Bites from the Apple: iPad Gets Official Release Date

by Agen Schmitz on March 05, 2010

Apple officially announced today that the iPad will be available for sale starting on April 3--about a week later than its promised delivery back at its unveiling--with pre-orders to starting next Friday (March 12). Well, that's April 3 for the Wi-Fi edition of the iPad, with the 3G version becoming available by the end of April. TUAW also notes that the iBooks e-reader app (with attendant iBookstore) will be available as a free download from the App Store starting on April 3, with the iWork apps for the iPad to follow shortly thereafter. Stuff.tv has hoovered up a video of Penguin and Dorling Kindersley book publishers showing off the interactive potential of the iPad--from basic kids' books (which I'm really looking forward to) to travel books (could really use that Paris title on an iPad for an upcoming trip) to a GPS-enabled book on the stars that tracks your location and provides real-time star positioning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdExukJVUGI&feature=player_embedded

In other semi-related iPad news, books are now the largest category in Apple's App Store (beating out games) and AppleInsider reports the iPad has supplanted Amazon's Kindle as first choice for likely e-reader buyers.

• Who says the iPhone doesn't multitask? Well, a number of folks. But with the 2010 version of MLB At Bat iPhone app, TUAW reports that the app's developers have exploited a trick (previously used by ESPN Radio) that allows a modicum of multitasking. In the app, you can select to push an audio stream through the Mobile Safari Web browser--enabling you to open other Mobile Safari windows and surf, check email, etc.
• Chatting with Dan Frommer over at Silicon Alley Insider, Apple COO Tim Cook says that its Apple TV set-top box "hobby" hada 35% bump in year-over-year sales last year (without giving specifics).
• In other Apple TV-related news, the ATV Flash bundle of Apple TV workarounds has just released a new version (4.1) with expanded support for 5.1-channel surround sound audio from a wider selection of video file formats (via MacNN). I bought and installed ATV around the holidays, and it's made my Apple TV so much more useful. Wonder if the uptick in Apple TV sales has had anything to do with its hackability?
• CNet reports that Apple is now trying to convince movie studios to allow iTunes users to access video purchases on Internet-connected mobile devices from cloud-based storage, which comes a month after it was reported that Apple tried the same sales job on major record companies. AppleInsider reminds us that they originally reported on this Apple initiative when it was being developed with the iTunes Replay name.
• The new iLuv Vibe Plus (available for pre-order) offers a new twist on the standard alarm clock-style iPhone/iPod dock--an included mouse-like bed shaker that you can place under a pillow to vibrate for waking. It also includes a speaker and volume control (via Gizmodo).
• MacHeist is at it again, bundling 7 applications for the Mac that would normally go for a total price of $260 for just $20. This second nanoBundle includes the RipIt DVD ripper, the RapidWeaver Web site create and the MacJournal blogging/journaling tool. It's available through March 10, and as a bonus MacHeist is donating a quarter of the purchase price to your choice of charity (from a pre-selected list 11 charities).
• Wondering we haven's seen any Core i7-powered MacBook Pros yet while Windows 7-based PCs have been touting that processor since January? Seth Weintraub over at 9to5Mac has a few thoughts, which center on operability issues between the Intel processor and Nvidia graphics cards as well as Apple's entry into the processor chip business with its A4 chip for the iPad.
• And finally... an Apple-ized version of the awesome Old Spice ad shown during the Super Bowl via Cult of Mac (for more on how the original one-take ad was made, check out Leo Laporte TWIT interview the two ad guys behind it): 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzwLOqC2kVI&feature=player_embedded

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

The Android You're Looking For: Moto's BACKFLIP Comes to AT&T

by Agen Schmitz on March 11, 2010

Motorola continues its assault on lower-cased letters with the BACKFLIP--its newest Android-powered mobile and the first using Google's smartphone OS on the AT&T network. Like the recently released DEVOUR for Verizon and CLIQ for T-Mobile, it runs Motorola's MOTO MOTOBLUR overlay to the Android OS, which places updates from Twitter, Facebook and MySpace into customizable bubbles on the home screen. It's got a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen display and full QWERTY keyboard that doesn't slide out, as most other keyboard-equipped smartphones do. Rather, the keyboard resides face-out on the back and flips forward (giving the phone its name). Additionally, the phone includes an innovative trackpad placed on the half of the shell that houses the screen, enabling you to use it to navigate the UI without having to take your hands off the keyboard when it's open. And CNet is a fan of the BACKFLIP's keyboard:

As far as the keyboard itself, we found it quite good. It's spacious and the square buttons are a good size, minimizing mispresses but we do wish they were a bit more domed like the Cliq's keyboard. The keys provide a nice springy feedback. The number and symbol keys (marked in blue) are doubled up with the letters (marked in white), and a nice, bright backlight makes it easy to see whether you're in a dark room or outdoors.

Another bonus of the back-flipping nature of the keyboard is its "tabletop mode," which allows you to easily use it as an alarm clock. Katherine Boehret at All Things D has more:

The Backflip is designed so that whenever it’s plugged into its wall charger or set at a 90-degree angle, it goes into Tabletop mode, showing a large digital clock with the local weather, date and options for setting an alarm. This mode also offers a button for watching the device’s photos in a slow-panning, Ken Burns-like slideshow, which is useful for sharing with friends.

It runs the 1.5 version of the Android OS, but Motorola and AT&T have promised (with no timetable) to update it to 2.1, which includes the Google Maps Navigation beta app free voice-guided directions (until then, there's always a subscription to the AT&T Navigator service). Also, oddly for a Google-powered phone, the default search engine from the search box found on the home screen uses Yahoo! rather than Google (determined by the corporate relationship between AT&T and Yahoo!).
Check out this very thorough video hands-on look (with comparisons to other Android-powered phones) from MobileTechReview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p2uWhgfQMw&feature=player_embedded
The BACKFLIP is currently shipping, and if you purchase it by midnight today (March 11) you can get free AT&T activation.
--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Best Actress Oscar = Bad For Your Love Life?

by Ellen Kim on March 15, 2010

Sandra Bullock, you've been warned.

With the news today that Kate Winslet is splitting from her husband of seven years, American Beauty's Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (who also helmed Revolutionary Road, starring his wife), she's been added to a long (and sad) list of Best Actress winners whose career highs have been followed by a personal low. It could be coincidental, it could be the straw that broke the camel's back, but just as some feel the Best Supporting Actress award carries a "career curse" (those who win it are typically young ingenues whose career fails to come near the mark afterwards), the Best Actress trophy could now be spelling doom for your idyllic home life.

Consider the stats from the last 10 years:

Kate Winslet, 2009
Won for: The Reader
Age at the time of win: 33
Status at the time: Married to Sam Mendes since 2003; two children
Status since: Announced split March 2010

Reese Witherspoon, 2006
Won for: Walk the Line
Age at the time of win: 29
Status at the time: Married to Ryan Phillippe since 1999; two children
Status since: Announced separation October 2006, divorced 2008

Hilary Swank, 2005
Won for: Million Dollar Baby (also won in 2000 for Boys Don't Cry)
Age at the time of win: 30
Status at the time: Married to Chad Lowe since 1997
Status since: Divorced in 2007

Charlize Theron, 2004
Won for: Monster
Age at the time of win: 29
Status at the time: Dating Stuart Townsend since 2001
Status since: Split in January 2010

Halle Berry, 2002
Won for: Monster's Ball
Age at the time of win: 35
Status at the time: Married to Eric Benet since 2001
Status since: Divorced in 2005



Julia Roberts, 2001
Won for: Erin Brockovich
Age at the time of win: 33
Status at the time: Dated Benjamin Bratt since 1998
Status since: Split in June 2001

2008 winner Marion Cotillard and 2003 winner Nicole Kidman were both single at the time of their wins; the only marriage to have survived an Oscar so far, is that of 2007 winner Helen Mirren. Whether her maturity (she was 62 at the time of her win, married to Taylor Hackford since 1997 and) or that the Oscar was the icing to an already illustrious 40-year-career that needed nothing else to prove, you can draw your own conclusions. --Ellen

 

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