Update: This article is not intended for the Irony challenged.

So I’m a hypocrite. After swearing that there was no way I’d ever own a tablet with a phone operating system, I broke down and got one. At this price point, I don’t see how I couldn’t. The wife couldn’t be happier, one needs just look at my bathroom above to see why. Gone are the endless stacks of magazines and books. Gone, is the image of her husband stuck behind his desk, nose in the computer (now, I’m on the couch, nose in the iPad, but at least being in the same room gives the impression of being engaged with the family).

Follow me after the jump for my impressions after week one.

Apparently MicroCenter has got new part numbers in their system for Macbooks, the pricing and models seem to line up nicely to the Macbook Pro lineup. Will this Tuesday be upgrade day? Steve only knows, but my fingers are crossed.

via Macdailynews

As noted in my last review, I’m not a big fan of iPhone cases (or any sort of cases, really. Or even clothes — when I was a kid, I ran around nak…uh, but back to the case). When I saw Incase’s Perforated Snap Case, and heard it was one of the lightest and leanest iPhone cases, I expected to find a case I would finally keep permanently attached to my 3GS. Well, not quite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xAJmdhQzJ4&feature=youtube_gdata

Golf aficionados — or viewers agog about Tiger Woods’ emergence from hibernation — might have noticed a curiously new AT&T in a TV spot during the start of the PGA Masters in Augusta on Thursday.

The introduction of the iPad is a clarion call for major music labels to finally recognize the future of the music industry and embrace the development of applications made to run on Apple’s new device, according to a feature article in the latest issue of Billboard Magazine, which officially hits news stands Saturday.

Once the province of industry insiders, filled with reams of stats and reportage on music industry minutiae, behind-the-scenes comings and goings and gossip, Billboard is now a smart and snappy magazine with its finger on the pulse of the larger forces at work in the music industry, with articles seemingly targeting a more general audience while remaining the go-to source for the numbers that drive the industry.

The cover of the current issue promises a look at The Next Killer Apps, though what the article inside actually suggests is that – generally – the next killer apps on the iPad are going to be music-related offerings tied to artist branding that will give consumers something more than the aural experience provided by CDs and music downloads, and will provide the industry new realms of revenue producing products that go well beyond the marketing value of the web content and promotional aspirations of most mobile offerings produced to date.

Even in the age of blogs, this has got to go down as a first for corporate PR. Adobe is telling Apple to “go screw yourself” over the new iPhone developer’s license that appears to ban apps made with Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone programming tools.

Writing on the Flash Blog, Lee Brimelow, Adobe’s Flash Platform Evangelist, writes:

What is clear is that Apple has timed this purposely to hurt sales of CS5. This has nothing to do whatsoever with bringing the Flash player to Apple’s devices. That is a separate discussion entirely. What they are saying is that they won’t allow applications onto their marketplace solely because of what language was originally used to create them. This is a frightening move that has no rational defense other than wanting tyrannical control over developers and more importantly, wanting to use developers as pawns in their crusade against Adobe. This does not just affect Adobe but also other technologies like Unity3D. […] Now let me put aside my role as an official representative of Adobe for a moment as I would look to make it clear what is going through my mind at the moment. Go screw yourself Apple.

Note: this is an earlier version of the post copied by Via 9to5Mac.com before someone at Adobe ordered edits.

Exposé is a system built into Mac OS X, designed to help you find your way around windows and applications more easily.

When you have a lot of different windows cluttering up your screen, it can be hard to locate the exact one you want. Exposé makes it easier by momentarily displaying all of them, shrunk down a little so that they will all fit into view.

Hands up if AT&T drives you insane. The iPhone can do a lot of great things, but some people find that actually making calls is not one of its standout features.

Here’s a video of quick iPhone gags, some of them at AT&T’s expense. Stick with it, the final use for the iPhone is one that I think a few people might even have seriously considered, if not actually done.

Wait a second, the Dog Trainer app is a real thing isn’t it? Why yes. Yes it is.

It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.

This time, we review Action Hero, AutoStitch Panorama, Battleship, BDD • Büro Destruct Designer, Blackjack 21, Dropbox, Moodagent, Polyhedra, Run!, and Type Drawing.

We wrap up another week of deals with a couple hardware bargains and some price cuts on apps for the new iPad. First up is a quad-core 2.66GHz Mac Pro Tower with 8GB of RAM and a 24-inch LCD monitor for $3,499. Next is a number of iPad apps sporting lower prices, including UNO HD, a version of the addictive game for Apple’s new tablet. We wrap up our top trio with a deal on an 8GB iPod nano for $129.

Along the way, we’ll also check out some cases for your iPod touch, some email software and some speakers. As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page which starts right after the jump.

Yesterday’s announcement of the Apple Game Center was exciting news for serious iPhone OS gamers: it’s a defragmentation move by Apple to consolidate all of the many social gaming services like OpenFeint, Plus+ and others. Gamers can expect a uniform social gaming experience across all their iPhone games with features like universal friends lists, matchmaking and achievements.

There’s a lot to like here, but you’d expect the people behind the existing systems to be upset. Not so: OpenFeint and Plus+ are thrilled by Apple’s move. Why? They anticipated it, and have been moving their networks in the direction of supporting the freemium model of selling virtual goods in ostensibly free games as a way to profit.

Although the iPad doesn’t contain a camera, references in the iPhone OS 3.2 software to the functionality strongly implied the addition of video chat to future Apple devices. We probably won’t see video come to the iPad until the next generation of devices to debut next year, but video conferencing on the next iPhone isn’t just a long wished for feature… if the iPhone OS 4.0 beta is anything to go by, it may well be a lock.

A TUAW reader sent in a screenshot that shows the iChatAgent process running in iStat under iPhone OS 4.0. That’s a strong indication that Apple plans to introduce iChat to the iPhone OS, and while that doesn’t confirm video chat, it doesn’t make sense for Apple to hold off on an IM client for the iPhone OS for so long if they don’t intend on also going the video troute.

Remember the heady days when digital music sales were a runaway train; a bull in a china shop eating the lunch of traditional music – and many other mixed metaphors? The salad days may be nearing an end – or at least the all-you-can-eat period. Apple could be to blame, say critics.

For the first time since 2003, sales of digital music declined nearly 1 percent for the first quarter, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Well, that didn’t take very long. Less than a day after the iPhone OS 4.0 beta was released to developers, iPhone hacker Musclenerd has already jailbroken it.

So as not to jeopardize a working jailbreak technique before the final iPhone 4.0 update hits handhelds, no one’s talking about the exact jailbreaking method being employed here. I suppose it could be the same Spirit technique that’s being pursued to finally bring untethered 3.1.3 jailbreak to the third generation iPod Touch.

It’s unlikely that any solution this early in the game will last to the final beta, but if the jailbreaking community’s recent efforts both here and in with the iPad suggest that 4.0 won’t stymie hackers for long.

[via 9to5Mac]

Although Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browsers are increasingly competitive, they soon will have one technical issue in common: one out-of-control Web page won’t force you to shut your entire application. The feature is known as the “split process model,” but mortals have a more-easily grasped image: the sandbox.

As part of updating the open source WebKit to “WebKit2,” Apple’s Safari (along with Google Chrome, the Android Web browser and Palm’s WebOS) will essentially provide a separate process for each tab.

Along with the introduction of multi-tasking for iPhone apps, performance upgrades and mobile advertising, the iPhone OS 4.0 event Thursday also offered some insight for Wall Street. CEO Steve Jobs said iPhone sales had passed the 50 million unit mark, which translates to around 7.5 million Apple handsets shipped in the March quarter.

The figure had the Street rushing to compare Jobs’ statement with other Apple projections. High on that list was Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who had expected Apple to sell 7.5 million iPhones during the period. Munster’s right-on call for iPhone sales came on the heels of a wide miss on first-day iPad sales. The analyst, you’ll recall, told investors up to 700,000 iPads may have sold April 3. A day later, Apple announced 300,000 of the tablet devices were sold the first day.

iPhone OS 4.0 has been out for less than a day, but let’s dig a little deeper into the beta preview.

The home screen shot above captures what happened when I was trying to rearrange apps. The UI is still quite buggy and all hell can break loose when you least expect it. Moving apps around is even trickier now that folders are an option. Great way to organize apps, still the same horrible system for moving them around!

You’ve probably got your own preferred method of propping your iPad up on your work desk, whether that’s a cheap Staples’ laptop stand or a could of clip binders stuck in an ancient block of verdantly fecund cheddar (my preferred method). These solutions are for the plebs. Meet the Joule.

The Joule is simple: it’s a CNC-machined cylinder of polished aluminum with a velvet lined slot in which your iPad’s bottom lip can be ensconced, as well as a cut-out for your iPad’s home button and speaker. The Joule stays upright thanks to a metal rod on the back which can be repositioned magnetically for extremely fluid control of angle adjustment.

It’s a gorgeous stand that wouldn’t look out of place on the desk of Ive himself, but the price, alas, is horrible: $130.

[via Gadget Lab

A tipster has been playing around with the iPhone 4.0 OS beta, and sent us the following report and screenshots.

It seems there’s a glitch with Apple’s new iPhone 4.0 OS beta.

Several developers are having trouble installing the iPhone 4.0 beta on the 3G iPod touch, according to a tip from an iPhone developer.

The developer says there are several posts on Apple’s Developer Forums complaining that the new operating system will not run on third-generation iPod touches. It appears the problem is limited to 32GB models, the developer says.

After loading the OS, programmers are getting the following error message: “The iPod could not be restored. This device isn’t eligible for the requested build.”

The error message is displayed after developers restore the device to firmware bundle 4.0 and try to verify it with Apple.

“It is very odd,” said the developer.

OPINION: The scuttlebutt was pervasive and we all hoped it was coming, so when Steve Jobs announced iPhone OS 4.0 multitasking at today’s event, it was more a pleasant confirmation than a surprise. It may have more than surprised Apple’s mobile partners, though: the addition of background VoIP functionality will, at the very least, finally force wireless carriers like AT&T to compete with companies like Skype on their own networks.

With typical modesty and restraint, Steve Jobs today downplayed the iPad hype. Pouring cold water on some of the hyperbole pundits have lavished on the device, he said:

“We think this is a profound gamechanger. We think when people look back some number of years from now, they’ll see this as a major event in personal computation devices.”

He was responding to a question about being surprised by the initial reaction. Here’s what he said in full:

Boy, Steve Jobs doesn’t mess around, does he. Not content with his Google throwdown, he’s challenging the entire telecommunications industry with the iPhone’s new Background VoIP.

We start the day with a deal on a leather case for your iPad. There are also some bargains on iMacs, starting with a 3.06GHz 21.5-inch model with LED-backlit screen for $999. To mark Apple’s introduction of 4.0 of the iPhone OS, we have some deals on iPhones, including an 8GB iPhone 3G for $49.

Along the way, we’ll check out the latest crop of App Store price drops, including a 99-cent deal for “PANDORUM,” the survival-horror game for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Details on these and many other items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page, which starts right after the jump.