“The more I read about it the more enthusiastic I get about the iPad. I also get equally annoyed about some of the stupid things that are being written. One thought keeps resonating with me though: the iPad isn’t really a computer. At least not in the traditional sense. (I know that technically it is a computer) Instead you should think of it more as a device that happens to do computing tasks,” Thomas Fitzgerald blogs.

“The iPad offers a new way to look at computing, and I think this scares a lot of people. Its ‘closed’ nature is offensive to some because they can only think of it in terms of existing computers, but that’s not really what the iPad is, or what it’s supposed to be. The iPad is a consumer electronics device that happens to do computing tasks. While it’s designed to replace having to use a computer for certain tasks, it’s not trying to completely do away with the desktop or laptop for tasks that they are more suitable for,” Fitzgerald writes. “Once the iPad is released, computers aren’t going to suddenly disappear or stop working, so those arguing that the iPad represents a loss of freedom are simply missing the point.

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Experience the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games on your Apple iPhone or iPod touch with the NBC Olympics app. Follow all the action with live real-time updates on every event from Vancouver. Check out NBC Olympics video clips and highlights, news stories for every sport, results & schedules, and updated medal counts. Plus, you can follow your favorite nations, sports and athletes on Facebook and Twitter — all from your phone.

Want to know when things happen, as they happen? Set up push notifications for your favorite sports, so you won’t miss a single event. Check out the TV schedule to help you find the events you want on NBC Olympics’ on-air coverage. Or if you missed an event, check out NBC Olympics video highlights wherever you are.

Participate in Public and Private Groups, powered by Huddle, where you and your friends can discuss everything from Team USA’s latest game to Shaun White’s halfpipe double cork. You can also send comments by SMS so your friends won’t feel left out.

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Anton Wahlman writes for TheStreet.com, “Here are four reasons why the Apple iPad is a guaranteed success.”

1. The Apple Retail Stores
2. Apple’s iTunes Ecosystem
3. The AT&T Deal ($30/mo. unlimited data plan, pay-as-you-go; no subscription required)
4. Apple leads in defining new computing interfaces

Full article here.

“Google Inc. sold about 80,000 Nexus One mobile phones in its first month on the market, roughly one-eighth the number of units the original Apple Inc. iPhone sold in its debut month, according to analytics group Flurry Inc.,” Scott Morrison reports for Dow Jones Newswires.

Morrison continues, “Observers have also been skeptical about Google’s decision to spend virtually nothing advertising the Nexus. Google briefly pitched the phone on its home page, but the link quickly disappeared… Perhaps more importantly, the early hype around the Nexus was quickly overshadowed by a series of reports about connectivity snafus, customer service shortcomings and eye-opening ‘recovery’ fees.”

Full article here.

“Adobe’s chief technical officer, Kevin Lynch claims that Flash [version 10.1, still in beta] now runs at ‘almost exactly’ the same level of CPU usage on Mac and Windows systems, where previously the Mac suffered significantly,” MacNN reports.

“The v10.1 update is set to use CoreAnimation, which Lynch suggests could make Macs faster than Windows in some cases,” MacNN reports.

“Lynch concedes that video is still a major weakness, as a 480p video, running on a 1.8GHz Mac mini, uses 34 percent of the CPU in Mac OS X and just 16 percent in Windows,” MacNN reports. “Flash 10.1 is expected to cut CPU consumption in half.”

Full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews

“Publishers joining Apple’s iBooks store [sic] are turning their back on Amazon and its vision of the flat $US9.99 ebook,” Matt Buchanan writes for Gizmodo.

Buchanan continues, “Apple forced the music industry to charge 99 US cents per song, so why are they helping publishers set their own prices? To screw Amazon.”

“The difference between Amazon and Apple is this: Amazon is very much in the ebook business to sell ebooks.. Apple, on the other hand, sells content in order to sell hardware,” Buchanan writes.

“At this moment, Amazon owns ebooks. The book publishers’ fears are the same as the record labels with iTunes: They’re paranoid about losing control over pricing, and their own digital destiny. They’re worried that books are being undervalued, and that once people have the mindset that the price of an ebook is $US9.99, and not a penny more, they’re doomed,” Buchanan explains. “They needed an insurgent player: Apple.”

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White House staff and others use Apple MacBooks to monitor Barack Obama’s live interview on YouTube in the Library of the White House on February 1, 2010.