9to5 Staff

Among other announcements, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer tonight unveiled a “new touch-enabled slate PC from HP”.   The demo was pretty anemic, only showing a clunky Kindle application and fumbling around a video application which clearly didn’t work like it was supposed to.  We wonder if anyone was calling this a “slate” a month ago? 

That being said, Robbie Bach brought it with Project Natal based XBOX 360 which wil be available by next Christmas. (image via Engadget).  Short video of HP Slate below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIIjTDnX2Y0&w=600&h=385]

Why has Apple picked her to be the source of planned leaks? John “clear skies” Martellaro tells of his time at Apple where he was instructed to do planned leaks and the purpose of such leaks: 

Controlled leaks are almost always the solution to a problem. In this case, it could have been that Apple needed to release the tablet information early because they wanted:

• to light a fire under a recalcitrant partner
• to float the idea of the US$1,000 price point and gauge reaction
• to panic/confuse a potential competitor about whom Apple had some knowledge
• to whet analyst and observer expectations to make sure the right kind and number of people show up at the (presumed) January 26 event. Apple hates empty seats and demands SRO at these events.

He points out that two authors at the WSJ are always named so they can point the finger at each other.  But if you look at recent likely leaked stories, one name keeps coming up 100% of the time:  Yukari Iwatani Kane.  Why? 

Video of her discussing her Apple leaks below.

Here’s Kane discussing her Apple leaks with the WSJ:

http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/main.swf

The other recent examples of planned Apple leaks were to Businessweek last year about Verizon getting the iPhone and tablet when Apple was renegotiating its contract with AT&T.

Update: We’re hearing reports that the Facebook app is reaping havoc on contacts.  You might want to hold off on syncing until this is straightened out.

Update 2: A new version is already out that addresses this issue

All kidding aside, we suppose that it’d be good to know when someone direct messages you in Facebook – or something.  More importantly, Facebook now also lets you sync your addressbook contacts with your Facebook friends which could be beneficial for when people change email/phone/address/etc.  Or maybe you don’t need those people you hated in high school in your addressbook?

You’ll recall that Facebook’s lead iPhone developer, Joe Hewitt recently quit over his concerns with the App Store review process to focus on Web Apps. It looks like someone else was able to fill his shoes…

Download it from the App Store here.

Recall we noted an earlier story estimating Apple

We

We’re all gaga over the Apple tablet right now with even competitors joining the frenzy as they scramble to introduce a raft of products they hope can out-innovate Cupertino. Two fresh reports add yet even more insight into Apple’s tablet tease; one website claiming that users will never have encountered anything like it before and may face a “steep learning curve” as they gather how to navigate the UI.

Cult Of Mac this morning informs us the new Apple device

It looks like Microsoft is venturing a considerable risk today, with widespread reports claiming the company hopes to beat Apple to the punch with the unveiling of its very own attempt at a tablet computer during CEO Steve Ballmer

Apple

Apple and Google appear to be in open competition, with the search giant

Apple

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4W6lVQl3QA&w=560&h=340]

Those nice processor designers over at ARM are using giant trade show CES to exhibit their forthcoming Cortex-A9 chip reference design – and eyes on site tell us the chip more than holds its own against the 1.6GHz Atom processor it

Amazon has introduced its Kindle DX with Global Wireless into 100 countries, a new version of its 9.7-inch wireless reading device, offering content delivery over a 3G connection in countries served.

Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) costs $489 while the 6-inch model costs $259. International orders appear to be being facilitated by Amazon in the US. It ships January 19.

The Kindle DX with Global Wireless has a large 9.7-inch electronic paper display, auto-rotate capability and storage for up to 3,500 books.

The larger screen is ideal for highly-formatted reading content such as magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and PDF documents, according to Ian Freed, vice president of Kindle at Amazon.

“Kindle DX is great for personal and professional documents, cookbooks, and textbooks – anything that is highly formatted. Documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display, that you’ll find yourself changing ink toner cartridges less often and printing fewer documents,” said Ian Freed, Amazon.com Vice President, Amazon Kindle.

Kindle with Global Wireless, Amazon’s 6-inch purpose-built reading device, was released in October 2009 and has already shipped to over 130 countries..

The Kindle Store now has more than 400,000 books, including New Releases and 96 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, which are typically $9.99 or less. More than 50,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last three months.

Over 80 top U.S. and international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Times (UK), Globe and Mail (Canada), Le Monde (France), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany),O Globo (Brazil), Hindustan Times (India), The Mainichi Daily News (Japan), El Pais (Spain), La Stampa (Italy), Shanghai Daily (China), El Universal (Mexico), Moscow Times (Russia) and The Prague Post (Czech Republic) are also available in the Kindle Store for single purchase or subscription, and can now be delivered wirelessly in over 100 countries and territories.

Available magazines include The Economist, Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, PC Magazine, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

The new Kindle DX with Global Wireless replaces the Kindle DX with US wireless, which is no longer available.The devices are synced tomobile telephone networks in over 100 countries, allowing users to download media, without worrying having to worry about how.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3KrFV0-WFw&w=560&h=340]

This just looks like fun – a flying machine that

Tmobile’s got a nationwide 7.2mbps HSDPA network that is compatible with the 3G radios on phones from Europe and Asia.  Compared to AT&T who has a different radio frequency for 3G and are still working on the 7.2mbps network, that’s pretty solid.  They also have the lowest-priced unlimited data plans of any US carrier which helps the Nexus One come in $500-$1000+ less over the two year contract (the difference in the phone cost is $20) than the iPhone…and even the Verizon Droid.  

Will AT&T lower their prices to compete with Tmobile?

Breakdown from BillShrink is below.

Billshrink

Adrian Ludwig from the Flash team at Adobe shows us Flash 10.1B on the Google Nexus One which is slated to be delivered via an over the air update in the first half of this year.  

It looks like it works OK, but frankly we’ve gone so long without Flash, it’s no longer on our wishlist.  If Flash does come to the iPhone or tablet, we’re hoping Apple delivers a Click2Flash type of opt in opt/out functionality.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlWOocHwcLo&w=600&h=335]

We just got these pictures of Boxee’s new remote control. Perfect! QWERTY on one side, Apple Remoteish simplicity on the other. Hopefully, the D-link box will be just as good!

via Boxee Blog

According to Computerworld, the Apple tablet won’t be tied to AT&T exclusively.  It will be available on a variety of networks.  Verizon?  Definitely!

“The tablet will be supported by multiple [mobile] carriers,” said Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech, citing unnamed sources he said were close to the situation. “Verizon and others,” he continued. “Definitely Verizon. I’ve been told that’s a certainty.”

That echos claims last year by Businessweek and others that were saying that “Apple was talking to Verizon about the tablet and iPhone lite”.

http://feedroom.businessweek.com/linking/index.jsp?skin=twoclip&fr_story=816e6f8e0ae953ce1c952ae3b0cac12dd829fd61&rf=ev&hl=true

We’re hoping that it is sold on the open market with providers able to offer plans subsidized or not. Why is that so hard? Google is doing that. Sort of.

The Nexus One is officially out.  Standout features include:

• 720×480 Video recording and 5 megapixel camera with flash.
• 800×480 AMOLED display.  
• 11mm thin (same width as pencil) 
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• Speech recognition throughout OS
• Noise cancellation using 2 mics.

Interestingly, during the Q&A, Google was asked if they would implement multi-touch on Android phones in the US and Google wouldn’t say that it would be available.

New Camera Gallery

Quattro posted to its website that it had been purchased by Apple today. It was reported last night that the deal had been finalized but until now neither Apple nor Quattro had confirmed the news.  

“We look forward to developing exciting new opportunities that will benefit Quattro Wireless customers in the future,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said.

A post by Andy Miller, Vice President, Mobile Advertising for Apple (formerly CEO of Quattro) tells us they’ll keep servicing their current customers…yada yada…

We reported back in December that Apple had submitted some patents for 3D Operating System navigation.  It turns out that they’ve also been looking at 3D multi-touch as a way of navigating a multi-touch tablet/iPhone.  The Baltimore Sun (via PED) dug up a patent from last month (#20090303231, Dec. 10, 2009  to be exact) on just such an idea.

[0034]The device supports a variety of applications, such as one or more of the following: a game application, a telephone application, a video conferencing application, an e-mail application, an instant messaging application, a blogging application, a photo management application, a digital camera application, a digital video camera application, a web browsing application, a digital music player application, and/or a digital video player application.

If this patent comes to fruition, the next iPhone/iPod/tablet interface might be nothing like anything we’ve seen before, and it could perhaps explain why we’ve been hearing the possibility of a “new type of interaction” to accompany the tablet.

The Sun also reports:

According to documents filed with the USPTO, Apple obtained the rights to this patent application from three French citizens: Fabrice Robinet, Thomas Goossens, and Alexandre Moha. The inventors assigned the patent to Apple on Sept. 29, 2008. It’s not clear if those citizens are Apple employees, per se. (Update: Actually, Mr. Moha is a product and engineering manager at Apple, per his LinkedIn profile; and Mr. Robinet is a software engineer at Apple, again, per LinkedIn.) Regardless, searches under Apple’s name in the patents database doesn’t retrieve this patent, because the names of the original French inventors are still on it. (I wonder why that is? Hmmm. :-)

Apple (AAPL) today announced that more than three billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store by iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide.