Apple Announces iPad, Much To Nobody's Surprise. But It Looks Like A Winner.

Well, if you can believe it Apple has introduced a larger touch device being dubbed the iPad! Okay, so nobody is falling out of their seats with that announcement but the device appears to be another Apple thing of beauty with a sleek design and beautiful LCD display. Of course I've not had my hands on one and I'm judging this simply by the materials provided by the Apple propaganda machine, but if the device lives up to the video they'll have hit another home run.

A Wi-Fi version is promising to ship in the US by late March while the 3G version ships in April. The big surprise is the pricing which seems like a bargain:

               16GB 32GB 64GB

Wi-Fi        $499 $599 $699

Wi-Fi + 3G $629 $729 $829

This says it all...

All Of Your Remote Controls Are Belong To Us

Media Interaction Labs is taking touch control to the extreme by using in a Microsoft Surface like device, called Cristal, as an interface to everything in your living room. The system uses a ceiling mounted video camera to provide the user interface projected on a coffee table in the room. The user interacts with the television, lamps in the room, a Roomba, stereo, etc. by activating it on the video image. Check it out...

Rise Of The Smart Phone

According to Samsung Mobile Display, a Samsung Electronics company, the global smart phone market is anticipated to grow to 500 million units in 2012 up from 170 million in expected this year. The display maker also expects touchscreens to be used in about 50 per cent of major portable devices – mobile phones, digital cameras, navigations and digital media players – to be sold in 2013. This despite an overall slowing of the mobile market globally.

Source: The Globe and Mail.

Talk About Second Generation Surface At South By South West

The BBC is reporting that developers are talking about a second generation Microsoft Surface which has been dubbed Second Light and builds upon the original by having a second projector inside the device that can project images onto a layer above the surface of the screen. This modification will allow Second Light to overlay secondary images above those on the screen. It is rumored that the second generation will interpret gestures and movements without having to touch the screen through the use of infrared sensors and that it will employ high definition cameras for better detail.

"Everything is moving to touch and multi-touch so you had better jump on that bandwagon," Erik Klimczak, creative director of Clarity Consulting who develops for the surface told the conference of web developers.

Logitech Makes 1 Billionth Mouse

Swiss company Logitech is celebrating the shipment of it's one billionth mouse while analysts are predicting the demise of the device within 5 years. "It speaks volumes to the success of the mouse that they (Logitech) have produced a billion and good luck. But past performance is not a guarantee of future success. "The world has changed and the nature of machines has changed. The multi-touch interface I believe really does seal the coffin of the mouse," says Gartner analyst Steve Prentice. Mean while Logitech's General Manager Rory Dooley says "The fundamental functionality of the mouse has not changed for 40 years and that is one of the keys to its success. We do not envisage unlearning all those years of learning but that doesn't mean to say there will not be a place for touch interfaces. "Touch will augment the things you can do today with the mouse and keyboard interface,"

BBC Story here.