Microsoft has been hawking pen-based tablets since 1991, when it first launched Windows for Pen Computing, a version of Windows with a pen interface layer. In 2002, the company introduced Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Although the Tablet PC has won a few fans over the years, Microsoft’s whole pen initiative didn’t succeed like Bill Gates always wanted it to. In fact, Microsoft’s approach to pen tablets is very much a product of Gates’ personal vision for how mobile computers should work. He’s always envisioned tablets that use a combination of handwriting recognition and voice recognition to replace the functionality of the keyboard and mouse.

The strength of Microsoft’s belief in this vision is pretty astounding, enabling the company to continue to support and promote the idea for 20 years without ever having what you might call a runaway success.

Gates was right about one thing: The functionality of keyboard and mouse would be replaced on tablets in a big way. And that’s starting to happen, thanks mainly to the iPad.

He was also right about predicting the widespread use of pens or styli on tablets. No, really!

We met some amazingly fantastic people at our first-ever shindig (at San Francisco’s Il Pirata) and gave out a smorgasbord of smashing raffle prizes.

Kicking off this week’s list of must-have iOS apps is a great new iPad 2 title from Evernote called Peek – the first iOS release that uses the Smart Cover to create a quiz game. We have a terrific new note-taking app from Junecloud, the developers behind the highly acclaimed Delivery Status Touch. Plus an app that will ensure you never get hit with a parking fine again, and plenty more.

Are you eager to jump into iOS 5, but not willing to risk your device with the sometimes unstable, developer-only beta? Well, as you may know, many of the new iOS features already exist in some form or another between the App Store and the Cydia Store, which is the jailbroken alternative to the Apple’s App Store. In this video, you’ll see how you can get most of the new iOS 5 features with your jailbroken device.

Road Warriors are people, not simply animatronic robots — if you prick us, do we not bleed? If you lose our luggage, do we not get pissy? And people need tunage. That’s where Logitech’s S715i rechargeable speaker dock ($150) comes in. Sling it in a bag and it’ll provide the party out on the road while you’re furiously tapping at that TPS report or chilling post-deadline — and it’ll look hot doing it. Just don’t expect much when the party goes ballistic, because the bass simply can’t keep up.

Remember when Samsung announced that their then-upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 Honeycomb tablet would be a smidge thinner than the iPad 2? And remember when someone actually looked at the Galaxy Tab 10.1 prototypeand found out it was actually thicker than the iPad 2?

Confusing, right? But it’s about to get even more confusing: while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just a hair thinner than the iPad 2 right now, Samsung will likely be forced to make it thicker than the iPad 2 in order to get around supply shortages. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will soon be both thicker and thinner than the iPad 2 at the same time!

Are you looking for an external battery for your MacBook Air cobbled together from the cutting edge of Kruschev-era Soviet electronics? Want less functionality in that battery than one of Sanho’s excellent HyperMac offerings while also doing your small part to slaughter Mother Earth? Most importantly, want a gadget that can accomplish all of these heady things at a price far, far greater than the more eco-friendly competition? We’ve got you covered.

https://www.cultofmac.com/100293/last-chance-to-win-cult-of-mac-weeklong-giveaway/

We’ve given away an iMainGo X everyday this week. Although we wish we could keep it up, today is the last day for our awesome Cult of Mac readers to win this prize. If you’ve entered the contest everyday this week and still come up empty handed, here is your last chance, so make it count. Because we’re filling generous, we’re going to give everyone the option to submit two entries into the contest. Here’s how to enter:

We close out another week of deals with three bargains for your iPhone, your iPad and your Mac. First up is the TPU Crystal Wave skin for the AT&T iPhone 4. Next is a snap-on hard back shell case for the iPad 2. Finally, get the Memonic Desktop Premium, software for your Mac to manage notes and web clippings.

As always, details on these items and many more can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Back before The Simpsons and Futurama were even glimmers in his eye, Matt Groening did some contract work for Apple Computers. The result was this 1989 Apple Student’s Guide called Who Needs A Computer Anyway?, which features many of Groening’s Life in Hell characters. Check it out!

The Redsn0w software by DevTeam has always allowed you to jailbreak your iOS device, giving you complete control over your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (see why you should jailbreak here). This morning, though, redsn0w version 0.9.8b1 was released with iOS 5 Beta 1 support, meaning you can now jailbreak devices and run Cydia apps on devices with iOS 5 installed. Here’s how to jailbreak iOS 5!

Apple has ordered 400,000 next-generation MacBook Airs to be built this month for a July launch, and each and every one of them will ship with low-watt versions of Intel’s cutting edge Sandy Bridge processors.

We’ve been raving about Apple’s new iMessage feature in iOS 5 all week. If our current findings haven’t piqued your interest in the new messaging service that let’s you ditch SMS messaging, then maybe this little tidbit will intrigue you. With iMessage, Apple is also introducing the best mobile group chat client to ever hit a smartphone.

There’s plenty of software programs on the Mac App Store that will allow you to add a signature to a PDF, but come Lion, you won’t need any of them: Preview.app will do it by creating a perfect digital pen signature via FaceTime.

Here’s how to sign a PDF in Preview under OS X Lion.

Darren Murtha sent us this pic of his WWDC wristband — the one Apple hands out if you’re over 21 so you can drink at events.

Murtha, who makes cool apps for kids, thought the wristband that says “If found, return me to WWDC” funny, a bit like the note Paddington Bear has pinned to his jacket (“Please Look After This Bear.”)

Do you think Apple wants the wristband back if it gets separated from the wearer or if one finds a tipsy dev wandering around SF you should return him or her to Moscone Center?

Our heads are spinning with all the new little features that are packed into iOS 5. Our heads also might be spinning from the new “LED Flash for Alerts” feature found under the Accessibility settings which we just enabled. While it currently only works on the iPhone 4, this neat little feature enables your phone to send out a few pulses of light from the LED Flash every time you get a new Text or Phone call.

Apple is the world’s No. 1 consumer of flash memory, passing HP on its way to spending $17.5 billion for iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices. With that number only set to rise, it is very possible that next year, Apple will spend more per year on flash memory than Nokia’s entire market cap.

As the resident dead head of Cult of Mac, I’ve always been a little disappointed with Pop Cap’s Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone and iPod Touch ($2.99). It’s a great game, but limited compared to the Mac and iPad versions.

Great news, though! Pop Cap has just updated Plants vs. Zombies and not only it it getting some of the features it was previously missing over its brother ports, but it even is getting a feature that Plants vs. Zombies HD doesn’t have… at least for now.

Look, this is total nonsense, so take it with a grain of salt, but Apple’s carrier partner in the United Arab Emirates has just seemingly confirmed that the next iPhone will come with LTE 4G. We say no way.

It’s been about a year since Apple updated its Server line-up with new Mac Pro and Mac Mini Servers. Now, constricting supplies of both indicate that a new refresh is coming… just in time for Lion.

You can’t say Lodsys weren’t warned that Apple was prepared to fight: less than two weeks after the notorious patent troll sued indie iOS developers for using Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism in their apps, Cupertino has asked a judge to be allowed into the ring to kick Lodsys’ ass.

Here’s some advice to tablet companies hoping to beat the iPad features: stop wasting your time. The only alternative is to drop prices ridiculously low, like $300, says a Wall Street observer.

Here’s a nice little feature we’ve discovered in the first iOS 5 beta – a great way to skip tracks in the iPad’s new Music app.

Developer Ben Dodson has uncovered some cool stuff inside iOS5 that can turn your AppleTV and iPad2 into a wireless games console setup.