This is my attempt at starting a quick, weekly wrapup of current tech trends with an injection of my opinion. I’ve recently been wondering how much of my blog-reading is actually retained, so I thought about taking some notes while going through my RSS reader. But I’d rather get in the habit of sharing with everyone else. So here we go.

You’re welcome to just read the relaxing green text to hit the high points.

Verizon iPhone

February 10. Pretty self-explanatory. I’m really tired of hearing the phrase “Verizon iPhone”, but it’s nearly impossible to not mention when discussing recent tech news. Rumor has it that Verizon’s been in talks with Apple since 2008, although VZW was never a contender for the original iPhone.

Tablets that aren’t the iPad

Motorola Xoom

We’re now hitting the point where Android tablets are starting to catch up to the iPad. The Motorola Xoom, LG G-Slate, and Galaxy Tab are the most compelling three in my eyes, although new ones seem to pop up daily. Plus, Android 3.0 Honeycomb looks absolutely beautiful; an operating system that’s being built solely for tablets (for the time being) will make this new hardware really scream.

More 3D TVs

OMG3D!

People can’t seem to get over this one. The concept’s been around for a couple years, but got an even heavier push at this year’s CES. Between random trips to Best Buy and at this year’s CEDIA, I’ve seen plenty of the devices, but I’m still not sold; cumbersomely wearing glasses to stare at a headache-inducing image just isn’t attractive. And even though attempts are being made at eliminating the glasses, there’s plenty of barriers that need to be broken.

PlayStation cracking and resulting legal kerfuffle

What’s crackin’, yo? George Hotz, the fellow responsible for a smattering of iPhone jailbreaks, has done the same with the PlayStation 3. His FAIL0VERFLOW project allows for custom firmware, which in turn allows for pirated games and software that’s not blessed by Sony. A California restraining order followed, but was put on hold due to the fact that the coding was done in New Jersey.

Mmm, Ice Cream Sandwich

While most Android users are still waiting to get ahold of 2.3 Gingerbread, it’s looking like Google’s on track to release 2.4 “Ice Cream Sandwich” sometime this summer, likely at Google I/O. Faster speed and better Flash support is rumored, although I’m somewhat confused by the naming. If 3.0 is Honeycomb, I’d think 3.1 would be Ice Cream Sandwich for the sake of keeping the alphabetical progression intact. Not to mention the mouthful that “Ice Cream Sandwich” is. And get this: the added “Sandwich” seems to be an attempt to avoid confusion with Froyo when Google rolls out their Android replicas. Shenanigans.

iOS 4.3

Developer betas of iOS 4.3 have been seeded. The update has awesome new multitouch gestures for iPad multitasking, and also brings the ability for iPhones to create a personal hotspot. Unfortunately, it looks like support for the iPhone 3G is being dropped, which is pretty bad news for me. Good thing it’s just in time for the Verizon iPhone. Arrgh, I said it again.

Misc

I also stumbled across this really cool “Connected Store” concept from Intel. The future really is fresh; I can’t wait until every conceivable surface is a screen.

Thoughts? Anything I blatantly missed? Think I can crank one of these out every week?

Launch Day

I’ve never been to an Apple product launch before, and was excited about experiencing the unique culture surrounding Cupertino’s releases. I arrived at Atlanta’s Lenox Square to be 16th in line – not too bad, considering the hundreds of people that showed up. At first, I was a little hesitant about having to wait a few hours for the doors to open, but the time passed really quickly, fueled by great conversations with Mark Bowling, Taft Watson (the first one to get the original iPhone in Chicago), and other like-minded technology enthusiasts. At 8:30, the doors to the mall were opened, and we were herded to the outside of the Apple Store until 9:00. Right after 9, the lights were turned on, followed by all the store employees running from both directions – clapping, cheering, and high-fiving. It’s about as close to sports and tailgating as I get.

The crazy thing is that very few of the customers were chiming in, but it still felt like a huge deal. Geniuses held HD cameras high above the crowd as the first group of us were filing into the store, scrambling to get a look. I first played with a demo unit, went to grab a case, and then was approached about my reservation. For as many people that were there, the entire process was surprisingly smooth. After getting checked out, I headed home to unbox and start using the device.

Impressions

Unboxing

As with any Apple product, the unboxing was an phenomenal experience. The iPad sat atop a USB cable and power adapter, separated by a few foldout documentations. When first powered on, an iTunes connection was required, although the presence of a full charge got me through the day. There’s been some buzz surrounding issues with USB charging, but I don’t see it as a pressing issue – especially considering the fact that the iPad’s battery life is excellent. I went ahead and synced my music library, podcasts, movies, and a selection of apps I downloaded the previous night. After making sure all content was synced cleanly, I went through the Settings menu to personalize everything to the same configurations as on my iPhone, as well as to enable MobileMe syncing.

Apps

There’s a few great apps for the iPad, a solid amount of good ones, and a lot of bad ones. The majority of the outstanding ones are a bit more expensive than their iPhone counterparts, but (especially with games) the prices aren’t terrible considering the amount of development work involved. My wish list’s currently at around $150 worth of apps – something that’s not happening anytime soon. Here’s a few favorites that I’ve already installed:

• NetNewsWire
• Evernote
• WordPress
• Twitterific
• Pandora
• Netflix
• Fieldrunners
• Tap Tap Radiation
• RealRacingHD

NetNewsWire is much faster than the iPhone version, and Netflix’s streaming capabilities are pretty cool. But as great as the first iteration is, it’d be nice if Netflix would offer a richer experience than just a site-specific-browser.

Running iPhone apps, however, is an overall bad experience. When scaled down, I feel cramped to use the app with the presence of a large screen surrounding it, but enlarging the app yields to pixelation. As suggested by Ajai Karthikeyan, antialiasing would be a great solution.

The Big Picture

The iPad will succeed in extremely general and extremely specific uses. There isn’t a better device for surfing the web on the couch; the same goes for using Twitter at a conference or doing a one-on-one presentation with Keynote.

But when it comes to day-to-day use and significant productivity, there’s still a huge need for the form factor of a desktop/laptop, not to mention their distance from the technical specifications of the iPad. In short, it’s a luxury item right now. Yet the tablet sector’s really starting to take off, and following the release of devices such as the HP Slate and JooJoo, the luxury factor will begin to decrease.

What’s your opinion on the iPad?