While many speculate on the forthcoming Apple announcement, I was able to buttonhole Apple purchasing executive Hedley Lamar on a recent flight back from Taipei and got the facts. 

Ever heard of Balda AG? Chinese factories owned by this German firm make the touch sensitive modules which are fixed onto the iPhone’s LCD to make its innovative multi-touch control possible. It’s the key to Apple’s switch to a tough scratch-resistant glass screen.  That plus the Apple iTunes Is the key differentiator of the iSlate versus other Tablet computer products.  here is the base specs:

• Design and Software: Apple USA (natch!)
• Screen: 240 mm full multi-touch by Balda with 100% qwerty keyboard
• Assembly:  Quanta Taiwan at least initially
• Size: 250mm by 150mm by 15mm thick
• Weight: 1 kilo
• Chip: 1GHz Samsung custom Apple Chip
• Fast Start: 2GB Solid-state boot to OS
• Storage: 64GB solid-state
• Battery: 10-hour Li-ion polymer
• Case: Unibody aluminum similar to the newer MacBook
• OS: Slate OS 1.1.  This is a derivative of the iPhone OS
• Wireless: 802.11n, bluetooth AND ATT Edge Network air-card

Somewhere over the dateline and several scotches into the ride, Hedley explained that the key to the iSlate is really the end-to-end integration with the iTunes and Apps Stores so that the iSlate will largely be used as a media reader such as the Kindle.  He said major announcements will be made simultaneous to the product launch where publishers such as the New York Times will be pushing their content to “Slaps” which is, of course” iSlate Apps.  Wake up and read the NYT on fully HTML Safari based reader with links etc.  Content pricing will be dramatically lower than the Kindle, and free in most newspaper/magazine cases, as the media companies will be using their standard web add supported content.  Books will now be supported together with all the other iTunes content.

Now go do the voodoo you do so well.

Every once in a while a break through comes and often its from the designers at Apple. The "Magic Mouse" is really novel and may end the Apple legacy of crappy mice. While achieving all the high Apple ID standards, they have raised the HCI bar by opening the door to new gestures which will be particularly helpful for faster web browsing. While the Magic Mouse is a typical wireless mouse consisting of batteries, laser tracker and a Bluetooth chip the secret sauce is the capacitive sensors surface capable of gestural input. Imagine the gestures you can use with an iPhone but now you can us them with your Magic Mouse.

The Kindle is awesome but there could be a very disrupter on the horizon - Plastic Logic powered books.    There is a lot to love about the Kindle, the screen is easy on the eyes, access to a huge library and the battery life.  But it still lacks the tactile experience of a book.  That could now change with the introduction of E Ink from Plastic Logic which is a spin-off company from Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory and specializes in polymer transistors and electronics.

The principal product the company has developed is a flexible plastic electronic display the thickness of a credit-card.   The Plastic Logic approach solves the critical issue in manufacturing high resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates by using a low temperature process without mask alignment. The process, much simpler than conventional amorphous silicon processes, uses an eclectic mix of standard production equipment from display manufacturing and other industries.

You can see a demo of this very cool technology.  Later this year they will be announcing their eReader and publsiher platforms.  We think it will be a page turner!

Well I guess I am outlier as NYT called it grotesque and Tree Hugger says “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  Well, I love it as it appeals to both my obtuse styling sensibility and interest in clean advanced technologies.

Debuting at the LA Auto Show, this concept car is not another gas-guzzling autrocity (pun intended).  The car is a combination of the Honda racing technology and and their relatively recent interest in fuel cells.  Coming in at 135HP it will be no match for Tesla’s 300HP might.

Honda has been at the fuel cell game since 1999.  The basic concept is that a hydrogen fuel cell powering an electric engine.  The technology is certified Zero Emissions  - no green house gasses or other toxic stuff just a little water vapor coming off this machine.  Honda has a production version of their fuel cell called the FCX Clarity that is being leased in southern California which is pretty great so long as you live and work near one of the 3 (sic) hydrogen stations in LA.   Given the availability of fuel. don’t expect me to be driving one soon.

A breakthrough by scientists from the University of Glasgow could see the storage capacity grow by 150,000 times for the same amount of surface area.  To put this into perspective, 160 Petabytes could theoretically fit on the disk that is now in an iPod.

This is a nanotechnology breakthrough where researchers tell us they:

"assemble a functional nanocluster that incorporates two electron donating groups, and position them precisely 0.32 nm apart so that they can form a totally new type of molecular switching device. This is unprecedented and provides a route to produce new a molecule-based switch that can be easily manipulated using an electric field. By taking these nano-scale clusters, just a nanometer in size, and placing them onto a gold or carbon, we can control the switching ability. Not only is this a new type of switchable molecule, but by grafting the molecule on to metal (gold) or carbon means that we can potentially bridge the gap between traditional semiconductor devices and components for nanoscale plastic electronics. The key advantage of the molecule sized switch is information / transistor density in traditional semi-conductors.  Molecule sized switches would lead to increasing data storage to say 4 Petabits per square inch."

I could have said it better, not.  The geniuses behind this are Professor Lee Cronin and Dr Malcolm Kadodwala.

Demi Moore ’s boy toy, Ashton Kutcher, seems to have a promising new deal going with his telephony venture - Ooma.  It has been out for a year and they have had to drop the price but it seems to be getting real traction.  The price includes unlimited US calling forever!  While it’s a bit more expensive than the MagicJack you do not need to leave a computer on and Ooma’s call quality is superior.  All the basic features like CallerID and Voice Mail are included, while an optional Premier tier of service ($99/yr) offers additional features such as extra lines/numbers and conference calling.  Hopefully this one will work out better than Kutcher’s crappy movies.

The Nissan Mori electric scooter is a bit too Fischer Price for my taste but if this independent designer’s vision is produced I think it may be the next iMac (vintage ‘99).  The design incorporates state of the art technology by adjusting itself, while all mechanical and maintenance issues are managed by the on-board computer.  It is electric so there should be air benefits but probably no less carbon footprint. 

How much are you willing to pay for something like this?

Great post on learning from failure in a start-up. 

MTV Games announced that the second installment of the popular "Rock Band" game will be released in September and will be initially exclusive to Xbox 360.  Like the original Rock Band, the game is being developed by the MTV-owned Harmonix games studio who also developed Guitar Hero. Details of the product will be announced at E3 in Los Angeles later this month but the developers have announced an unusual twist - it will be fully compatible with the original instruments, as well as the more than 100 songs that were available to download for the first "Rock Band so they have will be competing on more than the typical game planned obsolescence. 

In the original Rock Star, players can select are guitar, bass, drums or vocals as they hit the road as either an aspiring superstar solo act, or for the first time in game genre history take on the true collaborative and challenging nature of music as they form a band and jam together in multiplayer action from home or around the world.  Either way players will have to master their stage presence through the various game modes and polish their rock chops via the unrivaled Rock Band song list if they hope to make it out of the garage, into the clubs and finally on to the main stage.  Rock Band is a natural extension of the passion for Guitar Hero - and you know that there are lots of fanatics out there!

The English Cotswolds are known for their natural beauty but soon it will also be world famous for its Eco-Friendly homes in the Cirencester area.  One development,  The Lower Mill Estate, offers “distinctive, sustainable, modernist second homes, in a rural setting”.  The development was a 550 acre mining site which has been transformed into a seven lake reserve fed by three rivers and offers beautiful plant and wildlife.  The above, to-be-built house, known as the Orchid house exemplifies the uniqueness of designs where they have strived to achieve a harmony with the surrounding nature and yet blow your socks off with gorgeous, jaw dropping architecture.  

The Orchid house was designed by London based designer Sarah Featherstone and will boast many green features including  an underground geothermal heating system and a planet switch.  The project was recently sold for a price rumored to be more than $14 Million - that is one incredible second home! Other designers of properties in the Lower Mill Estate include  Richard Reid, Will Alsop .

Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk