A curious report emerged Tuesday surrounding the seeming never-ending attempt by Verizon Wireless to break into the exclusive U.S. iPhone market. While previous reports have used anonymous sources in the will they, won’t they soap opera, the latest voice heard came from Verizon’s CEO.

Ivan Seidenberg, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, said his company has told Apple it would like to sell the iPhone, according to the AP. Although Seidenberg provided no details, such as when Verizon made the request or Apple’s response, the CEO did use a recent Wall Street Journal article to peg his hopes. The WSJ reported that Apple was developing two new iPhones – including one compatible with the CDMA technology used by Verizon.

The second-generation iPad may include a camera, an analyst told investors Wednesday. Omnivision, which makes sensors for digital cameras is “well-positioned” to be a supplier to Apple’s iPad, as well as the iPhone, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster.

In a related note, RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky said Tuesday most consumers interested in buying an iPad are waiting until the second-generation tablet device is released before pulling the trigger and purchasing the gadget. Abramsky speculates 60 percent of interested consumers held back from the April 3 launch, perhaps explaining why analyst forecasts were far higher than the 300,000 sales Apple reported Monday. A second-generation iPad would likely address items such as a camera, Flash and USB ports missing from the first iPads released.

Is printing directly from your iPhone or iPad in the cards for iPhone OS 4.0?

Well, maybe, although the evidence is pretty scant.
.
Check the support pages for iWorks, and you’ll find this little note on the subject: “Printing directly from iPad is not currently available.”

The operative word here is currently, and while we’re reading a lot into it, it does at least hint that Apple’s considering how to best go about bringing direct printing to its line of handheld devices… and give iPad and iPhone users one less reason to open up their laptops.

Like many questions about iPhone OS 4.0, we expect to know more about this at Apple’s corporate event on Thursday.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3J0cMAwHUo

You won’t see this on the App Store anytime soon, since Nintendo would pretty much throw a conniption fit, but here’s Super Mario Kart running gorgeously on the iPad through the glories of emulation.

The emulator’s from ZodTTD, who has previously done iPhone’s SNES and N64 emulators. All we need to do now is just wait for the iPad jailbreak to mosey along and we’ll be racing Yoshi and fighting Gannon with the rest of the non-Apple tablet world.

[via Gadget Lab]

The hellish ordeal of going through airport security may involve throwing away all your liquids, walking shoeless on a filthy floor, being groped by a glorified rent-a-cop, and becoming the nude subject of body scans… but at least you won’t need to take your iPad out of your bag along with your other laptops. Yet.

According to the TSA, iPads don’t need to be removed from carry-on luggage when going through X-Ray screening.

It all comes down to thinness: the iPad’s svelte design makes it easier for the scanner to identify. Additionally, since there’s a minimum of peripherals available for the iPad, the tablet is unlikely to be obstructed by other hardware as it passes through the scanner.

Good news for frequent travelers, but consider me suspicious: this is just too reasonable of a position for the TSA to take for me to believe it’ll be in place for long.

Having some problems with your iPad’s WiFi connection? Apple’s aware of the problem, and has some ideas on how to fix them.

According to Apple, the iPad might not automatically rejoin known WiFi networks using third-party routers that are dual-band capable (802.11 b/g and 802.11 n) when each band’s network uses the same name or use different security settings.

Apple’s recommendation? Try creating separate network names for each separate band’s network (ie: add a G to the end of the name of the 802.11 b/g band) and making sure both bands’ networks use the same security settings.

We’ve been lucky enough to not have this problem, but what about you? Is this solution fixing your problem, or is their a bigger issue afloat?

[via Gizmodo]

The guys iSuppli are wonderful techno-vivisecters, capable of dismantling the latest Apple product with a few quick twists of the screwdriver and telling you how much all of the limbs and organs cost.

Predictably, they haven’t waited long to do just that with the iPad. So how much does that pretty 16GB iPad sitting on your lap right now cost Apple to make? Just $259.60.

Warning: The above video contains violence and/or wanton destruction of Apple product, and should not be viewed by anyone sensitive to either.

The iPad, as we all know, does not have a camera. But one developer has come up with an ingenious way of getting round that minor inconvenience, and turning the iPad into a photography device.

All you need to make it work is an iPhone.

We kick off today’s round of daily deals with a trio of Apple hardware. First up is a 160GB Apple TV unit for $189. Next is a deal on a no-contract 8GB iPhone 3G for $360. We round out the top trio of deals with a 500GB Apple Time Capsule for $179.

Along the way, we check out a DLO hard shell case for the 3G or 3GS, along with a new batch of App Store price drops (SimCity is priced at $2.99 — a $2 savings.) As always, details on these and many other bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

As a Douglas Adams fan, I’ve always envisioned Apple, and not the great publishing companies of Ursa Minor, as the most likely creators of one of the most remarkable books in the universe, and I was hoping Gelaskins would already have a skin up transforming my iPad into the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by emblazoning it with the large and calming words: “DON’T PANIC.”

Unfortunately, they don’t, but in the meantime, I think this “Keep Calm and Carry On” skin might do the trick.

Check out Gelaskins for more ways to temporarily tattoo your tablet.

If you ordered an iPad after Apple moved delivery dates to April 12 from April 3, your gadget may be winging its way from China, according to a Tuesday report.

The Apple news site 9to5Mac is reporting customers are receiving shipping notification. Electronics retail giant Best Buy will also receive another batch of iPads in time for an April 11 sales event, the site also reports.

We’ve all been where Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was on Monday. Always go with your first answer. After last week predicting Apple would sell 200,000 to 300,000 iPads on Saturday, Munster doubled that original figure to between 600,000 to 700,000. Then came Apple’s official sales count: 300,000.

In a mea culpa of sorts, the analyst told investors his enhanced estimate was based on a faulty belief that 75 percent of sales would come from online pre-orders. The actual percentage was more like 50 percent online.

Well, it’s official: as rumored, HP’s own would-be iPad killer, the Slate, is basically just a keyboard-less netbook turned inside out.

In fact, it’s such a underwhelming, bog standard effort compared to the iPad that in a leaked internal document, HP saw fit to highlight the iPad’s advantages over the Slate in red.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvjlX7EqQWg

Ever wish someone could invent an app that would let you picture ketchup on your iPhone and douse the real thing from your smart phone on to your fries?

That’s the kind of whimsical hyper-reality Israeli pop band Izabo gets in their latest video for a catchy ditty called “On My Way.” Yeah, OK, so it may be awhile before  iPhone augmented reality means you can shave with a razor pictured on your device, but the effect is clever.

CoM talked to video director Shushu Spanier about surprisingly uncoordinated musicians,  borrowed iPhones and non-Mac equipment.

Apple’s no stranger to slurping up privately-held chipmakers. After all, their 2007 acquisition of PA Semi led to the iPad’s blindingly fast A4 CPU, and Cupertino’s going to need to stay on the cusp of mobile chip development if it wants to keep the iPad and iPhone competitive over the course of the next few years.

In light of all that, the latest rumor being reported by TUAW about Apple’s acquisition of chipmaker Intrinsity has the ring of likelihood (if not necessarily truth) about it. After all, Intrinsity is the company that helped design the Samsung Cortex A8 core, one of the fastest mobile processors there is and one of the few that competes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.

If Apple wants to keep their mobile phones on the bleeding edge, an investment in Intrinsity makes a lot of sense. I guess we’ll just have to see what Thursday’s press conference has in store.

Apple is notorious about low-balling its revenue guidance, setting up Wall Street for numbers that blow the doors off resulting expectations; has it done something similar about its iPad sales figures for the opening day? While some analysts had egg on their face over exuberant sales predictions, one voice Monday raised some interesting questions about Apple’s announcement of 300,000 iPads sold April 3.

Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair told investors Apple’s figure does not include any orders for 3G iPads ordered. Although orders are being accepted, the 3G units won’t be landing on consumers’ doorsteps until later this month.

Another curious omission: A week of pre-sales which happened after Apple announced online orders would be delivered April 12, rather than April 3.

Finally, Apple’s 300,000 number counts only Saturday. Although the Easter weekend closed some retailers, not every store was shuttered. Plus, what about Monday, when the U.S. retail engine returned to full power, Blair asked. The real figure for iPad sales to date is more like 600,000, the analyst said.

So, in effect, Apple’s 300,000 iPad sales figure marks a day when people are more interested in chocolate bunnies and travelling than standing in lines; the figure doesn’t include a week of online sales nor sales of 3G iPads. Did Apple’s publicity machine work too well and drive the hype so high that Cupertino had to find a way to lower expectations?

It’s a small change, but a nice one: Apple has just modified the App Store to make it easier to browse for iPhone and iPad apps, and distinguish universal binaries from iPhone-only apps.

It’s a simple change. Previously, iPhone and iPad apps were combined on one page, with only the Top Charts section offering the option between switching between iPhone and iPad view.

Now if you go to the App Store in iTunes, you’ll now see a couple of small tabs at the top of the page that allow you to switch between iPhone and iPad app browsing. Universal binaries will be listed under both headings, but non-universal apps will be exclusively listed under the iPhone heading… pixel doubling just does not an iPad app make.

[via TUAW]

One of these days, some fraudulent soothsayer’s bound to be right, but until then, it’s just as much our obligation to report the rumors of an imminent MacBook refresh as it is yours to digest them with a nice, healthy lick of salt.

According to Taiwanese newspaper Apple Daily, a refresh of Apple’s MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models incorporating Intel’s new Core i3, i5 and i7 mobile processors is due later this month.

Other spec bumps include maximum hard drive configurations of 640GB and 8-hour battery life expectations across the board.

With every new Apple product comes a fresh wave of exploitative eBay entrepreneurism, but this auction offering to hand-deliver a 64GB iPad anywhere in the world is a bold attempt at a free first-class vacation by some earnest young huckster. Unfortunately, I think the only country in the world meriting a $9,301 round-trip airplane ticket is North Korea, and I’m not sure I’d personally want to be the guy telling that country’s strange, sociopathic space baby of a leader that the iPad doesn’t do video conferencing or Flash.

The iPad’s display may be gorgeous, but if you’re going to read outdoors, you’ll probably want an e-ink reader: if your retinas don’t pucker into singularities from rays of direct sunlight bouncing off of the glass fdisplay, your iPad might still melt into a toxic soup and pour through your fingers.

Well… okay. We cop to the hyperbolic here, but exaggeration aside, the iPad has some significant overheating issues if widespread overheating issues.

Perhaps the problem is best summarized by PC Magazine’s Zach Honig, who posted this image on Twitter… the end result of using his iPad for ten minutes in direct sunlight on a 70 degree day in New York City. He had to pop his iPad in the fridge to get it running again.

One of the most exciting things about Apple’s overall shift to touchscreen technology in the last few years is that it allows the iPhone and the iPad to replace much more expensive custom solutions for niche markets. Contrary to what you might have heard, these are actually democratizing forces.

Robert Rummel-Hudson is semi-famous on the Internet as the father of Schuyler, a girl born with BPP, a rare brain malformity that can cause all kinds of developmental problems. For Schuyler, most of the impact has been on her speech — she really  can’t. She can, however, use a touchscreen device to select from lists of words to talk for her, what’s known as augmentive/alternative communication.

These devices are amazing — and very expensive. Under the hood, they’re basically like an iPad but with a lot less horsepower. And, crucially, only children with disabilities carry them. Imagine replacing a medical or therapeutic device with the coolest gadget on the planet — at a lower price. If these many custom hardware solutions are replaced by apps, children like Schuyler won’t be regarded as weird, they’ll be regarded as cool. Rob is calling on PRC, the developer of Unity, the program she uses to communicate, to make a high-priced but life-changing app for iPad. We second that request.

By having an iPad, you now have the internet in your hands (and probably on your couch), at least according to Steve Jobs. But are you wishing you had a bookmarks bar like in regular Safari? After reading this quick guide you soon will.

We knew it was coming — we just had no idea it’d be here so quickly. Yes, iPhone OS 4.0 will be revealed to the world at a press event this Thursday, at 10 a.m. Pacific, according to our friends over at Gizmodo — and every other tech blog under the sun.

Andrea Nepori, head honcho at Italian-based TheAppleLounge.com, has alerted us to the fact that maybe Steve Jobs doesn’t have anything to wear.

Check out the worn-out pants and forlorn sneakers in the photo of Jobs, left, at Apple’s Stockton Street Palo Alto store in San Francisco on the iPad’s launch day; now sadly note the same fashion choices in the photo on the right, of El Jobso and Google CEO Eric Schmidt kicking back in Palo Alto, taken a week earlier.

So buy an iPad, and maybe Jobs can afford to pop for some new togs. Seriously, before The Gap starts marketing a replica version of his jeans called the iHole. Because we all know where his critics would take that one.

[Thanks to Andrea Nepori for the photo-illustration.]