9to5 Staff

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

It looks like ‘people familiar with the matter’ are intent on spoiling CES.  Apple’s tablet rumors are coming fast and furious today with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Apple is working on two different finishes for the tablet.  The device will also ‘redefine the way consumers interact with a variety of content’ .

They also concur with other reports that the tablet will be announced later this month but won’t ship until at least March, will have a 10 to 11 inch screen and will cost upwards of $1000.

One of the people briefed on the matter added that Apple was working on two different material finishes for the tablet, though it was unclear whether the Cupertino, Calif., company was just testing them or planning to come out with multiple versions of the device at different prices.

They also (mistakenly?)quote analysts as saying that the tablet will be available with a subscription to a nationwide Wifi service?  Whether they meant Boingo, Mifi, WiMAX, 3G, some Apple/AT&T service or what isn’t certain.

Analysts currently believe an Apple tablet will be priced at about $1,000, possibly including a subscription to a nationwide Wi-Fi wireless service. The tablet is expected to be a multimedia device that will let people watch movies and television shows, play games, surf the Internet and read electronic books and newspapers. People briefed by Apple also say that the company believes it could redefine the way consumers interact with a variety of content. Textbooks and newspapers, for example, could be presented differently through color screens, a touch interface, and the integration of live up-to-the-minute information from multiple sources.

We know that with or without ?, 2010 is going to be the year of the Tablet.  This might be the most interesting one to hit before January 27th.  Hearst’s Skiff is a 1200×1600 monster of a flexible tablet (yet the screen measures only 11 inches diagonally) which yields a 174 ppi screen.  More pictures below.

via Engadget

Mac4ever (translated) is reporting that the January event isn’t just going to be a Tablet show and tell.  They indicate that Apple will unveil a beta SDK for the fourth generation of the iPhone.  This SDK will also conveniently have a tablet simulator for developers who want to build or port their apps to the tablet.

They also note that the next version of the iPhone will likely have more pixels to play with like recent Android and Windows Mobile phones have had. 

We also learned that in French “sont

OK, this is cool.   Imagine controlling a drone quadricopter with your iPhone.   It gets better.  The controls are linked to the accelerometer movements in your iPhone so you can control the device naturally by tipping your iPhone the way you want the copter to move.

It gets better.  The device has a camera which sends video back to the user right on the iPhone – live over wifi.   So, technically you can fly it like the military flys drones to the bad guys’ houses.  It gets better.  Using the two cameras, you can play augmented reality games with other players.  Santa?  You listening to this?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ejh–_56ic&w=600&h=385]

Watch more videos here.

All Things D’s John Paczkowski, has word that Apple’s late January special event islater than originally anticipated.  His sources tell him…

Sources in a position to know tell me Apple (AAPL) is indeed planning a media event later this month at which it will announce a major new product. The gathering is to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a space Apple often uses for media events like these. According to other sources, it will occur on Wednesday Jan. 27, not Tuesday Jan. 26, as had been rumored.

We noticed that the three day opening that was available at the Yerba Buena center ended on Wednesday but we figured they needed a day to clean up the confetti.

Apple

Nokia has thrown a third punch at Apple as litigation between the two firms intensifies, the Finnish firm has this time asked the US Federal court to ban iPhone, iPod and MacBook imports into the US on strength of claims Apple is abusing Nokia patents.

This is the third strike by the company as the smartphone war becomes ever more bitter. The complaints essentially reprise those made by Nokia to the FTC last week, when the company alleged that Apple is infringing several

CES is upon us, and in keeping with previous years, Apple

Step 1. Turn off sound.

Step 2. Watch this video of BTStack hack utilizing Apple’s Magic mouse and Celluon CL800BT virtual keyboard on the iPhone:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFWjVkzJb_s&w=600&h=420]

Step 3. wipe drool off your chin.  

via Engadget

Intel’s new Arrandale laptop chips benchmarks are being published today by just about everyone: HotHardware, AnandTech, Tom’s Hardware, PCPerspective, and Legit Reviews all chime in.  The results?  The 32nm Arrandale chips best the current 45nm Penryn Core2 Duo lineup by about 20% overall according to Anandtech (or 40-50% according to Legit Reviews) with some processes getting a bigger boost than others.  

Power usage in this round stays about the same or, strangely for a chip that uses a smaller manufacturing process, actually goes up with the new chips. However, by mid-year the new Arrandale chips should see significant improvements (which might give Apple a reason to delay updating).   But Apple isn’t usually one to let a fast processor pass them by.

In the words of Tom’s Hardware:

So long, Core 2 Duo. The wheels of progress keep on spinning, and Arrandale is playing you out.

The games guru who gave us the phenomenally popular Final Fantasy gaming franchise has confirmed that his studio, Mistwalker, is developing a title for Apple

Apple

Bluetooth drivers are munching Apple keyboard batteries when used in conjunction with a Magic Mouse – but a fix is on its way, reports claim. At issue: Mac users employing a Magic Mouse have begun reporting that use of the device has an unexpected side effect, that of drastically reducing the battery life of their accompanying wireless Apple keyboards.

As noted by TUAW, a series of Apple Discussions confirm the problem.

http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1372989697/code/cnbcplayershare

Blink and you may have missed it in among the seasonal festivities and dawn of the new decade, but CNBC

CNBC is airing a special centered on the new App economy this week called Planet of the Apps.  It might be interesting but we’re prepared to be bored to death with stuff we already know about.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUO4u9IZIzU&w=600&h=385]

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

What is Your Favorite App?
There

We do like the OS name Clouded Leopard.  It kind of works with the more MobileMe, Lala stuff.  Other than that it is a bad fake – they lost us at “Intel”.

Gizmodo and UberGizmo are both reporting that an Apple Job description is alluding to 802.11N wireless in the next iPhone.  

The ideal candidate should possess excellent understanding and working knowledge of 802.11 implementations on embedded (preferably mobile) platforms. Relevant experiences include but are not limited to the following:

…Implementation of 802.11 a/b/g/n & related specifications….

The posting isn’t particularly telling but it alludes to an iPhone software engineer needing 802.11N experience.  The two gadget sites think this relates to the iPhone 4G having Wireless N capability.

It’d better have 802.11N capability!  The iPhone 3GS already has the Broadcom hardware to connect to 802.11N Networks.…along with FM Radios which we’ve heard is en route via an app.  The services just haven’t been activated by the iPhone’s software/firmware yet.

So the real question isn’t whether or not the iPhone 4G will have N wireless networking hardware.  It will.  

The real question is: When will Apple turn on the N Networking on my 3GS so that I can switch off B/G compatibility on my Airport?  And how about that FM radio.app?  Maybe at this January event.  Or perhaps this new software engineer hire can hook us up.

A Tablet product? You don’t say! Go on…

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1079049304

Nothing you probably didn’t already know…