Engadget reported that, to their surprise, the Win 7 HP Slate is still kicking. HP officially confirmed this morning that the product is still very much in the works. The outfits not sharing much, but a spokesperson from its Personal Systems group did tell us that theyre “in customer evaluations now and will make a determination soon on the next steps.”
You may recall that HP and Microsoft announced the product at CES and ever since it’s survival was under question. It is still no sealed as dead yet… but I have my reservation as to what kind of success such a tablet will have given that it runs Windows 7. The secret sauce of the iPad is iOS 4… a lean and mean OS made for touch devices. Windows 7 is far from lean… but it is for sure mean
Netflix NFLX spokesman Steve Swasey confirms that the Canada move will be the extent of the company’s international forays this year. Still, it’s expansion, right? It’s also worth noting that Canadian customers will only be able to subscribe to the Web offering, but still won’t be able to get Netflix DVDs via the email. It’s the first time that Netflix has offered a streaming-only service. Netflix’ release doesn’t have many other specifics, like price, the size of the catalog that the company will offer, or the exact date it will be available.
Apparently the service won’t be of any use to American subscribers who visit their neighbors up north. Blame licensing restrictions, per usual.
Cult of Mac wrote an interesting piece of news reporting that Apple will have no choice but to recall all current iPhone 4 to protect it’s brand.
Could this spell delay for Canadians iPhone 4 consumers? Maybe. It all depends if Apple can provide a software fix that will work around the “Antenna” issue when holding the iPhone in a particular way. This is often referred as the “Death grip”.
This could prove serious to Apple and is currently damaging it’s reputation. A swift action is expected and may involve a complete product recall. It is also possible that Apple may provide a temporary solution in the form of a “bumper case” that happen to prevent shorting the antenna by isolating the metal components from the hand holding the phone.
I was going to buy one on the launch date in Canada but now I have some doubts. I mean, who want to buy a flawed phone. It might be the best darn phone out there for everything else but… reception.
I just looked at the Android offering and I must say that I am disapointed. OK, it look like a good OS but all the hardware that run it appear to be flawed in their own way… Short battery life, bad screen, bulky, slow, etc, etc.
So I don’t know, maybe after all even a flawed iPhone 4 is still better than the best Android phone for now.
Here is a short walk around video of the Cisco Cius:
1st impression is that is it small, very small. Not sure I would like to trade my iPad for it. It also look pretty cheapy compared to the iPad. A lot of plastic and the seames ane not lining up very tightly. I hope this is just a fact that this is a demo unit and that he final product will have a “tighter” look to it.
Thickness wise it look to be about twice as thick as the iPad… so loosing points here. The tablet is positioned by Cisco for the enterprise and this is a good thing because I can’t see someone wanting this over an iPad (unless they are Android fans).
The UI on display look very iPhonish. Too bad we where not allowed to play with the actual thing.
Update:
Here are the specs for the unit:
Android and features a 7-inch high-resolution color screen
Intel Atom 1.6-GHz processor
32GB of flash memory to store marketplace apps
a detachable/replaceable 8-hour battery
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and 3G/4G data
Cisco collaboration applications
an HD soundstation, HD audio
720p HD video with Cisco TelePresence for video conferencing and integrated security
I am a bit puzzled by the Atom 1.6Ghz processor. Atom and battery life don’t go along so well… but Cisco claim 8 hours of battery life… so.
It is official, Apple now announced that commitment-free iPhone 4 will soon be available on the Canadian Apple Store.
This is how Apple describe the iPhones purchased via the online store:
Your new iPhone. Direct from Apple and ready to use.
When you purchase your iPhone from the Apple Online Store, you’ll get it commitment-free. So you can sign up for service with the carrier of your choice and change your carrier at any time. Questions? Call our iPhone experts at 1-800-MY-APPLE.
Based on current pricing for the 3GS it is expected that the 16GB iPhone 4 will run for $649.00
Hardmac is reporting that a trusted source revealed that OSX might be re-branded under the iOS banner. The different iOS familly of products would be known as “iOS desktop, iOS server and iOS mobile”.
Would this mean that Apple would allow the familly of iOS applications on the app store to run nativelly on the iOS desktop? It would make sense. This would open the app store market to a whole new bunch of potential buyers… especially if Apple is truely coming out with a touch based iMac offering and the rumored touchpad for desktops…
iOS desktop would not necessarilly mean reduction of functionality for the users as some might jump to quick conclusion. It will rather mean a new UI and expanded access to a new application market for both users and developers. So use applications developed and delivered the traditional way or use the app store.
This would for sure require even more staffing for the app store review/approval as it will open the flood gate to many many more applications… but at the end it will benefit everyone in the iOS family.
For those of you wanting to update to 10.6.4 with NBI, please note that there is a slight issues wiht NBI and large /System/Library/Extensions folders, the 10.6.4 undate increates this folder above the threshold, and so NBI is unable to regenerate the Extensions.mkext correctly. If you do update, please boot with recovery=y and run the fixed up version below:
1st, install Quicktime 7 from the Snow Leopard DVD and then license it.
2nd, follow the screencast below:
I will try to find a way to extract and convert the audio without requiring Quicktime 7 Pro. It really annoy the heck out of me to use QT 7 for this. There must be an cheaper way to do this.
Today I decided that I had to do something to help me take resources back on my Mac. If you are like me and you have multiple familly members using your computer you might often find thing getting a bit slow… The usual cause are browsers applications open by other users that take all the available CPU because they have left some Adobe Flash games running when they left the computer. Adobe flash is a resource hog and will bring a good CPU to it’s knees.
What I used to do was to login as each users and log them out… which take a lot of time. I wanted something quick… so I came up with a small application called “Terminate All”.
If youre going on a car trip and want to bring your new iPad along for the kids as you ride, you might want to consider putting together a super simple presentation system that fits easily onto any existing seat back or can be slung between the two front seats.
Behold the iBag, which TUAW discussed briefly back in a March post about cheap accessories. A few enhancements will transform your iBag into the perfect iPad presentation system; its a veritable iPad car kit!
This is something I will build for my next car trip with the kids! Follow the link for step by step instructions.
Netflix NFLX spokesman Steve Swasey confirms that the Canada move will be the extent of the company’s international forays this year. Still, it’s expansion, right? It’s also worth noting that Canadian customers will only be able to subscribe to the Web offering, but still won’t be able to get Netflix DVDs via the email. It’s the first time that Netflix has offered a streaming-only service. Netflix’ release doesn’t have many other specifics, like price, the size of the catalog that the company will offer, or the exact date it will be available.
Cult of Mac wrote an interesting piece of news reporting that 
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