Every time there’s a refresh coming up in the Apple line, there’s one “hopeful” rumor that comes up, with fanboys creating mockups and saying “it’s going to happen!”  And every time thus far, it hasn’t - and I don’t think it will happen this time, either, even though I think I’ve seen more “confirmations” than ever, including the “proof” of patents filed by Apple.  Maybe I’ll be shown this time, we’ll see - but in any case, I have a few reasons I don’t think it’ll happen soon, and why it shouldn’t really happen, ever.

     First, tactile feedback.  Yes, having a screen that you can change languages, rearrange the keys, etc. may sound nice, but a touchscreen tablet won’t be able to give you the feel of the keys while you’re typing.  Need to look away to read what you need to type, or to talk to someone?  You can try to do it, but it’s not going to be pretty, if coherent at all.  I’ve messed with my share of tablet PCs, and it just doesn’t come out quite right. 

     Second, maintainability would be a major factor - how do you keep from scratching the screen, cracking it, keep it free from major fingerprints, etc.  I see enough cracked screens on normal laptops, imagine how often it would happen with an unprotected tablet.  The mockups I’ve seen show the Mac tablet as being simply a tablet, not a convertable laptop/tablet hybrid as most Tablet PCs are.  Users would likely end up having to use a hard case to protect their computer, but having such a case would likely take away from the “pretty” Mac design, not to mention add clutter once you’ve pulled everything out on the desk to start working.

     Third, cost and profitability.  Apple would likely use a glass multi-touch panel, and one of that size would be quite costly to install - and to replace when cracked/broken.  While there would likely be a surge of initial sales, mainly from the idealistic people who think such a design would be AWESOME, users would come to realize it isn’t as flashy as they’d hoped… leaving Apple holding the bag on a lot of unsold tablets.

     Do I think Apple is researching these kinds of things? Of course I do, and I certainly hope they (and other companies) are - it is something worth trying to fully brainstorm/develop.  But as of now, good idea on paper, bad idea in production.

Intel is doing their best to try to be the first to cut people the last cord holding laptops back - the power cord.  They demoed the technology this past Thursday at an annual developers forum, powering a 60 watt bulb using the technology.  While this may not seem like a big deal, keep in mind many laptops use less than 60 watts - making this breakthrough pretty substantial.

The up side?  No unsafe side effects to humans or surrounding items (that is, nothing discovered yet), something that plagues many “wireless power” ideas that have come in the past.  Intel’s design delivers power via magnetic field, compared to prior designs that pretty much amounted to shooting electric bolts across the room, hitting anything that might be in the way.

While I know this technology is far from being perfected (and made cheap), it does bring some hope to me - I’m so tired of having to stay plugged in most of the time.  And think if this can be adapted and shrunk to become the size of a standard laptop power adapter - you could have a nice, portable wireless power adapter to plug into any room, any building.  Of course, I would surely lose/forget my adapter ALL THE TIME, since I wouldn’t be stuck to it and whatnot.

My only concern?  While Intel is saying “the human body is not affected by magnetic fields,” magnets are used in various ways to help the human body heal - obviously there are effects.  What effects would this power system have on us, especially if it were cranked up to a kilowatt or so to cover powering a whole room?

Read up more:
http://news.yahoo.com/story/afp/20080821/ts_afp/usitinternetenergychipcompanyintel

http://blogs.intel.com/research/2008/08/you_have_to_see_thiswireless_p.php

     So I was going about my business ordering equipment for using about our new Decatur shop, and came across a motherboard using the new, tiny Intel Atom chip, and decided to give it a try.  Now the board it’s integrated to isn’t a board that you would do any present-day gaming on, but it’s very capable of doing any normal tasks, such as browsing the internet, word processing, viewing photos, listening to music, playing back DVDs, even a little bit of photo editing and some lesser-power-hungry games (no, Crysis will NOT run on this, obviously). Sadly, it doesn’t have a good enough chipset for HD video playback, the one thing I think they shouldn’t have skimped on - but maybe a revised version will come out soon that is capable.  What more, this motherboard/CPU combination, in addition to the case with power supply I found, was perfect for what I needed it for - for running diagnostics on hard drives/RAM/any other shop uses we have for it, at an overall fraction the cost of getting a normal motherboard, buying a separate processor, buying a case, buying a power supply…

     The board I got has a 1.6ghz Atom built-in, and in Vista, it was getting a mid 3 experience score for the CPU; 2gb RAM gets it a respectable 5’s range on RAM, and of course the hard drive is a normal SATA drive; the only thing lacking was the “Gaming” and “Aero” performance; both were around a 2.  In other words, while the rest of the setup is fine, its graphics capabilities are lacking, and only having a PCI slot (not Express) limits the options for upgrades.  I have to admit, though, this thing is pretty quick going through Vista - windows were quick to open/close, there wasn’t any real lag… I’m sure games like Age of Empires 2 or 3 would work fine, as should Starcraft… so I ‘d be all set.  Needless to say, this thing does quite well, considering the processor runs at a MUCH lower wattage than Core 2 Duos/anything else out there today - 2.5W max on the Atom, compared to 65W on Core 2’s.  The only other comparable competitor is the Via C7/Nano, but so far any board I’ve found with the Via kinda…well…sucks. (1GB max RAM, boards are too far overpriced for what they have, etc.)

     So, for anyone who needs a good, lightweight system for doing everyday computing, or something to get your child, this thing’s the way to go - we’ll gladly build one for you.

http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/index.htm