ChomeOS may finally be a reality

It can be hard, sometimes, to figure out Google's software strategy. On the one hand, they are running Android, a classic Operating System with Apps. On the other hand, they have been crowing over ChromeOS, a new operating system built to be lean and mean, with no built-in applications but only easy access to Web-based applications like GMail and Picassa. They seem to have hitched their wagon to two teams pulling in opposite directions! But until now, ChromeOS has remained primarily theoretical - there's no shipping hardware for it, and it exists only where people have hacked their own systems to install the Beta.

But now, Download Squad is reporting that a ChromeOS tablet will be on store shelves by Black Friday 2010. And it will be designed specifically to compete with the iPad during the busy Christmas shopping season.

One can only wonder how all of the hopeful Android partners who were planning to release their own Android-based tablets in the fourth quarter are feeling about this news.

Revealed: the Apple iPad

The short version: 9.7" touchscreen tablet computer running a variant of the iPhoneOS. Wifi or Wifi+3G on board. Running a custom 1 GHz Apple A4 chip with 16, 32, or 64 GB flash memory. Runs iPhone apps without modifications. Includes a new iBookstore. Pricing from $499 to $829. Available in 60 days for Wifi, 90 days for 3g (which costs an added $14.95/month).

Is today the beginning of the iTablet Era?

Today, Apple reveals their "newest creation". No one knows for sure, but most rumors are predicting a Table Computer from Apple. A few minority sites are predicting new iPod Touches with cameras or a Verizon iPhone. Others are predicting the release of iPhoneOS 4.0, perhaps even a preview of the iPhone 4.0 hardware. Still others, a revamped iTunes Store selling magazines and books. No matter what, this is sure to be an interesting day. If you want to follow along with the announcements, Engadget is offering a liveblog. It is sure to be a day to remember, even if all Steve Jobs does was come onstage, announce a minor upgrade to AppleTV, and humiliate the tech press.

Are HTML5 Video betas specifically for the Apple Tablet?

If you're not a geek, the recent moves by YouTube to begin a beta of HTML5 videos quickly followed by Vimeo doing the same thing probably warranted nothing more than a feeling of "So what?"

HTML 5 is the newest specification for how web pages (and more) can be built for viewing in a web browser. One of the most significant changes for this new version is the handling of video and other rich media technologies. In the past, the only way to have video on the web was either to have users download video files and play them manually on their computer, or to use a technology like Adobe Flash or Java to play them in a custom-built module (this is how both YouTube and Vimeo do it today). In HTML 5, browsers will instead be capable of supporting specific video file types directly in the browser. Currently, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome all support some form of HTML 5 (Firefox does not support the new implementations of YouTube and Vimeo). By pushing video to the browser itself, we allow for more direct interaction with video, and a more efficient memory footprint for handling it, allowing better performance with less horsepower (and less battery required).

But it is especially significant that these changes are being released only a week before Apple is expected to announce a Tablet Computer. The iTablet or iSlate or whatever the name could have been designed to run MacOS X like a laptop or the iPhoneOS - and while MacOS X has a (memory and CPU hungry) implementation of Adobe Flash, the iPhoneOS has explicitly banned it. The fact that these moves are being made now may imply that Google (which has a long relationship with Apple and is likely to be on stage next week when the Tablet is announced) knows the Tablet will run iPhoneOS and thus will not support Adobe Flash. This may mean an end to Adobe's near-monopoly on rich interactive content on the web, and especially with regards to video. Which may change the Web more than you expect.

We live in interesting times.

Apple Event - January 27

The Apple Blogsphere has been abuzz for weeks with rumors about a "special event" in late January, which many posited would be the release venue for the new Apple Tablet Computer. Now Apple has sent out official invitations to the event (pictured below). Speculation about the event is running rampant, with FoxNews claiming confirmation that the main announcements will be an Apple Tablet Computer (perhaps called the "iSlate"), details about the iPhone 4.0, and iLife 2010. Whatever is coming, it is sure to be more exciting and notable than the annual Consumer Electronics Show which closed out recently, and failed to generate much buzz for new products (mostly because the tech journalists were breathlessly awaiting the next big thing from Apple).

TechCrunch Web Browsing Pad gets Prototype 2

Some time back TechCrunch expressed the frustration that many of us were feeling after the failure of the OLPC program. There were cheap laptops all over now, but none suitable for simply browsing the web comfortably while watching TV or lying in bed. The team set themselves a goal of producing a $200 touchscreen computer with wireless with only a single goal in mind - make the web browser excellent. After that, we had a long period of silence as iPhones, iPod Touches, and EeePC clones came out one after another.

Well, TechCrunch as released an update on their second prototype along with video of the unit in action and it does not look too bad. It runs a customized version of the Ubuntu (Linux) operating system and a Webkit-based browser (like MacOS X's Safari or Google's Chrome). It uses a low-power Via processor (similar to the Intel Atom) and has a 4-cell battery.

Of course, by the time this really reaches the market, Apple may have released their rumored iPad, Asus may have their touchscreen EeePCs, and Microsoft's surface may be ubiquitous. So, it may be an example of too-little, too-late. Still, it is nice to see a team ready to innovate, instead of just complaining and waiting for the big boys to step up to the plate.