Maybe it’s based on their ‘Tablet’ concept designed in 1988 by the University of Illinois which Apple sponsored. Extract from report “Personal computer of the year 2000”: “Apple Computer, Inc. sponsored a contest last September at a dozen universities across the country to design the personal computer of the year 2000. The rules were simple: describe the computer’s purpose, predict the technologies that will be available at that time, and how to use them.

Nearly 1,000 students in teams of up to five entered designs; five teams were chosen as finalists and flown to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California for the final judging on January 28, 1988. The distinguished panel of judges included Ray Bradbury, Alan Kay, Diane Ravitch, Alvin Toffler, and Stephen Wozniak.

.. the winning entry was the design of a TABLET based on the humble paper notebook.”

Reference Details: Communications of the ACM, Volume 31, Issue 6 (June 1988), Pages: 638 - 648, Year of Publication: 1988,
ISSN:0001-0782

Super duper ;)

8 buttons like the VXRevolution should be the bare minimum: for back/forward, copy/paste, volume up/down and custom app 1/2.. yes the design is cleaner but it shouldn’t be like the simple Mac mice, more buttons certainly increase productivity ten fold..

Actual title: Gartner analyst are smoking the good stuff again..

I agree with Schwartz that Java is on many phones, but I challenge Schwartz to identify the various versions and incompatible implemented JSR’s across all those phones that make Java or J2Me as it is known to mobile developers ABSOLUTELY not a write once run anywhere platform! Which is why most developers and researchers avoid mobile Java (especially when dealing with basic h/w such as bluetooth, cameras .etc) and go native.. and will do so for the foreseeable future.

My suggestion to Schwartz is to stop boasting about the incompatible versions of Java on mobile devices and create a new mobile Java platform (JavaFX2?) that will truly standardise the mobile java space and provide real write once run-anywhere functionality.. or just do nothing as Adobe’s Flash player or Silverlight surpasses sun/java as the preferred developer runtime platform..

Maybe we finally get iLink: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jKclWxnz-Do

I think this video shows a far better use for such a technology: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jKclWxnz-Do

Bluetooth 2.0! you can’t point at movie poster and get information using BT, it’s just not designed to know what your pointing at, the solution is never about one technology replacing the other it’s about using them separately or in combination based on the task. IR is great at initiating specific line of site interactions, imagine pointing at your TV and having info/the current tv program streamed to your device, once the initial interaction has taken place via IR, its then just a coin flip to what future version of BT/IR is better at handing the delivery of the content, but an IR (line of sight) technology is always useful for initiating such interactions.

Excellent should open the door to some interesting ubiquitous scenarios.. and will definitely provide a suitable alternative to RFID. Given that RFID either requires close contact or remote unidirectional access (based on the antenna used) your either have to get up close and personal to the thing you would like to interact with, or have the problem of the radio not knowing what other device you want to connect to from a distance (similar to Bluetooth). The line of sight in IR overcomes both these problems by allowing both targeted remote and close range interactions, hopefully its only 1-2 years away not 10.

Or do it VIA your PHONE: http://www.vodafonebetavine.com/web/SunsetGPSLogger/