Whether the Apple iPad tablet is going to prove to be another Apple success or not this year is beside the point. Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple products, says they can only make 300k iPads at launch. The Cupertino giant have planned to have 1 million iPads available but Foxconn can only meet leass than a third of this due to problems in multitouch supply. On the surface, this has nothing to do with the Wintek strike, but more on quality control issues. Rumor has it that the multitouch glass on the iPad is not as strong as the device demands. This rumor doesn’t surprise me at all. Carrying everywhere an naked 9-inch touchscreen would not doubt have “strength issues.”

[via electronista]

However, come CES next week, this may no longer be the case as we hear Mophie will also be coming out with a similar device of their own. There’s no name yet or working details about what they will be unveiling, but we do have this snazzy concept design above that definitely beats what Square hands down in the aesthetics department. Of course, if you’re familiar with Mophie who’s more popularly known for their battery backs and cases for the iPhone, iPod Touch and other iPod models, this shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore. We’ll have more on this once the festivities at CES begins.

[engadget via cellphones etc]

Here’s the skinny of the rumored Chrome netbook specs:

• 10.1-inch multitouch screen (HD ready)
• Nvidia Tegra with ARM-based processor
• WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G,
• Pre-installed with Google free software and services like Maps, Google Search by Voice, Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc. (though as PC World has noted, some of these software and services are web-based and could not be pre-installed.
• 64GB SSD drive
• Google to sell Chrome netbook itself for under $300

Believable?

[via pcworld]

“The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience. Among others, these companies include Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.”

Techcrunch wondered about Google manufacturing ambitions when they heard of talk that the company has been sending requests for proposals from OEM notebook companies in China. Google’s ambitions might not be short term or monetary. They can be thinking long-term, i.e. what does the future hold for mobile computing, and how can we dominate a market with Apple and Microsoft in it?

But in the short-term, would you buy a Google-branded netbook running Chrome, maybe preloaded with Google Docs, Maps, etc?

[source]

he fab cats at CNET Asia has received their copy of the Zii Trinity. In case you’re excited about this particular phone, please read back to the first time we heard about the Zii Trinity (hint: it’s not for sale). It has also been revealed that ZiiLife is a service that will be divided into ZiiMeet, ZiiVue, ZiiAcademy and ZiiApps. Looks like a load of fun and potential from their names alone. JDK has a hands-on video. Go to the Journal du Geek site. We’ve posted another video below we found at Youtube below after the break.

[source]

The entire thing is of course brought to you by Zii Labs. It will have the Android OS with enhancements via the Plaszma user interface. The ZiiLife (the iTunes rival mentioned above) will also show off its shape and form. All very good, but we’re still waiting for the true to life Zii and Plaszma portable multimedia device or phone.

[press release via engadget]

Many users and reviewers have noticed (duh) that the Motorola Droid’s camera autofocus feature isn’t working properly. It just snaps out all of a sudden. Now, all of a sudden, the problem is gone. The crazy thing is, they must’ve sneaked in a bug fix. People are getting paranoid, except that maybe there’s no bug fix at all and the camera autofocus, well… it self-healed.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case as Dan Morrill of Google explained that it’s a timestamp issue on the Motorola smartphone’s autofocus routine and the problem will be back in the next cycle of 24.5 days. That’s how it long for the Droid’d autofocus to completely heal and it will remain healed until the next 24.5 days.More about the Motorola Droid autofocus problem at the link below.

[via mobilecrunch]

Whatever you say about finger-tap input on a mobile device, no one can deny that styluses are more efficient for scribbling words. Leaked documents from Apple suggest that pen-input is forthcoming on an Apple device. Perhaps this is on the iPhone and iPod Touch, perhaps on the iPhone 4G. Even more exciting, an Apple Tablet? The document shows a patent application for “ink information” recognition for a stylus-based computer. Is hand-writing recognition imminent on the iPhone, the iPhone 4G. Or is this new patent application in preparation for the iTablet? Whatever it is, I’m glad Apple is still going forward, not just on profits and market domination but in technology,expecially in hardware.

[via engadget]

Does Jack Dorsey right a bell? Yup, he’s the man responsible for bringing Twitter to the world, and we all know how successful that is. It turns out that he’s also the one piecing the Square iPhone puzzle together which says a lot about the technical know how of the guy heading this ingenious project. Of course, Twitter is totally different from Square being that the former is a social networking platform while the latter is a bit more on the serious side as it deals with financial transactions, but who knows, he may just have another hit on his hands here.

[via engadget]

Make your precious data a priority target for casual thieves and professional armed robbers with Chinagrabber’s new knock-off 999.9 gold bar USB flash drive. While we don’t think it’s such a good idea for one’s own personal use, it should be a great gift for your favorite boss or uncle.

Here’s what Chinagrabber has to say about it:

If you are tired of looking at your old normal shaped flash drive but need large amounts of memory space for all of your data, this is the flash disk you have been looking for. Very small, made from high quality metal, with full USB 2.0 connection speed, and compatibility with most popular OS’s, this little memory gadget has it all. Get an item that is sure to stand out from your competition in your own online store or eBay storefront at an incomparable low wholesale price direct from China to you.

It’s a 4GB drive in almost real pure gold for only $19.99. I wonder why they didn’t include a built-in MP3 player and white iPod earplugs.

[via Chinagrabber]