Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s press event, scheduled for Wednesday, is likely to include the introduction of the relentlessly rumored Apple Tablet.

We’ve taken a lot of time to track down the rumors, innuendo and even a few sparse facts about the device since the first whispers of its existence some two and a half years ago.

But now we’re going in a separate direction. Admittedly the five features below are are a little crazy — but their inclusion in the tablet would make it a whole lot more fun. Hey, a gadget journalist can dream, right?

1. Wireless Power Transfer

Power management will undoubtedly be a huge problem with a touch-enabled color screen device (it already is with the iPhone). But what if you never had to worry about charging it up? Imagine this: The tablet comes with a peripheral that looks a lot like an Airport Express. You plug it to an outlet and it pumps wireless electrical pulses that are gobbled up by the power-hungry device.

Why it’s a pipe dream: Wireless power is still in its infancy. Researchers have figured out how to wirelessly transmit electricity by converting it into magnetic waves, but with only enough wattage to power a light bulb. That, and people already freak out about living underneath power lines.

2. Flexible OLED Screen

What if you could roll up the tablet and put it in the back of your pocket like a magazine or a newspaper? It would certainly make the digital transition from the analog devices it’s poised to replace a lot easier. And it’s real, too. A widely viewed YouTube clip shows a bendable OLED prototype from Sony labs, and there’s an outside chance that a high-end version of the Apple tablet will include OLED technology.

Why it’s a pipe dream: Prohibitive cost and size. The largest OLED device on the market, Sony’s XEL-1, is 11 inches across and costs $2,500. That’s 227 bucks per inch and it’s not even flexible. In fact, there are no flexible OLEDs in commercial use at all.

3. Price: $0.00

Here’s the idea: Apple CEO Steve Jobs reads Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson’s book Free and has an epiphany. Jobs decides you can have the tablet for little or no upfront cost provided you sign up for a one- or two-year contract and pay a certain monthly fee for content to be beamed to the device. Just like a cellphone contract, the money you pay over the course of a contract makes up for the discount you receive on the hardware.

Why it’s a pipe dream: When was the last time Apple offered anything for free, besides truckloads of reality-distorting hype at its press conferences?

4. Salvation for the Struggling Print Industry

Newspapers have been on the business end of a nasty financial ass-kicking for the last few years. (And don’t make us talk about what’s happened to magazines — please.) A lusty piece of hardware coupled with an innovative, iTunes-based business strategy could make both daily rags and glossies profitable again.

Why it’s a pipe dream: With a rumored $1,000 price tag, we’re betting that even die-hard early adopters won’t be showing up en masse to buy the tablet. Financially, the print industry needs a new mass audience, not a small coterie of dedicated Mac lovers.

5. Conan O’Brien’s Next Show

This actually makes sense — just hear me out for a moment. How have you been digesting the current apocalypse sweeping late-night television? By painstakingly watching every episode of Leno, Conan, Letterman, Kimmel and Ferguson? No! Most likely you’ve followed this train wreck via snippets on YouTube and Gawker. Imagine Conan striking a multiyear deal to bring an uncensored version of his show to the tablet. Masturbating Bear and PimpBot 5000 might even get their own spinoffs, in 3-minute, embeddable increments.

Also in this pie-in-the sky universe Conan accepts a gig as executive producer of The Simpsons and makes it funny again.

Why it’s a pipe dream: Even Steve Jobs and Nick Denton combined can’t afford Conan’s eight-figure salary. Plus, there’s his hair.

Image courtesy of neon punch

Nokia X6 16GB announced, Comes Without Music originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Nokia  | Email this | Comments

Calling all space geeks (or more accurately, “space tweeps,” space geeks who use Twitter): NASA is giving you another chance to experience a Space Shuttle mission firsthand as Twitter correspondents–and registration starts today. This time the event is on February 17at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where 100 lucky participants will be guests at Mission Control and other facilities during the flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (mission STS-130).

Registration starts today (Tuesday, January 26) at noon, Eastern Time, and will be open for one day. The hundred participants will be chosen randomly from among the registrants, with 50 more wait-listed in case the first selections can’t make it. I won’t be registering, but only because I’ll be attending Endeavour’s launch at Cape Canaveral on February 6 and participating in another NASA tweetup unrelated to the mission a few days later–I’ll let you know more as the time approaches.

Werefore art thou, UMPC? Oh look, Cowon found you. The Cowon W2 MID / UMPC / tablet / something has been spotted in the wild, running Windows 7 and thwarting typical efficient interaction methods. The Atom-powered device was caught by AVING running in both portrait and landscape modes, and even paired up with a pint-sized USB QWERTY keyboard. It does look a little chunky under those harsh tradeshow lights, but there’s a certain charm to the device’s OS optimism. Hopefully we’ll be able to play with one soon, but there’s still no word on a US launch.

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Cowon W2 shown in its natural tradeshow habitat, running Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  AVING  | Email this | Comments

When the so-called “friendly skies” are mentioned, a few airlines in particular come to mind: Virgin America, Singapore Airlines and Qantas, for starters. Starting today, you can safely include Air New Zealand in that discussion. In a bid to turn long-haul international travel on its head, the outfit has today revealed a freshly outfitted Boeing 777 with a coach cabin that easily puts every coach cabin found in the US to shame. Designed by Recaro, the world-class coach area includes 11 rows of Skycouches that can actually fold flat in order to create (admittedly short) beds for two. The best part? The “third seat” in the row will only cost a couple 50 percent of what it normally would, making it somewhat more affordable to buy a bed without springing for first class. You’ll also find power sockets, USB ports and iPod connectors in every single coach seat, leaving the plane a Gogo-module away from being absolutely perfect. Pop those source links below for a hands-on at the Auckland unveiling by our good pals at Gadling.

Air New Zealand ‘revolutionizes’ coach cabins: power, USB, iPod support and Skycouches originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Gadling, Hands-on  | Email this | Comments