Apple just released all the details of their new tablet computer called the iPad. The short of it is its a 9.7 inch LED multi-touch screen computer, great for browsing, email, photos, video, music, games and eBooks. The iPad can run all the existing iPhone apps full screen and apps are being developed as we speak for its launch (Estimated 1st April in USA for WiFi version and 1st May for 3G version).

The iPad 3G is unlocked to any network and includes a deal in the USA for unlimited web use for $29.99 (offers are expected to be arranged for other countries in the future). Battery life is 10 hours and the iPad comes complete with built in speakers and mic as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and 3 USB sockets.

Prices are as follows:

iPad

16GB

32GB

64GB

WiFi

$499

$599

$699

3G

$629

$729

$829

For pictures look below (click to zoom in). For full specs visit http://www.apple.com/ipad

The wonderful people at LimelightPR just sent me a fantastic new new augmented reality iphone application from Acrossair for Stella Artois called “Le Bar Guide”. The app works similar to Layar, using your iPhone’s GPS, camera, accelerometer and magnetometer to pick up where you are, and which direction you are looking at, allowing you to see through your camera screen the exact location / distance of bars nearby. You can then click on the venue for more info and directions using Google maps, you can also filter the bars shown by atmosphere type, ratings etc.  When you are at a listed bar you can also leave messages under that venue name for other users, rate it, or send the details to friends. The app even allows you to easily find and call taxis in your area ! Look at the video above to see the app in action, I especially like the way you can point your phone towards the ground and see arrowed directions to the nearest bars on the ground. At the moment the application is being launched for free initially to the US market, but there is a comprehensive global roll out planned in the New Year – with the UK top of the list. Great to see Stella taking the initiative and pushing the boundaries. At present the app is not live but it will be later today so will pop up the link as soon as its available.

UK agency Lean Mean Fighting Machine have created a fab little iPhone app called iLingual for Emirates. The app helps you speak in different languages (French, German and Arabic ). All you need to do is take a picture of your mouth, the app then uses the picture and animates it so that when you get the app to say the phrase needed you can hold your iPhone / iPod touch in front of your real face and let the phone do the talking for you.

Really like the positioning of this for Emirates and the fact they are simply using innovation to help make travel better.

To try it out for yourself for free click here

UK creative magazine Distill have just made their latest edition available to buy on the iPhone app store. From the video above this has to be the best adaptation of a print mag to iPhone conversion I have ever seen (Grated there have not been many). The iPhone app work was done by a London digital agency called Ustwo. I bought the app to try it out and I must say  navigation is very simple, text easy to read, and pictures are easy to scroll and zoom around as you would expect from the iPhone / iPod touch.

Why more main stream publications haven’t figured out / done this yet boggles my mind. There is huge market for digital versions of their magazines, especially on products like the iPhone and even the new android phones. Screen sizes seems to be about right now and file sizes don’t need to be huge, the Distill mag is pretty extensive and is only 40mb (and costs £2.99).

Distill magazine is a UK creative magazine featuring the “The finest fashion and art photography in the world”, the content for the mag is selected by an Editorial Board consisting of the likes of John Galliano, Donatella Versace, Manolo Blahnik, Matthew Williamson, Giles Deacon and many more.

To download the Distill iPhone edition click here

I love checking out new innovative iPhone apps and this ones a keeper. Its an Absolut Vodka app called Drinkspiration. The app has been made by Great Works and is basically a large cocktail drinks database. The interface is very intuitive and allows you to get suggestions for cocktails depending upon a number of options such as taste, weather, time of day, bar vibe, sound volume etc etc. The app also utilises the phones GPS so you can see what drinks are trending in your location, you can even share what you have chosen via the built in Facebook and Twitter app feature ! Just in case anyone is wondering, they do have a driving option for non alcoholic drinks, and they suggest drinks made with Vodka, gin, whiskey, run, brandy and everyone’s favourite tequila. If your a keen drinker I suggest you click here and download the app for free from iTunes

      Apple today announced the imminent launch of the new Apple 3GS phone (the S stands for Speed) to replace the now year old Apple 3G. Mostly they seem to have just done some basic updates and added some features that have been available to other high end phones for some time now. The body design remains the same and they have still failed to ad a front facing camera. For more in depth details go to Gizmodo. (thanks to them for the pics) or go to the new dedicated Apple site. Key Feature upgrades & Pricing:  

• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
• 3MP camera + Tap to Focus,Auto exposure, Auto Macro as close as 10cm.
• 30 fps video Video with sound and touch editing
• Voice control for Music and call control
• longer battery life (see pic above)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Digital compass built in to help with turn by turn direction
• Runs new iPhone OS 3.0
• Supports OpenGL|ES
• MMS support
• Nike + support built in
• Greener materials: Arsenic-free glass, BDF-free, Mercury-free LCD.
• Allows you to use the phone as a modem for your laptop

  $199 for the 16GB version, $299 for the 32GB version. The new iPhone 3GS will be available in main markets on 19th June and most other markets (inc South Africa) in July. (The current iPhone 3G will continue to be available in the USA for $99)

As I know a lot of my readers are Mac lovers (not the McDonalds type but the Apple type) so I though I would post the main basic specs of the new Apple line up for March 2009.

Mac Mini

The new Mac Mini see’s Mini DisplayPort and DVI plugs added, 5 USB ports and an upgraded Graphics card to the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M card and its more energy efficient.

Mac Mini $599
Mac Mini $799

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 1GB memory

• 2GB memory

• 120GB hard drive

• 320GB hard drive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

Apple MacBook Pro

The new MacBook Pro see the 15” down in price (in the USA) and a slight CPU upgrade.

15” MacBook Pro $1,999.00
15” MacBook Pro $2,499.00

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 2GB Memory

• 4GB Memory

• 250GB hard drive

• 320GB hard drive

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 256MB

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB

Apple iMacs

New iMacs see prices drop and the addition of a Mini DisplayPort video out, however the numeric part of the keyboard is now an optional extra!

iMac 20-inch, $1,199
iMac 24-inch, $1,499

• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 2GB memory

• 4GB memory

• 320GB hard drive

• 640GB hard drive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

iMac 24-inch, $1,799
iMac 24-inch, $2,199

• 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• 4GB memory

• 4GB memory

• 640GB hard drive

• 1TB hard drive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• 8x double-layer SuperDrive

• NVIDIA GT 120 with 256 MB memory

• NVIDIA GT 130 with 512MB memory

Mac Pro

The new Nehalem based Mac Pro is up to twice as fast as the original. Nehalem is basically a really cool bit of tech from Intel for their processors that allows the processor to deal with cache data and greater application performance.

Mac Pro, $2,499
Mac Pro, $3,299

• One 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache

• two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache

• 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB

• 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory

• 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm

• 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm

• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

• Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately)

• Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately)

• Four PCI Express 2.0 slots

• Four PCI Express 2.0 slots

• Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports

• Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports

• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

• Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse

• Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse

(Based on info from Apple and Engadget, Check them out for more detailed reading)