Apple announces iPad

Image credit: Apple

It’s finally here and official — the Apple tablet. Dubbed the iPad, this thingamajig runs a scaled-up iPhone OS on a custom 1 GHz CPU.

• Runs all iPhone apps
• 9.7 inch multi-touch display
• 0.5 inches thick, 1.5 pounds
• Uses Apple 30-pin Dock Connector
• Humongous on-screen keyboard
• Runs modified version of iWork
• 10-hour battery
• 16-64 GB storage
• Optional wireless with AT&T
• Optional docking station with keyboard

Talking to some teachers, they’d definitely like something like this in the classroom. The question is, can they afford it? And for the regular consumer, is there really that much space between smartphone and computer for this device?

Head over to the Gdgt liveblog for all the juicy details!

See, this is why we need net neutrality (Sony Pictures Entertainment VP quote)

I stumbled on this quote from Sony Pictures Entertainment VP Steve Heckler while reading a Wikipedia article on the Sony copy protection scandal. This is what he told attendees of the Americas Conference on Information Systems:

“The industry will take whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue streams…It will not lose that revenue stream, no matter what…Sony is going to take aggressive steps to stop this. We will develop technology that transcends the individual user. We will firewall Napster at source—we will block it at your cable company. We will block it at your phone company. We will block it at your ISP. We will firewall it at your PC…These strategies are being aggressively pursued because there is simply too much at stake.”

I’m not saying that if net neutrality does not become a law cable companies and ISPs will go around freely blocking things. It could happen, that’s all I’m saying. This quote gives insight to what is going on in executives’ minds.