Going Ape Over the iPad. Firefox Phones Are Coming

Isn't it tragically funny or funnily tragic that some people in China, and most likely in a lot of other countries as well, are willing to give up a kidney or two, or some other internal organs, just to own an iPad?

But even more tragic or funnier is the news that the Smithsonian's National Zoo has gifted the orangutans under its care with an iPad each.

Such a piece of news could either give you some laughing fits or make you really angry, especially if you are among us who cannot just afford an iPad yet.

I wonder what the humane societies would have to say about this. What if those apes wanted a Google Nexus 7 instead or perhaps a Microsoft Surface RT?

Should somebody be suing the Smithsonian's zoo for committing acts of cruelty against helpless animals?

Firefox Phones

Mozilla announced the Keon and Peak, the first handsets that run the organization's HTML5-based Firefox mobile operating system.

The first handsets running Mozilla's HTML5-based Firefox mobile OS are coming.

Developed in partnership with Geekphone and Telefonica, Keon and Peak are not full-retail models. Instead, the units are designed for developers interested in building and testing apps for the Firefox mobile OS.

iPad 2 rubs it in: Apple still the real boss in the tablet computer space

Here's a good-news-and-bad-news routine for Apple's rivals in the tablet-computer market.

The good news first: The iPad is no longer the number 1, best-selling tablet computer.

The bad news: It is now the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 shows who's boss.

Its detractors can rant to high heavens and as much as their hearts desire, but the fact remains: The iPad 2's coming is a most blunt reminder for everybody about who is the real king in the tablet computer market — and who are mere pretenders to the throne.

iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry, Alienware desktops, and all those other shiny tech toys and gadgets

Every day, I spend at least eight hours, most of my working hours, in front of a computer. Those hours, which pass by like a speeding train, are spent checking my office email, responding to those pesky instant messages, surfing the Internet, and reviewing work manuals. Of course, the biggest portion goes to doing my job, which is editing works by industry analysts.

The Alienware Area 51 desktop (photo courtesy of Dell)

An hour after getting home, when those who were with me in the train or bus that brought me home are getting ready for bed, it would be my home PC’s turn to have my full attention. I then spend a couple or so hours more, working on my weekly column and articles that my other employer, a newspaper publisher, expects me to submit as promptly as possible.

iPod Touch 4G: Gadgets on my wish list, part 3

People say the iPad is just a blownup iPod Touch. For me, however, I think the iPod Touch is an iPad at just about the right size. I have never been a big fan of the iPod, and I have always been a Walkman guy. In fact, my first portable music player was a Sony, way back when listening to music on the go meant being mobile with a Sony Walkman.

The iPod Touch 4G: at the top of my gadget wish list.

From the very first time I saw the iPod Touch, however, I have always dreamed of owning one someday. But because I had a Samsung MP3 player and a Philips portable media player then, I could not bring myself to blowing some 10K pesos for a new MP3 and video player. Even though it's a media player dubbed by the popular media as one of the coolest.

Apple's App Store lets users try apps first before buying them

Here's something you'd wish a certain kind of establishments on Quezon and Makati avenues would readily adopt. Apple created a new section of App Store, the company's online applications store.

The Try Before You Buy section allows buyers to play with or use a limited version of the apps, then purchase those apps if they find them to their liking.

Lack of iPhone 4: Apple's pleasant problem that hurts nevertheless

I know many electronics vendors would love trading places with Apple right now. After all, who would not want this scenario: thousands of consumers lining up at your retail outlets, eagerly awaiting their turn for the chance to part with their hard-earned money in order to lay their hands on your latest product.

Hell, I know several people who would sell their own mothers for the remotest opportunity to land in the vicinity of that scenario.

Apple to recall iPhone 4?

A story that appeared in the online edition of the U.K. newspaper Daily Mail said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs might have no choice but to recall the iPhone 4, the latest edition of the Cupertino company's smart phone. Apparently, consumer concern about the diminishing radio signal quality of the handset, and the uncharacteristic mishandling of initial customer complaints by Jobs and company might have painted the normally cool company into a corner.

Jobs has something against bloggers?

Please feel free to kick my behind if I was guilty of taking Apple CEO Steve Jobs' declaration, "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers," out of context. If I did, maybe because it was not the hardest thing to do. Anyway, here is a link to Jobs' interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Many tablet PCs to battle with the iPad

Apple said it has sold more than two million iPad tablet PCs as of May 31. This has prompted some industry analysts to predict that the Cupertino company will sell at least 10 million iPads before the year ends. Watching IT could find no strong reasons to disagree with these market observers.