In the previous post, we discussed the rumored new technology invention, Apple Tablet, and its possible features. Well, it looks like the rumors are looking more and more likely going to be true. Jason Schwarz over at Seeking Alpha had connected the dots of the latest leaked information to conclude that Applet Tablet is coming.

• In March, Reuters reported that Apple had ordered a substantial batch of 10 inch touchscreens from Taiwan to be delivered in Q3 of 2009.
• In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Steve Jobs was actively involved in the development of the Tablet.
• In July, the China Times reported that Apple will debut their new product in October for $800 after agreeing to production deals with Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack.
• TheStreet.com is reporting that Apple will release a subsidized Tablet through Verizon (VZ).
• Then, in this week’s earnings call, Apple management went out of their way to trash the netbook space but they refused to deny the coming Tablet, saying they will only release products that are ‘innovative and that they are proud of’. These are all reputable sources that seem to unveil the secrecy surrounding the pending product.

Meanwhile, Technologizer’s Harry McCracken has compiled a sneak preview on the following specs for the Applet Tablet.

Size - Most likely it will be 9.7-inch screen with 1024-by-600 pixels.
OS - Apple will probably use an modified version of the iPhone OS on the tablet.
Interface - I was hoping for an actual keypad similar to the one on Kindle, but I suppose it will be the virtual keyboard like the one on iPhone.
Apps - I bet all the apps on the Apple App Store will run on the Tablet. Perhaps there will be a new section in the store designated for the Tablet only.
Storage - Anywhere from 32 GB to 128GB is possible.
Battery - The battery life is probably something slightly better than the iPhone.
Connectivity - Standard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. I am not sure how about cellular broadband. It probably won’t be a built-in solution. You may have to use a wireless card from your cellular provider.
Other Features - Camera, GPS, USB, FireWire are all possibilities.
Costs - It will probably be somewhere between $500 to $800.

When is it available? Sources claim that it could be as early as this September to early next year!

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In an attempt to help fans familiarize with the 2009 US Open Golf Course at Bethpage, the United States Golf Association has teamed up with a San Francisco tech startup called World Golf Tour (WGT) to create an online version of the golf course that lets fans “play” the U.S. Open. Fans can go to here to play the virtual Bethpage course for free.

With a crew of 18 people, the WGT team took more than 100,0000 photographs of the course back in last September. The team measured sunlight, shadows, wind speed at various points of day, took laser scans, and overlaid all the data on the photography.

“It’s a fully functional physics engine as advanced as any console game out there,” says Cheng. “But instead of drawing objects and surfaces, we take photographs and bend them into a 3D world.” The result is an immaculate recreation of the course with none of the cartoon-y feeling of console golf games; every shot plays as it would in real life.

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There is a new wave of social networking in China. It’s a phenomenon called tuangou, or team buying, where a group of shoppers joined together through social networks such as online BBS (bulletin board systems), chat rooms and other web forums to purchase the product they are interested. Once they gathered around 40 or more bargain hunters, they would appoint a captain to approach the retailers for an in-store haggling session. This may sound crazy here in US, but haggling is actually very popular in China.

So far, this tactic has proved to be very effective in forcing the retailers to drop their prices. “The final price was beyond my expectations,” said Ellen Liu who recently bought a purple Toyota Yaris after her team called “Shanghai Yaris” negotiated a 30,000 yuan discount with a local dealer for each of its 40 members wanting to purchase the car. “We were very surprised.”

A number of retailers have started to deal directly with group buyers while dozens of professional web sites have emerged. Retailers say they often feel they have no choice but join the bartering or lose business. Some retailers waits months just for an invitation to take part in an event.

Qeeka.com, one of the most influential web sites in China, negotiate prices on behalf of shoppers while guaranteeing quality products and customer service. They also offer companies valuable market research based upon the conversations consumers are having about products on their online forums. Often companies are forced to monitor websites like Qeeka.com if they wish to stay competitive with other retailers. “This is crucial to our company’s success,” said one business owner. “We don’t want to be left behind by this trend.”

Social networking has also been vital to the phenomenon’s success. According to 2008 figures from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), nearly 100 million Chinese netizens regularly visit online bulletin boards to share opinions, ask for help or socialize with friends.

Somehow this phenomenon has yet carried over to here in US. Several companies have tried to start group buying sites in America and Europe yet most of them failed due to a sheer lack of interest from consumers. Part of the reasons is that bargaining has been ingrained in the psyche of Chinese society for centuries. While in US, most shoppers are too polite or simply unheard of bargaining in stores. However with the exploding popularity of social networking and the backdrop of the financial downturn, some companies are starting to test whether Western consumers are ready to team up and bargain like the Chinese.

One work in progress is a Facebook application called Twangu, which allows buyers to build teams across friend networks for products they want to purchase. The company then recruits retailers to bid against each other to offer the groups the lowest price.

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Online retailer Amazon.com announced today that it had dropped the price of its standard Kindle electronic reader by 17 percent to $299. For months, I have heard my friends raved about how they loved their kindles. I have seen it in person, and I have to admit that it’s a very useful device to carry around. For its most basic functions, the Kindle allows you to purchase and download book from Amazon in just about everywhere. The fonts are extremely easy on the eyes. It feels just like reading from a book. But, I bet most people didn’t know that there are other hidden features the Amazon didn’t tell you about your Kindle.

Web Browser
Turns out that Kindles comes with a functioning experimental browser. The Kindles user guides states that

Your Kindle comes with an Experimental application called Basic Web which is a Web browser that is optimized to read text-centric Web sites. It supports JavaScript, SSL and cookies but does not support media plug-ins (Flash, Shockwave, etc.) or Java applets.

Yes, it’s rather slow and clumsy, but it’s unlimited use free of charge.

Read RSS Feeds
You can use the browser to access online RSS readers such as http://m.bloglines.com and http://mowser.com to access any RSS feed. Or, you can use third-party tool such as KindleFeeder which can aggregate your favorite feeds, convert them into easy-to-navigate format and deliver wirelessly onto your Kindle device at scheduled times for free.

Gmail
The Kindle’s web browser allows you to access webmails such as Gmail or Yahoo. However reading email on Kindle can be slow and awkward. Since there’s no scrolling function on Kindle, you have to read your emails in pages. The best choice is to use Google’s “mobile” version of Gmail by access http://m.gmail.com from your Kindle browser.

Yahoo Messenger
You can access Yahoo mobile messenger site to IM on Kindle. However, I don’t recommend it as it drains battery and you have to manually refresh the page periodically to check for new message.

GPS
the Kindle allows you to plot your current location on Google Maps. It’s not really turn-by-turn GPS, but it’s still a useful feature. To access Google Maps, use the following shortcuts when you are in Browser Mode:

Alt-1 Show current location in Google Maps
Alt-2 Find gas station nearby
Alt-3 Find restaurants nearby
Alt-5 Find custom keyword nearby

MP3 Player
Since the Kindle is also an audio book reader, it comes with speaker and headphone jack. This means you can turn it into a MP3 player and play your favorite music in the background while you are reading!

Picture Viewer
Even though it’s black and white and the quality is not the greatest, nevertheless you can use Kindle to view your favorite pictures. You can also set your own picture as the screensaver.

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Soon you maybe able to use different fingers to control your iPod to play, fast-forward, rewind, or pause… Apple had filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office it new technology invention titled “Control of electronic device by using a person’s fingerprints”. The new design describes a new user interface controlled by fingerprints.

The new technology invention embeds a fingerprint reader to a gadget such as iPod. By placing your index finger on the reader, you may be able to fast-forward the content. By placing your middle finger on the reader, you may be able to pause the device. The reader would also take into consideration of how long the finger is placed on the device, therefore triggering another behavior.

This seems to be similar to the touch pad controls Apple currently has in its MacBooks. But, it’s still unclear on what specific use Apple has planned. However, this new technology invention would allow Apple to keep the size of its iPods small. A fingerprint sensor could potentially replace all buttons and dials that’s currently employed in the iPods. Then again, the design may simply be a biometric locking mechanism built into future Apple devices.

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