A Closer Look at Apple’s New Tablet, the iPad

By Priya Ganapati
January 27, 2010 |
2:45 pm |
Categories: Media Players

After months of speculation, Apple has unveiled its tablet, called the iPad. The slim, large screen device evokes much of the same user interface as the iPhone, but it’s bigger and has some surprise features including Apple’s own custom chip.

Here’s the rundown on specs and some highlights of the device.

The tablet is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds.
It has a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. It also has capacitive multitouch that’s similar to the iPhone.
The device runs Apple’s own processor, a 1-GHz Apple A4 chip — possibly the fruits of of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of PA semiconductor in 2008.
The iPad will have 16-GB to 64-GB flash storage.
It includes speaker, microphone and accelerometer so you can use the device in both landscape and portrait mode. There’s also a compass.
It has up to 10 hours of battery life and one month of standby time.
It offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
It will include optional 3G access from AT&T. For $30 a month, users can get unlimited data. For iPhone users already crying out in pain about their bondage to the AT&T network, here’s something to sweeten the deal: No contracts are required for the data plan. iPad users can cancel their data connectivity at any time.
Unlimited data will cost $30 or users can pay $15 for up to 250 MB of data.
The iPad will cost $500 for 16 GB, $600 for 32 GB and $700 for a 64-GB model. But if you want 3G connectivity, add another $130 to the price tag.

It’s worth noting that these specs are nothing like what entrepreneur Jason Calacanis claimed when he tweeted Tuesday night that he had been testing a tablet.

The iPad will start shipping in two months. The 3G models will be available in 90 days. Complete specs of the iPad from Apple.

Despite its gorgeous hardware, the iPad is missing some key features.

There’s no camera on the iPad.
Though Apple is yet to confirm it, on-stage demos of the device during the launch indicate it might not support Flash. That could mean broken pages and some websites that might be off-limits.
No multitasking. Apple hasn’t commented on this, but it looks like the iPad works like the iPhone when it comes to apps. It can run just one app at a time and there’s no background processing.
There’s more to the iPad than just this. It will run apps designed for the iPhone, new custom apps and double as an e-book reader.
And no GPS for the Wi-Fi model. Though the iPad has Google Maps, the lack of GPS means you can’t use it for turn-by-turn navigation or in areas where’s there’s no wireless connectivity.

Here’s the rundown on specs and some highlights of the device.

The tablet is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds.
It has a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. It also has capacitive multitouch that’s similar to the iPhone.
The device runs Apple’s own processor, a 1-GHz Apple A4 chip — possibly the fruits of of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of PA semiconductor in 2008.
The iPad will have 16-GB to 64-GB flash storage.
It includes speaker, microphone and accelerometer so you can use the device in both landscape and portrait mode. There’s also a compass.
It has up to 10 hours of battery life and one month of standby time.
It offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
It will include optional 3G access from AT&T. For $30 a month, users can get unlimited data. For iPhone users already crying out in pain about their bondage to the AT&T network, here’s something to sweeten the deal: No contracts are required for the data plan. iPad users can cancel their data connectivity at any time.
Unlimited data will cost $30 or users can pay $15 for up to 250 MB of data.
The iPad will cost $500 for 16 GB, $600 for 32 GB and $700 for a 64-GB model. But if you want 3G connectivity, add another $130 to the price tag.

It’s worth noting that these specs are nothing like what entrepreneur Jason Calacanis claimed when he tweeted Tuesday night that he had been testing a tablet.

The iPad will start shipping in two months. The 3G models will be available in 90 days. Complete specs of the iPad from Apple.

Despite its gorgeous hardware, the iPad is missing some key features.

There’s no camera on the iPad.
Though Apple is yet to confirm it, on-stage demos of the device during the launch indicate it might not support Flash. That could mean broken pages and some websites that might be off-limits.
No multitasking. Apple hasn’t commented on this, but it looks like the iPad works like the iPhone when it comes to apps. It can run just one app at a time and there’s no background processing.
There’s more to the iPad than just this. It will run apps designed for the iPhone, new custom apps and double as an e-book reader.
And no GPS for the Wi-Fi model. Though the iPad has Google Maps, the lack of GPS means you can’t use it for turn-by-turn navigation or in areas where’s there’s no wireless connectivity

Here’s the rundown on specs and some highlights of the device.

The tablet is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds.
It has a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. It also has capacitive multitouch that’s similar to the iPhone.
The device runs Apple’s own processor, a 1-GHz Apple A4 chip — possibly the fruits of of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of PA semiconductor in 2008.
The iPad will have 16-GB to 64-GB flash storage.
It includes speaker, microphone and accelerometer so you can use the device in both landscape and portrait mode. There’s also a compass.
It has up to 10 hours of battery life and one month of standby time.
It offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
It will include optional 3G access from AT&T. For $30 a month, users can get unlimited data. For iPhone users already crying out in pain about their bondage to the AT&T network, here’s something to sweeten the deal: No contracts are required for the data plan. iPad users can cancel their data connectivity at any time.
Unlimited data will cost $30 or users can pay $15 for up to 250 MB of data.
The iPad will cost $500 for 16 GB, $600 for 32 GB and $700 for a 64-GB model. But if you want 3G connectivity, add another $130 to the price tag.

It’s worth noting that these specs are nothing like what entrepreneur Jason Calacanis claimed when he tweeted Tuesday night that he had been testing a tablet.

The iPad will start shipping in two months. The 3G models will be available in 90 days. Complete specs of the iPad from Apple.

Despite its gorgeous hardware, the iPad is missing some key features.

There’s no camera on the iPad.
Though Apple is yet to confirm it, on-stage demos of the device during the launch indicate it might not support Flash. That could mean broken pages and some websites that might be off-limits.
No multitasking. Apple hasn’t commented on this, but it looks like the iPad works like the iPhone when it comes to apps. It can run just one app at a time and there’s no background processing.
There’s more to the iPad than just this. It will run apps designed for the iPhone, new custom apps and double as an e-book reader.
And no GPS for the Wi-Fi model. Though the iPad has Google Maps, the lack of GPS means you can’t use it for turn-by-turn navigation or in areas where’s there’s no wireless connectivity

A Closer Look at Apple’s New Tablet, the iPad

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/a-closer-look-at-apples-new-tablet-the-ipad/#ixzz0dwA44ZAD

Stolen Facebook Accounts for Sale

Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense division tracking the digital underworld say bogus and stolen accounts on the Facebook are now on sale in high volume on the black market.

During several weeks in February, iDefense tracked an effort to sell log-in data for 1.5 million Facebook accounts on several online criminal marketplaces, including one called Carder.su.

That hacker, who used the screen name “kirllos” and appears to deal only in Facebook accounts, offered to sell bundles of 1,000 accounts with 10 or fewer friends for $25 and with more than 10 friends for $45, says Rick Howard, iDefense’s director of cyber intelligence.

The case points to a significant expansion in the illicit market for social networking accounts from Eastern Europe to the United States, he said.

Criminals steal log-in data for Facebook accounts, typically with “phishing” techniques that tricks users into disclosing their passwords or with malware that logs keystrokes. They then use the accounts to send spam, distribute malicious programs and run identity and other fraud.

Facebook says it believes that the hacker’s claims to control large numbers of Facebook accounts are bogus. The company attempted to purchase accounts as part of its investigation into the incident, said a spokesman, Barry Schnitt. However, “the hacker was unable to produce anything for our buyer,” he said.

Facebook’s investigators also discovered that “kirllos” has a reputation “for wild claims,” he said.

“We would expect iDefense or anyone presenting themselves as a security expert to do this kind of verification (or any verification) rather than just reading a forum post and accepting the claims as fact and publicizing them,” Mr. Schnitt said in an e-mail message.

IDefense could not be immediately reached for comment on the legitimacy of the hacker’s offer. However, it previously said that it did not purchase any of the accounts as part of its study because that would violate its corporate policy.

Facebook accounts are attractive because of the higher level of trust on the site than exists in the broader Internet. People are required to use their real names and tend to connect primarily with people they know.

As a result, they are more likely to believe a fraudulent message or click on a dubious link on a friend’s wall or an e-mail message. Moreover, the accounts allow criminals to mine profiles of victims and their friends for personal information like birth dates, addresses, phone numbers, mothers’ maiden names, pets’ names and other tidbits that can be used in identity theft.

Last summer, Eileen Sheldon’s Facebook account was hacked and used to send messages to about 20 friends claiming she was stranded in Britain without a passport and needed money. Ms. Sheldon, who lives in California, had recently been living in London, and one friend, believing the ruse, wired about $100 to the thieves.

Other friends smelled a fraud and warned Ms. Sheldon, who quickly reported the problem to Facebook. She does not know how her password was stolen.

While the accounts that were compromised and offered for sale could be legitimate ones like Ms. Sheldon’s, they most likely also included bogus accounts, Mr. Howard said. IDefense did not see the accounts themselves, but the inclusion of many accounts with small numbers of friends suggests the seller could have created fake accounts, perhaps using an automated tool, and sent out blind friend requests.

Many users are eager to amass friends and accept friend requests from people they do not know, even though Facebook discourages it.

Facebook says it has sophisticated systems to defeat fake accounts, including tools for flagging them when they are created so they can be investigated. This allows Facebook to “disable them before the bad guys get very far,” a spokesman, Simon Axten, said.

Facebook also monitors for unusual activity that is associated with fake accounts, like many friend requests in a short period of time and high rates of friend requests that are ignored. It also investigates reports of suspicious users .

The relatively low asking prices for the Facebook accounts points to the fact that Facebook accounts do not translate into instant profit. “The people that buy these things are going to have to do more work to make money,” Mr. Axten said.