a new battery. Sounds like a deal to me.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/13/dead-ipad-battery-never-mind-replacing-it-apple-just-sends-ano/

I love how Apple is always one step ahead of the nay-sayers.

I'd buy the first tab that lets me read book-quality text, Apple, Android, or whatever.

Have you looked at the Barnes and Noble Nook Color? Sure it has to be rooted to become the full tablet it was destined to be but the display is simply fantastic IMO. And at $199 on eBay right now it's definitely the lowest priced good quality tablet around. You don't get a camera or cellular data and you have to depend on XDA devs for blue-tooth and upgrades but I haven't regretted getting one.

Case in point

Just because that one website displayed a prompt, and let you know what it was doing, doesn't mean others will. Stuff can get by Apple's review system too. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/handy-light-for-iphones-dirty-little-secret-tethering-video/4

I was disappointed to read that the dock actually has a beefier processor for the webtop, which was contrary to what I had thought. I went back to my original info on the Atrix and I think this reviewer doesn't know WTF they're talking about. According to Motorola at CES, all of the processing is done on the phone itself; the desktop dock is just a port port replicator and USB hub and the lapdock serves the same function, but has the actual I/O devices and a battery to power everything and charge the phone. I recommend watching the videos at the following links:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-atrix-4g-hd-multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/09/motorola-atrix-another-look-video/

I any case, I think it's a great idea that will only get better as it matures. I don't see this as killing off the desktop and laptop just yet, but I'd anticipate it would take over marketshare down the road. Personally I could see it replacing my work laptop, but nothing else. Outside of work, most of the stuff I do on my computer can be accomplished within a web browser, media player, or an app from the Market. For anything beyond that, I can RDP into my desktop at home (tunneling over SSH if remote) or a work computer/server (VPN if remote).

My employer provides me with a laptop so I have all of my tools and crap with me if an emergency arises when I'm out of the office. Beyond a big networking issue, I really don't have a need for a laptop when I could have a Webtop on my phone with a laptop-esq dock and a powerful desktop to remote into.

I was disappointed to read that the dock actually has a beefier processor for the webtop, which was contrary to what I had thought. I went back to my original info on the Atrix and I think this reviewer doesn't know WTF they're talking about. According to Motorola at CES, all of the processing is done on the phone itself; the desktop dock is just a port port replicator and USB hub and the lapdock serves the same function, but has the actual I/O devices and a battery to power everything and charge the phone. I recommend watching the videos at the following links:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-atrix-4g-hd-multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/09/motorola-atrix-another-look-video/

I any case, I think it's a great idea that will only get better as it matures. I don't see this as killing off the desktop and laptop just yet, but I'd anticipate it would take over marketshare down the road. Personally I could see it replacing my work laptop, but nothing else. Outside of work, most of the stuff I do on my computer can be accomplished within a web browser, media player, or an app from the Market. For anything beyond that, I can RDP into my desktop at home (tunneling over SSH if remote) or a work computer/server (VPN if remote).

My employer provides me with a laptop so I have all of my tools and crap with me if an emergency arises when I'm out of the office. Beyond a big networking issue, I really don't have a need for a laptop when I could have a Webtop on my phone with a laptop-esq dock and a powerful desktop to remote into.

http://www.engadget.com/motorola/atrix-4g-review/

Which other companies are happy to help with:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/28/advancetcs-4-8-inch-tabletphone-runs-windows-7-on-a-1-6ghz-atom/

A large-ish (for smart phone norms) device that runs Windows 7 and has phone capabilities, including wake-on-SMS/Call to keep some semblance of battery life. It can also have monitor, keyboard and mouse hooked up to it and act as a 'desktop'.

I'd imagine it'd be quite annoying to actually work with, if they ever actually make it available, but I'm liking the direction that mobile devices like these (including the Atrix) are taking.