Apple announced on Monday it would show off its “latest creation” in San Francisco later this month, an event expected to feature the unveiling of a long-awaited tablet computer.
“Please join Apple on January 27 for a Special Event,” said a typically cryptic e-mail invitation to journalists from the company behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod and the iPhone.
“Come see our latest creation,” said the invitation, which featured colorful blobs of paint surrounding the Apple logo.
The Cupertino, California-based company did not supply any further details about the invitation-only event to be held at 10am Pacific time at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.
Apple used the same venue in September for an iPod event featuring the first public appearance by Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs after nearly six months of medical leave during which he underwent a liver transplant.
Silicon Valley has been buzzing for months with rumors that Apple plans to release a touchscreen tablet computer that resembles an oversized iPod Touch.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the color multimedia device will allow users to browse the Web, listen to music, watch movies or TV shows and also serve as an electronic book and newspaper reader.
The Journal said the Apple tablet will have a 10 to 11-inch screen and may begin to ship in March.
Apple routinely refuses to comment on products ahead of their release and — true to form — the company has ignored the rumors sweeping technology blogs, letting anticipation and speculation build.
The specter of an Apple “iTablet” or “iSlate,” however, hovered over the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, with makers of tablet computers jockeying for a head-start in the marketplace.
The computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) was among the companies seeking to get a jump on Apple and Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer provided a glimpse on stage of an HP “slate” computer during an appearance at the annual gadget show.
But few companies generate the buzz of Apple and a tablet computer would be the company’s first major product release since it came out with the popular iPhone three years ago.
Valleywag.com, a Silicon Valley gossip Web site, recently triggered Apple’s ire by offering rewards of up to US$100,000 for proof that the notoriously secretive company has made a tablet computer.
Valleywag declared Apple the first winner of its contest after receiving a letter from the company’s lawyers.
“We believe you and your company have crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple’s trade secrets,” an Apple lawyer said in a copy of the letter posted online by Valleywag.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS