Apple's Ipad has finally Arrived

After so much waiting and so many rumors over the last year, the Apple tablet has finally arrived!

Today was a big day for Steve Jobs and his $90 billion worth company, as it was the announcement of its much anticipated baby, the Ipad, which according to him it's designed to fill the perceived gap between the smartphone and the laptop.

As the Apple website describes it:

"The best way to experience the web, email, photos and video.  Hands down.  All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these that apps you can’t do on any other device."

Without doubt this is the must have "IT" item right now!

Prices range from: $499 - $829

Check out a comprehensive guide on this awesome new gadget from our tech friends after the jump: Mashable.

CES 2010: Where was Apple and Google? [Nexus One & 'iSlate' REPORT]

This year's Consumer Electronics Show came to an close this past Sunday with more than 100,000 tech addicts descending upon the showrooms in Las Vegas to check out the latest gadgets to hit showrooms in 2010.  Even though CES has been known as the perfect platform for developers and tech companies alike to showcase and launch their newest products to the market, two notable tech giants decided not to be present at this event to launch two of the most anticipated gadgets for the new year.

The focus this year at CES was heavy on the latest in computer technology and 3D-TVs and cameras, which after the huge success of Avatar, 3D is here to stay and promises to be a BIG player in the market this year.  But where were the big players like Apple and Google and their new gadgets that everyone can't wait to get their hands on?

BIG ABSENTEES

Google's newest buzzing phone, the Nexus One smartphone, launched this past Tuesday in a press conference from Mountain View, California, to which many tech lovers tuned-in on their computers to watch despite the fact that a lot them were headed to CES.  Even though Google had a booth at CES with the Nexus One showing, it's a bit odd that the online leader didn't choose it as its launching platform on Tuesday.
So, to many CES attendees this may have been a let down considering the impressive buzz the Nexus One had leading into the Consumer Electronic Show.  Google's decision had to have been strategic, as everything they do is almost perfectly executed.

The other big absent player was Apple; they have the much anticipated tablet, which its long-rumored to launch in early 2010.  Indeed, its probable name ''iSlate'', is set to finally be unveiled in San Francisco at the end of this month, January 27th to be exact.  The same way Apple has revolutionized the smartphone mobile market with the Iphone, as well as digital music with MP3 players with their Ipods, their tablet is expected to have a similar effect in the market.  Granted, Amazon and Sony were in the space before Apple, but there is so much room for improvement and innovation, territory that Steve Jobs and his team I am sure seeks to occupy.

But, again; why not be present at CES and use this platform as the launching place?  Apple the same way as Google, must have his reasons.

GOOGLE
What's interesting to note here is that Google now has become a major player in the mobile market, as well as in pretty much everything else, and they want to take things to the next level with their Nexus One.  This is just a few months after the launch of their ''Droid'' smartphone, that has sought to directly compete with the Iphone and challenge to dethrone it as a major player in the space.  
Furthermore, the ''Droid Does'' marketing campaign powered by Google and its latest mobile partner Verizon loudly demanding Apple's attention was clearly the defining moment for Google.  The ''Droid'' and the "Android" platform speaks for itself, it provides simple usability to the user and it's very accessible to everyone, making it a one place sort of shop--Google search, mobile, maps, mail, etc.  And this is something that Apple should perhaps learn from, this means no lucking of phone features or rejection of submitted useful applications like 'Google Voice'.

Google Nexus One
Google's Nexus One phone is thinner than the iPhone, it's an Android-powered phone and it's part of the ecosystem that it's growing very rapidly, with more than 20,000 applications and counting.  Many of which are a lot more useful than all those Iphone apps found on the Apple App Store.  This certainly puts Google in a special place, as the most innovative and accessible player in the mobile OS market.

APPLE

On the Apple front, their tablet promises to be sleek and elegant, lightweight and minimalist.  The new device will boast a 10-11 inch screen, surf the web, play video games, watch multimedia, read e-books and possibly run on the Iphone Apps platform, which will be a BIG deal for Apple, as it counts with over 100,000 apps so far.  Steve Jobs and his team I am sure have much bigger prospects, which would entail opening their Itunes store to their big music market and expand their reach by including E-books, newspapers and magazines to be available via the same ecosystem and have make these fit to their table screens.  This will not only make it a major player in the market and compete directly with Amazon for the customer base in the space, but also would guarantee an important place among publishers, as they will go with whomever captures the biggest critical mass appeal and largest customer base.  So, the battle between Google and Apple overall, will not only be limited to technology, but will extend to their content and its partners and the role those will play in shaping each of their product's place in the marketplace.  Stay tuned for the BIG launch coming at the end of the month...it promises to be worth it!

It's remarkable how Google and Apple, the two most promising brands out there coming up with innovative products, technology and services to the world, are now going head to head in the marketplace.  And the power of Google seems to be unstoppable, as demonstrated with Dell's Android operated tablet launching at CES this year, which validates the big strides Google is making in every market and gadget territory.

Best of CES 2010
Despite these two major gadgets absentees, other big players decided to be present at CES this year and capitalized on the buzz surrounding smartphones and tablet prototypes, as it was the case of a Windows 7 device from HP and an Android tablet from Dell.  So, from 3D TVs to next-generation e-readers, these were the products that we can’t wait to see on store shelves in 2010.  Check out the top tech products at this year's show courtesy of Digital Trends:

Asus NX90

Toshiba Cell TVs

Samsung LED 9000 Series

Plastic Logic Que E-Reader

Panasonic 3D Camcorder

Spring Design Alex E-Reader

Motorola BackFlip

D-Link Boxee Box

Lenovo X100e

Kodak PlaySport

 

Scarlett Johansson CAN Sing!

Last year I heard from a friend about Scarlett Johansson becoming a singer and releasing her debut album, and I didn't take him seriously, as actors often times don't make good singers.  But to my surprise; I was wrong, as there are exceptions to the rule!


I have recently heard Pete Yorn's and Scarlett Johansson's musical collaboration entitled "Relator", the single of their album called: "Break Up".  The song is pretty good and Johansson's voice is quite nice...it sort of reminds me of Feist.


The girl can not only act, model, look good, but she can also SING...now, that's what you call a ''triple threat!"


Check out the music video below and you be the judge:

Apple's much Anticipated Tablet is Set to Launch Spring 2010 Plus MORE...

The latter part of 2010 wasn't the best time for Apple and one of its biggest gadgets, the Iphone; this was largely due to the much anticipated release of Google's operated Droid running on the Verizon network and manufactured by Motorola. The Droid has had strong sales so far, reaching one million units since its launch early this Fall. This is an impressive outcome for a newcomer, but then again Google is behind it, and having it run on Verizon is a big PLUS for them. The Droid was also recently distinguished by Time Magazine and being named the number one Gadget of the Year, and relegating the Iphone to 4th place.

But it's not all rosy for the Droid, as Time goes further to say and experts in the field agree with, as explained by Pete Cashmore of Mashable.com:

The Motorola phone on the Verizon network is a great device on the best network, TIME argues, making it the obvious choice despite being new to the market.

TIME writes:

Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don’t miss it. The Droid’s touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and, best of all, the Droid is on Verizon’s best-of-breed 3G network.

We tend to agree; the Droid is a fantastic phone and a poster child for Google’s Android OS. Nonetheless, it’ll seem a lot less appealing next year if the iPhone finally comes to Verizon. We still think the iPhone is a superior phone, albeit on an inferior network.

HERE IS A RECAP...

The Iphone suffered from some negative buzz surrounding its App Store decision of rejecting Google Voice's app on their store and being still only available on AT&T, whose network is not nearly as efficient as Verizon's. And this was followed of course by a ad battle between both carriers flaunting who is better, and in the end Verizon prevailed.

So, disenchanted Iphone users and unhappy AT&T customers decided to leave them and make the switch, and some of them seem happy but not fully satisfied!

The question now is what's in store for Apple?

Well, there have been rumors about the Iphone running on Verizon and the release of a much anticipated tablet...what's to make of this?

These rumors are true and expected to finally happen in 2010.

So even though the Droid was the "IT" gadget to have and garnered the most attention the end of 2010, Apple is coming back with bigger and better things in 2010!

Apple's exclusive contract with AT&T expires next year and an improved and better Iphone will be released come 2010 to run on the biggest mobile network in the country.

The release date is rumored to be Summer/Fall of next year...stay tuned!

And as for the Apple Tablet; it's said to be ready for launch in Spring of 2010.

Charlie Sorrel of Wired.com further explains:

Yair Reiner, an analyst for Oppenheimer, has lit some incense, drained his tea-cup and stared deep into the pattern of the remaining leaves. The fates have thus communicated to him the following “fact”: Apple will ship a 10.1-inch touch-screen tablet in spring 2010.

The average reader of the average gadget-blog knows more about the real workings of the tech world than even the best of analysts (or “prophets” as I prefer to call them). But we shall humor Uncle Yair, and present here his rock-solid inferences, based on the study not of actual tea-leaves, but of his supply-chain contacts.

The Jesus-tablet will use an LTPS (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon) LCD like that of the iPhone instead of a pricier OLED display, and if Apple wants to have enough in stock to meet demand (at a projected manufacturing speed of a million units per month) then a launch date in March or April is likely.

The price? The same as a MacBook with a full keyboard, or $1,000. This would be the perfect price for Apple to charge if it didn’t want to sell any.

Reiner goes on to speculate that book publishers, “disgruntled by Amazon’s terms” which give the publisher just 70% of revenue on an exclusive deal, prefer the numbers offered by Apple. And what is this sweet, sweet deal from Apple? An “App Store-type 30/70 split.” Can you spot the difference? Me either.

By now, we’re pretty sure that we’ll see an Apple tablet soon, probably in the first half of the year (spring for tablets, summer for iPhones, autumn for iPods, and Macs when they are ready). We’re also sure that until it is actually announced by Apple, every week will bring further groping guesses about this tech-unicorn, in increasingly desperate attempts to drum up publicity (December 9, 2009).

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THESE EVENTS HAPPEN NEXT YEAR!

New DROID Release - Will it be the Iphone Killer?

The New Droid phone from Google by Motorola officially landed today offered with the Verizon network. There has certainly been a lot of buzz surrounding this release, to the point that disheartened AT&T and in some cases Apple users are defecting to try this hot new alternative phone in the mobile market. Well, there are many reasons as to why to may be and here are just a few: first, Apple's rejecting of Google Voice's application to run on the Iphone system, this certainly created a lot of bad sentiment against Apple, to the extent that FCC had to get involved in an investigation as we all know; second, Apple's restrictions and unwilling to open up its system and release all the current updates and capabilities that the Iphone may offer, instead of releasing and opening things up so slowly, which in some cases cause users to jail brake their phones or simply switch to the Android system; and lastly, the AT&T network and the services which is second to Verizon and non-existent or lack of customer service.


So, this takes us to the Iphone's prospective future...will the new Droid dethrone it from its place in the market? Well, as many editors and bloggers have expressed in their reviews of the Droid and comparison to the Iphone; the new Android device is not really a threat to the Iphone and by no means it's BETTER than Apple's Iphone. The Iphone is much sleeker, smoother, has a humongous app store, has a huge market share and it's Apple, among many other factors!
The Droid is a much more functional phone in that is open and has no many restrictions and limitations to its users, Android app center is smaller, but has a much more qualitative number of useful apps and is part of Google, which without question is always on the online/internet technology forefront!


My verdict is that the new Droid has come at a very good time and has made a very clever choice by going with Verizon. Apple's Iphone and it's reputation has been tarnishing a bit in the last few months and having an exclusive contract with AT&T most certainly DOES NOT HELP!
AT&T's actual submergence in the mobile market is due largely thanks to the Iphone, which has made a incomparable impact to the mobile market and its devices by introducing a revolutionary smart phone that has almost everything!

By no means the Droid will be an Iphone killer; it will just become an alternative to mobile users out there and it's nice to see a more 'realistic' challenger to Apple's phone because up to this point the only that would come anywhere near is the Blackberry, but again is a whole different market and phone. Competition will be good for all parties involved in the mobile industry, which has proven to be one of the fastest growing forms of media these days--along with social media.


Even though that skeptics and Apple haters think the Iphone ''sucks'', like this blogger from the UK recently called it the ''worst mobile phone ever!"; Apple is by no means in trouble.
Apple's contract with AT&T will finally expire at the end of next year and rumors has it that they will go with Verizon next, not to mention the next Iphone update will prove to everyone why Apple is the choice for many. Even though the most recent ad campaign for the Droid makes fun of the Iphone and gives it a bad name--with the help of Verizon--it's only a transitory stunt that Verizon seems to have pulled to make a bigger buzz and catch Apple's attention.


So, I can't wait to see the new Iphone update and what is has to offer and once it's offered by Verizon switched to them and have a much better phone service altogether.

For more on these rumors read on this article from my friends at Mashable...





IPHONE COMING TO VERIZON IN 2010 [RUMOR]
Many signs point to the Apple and AT&T agreement that makes the latter the exclusive carrier of the iPhone within the US coming to an end within the next year.

For starters, non-exclusivity has been profitable for Apple in other parts of the world. Moreover, even AT&T’s CEO acknowledges the deal won’t last forever.

And while Verizon might be all about showing off what Droid does right now, a new report suggests it could become the first carrier other than AT&T to offer iPhone on American soil, starting in the second half of 2010.

According to a report obtained by Apple Insider, “Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to all carriers, and specifically to Verizon Wireless in the US” – the significance of CDMA being that it’s the standard that Verizon’s network uses, versus AT&T’s GSM.

As you might suspect, there’s currently no comment from Apple or Verizon, but it’s not the first time the two companies have been linked. Just last month, a report surfaced suggesting that Verizon and Apple were already testing a 4G version of the iPhone. While we await more details, we can’t help but be amused by how we might end up looking back at the current attack ad battle taking place between Verizon, AT&T, and Apple if a Verizon iPhone comes to fruition.

CAN'T WAIT FOR IT!!!

Free WIFI Offered by Airlines

Free WIFI on Airlines across the US?

Wait a minute isn't this already available? Well, we may be thinking of the rest of the world, as the U.S. seems to be lagging behind in technology; namely internet access, speed, etc!

Nevertheless, the news are good for us I guess...read on this article from my friend's a Mashable.

Ads On a Plane: Free WIFI Coming to Airlines

October 7, 2009, by Barb Dybwab

Mobile media company JiWire and satellite broadband provider Row 44 are teaming up to deliver an in-flight Wi-Fi system that will come to you for free via advertising support.

Southwest and Alaska Airlines have already begun to test the new service, which will make it possible for advertisers to target the coveted “business traveler” demographic in exchange for free Wi-Fi. The system is expected to launch fully on at least those two airlines this fall.

The company doesn’t specify exactly how the ads will appear, whether via pre-rolls or some sort of browser framing experience. Row 44’s Skytown Center is mentioned as one place where ads will appear — a virtual shopping mall and content portal unique to specific airlines. Perhaps a mandatory stroll through the virtual mall will be required for entry into the wild and wooly internets.

The service sounds like a boon to consumers, who will benefit from free Wi-Fi (that’s hopefully not too caged by the ad experience). It should be a good opportunity for advertisers as well considering a recent study by the Wi-Fi Alliance showing that 76% of business travelers would pick an airline based on Wi-Fi, and more than 70% would choose Wi-Fi over a meal service.

When you travel, do you pick your flights based on Wi-Fi availability? Would you leap at the chance for a free hot-spot in the air, or are you content to shell out a few bucks for an ad-free experience? Let us know in the comments.

GOOD TIMES!!!

Top Five Acts at this Year's MTV VMAs

Sitting on my couch with no much to do on a Sunday night, it's no surprise, as there is often not much on TV. But, last night was an exception! While flipping through the channels I found out that the MTV Video Movie Awards were being telecasted and I was curious to see what the '80s hit channel had to offer this time around, as it has failed to delivered to its audience for quite sometime now. To my surprise, the show was actually quite entertaining and well done! It certainly helped having an impressive roster of talent in attendance.



So, here are my Top Five Acts of the evening:

FIRST with no doubt, MUSE!!!
The VERY talented British trio made its American television debut with "Uprising", the first single from their latest kick-ass album called: "Resistance", which released this week in the UK.
They sounded terrific and they have yet to disappoint! I have seem them perform live once and I was blown away by their incredible talent and their great show...see it for your self here, as they take over NYC and its street!

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

SECOND, Beyonce with "Single Ladies"; she really got into it with some sexy hot moves!
And she get bonus points on my book for being so classy when she received her award toward the middle of the show and asked Taylor Swift to come out and finish her speech that was rudely interrupted earlier in the show.

Beyoncé - New Music - More Music Videos

THIRD, Lady Gaga's bloody performance and outlandish costumes...she's VERY STRANGE!

Lady Gaga - New Music - More Music Videos

FOURTH, Pink's "Sober" performance that left everyone very impressed with her singing and trapeze pirouettes coordination and physical strength!

P!nk - New Music - More Music Videos

AND FINALLY, Kanye West's at his RUDEST EVER!
He jumps on stage to grab the microphone away from Taylor Swift--who has an tremendously HUGE fan base--to say that Beyonce's video was better and should have won, simply speechless!
Kanye West has truly lost it this time...he seems to be able to outdo himself with arrogantly rude stunts, see it for yourself:

MTV Shows

AND THAT'S MY UPDATE!