BumpTop is a downloadable software to organize your deskpot as if it was your physical desk. Just like you can move, throw, stack, and slide books and papers on your desk, you can do the same with your desktop items with BumpTop. Unlike your Windows desktop which mainly consists of icons, BupTop will also be used for quick links to photos and websites.

It has been avialabale for a while using a mouse. But today BumpTop is supporting Windows 7 multitouch features by adding a number of new touch gestures such as scrunching, shoving, zooming, and flicking. It is the perfect way to to intuitively assemble photos, websites, and applications. The coolest thing is that some gestures depend on how you position your finger. Use the side of your finger to shove items but your tip to flick them.

Actually, it is not just like a physical desk. The 3D interface is similar to a room since there are walls all around. You can stick objects on the wall such as a facebook icon and flick photos towards it to upload them onto a profile. There are also a number of simple photo editing features such as cropping using the laso tool. In addition, if you wanted to do some file management, BumpTop shows icons in a similar manner to opening a folder on a Windows desktop.

This might be the perfect user interface for a tablet since it offers much more flexibility than other interfaces developed by tablet manufacturers such as Asus, Toshiba, and Always Innovating.  Most of these only have a few icons of the most common websites you visit such as search engines, email accounts, social networks, and video/photo/music services. With BumpTop, you can manually create those same interfaces, and more. You’ll have a field day playing around with the gestures and showing others the touch craze that is about to descend on us.

See the video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

It was just yesterday that iLounge reported that the upcoming Apple tablet will be designed as a possible replacement for newspapers and magazines. What I thought, of course, is e-reading capability.

But a report from Gizmodo suggests Apple is looking far beyond that. They are redefining print. Apple wants more book, magazine, and newspaper publishers developing hybridized content – text with intermittent video and audio clips. The only goal of the Kindle and other e-readers was that they relocated text from paper to digital formats. This new hybridized content will allow readers to read a passage or a chapter and then view a short video clip to better imagine the story line and the characters. Incidentally, the New York Times today published a piece about these “vooks”, which are mashups of text, video and web features. These vooks are already out and can be viewed on any web browser based computer as well as the iPhone, which might suggest that Apple is working to be the main distributor of this format.

Dozens of net tablets exist on the market now that can perform the same functions; media, web, and e-reading. What has been rumored for the past year is that the Apple tablet will be more like a larger iPhone. But just making a device larger in size isn’t Apple-like behavior. Besides, if it is true that Steve Jobs has been working on this for many years while killing the project several times, it is hard to believe all this attentiveness and hard work is only about increasing the size of a device.

Gizmodo also says Apple is working with publishers of textbooks in order to sell them on iTunes. In addition, they say the New York Times was approached by Apple about putting the paper on a “new device.” This throws more light on NYT’s Times Reader, a desktop application running on top of Adobe Air for viewing the news similar to its print addition.

Image from sitepoint.

Another Microsoft Courier video has been sent to Gizmodo which goes into much more detail than the first video. This video is focusing on the Courier’s abilities to organize images into meaningful projects. From looking at both videos, it might be obvious by now that the Redmond giant is targeting designers and individuals that work on projects requiring  a lot of flexibility with how images are used and organized. Microsoft won’t stop there, but I haven’t seen any media capabilities demonstrated on the unit such as movies and music yet.

Why is this perfect for designers of all kinds? Because as the video rightly points out several times, you want to always get inspiration as a designer. You want to clip images quickly, organize them together, make comments, and allow others to collaborate with you. With the Courier, you can easily “save” web images by flicking the pictures from the web to a journal page, make comments on it, share it with anyone. You can publish entire projects online in three file formats, using either a Courier file, PDF, or a powerpoint. These users that you share it with can comment on this image or project, further giving you insight on your design.

To illustrate that this booklet/tablet might be made for designers, one needs to look at two Microsoft Research projects which the Courier is likely based on,  Codex and InkSeine. Codex is a dual screen prototype device which allows two users to view two screens by either placing it in a folded standing vertical/horizontal form or even by taking the screens apart and giving one to a friend. In the Codex video, it is clear that this form factor was intended for designers collaborating on projects. On the other hand, InkSeine is an inking and notes organizer application which sure does look similar to the UI of the Courier, especially the color picker and the scrapbook capabilities.

We’re not going to summarize the video. But one neat feature was the saving gimmick in the hinge. If you have an image and you wish to put it on another page, simply drag it to the hinge, and start flicking through pages. The image will stay in the hinge until you release.

One thing which I’ve been wondering about is the speed with which these videos are showcasing the device.  For example, check out 00:30 where the user is “flipping” through websites. Presumably, each website is like a tab in browser, and when you have 10 browsers open on a portable device, chances are you won’t be flicking with ease. With regards to speed on portable devices and commercials, we saw this a year ago when the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority banned an iPhone television advertisement for misleading consumers about the speed of the device.

Mary Jo Foley of ZDnet says that according to her unverified tipster, the Courier should be available in mid-2010, which she says is rather optimistic. Additionally, the Courier for now might be running on top of Windows 7.

iLounge really wanted to be added to the growing list of publications releasing Apple tablet rumors. Jeremy Horwitz, Editor-in-Chief of iLounge, is the first to set a specific date for an Apple tablet announcement – January 19, 2010. But that’s not all of course. He’s got 10 “scoops” in all to share with hungry geeks.

Horwitz also says that it will be a 10.7″ touchscreen that looks like a large iPhone and it will also run on the iPhone OS. One version will sport 3G connectivity while another won’t. It might have been designed as a replacement for magazines and newspapers, in other words as an e-reader. He also says it will be announced in January and ship in May or June in order to build “iPhone-like hype”.

What other signs do we have pointing towards an Apple tablet? Michael Tchao, one of the original developers of Apple’s Newton, is being rehired to a VP of Product Marketing role at Apple after a 15 year hiatus from the company. During that time, one of his more successful career highlights was at Nike  Techlab where he  led efforts related to the Nike + iPod line of products.

The Newton was a failed Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) venture by former CEO John Sculley. The device was an organizer for contacts, notes, and calender, with the most important feature being handwriting recognition.  First sold in 1993, Newton was killed in 1998 with analysts speculating it might have been competing with the Macintosh.

Michael Tchao was the person that initiated the project after approaching CEO John Sculley on a plane over the Pacific ocean. Sculley, who ousted Steve Jobs in a board battle, may have thought of Newton as a way to reinvent personal computing. It’s no surprise then that some speculated that the project might have also been killed by Steve Jobs when he returned as CEO.

From AppleInsider.

Innovation at Microsoft isn’t halting with its recent Courier booklet prototype. Microsoft filed a patent for a multitouch keyboard that senses where your fingers are on top of the touchscreen. Apparently, typists are ticked off that with touchscreens, they have to keep on looking at the keyboard.

I’m not sure how well that would work. The idea is that typists will now “know” where there fingers are the entire time. But as you can see from the picture, the technology might only be able to detect the location of your fingers when they are adjacent and pointing forward. What I’m getting at is, how about if your index finger is at the H button, and you want to press the Y button? If you inadvertently miss and place your index a little too far left, does the device detect that too?

Was this intended for the Courier? Probably not since typing on one of the 7″ screens would not be ideal and neither is typing on both the screens since you won’t be able to see any content then. But considering Microsoft envisions places with many horizontal and vertical touchscreens, this might be a strategic research initiative on their part.

This is not the only proposed solution for touchscreen typing. Last June, a British inventor decided to design a virtual keyboard named Crocodile Keyboard (below) with keys that are shaped into a triangle rather than a square or circle. The triangles would decrease the surface area of the key, which would reduce errors by preventing you from accidentally typing the key next to it, while still being able to view what letter the key is for. Inventor David Baker was planning to file a patent for this and was trying to work with Apple to use this technology, a process he admits is “very difficult.”

This is really creepy, so make sure someone is with you when you watch this. One day transforming abilities might make it to net tablet twice the size of the iPhone. Lets hope not. They might take over.

From Liliputing.

eviGroup revealed their first net tablet, the Android Wallet MID which will run on a 533/667MHz Samsung ARM CPU. There’s nothing about this 800 x 480 5″ iPod Touch look-a-like that will set it apart from the crowd. It has a 2 MP camera, 2 miniUSB ports, micro SD slot, 2/4/8GB of internal memory, built-in GPS, 126/256MB RAM, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a speaker of its own. It weighs 200 grams, while the iPhone 3GS is 135 grams for comparison sake.

Android France says eviGroup mentioned that they might be releasing a “possible input device”, most likely an ultra-slim portable keyboard. With regards to a release date, there is conflicting reports of either end of year release date or beginning of 2010, most likely through mistranslations.

It has yet to be seen what the perfect MID size is. With 5″ screens coming out such as the Wallet MID and the Archos 5, it might be a sign that manufacturers and designers are targeting consumers who still want to fit the device in their pocket but also have the ability to browse web pages at full width with ease. The Wallet MID does come with 3G/Wifi which might make it ideal to drag along with your mobile phone. One feature which the Archos 5 has is the ability to use the mobile phone’s 3.5 G connection to browse the web through BlueTooth. It is not clear whether the Wallet MID has this feature.

From Slashgear.

We thought tonight at Gizmodo Gallery there would be an announcement of the CrunchPad and we were wrong. What Gizmodo was probably talking about is a tablet by Microsoft, which is now called Courier.

It has two 7″ multitouch screens which can fold like a book, similar to the Asus Eee Reader. The back of the booklet is leather with the two screens stuck together with a hinge. Included is a 3MP camera with 4x zoom/flash and a stylus pen. The video posted by Gizmodo shows that the two screens are connected by allowing you to flick content between screens.

Judging from the video posted at Gizmodo, the unit is aimed for more than web browsing. It is a life organizer. Journals, notes, pictures, clips. This is truly game changing. The dual screen allows you to make notes notes while viewing a website. It is not clear if there will be a virtual keyboard since if that’s the case, there must be a method to keep the screen on an angle.

It was just last week that ZDnet heard that at least one Microsoft executive was assigned to the project. Now Gizmodo is saying that the device is in a late prototype stage and engineers are working on the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies. A good estimate of when this device should hit the market is mid to late 2010. Lets hope that when an official announcement is made, Bill Gates is not the one presenting.

Form besttabletreview.

Displays are one of the most valued aspects of an electronic. Consumers purchase these devices because of their ability to provide a living room on the go.  Now we’re interacting with these screens. The iPhone’s flickering gesture between photos continues to amaze people. Cheapness is the label given to devices with poor display quality. Display quality, however, is not the only place manufacturers can add value. R&D labs are busy working on some of the following:

Anti-KFC Smudge Resistance: None of us want our devices looking like we just used them after hitting up some KFC. The smudge from finger prints can either hinder video quality or simply make the product look unappealing. Manufacturers realize the importance of beautiful devices and that’s why scientists are trying to better understand the chemical properties of smudge free attributes. At the 238^th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Steven R. Carlo explained his tests to determine the chemical composition and effectiveness of smudge resistant materials. There’s already devices such as the iPhone 3GS that reduce the amount of smudge, but definitely does not eliminate it as you can see from a post by Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Double Whammy Dual Screen:  Virtual keyboards that are offered on slate tablets usually take up about half of the screen which makes them small and harder to type on while diminishing the amount of content you can view. Asus first showed off their dual screen laptop at CeBit last march. Think of it as two slates stuck together with a hinge. The Eee Reader, which comes in 6″ or 9″ gray scale touchscreens, closely resembles a book which is no coincidence since it will actually be launched as an e-reader. You’ll be able to use either screen as a virtual keyboard, e-reader, or web browser – whatever combination you can think off. Where’s the value? Amazon.com’s Kindle doesn’t surf the interweb highways!

3D Displays Without Nerdy Glasses: Earlier this month during the Nokia World event in Germany, Nokia was boasting a small tablet with a 3D screen which doesn’t require traditional glasses. Even though this might be a neat innovation, some analysts point out that with little support for content and a new format war brewing that could send prices higher, 3D platforms going mainstream may still be years away.

OLED Eye Candy:  Zune HD turned heads last week with its stunning 3.5″ OLED display. Brighter with greater color contrast and less power hungry, these OLEDs are known to make scleras salivate. They are usually as thin as 0.2mm which makes them paper-flexible.  Currently there aren’t any medium or large size OLED net tablets that I know about, though they have been found on an increasing number of mobile phones. But we can’t allow ourselves to not mention an Apple rumor now can we? In August, Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research claims hearing that an Apple tablet will sport an 8″ or 10″ OLED screen.

One of the early entrants into a new niche for relatively cheap netbook convertibles is Asus. Since January, they’ve been showing off their $500 T91, which is an 8.9″ convertible with netbook like specs such as 1.33GHz Z520 CPU and 1GB RAM. But among geek reviews, the biggest criticisms of the device was its lag in touch responsiveness. That’s not a surprise since it was running on Windows XP. Now it looks like the dated rumors have been confirmed. Brad over at Liliputing noticed that when you enter the Asus website support page for T91, it asks you to choose between a T91 and T91MT, where MT obviously stands for multitouch.  Since Windows 7 is the only Windows OS that supports multitouch, this device should start shipping shortly after 7 is released in October.

Before the Asus T91 convertible tablet, there really wasn’t a niche for convertible tablets aimed at non-business users. Whether you wanted one for the kids or simply to use it for note-taking at school or to experience touch on a screen, you didn’t have many options at an affordable price. Most business convertibles ran in the order of $1500+ from Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Fujitsu. Gigabyte recently attempted to break into this market with the TouchNote T1028 with a $700 price tag which may be difficult for consumers to justify for a convertible with netbook specs.

Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, long known as the go-to source for rumors on developments of a Microsoft mobile phone, says she recently heard that at least one executive from Microsoft’s Surface team is working on a smaller version of the Surface. A smaller version of the Surface would essentially mean a tablet aimed for consumers rather than businesses. And just yesterday 9to5Mac gave a little tease in its post about a possible MS mobile phone, stating they’ve received something from Redmond which is “interesting to tablet fans”, but stopped short of elaborating.

Could this finally be the start of Microsoft’s succesfull entrance into the tablet market? A number of people have mentioned how a larger screen Zune HD would be the perfect tablet. With a stunning OLED screen, snappy touch OS and seamless Xbox integration, a larger Zune will probably not have to play catch-up to any device. Bill Gates’ vision might finally be a beacon of reality.

The Microsoft Surface is a 52 way multitouch unit with a 30″ screen that starts at $12,500 and actually comes in a table. Overtime, as Microsoft “sees surface computing becoming more pervasive inside and outside the home,” they will come up with more form factors such as displays on walls and refrigerator doors. In 2007, executives said that Surface prices should drop starting in 2010 so that consumers can afford them. If consumers ought to afford them, they must also be smaller and portable. Surely Microsoft is not going to enter a market making screens for refrigerators and walls only.

What do you get when you combine a digital frame with a net tablet wanna be? An effort from HP they would like to call DreamScreen because that’s what they’ll be mostly doing – dreaming. Kidding! Cheesy jokes aside, the device comes in 10.2″ and 13.3″ screen models and is intended for use in the living room or kitchen as a media player that can grab content from Wifi, Ethernet, USB flash storage, media card reader, or its 2GB of internal storage.

You can access a limited number of web based services such as facebook, Pandora, and Snapfish. These are supported by HP’s own “apps”…just like an iPhone facebook app except for the DreamScreen and they are read-only with no options for inputting. HP is also putting some of its own Palo Alto sauce on this device such as Weather/Calender, Clock, and the HP SmartRadio, another internet radio service. Basically what you need to know is that there’s no web browser.  All the major video/music formats are supported such as MPEG(1,2,3), MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV.

The device is not a touchscreen but is operated either from a remote control or touch buttons on the frame of the unit. And it neither has a battery but must be plugged in at all times just in case you were still not convinced this isn’t a  net tablet. The screen is not an LED screen which is unfortunate since beauty/image quality is one areas where HP can add value considering the device doesn’t have a web browser. It does however include speakers and can be hung on the wall.

Both sizes have a 800 x 480 resolution and are available now for sale at Amazon.com and Best Buy at $249 for the 10.2″ and $299 for the 13.3″.

From PCWorld, video from GottaBeMobile

Two days ago was the long anticipated Archos event in Paris where they revealed the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. Now it’s available for pre-order at Amazon.com. They start at $369.99 for the 32GB and max out at $499 for a 500GB model. If you recall last month when some photos were leaked at B&H, there was a distinction made between A5S and A5H (each with 3 storage sizes), the former being the flash drive model.  It looks like the total number of variations out now is only limited to three, a 32GB flash version and 160/500GB hard drive. Archos has done away with the A5S and A5H labels.

All the units run on an 800MHz OMAP3440 processor with a 4.8″ 800 x 480 touchscreen. Yes, it can handle 720p of output when used with a an optional DVR Station or HDMI Mini Dock. It supports all the major video/music/image formats, even 4GB files without splitting them. With full GPS capability, FM radio transmitter/receiver and a host of built in search/messaging/media/social networking applications, it gets you thinking about what Archos did not include in this mini tablet. Head over to the new Tablets for the Net video section for a slew of Archos 5 videos from the tubes.

Floating Archos 5 pic from Archos Fans.

AppleInsider and Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster are not the only ones reporting an Apple tablet release in the first half of next year. Steve Chuang, of Taiwan Economic News states that an Apple tablet is to make its debut this February and that it will be priced between $799 and $999 USD with a 9.6″ multitouch screen.  The report also names a few of the suppliers with their components such as a  “long lasting battery pack” supplied by DynaPack International Technology Corp and touchscreens by Wintek Corp., which is also the touchscreen maker for the iPhone.

There’s nothing new here other than the tidbit about the supplier for the battery packs. We already knew the rumor about Wintek supplying touch panels, and as for the screen size, everything from  4″ to 15″ has been reported as IntoMobile points out. AppleInsider had already reported that Apple may use a CPU designed by P.A. SEMI, a chip firm that Apple acquired in 2008.

From BestTabletReview, picture from Gizmodo.

Google yesterday introduced Fast Flip, a web app which is basically screen shots of news websites that you can easily flip through rapidly and are organized by topic categories. As Google explains, one of the problems with newspaper and magazine sites is their inability to load quickly, an obstacle that Google sees in trying to scan headlines and content like you would when holding a newspaper or magazine. Now with Fast Flip, you can scan headlines and read articles just like flipping through pages of the real McCoy. Part of the success of a product like this would rest on how quickly these “slides” would load, and Google has done an excellent job at this end. In addition, there’s also a mobile version for Android devices and the iPhone.

On a touchscreen tablet, such an application most certainly makes it more easier to view headlines and read the first few paragraphs than clicking on links and waiting for them to load.  An easy application, it is another why-didn’t-I-think-of-that service from Google that attempts to make lives easier…or busier.

With Fast Flip, some may say that Google is closing the gap between publishers and digital media. It can also be seen as upping the ante on its war against Amazon’s Kindle, first with Google Book partnerships and now with Fast Flip. Steve Jobs could be correct – dedicated devices like the Kindle e-reader, which can’t browse the web, might end up losing while tablets that can do both will win. But Google is not the only one that realized that readers require newspaper-like experience on the web. The New York Times’ Times Reader, which requires a subscription fee of $3.45 a week, is also a similar application though its a desktop app that runs on Adobe Air and can only view NYT articles.

Multitouch is hitting business line convertible tablets because it just can with Windows 7. In the past two days, both companies said that their  Lenovo ThinkPad x200 and Fujitsu Lifebook  T5010 tablets will feature multitouch juice.  We’re not sure what the uses  are on business laptops since there’s little or no Windows 7 multitouch apps other than a Lenovo developed multitouch user interface app called Simple Tap.  Nevertheless, it should add some brownie points for non-business consumers making their purchases based on build quality and performance. Lenovo’s Thinkpad x200 tablet, which will instantly defriend your wallet at a starting price of $1,729, is revamping to a newer 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and will include two-finger multitouch. This convertible is available for sale today with an optional outdoor screen optimized for the…well, outdoors.

All x200 tablets will come with those features, but for the Fujitsu, multitouch will only be available on the new LifeBook T5010 Dual Digitizer and not on the regular LifeBook T5010. The one with multitouch will start from $1,859 which is $100 more than the regular model.

From and Slashgear.

In North America, we’re mostly busy rumoring and discussing the same tablets everyday: the CrunchPad and Apple tablet. In Shenzhen and Shanghai, the electronics manufacturing powerhouses, hungry geeks are more concerned with actually pumping out some of these tablet sweets than discussing them.

Sinchun Electronic Co, Ltd introduced two new MIDs , the 8.9” UMPC-891A (top) and 5″ UMPC-501A. The 1024 x 600 touchscreen 891A will have the oh-so-common Intel Atom N270 1.6 Ghz CPU and 1GB RAM and will run on Windows XP which makes us wonder if they ever got the memo about Windows 7. With a life of only 2 hours provided by a 1700mAh battery, you might as well watch those long movies on this MID and the remaining on your computer. With a 0.3/1.3MP webcam and 3G/Wi-fi connectivity, you can’t put a dent in your wallet with a $441 USD price tag.

The 5″ UMPC-501A on the other hand will run on the sluggish 1.1GHz Atom Z510 CPU with 1GB of ram and XP, but will include GPS. A range of SSD options exist, that run from 8GB to 32GB. It weighs 250g and will also be priced at $441 USD. These gummy bears are only available in China.

From Cloned in China and PConline.

User timm.mccoy, who had his 15 minutes of fame last month after starting an HP Mini 1000  touchscreen tablet hack, is now crossing the half way point.  The screen was caseless before with the circuits exposed at the edges.  Now Mccoy has taken care of that by building a case cover though the top and bottom covers still need to be fused properly since there’s a gap in between. The microphone and USB dongle are still dangling, but the stylus and touchscreen work flawlessly. We must give him credit for garnering the courage to be the first one to attempt this HP Mini hack, online at least. The most common hacks have always been Asus netbooks…even kitchen hacks.

When you’re cooking your daily mac and cheese, the last thing you will need is to head over to your living room or bedroom to check your latest sites on the tube. And when you’re making your lemon glazed chicken with alfredo pasta, you may need to check that online recipe a few dozen times while cooking so you won’t ruin your family’s meal after a long day of work.

So why not install a touchscreen tablet PC in your kitchen…how about right into the kitchen cupboard for a change? That’s what Youtube user sidekickx81 did with his Asus Eee PC 701. This 7″ Intel Celeron netbook was hacked into a touchscreen tablet that sits beautifully into the cabinet doors, which required some ninja wood working skills. Opening the cupboard reveals the keyboard on the back side the door.

The Eee PC 700/701 is undoubtedly the most popular netbook to convert to a tablet, most likely because of its cheap price and the availability of netbook-to-tablet conversion kits for it by Aeeeris.

This internet device in a kitchen is not an entirely new concept. Whirlpool introduced refrigerators with built in tablets at CES last year. Manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo that have developed new all-in-one computers, which have the actual computer behind a large touchscreen display, are also targeting kitchens. And recently, CEO of Always Innovating demonstrated that since the Touch Book tablet has a strong magnet, you can stick it on your refrigerator without it falling off when you open and close the door.

Who will find these internet tablets most useful in the kitchen? People who cook a lot from recipes and cooking videos. Families who can use it as calender/note pad to communicate with each other. Or someone simply looking to enjoy videos/movies/music while in the kitchen.

From jkkmobile.

Yesterday was Apple’s Rock & Roll event, a hyped up and iPod themed event that saw the release of an iPod nano with a camera and a new iPod Touch and iPod classic. But none of those devices sound anything like a tablet and neither did Steve Jobs or marketing executive Philip Schiller make any mention of it.

One of the unique dimensions of Apple rumors is that since there are more rumors flying than bees in a beehive on a hot summer afternoon, you can assess who was wrong with their predictions. If we go by the assumption that no other Apple product announcements will occur this year because it is unlikely that Apple will schedule two major events in less than 4 months, we can say that whoever predicted that the Apple tablet will be released/announced in the fall will be deemed to be incorrect. Credit must be given to Mac|Life and IntoMobile for already compiling an exhaustive history of Apple tablet rumors that go back as early as 2001.

In the order that these rumors were published, first up is TechCrunch, when Michael Arrington in late 2008 mentioned that “three independent sources close to Apple” said that an iPod Touch device with a 7 or 9 inch screen will be released in the fall of 2009. Comments galore totaling 507 ensued.

Taiwan publisher InfoTime gets jealous and in July 2009 claimed that a netbook with a touchscreen will debut in October 2009. TheStreet also goes on record saying that an Apple tablet will be released by the end of 2009.

Also in July 2009, Financial Times correspondent Matthew Garrahan feels the need to generate buzz by saying that a full-featured tablet should make it in time for Christmas 2009.

Then Barron’s decided to make a late jump in August stating that a “veteran analyst” said that a tablet device could be announced in September for a November release date. I also want to be a veteran analyst. Where do I apply?

No one knows who erred: the writers reporting these rumors or their sources that all too often are “familiar with the matter” and “close to Apple”. To be fair, businesses are constantly changing their prior decisions. It may very well be true that Apple was going to release a tablet this year but changed its plans  for whatever reason. We will wait till next year to asses independent reports by AppleInsider and Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, both stating that the tablet is due in the first half of 2010.