There are rumors that Apple has acquired a chip company called Intrinsity. And the company's web site (http://www.intrinsity.com/) is currently down for “scheduled maintenance.”

Intrinsity specializes in ARM processors. In fact, according to "engadget" (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/03/is-intrinsity-apples-latest-chipmaker...), there's "speculation that Intrinsity may have actually contributed as much or more to the A4 processor in the iPad than P.A. Semi has."

Intrinsity is a privately-held Austin, Texas based fabless semiconductor company. It was founded in 1997 as EVSX and changed its name to Intrinsity in 2000. It has around 100 employees and supplies tools and services.

Tomorrow I'll start a multi-part review of the iPad. For now, here are some of my first impressions on the new device. My main thought: the iPad is a game changer, but it won't replace the Mac.

Why not? While the iPad is great for consumption, the Mac is better at creation. Music, movies, homemade video, ebooks, digital magazines, TV shows, surfing the web, checking email -- all look and work great on the iPad. However, it's not built for using iLife apps or doing heavy duty work despite the availability of iWork and Bento apps (which I'll also get around to critiquing).

For this reason, the Mac is in little danger from the iPad, though there will be some slight cannibalization of laptop sales. A handful of folks who only use their MacBooks for basic word processing may dump their laptop for a Pages-equipped iPad. However, road warriors who have serious work to do will stick with their MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

Where the cannibalization may take place is...

Well, I've already ordered mine, but if you're on the fence about buying an iPad, the folks at TechStartUps.com have put together a list of five reasons not to buy an iPad. They are, in TechStartUps' own words:
 
"No Multitasking -- no searching the web as you chat on AIM, no listening to Pandora as you read an eBook.  Sure, the iPad is faster than your smartphone, but what good is added speed when you will have to be constantly going in and out of apps instead of being efficiently able to do them all at once? 
 
"No Flash -- an understandable limitation in the world of cell phones, but this is unacceptable in a product trying to position itself in the world of notebooks.  Not only do many websites require flash to view certain content, some require it to access the website.
 
"Limited software -- like the iPhone, only runs apps from the Apple’s App Store.  Although there are tons of apps at Apple’s store, it still bans certain apps, such as...

By Bill Oakey

I just checked "App Updates" on my iPhone. There are several today listed as "universal," meaning they are optimized for the iPad. Right away I wondered about the file sizes.

What if these enhanced versions with a higher resolution and more features for the iPad screen will be significantly bigger than the older iPhone only versions? I just ran a comparison and some of the results are quite shocking. Indeed, these new enhanced apps, which will replace the older versions, are bigger in size. Several times bigger in some instances.

This will mean that people could max out the space on their iPhones and iPod touches, with fewer apps being able to fit. In some cases the Apple App Store will have two versions of the same app, with one enhanced for the iPad (with XL or some other designation tacked onto the title). And some will be iPad only, with no counterpart for the iPhone.

But the "universal" category completely replaces...

It's April Fools day, and if you didn't catch it yet ... Google has renamed itself "Topeka". Why? If you didn't catch it on the news a while back, Google is looking for communities to do experimental deployment of 1GB Fiber networks at a competitive price for consumers. Over 1100 cities applied, many with some creative video appeals on YouTube (see Westlake Village's 2 minute video as an example at http://youtube.com/watch?v=rw1f4UJOd2E).

As part of all this, cities did an assortment of PR efforts -- including Topeka, Kansas renaming itself for the day "Google, Kansas". Today, Google decided to turn the tables, and rename themselves on their home page at least Topeka. See http://www.google.com

Apple patent is for An Apple patent (number 2010083188) has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office for a sensor-based computer user interface and system. Per the patent, systems and methods may provide user control of a computer system via one or more sensors.

Also, systems and methods may provide automated response of a computer system to information acquired via one or more sensors. The sensor(s) may be configured to measure distance, depth proximity and/or presence. In particular, the sensor(s) may be configured to measure a relative location, distance, presence, movements and/or gestures of one or more users of the computer system. Thus, the systems and methods may provide a computer user interface based on measurements of distance, depth, proximity, presence and/or movements by one or more sensors.

For example, various contexts and/or operations of the computer system, at the operating system level and/or the application level, may be controlled,...

An upcoming version of Safari may show multiple Internet pages in a new way, as evidenced by an Apple patent (number 2010083179) at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The patent is for a visual presentation of multiple Internet pages.

The patent expresses a novel method for graphically organizing and displaying multiple pages of internet content based on how the page was accessed. Pages are determined to be indirectly accessed if they were accessed via a hypertext link or a trail of hypertext links. Pages are determined to be directly accessed if accessed via other means, such as a bookmark or via Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

Page groupings are created for each directly accessed page, and each indirectly accessed page is categorized into a grouping associated with a directly accessed page containing a link through which the indirectly accessed page was accessed. The web pages are presented to the user in an interface that is a graphical representation of the...

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told clients he thinks there's a 70% chance that Apple will develop its own search engine within five years.

“We believe the company needs to develop its own search technology to protect the data generated on the iPhone,” he writes. “We believe Apple could utilize data unavailable from ,Google, data generated by the company’s App Store, to create a mobile centric search engine.”

According to "Barron's" ("http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/03/30/apple-when-will-they-build-their-own-mobile-search-engine/) Munster figures the company could start by making a minor acquisition of a search startup like Cuil, and then use the index as the base for building its own search engine. The Sellers Research Firm (that's me) is dubious that this will happen.

-- Dennis Sellers

Nine Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 7,689,920 is for a parental control graphical user interface. Improved graphical user interfaces suitable for restricting the availability of media items and/or podcasts are also disclosed. The graphical user interfaces are particularly useful for a system that provides purchase and distribution of media in a client-server environment. The inventors are Jeffrey L. Robbin, David Heller and Jeff Miller.

Patent number 7,688,316 is for an adaptive method for acquiring color measurements. It's for a system and method for measuring a color parameter values of a display for calibration purposes. An initial measurement of the color parameter value from the display is performed. Next, a number of additional measurements is determined in response to the value of the initial color parameter value. The color parameter value of the...

With the iPad looming, folks are going to be using more electronic devices than ever. And the US Patent & Trademark Office has granted a patent (number 7,689,920) for a method of synchronizing three or more electronic devices and a computer system for implementing that method.

In one exemplary method of synchronizing three or more electronic devices, said method comprises: a) selecting at least one category of record for synchronization; b) storing an original value and a changed value of each changed record from a selected record category; c) establishing an electronic connection between at least two devices; d) comparing the records of the selected record categories; e) determining any changed record; f) identifying the updated device with the changed record having an original value the same as the value of the record in the other previous device; and g) changing the value of the record in the previous device to the changed value. The inventors are Jean-Marie Hullot,...

Apple has won patents related to the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and podcasting from the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Patent number 7,688,306 is for methods and apparatuses for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer. According to one embodiment of the invention, an accelerometer attached to a portable device detects a movement of the portable device. In response, a machine executable code is executed within the portable device to perform one or more predetermined user configurable operations. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. The inventors are Paul J. Wehrenberg, Aaron Leiba, Richard C. Williams, David R. Falkenburg, Louis G. Gerbarg and Ray L. Chang.

Patent number 7,686,215 is for techniques and systems for supporting podcasting. Improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to creating, publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing...

With the launch of the Apple App Store in mid-2008, Apple managed to reinvent the smartphone application market, creating an end-to-end solution (iPhone/iPod touch, iTunes Store and applications) that dramatically improved the customer experience of application discovery, download and usage.

Since 2007, the smartphone application market has grown annually by 140%, reaching a value of US$1.94 billion (2009). However, the market is still in its early stages. The top five application stores represent 96% of the market's downloads, with Apple alone responsible for 77% of total downloads.

Independent applications stores like GetJar, Mobango, Handmark and Handango sold smartphone applications and other mobile content long before the Apple App Store's launch. These stores benefitted from Apple's boost to the market with quickly growing download numbers. In 2009, independent stores held a market share of 25%, but are increasingly threatened by the large number of new...

It sounds as if there's a potential market to be taped by Apple: Central and Eastern Europe, where the number of personal computers is expected to grow significantly over the next four years.

Uptake of fixed and mobile broadband services will grow at a compound annual rate of 20% in the regions through 2014 as governments roll out more aggressive Internet connectivity policies in the wake of new guidelines covering expansion of telecom services, according to a new report from Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com), according to a new report from the author.

Last November, the EU Parliament adopted a package of telecom proposals not only to strengthen the power of telecom regulators, but also to guide its member states on how to propel broadband growth via targeted investments and spectrum awards, notes Sylwia Boguszewska, analyst at Pyramid Research and author...

Future versions of Mac OS X may sport an interface with elements that offer an even more intuitive appearance to reflect the operation being performed. Patent number 20010077336 involves dynamically changing appearances for user interface elements during drag and drop operations.

The patent involves a user interface includes elements whose appearance dynamically changes in dependence upon functions associated with the elements. In the case of an icon that is the destination for a drag-and-drop operation, the image displayed for the icon changes in accordance with the object being dragged to it, to represent the task that will be performed as a result of the drag-and-drop operation. The appearance of other elements involved in drag-and-drop operations can also be varied, to reflect the task at hand. As a result, the user is provided with more intuitive feedback regarding the functions that will be performed by the computer as a result of a drag-and-drop operation. The...

A new Apple patent (number 2010073791) at the US Patent & Trademark Office shows that Apple is considering ways to offer solar-powered laptops. Or at least portables with screens backlit by the sun.

An apparatus and methods for harnessing external light to illuminate a display screen of an electronic device are provided. The display screen may be illuminated using a light harness, a reflector, a translucent surface, or any combination thereof. The light harness may be cylindrical or hexahedral. The light harness may be coupled to an external light input or a collector. The reflector may be repositioned toward or away from the display screen to reflect external light toward the display screen. The translucent surface may allow external light to pass through it to illuminate the display screen. The translucent surface may protect the rear face of the display screen, or the rear face of the display screen may itself be translucent. The inventor is Peter H. Mahowald.

Hmmm. Could femtocells be the answer to my (lack of iPhone) problems? I currently don't own an iPhone because of the crappy AT&T wireless reception at my house.

However, folks like me will soon be able to fix that for US$150, reports the Associated Press (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/No-bars-at-home-ATampT-to-apf-178848912.ht...). AT&T said Wednesday that it's rolling out femtocells that, when connected to the home's broadband modem, will pick up signals from the cell phones in the home and relay them through the Internet connection. In essence, they're small cell towers for the home.

Dallas-based AT&T is introducing the 3G MicroCell in mid-April in some markets, which haven't been announced, notes the "AP." The rest of the country will follow over the next...

Jon Peddie Research (http://www.jonpeddie.com) -- a research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, computer graphics -- estimates that 46% of the dollars spent in 2009 on gaming motivated computer hardware were directed toward what the firm calls the Enthusiast class. This is the top-of-the line stuff: boutique computers, high-end processors and graphics cards, SSD's, specialized gaming mice, keyboards, speakers, monitors, etc.

JPR is forecasting a shift in product mix demand as the worldwide computer gaming user base continues to increase in size. By 2013 the Enthusiast class will lose market share to the Performance and Mainstream classes from 46% to 35% of dollars spent. The good news for Enthusiast hardware producers is that this "market share shrink" occurs in an expanding market and expenditures on the Enthusiast class will grow from $9.5 billion to almost $12.5 billion in 2013, says JRP...

The mobile applications market is undergoing a rebirth thanks largely to the efforts of companies like Apple and Google who over the last 18 months converted the category from a niche market that catered mainly for mobile geeks into a mainstream proposition, according to a new report by Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com).

The research group says that modern smartphones, the increasing penetration of high-speed mobile networks and the availability of flat-rate mobile data plans have been important enablers of this market. But equally important, has been the relatively recent development of device software, service delivery infrastructure and new business models that have ushered in a new era in mobile content and services.

Every large mobile operator around the globe now either already has a mobile applications strategy, or is developing one. While important...

The Sellers Research Firm (that's me) is still dubious that Apple will release its own line of TV sets. But Piper Jaffray Gene Munster thinks that's exactly what will happen in the next 2-4 years.

In a note to clients he predicts that Apple will offer an US$2,000 Internet- and content-connected TV. As reported by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com), Munster said he thinks Apple will combine hardware, software and content into a HDTV. When combined with a potential iTunes TV subscription plan priced between US$50 and $90 per month, users would no longer have a need for their monthly cable bill, he added.

Munster thinks an Apple-branded HDTV would "move the needle" for the market, with the hardware maker delivering a product that would serve as the replacement for an entire entertainment center, beyond just the display, notes "AppleInsider." In addition, the established iPhone and...

Four new Apple patents have popped up at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 7,683,983 is for a display that emits circularly-polarized light for portable devices. One embodiment of the present invention provides a display that emits circularly-polarized light. This display includes a display mechanism that emits linearly-polarized light and a layer placed in the path of the linearly-polarized light. The layer receives the linearly-polarized light on one surface, converts the linearly-polarized light to circularly-polarized light, and then emits the circularly-polarized light from another surface. By emitting circularly-polarized light, the display reduces the perceived distortion found at some angles when the display is viewed through a linearly-polarizing filter. The inventors are John Z. Zhong, Wei Chen, Cheg Chen, Victor H.E. Yin and Shawn R. Gettemy.

Patent number 7,683,888 is for a...

An Apple patent (number 7,684,185) that first appeared in 2006 has re-appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It's for an integrated monitor and docking station. And you have to wonder if it hints at a future iteration of the iPad.

After all, the patent is for a portable computer -- and said portable computer doesn't appear to be an iPod or anything currently available. The docking station includes a display and a housing configured to hold the display in a manner that exposes a viewing surface of the display to view. The housing defines a docking area configured to receive a portable computer. The docking area is at least partly obscured by the display when viewed from the viewing surface side of the display at an angle substantially orthogonal to the viewing surface.

Traditionally a portable computer docking station requires a separate external monitor to be connected (e.g., by cable) to the docking station when a display other than the integrated...

Smart phone shipments in North America totaled 47.2 million units in 2009, an increase of 27% over the volume seen in 2008, helped by a strong fourth quarter. Apple is expected to sell 13.8 million iPhones in 2010 for a market share of 21.3%.

The smartphone growth is forecast to accelerate to 38% in 2010, bringing total shipments in the region to 65.1 million units, according to Canalys (http://www.canalys.com). The research group thinks RIM will retain its leadership position in the North American market in 2010, with Apple in second place by operating system (OS) vendor share. Both vendors will grow their annual shipment volumes in the region, by 21% and 27% respectively.

In 2009, RIM held a 49% market share in North America, with Apple at 23%, though they will each lose a modest portion of their share this year as the total market grows at a quicker pace. RIM will remain strong in the corporate...

Now, Apple, you know I'm not going to quit hounding you until you move the Apple TV out of the "hobby" category. Anyway, here's some new research for you to consider.

Consumers want their Internet TV, according to market research firm In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). Already, based on In-Stat’s new multi-client research, 26% of U.S. consumer respondents report viewing Internet TV more than once per week. However, rather than a substitute for traditional pay TV services, consumers want Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet video to compliment traditional TV offerings.

“Consumers want the best of both worlds: pay TV and OTT Video,” says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. “Nearly 40% of consumer broadband household respondents want a combination of linear and on-demand TV, and nearly three quarters want to acquire all their video content from their pay TV operator.”

The recent research also found:

° ...

The time is fast approaching -- heck, it's almost here -- when Apple is going to have to "fish or cut bait" as we say in the South when it comes to the company's "hobby," the Apple TV.

According to the "New York Times" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/technology/18webtv.html?partner=rss&em...), Google and Intel have teamed with Sony to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes. And if you don't think that will be a threat to the Apple TV, think again.

According to the "Times," the move is an effort by Google and Intel to extend their dominance of computing to television, an arena where they have little sway. For Sony, which has struggled to retain a pricing and technological advantage in the...