Jan 24

Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been… in 1983

Posted in: Apple, prototype, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili

We don’t know about you, but back in 1983 we were still playing in the mud with sticks and learning how to read. Frog Design, on the other hand, well, they were busy creating zany gadget prototypes. The company — which helped create such august products as the Apple IIc (which was unleashed in 1984) — also worked on a tablet pc for Apple around that same time, and its recently let slip some photos of what might have been. The tablet you see in the photos (there’s another after the break) was called Bashful, and it’s a pretty slim character considering its birth date, boasting a full physical keyboard and stylus to boot. Several prototypes of this little lover were made, including one with a disk drive and even one with a phone. So that means, by our count, Apple’s been mulling this whole tablet deal for… twenty-six years. Hit the source link for even more photos.

Continue reading Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been… in 1983

Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been… in 1983 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 23

Sungworld’s Android MID fights the future

Posted in: Android, arm, MID, tablet, Today's Chili
We don’t think we’re over-reaching when we say that this device, Sungworld’s just-unveiled 7-inch, Android touchscreen MID looks a bit… well, Apple-ish, and we hear that the UI (which we haven’t yet seen in action) will take cues from the company as well. Regardless, this thickish-looking puppy will boast an ARM926 CPU, 128MB of memory, 2GB of storage, and two USB ports. It’s also supposedly going to be available in pink, blue, green, purple and black, and though we don’t know pricing yet, we assume that if that tablet we’ve heard so much about in recent weeks fails to materialize next Wednesday, well… okay, this won’t be a great stand-in. Sorry.

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Sungworld’s Android MID fights the future originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

Designers Unearth Apple Tablet Prototypes — From 1983

Posted in: Apple, Notebooks, prototype, tablet, Today's Chili

apple_bashful_with_stylus

Here’s a blast from the past: In the early 1980s, an industrial design firm helped create some early prototypes of tablets for a young Steve Jobs.


The tablet was called “Bashful,” in reference to the dwarf in the fairy tale Snow White. Bashful was created alongside the Apple IIe as an extension of the Snow White industrial-design language that Apple used from 1984 to 1990.

Now Frog Design, the firm that created those mock-ups, has unearthed some photos from its archives that show what the tablet might have looked like more than 25 years ago. With Apple expected to unveil its long-awaited tablet device on Wednesday, it seems like a good time to bring these photos out of the archives, Frog Design’s people thought.

There are none of the sleek contours that characterize Apple’s products today. But you can still see the emphasis on ease-of-use and a slim profile (relatively speaking, anyway). And it shows how long Jobs has been mulling the idea of bringing a tablet to market.

Variations of the Bashful tablet included one with an attached keyboard and one with a floppy-disk drive and a handle for portability. Some of the tablet prototypes included a stylus. And one concept even had an attached phone.

Frog Design also helped create the Apple IIc, the fourth in the wildly popular Apple II line of personal computers.

The Bashfuls never made it to market, and the prototypes are probably still in the hidden, underground storage vaults of Apple or Frog Design.

Take a look at more photos of the prototype tablets below.

apple_bashful

apple_bashful_man_carrying

Photos: Frog Design

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Jan 22

Engadget Podcast 180 – 01.22.2010

Posted in: Apple, nokia, palm, podcast, podcasts, pre, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, Windows Mobile, WindowsMobile

Plug into the latest Engadget Podcast for the lowdown on all the hottest, dirtiest, nastiest Apple Tablet rumors! Too hot for text! If you don’t get down with the Crowd from Cupertino you can also feast your ears on sultry Finnish imports, steamy webOS reviews, and yeah, even some wild and wooly Windows Mobile wishes! FREE for a limited time only. Featuring Chris “Zazzle” Ziegler. Void where prohibited.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Guest: Chris Ziegler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Electrodreams – Where It’s At

Hear the podcast

01:50 – Nokia N900 review
13:40 – Nokia Ovi Maps with free turn-by-turn navigation hands-on
13:49 – Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally (updated)
19:32 – Palm Pre Plus (and Pixi Plus) review
29:40 – Palm Pre Plus shows off multitasking upgrade with 50 simultaneous apps (video)
31:10 – The Engadget Show – 005: Google’s Erick Tseng, CES wrap-up, WiDi, AR.Drone, and more!
31:15 – Next Android version will be called Froyo, says Erick Tseng
31:37 – Windows Mobile 7 megarumor: LG Apollo and HTC Obsession running flagship ‘720p’ specs, Zune Phone Experience
32:40 – Microsoft’s Twitter chatter suggests Danger is up to something — Pink drawing near?
34:10 – It’s on: Apple holding January 27th event to show off its ‘latest creation’
36:00 – Apple rumor roundup: pipe dreams, Lala’s role and Verizon’s iPhone 4G
38:00 – WSJ: Apple tablet to have books, games, music, TV, will make sandwiches
40:00 – Apple Tablet rumor roundup: summer 2010 edition
42:00 – Apple rumor roundup: future of media edition
45:00 – WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet
47:40 – Next week’s Apple event to be iLife / iPhone OS 4.0 / tablet trifecta?
56:30 – Apple rumor roundup: iPhone patent 4.0 edition


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Engadget Podcast 180 – 01.22.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

Improv Electronics Boogie Board brings the chalkboard into the 21st century

Posted in: LCD, tablet, Today's Chili

When we hear “paperless LCD writing tablet” our mind starts racing, but unfortunately the new “Boogie Board” tablet from Improv Electronics is more of an update of the chalkboard than anything. The unit is based on a power-free reflective LCD technology (similar to the technology in Fujitsu’s Flepia readers), with 50,000 erase cycles, and you can draw on it with anything that can apply pressure (stylus, finger nail, blunt trauma). Unfortunately, it ends there. There’s no connection back to a computer. Sure, not bad for $30, and for people who draw often and are tired of their dry erase board or burning through reams of paper it makes sense, but for anyone who draws something they’d like to keep they’re likely going to have to look elsewhere.

Improv Electronics Boogie Board brings the chalkboard into the 21st century originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

The Tablets of Our Dreams

Posted in: Apple, feature, imac, tablet, Today's Chili, top, video


Computers in movies look nothing like the beasts we lug around today. They’re thin and light, a single pane that jumps to life when touched. Technology follows Hollywood dreams; here’s hoping this montage is a portent of what’s coming soon.

The world will be shocked if Apple doesn’t reveal a tablet computer next week. It won’t be the first, not by any stretch, and it won’t be the first multitouch device, naturally. But as we envision it, the tablet represents the fusion of two of the most steadfast dreams of sci-fi nerds and ordinary people alike.

This reel, compiled for Giz by Mike Byhoff and Frank Cozzarelli as a celebration of sci-fi’s longstanding love affair with tablets and touch interfaces, is pretty self explanatory, but there are a few things to think about:

• The greatest literary device in sci-fi history, the actual Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was, in fact, a tablet.

• Gene Roddenberry was—like some tech analysts these days—in favor of the tablet coming in large and small sizes.

• The Incredibles, created by Steve Jobs’ Pixar, not only has the most Apple-like vision of a tablet, but shows it sliding out of a manila envelope, three years before Steve drew the slender MacBook Air out of the same.

• We’re not sure what Bart Simpson is doing to that iMac either, but apparently “Mapple” beat Apple to the punch with touchscreen all-in-ones.

• It is physically impossible to craft a montage of sci-fi interfaces without showing Tom C. in Minority Report.

• You may say that the tablets of Moses weren’t exactly interactive. Fine, believe what you will, but take our advice and stay the hell away from golden calves.

There are plenty more crazy touch computer sightings in TV and movies—if you can track any down, be sure to post them in comments.

Special thanks to Mike Byhoff and Frank Cozzarelli of Gawker TV for working overtime to pull this reel together. The catchy music—chosen for its sci-fi-friendliness, its nice buildup, and its utter lack of resemblance to 1990s techno—is “Lovely Allen” by Holy Fuck, which you can (and should) buy here at Amazon, or here on iTunes.

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Jan 22

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition

Posted in: Apple, att, Books, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, ipad, iPhone, rumor, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, verizon

This day simply wouldn’t be a day between January 18, 2010 and January 27, 2010 without a new gaggle of Apple Tablet rumors to sift through, and while we’re gritting our teeth as we skim every word, we’ve the latest and greatest most far-fetched rounded up here for your perusal.

The rumor: The Apple Tablet will “strike a familiar chord with owners of the original iPhone, with similarities in industrial design trickling all the way down to the handset’s button and connectivity components.”
Our take: Honestly, we can believe this one. Apple has had a great deal of success with the iPhone, and we’ve already seen the “tablet PC” as it’s known today take a nosedive. Apple Insider is saying that the device may look a lot like a “first-generation iPhone that’s met its match with a rolling pin,” and while we’ve obviously no inside way to confirm nor deny, we can get why Apple would stick close to a design that it knows will work. Oh, and be sure to peek two more clearly fake mockups after the break.

The rumor: New York Times Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. won’t be at Apple keynote next week.
Our take: So? Just because the head honcho from The Times is planning to be in Davos, Switzerland next week while Apple unveils its tablet doesn’t mean that Jobs can’t showcase the device’s ability to video chat across oceans in front of the masses… if Apple even has a deal with any publisher. If Apple really is reaching out to publishers for content deals, you can bet your bottom dollar the NYT is listening. And be honest — if you had the option of being in Davos or some convention center in San Francisco, which would you pick?

More after the break… if you dare.

Continue reading Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

ASUS’ Jonney Shih talks tablets, Chrome OS and the (eventual) demise of netbooks

Posted in: ASUS, interview, slate, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

We’ve gotta say: after witnessing the ASUS press event at CES this year, we have a whole new love for the company and its outspoken Chairman, Jonney “megatrend” Shih. The man, myth, legend recently sat down with Silicon.com and talked a bit about his own brand of the future. Apparently ASUS has slate PC prototypes in its labs, along with netbooks running Android and Chrome OS, but there’s nothing he’s convinced is ready for market yet. For slates specifically, “Content is still not attractive enough today to the customer,” according to Shih. He expects there to be content stores from Apple, Google and Microsoft to obtain content tailored to touchscreen tablets, and plans on waiting until there is such a compelling use case before bringing something to market (though those color e-books sure look raring to go). Another potential category that ASUS is hedging its bets on is the smartbook. He likes the price advantage, but isn’t sure users are ready to abandon Windows yet. “When people talk about cloud computing, unfortunately it’s still not there yet,” he says, but: “as time goes on you will see more advantage of being always connected.” The solution to all of this madness? WaveFace, naturally. A post-netbook era, perhaps five years from now, will diverge from the “regular, dull PC roadmap” and put more emphasis on portability, wearability and intuitive use. A couple of concept renders doesn’t have us convinced ASUS is positioned to deliver this, but we’re happy to watch and find out.

ASUS’ Jonney Shih talks tablets, Chrome OS and the (eventual) demise of netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

Ultimate Keyboard Smackdown: iPhone Vs. Stylus Vs. Chiclets

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Apple, iPhone, tablet, Today's Chili

Six writing things

With the Apple Tablet likely to change the world as we know it in less than a week, you may be wondering (still) about the merits of a soft, on-screen keyboard. Phil Gyford was wondering the same thing, only instead of just sitting around and lazily pondering (like you) he did something about it.

Phil dug out an old Newton MessagePad, a Palm Vx, a Palm Treo 650 and an iPhone 3G, and typed out a pre-memorized 221-word passage of text on each one, timing each try twice. To balance the test, Phil also typed the text once on his most familiar keyboard (a MacBook) and wrote it out by hand. With a pen. And paper.

The results are only unexpected if you have not actually used the iPhone for any length of time. The MacBook came in first. The iPhone’s soft keyboard came a very near second, with the Treo’s tiny hardware keyboard close behind. Next was pen and paper, followed by the Newton’s handwriting recognition and finally, in deserved last place, the Palm Vx with its frustrating Graffiti input.

None of this explains just how Apple plans to put a soft keyboard on a big ol’ tablet screen, but it does show us exactly why Apple will never ship a dedicated hardware keyboard for either the Tablet or the iPhone: Unless you are a professional writer, you just don’t need one.

Pen v keyboard v Newton v Graffiti v Treo v iPhone [Phil Gyford via ★]

Photo: Phil Gyford


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Jan 21

Apple rumor roundup: pipe dreams, Lala’s role and Verizon’s iPhone 4G

Posted in: Apple, cloud, iPhone, macbook, rumor, slate, storage, tablet, Today's Chili, verizon

In case you haven’t noticed, things are getting out of hand in the world of Apple rumors. Frankly, it’s all we can do to read another one and trudge onward, but hey — we’ve no problem with folks putting their reputations on the line here. Let’s dig in to the latest pair, shall we?

The rumor: Apple’s acquisition of Lala will actually lead to customers having access to an “online locker” for multimedia. This could be a cloud storage location for one’s iTunes library, enabling them to have access to their jams and vids even when away from their at-home storage. The trick is that the cloud would only hold the metadata, and streaming would originate from somewhere else on Apple’s end.
Our take: Okay, so we want to believe. Just imagine if your next Apple tablet or iPhone knew exactly what songs you owned in iTunes, and at a moment’s notice, you could tap into the iTunes store and stream full, unedited versions of those songs from anywhere. Amazing, no? Problem is, the bulk of iTunes libraries aren’t made up of content that was purchased in iTunes (or purchased at all). It seems that the best Apple could do would be to negotiate streaming deals for content you’ve actually purchased within iTunes, which results in a half-baked user experience. Last we checked, Stevie J wasn’t much on half-baked user experiences.

The rumor: Astoundingly, the mythical Apple tablet won’t be the company’s “one more thing” next week; instead, it’ll be a refreshed iPhone… that works on Verizon Wireless. Oh, and iPhone OS 4.0. So says Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, anyway.
Our take: Ha! Apple has never been one to showcase too much at one time, and we’re guessing that the outfit would be smart enough to withhold a new iPhone introduction for a separate press event. We don’t doubt that a Verizon iPhone is in the works (though an LTE version will be at least a year or two out), but there’s no way Jobs steals the tablet’s thunder by giving every rabid iPhone user hot sweats when considering the switch to Big Red. Bottom line? Don’t bank on it.

At this point, we reckon everyone would be best served by taking a huge step back, a deep breath and one of those so-called “chill pills.” Next Wednesday ain’t so far away, now is it?

Apple rumor roundup: pipe dreams, Lala’s role and Verizon’s iPhone 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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