Apple Pulls Core Apps From iPad

Look at Apple's main 'hero' shot of the iPad and what do you notice? Yes it's a big iPod touch, but as Wired points out if you look more closely you'll notice there are certain core apps missing, namely: Stocks, Calculator, Clock, Weather and Voice Memos. But why is perhaps the most interesting aspect.

Acclaimed blog Daring Fireball claims to know the answer and it is a surprisingly superficial one: they look ugly on the larger 9.7in display.

"It’s not that Apple couldn’t just create bigger versions of these apps and have them run on the iPad," blog owner John Gruber explains. "It wasn’t a technical problem, it was a design problem. There were, internally to Apple (of course), versions of these apps (or at least some of them) with upscaled iPad-sized graphics, but otherwise the same UI and layout as the iPhone versions. Ends up that just blowing up iPhone apps to fill the iPad screen looks and feels weird, even if you use higher-resolution graphics so that nothing looks pixelated. So they were scrapped by you-know-who."

Destroying key functionality for the sake of looks? Well, if any company would choose that route...

Of course this is something few have considered. A calculator on a netbook is a little window, on the iPad it fills the entire 9.7in 1024 x 768 screen and will have buttons the size of Oreos. In fact it would look rather comical, like a giant cartoon calendar made by Acme.

The irony in all this is Apple is letting existing App Store apps run on the iPad, many of which will look ridiculous (users have the option to run them in a 3.5in rectangle, turning the rest of the screen blank - but this is equally silly). So it appears to be just Cupertino which doesn't have the ego to let its applications look anything less than perfect.

Affordable Asus Seashell Eee PC 1201T Unveiled

The Eee PC 1005PR runs on an Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz processor and has either 1 or 2GB of DDR2 memory. Standard.

But then, Asus has packed in a Broadcom BCM 70015 HD accelerator to be paired with the higher-resolution screen they’ve installed for some better picture quality. Not bad. They’ve also thrown in a free one-year trial of 500GB of additional space on ASUS WebStorage. Also, not bad, but not something that would really push me over the edge into buying a netbook, unless I really needed that much space and would be willing to pay for it after the first year.

I’m more interested in the six-cell battery included, which boasts up to 11 hours of battery life. Portability is essential when it comes to a netbook. Thus, battery life, weight and connectivity are what matters most. Storage space is important, but not as critical so long as there is at least 250GB of internal hard drive space (which there is on this netbook).

Here are the rest of the new Asus netbook specs tucked in that signature seashell design:

* 10.1-inch LED-backlit WXGA display (1366 x 768 resolution)
* Express Gate / Dual OS
* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
* RJ-45 LAN
* MMC/SD/SDHC card reader
* Connectivity: three USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, hi-def audio
* 0.3-megapixel webcam
* Weighs 2.8 pounds

No word on pricing or availability yet, but it probably won’t be long until we hear something since it’s already posted to their website.

FutureDash Supports PowerMeter

Internet giant Google has introduced a new PowerMeter API designed to make it easier for developers and manufacturers to build home energy monitoring devices that work with Google's power monitoring tools. The company said in a blog post that it is hoping to build an "ecosystem" of developers making information about energy efficiency available to home users and businesses, reports BusinessGreen.


"With the launch of the API we are highlighting the core design principles towards integrating with Google PowerMeter," said Google Product Manager Srikanth Rajagopalan. "In particular we outline the underlying data model and the accompanying protocols to ensure that Google PowerMeter provides consumers with access to their energy consumption with utmost care in maintaining the user's privacy and control on access to the information."

Google PowerMeter was launched in the UK last year and is a free software tool available through selected energy providers, such as First Utility. The system takes information from smart meters in the home and provides data, including graphs on use and waste, on a dedicated iGoogle web page. "If you can't measure and view your energy use, it's very difficult to make savings," said First Utility Chief Executive Mark Daeche.