According to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, Apple may announce the purchase of Quattro for the relative bargain price of $275 million. I say bargain because, as Kara points out, Google paid three times that for AdMob, another mobile ad company. So what? This bit of news, when taken with the ad patent filed by Apple, could suggest they are going to implement some sort of ad system on something. But what? AdMob could be used on Android-powered devices...How about ads on a tablet device? Ads could help lower the cost of the mythical tablet, especially when those ads are sold by, say, content creators like a newspaper or four. I realize those are a lot of threads to pull together, but all the speculation seems to be swirling around this tablet, the cost and the content that'll go inside. Traditionally cost has been the Achilles' heel for an Apple product, but with ad-supported price breaks you could theoretically lower the cost of the product to the consumer while keeping some margins. Then again, Apple may simply be planning to integrate Quattro into the developers' toolkits, and provide them with an in-house solution for ad-supported apps. Or maybe they are going to sell an ad-supported OS X for Dell machines. Who knows? As I write this neither company had any comment on the sale or announcement.Patently Apple has the news that Apple has filed for another touchscreen display patent, but here's the catch: this one's probably not for a tablet! Or at least, not for the tablet we're expecting. The patent, which covers the idea of a thinner and brighter touchscreen display by combining the touch and pixel display elements (basically including the capacitive and pixel elements in the same hardware), could actually be used in any of Apple's devices, from the iPhone and iPod touch, to future versions of their laptops. And yes, it could be used in a potential tablet, but really, this is more of a way to create touchscreens anywhere rather than specifically a tablet-only function.Note that this is also different from the dynamic tactile display Apple patented a little while ago. Personally, I'd rather see the much more inventive tactile display used in the hopefully soon-to-be-unveiled tablet -- I'd love to finally get some touchable feedback from touchscreens. But of course Apple will use what they think is best. Having a quicker and brighter display to go along with a multitouch screen wouldn't be a bad thing, either.CES 2010 is in full swing in Las Vegas, and while we aren't there, we have been able to scour the webs and bring you the latest, the greatest, and the weirdest new Apple-related peripherals and accessories from the show floor.
Griffin has announced a few new devices, including a Display Converter ($40) to send your display out to HDMI or DVI video, a car charger ($30) that opens up another charging spot, and something called the TuneFlex Aux ($60), a cradle that sends iPhone audio out to an AUX port in your car. They've also got new versions of the RoadTrip and iTrip FM transmitters/cradles coming out later this year for the iPhone .
IvySkin sent word of their Zappack unit, a battery backup for the iPhone available for $50, the SmartCase, a case with an integrated battery pack for $80, and the CardClip, a case for the iPhone with a money/wallet clip attachment for $20.
Engadget posted a hands-on with Parrot's AR.Drone, which we mentioned yesterday. Short take: it's awesome.
Geneva Labs has the most beautiful set of iPhone/iPod speaker docks we've seen yet. They're still useless, but they do look good.
On the other hand there's the Trik / Triq iPod dock (above), a speaker dock so wild that Sony named it twice. Yeah, that is... wow.
Pioneer announced a car nav unit that will stream Pandora via the cell connection on your iPhone.
I'm sure there are induction power charging pads aplenty on the show floor, but this is the only one we're bothering to link to.
Macally has announced another round of accessories, from earbuds to chargers. The most interesting is probably the PowerGo charger, which will use an AC adapter, a car lighter, or a USB plug, so no matter where you are, you can recharge your iPod. iPod accessories, everywhere! CES continues through the weekend -- we'll keep an eye on anything else Mac or iPod-related that shows up in Vegas.Remember Alisa, the subway sweetheart whose iPhone was stolen and then re-surfaced in her email inbox when the knucklehead thief tried to get it replaced? Apparently she sent a note to our favorite iCEO Steve Jobs as a last resort when the standard Apple CSRs were unwilling or unable to help. As Metro NY reports, Alisa's pleas did not fall on deaf ears.Over the New Year's weekend, Alisa sent her email, and the day after we reported Alisa's story, she received a call from Apple's executive support team. I corresponded with Alisa, and despite the runaround she received, she was told there is in fact an internal procedure for dealing with such situations.Apple's Corporate Investigations department is now working with local law enforcement to rectify Alisa's situation. While it is good to hear that the right people are finally communicating to resolve this matter, it is disappointing that it required the victim emailing a CEO to get any real traction on the problem. And even though Alisa has since purchased a Blackberry, we hope she gets her iPhone back soon.In yet another drop of information from the firehose of tablet rumors, French blog Mac 4 Ever claimed earlier this week [English translation] that a beta version of the iPhone SDK -- used by developers to create applications for the iPhone, iPod touch, and now possibly Apple's new tablet device -- could be unveiled during the upcoming event to be held on January 27th.What I find interesting about this tidbit is the timing: most of the rumors we have heard concerning which operating system the tablet might run have generally pointed towards a newer build of the iPhone OS. So, if the tablet will be running a new build of the iPhone OS, and that build is only expected to be in beta stages by the end of this month, then it stands to reason that the tablet may not actually hit the market until later this year. I'm thinking somewhere around March, maybe?Then again, it is possible that the device might ship with a preliminary version of the OS which doesn't make immediate use of the App Store, buying some time for developers to get their feet wet using the beta SDK and giving Apple the chance to ramp up a good selection of apps to be ready for sale when the App Store becomes available. Either way, the idea that Apple may release a beta version of the SDK more than a month ahead of schedule serves as an indication that Apple has indeed learned from past mistakes, and hopefully developers will be able to get their hands on the SDK sooner, rather than later.This is a pretty wandering post over at the NZ Herald (it starts out with a screening of Avatar, and drops a few local actor names before getting down to business), but it eventually gets to an interesting premise: what will Apple's hardware look like not in 2010, when we're all breathlessly awaiting the tablet, but in 2020, ten years from now? Of course we're talking about complete speculation here -- not even Apple knows what they'll be doing in ten years. But it's not like we haven't done it before: Apple's devices are smaller, faster, and more powerful than ever. What will they be like ten years down the line?More gesturing and intuitive human interfaces seem like a good guess -- with the iPhone, the accelerometer has been used in all sorts of interesting ways, and it's probably not far until Apple figures out a way to track movement in 3D space, either by moving an iPhone or a controller around, or as the piece suggests, by tracking our body in some way. Slimmer display screens and extra battery life will be in the future as well. And the article mentions solid state storage, but if our predictions for this year are any indication, Apple will try to move off the hard drive as much as possible, and start placing data for multimedia and other files in a cloud server, accessible via Internet whenever they're needed.Like I said, interesting thought experiment. What do you think Apple will be like ten years from now?Jim Dalrymple has been around the Mac community for years, so when he talks, people listen. That's why yesterday's post at Dalrymple's blog, LoopInsight, was so fascinating and got me thinking about whether or not Dalrymple was right in his assertion that things don't look good for the future of Macworld Expo.The post was titled "Macworld Expo 2010: Success story or a disaster waiting to happen," and it outlined the reasons why this year's Expo in San Francisco could very well be the last. Dalrymple begins tolling the death knell with a list of the big names that won't be attending the show this year -- Apple (of course), Adobe, Epson, and Griffin to name a few. He then brings up the fact that with a month to go until the doors open on the Expo, there are only 157 listed exhibitors. Many of those exhibitors are familiar to Apple fans, but then again, there are a lot of small and unknown iPhone developers on the list as well.Dalrymple's point that even the press is turning away from the Expo is more daunting. Without a Steve Jobs keynote to attract the world media, the show seems to be entering its death throes. Less media attention means less attention to exhibitor products, which means fewer exhibitors are going to find it worthwhile to pay the price to display their wares.Analyst Maynard J. Um told investors today that while the rumored Verizon/Apple deal to bring a CDMA iPhone to the big V is still on the table, it's hit a snag over a pricing disagreement. Apparently Apple is used to being paid about $700 for every iPhone sold through AT&T, while Verizon pays out just $450 for Motorola's Droid, and the two companies are at odds over how much money should change hands for iPhones sold over the network. Seems like there should be a compromise somewhere in there, but of course any delays in making an agreement mean delays in actually releasing the phone.And just for the heck of it, Um mentioned that he does expect a tablet this year, and that Apple's stock will depend on the "functionality and appeal" of the rumored new device. This just in: If people like something and think it works well, they will buy it. Thanks, analyst!A blogger at the Baltimore Sun found an Apple patent filed last month that describes a multitouch interface for manipulating "three-dimensional virtual objects." The patent seems pretty vague in terms of implementation, but essentially Apple is citing a way to control 3D objects, whether they be icons, game objects, or characters, with a two-dimensional multitouch screen. Sounds like what you're already doing with a game like Zen Bound. Given that "the tablet" is the hot thing to speculate about lately, there are rumors bubbling up that this type of navigation and manipulation could be found in Apple's new device. But that doesn't seem very likely -- most of what we've heard about the tablet is that it'll offer a higher resolution version of the iPhone's interface, and Apple has no reason yet to step away from that. It's possible that this patent could be covering a new app set to release on the tablet, but of course as with everything here, we'll have to wait and see what Jobs shows us on stage later this montand I were chatting with Megan over on iChat today and trying to figure out how to set up her gift registry for her upcoming nuptials with her hawt Astrophysicist boyfriend. Of course, Megan is dying for one of those awesome iPhone remote dodads but we thought that we'd just go for more of a general Apple Store registry thing. I gave my local Apple Store a call to ask how we could get it established. The gentleman at the other end of the phone was polite. Perplexed but polite. "Um...A gift registry? I don't think we've ever been asked THAT before," he said. "We don't have one. We're kind of a specialized store, you know." Yes, we do know. And it's the kind of specialization that we like. But even Home Depot has a gift registry service, so what's the hold-up Apple? Don't you realize that geeks get married and have babies too? Sadly, it looks like Megan must rely on word of mouth instead. Don't forget, Apple does have a limit on how many gift certificates you can redeem at any one time online. I think it's something like 4 cards for online purchases but unlimited for in-store ones. Check with an Apple representative for details.Engadget's Josh Topolsky got to chat with none other than Woz recently, and they've finally shared a great video of their meeting. Woz says a lot of interesting things in the video (he runs six navigation systems at a time in his car just for comparison's sake, and carries two iPhones nowadays, just in case the battery life runs out), but the most intriguing thing about this video is just seeing the great Wozniak thinking machine race along at the speed of Woz.For example, those two iPhones he carries are the two different colors available. Why? "White and black, black and white. Resistor color codes: zero and nine. Those are the digits they end in!" Gosh, we love Steve Wozniak. You can watch the whole video after clicking the link below.Here's an interesting fact that dropped over the weekend: Google Chrome, the browser by the search company with a silly name, actually beat Apple's Safari browser in overall usage during the last month of 2009 (Chrome first beat Safari midway through the month, but new month-long data shows that Chrome is here to stay). Internet Explorer continues to lose users, but Chrome has been taking over the ranks pretty quickly, moving in above Safari as the number three browser of choice (after IE and Firefox, of course).Bad news for Apple -- after their release of Safari for Windows in 2009, you'd think they'd have hoped for a little more in terms of browser share at the end of the year. But it looks like they're going to have to do something even bigger than that to fight the current on this one -- that is, if they want to do so at all. With a relative newcomer topping Safari so quickly, it's possible Apple could back off of promoting and upgrading their proprietary browser entirely. Still, with Chrome using Webkit, the fact is that for the average user, things are getting better all the time.As we mentioned a few days ago, CNBC will air Welcome to Macintosh tonight at 9:30Pm Eastern/6:30 Pacific time. Welcome to Macintosh is an indie documentary that provides an intimate look at Apple's history. It's been shown at different times and places over the past year, and you can also buy it from iTunes [link], but now you can watch the documentary for free.Then tomorrow night, Tuesday January 5 at 10PM, CNBC will be airing another Mac documentary, MacHEADS, a film that explores the fanaticism and loyalty of Apple users.Finally, don't forget to set your DVRs for CNBC's third Mac feature, Planet of the Apps, airing on January 7th at 10PM ET/PT, the only CNBC original of the three where they take a look into the "app-economy."Is it just me, or does January 2010 seem to be Apple's month?Things are beginning to firm up on the specs of the rumored tablet device. According to the Wall Street Journal, who interviewed people who were apparently briefed today on the subject by Apple, "Apple plans to unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but doesn't plan on shipping the product until March. While the shipping time hasn't been finalized and could change, people briefed on the matter said the new tablet device will come with a 10- to 11-inch touch screen." Apple is apparently also working on two different material finishes for the device. Unknown is whether or not there will be two versions or if Apple is selecting one finish over another for the final device. This overlaps with a few predictions on the topic naming 10" as the proposed size of the device, and adds yet another example where rumor has risen above the tech/Apple blogosphere to more general news sources.Remember the information a few weeks ago about the big event scheduled for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on January 26th? Of course, all of the Apple bloggers and pundits jumped all over this date as being the date for the announcement of something big like the tablet.After thousands of posts have touted that date as the day that Steve Jobs will come down from the mountain carrying the 7" tablet under one arm and the 10.1" tablet under the other, the Wall Street Journal's Digital Daily is reporting that the event is going to be held on Wednesday, January 27th. According to Digital Daily's John Paczkowski, sources have told him that this event is planned to announce a "major new product." We're all assuming that this is going to be the most widely-hyped product since the iPhone, so wouldn't it be hilarious if it was actually something completely different?I, for one, am beginning to think that Apple is going to pull one of the biggest pranks ever on the world at large. How 'bout you? Leave your comments below for the world to see.The Apple tablet, whether you want to call it the iSlate, the iTablet, or "Betty," hasn't even been verified to exist at this point. However, that's not keeping other manufacturers from coming out with their own competition to the mythical device.At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which runs from Thursday, January 7th through Sunday, January 10th, several vendors may be showing devices to compete with an Apple design that hasn't even been leaked, cheesy specs notwithstanding. Mobile handset heavyweight HTC, the same company that will debut the new Google Nexus One Android phone on January 5th, is expected to have a tablet ready to show at CES. HTC is an OEM, so it's not likely that a tablet will appear under the HTC label. Instead, traditional PC sellers such as ASUS, HP, and Dell will probably announce devices that have been designed and built by HTC or other OEMs.HTC isn't the only company jumping into the tablet fray; Freescale Semiconductor will be showing a "tablet reference design" at CES as well. The Freescale device (at right) has a 7" display and is designed to take up about one-third the volume of a current netbook. Freescale's tablet will be shown running both Google Android OS and some variety of Linux, and is rumored to have "all day" battery life and instant-on functionality. While the HTC and Freescale tablets are designed for sale by other companies, an Indian startup called Notion Ink will be showing a 10.1" touchscreen device at CES that they have designed and will build. Even Microsoft could get into the CES tablet action by having CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrate the Courier device. The announcements are sure to place some price pressure on Apple: Freescale's design is intended for retail prices in the $200 range, much less than the $600 - $1,000 expected for Apple's device. Of course, Apple is all about the design, functionality, and user experience of their devices and software, and the capabilities of the tablet will need to show perceived value to potential customers. One thing is for sure -- tablets have sparked the imagination of the public and manufacturers, and we're going to hear a lot about them in the upcoming year.[via Smarthouse, I4U]
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