Apple Tablet Twit!
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From a beta tester:
Apple tablet is OLED + back has solar pad for recharging, but (the charger) really doesn’t work quickly. More a gimmick. Verizon+att, wifi yes!
Apple Tablet has thumbpads on each side for mouse gestures, reads fingerprint for security. Up to 5 profiles by fingerprint for family.
Yes, there are 2cameras: one in front and one in back (or it may be one with some double lens) so you record yourself and in front of you.
I can tell u the battery life is great in ebook reading mode but not great when on wifi or playing games. 2-3hrs.
Yes, the apple tablet is running an iphone os flavor with ability to have multiple apps running at same time (ie pandora, browser).
The price will be $599, $699 and $799 depending on size and memory in apple tablet. Also, wireless keyboard + monitor connection for TV.
Also, the apple tablet is really amazing for newspapers. Video conferencing is super stable, but nothing new.
The best part of the apple tablet as beta user has been the built in HDTV tuner and pvr, and the chess game.
Yes, it’s true… I’ve been beta testing the Apple tablet for the past two weeks and it’s amazing!
This sounds credible but I think I’ll follow your lead from the previous entry… I’ll wait for tomorrow’s official announcement.
“poorly performing solar pad on the back – built-in HDTV tuner and pvr” sounds a little crazy to me
Solar panel definitely sounds like a gimmick, otherwise about as expected.
OLED is nice however, wonder how much they are going to be losing on each unit until the prices of the panels comes down in a few months/years. Or have they vacuumed up all the output from one/more manufacturers in exchange for a deal that amortises the cost over a generation or two?
Whats the chances of it melting on the dash of car in Arizona… heck, anywhere and any sunlit window for that matter…
Not sure about how genuine this is. Sounds like it’ll be ok if it is though.
The tweet stream belongs to Jason Calacanis. If you never heard of him i can tell you he is a very reliable source of information so my bet is that everything in there is true.
Guess again.
Yeah, how come his beta model came with two cams?
It’s insane that you would believe this, Cringely.
Also very weird that you would just post this as “From a beta tester” without citing that it just came from a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/jason
Hi Bob,
I have read and enjoyed your columns for something like 15 years and I would never have expected you to write an article like this *without*:
i) acknowledging and linking to the source (in this case apparently some twitter posts apparently cut & pasted?
ii) Giving some personal opinion/guidance/spin on what that source has said.. e.g. “he says this.. BobX think it’s probably true.. but with some caveats”
Feedback: I feel let down by this (lack of authority & clarity) and I think it’s way below your usual journalistic standards – and consequently damages your reputation and (trusted) relationship with readers.
*Note: I don’t care if the rumour/speculation/leak (whatever it is) turns out to madly wide of the mark or insanely great…. it’s all part of the fun of watching these industry PR events and product launches…
what I object to and intensely dislike is that you omitted to name and link to the source.
Question: Why did you decide to omit the source and link this time?
Regards, Steve (in the UK)
Agree with Steve,
VEry bad not to cite the author.
Actual text came NOT from a beta tester but a self described tech “pundit” Jason Calacanis, tech entrepreneur. He says he got the tablet 10 days ago.
Check his tweets out for yourself @jason and for a real summary try this : http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/27/jason-calacanis-possibly-spoils-apple-tablet-event-drops-major-details/
Hi Again,
I just listened to the podcast (sexy, sexy voice and all that) and BobX makes it much clearer that he is quoting a “twitter session” at the beginning and at the end – though there’s still no source cited there either.
Would still like my question answered please BobX.
Steve.
[...] alert? iSlate beta tester spills to Cringeley: I, Cringely Blog Archive Apple Tablet Twit! – Cringely on technology Fingerprint scanner! Solar panel! Sounds pretty dodgy to me. __________________ NO INTERNET [...]
Robert X. – Sorry to see your site has been hacked and you haven’t been able to fix this hoax page. The first tweet “solar pad … doesn’t work” and then “2cameras … or it may be one” (as if a real tester wouldn’t know) are immediate flags … “thumbpads (silly) … 5 profile (limit)” bad joke.
Your reputation is intact with me as soon as you can apologize for the poor security that allowed you to be hacked. The fake tweeter will be laughing that April 1st. came early this year. I’ll just be glad when the name game has ended. Hours away from truth, -CP-
[...] Cringely has been beta testing the new Apple tablet for a few weeks and gives a review. Here is the link. [...]
[...] beta tester reveals the tablet Here is link to the [...]
I tend to trust you as an author/blogger/tech pundit .. but not any longer if you plagiarise. And from twitter! I hope you were stoned when you thought this was a good idea.
Please be more careful, before you lose peoples trust.
How difficult did you think it would be for folks to track down the “beta tester”????? You’re supposed to be (self-identified) tech nerd. IIIIIIIIIIIIII don’t know.
If Jason Calacanis is not joking, why would he do this? It means never getting another invite or product to test from Apple ever again.
Yeah, right.
This falls apart on the “Up to 5 profiles” bit. Why would they ever put such an arbitrary limitation on it?
HDTV tuner doesn’t match any of your opinions on Apple’s strategy over the last five years. That is nothing more than the fantasy of a feature-geek.
I’m glad that you posted this, but I share everyone’s complaints for not attributing this to Jason Calacanis. It’s not just about giving credit where it’s due. It’s about the credibility of source. He said that he got a tablet 10 days ago and this is first-hand information. That’s important to know.
While the features sound fantastic, it also sounds like a kludge, a Rube Goldberg contraption… and doesn’t make a lot of sense given Apple’s general approach to products–simple and elegant.
I’d be more inclined to believe
1) A purchase of Netflix
2) Streaming subscriptions to major network shows (end run of cable)
3) Tie-ins to major newspapers and book publishers in the country (especially textbook).
4) Video conferencing built in
5) A hand crank for generating more battery power when it gets low!
Apple will never include a TV tuner in any of its products because when reception is bad (i.e, most of the time) the user experience is bad. It runs completely contrary to their UX ideals.
“When reception is bad”.
It’s interesting (I wonder if Bob has looked into this…) how none of the HDTV reviews I’ve seen talk about reception. They all assume you’ve got cable/satellite.
I’ve got 3 hd tuners: The one in the 42″ Sharp Aquos, the one in the 32″ Insignia, and the ElGato EyeTV+. Usibng the same antenna in the same location:
The ElGato gets the best reception. Then the Insignia, and the Sharp is a PoS.
“The best part of the apple tablet as beta user has been the built in HDTV tuner and pvr, and the chess game.”
Ha, you almost had me til there.
I wonder if the solar panel is just on this tester’s model, or one of a few, to help track down snitches.
It’s a called a joke.
It’s called satire.
It was So much like a Ginsu commercial that if you don’t get it you’re an idiot. It had everything except the, “but wait there’s MORE!!!!”
Really people Cringley speculates and does analysis. This was his way of poking fun at the rumor sites.
Regards
Joe Dokes
Agreed. The tone of it is just way over the top to not be a joke. And he had just posted that he wouldn’t speculate about something that was a day away from being revealed! So obvious.
Bob is the worst pizza delivery man ever!!!
I requested a pepperoni pizza yesterday and he still hasn’t come to deliver it!!
Now, he’s talking about a pizza made from apples but I really just want one with pepperoni and NO ANCHOVIES…
No one seems to be discussing the low nutritional value of these “apples”
State of the art voice recognition?
Oh wow, Bob, you were really off. Troll-like off.
Sorry, I’m experiencing a primal . Even if there were a “built-in HDTV tuner” (there isn’t, according to Apple’s website today). Maybe I have to try it first, but it comes across as sort of a “Thneed” (a la The Onceler, from Dr. Seuss). A little something for everyone: e-reader, video, camcorder, iTunes, virtual keyboard, … Does lots of things, but like all Jacks of All Trades, not likely a Master of Any.
For all the hype this iPhone-on-anabolics received, I would have thought it featured a brain wave scanner to telepathically communicate with its user. Instead, we get a virtual keyboard, wifi and 3G.
Woo-hoo.
I meant to say: “primal *yawn*”.
You deserve a slap in the face! You were WAY off.
http://www.apple.com/ipad
I wou;dn’t be too hard on Bob, if you look closely at the prototype’s displayed on Engadget, they distinctly show a camera at the top. Perhaps this person was beta testing a different REV? Like the iPad GS.
It’s hard to imagine the browser doesn’t have flash nor can it run multiple apps at the same time when they went to all the trouble of creating a chip for it to be fast and are running a remarkable multitasking system, BSD.
What will be interesting will be seeing how this device is used in education. Many universities are outfitting their incoming freshmen with iPhones or iPod Touches now – what will be possible with a student body outfitted with iPads?
I teach and think it would be interesting to present to a classroom of students with these devices. Imagine, no need to an overhead projector – the students just sync to my unit and I run my Keynote presentation right to them. No problem with dim projector bulbs or line of sight issues. Add in interactive highlighting or other indication capabilities and I’ve just eliminated that massive noisy projector at the back of the room.
Plus I can run the existing polling and other educational applications out there and away we go! Just need Blackboard to make their system more OS X/Safari friendly…
By the FSM’s grace I hope this is satire. If not, though, perhaps you could fill us in on which company’s tablet your “beta user” was testing, since it obviously wasn’t Apple’s?
Do you still trust this source now that he/she was way off??? You should cite..otherwise it looks poorly on you.
Solar panels that don’t really work and are just a gimmick, thumb pads, HDTV tuner? Did it also have a bunch of “Intel Inside” stickers and a stylus or a trackball?
I think he was really looking at the latest Dell or Acer prototype, Apple doesn’t do that crap.
Looks like you hit it right on the head. Er, someone hit YOU right on the head. Or maybe one too many glasses of Chardonnay at the Cringely residence last night.
HDTV tuner would possibly be nice, but then where would you put the rabbit ears?
Guess he got a couple things right anyway. It does have an optional keyboard and runs iPhone OS. Pretty much every other item was completely wrong.
I should start twitting notes from my imaginary job too.
It’s funny how people still believe this wasn’t satire and Bob actually thought this are the actual features xD
[...] sure that Calacanis is not getting that much followers on Twitter as much as he hoped. I, Cringely picked up Calacanis’ tweets as story. Calacanis’ failed attempt at humor does show his [...]
The two-cameras for teleconferencing would’ve been a killer app to make me buy it. An FM tuner and HDTV tuner would’ve been killer apps too.
As it is, the iPad is just an extra large Touch, albeit with a horrific name that conjures up an electronic adult diaper…. or worse.
I’m a PC user who bought both an iPhone and an iPod because the features were just so useful; the iPhone has been a Godsend. I just can’t imagine who would buy this technological turd.
It was downright painful to see Steve Jobs using hyperbole to describe this thing.
iPad, how thee has diminished my view of Apple and Steve Jobs.
I imagine Bob thought the heading would make his views obvious. The word he used is “twit”, not “tweet”.
Apparently people still aren’t getting it.
you, cringely are an idiot.
Wow, never going on this site again. that was off my a mile and a half
Nice sarcasm, Bob. Took me a while to get the joke
Beta Test: FAIL
Master Beta, maybe…
Typical cringely, off pirating other peoples stories/ideas. I’m happy this was posted because it proves he happily takes credit for other persons information and ideas. I haven’t seen a single unique thought posted on this idea for years, yet, I constantly see him subtly suggest he developed them, and that his constantly leading every battle. Happily, he isn’t getting as much attention as he used to.
This rumor was obviously a mile and a half off (and at no time did I EVER suspect it was valid). Apple is about online services, so seriously, everyone should have realised Apple WOULDN’T build in a TV tuner (especially since there are so many different Digital TV standards, so they would have to release half a dozen different versions of the iPad for each country). Why would they do that when they want people buying movies from their store? Furthermore, the quality of the signal can’t be guaranteed. Would a tiny antenna built into the glass pick up many channels in countries like Australia? Not a chance!).
And Solar pad.. LOLLLLL. Why would Apple want to encourage people to leave their devices in the sun in their car, or use them outside (all displays work better inside). So that their batteries can overheat and explode? I guess it makes sense apple would develop a portable device and expect you to carry around a massive array of solar cells.
And since when have beta testers been told the pricing of the product they are developing? It never occurred to you that they wouldn’t did it…
This stuff is just common sense, yet Mr Cringely doesn’t really think about the validity of the stuff he steals.
I, Andrew, am calling you out Rob, and demand you admit that you stole this rumor from elsewhere! Because people like me who actually think up the new ideas are sick of them being stolen by people like you. From a beta tester? Ha! More like cut and pasted from another unreliable rumor site!
I find it hilarious that a man who claims “When it comes to information technology, Cringely knows what he is talking about. Thirty years in and around the PC business has earned him wisdom…”, falls for an obviously fake rumor I knew was fake by selling Apple products for only 3 years (3 years ago)!
From the title I thought Cringely was calling the guy a Twit and posted is as a joke. But listening to the podcast he clearly thinks it sounded credible.
Whoops, Cringely’s been HAD!
i’ve enjoyed laughing at the out-of-control tablet fantasies on the rumor sites these past few years, but nothing compares to today’s dashed expectations. c’est dur, d’etre fanboy!
Ack. Bad mistake Cringley. You’ve been had. At least the price points are almost right. $599, $699 and $799. That’s something even the most ridiculous Wall St. rumor machines had a hard time predicting.
Damn.. Jason Calacanis really got a lot of people with this one. Don’t feel bad though Bob, even the Wall Street Journal wrote about these tweets too.
Jason did didn’t he? Wow Steve’s not the only one with a reality distortion field. Jason Calacanis is learning the ways of the dark side of the force.
How far could you have been off from reality! Not necessarily your fault, but it shows how unreliable these sources can be…
Wow! Take it easy! It is a satire, there are things here that apple would never do, and the Cringe knows it. Good way to get some hits though, a little click bait.
Ciao
Its funny how Andrew took so much time to write a long comment but couldn’t even read the title xD
Indeed.
[...] weeks. One of these people was Cringely, who has been writing about tablets recently, only later to reveal that he had been “beta testing the Apple tablet for the past two [...]
Dum..and not even funny!