I usually don’t like touch screen interfaces.  They always seem clunky, unresponsive, and less useful than their equally priced non-touch counterparts.  Enter the iPhone and iPod Touch, and Apple introduced something that wasn’t perfect, but was dramatically better than any other touch based platform that came before it.  It has an operating system that makes sense for its capabilities, rapid response times, and a usable keyboard instead of a horrid handwriting to text converter.  It has been developed to the point where an iPhone can replace a computer for light tasks.

Just a while back, Barron’s claimed an analyst had used a new Apple tablet that features a 10 inch screen.  Details are scarce, but evidence is mounting.  Several other news agencies have reported similar stories, there are unknown devices supported in the new iPhone OS, and it appears that Apple’s Taiwan factory is gearing up for increased production of something.  The most popular theory suggests an announcement sometime in September. Pictured below is an unofficial mock-up (via Kotaku).

To say that I’m excited would be an understatement.  The rumored price of the tablet is $800, and it will have everything I need in a computing device.  I’m a console gamer, so I don’t care about it’s almost guaranteed lack of muscle, I watch my blu-rays on a real TV, so I don’t care about HD support, and I don’t do anything ultra intensive with my PC currently.  I browse the internet, play music, edit photos, write papers and make excel charts.  Really that’s all I (and most users) need, and this will have a similar ultra-friendly interface that we’ve grown accustomed to from the iPhone.  Who wants a netbook when you can have a net tablet that actually works like it’s supposed to? Keep your eyes and ears open come September, I suspect something very exciting is going to happen.

You know those really annoying PC ads that have people who go into Best Buy and comparison shop computers?  They’re clearly paid actors, not just random people off the street.  Afterwards, they scream when they’re handed money and generally behave in annoying ways.  I don’t like them, you probably don’t like them, but apparently they are becoming effective.

After running these ads for a while, Microsoft’s COO Kevin Turner received a call from Apple’s legal department.  They told him that Microsoft needed to stop running the ads because Apple had lowered their prices.  Kevin Turner, being an individual smart enough to be an executive at a large, publicly traded company, decided that was a terrible idea, and instead decided to ramp up the airtime of the “laptop hunters” series.  Turner says it was the “single greatest phone call I’ve ever taken in business.”

So kiddies, the moral of the story is that you shouldn’t call your biggest competitor and complain about the effectiveness of their advertising.

Even though I don’t care for Apple products, I’m really beginning to warm up to the iPhone.  It isn’t a blatant rip-off, and it does do a fair amount of stuff.  I like lists because you don’t need to think while reading them, so here’s one about why the iPhone makes me drool.

• Call women and tell them about your new iPhone
• Check weather conditions so you can woo said women with outdoor activities
• Use the digital compass to find the perfect spot for the above activities
• Use it in your car to show your unique personal feelings for your sweetie with a song that you didn’t write.
• Take smokin’ hot photos and videos so you’ll remember the great time you’re having.
• Stop at a coffee shop and use their Wi-Fi to look up info about her favorite subject that you have no interest in.  Consequently you will seem more interesting.
• Get rejected because you were too busy playing with your Koi Pond.  Then use Urban Spoon to look up a doughnut shop to help you swallow your sadness.
• Discretely watch inappropriate videos in public places to pass your new found free time.
• Cruise the iTunes Store and download a book about winning hearts.
• Restart the process with your newly purchased wisdom

These guys all have iPhones, so you probably should get one

The extra cool part is that you can do all of that with a cute little rectangle that weighs only 4.8 ounces.  Hauling around a bag of gear to accomplish all of those tasks would surely damage your social status.  I want one, which means you do too.

Chalk one up for the Blackberry because it saved a skier’s life in Switzerland (What now Apple?).

David Fitzerbert was skiing on a Switzerland glacier when the snow gave way and he fell into a deep crevasse. He fell 70 feet in the crevasse until he barely became wedged by his Blackberry Phone over a 700 FOOT CLIFF. The phone was large enough to stop him from falling to his certain DEATH. He escaped death but didn’t escape a broken jaw, smashed teeth, cracked bone in chest and broken nose.

He was flown to the hospital and used the Blackberry to call his wife in England. If that isn’t a commercial for Verizon I don’t know what is!

Can you hear me now has a whole new meaning (can you hear me now, I’m a little claustrophobic).