iPad is No. 1 on Mossberg’s Best Of 2010 List
Apple’s iPad has been named by the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg as the #1 best product of 2010 with the iPhone 4 tied in third place along with the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone. Mossberg’s ‘Best of List’ also included 4G wireless networks.
“For a 1.0 product, the iPad was amazing,” Mr. Mossberg said. “With the new iOS 4.2 operating system and its huge selection of Apps, the iPad continues to stay ahead of the competition.”
Since it was launched in April 2010, Apple’s multimedia tablet has surged to popularity and continues to be the object of fervent consumer interest. iPad sales continue to soar even with rumors of a new model coming soon with a built-in camera circulating around the Internet.
Meanwhile, the Dell Streak tablet topped Mr. Mossberg’s worst products of 2010 list. The worst of list also included Google TV and the TiVO Premier.
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Apple’s Next-Gen iPad to have Three models?
The latest iPad rumor: in addition to the existing Wi-Fi-only and UMTS models, Apple’s forthcoming second-generation iPad will also have a third, Verizon-compatible CDMA version.
DigiTimes, a Taiwanese industry publication has reported Tuesday that Apple is expected to build Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA models of the next iPad in a respective build ratio of 3:4:3. Production of the device is expected to begin in the first half of January, with about a half-million iPads expected to be assembled.
Between 60 and 65 percent of current iPad shipments are the UMTS 3G model, the report claimed. As a result, Apple is expected to work even more closely with wireless partners for the second-generation tablet.
“In addition to wireless functions, Apple is also working on strengthening the iPad 2′s anti-smudge and anti-reflective treatments in order to compete against Kindle and attract more consumers,” the report said.
Apple will also allegedly produce about 40 million iPads in 2011, according to the report’s sources. This would account for as much as three-quarters of the tablet market, though this estimate is significantly lower than the 6 million per month capacity reported by DigiTimes earlier this month.
DigiTimes has also reported earlier this month that has Apple passed on an active-matrix organic LED display in its second-generation iPad because of constrained supplies of the displays. Those insufficient supplies have reportedly prompted Apple to stick with a backlit LCD display for the forthcoming device.
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IBM Predicts Holographic Cellphones in the Next 5 Years
In a move that takes us straight into a Star Wars-like future, IBM has predicted that holographic cellphone conversations, in which users will view one another’s image via 3D projector, will be a reality in… five years.
Apparently this is one of several future technologies IBM has predicted in its latest “Next Five in Five” report, which lists the innovations that could change our lives over the next five years.
IBM forecasts that soon video chat will evolve into holographic communications. The technology will reportedly use light beams scattered from objects and reconstruct them into a picture of that object, similar to the method the human eye uses to visualize its surroundings.
In case you were thinking that this is just another one of those internet jokes, scientists at IBM Research are apparently now working on new ways to visualize 3D data–developing technology that allows engineers to step inside designs of everything from buildings to software programs.
Of course there will be road blocks along the way before the technology could be used in the real world. But you have to admit, the idea isn’t too far-fetched. Or unexciting.
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