TechToaster.com – Technology Buzz

Google broke into the world of television Thursday with the introduction of Google TV, an Internet based TV platform that will be available this fall in devices exclusively from Sony and Logitech.

It seems Google is trying to take on the cable and satellite companies with it’s new product, Google TV.

Popularity: 37% [?]

It seems that someone found a prototype for Apple’s new iPhone somewhere in Redwood City and tech website Gizmodo got their hands on it (and took it apart).  They’ve posted videos and a write up on their website. I guarantee, ahem, someone at Apple got fired over this. It’s good to know that if I ever lose my new phone that a kind soul might find it and take apart for me.  Unfortunately the phone was disabled remotely by Apple before it got to Gizmodo, so they couldn’t boot it up and check out the OS and such.  Moral of the story: If you find a prototype iPhone, first thing you do is put it in airplane mode.

Update:  How apple asked for their iPhone back.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Chipworks, a firm that specializes in reverse engineering, has recently opened up an iPad to look at the hardware.  They released a report detailing the internals of Apple’s new tablet. What they found is that is uses almost indentical hardware to that of the iPod touch.  The iPad is comprised of a small circuit board (that is almost identical to the iPod touch’s) along with a giant battery.  Chipworks calls the iPad ‘a giant battery with a tiny [circuit] board attached to it’ — and looking at the picture above, you can definitely see why!

So if you are in the market for an iPad , be aware that you are basically paying for a touchscreen with iPod touch guts and a gigantic battery (filled with unicorn blood).

Popularity: 36% [?]

Microsoft’s Bing Maps architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, demos their new “augmented-reality mapping” technology at the TED 2010 conference.

Microsoft has been seemingly forced into a genuinely competitive position by Google, and it’s good to see that they are going for one-ups, rather than catch-up.  Check out the video to see the amazing immersion and eye candy that Microsoft is developing for Bing Maps.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Apple unveiled it’s new tablet computer today, dissapointingly calling it the “iPad.”  <Insert menstrual pad joke here> It looks like a really big iPhone, and it doesn’t have much more functionality than one.    During the cult-like Apple release announcement, Steve Jobs demonstrated how the iPad can be used to buy movie tickets online, watch YouTube videos, and look at photos.   The iPad  is obviously a technological breakthrough of immense proportions.  In between his amazing demonstrations of web browsing and the calendar app, Steve continuously mentioned how beautiful the device is.   I guess you need a unique selling point when your company is 5 years late in releasing a modern tablet.

But can it really be considered a true tablet computer?  The iPad does not have a full OSX implementation; it has no standard ports, It can’t multitask, and its browser doesn’t support flash. It is hardly a tablet pc. So, if you want a big ass iPhone that doesn’t make phone calls and costs 4 times more, head on over to the Apple Store and keep jamming the F5 key until you see one of these bad boys up for sale.

Popularity: 50% [?]