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So much for the iPad 3 arriving this year alongside the iPhone 5. But the latter isn’t the only new Apple hardware whose release date is in 2011. Sprint, Apple’s new iPhone partner, is set to launch its own iPad 2 instead. If the iPad 3 were imminent, the carrier would instead be waiting for its arrival. The report from CNET, if true, brings to a seeming end the will-they or won’t-they saga of whether the iPad 3 might arrive just before the holidays instead of the traditional spring 2012 timeframe. Instead the iPhone 5 is on its own for 2011. Although Apple most often goes a full year between mobile device generations, a number of factors have led some to believe Apple would yank the iPad 2 after a mere seven months in favor of a new generation. This news does not, however, kill off the possibility of an iPad 2S type of spec-bump before the year is over.


The Sprint news echoes the last time Apple gained a new iPhone partner. Verizon began selling the iPad in advance of the Verizon iPhone 4 release date as well. However, in that instance Verizon was selling the non-3G iPad bundled with a Verizon Mifi hotspot device. This report has Sprint selling its own iPad 2 with built-in Sprint mobile networking. That it’s a "2″ and not a "3″ is bound to disappoint those who were expecting an iPad 3 to arrive this year with the iPhone 5. After the iPad 2 turned to to be a mere spec bump with a handful of new features and a slimmer body with no revolutionary new features or redesign, many were expecting Apple to deliver the "real iPad 2", the ambitious one which the company had surely been working on since spring of 2010 or before, heading into the holidays…

Apple’s other seeming motivation for changing up the iPad release date schedule was so it could avoid the scenario last year in which some consumers put off iPad purchases during the holiday season amid "When is the new iPad coming?" talk. By shifting the iPad to a fall release date alongside the iPhone 5, Apple could turn things to its advantage, changing the sentiment to "A new iPad just launched, now is a great time to buy one as a gift." The news of a Sprint iPad 2 model points to the iPad 3 not arriving until after the new year, leaving the device on its current annual upgrade schedule. However, that doesn’t mean the iPad can’t still be revved this year…

Apple could find middle ground by revving the iPad 2 into an "iPad 2S" type of model, with better specs along the lines of capacity or battery life, and making a comparatively quiet changeover even as the iPhone 5 announcement grabs all the headlines. The move would allow Apple to push a "new iPad" to market going into the holidays and mitigate "When is the iPad 3 coming out?" talk among holiday shoppers. For all that is known, the "Sprint iPad 2″ could in fact be a Sprint iPad 2S, with Verizon and AT&T also getting their own iPad 2S models. It’s not clear what the device would actually be called, however, as iPad 2S is a moniker created by those who are hoping it’ll arrive. As usual, Apple has had nothing to say on the subject of a new iPhone 5 or iPad.

Source: beatweek

I once dated an objectivist. Every sentence began with "I am" or "I want." Which made asking her questions about her feelings a little awkward.

Still, there are those for whom Ayn Rand's movement represents a guiding element that lights up their lives in a way Debby Boone never could. For these people I have great news. For Rand's great opus, "Atlas Shrugged," is now available in a fascinating and self-empowering iPad app.

"Atlas Shrugged" might well have passed you by. This might be because it has around a thousand more pages than Kate Middleton at her wedding.

It is the story of people with brains who decide to go on strike--as if that has never happened before. It was published in 1957, when people could actually rely on entities like corporations and governments. So prescient was it that, even then, it posited a world where self-reliance was the only way to go.

Some of those who watched the Republican debate last night and heard an audience cheer at the thought of a sick person without health insurance being left to die might imagine that the true author was Ayn Rand Paul.

But, no. This was merely a woman who hung with Alan Greenspan and, somewhat refreshingly, didn't care whether we all got along or not. I make her sound heartless. But this iPad app will, apparently, give you insight into her as well as her book, so you will be able to judge for yourself.

You will see video of the author talking about the book and be treated to Rand's full-length audio lectures. You will also be able to experience her from the grave opinions about Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, rap music, and Obamacare. (OK, that last sentence may be entirely inaccurate.)

You might be wondering whether this fine (and somewhat interactive) app will cost you a month's salary. No, it is a mere $14.99 and it will help you rise above the detritus that surrounds you and become the person you've always dreamed of being. Yes, Harry Reid. Or Debby Harry. Or Debby Boone.

Ayn Rand was the ultimate laissez-fairy. She waved her wand and imagined a world in which only the individual mattered, only the individual could make things happen. She may well have been right. With just one wave of your index finger, you can now cuddle up to her and listen to the whispers of her wisdom.

Source: news.cnet