Using PC_efi technology (a means to run OS X on a PC without kernel modification), an anonymous source for netkas.org has managed to run and benchmark Leopard on an Atom chip, which is rumored (and denied) to be headed for Mac.
The Atom Processor would certainly make a good candidate for a mini-tablet. It's small enough to fit any form factor, and low power enough to run for long periods in small devices. According to netkas, you can even run one of these on solar power. Here are the results of an Xbench test, courtesy of netkas:
Was it a slip of the tongue? ZDNet.de reports that Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer, speaking at an Intel 40th anniversary event at Munich's BMW World, confirmed that there is an iPhone that will be using Intel's new Atom processor. The new device is "slightly larger" than the current iPhone, raising speculation that this new member of the iPhone family may be the long-rumored Apple mini-tablet with a 720 x 480 display.
What do YOU think about Herr Schwaderer's comments and the rumored mini-tablet? Take our poll! A big thank-you hug to Erica Sadun for the poll answers!
Axiotron's ModBook has been making a stir for a while, so we're pleased to have the opportunity to take it for a spin. In case you haven't seen it before, it's a MacBook that's been modified into a slate-style tablet computer, and it's stiff competition for any tablet PC (for many reasons, not the least of which is... it's a Mac). Photographer Peter Boysen worked with us (video after the jump) to put it through its paces as we considered the needs of the artists and designers who are Axiotron's primary demographic.
Read on for the rest of our review, and a video bonus.
Our good friends at Mahalo Daily took this short look at the Axiotron ModBook, which (you've probably seen) is a modified MacBook that's been turned into a tablet computer. I learned a couple of interesting things about the device -- first of all, it's not a touchscreen, it's really a tablet, which means you need a stylus to use it. Also, Apple is approving, if not actually supportive, of these things. They're supplying the MacBook bases to Axiotron as an "Apple Proprietary Solution Provider." One could infer from this that Apple doesn't think there's a big enough market for these to make it worth Apple's making an iTablet anytime soon.
The lovely and talented Veronica Belmont also runs through a few practical applications of the device, which I'd imagine are pretty standard on any Tablet PC -- the big draw here, obviously, is that it's a Mac, and you get all the software and UI-shininess contained therein. I don't know that I'm any more inclined to buy one after watching this (I kind of like my keyboard-laden PowerBook, to be quite honest), but it's cool to get a fun look at them in action.
MacNN is reporting on a patent filed by Apple that describes a laptop docking station that looks a lot like a hollow iMac. According to images filed with the patent, a laptop is slid into a compartment on the side of the dock, leaving the laptop's ports accessible.
There's no indication as to how the display works. Perhaps the docking station itself has a display that's powered by the laptop, though it seems silly to have two displays. It could be that the laptop in question is actually a tablet that docks with its own display facing the user.
The patent also mentions liquid cooling and a "telephonic handset." It's all interesting, but who knows if any of this will come to fruition. Perhaps we'll see next week.
We should probably have some due diligence on the latest rumors streaming around the Apple blogosphere, so here you go: CNET is claiming that Asus is helping Apple build a sweet new Tablet PC. This is just the latest in a long line of rumors about an ultraportable, and we've heard this so much by now that even if it isn't true, there are probably engineers at Apple right now working on how to make it a reality anyway.
I tend to agree with Macenstein: what do we need an Apple Tablet for, anyway? The whole ultraportable idea seems to be based on the fact that people want to see it made, not necessarily that anyone is walking around with an iPhone and a MacBook and still asking for yet another computer to carry around. Don't get me wrong-- if anyone can find a hidden niche for beautiful, usable products, Apple can, but I just don't see where an iTablet would fit in the hierarchy.
Now, the last time I speculated on Apple releases (I said we wouldn't see new MacBooks for a while), Apple decided to release MacBook updates just hours later, so for everyone out there hoping to see a new Apple Tablet, try this on: my guess is that Apple won't release an iTablet in January. Now, when I'm dead wrong (as usual), I'll just be able to claim that I predicted the opposite of what I thought so we'd get the product we wanted.
OWC this afternoon unveiled its answer to a Macintosh tablet. Going by the moniker of ModBook, the device was specially engineered by OWC and Axitron (a company created just for this purpose). When all is said and done, the ModBook is essentially a MacBook with a Wacom Graphire digitizing tablet built over the screen, a few select shareware titles to better the tablet experience, and for some reason foreign to this blogger, integrated GPS. The ModBook is available in multiple configurations starting at a special Macworld Expo discount of US$2199.
Laurie posted OWC's announcement of their upcoming ModBook Mac tablet just as I began rounding up commentary from some Mac notables as to why a tablet from Apple simply doesn't make sense. OWC's announcement indeed makes things a bit more interesting, but I think some of these thoughts from Steven Frank (of Panic, Inc. fame) and David Sobotta, one of Apple's own former sales managers, can shed some light on why Apple is likely to stay away from this market.
Mr. Sobotta tells a longer story over at The Guardian of his 20 years of experience at Apple, and Steven Frank more or less rounds up the bullet points in a Macworld rumor call-out post. To sum things up: the idea of a tablet Mac is cool - really cool - but the fact of the matter is that the tablet PC market sucks. And by 'sucks' I mean "it's downright horrendously dismal." Steven also reminds us that Apple hasn't really been making products for unidentified markets for about a decade now. Sure, there are a big handful of Mac Photoshoppers that would love to be able to craft their next Fark submission with a Mac tablet on the couch, but the unfortunate reality is that Apple - already a niche company - would need a *lot* more interest in an über-niche product like this to make it profitable. To make matters worse, already established industries (like the medical field) *still* aren't touching the tablet PC products that have been on the market for over two years now.
Steven lists a lot of other good obstacles that simply don't seem ripe for Apple to tackle anytime soon, and Mr. Sobotta certainly offers some commentary from behind Apple's well-guarded veil as well.
Which brings me back to the intriguing ModBook announcement from OWC. Apple hasn't made the idea of a tablet Mac work just yet (though who knows: maybe next week could prove everyone wrong), but OWC apparently has. Next week should be a very interesting one, to say the least.
OWC is well known for their iPod solutions, Mac CPU upgrades and Firewire hard drives, but they will now be known as the folks who brought us a real Mac tablet solution. On Jan 9th they, along with their manufacturing partner Axiotron, will unveil the ModBook, a "high-end slate-style notebook computer solution" featuring WACOM Penenabled hardware that is fully compatible with Apple's Inkwell handwriting and gesture recognition technology, allowing you to write and draw directly on the screen. There's even a built-in GPS option available!
Full details won't be available until their press conference at Macworld Expo on Jan 9th, but here's the official teaser to hold you over: "Engineered in the U.S. by a renowned team of German and American designers, the ModBook's condensed form factor and integrated pen-based user experience makes it the ultimate solution for applications and situations where a keyboard only gets in the way. Ideal for: Mobile Users, Business Professionals, Artists, Students, and Technology Leaders!"
We will be at the unveiling, of course and promise to have lots of pics and details as they unfold! And if you're attending Macworld yourself, you can stop by Booth: S2218 for a hands-on trial!
UPDATE: We hear from OWC that the ModBook will initially be offered as a turnkey solution., but it will be offered fas an after-market mod solution at a later date (TBA). The turnkey ModBook will come standard with a 1 Year Warranty similar to Apple's and with a similar Applecare like extension program offered as well.
[obDisclaimer: I have close ties to OWC, but my excitement about this product is quite sincere!]
For those who don't obsessively refresh Engadget, UMPC stands for 'Ultra-Mobile PC' - an emerging hardware form factor for a device smaller and more mobile than a notebook, but nowhere near pocketable (by any stretch of the imagination) like a PDA or iPod. For now it's definitely a niche device (most don't even have built-in keyboards), but that didn't stop Engadget from finding 'Igor', who managed to get a hacked version of Mac OS X 10.4.7 installed on an Asus R2H UMPC. Play the video above for a demo of this home-grown Mac OS X tablet, complete with Safari, iChat and iTunes action, with support for the Apple Remote to boot.
Come on Apple! If DIYers can whip this together at home, where's my Mac OS X Tablet mini?
Update:Removed incorrect video. Thanks to all who pointed that out.
And now for something completely different, a TUAW rumor post that's not about an upcoming iPhone. Nope, today's rumor concerns an Apple Tablet computer. Over the weekend, Smarthouse reported that Apple had built a tablet PC prototype that was being costed out by several Taiwanese companies. The article went to fairly ridiculous lengths of "accuracy" stating that the tablet was designed for educational and home automation use, worked with a docking station and would use wireless linking to Hi Fi speakers.
Today, ZDNet picked up on the story with a much more balanced take. ZDNet points out that "Other than Jobs' mush[sic] publicized disdain for PDAs, an Apple tablet has other hurdles to clear before it can be successful: the touch screen and handwriting recognition will have to be perfect."
As the minutes tick closer to Apple's Event and the mystery product(s) they will be releasing, the following
TUAW-reader-submitted picture is either one of two things:
1) a last-minute faked photo of
the MacPad, an Apple Tablet. Made probably by photoshopping a booting MacBook Pro.
or
2)
the real deal.
I'm not even going to speculate. I know what I want, but if wanting something made
it so, there'd be a whole lot of ponies running around middle America.
Thinksecret chimes in today with a rumor about something
I've been thinking about for awhile now: What's next for the iPod Video? Specifically, they claim to
have confirmation that Apple is wrapping up development on a video-enabled iPod with a 3.5" touch-enabled color
screen. One of the problems with a device with a 3.5" screen is, where do you put the controls. Apple's solution,
if this rumor is true, is to put the controls on the screen itself. This rumor is in alignment with recent Apple patent filings for using gestures on a
touch-screen.
If this is true, I'll buy this device without reservation. Like many, I've been waiting for
an Apple PDA of some sort for years and a device like this might finally come close to what I'd expect Apple to
release. Apple doesn't need to buy Palm, they just need to keep expanding the iPod as a device to tie together the
different parts of our computing experience. An iPod video "tablet" would fit that bill nicely.
While I personally believe that Apple is definitely working on an upgrade to its video iPod and that this is likely
the form factor, I don't believe it will ship in "late March or early April" as ThinkSecret suggests. I
believe we won't see an upgrade to the iPod video line until September or October.
Here's the rumor that
won't go away. Unites
States Patent Application #20060026536 (which features the signature of Jonathan Ive) concerns "...Methods and
systems for processing touch inputs are disclosed. The invention in one respect includes reading data from a
multipoint sensing device such as a multipoint touch screen..." Is an Apple tablet in the works (yes, I'm
bringing that up again)? Hrmph! even has a very nice
round-up of images related to using "gestures" with a touchscreen-based user interface. Note the
iPod-like scroll wheel in Fig. 27D.
Seriously, though, who would you trust to deliver a tablet PC that's
both beautiful and useful? Mr. Ive and Apple, that's who. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one.
I've been following this thread I found at TabletPCBuzz.com. It appears to be describing a tablet PC running some version of Mac OS X or other. As of this writing, pictures have been posted of the machine up and running. Of course, this could be achieved very easily with good old Photoshop. Looks like either Tiger or Panther, based on the brushed metal Finder windows. The lack of a Spotlight icon would suggest Panther.
Update: After closer inspection, it has become apparant that the poster's name, Xaoh Retsim, is "Mister Hoax" spelled backwards. Nice try.
Using PC_efi technology (a means to run OS X on a PC without kernel modification), an anonymous source for netkas.org has managed to run and benchmark Leopard on an Atom chip, which is rumored (and denied) to be headed for Mac.
Was it a slip of the tongue? ZDNet.de reports that Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer, speaking at an Intel 40th anniversary event at Munich's BMW World, confirmed that there is an iPhone that will be using 
We should probably have some due diligence on the latest rumors streaming around the Apple blogosphere, so here you go: CNET is claiming that 
Laurie posted OWC's announcement of their upcoming 
And now for something completely different, a TUAW rumor post that's not about an upcoming 
I've been following 
