Apple launches iPad 2

I don't whether user in Malaysia will be delighted or sad cause the Apple iPad2 is now launched although the official iPad release is barely 6 months ago but anyway the Apple iPad seems to have some great improvements over its predecessor.

APPLE LAUNCHES IPAD 2

Apple® today introduced iPad^TM 2, the next generation of its magical device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading ebooks and much more. iPad 2 features an entirely new design that is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter than the original iPad, while maintaining the same stunning 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen.

iPad 2 features Apple's new dual-core A5 processor for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime® and Photo Booth®, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time. Though it is thinner, lighter, faster and packed with new features, iPad 2 still delivers up to 10 hours of battery life* that users have come to expect. iPad 2 is available in black or white, features models that run on AT&T's and Verizon's 3G networks, and introduces the innovative iPad 2 Smart Cover in a range of vibrant polyurethane and rich leather colors.

"With more than 15 million iPads sold, iPad has defined an entirely new category of mobile devices," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "While others have been scrambling to copy the first generation iPad, we're launching iPad 2, which moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again."

With the new front and rear cameras, iPad 2 users can now make FaceTime calls to millions of iPhone® 4, iPod touch® and Mac® users so they can see family and friends anywhere there is Wi-Fi. Photo Booth lets you apply fun visual effects, including eight photo special effects like Squeeze, Twirl and Kaleidoscope, to photos captured by either camera. 
iPad 2 comes with iOS 4.3, the latest version of the world's most advanced mobile operating system, with new features including faster Safari® mobile browsing performance; iTunes® Home Sharing; enhancements to AirPlay®;** the choice to use the iPad side switch to either lock the screen rotation or mute audio; and Personal Hotspot to share an iPhone 4 cellular data connection over Wi-Fi.*** Additional iPad 2 features include a built-in gyro for advanced gaming; HSUPA support for enhanced 3G upload speeds on iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G on AT&T, and HDMI Video Mirroring that lets users mirror their iPad screen on an HDTV using an optional adaptor.

The innovative new iPad 2 Smart Cover provides protection for the iPad screen while maintaining its thin and lightweight profile. Designed with a unique self-aligning magnetic hinge that makes it easy to attach and remove, the new iPad 2 Smart Cover automatically wakes iPad 2 when it's opened and puts it to sleep when it's closed, and has a soft microfiber lining to help keep the screen clean. The Smart Cover also folds into a stand for typing or viewing videos and is available in vibrant polyurethane for $39 or rich leather for $69 in a range of colors, including a (PRODUCT) RED one which helps support the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Apple also introduced two new apps: iMovie® and GarageBand® for iPad, both available on the App Store℠ for just $4.99 each. With iMovie, iPad 2 users can shoot and edit videos right on their iPad and post their movies to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and their MobileMe℠ gallery; watch them on their iPod®, iPhone or iPad; as well as view them on their HDTV using AirPlay and Apple TV®. GarageBand turns your iPad into a collection of touch instruments and 8-track recording studio, allowing you to perform with onscreen keyboards, guitars, drums and basses using multi-touch gestures-even if you don't play a musical instrument.

iPad 2 runs almost all of the over 350,000 apps available on the App Store and there are more than 65,000 native iPad apps available from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store gives iPad users access to the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 14 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 10,000 films including over 3,500 in stunning high definition video. The iBooks® app for iPad includes Apple's iBookstore℠, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device.


http://www.lowyat.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4049&Itemid=2

Malaysia's iPad?!

Seems that ever since the iPad emerged there seems to be many people wanting to create something similiar.

Malaysian company CSL will manufacture JooJoo and sell it at USD 499 (same as the iPad) when it's out.

JooJoo will be manufactured by Malaysia’s CSL Group

Mobile handset manufacturer CSL Group is unheard of here, but in Southeast Asia it claims to sell more handsets than anyone besides Nokia. CSL stands for “Commitment Service Loyalty,” and Malaysians buy a lot of CSL’s flagrantly-named Blueberry smartphones.

They’re more than big enough to handle manufacturing of Fusion Garage’s JooJoo tablet computer, which began life as TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington’s CrunchPad. Compared to Apple’s iPad tablet, the JooJoo has a much larger screen that also boasts widescreen movie resolution, and much simpler software than Apple’s gesture-driven applications. On the JooJoo, everything is done in a browser window. There are no downloadable apps. Unlike the iPad, it eagerly supports Flash animation in Web pages.

Let’s be clear: The JooJoo will be built across the ocean, but it’s target market is very much the United States of America, where people blow $500 on a Kindle.

JooJoo’s maker, Fusion Garage, began taking orders for the $499 units — same price as an entry-level Apple iPad — in mid-December, with a promise to ship in “8-10 weeks.” It looks like the deal with CSL will enable that to happen. In a phone interview Sunday, Fusion Garage CEO Chandrasekar “Chandra” Rathakrishnan pledged that the first JooJoos will be in customers’ hands before the end of February.

The arrangement between Fusion Garage and CSL Group, Rathakrishnan told me, removes all of Fusion Garage’s upfront costs of manufacturing, in exchange for a royalty that CSL will receive on each JooJoo tablet sold.

I’ve followed the JooJoo story avidly because it’s a real-life example of the stuff Wired magazine talks about nowadays: Anyone with an idea can get a product built and sold by outsourcing everything but the idea itself.

In the case of the JooJoo, Arrington has filed a lawsuit claiming that Fusion Garage, the 13-person Singapore company that built the first prototype CrunchPads, stole his idea and renamed it JooJoo so they could sell it themselves and cut him out of the picture except as a product evangelist.

Lawsuits are boring, but the fact that one guy’s blog post can turn into a mass-market product that challenges Apple and Amazon is pretty cool.

Update: Fusion Garage has put out a press release about their partnership with CSL.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/03/joojoo-will-be-manufactured-by-malaysias-csl-group/

Chinese iPad?!

China seems to have released the"iPad", 6 months before it is released and sells at USD 525!

Chinese iPad Says Apple Copied Them, Considering Legal Action

2010.02.02

Give it up to the Chinese for being quick on their feet. This P88, looks like a giant iPhone, and it has already been in manufacturing for six months already. Did Apple copy the P88?

The P88 has a resistive screen, has a 250GB hard drive, an ethernet port, a webcam, and run Windows. It also gets an hour and a half of battery life, and costs, $525. Still! The intellectual property of Shenzhen Great Loong Brother will not be wrongly appropriated! At least, not if SGLB president Xiaolong Wu has anything to say about it:

We are considering legal action, but we can not do much in the United States. But if Apple brings the iPad to China, we will be forced to denounce them, because it will certainly affect our sales.

It sounds so much better than the iPad considering having a webcam on its own is already a plus point. [El Mundo via Wired]

http://geekapolis.fooyoh.com/?mid=geekapolis_gadgets_wishlist&page=1&document_srl=4516434

Hitler hates the iPad

Just a random video I found since the iPad was recently annouced.