What's a gadget blog without Apple's latest "creation".  You've likely been bombarded by iPad news and discussion, so I'll just leave you with the best blog post I've found about it thus far:

http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/various_ipad_thoughts

More info about Apple's iPad

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Folks at Mac Observer had also claimed last week that they had received photographs (as seen below) of the glass to be used in Apple Tablet from a trusted source:



Well, this has been quite the story.  In development for over a year, Michael Arrington (the TechCrunch blog founder and editor) thought he could become a hardware designer and hired Fusion Garage to build his version of the internet tablet.  Well, last week Mr. A wrote a not-so-nice blog post about the dissolution of the relationship and the ensuing legal battle.

The product, however, appears to be gorgeous and the new teaser site (shown above) lists this week for a lauch.  Head over to the thejoojoo.com to sign up for email updates.  We've heard it's going to list for $499, but who knows if the lawyers will stop it from even being purchased.

Whatever happens, it's truly a shame that greed and ego overtook the product because I, for one, would have shelled out my hard-earned cash for this if it worked (apparently boots up in 9 seconds directly to a web broswer; no traditional OS experience).

Hit up the comments for your thoughts on the matter.

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This video is pretty amazing.  I still see a few failings of the software, but so far the best out there right now.  I have a feeling that Apple is struggling with the same concept for their fabled tablet...

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

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Wow, this thing is absolutely stunning.  Be sure to hit the break for more pic porn.  Please Alloy, here our call and move this into production!

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Interesting read from the New York Times today on the state of the tablet debate and Apple's rumored participation:

Source:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/technology/05tablet.html?_r=2

SAN FRANCISCO — The high-tech industry has been working itself into paroxysms of excitement lately over an idea that is not exactly new: tablet computers.

 

Quietly, several high-tech companies are lining up to deliver versions of these keyboard-free, touch-screen portable machines in the next few months. Industry watchers have their eye on Apple in particular to sell such a device by early next year.

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I’m going to try writing longer form stuff for the weekends, sort of to stretch the old mental legs a bit and share a bit of the stuff that is floating through my transom, man, about tech and especially mobile and portable electronics.

Come back with me to 2001. A young man got up on stage one afternoon in November to announce something new and amazing: an operating system dedicated to tablet computing. That young man was Microsoft’s Bill Gates and that operating system was Windows XP Tablet PC edition.

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It feels like the whole world is holding its breath for the Apple tablet. But maybe we've all been dreaming about the wrong device. This is Courier, Microsoft's astonishing take on the tablet. Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the "late prototype" stage of development. It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre. Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft's brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who's spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies. Microsoft has a history of collaborating with other firms, especially in the E&D division: Zune and Xbox have both gone through similar design processes. (And plans for the Microsoft Store leaked through a third-party agency were confirmed as genuine prototype layouts and concepts.) This video is branded Pioneer Studios, a Microsoft division within E&D that specializes in this kind of work, working with another agency that's a long-time Microsoft collaborator on confidential projects. The Courier user experience presented here is almost the exact opposite of what everyone expects the Apple tablet to be, a kung fu eagle claw to Apple's tiger style. It's complex: Two screens, a mashup of a pen-dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications. (Our favorite UI bit? The hinge doubles as a "pocket" to hold items you want move from one page to another.) Microsoft's tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we've seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD. Over the next couple days we'll be diving much, much deeper into Courier, so stay tuned. Via Gizmodo

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By definition, the Qi Smartbook U1000 isn't a smartbook. It's more like a touchscreen MID, but we'll let the semantics slide (just this once). Based on a 624MHz CPU, Windows Mobile 6.1 and a 5-inch touch panel (800 x 480), this Chinese device is also equipped with WiFi and a mysterious camera 'round back. Sadly, that's about all we know, but those who find themselves in Shenzhen should definitely check it out. Just be wary of those KIRFs -- we hear they're kind of prevalent over there. Via Gizmodo

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The 4.8-inch screen tablet won't get full Flash support until December-ish, but you can slap down your plastic now if you don't wanna wait: 160GB ($330), 500GB ($430), 32GB SSD ($380). No word yet on the shipping date.

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