Only the Wi-Fi model will be available for pre-order-the 3G-equipped version won’t be available until late April. The Wi-FI models run $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. International customers will also have to wait until later in April to order their iPads. [PC World]

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Overall, though, what strikes one is how almost every aspect of the contract is anathema to the idea of open source. Start with the very fact that the terms of the contract itself are supposed to be kept secret. Here’s the offending clause:

“public statements regarding this Agreement, its terms and conditions, or the relationship of the parties without Apple’s express prior written approval.”

What may be the worst section from the point of view of open source is a provision that the EFF says

“appears to prohibit developers from tinkering with any Apple software or technology, not just the iPhone, or ‘enabling others to do so.’ For example, this could mean that iPhone app developers are forbidden from making iPods interoperate with open source software.”

Here is the section, Section 3.2(e):

“You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise create any Application or other program that would disable, hack, or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod Touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so.”

There’s plenty more bad in the contract regarding open source. Here’s what the EFF has to say about another section:

“Ban on Reverse Engineering: Section 2.6 prohibits any reverse engineering (including the kinds of reverse engineering for interoperability that courts have recognized as a fair use under copyright law), as well as anything that would ‘enable others’ to reverse engineer, the SDK or iPhone OS.”

The EFF concludes that the Apple contract will stifle innovation and creativity, and shackle the market. Overall, it says that Apple is acting like “a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord.” Here’s the conclusion:

“If Apple’s mobile devices are the future of computing, you can expect that future to be one with more limits on innovation and competition (or ‘generativity,’ in the words of Prof. Jonathan Zittrain) than the PC era that came before. It’s frustrating to see Apple, the original pioneer in generative computing, putting shackles on the market it (for now) leads. If Apple wants to be a real leader, it should be fostering innovation and competition, rather than acting as a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord. Developers should demand better terms and customers who love their iPhones should back them.” [PC World]

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Last year, Apple was sued over its iMacs with cheaper, 6-bit TN (“twisted nematic”) screens, which have a narrower viewing angle and less color accuracy and depth, because some users argued the screens were technically incapable of actually producing the “millions of colors” supported by their graphics cards. The latest models reverse the trend toward cheap displays and instead provide quality IPS (“in-plane switching”) panels that deliver the much improved color and wide, 178 degree viewing angles.

The new screens are also LED backlit (unlike the 30″ Cinema Display HD), which means they turn on instantly and allow for finer grained control over brightness than conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamp backlighting. LED backlighting is also environmentally friendly because it uses no toxic mercury. Overall, the new machines also meet Energy Star 5.0 and EPEAT Gold standards for energy efficiency and environmentally-sound design, manufacturing, and use of recyclable materials.

The new 27″ display is backed by ATI Radeon HD 4670 (or for $150 more, the 4850) graphics hardware equipped with 256MB (or 512MB) of GDDR3 RAM. It supports video output up to 2560×1600, capable of driving a 30″ Cinema Display HD. It supports VGA, DVI/HDMI and DisplayPort screens via its standard Mini DisplayPort connector.

A new feature of the 27″ iMac is its ability to act as a display for another DisplayPort computer. It is the first and currently the only Mac to support this new capability. The 21.5″ iMac doesn’t support video input and provides simpler NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, the same as Apple’s MacBook line and Mac mini.

The base model ships with 4GB of 1066MHz PC-8500 DDR3 RAM and supplies 4 memory slots capable of expanding that up to 16GB. It also ships with a 1TB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, which can be upgraded to a 2TB version, and an 8x dual layer DVD SuperDrive.

The $1699 iMac comes equipped with a dual core 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo E7600 processor with 3MB of L2 cache, with the upgrade option of a 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo E8600 with 6MB of L2 cache for $200 more. A $1999 option upgrades the CPU to a “Nehalem” quad core 2.66GHz Core i5 750 processor, or for $200 more, a Core i7 860, both of which include 8MB of L3 cache. Apple benchmarks the high end Nehalem Core i7 as being up to 2.4 times faster than the Core 2 Duo.

The iMac is equipped with a new SD card slot under the DVD drive, and back panel ports provide Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, Firewire 800, four USB 2.0 ports, and hybrid analog/optical digital audio input and output ports.

It also has an IR receiver for use with an Apple Remote (not bundled; the new aluminum remote is a $19 option), a built-in iSight camera and microphone, Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking.

The keyboard is virtually identical to the MacBook’s built-in keyboard, and is slightly modified from Apple’s original Bluetooth keyboard in that it now only uses two AA batteries and has moved the wireless receiver to the center of the back panel.

The iMac ships in a simple box with styrofoam corners, including just a power cable and an accessory box that holds the keyboard, mouse, an introductory booklet, a screen wipe cloth, install and restore DVDs, stickers and regulatory information. A full review with performance benchmarks will be presented next week, so present any questions you’d like to see answered. [AppleInsider]

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They’re probably right. They probably are all great. But how am I, as a lay consumer, going to figure out which one to use?

More particularly, how will developers decide which platforms to target?

After all, everyone wants to be a platform these days. Does that mean that no one is?

Developers may be spoiled for choice, but “choice” in this case may not be what they want. Developers need to feed their families and will follow the money. Money is more easily made when choice is manageable (which is a euphemism for “limited”).

This means we’ll see plenty of application developers remain with Apple (though it’s debatable whether the iPhone is the land of milk and honey for anyone but Apple), but we’ll also continue to see a stampede to Google Android.

At present, every other mobile platform is playing for third place, but this could change: Symbian, as a foundation, is in a good position to launch an effective challenge to both Apple and Google if it can get its marketing and execution right.

Outside of mobile, it’s unclear what role app stores will play. It’s nice that Google Wave is getting an app store, but it’s just one more “forge” among many. Every vendor (my employer, included) seems to feel an irresistible urge to create a forge/app store where third-party developers can “add value” to their “platforms.”

Do we really need these? Or do we need more general repositories like Google Code and SourceForge?

I wish I had a definitive answer. I’m just not sure that these competing app stores do anything more than appeal to vendor vanity, and they could end up causing customer confusion.

As a consumer, I don’t want to have to think about sorting among competing app stores. I just want applications.

Presumably, if I use a Sony Ericsson phone, I’ll automatically find myself within its app store (unless my wireless provider doesn’t slot me into its app store first, that is). But if that’s the case, what’s the point of making a big deal over a glorified catalog of applications that work with my given device/software/etc.?

It strikes me that app stores, like the cloud, are simply a way to dress up old ideas. If they help to organize potential buyers and sellers of software, great. But I still think I’d prefer meta-repositories of applications, similar to SourceForge, than individual application repositories for every single device or piece of software that I happen to buy.

How about you? [CNET]

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“Given Apple’s patented “inertia feedback” used on the iPod and iPhone, where item lists bounce when reaching the top or bottom and scrolling speeds accelerate in response to how the user touches the surface, the next Apple mouse is similarly expected to wed new hardware with sophisticated software to deliver an intuitive new feel in scroll navigation.”

The report includes the idea that Apple may drop its trademark white plastic mouse housing for something with an aluminum finish. That sounds not very attractive/useful at first blush, but maybe it will be better than it sounds. Or maybe white will remain an option.

I don’t use the scroll wheel very often, but it is unobtrusive and doesn’t cause me problems. I like the positioning of the button low on each side of the current Mighty Mouse (I use the Bluetooth version). I especially like being able to left and right-click with having to feel an actual button. Clicking on the proper side works very nicely.

So, I am actually pretty happy with the current Mighty Mouse and am concerned that Apple may try to do something so cool that the mouse actually becomes more difficult to use.

After all, in his history and despite its pioneering roll, Apple has mostly shipped some pretty awful mice over a two-decade period. It hung onto a single button design, supposedly a Steve Jobs dictate, for far too long.

The Mighty Mouse, introduced in 2005 and improved since, is the only Apple mouse that I have ever enjoyed using. Previously, I was mostly a fan of the giant Kensington trackball. [PC World]

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To assemble the burgers onto the plates below, you must walk across each of the pieces to work them loose and make them fall. There’s a fair amount of strategy that goes into this. Burger pieces may be separated by three levels or more (if you have cheese, lettuce, and tomato), and if one piece hits another, that piece will fall down as well. What’s more, the bad guys chasing you will get zapped if a piece falls on them, or if they’re traversing a piece when you stomp it loose. You get extra points, and they go away—at least until they respawn.

At its core, BurgerTime is an arcade maze game akin to Pac-Man. You can’t leap from platform to platform, like with the classic game Lode Runner, but you can scale ladders up and down across the game field. You have a weapon at your disposal—a pepper shaker with an ammo supply that can be replenished by picking up power ups that appear randomly on each level. Spraying pepper into the face of the bad guy will incapacitate him for a few seconds as he rubs his eyes and enables you to run past him.

Other power-ups like potato chips, ice ice cream cones, coffee and tea give you extra points, but just like in the real world, if you see a hot order of french fries, you get a free life, so make sure to grab it. Other objects grant you even more abilities—ketchup kills all enemies on the map, sort of like what it does to the taste of a good burger. Salt stuns everyone, ice cubes grant you temporary invulnerability, and so on.

BurgerTime features a story mode that lets you play through each level progressively—there are more than 60 all together. Minigames throw some extra points and challenge into the mix, but they need to be activated by reaching special achievements within the game, like collecting the letters to spell the word “pepper.” A “Quick Mode” will just play random levels until you exhaust your supply of chefs.

I was really delighted to get BurgerTime Deluxe, as I remember pushing quarters into the original when I was a kid. I realized, however, how thin the veneer of nostalgia was when I told Macworld’s Chris Holt, who’s a bit younger than me, that BurgerTime had been released for the Mac. His response: “What’s that?”

To that end, I realize that the mark has really moved for what we should expect from casual games on the Mac, and one thing that we certainly shouldn’t expect is getting gouged on the price. Namco offers this same game for download for the PC only for $10, but it’s $20 for the privilege of playing it on your Mac.

I understand that the economy of scale is different in the Mac market—that fewer people buy Mac games and that developers need to recoup their development costs from your buyers. But a 100 percent markup on a casual game that is worth $10 at most is abusive.

One final thing: if you have apps running concurrently with BurgerTime Deluxe and you switch to full screen mode—an option in the game’s settings—the window size of those other running apps will shift smaller to suit the resolution. BurgerTime fails to capture the state of existing windows and restore them after it quits. I do not recommend using the full screen option unless Namco fixes this bug, or unless you close all other open windows. [MacWorld]

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“Many attempts have been made to embed pointing devices in a keyboard so the hands do not have to leave typing position to access the pointing device… The limited movement range and resolution of these devices, leads to poorer pointing speed and accuracy than a mouse, and they add mechanical complexity to keyboard construction,” the application reads. “Thus there exists a need in the art for pointing methods with higher resolution, larger movement range, and more degrees of freedom yet which are easily accessible from typing hand positions.”

The described system in the patent application would individually detect all ten fingers and separate palms on a person’s hand, giving the ability to type, write, draw and interact with a device large enough to support multiple hands. Examples of the touchscreen capabilities include resting of hands, measuring when a hand or fingers touches and leaves the surface, interpreting taps from one finger as mouse button clicks, but disregarding a tap from two fingers, and more. Activities done with multiple fingers are referred to as “chords.”

Such a system could ergonomically adapt to individual hand sizes, eliminate the need for a stylus and mouse, would require minimal typing force. The application notes that there are other patents for touchscreen devices that negate the need for a keyboard or mouse, but states that Apple’s method is unique because it addresses both needs.

Typing is a large part of the lengthy application. The document goes into great detail about how a multi-touch interface could distinguish what keys a set of hands intend to type on the surface. It discusses pressure on the sides or center of individual fingers and palms, and how to interpret those various signals.

Key points of the invention, as described in the application, include:

• Integrating and distinguishing different types of input, such as typing, multiple degree-of-freedom manipulation, and handwriting, via different hand configurations that are easy to use and recognize.
• Includes an electronic system which minimizes the number of sensing electrodes to allow easier understanding of a variety of hand configurations.
• Provide a multi-touch surface that is contoured to be comfortable and ergonomic under extended use.
• Provide tactile key or hand position feedback without interfering with a hand resting on the smooth touch-sensitive surface.
• Provide images of “flesh proximity” to a variety of sensors that can distinguish hand configuration.
• Understand when the user wants cursor motion, and ignore commands when deceleration by the user is detected.
• Understand the movement of two or more hands to allow manipulation of two-dimensional electronic documents, like rotation and scaling of photos.

[AppleInsider]

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There are multiple fingers to be pointed here. Sony, for not allowing free games, which would inspire some price competition. Sony again, for skimming who knows how much off the top of the price point. (In comparison, it’s known that Apple takes 30% off of the iPhone App Store sales.) And the publishers, who decide to set their games at prices of up to two or three times the cost of the iPhone version.

But the worst part? Not only is the content of overlapping titles generally no better than the iPhone; sometimes it’s worse.

You see, PSP Minis can’t have any network or online features. Nor can they support camera peripherals (a major focus of DSiWare innovation) or DLC. Kotaku just reviewed iPhone port Hero of Sparta. On the PSP it costs triple what you’ll pay at the App Store. Their review? “Simplistic controls, muddled graphics and abysmal sounds turn what was a fantastic iPhone game into a oddly disjointed Playstation Portable experience.” Kotaku’s review of Tetris was much better. But you know what? Tetris costs twice as much on the PSP as it does the iPhone.

Some will say, well, you get what you pay for. But that’s entirely our point. If you glance across the two platforms, you aren’t getting what you’re paying for. You’re either getting less, or you’re getting a lousy port or, best case scenario, you’re getting basically the same thing for more.

Granted, PSP Minis are very new (they just launched today). The platform is young. And kudos to Sony for making the digital leap.

But Sony’s most loyal fanbase—those frequenting PSN and checking out Minis on day one—shouldn’t subsidize a company’s foray into the new digital era. Especially given the relatively high price of the PSPgo, at least compared to other portable devices with a lot more processing power, I think the option for free game downloads—at least for a few approved titles—would be a reasonable thank-you.

I mean, even Apple, who doesn’t provide the most open platforms in the world, has realized the merit of free app/game distribution. One, they’re already making money off the hardware. And two, getting someone visiting iTunes will also get that someone to at least get a glimpse of what else iTunes is selling. Lure them in with a free game and they’ll be more likely to purchase one later. [Gizmodo]

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